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To investigate cognitive factors affecting subtraction of visual objects, we adapted the dot subtraction task developed by Pica, Lemer, Izard, and Dehaene (2004), who used it to investigate calculation by the Mundurukú, an indigene group in Brazil that has a limited number word vocabulary. In the dot subtraction task, briefly displayed arrays of moving dots are used to represent the quantities for subtraction. We tested 40 Canadian university students' dot enumeration, Arabic digit subtraction, visual working memory, and performance on the dot subtraction task with dot display durations of 2, 1.5, 1, and .5 s. In the 2 s condition, error rates were uniformly low, whereas in the .5 s condition, error rates increased sharply as the minuend increased from 4 to 8, as was observed with the Mundurukú. Individual differences in dot subtraction accuracy were predicted by dot enumeration skill with longer dot display durations but were predicted by visual working memory efficiency with shorter durations. Pica et al. (2004) attributed the Mundurukú participants' very poor subtraction to the absence of counting words, but our results show that a shift to reliance on visual working memory is a nonlinguistic factor that comes into play in the dot subtraction task when time to encode the dot arrays is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In high-performance sport, an athlete's ability to overcome setbacks and sustain their pursuit of long-term goals is essential for success. Grit (i.e., passion and perseverance over long-terms) has been linked to success in a variety of domains but is often critiqued for its limited predictive utility when compared to other psychological variables including self-control, conscientiousness, and mental toughness. The purpose of this study was to examine whether grit predicted important athlete outcomes (i.e., various measures of sport performance and athlete well-being) beyond other determinants of success. Data from 214 collegiate student-athletes (111 women, 103 men; M age = 21.02, SD = 2.26) from Western Canadian universities were analysed. When predicting performance, the addition of the grit subscales (i.e., consistency of interests, perseverance of effort, adaptability to situations) explained an additional 11% of variance (R 2 = 0.37, F [7, 203] = 7.16, p <.001) beyond self-control, conscientiousness, and mental toughness in subjective sport performance perceptions; however, grit did not add unique variance when entered into models predicting athlete goal achievement perceptions or highest level of competition. When predicting well-being, addition of the grit subscales added 18% of unique variance (R 2 = 0.43, F [7, 203] = 21.43, p <.001) beyond other determinants of success in eudaimonic well-being, and 5% (R 2 = 0.17, F [7, 203] = 6.95, p <.001) in satisfaction with sport, but did not add any unique variance to the model predicting mood. The partial support of the predictive utility of grit illustrates the complexity of forecasting success in sport and offers evidence that grit should continue to be studied as a motivational disposition in the domain of sport. • Grit subscales (PE, CI, AS) added unique variance to models predicting performance and well-being. • PE was a significant predictor of some measures of performance and well-being, while CI was not. • A new grit subscale—AS—was a significant predictor of some measures of performance and well-being. • Mental toughness was the most consistent predictor of our six performance and well-being. • Conscientiousness and self-control did not significantly contribute to regression models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]