Confort des élèves et performance du bâtiment scolaire

Schools today are designed above all as educational tools and do not always take sufficient account of the physical parameters that are nevertheless environmental factors that have an impact on the capacity to read and concentrate. The aim of our study is to compare the comfort perceived by children in two schools, one with traditional design, the other with a modern design. Two types of tool were used: (a) an analytical study of the plans of the two schools, and (b) a survey using questionnaires completed by 232 elementary school children (8-10 years old). We discuss the results showing that the children in the school with a modern design had higher scores on the “Disturbance” dimension, and on “Privacy”.     

Decision-specific reinvestment scale: An exploration of its construct validity,and association with stress and coping appraisals

ObjectiveThis research project aimed to explore the construct validity of the Decision-Specific Reinvestment Scale (DSRS); more specifically, its links with stress and coping appraisals.DesignStudy 1 validated the DSRS and the Movement-Specific Reinvestment Scale (MSRS) to the French language, in order to examine the construct validity of the DSRS using the MSRS, the Preference for Intuition and Deliberation (PID) inventory and the Melbourne Decision-Making Questionnaire (MDMQ). In addition, sex differences in reinvestment were investigated. Study 2 examined stress and coping appraisals of high and low reinvesters.MethodIn study 1, 379 athletes completed the DSRS, MSRS, PID, and MDMQ. In study 2, 100 handball players, classified as low and high reinvesters, completed surveys aimed to assess stressor intensity, stressor perceived controllability, coping effectiveness, subjective performance and coping strategies with the Coping Inventory for Competitive Sport over three games.ResultsIn study 1, we found that intuitive athletes scored lower on the DSRS in comparison to deliberative athletes, whilst no difference was found for the MSRS. Convergent and discriminant validity was illustrated with the subscales of the MDMQ. No sex differences were found regarding reinvestment. In study 2, findings showed that low reinvesters scored higher than high reinvesters in terms of stressor perceived controllability, coping effectiveness and subjective performance.DiscussionIn addition to confirmation of construct validity, these findings strengthen our understanding of how high decision reinvesters perceive a pressured situation. Key applications are derived from our findings informing coaches and athletes in offsetting the negative effects of reinvestment on sport performance.     

Towards a new approach to detect sleepiness: Validation of the objective sleepiness scale under simulated driving conditions

The Objective Sleepiness Scale (OSS) was developed to detect and quantify sleepiness on the basis of two direct and reliable sleepiness indicators: EEG and EOG. The present study aims to test whether the OSS can be used to detect sleepiness episodes that impair performance on driving and vigilance tasks accurately and with a good time synchronization. Forty-three healthy volunteers performed monotonous driving sessions on a simulator and the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) in a normal sleep condition and after partial sleep deprivation. OSS reliability and time synchronization for sleepiness detection were tested on driving (standard deviation of vehicle lateral position and off-road duration) and PVT (reaction time and lapses). Inter-rater reliability of the scale was evaluated by two blinded scorers. Results show that the OSS score indicates higher sleepiness in sleep deprivation conditions (p < 0.001) and with time-on-task. Differences of performance between OSS score calculated with multiple pairwise comparisons, indicate OSS score increase when driving performance (SDLP and off-road duration) decreases (p < 0.001 for comparisons between OSS stages 0 vs 2, 0 vs 3, 1 vs 2 and p < 0.05 for 1 vs 3). Reaction time during PVT is also related to the OSS score (p < 0.05 for OSS values from 0 to 2, 0 to 3, 1 to 2 and 1 to 3). There is no proportional relation between OSS score and performance impairment, but a threshold effect between levels 1 and 2 of the scale is observed. Positive outcomes are also obtained for time synchronization of the OSS assessed on driving performance (p < 0.001 for both SDLP and off-road duration). Finally, inter-rater agreement is found to be considerable. The results allow us to consider using the Objective Sleepiness Scale as a tool for research on sleepiness.     

Other road users’ adaptations to increase safety in response to older drivers’ behaviour

Changes in physical and cognitive abilities not only challenge the driving ability of older adults, in some situations age-related changes in driving behaviour require other road users to adapt their behaviour to maintain a safe traffic situation. In this study, we aimed to map age-related differences in driving behaviour and assess the impact on other road users. A group younger and a group older adults drove four different routes containing challenging situations (e.g., merging into motorway traffic) in a driving simulator while measures of driving behaviour were collected. Other road users’ deceleration responses to the driver’s behaviour were also collected as a measure of behavioural adaptation. Our results showed similar driving performance between young and older drivers when task complexity was low, but reduced performance in older drivers when tasks requirements increased. Lower driving speed and longer waiting times that were observed in older drivers can be interpreted as compensatory behaviour aimed at creating more time to lower task requirements. Crucially, in a non-time critical situation this compensatory behaviour was found to be successful, however in a time-critical situation (merging onto a motorway) this strategy had negative side effects because other road users had to decelerate in order to keep a safe distance. Our results show the importance of anticipation and adaptation by other road users for the success of older driver’s strategies and traffic safety.     

Evaluating the influence of approaching vehicles on pedestrian’s visual patterns and crossing behaviors at an uncontrolled crosswalk

The visual behaviors and movement characteristics of pedestrians are related to their surrounding potential safety hazards, such as approaching vehicles. This study primarily aimed to investigate the visual patterns and walking behaviors of pedestrians interacting with approaching vehicles. Field experiments were conducted at two uncontrolled crosswalks located at the Cuihua and Yanta roads in Xi’an, China. The visual performance of pedestrians was assessed using the eye tracking system from SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI). Moreover, motion trajectories of the pedestrians and approaching vehicles were obtained using an unmanned aerial vehicle. Subsequently, the visual attributes and movement trajectories of pedestrians and motion trajectories of approaching vehicles were statistically analyzed. The results showed that approaching vehicles distracted the fixation of crossing pedestrians significantly, and occupied 29.5% of the total duration of fixation; that is, pedestrians always directed more fixation points to the approaching vehicles compared to other stimuli. As a vehicle approached, pedestrians’ fixation shifted from other areas of interest to the vehicle. Moreover, an increase in the velocity of the vehicle and a closer distance between pedestrian and the vehicle resulted in an increase in the pedestrians’ duration of fixation on the approaching vehicle, and they implemented more saccades. Furthermore, approaching vehicle’s velocity and distance between pedestrian and approaching vehicle are not significantly associated with pedestrian’s movement attributes. These findings provide insights into the crossing behavior of pedestrians during pedestrian-vehicle interactions, which could assist future researchers and policy makers.     

Perceived parental pressure and perceived coach pressure in adolescent and adult sport

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate whether adolescent and adult athletes’ perceptions of interpersonal perfectionistic performance pressures from parents and coaches differ as a function of athlete age.DesignA cross-sectional repeated-measures design was employed.MethodA total of 1544 youth sport athletes (M age = 15.44 years; SD = 2.12) and 1706 adult sport athletes (M age = 20.80 years; SD = 2.09) provided self-report levels of perceived parental pressure (PPP) and perceived coach pressure (PCP) in sport.ResultsStatistically significant interaction effects (ps < .001) were obtained from two repeated-measures analyses of variance. Interaction effects indicated that PPP tended to be lower in older/adult sport athletes than younger/adolescent sport athletes, whereas PCP tended to be higher in older/adult sport athletes than younger/adolescent sport athletes. Significant main effects (ps < .001) also revealed that, regardless of age and whether athletes competed in youth sport or adult sport, athletes had a tendency to perceive more pressure from coaches than parents.ConclusionResults highlight the need to differentiate between parents and coaches as potential sources of interpersonal perfectionistic pressures in sport. Results also demonstrate that athletes’ perceptions of parent and coach pressure surrounding performance expectations and standards in sport can differ as a function of athlete age. Future research that examines perfectionism in sport from a developmental perspective is recommended.     

I've Got My Eyes on You: Implicit Social‐Pressure Cues and Prosocial Behavior

Explicit social pressure has been shown to be a powerful motivator of prosocial behavior‐like voting in elections. In this study, I report the findings of a randomized field experiment designed to study the impact of more subtle, implicit social‐pressure treatments. The results of the experiment, conducted in the October 2011 municipal elections in Key West, Florida, demonstrate that even subtle, implicit observability cues can effectively mobilize citizens to vote, perhaps as much as explicit surveillance cues. The findings speak more broadly to our understanding of human decision making, and even evolution, and provide fodder for the claim that humans are evolutionarily programmed to respond to certain stimuli. I interpret the evidence to support the notion that evolutionarily charged impulses, like exposure to images that implicitly signal the potential for surveillance and observability, are sufficient to overcome powerful collective action incentives to free ride.     

Looking back and falling further behind: The moderating role of rumination on the relationship between organizational politics and employee attitudes,well-being,and performance

The current study tested the theoretically relevant, yet previously unexamined, role of rumination on the relationship between politics perceptions and a variety of threat responses. Drawing from Response Styles Theory, it was argued that rumination amplifies the effects of politics by enhancing the influence of negative information on cognition, interfering with problem-solving, and undermining sources of social support. The work stress literature, along with extant politics research, served to identify four variables – job satisfaction, tension, depressed work mood, and employee effort/performance – that served as study outcomes. Across three unique samples, hypothesized relationships were strongly supported, indicating that politics perceptions negatively affected work outcomes of high ruminators, but demonstrate little influence on those who engage in less rumination. Moreover, the nonlinear influences of the focal constructs were considered and the results confirmed atypical relational forms. Contributions, implications for theory and practice, strengths and limitations, and future research directions are described.