The Relationship Between Psychological Needs,Self‐Determined Motivation,Exercise Attitudes,and Physical Fitness1

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between psychological need satisfaction (competence, autonomy, and relatedness), exercise regulations, and motivational consequences proposed by Self‐Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000). The secondary purpose was to explore changes in these constructs over the course of a 12‐week prescribed exercise program. Results indicated competence and autonomy were positively correlated with more self‐determined exercise regulations, which in turn were more positively related to exercise behavior, attitudes, and physical fitness. Multiple regression analyses revealed that exercise behavior mediated the relationship between self‐determined motives and physical fitness, and both identified and intrinsic exercise regulations contributed significantly to the prediction of attitudes. Paired‐sample t tests supported modest to large changes in need satisfaction constructs, as well as identified and intrinsic regulations over the 12‐week exercise program. These results suggest that SDT is a useful framework for studying motivational issues in the exercise domain.     

‘Mon petit essai’: Émilie du Châtelet’s Essai sur l’optique and her early natural philosophy

ABSTRACT

Émilie du Châtelet’s recently-discovered Essai sur l’optique offers new insights into her early natural philosophy. Here I analyse the Essai in detail, focusing on Du Châtelet’s use of attraction and her discussion of the laws governing it. These features of the Essai are crucial to her early thought. I also analyse how other contemporaneous sources augment the Essai, including her review of Voltaire’s Elémens and her correspondence with Maupertuis. These sources track her growing appreciation of the need for a metaphysical framework in science. I also discuss the Essai’s implications for key passages of the Institutions de physique.     

Multivariate pattern analysis and the search for neural representations

Synthese - Multivariate pattern analysis, or MVPA, has become one of the most popular analytic methods in cognitive neuroscience. Since its inception, MVPA has been heralded as offering much more...