Time series analysis of knowledge of results effects during motor skill acquisition

Time series analysis was used to investigate the hypothesis that during acquisition of a motor skill, knowledge of results (KR) information is used to generate a stable internal referent about which response errors are randomly distributed. Sixteen subjects completed 50 acquisition trials of each of three movements whose spatial-temporal characteristics differed. Acquisition trials were either blocked, with each movement being presented in series, or randomized, with the presentation of movements occurring in random order. Analysis of movement time data indicated the contextual interference effect reported in previous studies was replicated in the present experiment. Time series analysis of the acquisition trial data revealed the majority of individual subject response patterns during blocked trials were best described by a model with a temporarily stationary, internal reference of the criterion and systematic, trial-to-trial variation of response errors. During random trial conditions, response patterns were usually best described by a "White-noise" model. This model predicts a permanently stationary, internal reference associated with randomly distributed response errors that are unaffected by KR information. These results are not consistent with previous work using time series analysis to describe motor behavior (Spray & Newell, 1986).     

Financial Feeling: An Investigation of Emotion and Communication in the Workplace

There is growing interest in the role of emotion when considering communication in the workplace. This work has most often considered workers in front-line service positions in investigations of emotional labor, and human service workers in investigations of empathy and emotional work. In this study, we consider processes of both emotional labor and emotional work in the financial planning profession. Financial planners occupy a role requiring ongoing relationships with clients, conversations about the often emotional topic of money, and a need to manage emotion in a variety of interaction contexts. Thus, from extant theory and literature regarding emotion and communication, we proposed research questions regarding the roles of emotional labor and emotional work in the financial planning profession. These questions were investigated in a web-based survey study of almost 300 professional financial planners and supporting interviews with 14 financial planners. Results indicate support for existing theory on emotional work, extensions to current research regarding emotional labor, and important implications for the role of emotion and communication in a range of professional service roles.     

Key issues of the development of the information infrastructure and information support of innovation activities

We consider some issues of the development of the national information infrastructure in the field of innovation, including a national system of accounting for the results of scientific and technical activities (RSTA) and a national new-generation research computer network (NNGRCN). The current state of the national system of scientific and technical information and its resources for information support of innovation processes are analyzed. In the context of further development of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), we propose a Conception of scientific and technical support for programs and projects of NIS member-states in the field of innovation, making it possible to incorporate the existing innovation-oriented information resources into a joint distributed integrated information system as well as to create new information resources and technologies.