Gaming magazines and the drive for muscularity in preadolescent boys: a longitudinal examination

The development of a drive for muscularity among boys has been linked to various cultural influences, one of which is exposure to mass media depicting the muscular male body ideal. We sought to determine whether self-reported exposure to four ideal-body magazine genres (health/fitness, fashion, sports, and gaming) predicted an increased drive for muscularity 1 year later. A sample of 104 Black and 77 White preadolescent boys (mean age 8.77) participated in a 2-wave longitudinal panel study. Controlling Wave 1 grade, perceived thinness/adiposity, and drive for muscularity, exposure to video gaming magazines predicted a significant increase in Wave 2 drive for muscularity, but only for White boys. Discussion calls for the inclusion of video gaming magazine exposure measures in future research on print media and male body ideals, along with empirical exploration of racial themes in gaming magazines.     

Psychological needs,purpose in life,and problem video game playing among Chinese young adults

The negative impacts of excessive and problematic video game playing on both children and adults are attracting increasing concern. Based on self‐determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2000), this study hypothesized that the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are positively associated with purpose in life, which in turn acts as a protective factor against problem video game playing among Chinese young adult players. Through a questionnaire survey with a sample of 165 Chinese adults aged between 18 and 30 years (mean age = 22.7 years), we found that perceived autonomy, competence, relatedness, and purpose in life were all negatively correlated with problem game playing. The demographic and psychological factors explained 38% of the variances of problem game playing. Specifically, gender, perceived relatedness, and purpose in life emerged as the three most salient predictors of problem game playing among the Chinese young adults. The mediating role of purpose in life was evidenced and it was found that purpose in life mediated the influences of the psychological needs proposed by SDT on problem game playing. Moreover, young men were significantly more susceptible to problem game playing than their female counterparts. To conclude, psychological needs and purpose in life influenced Chinese young adults’ vulnerability to problem game playing directly or indirectly. Intervention programs that encourage social involvement and voluntary work, as well as counseling service that helps clients to search for life purpose, are suggested for intervening in problem game playing among Chinese young adults.     

Webcam testing: Validation of an innovative open-ended multimedia test

A modern test that takes advantage of the opportunities provided by advancements in computer technology is the multimedia test. The purpose of this study was to investigate the criterion-related validity of a specific open-ended multimedia test, namely a webcam test, by means of a concurrent validity study. In a webcam test a number of work-related situations are presented and participants have to respond as if these were real work situations. The responses are recorded with a webcam. The aim of the webcam test which we investigated is to measure the effectiveness of social work behaviour. This first field study on a webcam test was conducted in an employment agency in The Netherlands. The sample consisted of 188 consultants who participated in a certification process. For the webcam test, good interrater reliabilities and internal consistencies were found. The results showed the webcam test to be significantly correlated with job placement success. The webcam test scores were also found to be related to job knowledge. Hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that the webcam test has incremental validity up to and beyond job knowledge in predicting job placement success. The webcam test, therefore, seems a promising type of instrument for personnel selection.     

Using perceptual home-training to improve anticipation skills of soccer goalkeepers

ObjectiveThis study aims to test the effectiveness of a perceptual training concerning the anticipatory skills of soccer goalkeepers, by assessing their performances while engaged in predicting the direction of penalty kicks.DesignForty-two skilled goalkeepers were randomly assigned to three training groups: Experimental, placebo, and control. All the groups were tested at the beginning of the experiment and re-tested after a period of eight weeks.MethodThe pre-test consisted of the presentation of temporally occluded videos of penalties recorded from the goalkeeper's perspective, and participants had to predict the direction of the ball. The experimental group practiced with an interactive home-training, based on video analogous to those of the test, with the addition of both positive and negative feedback. The placebo group viewed television footage of penalty kick shoot-outs. Participants of both groups were free to schedule their own training/placebo sessions. Finally, the control group did not receive any treatment.ResultsThe results demonstrated the effectiveness of the home-training protocol, evidencing significant accuracy improvements between pre-test and post-test only for the experimental group.ConclusionsThe outcomes indicate that skilled athletes can benefit from perceptual training, which was not investigated before among soccer goalkeepers. Indeed, all the previous training studies concerning soccer penalty predictions were run on participants with either recreational or no goalkeeping experience at all. Moreover, the present training protocol is innovative because learners can schedule training sessions on their own. Finally, its usability suggests numerous potential applications.     

Remote identification of psychophysiological parameters for a cognitive-emotional conflict

The contradiction between the conscious and emotional assessment of situations often arises when there is a discrepancy between reality and ideal view. The purpose of this study is to identify a system of remotely diagnosed parameters (by video recording using Skype tools), which can objectively indicate the presence of a cognitive-emotional conflict during a dialogue. The current study has become particularly relevant in the COVID-19 environment, where face-to-face communication is limited, and all interactions must occur in a remote online format. In such an environment, the identification of formal signs indicating latent conflicts in online interactions comes to the fore. To stimulate an outburst and fix the cognitive-emotional conflict remotely, various schemes were used: interviews based on the self-attitude technique, discussions based on the transactional analysis model, free reasoning about situations that were selected by the age, and other parameters of participants, as well as watching video clips with an unexpected end. For automatic marking of people's emotional reactions in video data, a computer program was developed using neural network algorithms based on VGG16.Furthermore, the neural network for emotion recognition was pretrained based on open sources by the P. Ekman FACS model. Finally, video recordings were marked according to the expert assessment results regarding the presence of cognitive-emotional conflict. We conducted 27 interviews with the participation of both genders, including ten high school students (from 12 to 17 years old), a total of 338,075 frames were received. As a result, it was found that the two facial expression parameters identified by the program reliably distinguish the presence of a cognitive-emotional conflict. Furthermore, in all the studied schemes of telecommunication dialogue, the «happy» parameter was significantly more pronounced in a situation of conflict.     

Digit ratios and preferences for aggressive content in entertainment

Digit ratios (2D:4D) contain information concerning an individual’s propensity towards aggression. Our study adds the first clue to better understanding the relationship between 2D:4D and exposure to aggressive contents in entertainment products. Our findings suggest that individuals with low 2D:4D prefer aggressive contents such as action films, sports telecast, killing and achieving games, hip-hop music, and erotic video clips rather than do individuals with high 2D:4D. Also individuals with low 2D:4D tend to demonstrate less preference for romance films than individuals with high 2D:4D. In addition, we found that low 2D:4D was associated with a preference for sports instead of other genres of entertainment products. Therefore, 2D:4D (a putative correlate of prenatal sex steroids) helps us to better understand the rationale of individuals’ preferences for media violence.     

Movement Control Strategies in a Dynamic Balance Task in Children With and Without Developmental Coordination Disorder

Abstract

Our study aimed to analyze movement control strategies using predefined criteria for amplitude and differences in these strategies between children with and without DCD. Children with (n?=?28) and without DCD (n?=?15) were included. A video-observation-tool was used to score the moving body parts during a Wii Fit slalom task over multiple time points. Two-step cluster analysis was used to extract distinct movement strategies. Two different movement strategies were identified that were independently validated by a measure of task performance and a subjective mark of quality of the movement. Initial differences between groups and changes over time toward the more successful strategy were found in both groups, albeit in a different percentage. This study shows that the more efficient movement strategy is seen in the majority of the TD children and only in a small number of children with DCD, even after practice.     

Psychological and physiological stress in non-competitive and competitive esports settings: A systematic review

ObjectivesCompetition is related to psychophysiological stress responses and is a key aspect of esports. Yet, while competition may indeed have an impact on performance, little is known about competition-related psychophysical stress responses in esports. Accordingly, this review aims to investigate whether playing esports in competitive (and non-competitive) settings is related to psychological and/or physiological stress.DesignA systematic literature review was performed. Study inclusion criteria included: assessment of psychological and/or physiological stress in esports, study of healthy individuals over 12 years of age, and published in peer-reviewed journals in English or German.MethodThe literature search comprised EBSCOhost, PubMed, and Web of Science up until August 2019. An additional search was performed on Science Direct, Google Scholar, and Sponet.ResultsSeventeen studies met inclusion criteria. In publications investigating the non-competitive setting, it can be assumed that merely playing esports games is unrelated to psychophysiological stress reactions. While three out of five studies on stress in competitive settings demonstrated no hormonal reaction, one study reported an increase in anxiety levels in winners as well as an increase cortisol levels from baseline to postgame conditions, and two studies found an activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Overall, the studies revealed theoretical and methodological limitations, which are discussed in the present review.ConclusionsAlthough the existing literature contributes to an initial understanding of psychophysiological stress in esports, further in-depth studies of stress responses in actual competition are needed.     

Video game preferences and their relation to career interests

The current study used an mTURK sample to determine if there is a relation between video game preferences and career interests. Previous research has found that individual (e.g., personality) differences influence gaming preferences (Zammitto, 2001) and we sought to extend these findings to the domain of career interests. In addition, we examined the potential moderating role of gender. Since researchers have found that gender disparities in spatial attention can be reduced by playing certain types of video games (Feng, Spence, & Pratt, 2007), and it has been demonstrated that spatial ability is an important predictor of success in careers where women are typically underrepresented (Blickenstaff, 2005), we predicted that women with a preference for these types of games (versus a general preference) may have more interest in these careers. We found that gaming motivations were differentially associated with career interests. In addition, gender was found to significantly moderate a number of these relations, such that the association between gaming tendencies and career interests was stronger for women than for men. Findings from the current study should help guide future research that aims to increase the representation of women in STEM careers.