Coordination variability and skill development in expert triple jumpers

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of skill of expert triple jumpers on the coordination variability of lower extremity intra-limb couplings. In contrast to the traditional motor learning perspective, we hypothesized that as skill and thus performance increases, movement coordination variability will also increase. Three-dimensional kinematic and ground reaction force data were collected during the hop-step transition phase of the triple jump. Relative motion plots and a modified vector coding technique were used to quantify the coordination variability across the trials. The results were consistent with a U-shaped curve, representing coordination variability, as skill increases. The high coordination variability in less skilled athletes is present while the appropriate characteristics defining the movement coordination patterns are acquired. This coordination variability may not be beneficial to performance. As the refinement of these characteristics is achieved, coordination variability decreases, resulting in a more consistent or regulated performance. In the final stages of developing a skilled performance, a functional variability is accessed that brings flexibility to the system allowing it to cope with perturbations. This study highlights the need to address the learning effect when analysing coordination variability from a dynamical systems perspective.     

The role of effort in moderating the anxiety-performance relationship: Testing the prediction of processing efficiency theory in simulated rally driving

We tested some of the key predictions of processing efficiency theory using a simulated rally driving task. Two groups of participants were classified as either dispositionally high or low anxious based on trait anxiety scores and trained on a simulated driving task. Participants then raced individually on two similar courses under counterbalanced experimental conditions designed to manipulate the level of anxiety experienced. The effort exerted on the driving tasks was assessed though self-report (RSME), psychophysiological measures (pupil dilation) and visual gaze data. Efficiency was measured in terms of efficiency of visual processing (search rate) and driving control (variability of wheel and accelerator pedal) indices. Driving performance was measured as the time taken to complete the course. As predicted, increased anxiety had a negative effect on processing efficiency as indexed by the self-report, pupillary response and variability of gaze data. Predicted differences due to dispositional levels of anxiety were also found in the driving control and effort data. Although both groups of drivers performed worse under the threatening condition, the performance of the high trait anxious individuals was affected to a greater extent by the anxiety manipulation than the performance of the low trait anxious drivers. The findings suggest that processing efficiency theory holds promise as a theoretical framework for examining the relationship between anxiety and performance in sport.     

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement

Acknowledgements     

Hypertext and Instructional Design: Some Preliminary Guidelines

Hypertext is a nonlinear way of presenting content consisting of nodes and links that a person can access using a variety of search and browsing strategies. In this article, we focus on the use of hypertext as an instructional tool. We compare hypertext instruction with traditional instructional formats. We offer some initial guidelines relating to guidance and control, development and implementation, multiuser management, user interface, and content representation. The paper concludes with a discussion of limitations of learner control as an instructional strategy, and the need for careful instructional design of hypertext instructional programs.     

Statistical and individual temporal stability of the WISC-R for cognitively disabled adolescents

This study examines the temporal stability of the WISC-R for 155 13-and 14-year-old adolescents identified as either EMR or LD who were involved in special education during the preceding three-year time period. The three major scales of the WISC-R were found to be more stable over a three-year period for the LD than for the EMR group, while the subtest scales for the EMR group, showed greater stability over the three-year interval. Test-retest coefficients for the EMR group were substantially lower than those presented in the WISC-R test manual. A large proportion of individuals within both groups showed statistically significant differences on one or more of the IQ score scales between testings based on standard errors of measurement. These findings are examined in relation to individual placement of students, reporting confidence intervals in reports, and calculation of the best unbiased estimate of intellectual functioning.     

Improving Performance Without Training: A Three Step Approach

Condition 1 showed that employees recorded high percentages of completed tasks; and task performance was shown to slightly improve. At that point in the project, recording accuracy was at it's highest level. Condition 2 illustrated a continuance of high employee records of completed tasks but also showed that actual task performance considerably increased so that there was greater self-recording accuracy. Then, during Condition 3, actual task performance increased more so that it even more closely reflected self-recorded measures. Each of the steps discussed thus far could be sufficient individually to facilitate accurate self-recording and task performance gains, although each appeared to have gained additional strength by being collectively applied. The cost of the present organizational intervention was very low. The costs included material duplication costs and approximately 30 minutes of management time per day. Management time was used to make concession observations (management records), compute performance data, and provide feedback to the employee. Employees worked the same number of hours as in Baseline. Based on this breakdown, the approximate weekly cost of this project was about $30.00. The total cost could be reduced further, perhaps, by monitoring less frequently and reducing the frequency of feedback sessions as employee performance stabilized at higher levels. Thus, the longer this project would run, the less expensive it might become. The steps implemented during this project might easily be applied to other jobs that produce easily observable outputs and could also be applied to other work settings. Future research efforts that would identify cost-effective ways to stimulate and maintain high levels of accurate self-recording might provide today's managers several options that could all yield accurate data for organizational management. Other research efforts centered on specific analyses of participatory standard setting, peer reinforcement, and self-reinforcement for task performance could provide additional insight into the areas of job analysis and employee productivity. Lastly, increased knowledge about the long term effects of self-recording could be gained through future research methods that first established high recording accuracies and task performance levels, then evaluated maintenance procedures for these methods. Implications of successive research studies which clearly show that employee performance can be improved by rewarding performers for accurate self-recording could be profound.     

Teacher-student verbal communication patterns in regular and special classrooms

Patterns of verbal communications between a teacher and student can influence the classroom environment, quality of the instructional program, and student management in the classroom. This study examined teacher-student communication patterns in both regular and special education classes for behaviorally and emotionally handicapped students. It was expected that special class communication patterns would differ substantially from those used in regular classes. Those communications would result in more effective student management and more time on-task for learning. Webster's (1984, 1986) Process Interaction Model was used to analyze the communication patterns. Expected differences between how regular and special class teachers interact with students were not found. Implications of findings are discussed in relationship to teacher training, teacher effectiveness, and classroom management.     

Defining 'special needs'

Policy, research and practice in special needs education are inevitably determined by our conceptions of ‘special needs’ and our understanding of that phrase. There is a distinction between (1) the meaning of the phrase (the linguistic equivalent of ‘special’ and ‘needs’) and (2) the criteria of application (what is to count as a special need). Both (1) and (2) are here explored, and it is shown that both depend ultimately on value judgements about what is important or desirable in human life and not just on empirical fact. Those concerned with the theory and practice of special needs have to face the task of clarifying, and defending, the value judgements on which their work relies.