Promoting a functional physical self-concept in physical education: Evaluation of a 10-week intervention

Most physical education intervention studies on the positive effect of sports on self-concept development have attempted to increase schoolchildren’s self-concept without taking the veridicality of the self-concept into account. The present study investigated whether a 10-week intervention in physical education would lead to an increase not only in the general level of self-concept of endurance and self-concept of strength but also in its veridicality in those who had previously under- or overestimated their abilities. A total of 464 primary schoolchildren (246 boys, 218 girls, Mage = 11.9) either participated in the intervention or served as controls. The intervention group received endurance and strength training during physical education lessons carried out with a consistent individualized teacher frame of reference (iTFR). Results showed that this specific intervention was associated with increases not only in the general level of self-concept but also in its veridicality in under- and overestimators. Results are discussed in terms of didactic methods to promote functional self-concepts in physical education.

Reading on LCD vs e-Ink displays: effects on fatigue and visual strain

Purpose:  Most recently light and mobile reading devices with high display resolutions have become popular and they may open new possibilities for reading applications in education, business and the private sector. The ability to adapt font size may also open new reading opportunities for people with impaired or low vision. Based on their display technology two major groups of reading devices can be distinguished. One type, predominantly found in dedicated e-book readers, uses electronic paper also known as e-Ink. Other devices, mostly multifunction tablet-PCs, are equipped with backlit LCD displays. While it has long been accepted that reading on electronic displays is slow and associated with visual fatigue, this new generation is explicitly promoted for reading. Since research has shown that, compared to reading on electronic displays, reading on paper is faster and requires fewer fixations per line, one would expect differential effects when comparing reading behaviour on e-Ink and LCD. In the present study we therefore compared experimentally how these two display types are suited for reading over an extended period of time. Methods:  Participants read for several hours on either e-Ink or LCD, and different measures of reading behaviour and visual strain were regularly recorded. These dependent measures included subjective (visual) fatigue, a letter search task, reading speed, oculomotor behaviour and the pupillary light reflex. Results:  Results suggested that reading on the two display types is very similar in terms of both subjective and objective measures. Conclusions:  It is not the technology itself, but rather the image quality that seems crucial for reading. Compared to the visual display units used in the previous few decades, these more recent electronic displays allow for good and comfortable reading, even for extended periods of time.

Physical education enhances your concentration

There is growing evidence that physical education has not only positive effects on the physical health of children and adolescents, but also contributes positively to personality development and to performance in cognitive tasks. Existing studies indicate chronic as well as acute effects of physical education on cognitive performance. However, underlying mechanisms, required content of the physical intervention and duration of the effects are still unclear. In order to shed light on some of these open questions, the present study investigated the acute effects of a special form of physical education, integrating cardiac-stimulating tasks with executive demands, on the concentration of 11-year olds. Concentration was assessed three times using the d2-R Test. Intervention (n=38) and control group (n=35) did not differ in their d2-R performance in pre- nor in post-test, which took place after either a physical intervention or a normal core subject lesson respectively. In the follow-up test however, which was completed after two more core subject lessons for both groups, the intervention group improved more in their d2-R performance than the control group F(1, 71)=4.95, p=.03, indicating that physical education can positively influence children’s concentration, not immediately after the activity, but later on during the following school lessons.

Improving the dependability of research in personality and social psychology: Recommendations for research and educational practice

In this article, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Task Force on Publication and Research Practices offers a brief statistical primer and recommendations for improving the dependability of research. Recommendations for research practice include (a) describing and addressing the choice of N (sample size) and consequent issues of statistical power, (b) reporting effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), (c) avoiding “questionable research practices” that can inflate the probability of Type I error, (d) making available research materials necessary to replicate reported results, (e) adhering to SPSP’s data sharing policy, (f) encouraging publication of high-quality replication studies, and (g) maintaining flexibility and openness to alternative standards and methods. Recommendations for educational practice include (a) encouraging a culture of “getting it right,” (b) teaching and encouraging transparency of data reporting, (c) improving methodological instruction, and (d) modeling sound science and supporting junior researchers who seek to “get it right.”

Intelligence is related to specific processes in visual change detection: Fixed-links modeling of hit rate and reaction time

By means of fixed-links modeling, the present study identified different processes of visual short-term memory (VSTM) functioning and investigated how these processes are related to intelligence. We conducted an experiment where the participants were presented with a color change detection task. Task complexity was manipulated through varying the number of presented stimuli (set size). We collected hit rate and reaction time (RT) as indicators for the amount of information retained in VSTM and speed of VSTM scanning, respectively. Due to the impurity of these measures, however, the variability in hit rate and RT was assumed to consist not only of genuine variance due to individual differences in VSTM retention and VSTM scanning but also of other, non-experimental portions of variance. Therefore, we identified two qualitatively different types of components for both hit rate and RT: (1) non-experimental components representing processes that remained constant irrespective of set size and (2) experimental components reflecting processes that increased as a function of set size. For RT, intelligence was negatively associated with the non-experimental components, but was unrelated to the experimental components assumed to represent variability in VSTM scanning speed. This finding indicates that individual differences in basic processing speed, rather than in speed of VSTM scanning, differentiates between high- and low-intelligent individuals. For hit rate, the experimental component constituting individual differences in VSTM retention was positively related to intelligence. The non-experimental components of hit rate, representing variability in basal processes, however, were not associated with intelligence. By decomposing VSTM functioning into non-experimental and experimental components, significant associations with intelligence were revealed that otherwise might have been obscured.

Early follicular testosterone level predicts preference for masculinity in male faces — But not for women taking hormonal contraception

It has been shown that women’s preference for masculinity in male faces changes across the menstrual cycle. Preference for masculinity is stronger when conception probability is high than when it is low. These findings have been linked to cyclic fluctuations of hormone levels. The purpose of the present study is to further investigate the link between gonadal steroids (i.e. testosterone, estradiol, and progesterone) and masculinity preference in women, while holding the cycle phase constant. Sixty-two female participants were tested in their early follicular cycle phase, when conception probability is low. Participants were shown face pairs and where asked to choose the more attractive face. Face pairs consisted of a masculinized and feminized version of the same face. For naturally cycling women we found a positive relationship between saliva testosterone levels and masculinity preference, but there was no link between any hormones and masculinity preference for women taking hormonal contraception. We conclude that in naturally cycling women early follicular testosterone levels are associated with masculinity preference. However, these hormonal links were not found for women with artificially modified hormonal levels, that is, for women taking hormonal contraception.