Search

Mental practice is the cognitive rehearsal of a task prior to performance. Although most researchers contend that mental practice is an effective means of enhancing performance, a clear consensus is precluded because (a) mental practice is often denned so loosely as to include almost any type of mental preparation and (b) empirical results are inconclusive. A meta-analysis of the literature on mental practice was conducted to determine the effect of mental practice on performance and to identify conditions under which mental practice is most effective. Results indicated that mental practice has a positive and significant effect on performance, and the effectiveness of mental practice was moderated by the type of task, the retention interval between practice and performance, and the length or duration of the mental practice intervention. Mental practice refers to the cognitive rehearsal of a task in the absence of overt physical movement. When a musician practices a passage by thinking it through or when an athlete prepares for an event by visualizing the steps required to perform the task, he or she is engaging in mental practice. A number of studies have examined the effects of mental practice on performance. Whereas the research of Kelsey (1961) and Ryan and Simons (1982) supports the efficacy of mental practice for enhancing performance, Beasley (1978) reported negative results. An astute reviewer may be able to estimate the direction and magnitude of effect of the relationship between mental practice and performance from the preponderance of evidence across the majority of studies. For example, Richardson (1967a) concluded that most studies support the efficacy of mental practice on performance. However, Richardson, and later Corbin (1972), noted that this evidence was inconclusive. Because different studies use different types of tasks, with different types of subjects, and report different study statistics, it is difficult if not impossible to integrate these disparate research studies on an intuitive level to draw firm conclusions on the effectiveness of mental practice. The purpose of this study was to integrate the literature on mental practice, summarize the overall effects of mental practice on performance, and specify the conditions under which mental practice is most effective.

We surveyed Irish emigrants on their experiences of emigrating and on their attitudes towards Ireland. The emigrants were the readers of a weekly newsletter. The Irish Emigrant, that is distributed worldwide via electronic mail. Our 495 respondents (438 of them Irish emigrants), writing from 17 different countries, provided us with information particular to the emigrant’ s experience (reasons for having emigrated. difficulties encountered. antiIrish prejudice. etc.) as well as information on their perceptions of Ireland. These emigrants, largely professional and technologically adept, present a picture of being generally well-received and of being quite content in their new homes. For almost all, the emigrant experience has been rewarding and many do not intend to return to Ireland. The problems that are anticipated, both by those who intend to return and those who do not, as well as the emigrant’s particular perspecti ve on Ireland. are described. Their suggestions for how they, as emigrants, can play a ...

In the past, quantitative and qualitative approaches to research were portrayed as being incompatible, if not mutually exclusive. More recently, however, researchers have explored the possible complementarity of these approaches through mixed methods research (MMR) the so-called third research paradigm. The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and implications of mixed methods designs for research in sport and exercise psychology. Having sketched the nature and origins of MMR, we highlight some advantages it offers to researchers in sport and exercise psychology. After that, we conclude by identifying some barriers to progress in using mixed methods research in this latter field. Author has checked copyright kpw13/5/13

This review examines themeasurement of motor imagery (MI) processes. First, self-report measures of MI are evaluated. Next, mental chronometry measures areconsidered. Then, we explain how physiological indices of the autonomic nervous system can measure MI. Finally, we show how theseindices may be combined to produce a measure of MI quality called the Motor Imagery Index. Key Words: motor imagery, mentalimagery, psychometric measures, mental chronometry, autonomic nervous system, electrodermal and cardiac activities

OBJECTIVE To examine the degree to which the use of selected theoretically derived self-regulation strategies (eg, goal setting) could predict adolescents' self-reported leisure-time physical activity behavior. METHOD Two hundred thirty-three (M age = 15.88) high school students completed measures assessing their self-regulation strategy use and their level of physical activity. RESULTS Correlational analysis showed self-regulation strategy use was significantly related to adolescent physical activity. Regression analysis also revealed that goal setting and a causal attribution dimension accounted for 10.7% of the variance reported in adolescents' physical activity. CONCLUSION There is a significant positive relationship between adolescent leisure-time physical activity and certain theoretically derived self-regulation strategies.

Previous work has examined the relative valence (positivity or negativity) of ethnophaulisms (ethnic slurs) targeting European immigrants to the United States. However, this relied on contemporary judgments made by American researchers. The present study examined valence judgments made by citizens from the countries examined in previous work. Citizens of 17 European nations who were fluent in English rated ethnophaulisms targeting their own group as well as ethnophaulisms targeting immigrants from England. American students rated ethnophaulisms for all 17 European nations, providing a comparison from members of the host society. Ratings made by the European judges were (a) consistent with those made by the American students and (b) internally consistent for raters’ own country and for the common target group of the English. Following discussion of relevant methodological issues, the authors examine the theoretical significance of their results.

People differ from each other in the manner in which they process information from the world. These individual differences are called learning styles’. The purpose of this paper is to explore how research in this field can benefit from certain findings in cognitive psychology. Following a review of some difficulties which afflict research on learning styles (e.g. inadequate construct validation of measures), attention is drawn to two relevant findings in cognitive research: the influence of prior knowledge on learning and the potential value to learners of ‘metacognitive’ awareness. Some implications of these findings for learning styles research are then discussed.

Irish literature and folklore suggest that Irish people tend to display a fatalistic outlook on life. As yet, however, there has been no published attempt to test this proposition. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent to which Irish and American people differ in their level of fatalism (or external locus of control), allegiance to the work ethic and achievement motivation. A total of 742 Irish people (average age 24.9 years) and 720 Americans (average age 26.5 years) completed measures of these three constructs. These samples contained approximately equal numbers of males and females and of students and workers. The Irish workers had lower achievement motivation than their American counterparts, but were not significantly different from them on the other two measures. Irish students, however. scored significantly lower than American students on allegiance to the work ethic and achievement motivation, but higher on fatalism. These results may be attributable in part to national differences ...

It has long been known that athletes use mental imagery extensively for a variety of different purposes. Although many of these purposes have been well documented, several gaps remain in our understanding of atheletes’ imagery experiences. First, the issue of negative or debilitative imagery among athletes has received little research attention in sports psychology. In addition, until recently, athletes’ meta-imagery processes (i.e., their beliefs about the nature and regulation of their own imagery skills) have been neglected. So, the purpose of the present study is to use qualitative methodology to explore meta-imagery processes and imagery direction (i.e., facilitative or debilitative) in elite sports performers. The sample comprised seven participants from motor-sport, rugby, fencing and golf (mean age = 24.43 years; SD = 1.99). Results showed that motivational aspects of imagery were not as relevant to our sample of elite performers as they appear to have been in previous studies using non-elite samples. In addition, the elite performers in our study showed evidence of sophisticated meta-imagery control skills – being able, for example, to restructure negative imagery so that it facilitates future performance. Finally, our elite sample’s experience of imagery direction seems to be more complex than had previously been believed. For example, some athletes reported deliberately imagining errors in order to prepare for “worstcase” scenarios in competition (hence using such imagery to facilitate their performance). Overall, we propose that existing imagery use taxonomies that need to be revised to take into account the flexibility with which elite athletes actually employ imagery.

Imagery research has accumulated in two main waves since it was first investigated over a century ago. Firstly, in a period roughly extending over a century from the 1890s to the 1990s, several hundred experiments focused on the efficacy of the “mental practice” effect. More recently, attempts to shed light on the precise tasks or functions for which athletes use visualization in actual sport situations have led to an upsurge in imagery research. Central to this second wave of research is the imagery use framework (Hall et al., 1998), which has led to over 20 studies. Unfortunately, despite making significant advances these studies have a number of limitations, including a failure to include elite participants and the fact that they have largely overlooked meta-imagery abilities of the athletes. To address these issues, semi-structured interviews were used to explore imagery experiences among elite athletes. Canoe-slalom, which had been subject to previous research on imagery (e.g., White & Hardy, 1998), was the chosen sport. Five female and seven male elite level competitors (age= 25 years; SD = 4.16) participated. Findings from the elite athlete sample were inconsistent with previous research with regard to the motivational function of images. Furthermore, the athletes demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of imagery processes including imagery of realistic behaviours rather than perfect performance. Interestingly, the frequency of debilitative imagery was surprising given previous findings but may have been a consequence of the qualitative methods employed. Finally, examination of the meta-imagery construct proved valuable and is worthy of further research.

The term “attention” refers to people's ability to focus on information derived either from the external world or from internal sources such as their memory and imagination. In sport psychology, attentional processes such as “concentration,” or the ability to focus mental effort on the task at hand while ignoring distractions, are regarded as vital determinants of successful athletic performance. Given this importance of attention in sport, a variety of psychological exercises and techniques have been postulated to enhance athletes' concentration skills. Although none of these interventions has been validated adequately so far, some theoretical support exists for the use of the following strategies: simulation training, performance goal-setting, preperformance routines, trigger words and mental practice. Following an explanation of each of these concentration interventions, some unresolved issues are considered along with potentially fruitful new directions for research in this field.

The past decade has witnessed increased interest in the visual search behaviour of athletes. Little is known, however, about the relationship between anxiety and eye movements in sport performers or about the extent to which athletes' planned and actual visual search strategies correspond. To address these issues, we conducted two studies. In Study 1, eight expert female gymnasts were presented with three digital slides of a model performing a skill that is known to be anxiety-provoking in this sport--namely, the 'back flip' on the beam. By varying the height of the beam and the presence or absence of safety mats, the slides differed in the amount of anxiety that they elicited vicariously in the viewer. In the study, the gymnasts were asked to imagine themselves in the position of the depicted model and to describe the anxiety that they felt. As they viewed the slides, their eye movements were recorded. As predicted, anxiety was associated with an increase in the number of fixations to peripheral areas. In addition, the more 'threatening' slides elicited significantly more fixations than the less feared images. In Study 2, the plans of 15 equestrian performers (5 expert, 5 intermediate and 5 novice) were elicited as they engaged in a virtual 'walk' around a computerized show-jumping course. Contrary to expectations, the congruence between intended and actual search behaviour was not significantly greater for expert riders than for the less skilled groups. Also, the fact that the top riders allocated more fixations to slides than the less skilled performers challenged the prediction that expertise would be associated with economy of visual search. Finally, as expected, the expert riders were significantly less dependent on the overall 'course plan' than the intermediate and novice equestrian performers when inspecting the fences.

The present commentary addresses two issues arising from Memmert's (2010) paper. First, can the 'misdirection' and 'inattentional blindness' paradigms provide important insights into the relationship between 'overt' and 'covert' attentional processes? Second, what are the most fruitful directions for research that seeks to combine these attentional paradigms in ecologically valid settings? We argue that although Memmert's (2010) paper postulates several important differences between the misdirection and inattentional blindness paradigms, it may not emphasise sufficiently strongly the significant insights into attention that have been yielded by the former approach. To illustrate, we discuss the utility of the misdirection paradigm in providing an ecologically valid method to investigate the relationship between overt and covert attentional processes. Such naturalistic methods are required to ensure optimal integration of the misdirection and inattentional blindness paradigms within a general theory of attention.

Research suggests that people's memory span for Arabic numerals is consistently greater than that for digit words written in an alphabet, even when these stimuli have been matched for word length, lexicality, and semantics. It is not clear whether this “numeral advantage” holds true for other scripts. The present study tested this possibility in the case of Japanese kanji (the Chinese characters used in Japanese). 23 Japanese adults responded to stimuli comprised of two sets of random number sequences, one set presented in Arabic numerals and the other in digit word kanji. Each set began with three two-item sequences followed by three three-item sequences and so on, until three 12-item sequences were presented. Consecutive repetition of stimuli was avoided. Memory span was measured as the length of the last correctly recalled item sequence. Results indicated no numeral advantage effect, as there was no significant difference between people's recall of numerals and digit words. Memory strategy in dealing with kanji appears to bear more resemblance to numerals than to words in English.

This study tested the hypothesis that field independence was significantly correlated with proficiency in fault diagnosis for a national sample of Irish apprentice electricians. This hypothesis was corroborated (with r values ranging between 0.33 and 0.69). Results suggest that embedded figures and troubleshooting tasks share a common demand for cognitive restructuring.

The Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) is a ‘test of a person's capacity at the time of the test to apprehend meaningless figures presented for his observation, see the relations between them, conceive the nature of the figure completing each system of relations presented and, by so doing, develop a systematic method of reasoning’ (Raven et al., 1983, p. 2). It was developed in Britain in the mid-1930s (see Penrose and Raven, 1936) as a non-verbal measure of Spearman's ‘g’ factor, eduction of relations among abstract items.

There is currently an upsurge of interest among Irish school leavers in craft apprenticeship training. This study sought to explore the distinctive characteristics of high-achieving apprentices from a representative national sample ( N = 433) spanning 13 trades. The criteria of performance comprised measures of theory attainment (Cr1), practical proficiency (Cr2), and composite success (Cr3) in training. “High achievers” (defined as those scoring in the top-third of the criterion distribution) on Cr1 and Cr3 tended to be significantly more intelligent, more verbally gifted, more numerate, and more achievement-motivated than were their low-achieving colleagues (defined as those scoring in the bottom-third of the criterion distribution). No significant differences emerged when the construct profiles of equivalently defined groups on Cr2 were compared.

This paper attempts to evaluate some conceptual and methodological issues in research on field dependence-independence. Problems of the definition and measurement of “psychological differentiation” and “cognitive restructuring” are examined. Difficulties arising from the profusion of measures, inadequate control of intelligence and insufficient construct validation of tests are also considered. The paper concludes with some recommendations for further research in this field.

The past three decades have witnessed a remarkable growth of research interest in the mind. This trend has been acclaimed as the ‘cognitive revolution’ in psychology. At the heart of this revolution lies the claim that the mind is a computational system. The purpose of this paper is both to elucidate this claim and to evaluate its implications for cognitive psychology. The nature and scope of cognitive psychology and cognitive science are outlined, the principal assumptions underlying the information processing approach to cognition are summarised and the nature of artificial intelligence and its relationship to cognitive science are explored. The ‘computational metaphor’ of mind is examined and both the theoretical and methodological issues which it raises for cognitive psychology are considered. Finally, the nature and significance of ‘connectionism’— the latest paradigm in cognitive science—are briefly reviewed. 17/12/2013. SB.

Deaf people have difficulty reading and remembering English script because of its sound-based orthography. Logographs (e.g., kanji, Arabic numerals) should not pose the same challenge because they are based on meaning, not sound. Little research has been conducted to test this theory's validity cross-culturally. The present study was an attempt to do just that. The first of two experiments tested immediate memory spans for word sequences of 20 hearing Irish, 20 prelingually deaf Americans, 20 hearing Japanese, and 20 prelingually deaf Japanese. For English words, deaf participants showed shorter memory spans than hearing participants, but memory spans were similar for deaf and hearing participants for words in kanji, the logographic system for Japanese writing. The second experiment tested memory span for Arabic numerals, with the same participants. Deaf English-readers showed shorter memory spans than their hearing counterparts, but deaf and hearing Japanese performed similarly.

Most studies on the Stroop effect (unintentional automatic word processing) have been restricted to English speakers using vocal responses. Little is known about this effect with deaf signers. The study compared Stroop task responses among four different samples: deaf participants from a Japanese-language environment and from an English-language environment; and hearing individuals from Japan and from Australia. Color words were prepared in both English and Japanese and were presented in three conditions: congruent (e.g., the word red printed in red), incongruent (e.g., red printed in blue), and neutral. The magnitude of the effect was greater with the deaf participants than with the hearing participants. The deaf individuals experienced more interference in English than in Japanese.

This study investigated the relationship between mindfulness training (a nonjudgmental attentional training technique) and flow experiences in athletes. Participants were 13 university athletes (M = 21 years), assigned either to a control group or an experimental group. Flow experiences were assessed before and after the intervention. ANOVA (group x time) of global scores on the Flow State Scale-2 (FSS-2; Jackson & Eklund, 2004) showed a significant interaction (F = 11.49, p < .05). Follow-up t tests indicated no significant difference (p > .05) between the experimental and control groups’ FSS-2 global scores at the baseline training session, but a large difference (p < .05, d = 1.66) at a follow-up training session. Significant interaction effects were also observed for FSS-2 subscales scores for the flow dimensions of “Clear Goals” (F =18.73, p < .05) and “Sense of Control” (F = 14.61, p < .05). Following an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of this study, the theoretical significance of the results is assessed and the promise for the application of mindfulness training in performance enhancement is discussed.

Kinaesthetic imagery involves feelings of force and motion or the mental simulation of sensations associated with bodily movements. Although this type of imagery is very important to athletes in many sports it has attracted little research attention from psychologists. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to investigate kinaesthetic imagery processes among a sample (n=12) of elite athletes - namely, World Cup competitors in canoe-slalom. These athletes (mean age = 25 years; SD=4.16) were first interviewed about their understanding and use of ‘feeling-oriented’ in their sport. Next, they were assessed using a battery of measures which included Likert rating scales and a standard test of mental imagery - the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-Revised (Hall & Martin, 1997). Finally, in an effort to validate their imagery experiences, athletes were timed as they engaged in a ‘mental travel’ procedure in which they had to visualise a recent race and execute it as if they were paddling physically. The time tak...

Almost 4,000 studies of field dependence-independence have been conducted ( 3 ) . So far, however, no psychometric evaluation of the Group Embedded Figures Test ( 5 ) , a criterion measure of this construct, is available for an Irish sample. The present research, therefore, rectifies this oversight. Two samples of Irish subjects were tested, the first of 181 industrial apprentices (180 males, 1 female; M = 17.88 yr., SD = 1.06) and the second of 51 university students (21 males, 30 females; M = 22.22 yr., SD = 4.98). The mean test score ' ( M = 12.23, SD = 4.15) of the Irish apprentices did not differ significantly (t = 0.51, f > 0.05) from that of the male American college students ( M = 12.0, SD = 4.10) in the "preliminary norms" provided in the test manual (5, p. 28). Table 1 presents an item analysis of this