A Time-Varying Measure of Dyadic Synchrony for Three-Dimensional Motion

We propose a novel approach to the analysis of synchronized three-dimensional motion in dyads. Motion recorded at high time resolution, as with a gaming device, is preprocessed in each of the three spatial dimensions by spline smoothing. Synchrony is then defined, at each time point, as the cosine between the two individuals’ estimated velocity vectors. The approach is extended to allow a time lag, allowing for the analysis of leader-follower dynamics. Mean square cosine over the time range is proposed as a scalar summary of dyadic synchrony, and this measure is found to be positively associated with cognitive empathy.     

Like mother,like child? Maternal determinants of children's early social-emotional development

Social-Emotional competencies evolve early in life. For example, early emotion regulation is learned primarily in the context of mother–child interaction, which may allow for maternal influences to shape children's social-emotional development. The aim of the current study was to longitudinally examine maternal determinants of children's early social-emotional development in a community-based sample of first-time mothers (N = 61, aged 22–39 years). Specifically, we used structural equation modeling to examine how maternal emotion regulation difficulties and subclinical depression directly and indirectly, through sensitivity and postnatal bonding, assessed at 6 to 8 months predicted child outcomes at 12 to 16 months. We found that mothers’ sensitivity predicted fewer social-emotional and behavioral problems and that stronger bonding predicted fewer problems and more social-emotional competencies. Emotion regulation difficulties were significantly associated with depressive symptoms; yet, when accounting for shared variances, both factors differentially predicted less positive child outcomes such that more difficulties indirectly, through poorer bonding, predicted greater delay in competencies, and more symptoms indirectly, through less sensitivity, predicted more problems. Current findings underline the significance of maternal factors impacting the quality of mother–child interaction for children's positive development. Potential implications for early prevention programs to support children who are otherwise at risk for negative emotional outcomes due to mothers’ emotional state postpartum are discussed.     

Protocols for the Investigation of Information Processing in Human Assessment of Fundamental Movement Skills

Fundamental movement skill (FMS) assessment remains an important tool in classifying individuals’ level of FMS proficiency. The collection of FMS performances for assessment and monitoring has remained unchanged over the last few decades, but new motion capture technologies offer opportunities to automate this process. To achieve this, a greater understanding of the human process of movement skill assessment is required. The authors present the rationale and protocols of a project in which they aim to investigate the visual search patterns and information extraction employed by human assessors during FMS assessment, as well as the implementation of the Kinect system for FMS capture.     

Motor actions and spatiotemporal changes by weight divisions of mixed martial arts: Applications for training

This study compared motor actions and spatiotemporal changes between weight divisions from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC™), conducting a practical application for mixed martial arts (MMA) training. For this, we analyzed 2814 rounds of all weight divisions by motor actions and spatiotemporal changes according actions and time of the Keeping distance, Clinch and Groundwork combat phases. We observed differences between weight divisions in the keeping distance on stand-up combat (p ≤ 0.001; with lower time in Featherweight 131.4 s and bantamweight 127.9 s) clinch without attack (p ≤ 0.001; with higher timer in Flyweight 11.4 s and Half-middleweight 12.6 s) and groundwork without attack (p ≤ 0.001; with higher timer in Half-middleweight 0.9 s). During keeping distance, half-middleweight presented a higher frequency of Head Strikes Landed (p = 0.026; 7 ± 8 times) and attempted (p = 0.003; 24 ± 22 times). In clinch actions heavyweight present a higher frequency (p ≤ 0.023) of head strike landed (3 ± 7 times) and attempted (4 ± 9 times) and half-middleweight for body strikes (p ≤ 0.023) landed (2 ± 5 times) and attempted (3 ± 5 times). At the last, during groundwork, Bantamweight present a higher frequency (p ≤ 0.036) of head strikes landed (8 ± 10 times) and attempted (10 ± 13 times) body strikes landed (p ≤ 0.044; 3 ± 5 times) and attempted (3 ± 6 times). This study reveals important point to training and provide a challenge applied referential to the conditioning plains. From the weight divisions differences should be aware of the increase in the frequency of distance actions, especially in light and middleweights. On the Ground, bantamweight can focus on striking and grappling actions than others.     

Effects of circular motion on judgment of rotation direction and depth order in visual motion

Abstract:  The rotation direction and depth order of a rotating sphere consisting of random dots often reverses while it is viewed under orthographic projection. However, if a short viewing distance is simulated under perspective projection, the correct rotation direction can be perceived. There are two motion cues for the rotation direction and depth order. One is the speed cue; points with higher velocities are closer to the observer. The other is the vertical motion cue; vertical motion is induced when the dots recede from or approach the observer. It was examined whether circular motion, which does not have any depth information but induces vertical velocities, masks the vertical motion cue. In Experiment 1, the effects of circular motion on the judgment of the rotation direction of a rotating sphere were examined. The magnitude of the two cues (the speed cue and the vertical velocity cue) as well as the angular speed of circular motion was varied. It was found that the performance improved as the vertical velocity increased and that the speed cue had slight effects on the judgment of the rotation direction. It was also found that the performance worsened as the angular speed of the circular motion was increased. In Experiment 2, the effects of circular motion on depth judgment of a rotating half sphere were investigated. The performance worsened as the angular speed of the circular motion increased, as in Experiment 1. These results suggest that the visual system cannot compensate perfectly for circular motion for the judgment of the rotation direction and depth order.     

Walk this way: approaching bodies can influence the processing of faces

A highly familiar type of movement occurs whenever a person walks towards you. In the present study, we investigated whether this type of motion has an effect on face processing. We took a range of different 3D head models and placed them on a single, identical 3D body model. The resulting figures were animated to approach the observer. In a first series of experiments, we used a sequential matching task to investigate how the motion of an approaching person affects immediate responses to faces. We compared observers’ responses following approach sequences to their performance with figures walking backwards (receding motion) or remaining still. Observers were significantly faster in responding to a target face that followed an approach sequence, compared to both receding and static primes. In a second series of experiments, we investigated long-term effects of motion using a delayed visual search paradigm. After studying moving or static avatars, observers searched for target faces in static arrays of varying set sizes. Again, observers were faster at responding to faces that had been learned in the context of an approach sequence. Together these results suggest that the context of a moving body influences face processing, and support the hypothesis that our visual system has mechanisms that aid the encoding of behaviourally-relevant and familiar dynamic events.     

Aristotle’s Immovable Movers: A Sketch

In keeping with a view that is explicitly formulated by Aristotle in his Motion of Animals, general kinetic principles must be specified according to the different types of movable entities existing in the universe. At issue, essentially, are the motions of the stars and the motions of animals. Whereas the cosmological immovable mover is the object of two complementary analyses (in Bk. VIII of Physics and in Chs. 6 and 7 of Bk. XII of Metaphysics), information on the immovability of the first mover responsible for animal motion is to be found in the psychological and psycho-physiological treatises (On the Soul, in Bk. I, Chs. 3 and 4, and in Bk. III, Ch. 10 and in Ch. 6 of the Motion of Animals). But it is also found in Ch. 7, Bk. XII of the Metaphysics, in the very context of the argument concerning the absolutely first immovable mover of the world. This suggests that the two types of motion, that of the stars and that of animals, however distinct the arguments about them are, rest on a single scheme, and maybe even on a common principle. This is liable to surprise us, as much as stars and animals appear to us to belong to heterogeneous orders of reality. But the situation is different for Aristotle, who, as attentive as he is to differences, tends nonetheless to conceive the stars as living things of a particular kind. This fact is the source of a series of difficulties that Aristotle generously left for his many commentators to solve. Aim of this text, which was initially directed to a larger audience, is to set some of these complex issues in both simple and up to date terms.     

Differences in Noun and Verb Processing in Lexical Decision Cannot be Attributed to Word Form and Morphological Complexity Alone

It has been suggested that the effect of word category in noun and verb processing reflects typical word class properties, which can be characterized in terms of semantic as well as syntactic and morphological features. The present study is aimed at differentiating and discussing the relative contribution of these aspects with a main focus on syntactic and morphological processing. Experiment 1 established a processing advantage for nouns in German visual lexical decision, using nouns denoting biological and man-made objects as compared to transitive and intransitive verbs. Experiment 2 showed that the noun advantage persisted even when the morphological differences between word categories were reduced by using identical suffixes in nouns and verbs. Overall results suggest that the processing differences cannot be reduced to variables such as frequency, word form, or morphological complexity. Reaction time differences between transitive and intransitive verbs strengthen the role of syntactic information. In line with previous accounts the observed effects are discussed in terms of a category-specific combination of linguistic parameters.     

Biological Implications of Gene–Environment Interaction

Gene–environment interaction (G × E) has been treated as both a statistical phenomenon and a biological reality. It is argued that, although there are important statistical issues that need to be considered, the focus has to be on the biological implications of G × E. Four reports of G × E deriving from the Dunedin longitudinal study are used as exemplars of the biological considerations that should lead to an hypothesis-driven choice of the specific genetic polymorphisms and the specific environmental influence to be investigated. The same four studies are used to discuss how the assessment of internal and external validity can be undertaken and how experimental approaches in humans and with animal models may be informative in the elucidation of the relevant operative biological mechanisms.