Examining the effect of task constraints on the emergence of creative action in young elite football players by using a method combining expert judgement and frequency count

In adult football, small-sided games are associated with increased action variability and suggested to promote more creative actions compared to regular 11v11 formats. This aligns with predictions from an ecological approach to perception and action that creative actions emerge in environments that grant variability in action, instead of being an expression of the individual player’s ability to generate ideas. To further evidence for this prediction, the current study aimed to expand this observation to elite youth football players. To this end, the number of different and creative actions in 4v4 small-sided game and a 11v11 regular-sided game among 10- to 12-year-old elite football players were examined. We analyzed a total of 7922 actions, which were categorized for type and creativity. Based on a subset of these actions, a panel of elite football coaches judged action types occurring below 0.5% as significantly more creative than more frequent action types. Hence, we used an occurrence of 0.5% as threshold to distinguish creative actions from non-creative actions. The results showed that the total number of actions, the number of different action types, the number creative actions and the number of different creative action types was significantly higher for the small-sided game format than the regular-sided game. In conclusion, this study confirms that in elite youth football, small-sided games induce a more variable and creative action repertoire. This shows that practitioners can design learning environments that promote the emergence of creative actions.     

Video game experience and its influence on visual attention parameters: An investigation using the framework of the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA)

Experts with video game experience, in contrast to non-experienced persons, are superior in multiple domains of visual attention. However, it is an open question which basic aspects of attention underlie this superiority. We approached this question using the framework of Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) with tools that allowed us to assess various parameters that are related to different visual attention aspects (e.g., perception threshold, processing speed, visual short-term memory storage capacity, top-down control, spatial distribution of attention) and that are measurable on the same experimental basis. In Experiment 1, we found advantages of video game experts in perception threshold and visual processing speed; the latter being restricted to the lower positions of the used computer display. The observed advantages were not significantly moderated by general person-related characteristics such as personality traits, sensation seeking, intelligence, social anxiety, or health status. Experiment 2 tested a potential causal link between the expert advantages and video game practice with an intervention protocol. It found no effects of action video gaming on perception threshold, visual short-term memory storage capacity, iconic memory storage, top-down control, and spatial distribution of attention after 15 days of training. However, observations of a selected improvement of processing speed at the lower positions of the computer screen after video game training and of retest effects are suggestive for limited possibilities to improve basic aspects of visual attention (TVA) with practice.     

A Social Ecological Model of Syndemic Risk affecting Women with and At-Risk for HIV in Impoverished Urban Communities

Syndemic risk is an ecological construct, defined by co‐occurring interdependent socio‐environmental, interpersonal and intrapersonal determinants. We posited syndemic risk to be a function of violence, substance use, perceived financial hardship, emotional distress and self‐worth among women with and at‐risk for HIV in an impoverished urban community. In order to better understand these interrelationships, we developed and validated a system dynamics (SD) model based upon peer‐reviewed literature; secondary data analyses of a cohort dataset including women living with and at‐risk of HIV in Bronx, NY (N = 620); and input from a Bronx‐based community advisory board. Simulated model output revealed divergent levels and patterns of syndemic risk over time across different sample profiles. Outputs generated new insights about how to effectively explore multicomponent multi‐level programs in order to strategically develop more effective services for this population. Specifically, the model indicated that effective multi‐level interventions might bolster women’s resilience by increasing self‐worth, which may result in decreased perceived financial hardship and risk of violence. Overall, our stakeholder‐informed model depicts how self‐worth may be a major driver of vulnerability and a meaningful addition to syndemic theory affecting this population.     

1- and 2-year-olds’ expectations about third-party communicative actions

Infants expect people to direct actions toward objects, and they respond to actions directed to themselves, but do they have expectations about actions directed to third parties? In two experiments, we used eye tracking to investigate 1- and 2-year-olds’ expectations about communicative actions addressed to a third party. Experiment 1 presented infants with videos where an adult (the Emitter) either uttered a sentence or produced non-speech sounds. The Emitter was either face-to-face with another adult (the Recipient) or the two were back-to-back. The Recipient did not respond to any of the sounds. We found that 2-, but not 1-year-olds looked quicker and longer at the Recipient following speech than non-speech, suggesting that they expected her to respond to speech. These effects were specific to the face-to-face context. Experiment 2 presented 1-year-olds with similar face-to-face exchanges but modified to engage infants and minimize task demands. The infants looked quicker to the Recipient following speech than non-speech, suggesting that they expected a response to speech. The study suggests that by 1 year of age infants expect communicative actions to be directed at a third-party listener.     

The effectiveness of positive psychology interventions in enhancing positive behaviors and family relationships in Hong Kong: A community-based participatory research project

This paper describes a program of brief, universal, positive psychology-based interventions to increase targeted behaviors that enhance family relationships, developed and delivered to over 1500 participants using a community-based participatory approach. The cluster-randomized design combined interventions based on one of three themes (gratitude, hope, or open-mindedness) in one of two structures (intervention, or intervention with planning). The latter structure supplemented with materials and exercises derived from the Health Action Process Approach model of behavior change. Planning was more effective in increasing attitude and intention to perform behaviors, frequency of the targeted behaviors, and family health and happiness (Cohen’s ds: 0.10–0.16, p < 0.05), particularly in the theme targeting open-mindedness. Qualitative data supported effectiveness. This project was a first effort to develop a large-scale preventive psychological intervention in an understudied culture with the goal of maximizing acceptability and utilization by involving community stakeholders in every stage of the design.     

A role of goals for social inhibition of return?

The social inhibition of return (sIOR) effect refers to the finding that response initiation times are longer if a movement is executed to a location where another person has responded to just before. Previous studies have examined the influence of the goal of the action on sIOR. In these studies, however, the movement endpoint and to-be-attained goal (e.g., touching/pressing a response key) were at the same spatial location. In the present two experiments, we disentangled movement endpoint and goal's identity and locations by means of introducing action effects that followed directly from a movement. Similar methods were previously shown powerful enough to clearly show the importance of action goals for other phenomena—a finding consistent with effect-based theories of action control, such as the ideomotor theory. The results of the present study revealed that sIOR was shaped by the movement endpoint location, not the goal's identity or location. That is, in both experiments, an sIOR effect was observed, but the magnitude of the sIOR effect was not modulated by repetitions/switches of goals or their locations. Thus, results indicate that goals play a negligible role in the emergence of the sIOR and, consequently, highlight the importance of action observation for the emergence of the sIOR effect.     

Verbal social primes alter motor contagion during action observation

We investigated whether prosocial and nonsocial word primes prior to action observation modify subsequent initiation and execution of the observer's own reach-to-grasp actions. Participants observed a model performing exaggeratedly curved (vertical deviation) or natural straight reaches to a vertical dowel and always performed a straight reach to a dowel themselves. Observing curved movements slowed initiation times and increased the vertical deviation of the participants’ movements. Observing curved movements enhanced vertical deviation only in the prosocial word primes condition. We suggest that social context priming can modulate initiation of movement as well as the extent of motor contagion (in this case, the extent of vertical deviation) between model and observer.     

Action planning and position sense in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

The present study examined action planning and position sense in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Participants performed two action planning tasks, the sword task and the bar grasping task, and an active elbow matching task to examine position sense. Thirty children were included in the DCD group (aged 6–10 years) and age-matched to 90 controls. The DCD group had a MABC-2 total score ⩽5th percentile, the control group a total score ⩾25th percentile. Results from the sword-task showed that children with DCD planned less for end-state comfort. On the bar grasping task no significant differences in planning for end-state comfort between the DCD and control group were found. There was also no significant difference in the position sense error between the groups. The present study shows that children with DCD plan less for end-state comfort, but that this result is task-dependent and becomes apparent when more precision is needed at the end of the task. In that respect, the sword-task appeared to be a more sensitive task to assess action planning abilities, than the bar grasping task. The action planning deficit in children with DCD cannot be explained by an impaired position sense during active movements.     

Perceptual and affective mechanisms in facial expression recognition: An integrative review

Facial expressions of emotion involve a physical component of morphological changes in a face and an affective component conveying information about the expresser’s internal feelings. It remains unresolved how much recognition and discrimination of expressions rely on the perception of morphological patterns or the processing of affective content. This review of research on the role of visual and emotional factors in expression recognition reached three major conclusions. First, behavioral, neurophysiological, and computational measures indicate that basic expressions are reliably recognized and discriminated from one another, albeit the effect may be inflated by the use of prototypical expression stimuli and forced-choice responses. Second, affective content along the dimensions of valence and arousal is extracted early from facial expressions, although this coarse affective representation contributes minimally to categorical recognition of specific expressions. Third, the physical configuration and visual saliency of facial features contribute significantly to expression recognition, with “emotionless” computational models being able to reproduce some of the basic phenomena demonstrated in human observers. We conclude that facial expression recognition, as it has been investigated in conventional laboratory tasks, depends to a greater extent on perceptual than affective information and mechanisms.     

Occupational stress,job satisfaction and physical health in teachers

IntroductionChanges within the teaching profession have been blamed for the high levels of stress reported by teachers. In recent decades, Italian schools have been characterised by continuous change, as a result of profound transitions that have affected political, social and economic development.ObjectiveThis paper investigated the relationship between occupational stress, job satisfaction and physical health in Italian teachers. Specifically, our aim is to study the role of job satisfaction as a possible mediation role between work stressors and its effects on teachers’ physical health (physical symptoms). In addition, we were interested in studying the direct effects of work stressors on the hypothetical outcomes (physical symptoms).MethodData were collected via a questionnaire from a sample of 565 teachers working in different upper secondary schools in Italy. The booklet filled by the teachers consisted of 32 items that measure perceived occupational difficulties, job satisfaction and physical symptoms.ResultsThe results showed that workload, perception of work environment, teachers’ perceptions of senior management and attitude towards change are specific perceived occupational difficulties of the Italian teachers involved in our research. In particular, workload and attitude towards change have significant direct effects on physical symptoms, and indirect effects on physical symptoms through job satisfaction. Also, job satisfaction decreases physical symptoms.ConclusionThe results suggest important implications for stress prevention in teachers. In fact, the level of stress and its consequences can be reduced and prevented through an accurate identification of its sources, with a positive effect on individual and organisational health.