The impact of physiological load on anticipation skills in badminton: From testing to training

Research remains unclear on the impact of physiological load on perceptual-cognitive skills in sport. Moreover, no study has examined the training of perceptual-cognitive skills under physiological load. The current study comprised two phases. Firstly, we examined the impact of badminton-specific physiological load on anticipatory skills in expert badminton players (n = 13), including key underlying mechanisms, such as gaze behaviour. Under high physiological load, participants displayed less efficient visual search behaviour and showed a reduction in response accuracy. Secondly, we examined the effects of combining perceptual-cognitive simulation training with the high physiological load. Ten of the expert badminton players were assigned to a combined training group, where the simulation training and the physiological load intervention occurred simultaneously or an independent training group, whereby the two components were completed independently. The combined training group showed a positive change in the efficiency of their visual search behaviours compared to the independent training group, but no significant performance improvements were found. Overall, findings demonstrate that high physiological load is detrimental to experts’ anticipatory skills. However, combining perceptual-cognitive simulation training with high physiological load can potentially negate these debilitating effects.     

Leg amputation side determines performance in curve sprinting: a case study on a Paralympic medalist

The lower limb kinetics of curve sprinting in amputees are not well described in the literature, particularly with respect to the effect of the side of amputation. This is an issue due to the importance of the knowledge for prosthetic design and classification of athletes. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of side of amputation on curve sprinting performance in athletes with a unilateral leg amputation. A three-dimensional motion analysis system (Vicon), four force plates (Kistler) and a modified mathematical human model (ALASKA) were used to compare clockwise and counter clockwise curve sprinting lower limb kinematics and kinetics of a Paralympic medalist with a left-sided knee exarticular amputation. Results reveal that vertical ground reaction force application and total vertical impulse were lower when the affected limb was at the inside of the curve. The unaffected limb showed joint mechanics different to those established for non-amputee athletes and might contribute better to propulsion when being the inside limb. Curve sprinting biomechanics and the ability to attain high radial velocities are directly dependent on the side of amputation relative to the curve direction in a unilateral amputee athlete of highest performance level.     

Storybook models and achievement behavior of preschool children

The effects of orally presented storybook models on children's cognitive achievement behavior were assessed in two experiments. Experiment I involved 100 preschool-age children who were given one exposure to either a story depicting achievement behaviors by a male/female model, or a control story describing no achievement behavior. Subjects then were asked to perform a related achievement task. No significant modeling effects were found, but a significant relationship existed between the children's recall of the story content and their performance on the subsequent task. Experiment 11 employed 60 preschool-age children who were given repeated exposures (3 to 4) to, and group discussion of, the same achievement stories or non-achievement control story. A significant relationship was observed between type of story and type of solutions to the subsequent achievement task. These findings are discussed in the context of modeling theory, with practical implications.     

Recategorized WISC-R score patterns of older and younger referred Tlingit Indian children

This study investigated patterns of Bannatyne's recategorized WISC-R scores of 146 predominantly Tlingit Indian children who were referred for psychoeducational testing. The students were divided into two groups, ages 6 through 10 and 11 through 16, in order to investigate patterns that occurred at each level and to investigate the proportions that exhibited a typically “Indian” pattern: Spatial > Sequential > Conceptual and Acquired Knowledge. As a group, the older children displayed an Indian pattern, but the younger children displayed a different one: Spatial > Conceptual and Sequential > Acquired Knowledge. Both groups, however, displayed a significantly greater proportion of children with an Indian pattern than would be expected by chance. A considerable number of individuals from both groups attained significant differences among scores in the Indian direction.     

Sex differences and sex bias on the Boehm test of basic concepts: Do they exist?

Form A of the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (BTBC) was administered to 180 kindergartners—90 boys and 90 girls. Neither their mean scores nor their standard deviations differed significantly, and the distributions of scores for the two groups were virtually identical. Moreover, the application of three internal criteria for bias yielded totally negative results; thus, there was no evidence of either sex differences or sex bias in the data.     

Interscorer reliability of the Minnesota Percepto-Diagnostic Test-Revised

This study investigated the interscorer reliability between a novice and a professional psychologist for the Minnesota Percepto-Diagnostic Test-Revised (MPDT-R). The sample consisted of 30 individuals (18 males and 12 females) who were referred to the Applied Neuroscience Institute of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Results from the study indicated that for three of the four MPDT-R scores there was a significant positive correlation between expert and novice scoring criteria. Implications for the assessment of perceptual-motor problems using the MPDT-R are discussed.     

Assessing the acceptability of behavioral interventions used in classrooms

This study examined components of teacher judgements that an intervention is either acceptable or unacceptable. A total of 180 preservice and student teachers were asked to evaluate the acceptability of six different interventions. The evaluations of acceptability were assessed using a 20–item rating scale. A factor analysis of the rating scale yielded one major dimension, a general acceptability factor, and four secondary dimensions of intervention acceptability: risk to the target child, amount of teacher time required, effects of the intervention on other children, and amount of teacher skill required. Results are discussed in terms of designing interventions that are both effective and usable by classroom teachers.     

Item analyses of the concept assessment kit-conservation for educable mentally retarded children

A series of item analyses of the CAK-C was conducted for a sample of 155 educable mentally retarded children. The probability of a correct response was found to differ from task to task, and there was evidence that the order of difficulty of the tasks for this sample resembled that for nonretarded children. The probabilities of the two incorrect responses were generally not equal, and the choice of one or the other incorrect response showed some relation to CA, MA, and IQ, particularly the last two variables.     

Mandated team participation: Implications for psychologists working in the schools

Public Law 94-142, Education for All Handicapped Children Act, has had a dramatic impact on the schooling of exceptional children. Yet, rather limited attention has been directed to the one section of the law that mandates a particular decision-making approach for both the diagnosis and intervention tasks. The implications for the training and practice of applied psychologists who work with school-age children could be significant. This paper examines three areas of concern that impact the psychologist's role in working with exceptional children: (a) conditions that are considered crucial for the development of teams, (b) the literature regarding psychologists' input to school-based teams, and (c) reactions of school-based team members to such an approach. Related issues of importance to both trainers and practitioners in the field of psychology are then presented.