Étude des stratégies d’adultes présentant un retard mental dans la résolution de la Twenty Questions Task

A Twenty Questions problem solving Task was given to 30 mentally retarded adults, 30 mentally nonretarded adults matched on chronological age, and 12 mentally nonretarded children matched on cognitive efficiency. Four strategies were identified on the basis of a subject-by-subject analysis. Results showed group differences of frequency in the use of the strategies. Moreover, results indicated that the more frequent strategy used by the mentally retarded adults is the one which consists in identifying the categories without using them to efficiently reduce the problem space. The interpretation of the results as reflecting a conceptual deficit or a chronicle cognitive sub-functioning of the mentally retarded adults depicted in the literature is discussed.     

Performance expectations,personal resources,and job resources: How do they predict work engagement?

Research on work engagement has mainly focused on the role of job and personal resources and has ignored the possible impact of personal demands workers develop with regard to their work. The aim of our study was to test the reciprocal relationships that job resources, personal resources, and personal demands, operationalized as performance expectations, share with work engagement. Three-wave longitudinal data were collected in a Belgian public institution (N?=?473). Results confirm the causal effects of job resources, personal resources, and performance expectations on work engagement. Reciprocal relationships are not significant. Results are discussed with regard to the impact of changes in job and personal resources and performance expectations on work engagement. Practical implications including reinforcement of Human Resources practices such as appraisal interviewing and career management are also discussed.     

Exploring the forgetting mechanisms in working memory: Evidence from a reasoning span test

In working memory (WM) span tests participants have to maintain to-be-remembered information while processing other, potentially distracting, information. Previous studies have shown that WM span scores are greater when span lists start with a long processing task and end with a short processing task than when these processing tasks are presented in the reverse order (e.g., Towse, Hitch, & Hutton, 2000). In Experiment 1, we obtained a similar stimulus order effect in a reasoning span test, using reasoning sentences that were equated for length in terms of the number of constituent words, but which differed in processing complexity; span scores were greater when lists began with a complex sentence and ended with a simple sentence than when this stimulus order was reversed. In Experiment 2, the stimulus order effect was not found when processing duration was held constant while sentence complexity was varied using a computer-paced moving window presentation paradigm. These results suggest that duration-based constraints can affect degree of forgetting independently of the load generated during processing phases in WM span performance and therefore imply that time-related forgetting can occur in WM span tests, particularly when the difficulty of the processing component blocks active maintenance of to-be-remembered material.     

How could process-oriented research approaches capture the interplay between training and competition in athlete performance preparation? The contribution of ecological dynamics

Analyses of training or competition environments traditionally tend to adopt a product-oriented perspective through the recording and statistical analysis of performance outcomes. Consequently, most investigations continue to ignore the processes underpinning functional achievement of outcomes, therefore, failing to examine contextual effects of how and why performance evolves. This critical research note highlights the need for sport psychologists, pedagogues, and other applied scientists to consider a range of alternative methodological designs for research to monitor and explain processes inherent to performance preparation. These process-oriented designs require the continuous flow and exchange of performance data between training and competition, mediated by practitioners’ experiential knowledge. We endorse a triangulation of information defined as a ‘competition-coach-training’ triad which needs to be better acknowledged. Redirecting the focus of practice and research away from a product-oriented (driven by broad statistical data patterns), towards a process-oriented perspective (examined through in-depth contextual analyses) may re-calibrate the theory-practice alignment.     

Re-visiting the competence/performance debate in the acquisition of the counting principles

Advocates of the "continuity hypothesis" have argued that innate non-verbal counting principles guide the acquisition of the verbal count list (Gelman & Galistel, 1978). Some studies have supported this hypothesis, but others have suggested that the counting principles must be constructed anew by each child. Defenders of the continuity hypothesis have argued that the studies that failed to support it obscured children's understanding of counting by making excessive demands on their fragile counting skills. We evaluated this claim by testing two-, three-, and four-year-olds both on "easy" tasks that have supported continuity and "hard" tasks that have argued against it. A few noteworthy exceptions notwithstanding, children who failed to show that they understood counting on the hard tasks also failed on the easy tasks. Therefore, our results are consistent with a growing body of evidence that shows that the count list as a representation of the positive integers transcends pre-verbal representations of number.     

A conditional process model of perfectionism,goal-realization,and post-competition mood

Research has recently begun to examine the relationship between multidimensional perfectionism and athletes’ post-competition mood. However, to date, there have been few attempts to examine the interaction between dimensions of perfectionism or model possible explanatory processes. To address these limitations, in the current study we tested a novel conditional process model whereby the relationship between perfectionistic strivings and post-competition affect was mediated by the degree to which goals were considered to have been met (goal-realization) and that this indirect effect was, in turn, moderated by levels of perfectionistic concerns. We tested this model in a sample of 251 athletes who took part in a “Runmageddon” event - a cross-country obstacle race. Athletes completed measures of perfectionism (perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns) before the race and measures of goal-realization and mood (tense arousal, energetic arousal, and hedonic tone) between 24 and 48 h after the race. Analyses revealed that perfectionistic strivings were indirectly linked to a more unpleasant post-competition mood (higher tense arousal and lower hedonic tone) via perceptions of lower goal-realization. In addition, these two indirect effects were statistically significant only when perfectionistic concerns were medium and high. The results support the proposed conditional model and suggest the interplay between dimensions of perfectionism is important for athletes’ post-competition mood, and the level of perfectionistic concerns, especially.     

Maternal mind-mindedness over infants’ first three months

Maternal mind-mindedness refers to mothers’ ability to reflect upon their infants’ mental states and respond appropriately. The present study assessed mind-mindedness longitudinally from the newborn period to the infant age of three months. The study is the first to assess maternal mind-mindedness in the infant’s early life prior to three months (one week, one month, two months, three months). To measure maternal mind-mindedness, mothers’ speech to their infants is coded for mental state comments about the infants’ thoughts, desires, and emotions. Appropriate mind-minded comments are judged to accurately reflect the infants’ mental states; non-attuned mind-minded comments are judged to misinterpret the infants’ mental states. Mothers’ individual stability (rank order stability) and group level continuity (mean level of stability across the infant ages) were assessed. Mothers showed modest temporal stability in both appropriate and non-attuned mind-mindedness over the infants’ first three months. The continuity of mind-mindedness showed that appropriate mind-mindedness increased over the infant ages, but non-attuned mind-mindedness showed no change. In infants’ early lives, mothers’ ability to accurately interpret their infants’ mental states is enhanced as the mother-infant relationship develops and infants become more communicative partners.     

视空间工作记忆和非言语流体智力在小学生数学问题解题中的作用

研究采用3(数学问题类型)×6(视空间工作记忆组别)×2(非言语流体智力水平)三因素混合实验设计,探讨了视空间工作记忆和非言语流体智力对小学生数学问题解题水平的影响。结果表明：（1）视空间工作记忆和非言语智力在小学生数学问题解题中起着重要作用;（2）不同的视空间工作记忆成分对不同类型的数学问题解决的影响是不同的,被动同时性视空间工作记忆容量是解决心算问题的显著预测变量,主动视空间工作记忆是几何应用题解决中的一个显著预测变量,被动序列视空间工作记忆是文字应用题解决中一个显著的预测变量;（3）在视空间工作记忆对数学问题解决水平的影响上,非言语流体智力起到了中介作用。     

Examining the relationships between self‐efficacy,task‐relevant attentional control,and task performance: Evidence from event‐related brain potentials

Self‐efficacy (SE) is a modifiable psychosocial factor related to individuals’ beliefs in their capabilities to successfully complete courses of action and has been shown to be positively associated with task performance. The authors hypothesized that one means through which SE is related with improved performance is through enhanced task‐relevant attentional control during task execution. To assess this hypothesis, we examined the relationships between SE and behavioural and neural indices of task performance and task‐relevant attentional control for 76 young adults during the completion of a flanker task. Results showed that greater SE was associated with greater response accuracy and P3b amplitude across task conditions, and faster RT under more difficult task conditions. Additionally, P3b amplitude was found to mediate the relationship between SE and task performance in the difficult condition. These findings suggest that greater attentional allocation to task‐relevant processes, including monitoring stimulus‐response relationships and focusing attention on working memory operations, may help explain the association between SE and improved task performance.     

A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale for adult and adolescent athletes

ObjectivesThe Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS; Petróczi & Aidman, 2009) is an extensively used questionnaire to assess doping attitudes among adult and adolescent athletes. To date, however, there is limited evidence to support the structure of the PEAS with either adult or adolescent athletes. The aim of this paper was to assess the factor structure of the PEAS with adult and adolescent athletes.DesignCross-sectional.MethodsOne thousand, one-hundred and fifty-four athletes, who were aged between 12 and 68 years (M age = 21.76 years, SD = 7.68) completed the PEAS in the presence of a research assistant. We subjected the data to Confirmatory Factor Analysis.ResultsThe original 17-item PEAS displayed a poor model among the overall sample, and with the sub-samples of adult and adolescent athletes. The 11-item, 8-item, and 6-item versions of the PEAS, which were used in previous studies, provided a better fit than the original 17-item PEAS. The 8-item version of the PEAS demonstrated the best fit for adults, but no model exhibited a good fit with adolescent athletes.ConclusionsScholars could consider using the 8-item version of the PEAS with adults. Our data, however, infers that researchers should use the PEAS with caution to assess doping attitudes among adolescent athletes, due to the poor model fit of all versions tested. The accurate assessment of attitudes towards doping among adolescent athletes requires questionnaires specifically designed for this population, and grounded in an appropriate theoretical framework.