Developmental continuity in theory of mind: speed and accuracy of belief-desire reasoning in children and adults

On belief-desire reasoning tasks, children first pass tasks involving true belief before those involving false belief, and tasks involving positive desire before those involving negative desire. The current study examined belief-desire reasoning in participants old enough to pass all such tasks. Eighty-three 6- to 11-year-olds and 20 adult participants completed simple, computer-based tests of belief-desire reasoning, which recorded response times as well as error rates. Both measures suggested that, like young children, older children and adults find it more difficult to reason about false belief and negative desires than true beliefs and positive desires. It is argued that this developmental continuity is most consistent with either executive competence or executive performance accounts of the development of belief-desire reasoning.     

Are there long-term effects of early child care?

Effects of early child care on children's functioning from 4(1/2) years through the end of 6th grade (M age=12.0 years) were examined in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n=1,364). The results indicated that although parenting was a stronger and more consistent predictor of children's development than early child-care experience, higher quality care predicted higher vocabulary scores and more exposure to center care predicted more teacher-reported externalizing problems. Discussion focuses on mechanisms responsible for these effects, the potential collective consequences of small child-care effects, and the importance of the ongoing follow-up at age 15.     

Golfers do not respond to changes in shaft mass properties in a mechanically predictable way

A common belief in the golf community is that a lighter shaft allows the golfer to swing the club faster. From a mechanical point of view, reducing the mass of the shaft would result in a faster swing. However, a golfer is not a purely mechanical system, and so it is simplistic to assume that identical loads will be applied when swinging different clubs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that golfers behave similar to a mechanical model when swinging clubs of varying mass. A torque driven model estimated the effects caused by the addition of 22?g to the shaft. Twelve golfers hit balls with a standard driver as well as a driver fitted with the same 22?g increase in mass. Club kinematics were collected with a high-speed motion capture system. The model predicted a 1.7?% lower club head speed for the club with additional mass. One subject showed a similar reduction (1.4?%), but one subject showed an increase in club head speed by 3.0?%. Ten subjects did not show any significant differences. These results suggest that golfers do not respond to changes in club mass in a mechanically predictable way.     

The influence of golf club shaft stiffness on clubhead kinematics at ball impact

The role of shaft stiffness on the golf swing is not well understood. Studies in which golfers hit balls with clubs of varying shaft flex have reported changes in ball distance. The results of mathematical models suggest that shaft stiffness affects only the orientation of the clubhead at impact, not the speed of the clubhead, but there are no experimental results validating these findings. The purpose of this study was therefore to experimentally examine the influence of shaft stiffness on clubhead kinematics at ball impact. Forty golfers hit 10 balls with each of five drivers varying in shaft stiffness from 'Ladies' to 'Extra-Stiff', in a double-blind study design. The motions of three reflective markers attached to the clubhead were captured with a high-speed motion analysis system. At ball impact, shaft stiffness had a statistically significant influence on clubhead speed for 27 subjects, on loft angle for 11 subjects, and on lie angle for all 40 subjects. No effect was observed on face angle, in to out path angle, or attack angle. These results show that shaft stiffness can affect ball launch conditions by altering clubhead speed and/or loft angle.     

Evidence for biomechanics and motor learning research improving golf performance

The aim of this review was to determine how the findings of biomechanics and motor control/learning research may be used to improve golf performance. To be eligible, the biomechanics and motor learning studies had to use direct (ball displacement and shot accuracy) or indirect (clubhead velocity and clubface angle) golf performance outcome measures. Biomechanical studies suggested that reducing the radius path of the hands during the downswing, increasing wrist torque and/or range of motion, delaying wrist motion to late in the downswing, increasing downswing amplitude, improving sequential acceleration of body parts, improving weight transfer, and utilising X-factor stretch and physical conditioning programmes can improve clubhead velocity. Motor learning studies suggested that golf performance improved more when golfers focused on swing outcome or clubhead movement rather than specific body movements. A distributed practice approach involving multiple sessions per week of blocked, errorless practice may be best for improving putting accuracy of novice golfers, although variable practice may be better for skilled golfers. Video, verbal, or a combination of video and verbal feedback can increase mid-short iron distance in novice to mid-handicap (hcp) golfers. Coaches should not only continue to critique swing technique but also consider how the focus, structure, and types of feedback for practice may alter learning for different groups of golfers.     

Labelling and self‐esteem: the impact of using specific vs. generic labels

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between being labelled either as having dyslexia or as having general special educational needs (SEN) and a child's self‐esteem. Seventy‐five children aged between 8 and 15 years categorised as having dyslexia (N = 26), as having general SEN (N = 26) or as having no learning difficulties (N = 23), completed an age‐appropriate version of the Culture‐Free Self‐Esteem Inventory and a standard test of reading ability. When the self‐esteem scores of the groups were compared (with the discrepancy between reading and chronological age being partialled out), it was found that the self‐esteem scores of those in the ‘general SEN’ group had significantly lower self‐esteem scores than those in both the ‘dyslexia’ group and the ‘control’ group. There was no significant difference between the self‐esteem scores of the ‘dyslexia’ and the ‘control’ group. On the basis of these findings, it is suggested that being labelled as having a general SEN may negatively affect children's self‐esteem because, unlike the label dyslexia, this label offers very little in the way of an explanation for the child's academic difficulties and because targeted interventions are not as available for those with a less specific label.     

The impact of high-stakes testing on student proficiency in low-stakes subjects: Evidence from Florida's elementary science exam

An important criticism of high-stakes testing policies – policies that reward or sanction schools based on their students’ performance on standardized tests – is that they provide schools with an incentive to focus on those subjects that play a role in the accountability system while decreasing attention to those subjects that are not part of the program. This paper utilizes a regression discontinuity design to evaluate the impact of Florida's high-stakes testing policy on student proficiency in the low-stakes subject of science. We confirm prior results that students in schools facing more immediate sanctions under the policy made substantial gains in the high-stakes subjects of math and reading. Contrary to the crowding-out hypothesis, we find that students in these schools made substantial achievement gains in the low-stakes subject of science as well.     

Classification of children in special education: Importance of pre-assessment information

The records of 137 students for whom complete data files were available were examined in order to determine the extent to which pre-assessment data (teacher referral information and standardized reading test scores) could successfully be used to predict the handicapping classifications decided on by child-study teams. We were specifically interested in the predictive power of pre-assessment information above and beyond that provided by handicapped children's race and gender. Results of our analyses indicated that pre-assessment data can successfully predict the handicapped classifications of the majority of special education students, as well as differentiate students who are found eligible for special education from those found to be ineligible.