Atmospheres of street performance in Taipei: Affect and emotion as dynamic,simultaneous, more-than-representational experiences

Studies of street performance have highlighted its potential for creating vibrant and inclusive urban places, yet have largely neglected its atmospheric, affectual and emotional dimensions. Building on a growing body of work on atmospheres and dynamics of affect and emotion, I examine the formation of atmospheres by street performances in Taipei and its affectual and emotional resonance on space and people. I used an experimental more-than-representational methodology, including implementing a live survey questionnaire through the audience's smartphones during a performance. An atmosphere of street performance is generated through the lively interactions between the street performer, members of the audience, performance objects and the wider urban environment. Performance objects and the urban streetscape are vitalised as part of street performance, and have excessive potential in producing atmospheres. The spatio-temporal dimension of performance atmosphere is significant in generating memories and creating a therapeutic atmospheric space, experienced affectually and emotionally. I suggest that it would be helpful to see atmosphere and its affectual and emotional impact as dynamic, simultaneous experiences that people encounter as they are enmeshed within an atmosphere, such as in more-than-individual experiences or unexpected events. Within a changing atmosphere, there are multiple layers of affective and emotional outcomes, whether felt and emerging individually, and/or felt and emerging collectively.     

One Roof,Three Generations: Grandparental Co-residence and Child Outcomes in China

This study examined the association between grandparental co-residence and child academic and behavioral outcomes using a sample from Shanghai, China (n = 1,763), and was built on two theoretical perspectives: intergenerational solidarity theory and the contextual model of family stress. These models integrate the impact of residential and relational proximity to grandparents on child well-being and underscore the importance of family context. This study also explored the moderating effects of family resources using proxies that prior theoretical and empirical studies have found to be important to such associations: family income, parental education, hukou status, and subjective social status. Results indicated that among families without co-residing grandparents, rural and low-income parents reported their children to have more externalizing behavioral issues than their respective urban and non-low-income counterparts. In addition, children who resided in poorly resourced families (i.e., low family income, low parental education, low subjective social status, or rural hukou status) tended to benefit from living with grandparents compared to their well-resourced counterparts in terms of lower externalizing and internalizing behaviors reported by teachers. These results do not negate the potential beneficial effects of living with grandparents for children in well-resourced environments. Implications for practice and policy, as well as future research directions, are discussed.     

Bilateral Transcranial Direct Stimulation Over the Primary Motor Cortex Alters Motor Modularity of Multiple Muscles

Abstract

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) has been demonstrated to modulate the motor performance of both healthy individuals and patients with neuromuscular disorders. However, the effect of tDCS on motor control of multiple muscles, which is a prerequisite to change in motor performance, is currently unknown. Using dimensionality reduction analysis, we investigated whether bilateral tDCS over M1 modulates the coordinated activity of 12 muscles. Fifteen healthy men participated in this randomized, double-blind crossover study. Each participant received a 20-min sham and 2-mA stimulation bilaterally over M1 (anode on the right M1 and cathode on the left M1), with a minimum washout period of 4?days. Muscle activation and end-point kinematics were evaluated during a task where participants reached out to a marked target with non-dominant hand as fast as possible, before and immediately after tDCS application. We found decreased similarity in motor modularity and significant changes in muscle activation in a specific motor module, particularly when reaching out to a target placed within arm’s length and improved smoothness index of movement only following 2-mA stimulation. These findings indicate that clinicians and researchers need to consider the simultaneous effect of bilateral tDCS over M1 on multiple muscles when they establish tDCS protocol to change in motor performance of patients with neuromuscular deficits.     

The effect of behavioral skills training on shot performance in field hockey

Behavior analysis procedures have been used to improve sports performance and enhance player safety across a wide variety of sports. The current study evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training on three common field hockey shots, a slap shot, drive, and sweep for young field hockey players. The procedures were evaluated in a multiple baseline across behaviors for three players. Results showed increases in each type of shot once intervention was implemented.     

Intelligence culturelle comme prédicteur de la performance au travail en expatriation : rôle médiateur de l’ajustement culturel

The present study aims at testing the effects of cultural intelligence (metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioural facets) onto job performance in expatriation (dimensions relevant to task, effort demonstration, leadership, discipline maintenance, communication, administrative and managerial responsibilities) mediated by cross-cultural adjustment (global, interactional and job facets). Data are collected via an electronic survey administered to French expatriates (N = 201) and further processed in SPSS 20.0 and Lisrel 8.80. An output latent variable model globally confirms a mediation hypothesis and leads to a number of original findings. Namely, motivational and behavioural facets of cultural intelligence have the largest effect onto job performance in expatriation, while metacognitive facet has no effect at all. As regards job performance itself, the task dimension is the least dependent upon cultural intelligence and cross-cultural adjustment as compared to job performance aspects relevant to workplace relationships and team management (e.g., communication or leadership performance). The results are discussed in terms of their novelty and several research perspectives are proposed.     

The effect of the emotional state on driving performance in a simulated car-following task

Emotion is an important factor that influences driving behavior, but the mechanism is unclear. This research explored the effect of the emotional state on simulated driving behavior. Thirty-five licensed drivers participated in this study and completed a car-following task. The angry, happy and neutral states were manipulated during the task. The participants’ driving performance and risk perception were recorded under each emotional state. Trait anger and driving experience were also measured to explore the possible mediating effect. The results showed that the drivers in an angry or happy emotional state tended to maintain less time to collision and take a longer time to brake while following a lead vehicle than the drivers under the neutral condition, suggesting that drivers in emotional states are more dangerous those in neutral states. Moreover, the happy state rendered the drivers more dangerous, which manifested as a lower perceived accident risk than that among the drivers in the angry and neutral states. More specifically, experienced drivers in happy states performed worse with respect to vehicle lateral position control. Recommendations and implications for safety education and further research are discussed.     

The impact of cognitive functioning on driving performance of older persons in comparison to younger age groups: A systematic review

Older drivers are at a severely higher risk for motor vehicle crash involvement. Due to the global aging of the population, this increased crash risk has a significant impact on society, as well as on an older individual’s quality of life. For this reason, there is a need for understanding how normal age-related changes in cognition and underlying brain dynamics impact driving performance to identify the functional and neurophysiological biomarkers that could be used to design strategies to preserve or improve safe driving behavior in older persons. This review provides an overview of the literature on age-related changes in cognitive functioning and brain dynamics that impact driving simulator performance of healthy persons. A systematic literature search spanning the last ten years was conducted, resulting in 22 eligible studies. Results indicated that various aspects of cognition, most importantly executive function, complex attention, and dual tasking, were associated with driving performance, irrespective of age. However, there was a distinct age-related decline in cognitive and driving performance. Older persons had a more variable, less consistent driving simulator performance, such as more variable speed adaptation or less consistent lane keeping behavior. Only a limited number of studies evaluated the underlying brain dynamics in driving performance. Therefore, future studies should focus on implementing neuroimaging techniques to further unravel the neural correlates of driving performance.     

The power of nonverbal behavior: Penalty-takers’ body language influences impression formation and anticipation performance in goalkeepers in a simulated soccer penalty task

Previous research showed that penalty-takers’ body language affects the impressions goalkeepers form about them. Furthermore, it is often assumed that body language influences goalkeepers’ performance. However, as yet, there is no empirical evidence that indicates whether this latter effect exists. The present research was aimed at (1) replicating and offering more insight in the initial impression formation effects (Experiment 1-3) and (2) providing evidence that signals of dominance and submissiveness affect participants’ anticipation performance within a simulated soccer penalty task (Experiment 3). We report three experiments demonstrating that participants form more positive impressions and have less confidence in saving penalty kicks from dominant penalty-takers (or scoring against dominant goalkeepers, Experiment 1) than submissive penalty-takers (goalkeepers). However, we did not find evidence that participants’ automatic associations with dominant and submissive players underlie these findings (Experiment 2). Finally, we demonstrate that anticipation of kick direction is influenced by penalty-takers’ body language (Experiment 3). Participants performed worse in the simulated soccer penalty task against dominant than submissive penalty-takers. No mediation of impression formation was found.     

The effects of attentional shift training on the execution of soccer skills: A preliminary investigation

One of the most important skills in soccer is the ability to respond quickly and accurately to the changing demands of the competitive environment (i.e., position of ball, teammates, opponents). A multiple baseline design across 4 male collegiate soccer players was used to determine the effectiveness of an attentional training program on the execution of targeted soccer skills. The treatment included information and laboratory attentional shift exercises followed by practice of attentional shifting skills on the execution of different soccer exercises. Following treatment, the accuracy of execution of the experimental soccer drill improved.