Der Einfluss von aufmerksamkeitslenkenden Instruktionen auf das Erlernen einer Schlagbewegung im Golf

Among other things instructions serve the purpose of directing the recipient’s attentional focus. Several studies have demonstrated the advantage of an attentional focus away from one’s body (external) and towards the effect of the movement over an attentional focus on the movement itself (internal). In contrast, other studies have shown that the advantage of an external focus cannot be generalized. The present study utilized a golf putting task to investigate the effectiveness of an internal versus an external focus. Furthermore, the present study investigated whether participants complied with the instructions with the respective focus during the learning phase. Moreover, in addition to the performance on the putting task the movement execution was also examined. The results showed that the internal as well as the external group switched between the internal and external focus and additionally modified a neutral focus. There was no correlation between hitting performance and movement variability, but a correlation between the neutral focus and the movement variability was found. The results challenge empirical analysis and the results of research about attentional focus.     

Detecting Local Item Dependence in Polytomous Adaptive Data

A rapidly expanding arena for item response theory (IRT) is in attitudinal and health‐outcomes survey applications, often with polytomous items. In particular, there is interest in computer adaptive testing (CAT). Meeting model assumptions is necessary to realize the benefits of IRT in this setting, however. Although initial investigations of local item dependence have been studied both for polytomous items in fixed‐form settings and for dichotomous items in CAT settings, there have been no publications applying local item dependence detection methodology to polytomous items in CAT despite its central importance to these applications. The current research uses a simulation study to investigate the extension of widely used pairwise statistics, Yen's Q₃ Statistic and Pearson's Statistic X², in this context. The simulation design and results are contextualized throughout with a real item bank of this type from the Patient‐Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS).     

Validity issues in standard-setting studies

Standard-setting procedures are a key component within many large-scale educational assessment systems. They are consensual approaches in which committees of experts set cut-scores on continuous proficiency scales, which facilitate communication of proficiency distributions of students to a wide variety of stakeholders. This communicative function makes standard-setting studies a key gateway for validity concerns at the intersection of evidentiary and consequential aspects of score interpretations. This short review paper describes the conceptual and empirical basis of validity arguments for standard-setting procedures in light of recent research on validity theory. It specifically demonstrates how procedural and internal evidence for the validity of standard-setting procedures can be collected to form part of the consequential basis of validity evidence for test use.     

Seeing emotions: a review of micro and subtle emotion expression training

In this review I explore and discuss the use of micro and subtle expression training in the social sciences. These trainings, offered commercially, are designed and endorsed by noted psychologist Paul Ekman, co-author of the Facial Action Coding System, a comprehensive system of measuring muscular movement in the face and its relationship to the expression of emotions. The trainings build upon that seminal work and present them in a way for either the layperson or researcher to easily add to their personal toolbox for a variety of purposes. Outlined are my experiences across the training products, how they could be used in social science research, a brief comparison to automated systems, and possible next steps.     

Students' Views of Science and Technology When Entering University

We conducted a survey of first year French University students for the purpose of discovering their views and opinions on the subject of Science and Technology. These views provide valuable information on that which is considered to be essential by the students, while having the advantage of a certain amount of detachment in relationship to the academic course content. Certain implications may be deduced concerning University teaching as well. Content analysis was used to study scientific titles and texts produced by the students; the resulting classification system made it possible to deduce the main ideas on themes such as scientific discovery and conquest, man's need to understand his environment, the future, etc.     

A mediation meta-analysis of the role of maternal responsivity in the association between socioeconomic risk and children’s language

This meta-analysis tested maternal responsivity as a mediator of the association between socioeconomic risk and children's preschool language abilities. The search included studies up to 2017 and meta-analytic structural equation modeling, allowed us to examine the magnitude of the indirect effect across 17 studies (k = 19). The meta-analysis included 6433 predominantly White, English speaking children (M_age = 36 months; 50% female) from Western, industrialized countries. All paths in the model were statistically significant, notably, the indirect effect was significant (b = −.052), showing that maternal responsivity may be a proximal intervening variable between socioeconomic risk and children's language development. Moderator analyses found that the indirect effect was stronger for sensitive parenting than warmth and when parenting was assessed in the family home.     

Effect of biological maturation on maximal oxygen uptake and ventilatory thresholds in soccer players: an allometric approach

In this study, we investigated the effect of biological maturation on maximal oxygen uptake ([Vdot]O(2max)) and ventilatory thresholds (VT(1) and VT(2)) in 110 young soccer players separated into pubescent and post-pubescent groups.. Maximal oxygen uptake and [Vdot]O(2) corresponding to VT(1) and VT(2) were expressed as absolute values, ratio standards, theoretical exponents, and experimentally observed exponents. Absolute [Vdot]O(2) (ml · min(-1)) was different between groups for VT(1), VT(2), and [Vdot]O(2max). Ratio standards (ml · kg(-1) · min(-1)) were not significantly different between groups for VT(1), VT(2), and [Vdot]O(2max). Theoretical exponents (ml · kg(-0.67) · min(-1) and ml · kg(-0.75) · min(-1)) were not properly adjusted for the body mass effects on VT(1), VT(2), and [Vdot]O(2max). When the data were correctly adjusted using experimentally observed exponents, VT(1) (ml · kg(-0.94) · min(-1)) and VT(2) (ml · kg(-0.95) · min(-1)) were not different between groups. The experimentally observed exponent for [Vdot]O(2max) (ml · kg(-0.90) · min(-1)) was different between groups (P = 0.048); however, this difference could not be attributed to biological maturation. In conclusion, biological maturation had no effect on VT(1), VT(2) or [Vdot]O(2max) when the effect of body mass was adjusted by experimentally observed exponents. Thus, when evaluating the physiological performance of young soccer players, allometric scaling needs to be taken into account instead of using theoretical approaches.