Motor expertise and performance in spatial tasks: A meta-analysis

The present study aimed to provide a summary of findings relevant to the influence of motor expertise on performance in spatial tasks and to examine potential moderators of this effect. Studies of relevance were those in which individuals involved in activities presumed to require motor expertise were compared to non-experts in such activities. A final set of 62 effect sizes from 33 samples was included in a multilevel meta-analysis. The results showed an overall advantage in favor of motor experts in spatial tasks (d = 0.38). However, the magnitude of that effect was moderated by expert type (athlete, open skills/ball sports, runner/cyclist, gymnast/dancers, musicians), stimulus type (2D, blocks, bodies, others), test category (mental rotation, spatial perception, spatial visualization), specific test (Mental Rotations Test, generic mental rotation, disembedding, rod-and-frame test, other), and publication status. These findings are discussed in the context of embodied cognition and the potential role of activities requiring motor expertise in promoting good spatial performance.     

No blank slates: Pre-existing schemas about pharmaceuticals predict memory for side effects

Objectives: Attribution of symptoms as medication side effects is informed by pre-existing beliefs about medicines and perceptions of personal sensitivity to their effects (pharmaceutical schemas). We tested whether (1) pharmaceutical schemas were associated with memory (recall/recognition) for side effect information (2) memory explained the attribution of a common unrelated symptom as a side effect.

Design: In this analogue study participants saw the patient leaflet of a fictitious asthma drug listing eight side effects.

Main outcome measures: We measured recall and recognition memory for side effects and used a vignette to test whether participants attributed an unlisted common symptom (headache) as a side effect.

Results: Participants who perceived pharmaceuticals as more harmful in general recalled fewer side effects correctly (r_{Correct Recall} = ?.273), were less able to differentiate between listed and unlisted side effects (r_{Recognition Sensitivity} = ?.256) and were more likely to attribute the unlisted headache symptom as a side effect (r_{side effect attribution} = .381, ps < .01). The effect of harm beliefs on side effect attribution was partially mediated by correct recall of side effects.

Conclusion: Pharmaceutical schemas are associated with memory for side effect information. Memory may explain part of the association between pharmaceutical schemas and the attribution of unrelated symptoms as side effects.     

Transitivity,Space, and Hand: The Spatial Grounding of Syntax

Previous research has linked the concept of number and other ordinal series to space via a spatially oriented mental number line. In addition, it has been shown that in visual scene recognition and production, speakers of a language with a left‐to‐right orthography respond faster to and tend to draw images in which the agent of an action is located to the left of the patient. In this study, we aim to bridge these two lines of research by employing a novel method that measures the spatial bias produced by transitive sentences that use a wide variety of abstract and concrete verbs. Across four experiments, participants read sentences and then responded to probe words appearing on either the left or right sides of the screen. Probe words consisted of agents, patients, other words in the sentence, or newly encountered words. We found consistent lateral biases to responding to agents and patients, which appears to be independent of order of mention in the sentence but which does reflect a correspondence between position in the sentence and role in the causal sequence of the action. Our results also show that this spatial bias is driven by the use of the hands in two different ways: The left hand shows a greater sensitivity to the spatial effect than the right hand, and vocal responses produce no spatial effect.     

Dealing with Big Numbers: Representation and Understanding of Magnitudes Outside of Human Experience

Being able to estimate quantity is important in everyday life and for success in the STEM disciplines. However, people have difficulty reasoning about magnitudes outside of human perception (e.g., nanoseconds, geologic time). This study examines patterns of estimation errors across temporal and spatial magnitudes at large scales. We evaluated the effectiveness of hierarchical alignment in improving estimations, and transfer across dimensions. The activity was successful in increasing accuracy for temporal and spatial magnitudes, and learning transferred to the estimation of numeric magnitudes associated with events and objects. However, there were also a number of informative differences in performance on temporal, spatial, and numeric magnitude measures, suggesting that participants possess different categorical information for these scales. Educational implications are discussed.     

Measuring adult indirect aggression: The development and psychometric assessment of the indirect aggression scales

This paper describes the development of a psychometric measure of indirect aggression for use in an adult population. Items were generated from a series of qualitative interviews. Two versions of the scale were developed; the Indirect Aggression Scale Aggressor version (IAS‐A) and Target version (IAS‐T). Both versions of the scale were administered to separate samples (n_A=294; n_T=294). Scales were analysed using item analysis of internal consistency, as well as exploratory factor analysis. Both versions were found to have the same consistent three sub‐scales: social exclusion, use of malicious humour, and guilt induction. Preliminary psychometric evaluation suggests that the scales are both sufficiently reliable (with Cronbach's alphas ranging from .81 to .89) and valid. There were no gender differences in either using or being the victim of indirect aggression, and the behaviour was significantly negatively correlated with age. Future validation and potential usage of the measures are discussed. Aggress. Behav. 31:1–14, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The Dimensionality of Right-Wing Authoritarianism: Lessons from the Dilemma between Theory and Measurement

The RWA Scale ( Altemeyer, 1981 , 1988 , 1996 ) is commonly regarded as the best measure of right-wing authoritarianism. The one-dimensional instrument assesses the covariation of three attitudinal clusters: authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression, and conventionalism. The incongruence between the implicit conceptual dimensionality on the one hand and methodological operationalization on the other makes room for discussion about whether it would be advantageous to measure the 3 facets of RWA separately. I rely on three arguments: (1) confirmatory factor analyses showing that three-dimensional scales fit the data better than the conventional one-dimensional practice; (2) the dimensions showing a considerable interdimension discrepancy in their capability to explain validation criteria; and (3) the dimensions showing an intradimensional discrepancy which is dependent upon the research question. The argumentation is illustrated by empirical evidence from several Web-based studies among German Internet users.     

中国人人格七因素量表(QZPS-SF)的信度与效度

本研究的目的是依据中国人人格量表（QZPS）编制一份能够迅速测查人格七个维度的短式七因素量表（QZPS—SF）。根据6000余名被试对QZPS的215个项目的评定分数,通过因素分析确定了七个因素、与QZPS的七个因素对应构成了QZPS—SF。通过被试的自我评定以及他人评定和特殊群体被试（精神分裂症病人、吸毒者以及罪犯）的人格特点比较,显示了QZPS—SF有着良好的信度和效度。文中还对QZPS—SF的应用范围以及注意事项进行了讨论。     

反应风格的测量与统计控制

反应风格是共同方法偏差的主要来源之一。本文首先讨论反应风格的定义和类型,梳理其危害,认为反应风格能使测验分数出现偏差,影响测验信效度分析和变量关系分析,有必要控制其危害。然后介绍了常用的反应风格测量方法,包括计数法和模型法两大类,对测量方法的选择给出了建议,在此基础上,就如何结合反应风格的测量方法与残差回归法、偏相关法来控制反应风格危害给出建议。