Exploring the kinaesthetic sensitivity of skilled performers for implementing movement instructions

The capability to effectively control or adapt a movement pattern based on instructional feedback is essential for effective motor skill learning in high-level sport, as it is in other domains such as rehabilitation or music. Despite this, little is known about the capabilities of skilled athletes to use kinematic feedback to purposefully modify complex movements. This study examined the accuracy with which skilled junior tennis players could translate specific kinematic feedback into appropriate modifications of their service actions. Participants were required to either increase or decrease maximum knee flexion or shift impact position laterally by incremental amounts. Further, participants were required to execute their serve with the smallest increase and decrease in these kinematic components as they could consciously produce. Inherent variability within the desired target parameters was calculated to add context to the athlete’s accuracy. Results demonstrated that while participants had considerable control over their movements, only some instructions were executed with accuracy greater the variability normally present within their movement. As the required change in knee flexion and impact position increased, absolute accuracy of implementation decreased. These findings are discussed with reference to the smallest controllable changes produced by the athletes and the variability within their actions.     

Load release balance test under unstable conditions effectively discriminates between physically active and sedentary young adults

This study investigates test-retest reliability and diagnostic accuracy of the load release balance test under four varied conditions. Young, early and late middle-aged physically active and sedentary subjects performed the test over 2 testing sessions spaced 1 week apart while standing on either (1) a stable or (2) an unstable surface with (3) eyes open (EO) and (4) eyes closed (EC), respectively. Results identified that test-retest reliability of parameters of the load release balance test was good to excellent, with high values of ICC (0.78–0.92) and low SEM (7.1%–10.7%). The peak and the time to peak posterior center of pressure (CoP) displacement were significantly lower in physically active as compared to sedentary young adults (21.6% and 21.0%) and early middle-aged adults (22.0% and 20.9%) while standing on a foam surface with EO, and in late middle-aged adults on both unstable (25.6% and 24.5%) and stable support surfaces with EO (20.4% and 20.0%). The area under the ROC curve >0.80 for these variables indicates good discriminatory accuracy. Thus, these variables of the load release balance test measured under unstable conditions have the ability to differentiate between groups of physically active and sedentary adults as early as from 19 years of age.     

Reappraisal mitigates overestimation of remembered pain in anxious individuals

Anxiety sensitivity, a trait characterised by fear of anxiety-related body sensations, has been linked to heightened attention to pain, appraising body sensations as threatening, and remembering threat-related information. We assessed whether individuals with greater anxiety sensitivity overestimate in remembering pain. We also assessed whether emotion regulation strategies that direct attention away from pain (distraction), or alter appraisals of pain (reappraisal), alleviate memory bias. Participants (N = 137) were randomly assigned to one of two emotion regulation conditions or to a control condition before taking part in a cold pressor task. Greater anxiety sensitivity was associated with overestimation in remembering pain. Engaging in reappraisal mitigated this memory bias but engaging in distraction did not. This is the first study to examine the relations among anxiety sensitivity, emotion regulation and memory for pain. The findings suggest that health-care practitioners can encourage reappraisal to promote more positive memories of procedural pain, particularly in patients high in anxiety sensitivity.     

理性-经验加工对不公正情绪和行为反应的影响:公正敏感性的调节作用

基于认知-经验理论,采用行为实验法和情境故事法,探讨了不同信息加工方式对不公正情绪和行为反应的影响,以及受害者敏感性对两者关系的调节作用。结果表明,与理性加工相比,经验加工下个体对不公正有更强烈的负性情绪反应,合作意向更低;受害者敏感性调节加工方式与不公正行为反应之间的关系,即受害者敏感性低时,加工方式与人际公正对合作意向交互作用显著,受害者敏感性高时,加工方式与人际公正对合作意向没有交互作用。     

No site unseen: predicting the failure to control problematic Internet use among young adults

Problematic Internet use has been associated with the neglect of valued activities such as work, exercise, social activities, and relationships. In the present study, we expanded the understanding of problematic Internet use by identifying an important predictor of the inability to curb Internet use despite the desire to do so. Specifically, in a college student sample reporting a mean of 27.8 h of recreational Internet use in the past week, we investigated the role of distress intolerance (DI)—an individual difference variable that refers to the inability of an individual to tolerate emotional discomfort and to engage in goal-directed behavior when distressed—to predict the failure to meet personal restrictions on Internet use. Consistent with hypotheses, DI emerged as a significant predictor of the failure to meet self-control goals in both bivariate and multivariate models, indicating that DI offers unique prediction of self-control failure with problematic Internet use. Given that DI is a modifiable trait, these results encourage consideration of DI-focused early intervention strategies.     

Non-verbal and verbal parental mentalization as predictors of infant attachment security: Contributions of parental embodied mentalizing and mind-mindedness and the mediating role of maternal sensitivity

Interest in studying the relative contributions of verbal (e.g., maternal mind-mindedness [MM]) and non-verbal dimensions (i.e., parental embodied mentalizing [PEM]) of parental mentalization to child socio-emotional development is relatively recent. To date, only one study has addressed this issue in relation to child attachment security, suggesting a complementary and unique contribution of each one. The purpose of the present study was to further examine the specific contribution of PEM to infant attachment security by considering MM. In addition, this study aimed to explore the mediating role of maternal sensitivity linking PEM, MM to infant attachment security within 110 mother-infant dyads at moderate psychosocial risk. The two dimensions of parental mentalization (PEM and MM) were assessed on the basis of observations made during a videorecorded sequence of mother-child interactions in a context of free play with and without toys when the infants were 8 months old. The Maternal Behavior Q-Sort was used to measure the mothers’ sensitivity in a natural setting based on observations of daily mother-child interactions, also when the infants were about 8 months old. Attachment security was measured using The Strange Situation Procedure at infant age 16 months. The results showed positive correlations between maternal sensitivity and both verbal and non-verbal measures of parental mentalization. The mediation analyses first revealed that PEM had a significant indirect effect on attachment security, with sensitivity being identified as a mediator in this association. No indirect effect linking MM and attachment security via sensitivity was observed. These results highlight the contribution of PEM to maternal sensitivity and show maternal sensitivity to be a factor that partly explains the influence of PEM on attachment security in children.     

Sensory Processing Sensitivity Moderates the Relationships Between Life Skills and Depressive Tendencies in University Students1

University students often experience depressive symptoms, and strengthening of life skills may be beneficial for improving their mental health. Several studies have suggested that life skills effective in reducing depressive tendencies vary by individuals depending on differences in sensory processing sensitivity (SPS). SPS is a genetically determined trait characterized by sensitivity and reactivity to environmental stimuli. This study investigated the relationship between life skills and depressive tendencies based on individual differences in SPS. A total of 868 Japanese university students (mean age = 19.8 years, SD = 1.3 years) completed a questionnaire measuring levels of SPS—decision-making, interpersonal relationships, effective communication, and emotional coping skills—and depressive tendencies. Hierarchical multiple regression and simple slopes analyses indicated that interpersonal relationship skills were negatively correlated with depression regardless of SPS levels. Furthermore, decision-making skills were negatively correlated with depressive tendencies only in low-SPS students. Emotional coping skills were negatively correlated with depressive tendencies in high-SPS students. These results may help universities incorporate SPS levels when creating life-skills-based interventions for students.     

受害者公正敏感性对生活满意度的影响:上行社会比较和妒忌的中介作用

采用整群抽样法对福建省三所大学的638名大一至大四学生进行问卷调查,探讨受害者公正敏感性与生活满意度的关系,以及上行社会比较和妒忌在二者关系中的作用机制。结果表明： （1）在控制了性别、年龄后,受害者公正敏感性、上行社会比较和妒忌两两之间呈显著正相关,且三者均与生活满意度呈显著负相关;（2）受害者公正敏感性主要通过妒忌的单独中介作用对生活满意度产生影响,同时还会通过上行社会比较和妒忌的链式中介作用对其生活满意度产生影响,但该链式中介作用微弱。本研究揭示了受害者公正敏感性与生活满意度的关系及其作用机制,为引导大学生降低因受害者公正敏感性而对生活满意度产生的负面影响,更好地促进自身心理健康发展提供了建议。     

基于三元精神病态模型的精神病态认知-情感加工框架

精神病态作为暴力犯罪、累犯和青少年犯罪的重要预测变量, 在临床心理学和司法领域受到了广泛重视。三元精神病态模型通过大胆、卑劣和去抑制三个维度对精神病态进行了操作化定义, 反映了精神病态在神经生物学维度上存在的认知情感加工缺陷。其中, 低威胁敏感性是精神病态大胆的主要病因学基础; 而执行功能受损, 尤其是注意调节缺陷则导致了精神病态的去抑制倾向; 而与情绪识别存在联系的共情缺陷可能是卑劣的深层原因。未来研究中仍需关注精神病态的概念化问题, 以及不同精神病态特质之间是否存在共同的潜在病因学基础, 探索精神病态特质在生命早期阶段的体现从而进行及时有效的干预。     

PARENTAL CHILDHOOD ADVERSITY,DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS,AND PARENTING QUALITY: EFFECTS ON TODDLER SELF‐REGULATION IN CHILD WELFARE SERVICES INVOLVED FAMILIES

Parents who are involved with child welfare services (CWSI) often have a history of childhood adversity and depressive symptoms. Both affect parenting quality, which in turn influences child adaptive functioning. We tested a model of the relations between parental depression and child regulatory outcomes first proposed by K. Lyons‐Ruth, R. Wolfe, A. Lyubchik, and R. Steingard (2002). We hypothesized that both parental depression and parenting quality mediate the effects of parental early adversity on offspring regulatory outcomes. Participants were 123 CWSI parents and their toddlers assessed three times over a period of 6 months. At Time 1, parents reported on their childhood adversity and current depressive symptoms. At Time 2, parents’ sensitivity to their child's distress and nondistress cues was rated from a videotaped teaching task. At Time 3, observers rated children's emotional regulation, orientation/engagement, and secure base behavior. The results of a path model partly supported the hypotheses. Parent childhood adversity was associated with current depressive symptoms, which in turn related to parent sensitivity to child distress, but not nondistress. Sensitivity to distress also predicted secure base behavior. Depression directly predicted orientation/engagement, also predicted by sensitivity to nondistress. Sensitivity to distress predicted emotion regulation and orientation/engagement. Results are discussed in terms of intervention approaches for CWSI families.