Driving fear and driving skills: comparison between fearful and control samples using standardised on-road assessment

The present study explores driving skills in a group of 50 media-recruited driving-fearful and 50 control drivers, all of whom were women. Participants completed an on-road practical driving assessment with a professional driving instructor. Diagnostic as well as pre-post self-report and instructor driving assessments were conducted. Fearful drivers made more errors on the driving assessment than controls. However, the pattern of errors was identical for both groups, indicating that fear and anxiety may be associated with the number rather than the type of driving errors made. These differences remained when factors such as driving history, current driving frequency, and diagnosis were controlled using case selection. More research is needed to replicate the findings in more diverse samples. Additional work should also aim to clarify the specific role of driving skills in driving fear, which will facilitate treatment planning for exposure-based treatments and help identify cases where driving skills assessment may be appropriate.     

Intentional and Skillful Neurons

Abstract

In the mid-1990s, there was a major neuroscientific discovery which might drastically alter sport science in general and philosophy of sport in particular. The discovery of mirror neurons by Giacomo Rizzolatti and colleagues in Parma, Italy, is a substantial contribution to understanding brains, movements, and humans. Famous neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran believes the discovery of mirror neurons ‘will do for psychology what DNA did for biology’ (http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/ramachandran/ramachandran_p1.html). Somehow mirror neurons have not received the deserved attention in the philosophy of sport, but perhaps now is the time to reflect on some implications and consequences. The discovery of mirror neurons may increase our insights about our ability to learn, understand, intend, and produce skillful motor actions. In this article I will first examine what mirror neurons are and how they function in monkeys and humans. Second, I will review some objections to the so-called mirror neuron theory of action understanding, and try to reconcile some of these objections. Third, I will inquire into some implications for philosophy, which I believe are also fundamental to several topics in the philosophy of sport. I will then try to relate some of the most interesting aspects of mirror neurons to recent debates in the philosophy of sport. Finally, I will speculate on what further neuroscientific research might teach us about the nature of being a moving subject.     

中央执行负荷对成人估算策略运用的影响

随机选取128名大学生为被试, 运用选择/无选法研究范式, 考察了不同中央执行负荷对估算策略运用的影响。结果发现：(1)中央执行负荷不影响策略分布; (2)策略运用条件、中央执行负荷影响策略执行。主次一致任务, 负荷对策略执行反应时的影响随负荷强度增大而增大, 对策略执行精确度影响不大; 而对主次不一致任务, 低负荷对策略执行反应时及精确度影响都不明显; (3)策略运用条件、中央执行负荷影响策略选择。负荷强度对策略选择反应时起重要作用, 只有当次级任务负荷高时, 干扰作用才明显; (4)成人的策略选择适应性受负荷强度的影响。无负荷条件下个体策略适应性更好。     

Validation of the German version of the Driver Skill Inventory (DSI) and the Driver Social Desirability Scales (DSDS)

The psychometric properties of the new German versions of the Driver Skill Inventory (DSI) and the Driver Social Desirability Scales (DSDS) were examined. The DSI is a self-report measure assessing perceptual-motor skills and the safety motive as two important aspects of driving behavior. Self-report measures, however, are susceptible to socially desirable responding (SDR) which is why both general and specific driving-related SDR scales have been developed: Based on the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR), the DSDS taps Driver Impression Management and Driver Self-Deception as two important aspects of SDR. In two validation studies with less experienced (N = 130) and experienced drivers (N = 1199), both inventories showed the expected two-factor structure and satisfactory internal consistency. In Study 1, self-ratings were compared with and confirmed by peer-ratings. In both studies, we accumulated evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the German version of the DSI by correlating it with demographic, driving-specific, and personality measures, including the Big Five, Type A behavior, and sensation seeking. The DSI seemed to be only marginally contaminated by SDR.     

When generating answers benefits arithmetic skill: the importance of prior knowledge

People remember information better if they generate the information while studying rather than read the information. However, prior research has not investigated whether this generation effect extends to related but unstudied items and has not been conducted in classroom settings. We compared third graders’ success on studied and unstudied multiplication problems after they spent a class period generating answers to problems or reading the answers from a calculator. The effect of condition interacted with prior knowledge. Students with low prior knowledge had higher accuracy in the generate condition, but as prior knowledge increased, the advantage of generating answers decreased. The benefits of generating answers may extend to unstudied items and to classroom settings, but only for learners with low prior knowledge.     

2006年大同市大型医疗设备利用状况调查

为全面掌握大同市大型医疗设备的拥有量、分布、使用率等资料,为编制大同市大型医疗设备配置规划提供科学依据,本文采用普查法,对大同市大型医疗设备的相关资料进行调查。调查发现大同市大型医疗设备配置过量,分布不合理,利用率普遍较低,空转现象较为突出,且市区医院与县郊区医院大型医疗设备的利用率差异较大。     

Parental Influences on University Students’ Mental Help-Seeking Intentions

Parents are thought to play an integral role in adolescents’ and young adults’ help-seeking, yet parental influences on university students’ help-seeking intentions have been largely overlooked. A total of 118 parent-student dyads completed questionnaires. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that increased student attachment to parent and lower levels of student distress were associated with informal help-seeking. Actor-partner interdependence models demonstrated that parent variables had no influence on students’ help-seeking intentions. Counseling and research implications are discussed.     

The effect of a virtual reality environment on gaze behaviour and motor skill learning

ObjectiveVirtual reality (VR) systems hold significant potential for training skilled behaviours and are currently receiving intense interest in the sporting domain. They offer both practical and pedagogical benefits, but there are concerns about the effect that perceptual deficiencies in VR systems (e.g. reduced haptic information, and stereoscopic display distortions) may have on learning and performance. ‘Specificity of learning’ theories suggest that VR could be ineffective (or even detrimental) if important differences (e.g. perceptual deficiencies) exist between practice and real task performance conditions. Nevertheless, ‘structural learning’ theories suggest VR could be a useful training tool, despite these deficiencies, because a trainee can still learn the underlying structure of the behaviour. We explored these theoretical predictions using golf putting as an exemplar skill.MethodIn Experiment 1 we used a repeated measures design to assess putting accuracy (radial error) and quiet eye duration of expert golfers (n = 18) on real putts before and after 40 VR ‘warm up’ putts. In Experiment 2, novice golfers (n = 40) were assigned to either VR or real-world putting training. Putting accuracy and quiet eye durations were then assessed on a real-world retention test.ResultsBoth visual guidance (quiet eye) and putting accuracy were disrupted temporarily when moving from VR to real putting (Experiment 1). However, real-world and VR practice produced comparable improvements in putting accuracy in novice golfers (Experiment 2).ConclusionOverall, the results suggest that: (i) underlying skill structures can be learned in VR and transferred to the real-world; (ii) perceptual deficiencies will place limits on the use of VR. These findings demonstrate the challenges and opportunities for VR as a training tool, and emphasise the need to empirically test the costs and benefits of specific systems before deploying VR training.     

La formation,intervention comprise

Thinking of training as an intervention assumes that an action of training is an integral and integrated part of the dynamics involved in production of work. This conception of training locates the action of the trainer at the articulation social and individual dimensions, integrating the demands of work without as much to neglect the development of people and collectives. It becomes a trainer-consultant, who connects and moves the work to be done, the subjects that do it and the contexts where action is required. In this article, we propose to develop this concept of intervention training. from an intervention chronicle where the presentation of the order then the conduct of the training action will serve as support to clarify the links between training and intervention and the complexities that they contain for the trainer. Before we return briefly to some elements of the history of this professionalism and its relationship to the intervention.