Internal and external focus of attention in a novice form sport

In the current experiment, we examined optimal focus for novices during a movement sequence in which performance was measured on accurate movement form/technique. A novel gymnastics routine was practiced under either an internal skill-relevant, internal skill-irrelevant, external, or no attention focus. Retention and transfer tests were then completed. During acquisition, adopting an internal irrelevant focus significantly improved performance, whereas an external focus degraded performance. There were no significant group differences in the retention and transfer tests. This suggests that learning of movement form/technique did not benefit from a specific focus of attention. The results are interpreted via an attentional capacity viewpoint and the notion that form tasks do not always contain obvious movement effects central to common coding and the constrained action hypothesis.     

The role of athlete narcissism in moderating the relationship between coaches' transformational leader behaviors and athlete motivation

Leadership research that examines follower characteristics as a potential moderator of leadership effectiveness is lacking. Within Bass's (1985) transformational leadership framework, we examined follower narcissism as a moderator of the coach behavior-coach effectiveness relationship. Youth athletes (male = 103, female = 106) from the Singapore Sports Academy (mean age = 14.28, SD = 1.40 years) completed the Differentiated Transformational Leadership Inventory (Callow, Smith, Hardy, Arthur, & Hardy, 2009), the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin & Terry, 1988), and indices of follower effort. Multilevel analyses revealed that athlete narcissism moderated the relationship between fostering acceptance of group goals and athlete effort and between high performance expectations and athlete effort. All the other transformational leader behaviors demonstrated main effects on follower effort, except for inspirational motivation.     

Effects of self-talk: a systematic review

This article presents a systematic review of the literature examining the relationship between self-talk and performance. "Second-generation questions" regarding potential mediators and moderators of the self-talk-performance relationship were also examined. A total of 47 studies were analyzed. Results indicated beneficial effects of positive, instructional, and motivational self-talk for performance. Somewhat surprisingly, two evidence-based challenges to popular current viewpoints on self-talk emerged. First, negative self-talk did not impede performance. Second, there was inconsistent evidence for the differential effects of instructional and motivational self-talk based on task characteristics. Results from the mediation-based analysis indicate that cognitive and behavioral factors had the most consistent relationships with self-talk. The findings are discussed in the context of recent theoretical advances, and the article includes recommendations for future research (e.g., the use of designs allowing the testing of meditational hypotheses) and for current applied practice (e.g., avoiding the use of thought-stopping techniques).     

Using clinical guidelines to assess the potential value of laboratory medicine in clinical decision-making

IntroductionIt is often quoted that 70% of clinical decisions are based on laboratory results, but the evidence to substantiate this claim is lacking. Since clinical guidelines aim to document best-practice decision making for specific disease conditions, inclusion of any laboratory test means that the best available evidence is recommending clinicians use it. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world’s most common cause of mortality, so this study reviewed all CVD guidelines published by five national/international authorities to determine what proportion of them recommended laboratory testing.Materials and methodsFive leading CVD guidelines were examined, namely the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the Australian Heart Foundation (AHF) and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ).ResultsA total of 101 guidelines were reviewed. Of the 33 individual ESC guidelines relating to CVD, 24/33 made a direct reference to the use of clinical laboratory tests in either diagnosis or follow-up treatment. The same applied to 15/20 of NICE guidelines, 24/32 from the ACC and 15/16 from the AHF/CSANZ. Renal function and blood count testing were the most recommended (39 and 26 times), with lipid, troponin and natriuretic peptide measurement advocated 25, 19 and 19 times respectively.ConclusionsThis study has shown that laboratory testing is advocated by between 73% and 94% of individual CVD guideline recommendations from five national/international authorities. This provides an index to assess the potential value of laboratory medicine to healthcare.     

Development, Implementation, and Validation of a Computerized Test for Statewide Assessment

How does a testing component function in an integrated learning system? How can you customize computerized tests to meet local specifications? How are computerized tests implemented and evaluated? Is the pay-off of computerized testing justified?     

The Guilt of Whistling-blowing: Conflicts in Action Research and Educational Ethnography

This chapter discusses the role conflict of the educational researcher who comes upon an unprofessional relationship between teacher and pupil. It is argued that the whistleblowing literature in related professions, with its focus on standard conditions and solutions framed as obligations, is inadequate. Reference is made to the idea of 'guilty knowledge': the feelings of guilt that attach when one comes to know of harm visited on innocent others, and has no unqualified sense of which way to act. Distinguishing moral from causal responsibility helps to show how blame need not necessarily attach to the guilt-ridden researcher, whichever option she chooses.     

The musical field

This article examines musical taste, as revealed by the Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion survey. It shows that musical taste is highly divided and contentious, with large numbers of people intensely disliking certain genres of music. It shows the existence of two distinctive musical taste communities, one linking taste for rock, electronic, urban, world and heavy metal music, and the other linking classical music and jazz. Tastes for specific musical works do not easily map onto musical genres, and are less closely correlated with each other. Using logistic regression, it is shown that age and ethnicity in particular, and gender, educational qualifications and occupational class, strongly condition taste for both musical genres and works.