Cycling strategies of young and older cyclists

This study concentrates on the cycling strategies of older cyclists (54–62 year olds) in comparison to young cyclists (20–30 year olds). While cycling in a safe laboratory set-up, controlled lateral perturbations are applied to the rear of the bicycle. Three possible strategies to keep balance are analysed for a young and older aged group: steering, lateral trunk movement and outward knee movement. Older subjects appear to rely more on knee movement as a control mechanism than young subjects. Furthermore, the frequency domain analysis revealed that the older adults need more effort to counteract high frequency perturbations. Increased inter-individual variation for the older adults subject group suggests that this group can be seen as a transition group in terms of physical fitness. This explains their increased risk in single-sided bicycle accidents (i.e. accidents involving the cyclist only). Therefore, older cyclists could benefit from improving the stability of cycling at lower speeds.     

大学生闲暇生活自我管理与心理控制源的关系研究

目的：探讨大学生闲暇生活自我管理与心理控制源之间的关系。方法：采用自编的大学生闲暇生活自我管理问卷、内控性、有势力的他人及机遇量表对557名大学生进行调查。结果：①大学生闲暇生活自我管理总分存在显著性别差异,但在年级上不存在显著差异;②大学生闲暇生活自我管理与控制感的内控性呈极显著正相关（r=0．19,p〈0．01）;与有势力的他人、机遇呈显著负相关（r=-0．202,r=-0．216,p〈0．01）。结论：大学生的控制源对闲暇生活自我管理有重要影响。     

In and Out of the House. Housing Hau in Sønderborg and Frederikssund

This article deals with houses and objects. Based on anthropological fieldwork on materiality in two well-off neighbourhoods in Denmark, the starting point are localisations of global flows in the privacy of houses. Filters and control showed out to be a major theme concerning the passages of things in and out of houses; these passages follow two rules: “something in means something else out” and “what comes in must be activated”. Openness and transparency showed out to be important themes concerning the house; there is a tendency towards large windows, few inner walls and large rooms, which are both poly-functional and poly-social. Furthermore, the filtering mechanisms for objects and the openness of the house are related to virtual flows from computers, telephones and televisions. Classical anthropological theories are used to understand this subject matter: the concept of haul (the spirit of the thing), exchange and social relations at large.

Sequential congruency effects in implicit sequence learning

We deal with situations incongruent with our automatic response tendencies much better right after having done so on a previous trial than after having reacted to a congruent trial. The nature of the mechanisms responsible for these sequential congruency effects is currently a hot topic of debate. According to the conflict monitoring model these effects depend on the adjustment of control triggered by the detection of conflict on the preceding situation. We tested whether these conflict monitoring processes can operate implicitly in an implicit learning procedure, modulating the expression of knowledge of which participants are not aware. We reanalyze recently published data, and present an experiment with a probabilistic sequence learning procedure, both showing consistent effects of implicit sequence learning. Despite being implicit, the expression of learning was reduced or completely eliminated right after trials incongruent with the learned sequence, thus showing that sequential congruency effects can be obtained even when the source of congruency itself remains implicit.     

Coping repertoire: Integrating a new conceptualization of coping with transactional theory

This research develops the construct of coping repertoire, a new trait-based conceptualization of coping based on the number of strategies consumers use in coping with consumer stress. We posit that the number of strategies consumers use is an important determinant of consumers' coping confidence appraisals, a key determinant of consumers' ability to effectively manage stress. In five studies, we establish the importance of this construct and the mechanism through which it influences appraisal. These studies establish the theoretical importance of coping repertoire as an important moderator, and we conclude with a discussion of future research related to this coping perspective.     

Comparative Optimism,Self-Superiority,Egocentric Impact Perception and Health Information Seeking: A COVID-19 Study

We examined perceived self-other differences (self-uniqueness) in appraisals of one’s risk of an infectious disease (COVID-19), one’s adherence to behavioural precautionary measures against the disease, and the impact of these measures on one’s life. We also examined the relationship of self-uniqueness with information seeking and trust in sources of information about the disease. We administered an online survey to a community sample (N = 8696) of Dutch-speaking individuals, mainly in Belgium and The Netherlands, during the first lockdown (late April-Mid June 2020). As a group, participants reported that they were less likely to get infected or infect others or to suffer severe outcomes than average (unrealistic optimism) and that they adhered better than average to behavioural precautionary measures (illusory superiority). Except for participants below 25, who reported that they were affected more than average by these measures (egocentric impact bias), participants also generally reported that they were less affected than average (allocentric impact bias). Individual differences in self-uniqueness were associated with differences in the number of information sources being used and trust on these sources. Higher comparative optimism for infection, self-superiority, and allocentric impact perception were associated with information being sought from fewer sources; higher self-superiority and egocentric impact perception were associated with lower trust. We discuss implications for health communication.     

The role of functional variability in a whole body co-ordinated movement – Application to high bar giant circles

When performing a giant circle on high bar a gymnast flexes at the hips in the lower part of the circle, increasing the kinetic energy, and extends in the upper part of the circle, decreasing the kinetic energy. In order to perform a sequence of giant circles at even tempo, any variation in angular velocity at the end of the flexion phase needs to be reduced by the end of the extension phase. The aim of this study was to determine the nature and contribution of such adjustments. A computer simulation model of a gymnast performing giant circles on high bar was used to investigate strategies of (a) fixed timing of the extension phase (feedforward control) and (b) stretched timing in order to extend at the same point of the giant circle (feedforward with additional feedback control). For three elite gymnasts fixed timing reduced the angular velocity variation on average by 36% whereas stretched timing reduced the variation by 63%. The mean reduction for the actual gymnast techniques was 61%. It was concluded that both feedforward and feedback control strategies are used by gymnasts for controlling such movements.     

Using suggestion to model different types of automatic writing

Our sense of self includes awareness of our thoughts and movements, and our control over them. This feeling can be altered or lost in neuropsychiatric disorders as well as in phenomena such as “automatic writing” whereby writing is attributed to an external source. Here, we employed suggestion in highly hypnotically suggestible participants to model various experiences of automatic writing during a sentence completion task. Results showed that the induction of hypnosis, without additional suggestion, was associated with a small but significant reduction of control, ownership, and awareness for writing. Targeted suggestions produced a double dissociation between thought and movement components of writing, for both feelings of control and ownership, and additionally, reduced awareness of writing. Overall, suggestion produced selective alterations in the control, ownership, and awareness of thought and motor components of writing, thus enabling key aspects of automatic writing, observed across different clinical and cultural settings, to be modelled.     

Fate or fight: Exploring the hedonic costs of competition

As a resource-allocation method, free competition is generally considered more efficient and fairer than binding assignment, yet individuals’ hedonic experiences in these different resource-allocation conditions are largely ignored. Using a minimalistic experimental simulation procedure, we compared participants’ hedonic experiences between a free-competition condition (in which participants could equally and freely compete for the superior resource) and a binding-assignment condition (in which the superior and inferior resources were unequally and irreversibly assigned to different participants). We found that individuals in the binding-assignment condition – even the disadvantaged ones – were happier than those in the free-competition condition. We attributed the effect to individuals’ peace of mind, and supported the peace-of-mind notion by identifying two moderators: ease of social comparison and enjoyability of the inferior resource. In sum, this research highlighted the hedonic aspects of resource allocation methods and identified when accepting one’s fate is hedonically better than fighting for the best.     

Evaluation of a Behaviour Analysis and Treatment of Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsy,Type Unverricht-Lundborg: A Case Study

This case study evaluates the clinical effectiveness of a psychological treatment within a behaviour medicine approach to epilepsy of a subject with progressive myoclonic epilepsy. The pattern of seizure behaviour was identified in the behaviour analysis. Self-management skills were taught to the client and in vivo exposure was subsequently used in a desensitization process. The main findings in this study were that the debilitating effects of the myclonic jerks can be reduced and functioning level improved when fear of seizures is reduced. These results indicate that psychological treatment can increase the level of functioning in clients with progressive myoclonic epilepsy.