Stimulus Velocity,Duration and Uncertainty as Determiners of Response Structure and Timing Accuracy

Abstract

The present experiments examined the effects of stimulus velocity, stimulus duration, and stimulus uncertainty on the spatial-temporal structure and timing accuracy of coincident timing responses. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that the response structure for aimed movements differed from that of ballistic movements but response accuracy was comparable for both movement conditions. However, when information concerning the stimulus velocity was provided, the responses to the faster stimuli (i.e., stimuli of shorter duration) appeared to be “speeded up” copies of those to slower stimuli and response accuracy increased as the stimulus velocity increased (i.e., stimulus duration decreased). When the stimulus velocity was not known, subjects initiated a common response for approximately 260 msec and response accuracy appeared to decrease as the stimulus velocity increased (i.e., stimulus duration decreased). Experiment 2 indicated that the stimulus duration rather than the stimulus velocity was the major determiner of both the spatial-temporal structure and timing accuracy and that a very fast and a very slow stimulus will be responded to similarly when the stimulus duration remains constant.     

Interleukin-6 and Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness Do Not Vary During the Menstrual Cycle

The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference in interleukin-6 (IL-6) and delayed onset muscles soreness (DOMS) exists in two different phases of the menstrual cycle. Nine runners performed one 75-min high-intensity interval running session during the early follicular (EF) phase and once during the midluteal (ML) phase of the menstrual cycle. Estrogen and progesterone levels were significantly reduced in the EF phase when compared to the ML phase. IL-6 levels increased from pre- to postexercise in the EF and ML phases (p < .001). There was no relationship between the IL-6 level and DOMS. The results suggest that menstruating female runners need not vary training throughout the month to reduce DOMS.     

The componential model of reading: predicting first grade reading performance of culturally diverse students from ecological, psychological, and cognitive factors assessed at kindergarten entry

This study, framed by the component model of reading (CMR), examined the relative importance of kindergarten-entry predictors of first grade reading performance. Specifically, elements within the ecological domain included dialect, maternal education, amount of preschool, and home literacy; elements within the psychological domain included teacher-reported academic competence, social skills, and behavior; and elements within the cognitive domain included initial vocabulary, phonological, and morpho-syntactic skills, and alphabetic and word recognition skills. Data were obtained for 224 culturally diverse kindergarteners (58% Black, 34% White, and 8% Hispanic or other; 58% received free or reduced-price lunch) from a larger study conducted in seven predominantly high poverty schools (n = 20 classrooms) in a midsized city school district in northern Florida. Results from a hierarchical multiple regression (with variables in the ecological domain entered first, followed by the psychological and cognitive domains) revealed a model that explained roughly 56% of the variance in first grade reading achievement, using fall-of-kindergarten predictors. Letter-word reading and morpho-syntactic skill were the strongest significant predictors. The findings largely support the CMR model as a means to understand individual differences in reading acquisition and, in turn, to support data-based instructional decisions for a wider range of children.     

Cultural and gender influences on age identification

Age identification plays a significant role in young adults’ mass, interpersonal, intergenerational, and intercultural communication. This research examines cultural and gender influences on young people's age identity by measuring the social age identity of male and female young adult members of five cultures varying in individualism/collectivism (Laos, Thailand, Spain, Australia, and the U.S.A.). We found cultural influences on age identity to be both unexpected in nature and modest in effect. American and Laotian respondents had similar and nominally higher levels of age identity than Australian, Thai, and Spanish respondents, with all having a markedly different age identities than those of Japanese respondents as reported by other researchers. No direct effect for gender on age identity emerged, though American females were more age identified than all other respondents. Across cultures, the social identity scale was found to be a reasonably adequate measure of age identity.     

Use and Perceptions of E-books by Academic Staff in Further Education

This article reports on a study of the awareness, perceptions and use of e-books by academic staff in Further Education (FE) colleges throughout Northern Ireland (NI). It is the first comprehensive study of e-book use by FE faculty in NI and fills a significant gap in the research literature on e-books in education, which has tended to focus on Higher Education and the university setting. Data was collected through an online survey which was distributed to FE faculty across NI. The findings show that although FE academic staff are receptive to e-books and welcome them as a resource, poor reading experience and lack of awareness of relevant titles have had an impact. In particular, the research found that 40% of academic staff, in post less than five years, had not used e-books. Greater availability of titles, promotion, and better integration within teaching and learning emerge as key requisites for effective service delivery and enhancement of e-books within FE, as does the need for better targeted instruction and training aimed at academic staff. Understanding patrons' views, awareness, needs, habits and expectations in relation to e-books is crucial to help direct collection content while budgets remain tight and physical space limited.     

Patronizing young and elderly adults: Response strategies in a community setting

Within the context of an elaborated model of the communication predicament of aging, the effects of particular response strategies to patronizing, intergenerational talk were investigated with written vignettes depicting a community situation. Young adults (N = 222) evaluated a patronizing speaker more negatively than a non‐patronizing speaker, and they also judged both conversational partners to be more satisfied when patronizing speech was absent. As compared to cooperative responses, assertive responses from the patronizee led to evaluations that she was higher status, more controlling, less nurturing, and less satisfied. Patronizing individuals receiving an assertive response were evaluated as less in control and satisfied than when they received a cooperative response.     

AUTHOR INDEX FOR VOLUME 38: 2007 Prepared by Assistant Editor James K. Bracken

PROVOCATEUR: IMAGES OF WOMEN AND MINORITIES IN ADVERTISING by Anthony J. Cortese (Lanham, MD: Rowman &; Littlefield “Postmodern Social Futures,”; 1999—$35.00/24.95, ISBN 0–8476–9174–8 hard, 0–8476–9175–6 paper, 161 pp., photographs, glossary, reference, index)

ADVERTISINQ AQE HANDBOOK OF ADVERTISING by Herschell Gordon Lewis and Carol Nelson (Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Business Books, 1999—$39.95, ISBN 0–8442–3670–5, 228 pp., photographs, appendices, index)

TELECOMMUNICATIONS GUIDE TO THE INTERNET by Jeffrey K. MacKie‐Mason and Christopher Lee (Rockville, MD: Government Institutes “Internet Series,”; 1999—$59.00, paper, ISBN 0–86587–601–0, 241 pp., index)

MEDIA LITERACY ONLINE PROJECT [website] (http://www.interact.uore‐gon.edu/MediaLit/HomePage)

AD WORLDS: BRANDS, MEDIA, AND AUDIENCES by Greg Myers (London and New York: Arnold, 1999—$60.00/19.95, ISBN 0–340–70006–8 hard, 0–340–70007–6 paper, 246 pp., photos, references, index, charts, glossary, tables, illustrations)

LEGAL INFORMATION: HOW TO FIND IT, HOW TO USE IT by Kent C. Olson (Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1999—price not given, paper, ISBN 0–89774–963–4, 333 pp., tables, index)

THE COPYRIGHT BOOK: A PRACTICAL GUIDE by William S. Strong (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999 [5th ed.]—$34.95, ISBN 0–262–19419–8, 376 pp., appendices, endnotes, index)

THE FATHER OF SPIN: EDWARD L. BERNAYS &; THE BIRTH OF PUBLIC RELATIONS by Larry Tye (New York: Crown Publishers, 1998—$27.50, ISBN 0–517–70435–8, 306 pp., photographs, notes, bibliography, index)

JAHRESBIBLIOGRAPHIE MASSENKOMMUNIKATION 1997/ANNUAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MASS COMMUNICATION 1997 compiled by Wilbert Ubbens (Berlin: Wissenschaftsverlag Volker Spiess, 1999—no price available, ISBN 3–89166–486–9, 446 pp., personal name, title, and corporate name indexes)     

Cox broadcasting corporation: A group‐ownership case study

One of the oldest and largest of the group owners in radio and television is historically traced in this article, taken from the author's dissertation on group ownership in television, written under the direction of past BEA‐President Rod Right‐mire at Ohio University. The author is on the broadcasting faculty at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.     

The beginning television course

All too often, strong opinions are held without regard to detailed knowledge of the subject involved. Current controversies show that the question of course content in professional broadcasting education is no exception. Regardless of the viewpoint held, a supply of adequate data relevant to the question should be welcomed by all. The Journal undertakes to supply as much data as possible relevant to broadcasting education, the most recent example being Harold Niven's “Fourth Annual Survey of Colleges and Universities Offering Course Work in Radio and Television, 1958–1959”; published in the Fallissue.