On the role of visual afferent information for the control of aiming movements toward targets of different sizes

The authors investigated (a). whether the specificity of practice hypothesis is mediated by the importance of visual afferent information for the control of manual aiming movements and (b). how movement planning and online correction processes to the movement initial impulse are affected by the withdrawal of visual information in transfer. In acquisition, participants (N = 40) aimed at targets of different sizes in a full-vision or in a target-only condition before being transferred to a target-only condition without knowledge of results. The results supported the hypothesis that learning is specific to the source or sources of afferent information that are more likely to ensure optimal performance. The results also suggested that individuals will not always use visual afferent information more extensively when aiming at a small rather than at a large target. Instead, in a temporally constrained task, the relative efficiency of visually based corrections appears to mediate how exclusively an individual will rely on online visual afferent information for movement control. Finally, the detailed kinematic analysis performed in the present study clearly indicated that online modifications to the movement primary impulse are possible, arguing for a continuous or pseudo-continuous control of relatively slow aiming movements on the basis of visual afferent input.     

Understanding the structural determinants of object confusion in memory: an assessment of psychophysical approaches to estimating visual similarity

Computer-generated shapes varying on visual dimensions such as curvature, tapering, and thickness have been used to investigate identification deficits in the category-specific visual agnosia (CSVA) Patient E.L.M.. However, whether the implemented variations on each of these dimensions were perceived by novice observers as "similar amounts of change" is unknown. To estimate distance in psychophysical shape space, sets of shapes were developed using two different scaling methods--an objective method based on visual search, and a subjective method based on judgments of similarity--and a third approach that did not involve scaling. How well each method estimated psychophysical shape space was assessed by measuring the confusions within memory among the shapes. The results suggested that, although neither of the approaches perfectly reflected psychophysical shape space, subjective scaling was a better estimator of distance in psychophysical shape space than were other approaches. The number of confusions produced on each set of shapes was used to develop a new set of shapes that accurately estimated distance in psychophysical shape space. These results suggest that a combination of approaches is preferable in order to accurately estimate distance in psychophysical shape space.     

Perfectionism, academic motivation, and psychological adjustment: an integrative model

The purpose of this article was to propose and test an integrative model on the role of perfectionism, academic motivation, and psychological adjustment difficulties in undergraduate students. The model posits that self-oriented perfectionism facilitates self-determined academic motivation, whereas socially prescribed perfectionism enhances non-self-determined academic motivation. In turn, self-determined and non-self-determined academic motivations, respectively, lead to lower and higher levels of psychological adjustment difficulties. Results from two studies using structural equation modeling analyses provided support for the model.     

Ruminations and Flow: Why Do People with a More Harmonious Passion Experience Higher Well-Being?

Research shows that harmonious and obsessive passion are positively and negatively linked to well-being respectively (e.g., Vallerand et al. in J Personal 75:505?C534, 2007; Psychol Sport Exerc 9:373?C392, 2008). The present study investigated the psychological mechanisms underlying the different impact of the two types of passion on well-being. A theoretical model involving passion, ruminations, flow experiences, and well-being was tested. Results showed that the more people have a harmonious passion, the more they tend to experience flow in their favorite activity, which in turn predicts higher well-being. Obsessive passion did not seem to be systematically linked to flow in the favorite activity. In contrast, the more people have an obsessive passion, the more they tend to ruminate about their passionate activity while engaging in another activity, which did not seem to be systematically the case for people with a harmonious passion. These ruminations are negatively related to flow experiences in the other activity, which are positively associated with well-being. Flow and ruminations thus seem to contribute to the understanding of the link between passion and well-being.     

The bank of standardized stimuli (BOSS): comparison between French and English norms

Throughout the last decades, numerous picture data sets have been developed, such as the Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) set, and have been normalized for variables such as name and familiarity; however, due to cultural and linguistic differences, norms can vary from one country to another. The effect due specifically to culture has already been demonstrated by comparing samples from different countries where the same language is spoken. On the other hand, it is still not clear how differences between languages may affect norms. The present study explores this issue by collecting and comparing norms on names and many other features from French Canadian speakers and English Canadian speakers living in Montreal, who thus live in similar cultural environments. Norms were collected for the photos of objects from the Bank of Standardized Stimuli (BOSS) by asking participants to name the objects, to categorize them, and to rate their familiarity, visual complexity, object agreement, viewpoint agreement, and manipulability. Names and ratings from the French speakers are available in Appendix A, available in the supplemental materials. The results show that most of the norms are comparable across linguistic groups and also that the ratings given are correlated across linguistic groups. The only significant group differences were found in viewpoint agreement and visual complexity. Overall, there was good concordance between the norms collected from French and English native speakers living in the same cultural setting.     

Religion,Religious Tradition,and Nationalism: Jewish Revival in Poland and “Religious Heritage” in Québec

This article uses and develops Martin Riesebrodt's distinction between religion and religious tradition to shed light on the making of various articulations of religious identities and political projects. Based on extensive research on the Polish and Québécois cases, I show how social and state actors in these societies reactivate past religious traditions to respond to current social transformations and articulate societal projects and advance political agendas in the present. In both cases, religion and religious tradition are juxtaposed to articulate new national identities or fortify older ones, and to respond more specifically to the challenges posed by “pluralism.” I suggest that sociologists who work at the intersection of religion and politics can contribute to our understanding of the various registers through which religion, religious action, and religious tradition are rendered meaningful to social actors, used for different goals (religious and not) and transformed in the process.     

Promoting Optimal Parenting and Children’s Mental Health: A Preliminary Evaluation of the How-to Parenting Program

Parenting quality is widely accepted as a primary predictor of children’s mental health. The present study examined the effectiveness of a parenting program in fostering optimal parenting and child mental health. The selected program was How to talk so kids will listen & listen so kids will talk (How-to Parenting Program). This program was selected because its content corresponds closely to what the parenting style literature suggests is optimal parenting (i.e., includes structure, affiliation and autonomy support). Eleven groups of six to twelve parents were conducted in 7 local grade schools. The program, offered by two trained leaders, consisted of eight weekly sessions and taught a total of 30 skills. A total of 82 parents completed questionnaires both prior to and after the program. Participants’ children between eight and 12 years old (N = 44) completed questionnaires at school, at both assessment points. Repeated measures ANOVAs using parent reports indicated that structure, affiliation and autonomy support were increased after the program, compared to baseline. The level of child internalizing and externalizing problems also decreased significantly. Importantly, children reports confirmed that parental autonomy support increased from pre to post-test and child-reported well-being improved as well. The preliminary evidence from this pre-test versus post-test repeated measures design suggests that the How-to Parenting Program is effective in improving parenting style and in promoting children’s mental health and that future evaluation research examining the potential of this program is warranted.     

Sexual Permissiveness: A Mozambique–France Comparison

The present study compared sexual permissiveness between African adults and European adults. The 301 participants (154 males, 147 females) living in the area of Maputo, Mozambique, and the 309 participants (157 males, 152 females) living in the area of Toulouse, France, were presented with the Portuguese and French versions of 7 permissiveness items taken from the Sexual Attitudes Scale devised by Hendrick & Hendrick (1987 ). Permissiveness scores were shown to be lower among Mozambican participants than among French participants. A clear effect of religious involvement on permissiveness was also demonstrated, and this effect was of the same magnitude in both samples.     

Dyadic Examination of the Influence of Family Relationships on Life Satisfaction at the Empty-Nest Stage

The aim of this study on determinants of life satisfaction in adulthood was to test actor–partner interdependence models among couples in the phase of the family life cycle following the departure of their children from the parental home. Using structural equation modeling, measures of family relationships, such as a person’s own and his/her partner’s marital adjustment, the amount of contact with children (and grandchildren, if applicable), and being a grandparent or not, served as independent variables to predict each partner’s satisfaction with life. A sample comprising 102 couples (of which 58 couples had grandchildren), all at the empty-nest stage, participated in the study. Results revealed that, for both husbands and wives, the effects of their own marital adjustment and the amount of contact with their adult children on their satisfaction with life were significant. A partner effect was also confirmed between wives’ marital adjustment and their husbands’ satisfaction with life. Furthermore, although being a grandparent did not predict higher life satisfaction for the whole sample of couples, the path between the amount of contact with grandchildren and life satisfaction was significant for the subsample of women who were grandmothers. Results are discussed in terms of the needs filled by these family relationships.