Perceptual and Motor Skills

The need for a measure of severity of concussion apart from duration of post-traumatic amnesia is examined. The paced auditory serial-addition test, a measure of rate of information processing, is presented as a convenient test for estimating individual performance during recovery. Procedures for administration and control data are given, and the programme used for managing the rehabilitation of concussion patients described.

The results of two of our recent empirical studies were considered to assess the usefulness of subjective ratings and cardiovascular measures of mental effort in instructional research. Based on its reliability and sensitivity, the subjective rating-scale technique met the requirements to be useful in instructional research whereas the cardiovascular technique did not. It was concluded that the usefulness of both measurement techniques in instructional research needs to be investigated further.

Available literature provides ample evidence that there are basic responses which are elicited by stimuli but which are independent of sense-modality distinctions. Everyday observations of intermodality associations, studies of synesthesia and of physiological reactions to different stimuli, and semantic differential studies all showed evidence of such primary responses. Semantic differential studies, in particular, have shown that human judgments of diverse samples of stimuli can be characterized in terms of three dimensions: evaluation, activity, and potency. We have termed the corresponding emotional responses pleasure, arousal, and dominance. Simple self-report measures of these emotional reactions were developed by using questionnaire studies in which Ss described a variety of situations using semantic-differential type scales.

This study provided validity evidence for the Godin-Shephard Leisure-Time Physical Activity Questionnaire (GSLTPAQ) to classify respondents into active and insufficiently active categories. Members of a fitness center [45 women and 55 men; mean ( SD) age = 45.5 (10.6) yr.] completed the questionnaire. Using only moderate and strenuous scores, those with a leisure score index ≥ 24 were classified as active; those with a score ≤ 23 were classified as insufficiently active. VO₂max, percentage of body fat, and electronic records of fitness center attendance were the validation variables. In a visit to the fitness center, participants completed the GSLTPAQ and a certified exercise specialist performed a physical fitness evaluation. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) indicated the group of respondents classified as active had higher VO₂max and lower percentage of body fat than the group of respondents classified as insufficiently active. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated the group of respondents classified as active had higher electronic records of fitness center attendance than the group of respondents classified as insufficiently active. Therefore, these pieces of validity evidence support the use of the questionnaire's classification system among healthy adults.

36 elementary school children (20 subjects were below and 16 subjects above 15% overweight) completed a self-esteem and body-esteem questionnaire. The Body-esteem Scale was reliable and suitable for children as young as 7 yr. Body-esteem shared a significant amount of variance with self-esteem and percentage overweight. Although body-esteem and relative weight were correlated, self-esteem and relative weight were not significantly related. Furthermore, body-esteem and self-esteem were not differentially related for 20 normals versus 16 obese children in this sample.

This report summarizes a study of the factorial composition of a series of measures of the structure and content of daydreaming behavior. The relationships of fantasy to measures of divergent thought productivity, attention, curiosity, and personality measures are examined.

Although upper limb movements are known to be slower and more variable in elderly persons, the extent to which these changes are associated with deficits in movement-related sensory feedback is poorly understood, despite the importance of proprioception in the control of skilled movement. Age-related changes were examined with 22 participants (10 of M age 27 years and 12 of M age 75 years) in performance of an elbow position-matching task which varied in terms of interhemispheric transfer and/or the need to retrieve memory-based proprioceptive information. Matching errors were significantly greater, and movements more prolonged, and irregular in their time course in the elderly group than in the young group. Impaired performance in conditions requiring interhemispheric transfer and retrieval of memory-based proprioceptive information reflected the importance of cognitive processing during complex sensorimotor tasks. This novel matching paradigm provided a sensitive means of manipulating the demands of the task and may be an effective method for as sessing both cognitive and sensorimotor declines associated with aging.

Societal attitudes toward obese persons are predominantly negative, and many health care professionals share these beliefs. This study compared attitudes toward obese persons of 67 US nurses to those of 107 Canadian nurses. Also, attitudes toward obesity were examined as a particular class of prejudice. A positive correlation was hypothesized between ethnic prejudice and prejudice regarding obese persons. Significant differences in attitudes toward obese patients were observed between the two groups on several questionnaire items, and the hypothesis was confirmed by the moderate r of .53 for US nurses. A surprising finding was a new target of ethnic prejudice: the Caucasian majority.

The current study examined the psychometric properties of the Chinese translation of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11th version in a sample of adolescents from Hunan province, mainland China. During an initial assessment, 396 secondary school students (Grades 10–12) completed the scale and self-report measures assessing problem behaviors and alcohol use. The scale was re-administered 1 mo. later. Analysis gave Cronbach alpha of .80 and test-retest reliability of .70. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a model containing six first-order factors and two second-order factors best fit the data. Girls reported higher Total scores than boys as well as higher scores on the motor impulsiveness, self-control, and cognitive instability sub-scales. Scores were associated in the predicted direction with a wide variety of self-reported problem behaviors including alcohol use, gambling, and academic misconduct. Current findings indicate that the translated scale is a promising tool with some further development for assessing impulsiveness with Chinese adolescents.