Does awareness of penalties influence deterrence mechanisms? A study of young drivers’ awareness and perceptions of the punishment applying to illegal phone use while driving

This research implemented both qualitative and quantitative methods to 1) explore young drivers’ (aged between 17 and 25 years) awareness and perceptions of legal sanctions associated with phone use while driving and 2) identify whether the accuracy of their knowledge influences deterrence-related perceptions. In the qualitative phase, 60 Queensland motorists participated in focus groups. The findings of the focus groups highlighted that greater awareness of the penalty for phone use while driving would enable this punishment to act as a more salient deterrent. More specifically, the penalty for hands-free phone use was considered too high, whereas when the penalty was applied to hand-held phone use it was considered reasonable, with some commenting that increasing the fine could be a greater deterrent. However, the penalty also appeared to be linked to the perceived legitimacy of the rule. The quantitative phase utilised a cross-sectioanl survey design and consisted of 503 drivers. Overall, more participants appear to be underestimating (63% underestimated the fine and 37% underestimated the demerit points) as opposed to overestimating (14% overestimated the fine and 22% overestimated the demerit points) the penalty for phone use while driving. As expected, compared to those who accurately estimated the extent of the punishment (both the monetary sanction and the number of demerit points) associated with phone use while driving, drivers who underestimated the phone punishment (points and fine) had significantly lower perceptions of the severity of punishment. These findings suggest that some young drivers do not have sufficient knowledge of mobile phone sanctions, which has significant implications for ongoing attempts to maximise deterrent mechanisms.     

The power of nonverbal behavior: Penalty-takers’ body language influences impression formation and anticipation performance in goalkeepers in a simulated soccer penalty task

Previous research showed that penalty-takers’ body language affects the impressions goalkeepers form about them. Furthermore, it is often assumed that body language influences goalkeepers’ performance. However, as yet, there is no empirical evidence that indicates whether this latter effect exists. The present research was aimed at (1) replicating and offering more insight in the initial impression formation effects (Experiment 1-3) and (2) providing evidence that signals of dominance and submissiveness affect participants’ anticipation performance within a simulated soccer penalty task (Experiment 3). We report three experiments demonstrating that participants form more positive impressions and have less confidence in saving penalty kicks from dominant penalty-takers (or scoring against dominant goalkeepers, Experiment 1) than submissive penalty-takers (goalkeepers). However, we did not find evidence that participants’ automatic associations with dominant and submissive players underlie these findings (Experiment 2). Finally, we demonstrate that anticipation of kick direction is influenced by penalty-takers’ body language (Experiment 3). Participants performed worse in the simulated soccer penalty task against dominant than submissive penalty-takers. No mediation of impression formation was found.     

Affordance-based control in deceptive and non-deceptive penalties in soccer goalkeeping: Gender matters!

Only few studies have addressed how soccer goalkeepers adapt to both the spatial and temporal constraints while trying to stop a penalty kick. Moreover, research on penalty kicks has only involved male goalkeepers, even though the resultant constraint (i.e., the relation between the maximum action capabilities defining the time required and ball flight time and direction defining the time available) may or may not differ for female goalkeepers. We therefore compared penalty goalkeeping between male and female goalkeepers of similar skill level. The results showed that the resultant constraint was more stringent for female than male goalkeepers. In accordance with the affordance-based control theory, female and male goalkeepers both adapted to the resultant constraint, but did scale their diving action differently. Female goalkeepers initiated the lateral dive within the action boundaries set by the resultant constraint, while male goalkeepers tended to dive late, beyond the action boundaries. Owing to the early dive, female goalkeepers saved more penalties than male in non-deceptive penalties. Nevertheless, female goalkeepers were also more susceptible to deception by the penalty taker than male goalkeepers. These findings extend our knowledge of the affordance-based control theory in sports and contribute to the understanding of gender differences in soccer penalty goalkeeping.     

Examining Action Effects in the Execution of a Skilled Soccer Kick by Using Erroneous Feedback

The authors examined the role of action effects (i.e., ball trajectory) during the performance of a soccer kick. Participants were 20 expert players who kicked a ball over a height barrier toward a ground-level target. The authors occluded participants' vision of the ball trajectory after foot-to-ball contact. Participants in a 1st group received erroneous feedback from a video that showed a ball-trajectory apex approximately 75 cm lower than that of their actual kick, although the ball's landing position was unaltered. Participants in a 2nd group received correct video feedback of both the ball trajectory and the landing position. The erroneous-feedback group showed a significant bias toward higher ball trajectories than did the correct-feedback group. The authors conclude that performers at high levels of skill use the visual consequences of the action to plan and execute an action.     

Differential effects of task-specific practice on performance in a simulated penalty kick under high-pressure

ObjectivesThe current study investigated to what extent task-specific practice can help reduce the adverse effects of high-pressure on performance in a simulated penalty kick task. Based on the assumption that practice attenuates the required attentional resources, it was hypothesized that task-specific practice would enhance resilience against high-pressure.MethodParticipants practiced a simulated penalty kick in which they had to move a lever to the side opposite to the goalkeeper's dive. The goalkeeper moved at different times before ball-contact.DesignBefore and after task-specific practice, participants were tested on the same task both under low- and high-pressure conditions.ResultsBefore practice, performance of all participants worsened under high-pressure; however, whereas one group of participants merely required more time to correctly respond to the goalkeeper movement and showed a typical logistic relation between the percentage of correct responses and the time available to respond, a second group of participants showed a linear relationship between the percentage of correct responses and the time available to respond. This implies that they tended to make systematic errors for the shortest times available. Practice eliminated the debilitating effects of high-pressure in the former group, whereas in the latter group high-pressure continued to negatively affect performance.ConclusionsTask-specific practice increased resilience to high-pressure. However, the effect was a function of how participants responded initially to high-pressure, that is, prior to practice. The results are discussed within the framework of attentional control theory (ACT).     

The obligation to succeed when it matters the most–The influence of skill and pressure on the success in football penalty kicks

In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the influence of skill and pressure on the success in football penalty kicks, we analyzed 1711 penalties taken over a 15-year period in major international tournaments. We conducted a multiple correspondence analysis in order to reduce six variables that are associated with skill and pressure to two dimensions that reflect our target concepts. Then, we used these two factors as independent variables in a logistic regression and fit different models using three binary dependent variables. The results show that high situational pressure significantly increases the probability of missing the goal entirely by about 6%, independent of the player’s skill level. The probability that the goalkeeper saves a penalty significantly decreases by roughly 4% when a highly skilled player takes the shot. In general, high situational pressure decreases the probability of scoring a penalty kick. Furthermore, the probability to score a penalty increases if a highly skilled player takes the kick which indicates that a high skill level can act as a kind of buffer against debilitating effects caused by performance pressure.     

Compression and texture in socks enhance football kicking performance

The purpose of this study was to observe effects of wearing textured insoles and clinical compression socks on organisation of lower limb interceptive actions in developing athletes of different skill levels in association football. Six advanced learners and six completely novice football players (15.4 ± 0.9 years) performed 20 instep kicks with maximum velocity, in four randomly organised insoles and socks conditions, (a) Smooth Socks with Smooth Insoles (SSSI); (b) Smooth Socks with Textured Insoles (SSTI); (c) Compression Socks with Smooth Insoles (CSSI) and (d), Compression Socks with Textured Insoles (CSTI). Reflective markers were placed on key anatomical locations and the ball to facilitate three-dimensional (3D) movement recording and analysis. Data on 3D kinematic variables and initial ball velocity were analysed using one-way mixed model ANOVAs. Results revealed that wearing textured and compression materials enhanced performance in key variables, such as the maximum velocity of the instep kick and increased initial ball velocity, among advanced learners compared to the use of non-textured and compression materials. Adding texture to football boot insoles appeared to interact with compression materials to improve kicking performance, captured by these important measures. This improvement in kicking performance is likely to have occurred through enhanced somatosensory system feedback utilised for foot placement and movement organisation of the lower limbs. Data suggested that advanced learners were better at harnessing the augmented feedback information from compression and texture to regulate emerging movement patterns compared to novices.     

惩罚预期对羞怯个体注意偏向的影响

本研究采用点探测研究范式,通过三个实验研究探讨惩罚预期对羞怯个体注意偏向的影响。得出以下研究结论：（1）羞怯个体在惩罚预期条件下对消极情绪面孔存在注意偏向;（2）短时间进程下,惩罚频率的改变没有影响羞怯个体的注意偏向。在长时间进程下,高惩罚频率更容易使羞怯个体逃避消极情绪面孔图片;（3）惩罚预期大更容易使羞怯个体有回避消极情绪面孔的倾向。     

Integrating situational probability and kinematic information when anticipating disguised movements

ObjectivesThe current study sought to examine the relative contributions of kinematic and situational probability information to anticipation using different levels of disguised kinematics. More specifically, it was tested whether the weighting of the informational sources (kinematic vs. probabilistic) shifts relative to the certainty of the available kinematic information.Design and MethodHuman-like avatars were generated performing penalty throws and displayed in a virtual reality environment. The ambiguity of the kinematic information available from the avatars was systematically manipulated using linear morphing between genuine and disguised throws. In a perceptual classification task, trained novice observers (N = 23) were asked to classify as quickly and accurately as possible whether observed throws were either genuine or disguised. In addition, information about the performer’s action preferences was also systematically manipulated by explicitly informing participants about the performer’s AP to disguise their throw (25%, 50%, and 75%).ResultsParticipants’ response behavior showed that observers relied more heavily on the probabilistic information when the kinematics were ambiguous. For the AP 25% condition, observers were more likely to report that ambiguous throws were genuine (p < 0.001), whereas they classified the ambiguous throws as being disguised in the AP 75% condition (p < 0.001).ConclusionFindings suggest that observers rely more strongly on non-kinematic (situational probability) information when the reliability of the observable movement kinematics becomes less certain.     

The perceived effectiveness of road safety interventions: Regulation of drivers’ behavioral intentions and self-consciousness

We consider road safety interventions to be potential sources of social influence, altering the intentions and behaviors of drivers when they are perceived by the latter as effective. We also consider that perceiving their effectiveness depends on drivers’ self-consciousness. 852 drivers replied to a questionnaire measuring dispositional self-consciousness, the perception of the effectiveness of 10 road safety interventions, and reported intentions and behaviors related to speeding and drinking and driving. The results revealed several phenomena: (1) interventions were perceived as related to penalty/surveillance or social communication (factor analysis); (2) the former were perceived as more effective than the latter; (3) the perceived effectiveness of road safety interventions was moderately correlated with intentions and behaviors; (4) this link was stronger for interventions of the penalty/surveillance type; (5) age, level of education, frequency of use of a vehicle and gender were moderately associated with the perception of these interventions; (6) self-consciousness (in particular its public dimension) had an additional positive association with this perceived effectiveness. These results are discussed from a practical and methodological point of view.