Dyadic judgments based on conflicting samples: The failure to ignore invalid input

The present research demonstrates a so far unrecognized impediment of group performance, metacognitive myopia (Fiedler, 2012). Judges and decision-makers follow the given samples of information uncritically and neglect the metacognitive assessment of the samples' validity. Applying this notion to dyadic judgments, we instructed dyads to jointly estimate conditional probabilities p (Win|A) and p (Win|B) of Lotteries A and B. One person per dyad experienced a valid sample (winning rates conditional on lotteries). The other person experienced an invalid, reverse sample (lotteries conditional on winning). Whereas valid samples provide unbiased estimates of lotteries' winning probabilities, invalid samples can greatly misrepresent the association of winning and lotteries (depending on lottery base rates). Across three experiments, metacognitive myopia—both at the individual and at the dyadic group level—prevented participants from discriminating valid and invalid samples. Group judgments were biased toward erroneous implications of invalid samples, reflecting an equality bias among unequal group members.     

Test Review: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV)

Objective: Evaluate neuropsychological functioning in children with non-syndromic cleft of the lip and/or palate (NSCL/P) through profile variance within type of cleft and comparisons to controls.

Methods: Children ages 7 to 17 years participated; 66 had a diagnosis of NSCL/P and 87 were healthy controls. Neuropsychological tests of language, visual-perceptual, executive functioning, and memory skills were administered. Between- and within-group differences were assessed.

Results: Within cleft types, children with NSCLP had an even profile with equal Verbal and Performance IQ (VIQ and PIQ, respectively). Children with non-syndromic cleft palate only (NSCP) had significantly lower VIQ than PIQ, while children with non-syndromic cleft lip only (NSCL) showed a nonsignificant trend for higher VIQ than PIQ. Overall, subjects with NSCL/P performed lower on measures of expressive language and verbal memory than controls.

Conclusions: While deficits in verbal and memory skills for children with NSCL/P remain apparent, there is still uncertainty around the possible influence of cleft type on the pattern of deficits.     

Competitive Dynamics in Forecasting: The Interaction of Skill and Uncertainty

The outcomes in many competitive tasks depend upon both skill and luck. Behavioral theories on risk taking in tournaments indicate that low‐skilled individuals may have incentives to take more risks than high‐skilled ones. We build on these theories and suggest, in addition, that when luck is more important in determining outcomes, the increase in risk taking is larger for low‐skilled than high‐skilled individuals. We test this hypothesis by analyzing stock analysts' forecasts of companies' earnings per share under market conditions that vary in volatility and thus imply different levels of luck in outcomes. Specifically, noting that forecasts that deviate widely from the consensus—which is observable by the analyst—potentially carry career‐related rewards but also reputational risks, we examine the degree of deviation from consensus exhibited by analysts of different skill levels (measured by both past forecasting accuracy and education) in different market conditions. We find that average deviations from consensus increase as markets become more volatile. At the same time, under conditions of high volatility, low‐skilled analysts exhibit larger increases in deviations from consensus than high‐skilled analysts. These field data results support our hypothesis based on of risk taking in tournaments. We discuss alternative interpretations such as, for example, self‐serving attributions and indicate directions for future research. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Quiet Eye Training Improves Small Arms Maritime Marksmanship

Quiet eye training—teaching task-specific gaze control—has been consistently shown to optimize the acquisition of motor skills. The present study aimed to examine the potential benefits of a quiet eye training intervention in a simulated maritime marksmanship task that involved shooting fast approaching moving targets with a decommissioned general-purpose machine gun. Twenty participants were randomly assigned to a quiet eye trained (QET) or technical trained (TT) group and completed 2 baseline, 20 training, and 2 retention trials on the moving-target task. Compared to their TT counterparts, the QET group displayed more effective gaze control (longer quiet eye durations and greater target locking) and more accurate performance (smaller radial error of both the initial shot and average of all shots) at retention. These findings highlight the potential for quiet eye training to be used to support the training of marksmanship skills in military settings.     

Using E-Z Reader to examine the concurrent development of eye-movement control and reading skill

Compared to skilled adult readers, children typically make more fixations that are longer in duration, shorter saccades, and more regressions, thus reading more slowly (Blythe & Joseph, 2011). Recent attempts to understand the reasons for these differences have discovered some similarities (e.g., children and adults target their saccades similarly; Joseph, Liversedge, Blythe, White, & Rayner, 2009) and some differences (e.g., children’s fixation durations are more affected by lexical variables; Blythe, Liversedge, Joseph, White, & Rayner, 2009) that have yet to be explained. In this article, the E-Z Reader model of eye-movement control in reading (Reichle, 2011 and Reichle et al., 1998) is used to simulate various eye-movement phenomena in adults vs. children in order to evaluate hypotheses about the concurrent development of reading skill and eye-movement behavior. These simulations suggest that the primary difference between children and adults is their rate of lexical processing, and that different rates of (post-lexical) language processing may also contribute to some phenomena (e.g., children’s slower detection of semantic anomalies; Joseph et al., 2008). The theoretical implications of this hypothesis are discussed, including possible alternative accounts of these developmental changes, how reading skill and eye movements change across the entire lifespan (e.g., college-aged vs. older readers), and individual differences in reading ability.     

Visual spatial skill: a consequence of learning to read?

Does learning to read influence one’s visual skill? In Study 1, kindergartners from Hong Kong, Korea, Israel, and Spain were tested on word reading and a task of visual spatial skill. Chinese and Korean kindergartners significantly outperformed Israeli and Spanish readers on the visual task. Moreover, in all cultures except Korea, good readers scored significantly higher on the visual task than did less good readers. In Study 2, we followed 215 Hong Kong Chinese kindergartners across 1 year, with word reading and visual skills tested twice. In this study, word reading at Time 1 by itself predicted 13% of unique variance in visual skill at Time 2. Together, these results underscore the potential importance of the process of learning to read for shaping one’s visual spatial skill development.     

大中学生英语阅读的元认知策略发展及其民族差异比较

采用英语阅读的元认知意识问卷对云南省大学生,昆明汉族、丽江地区的纳西族和彝族中学生进行测查。结果表明：(1)大中学生英语阅读的元认知策略水平随着年级的升高呈现出提高的趋势,从中学到大学是元认知策略水平快速发展的时期;(2)男女大中学生英语阅读的元认知策略水平整体上具有一致性,但在中学阶段却呈现出女生略优于男生的趋势,到了大学,男女两性发展基本平衡;(3)汉族与纳西族中学生英语阅读的元认知策略水平整体上具有一致性,彝族中学生英语阅读的元认知策略水平呈现出优于汉族和纳西族的趋势。     

Relationships among motor skill,perceived self-competence,fitness, and physical activity in young adults

PurposeThis large-scale, exploratory study sought to examine the associations between motor skill proficiency (MSP), perceived self-competence (PC), physical fitness (PF), and self-reported physical activity (PA) to assess the assumption that relationships among these variables found in childhood and adolescence persist into young-adulthood. Specifically, predictors of PF and PA were assessed. Additionally, the contributions body mass index (BMI) and gender made to these relationships, as well as that of process- versus product-oriented motor skills data, were studied. Finally, how these relationships differed by gender was explored.MethodsParticipants’ (n = 448) MSP was assessed using select measures from the TGMD-2 and the BOT-2, while PF was evaluated using the FitnessGram. Participants also completed surveys to assess PC (SPPCS), PA (past-week MAQ), and demographic information. Height and weight were collected to calculate BMI.ResultsModels predicting physical fitness had good fit to the observed data, with perceived athletic competence, locomotor skill, upper-limb coordination, BMI, and gender accounting for about 75% (R² = 0.748) of aerobic PF variance and about 48% (R² = 0.476) of variance in push-up performances. About 18% (R² = 0.178) of variance in curl-up performances was predicted by perceived athletic competence, locomotor skill, upper-limb coordination, and PA. The PA model demonstrated weaker predictive power, with only about 10% (R² = 0.097) of variance explained. When considering male and female models separately, female models demonstrated better fit when predicting all PF and PA outcome variables. BMI and gender operated as significant predictors to differing degrees across the various models.ConclusionsThere is compelling evidence to believe relationships found among MSP, PC, PF, and PA in childhood and adolescence also exist in early adulthood. However, differences in the roles of gender and physical fitness versus physical activity are likely to exist.