Perceptual and Motor Skills

Lamude, Kevin G.

doi: 10.2466/pms.1993.77.3f.1067pmid: N/A

The paper describes 162 male and female superiors' self-reported tactics in successful influence attempts with their male and female managers. Analysis indicated that female supervisors used inspirational appeals and allurement tactics with female and male managers. Male supervisors used pressure, allurement, and rationality tactics with female managers. Contrary to gender-role expectancy, male superiors used inspirational appeals, ingratiation, and liking tactics with male managers. These results were discussed in terms of expectancy theory, which suggests that people develop normative expectations about appropriateness of influence behavior that differ for men and women.

Kim, Jingu ;Tennant, L. Keith

doi: 10.2466/pms.1993.77.3f.1083pmid: 8170750

This investigation was conducted to assess which technique, visualization, Danjeon breathing, or a combination of these, would be most effective in enhancing target shooting with an air pistol. 48 college students (28 men, 20 women) were selected and randomly assigned to one of four groups (ns = 12): control, visualization, Danjeon breathing, and visualization plus Danjeon breathing. Data were analyzed by a 4 × 5 (groups x days) analysis of variance with repeated measures on days. Both the combination of visualization plus Danjeon breathing and the Danjeon breathing alone were significantly better than the control on most of the measures of shooting performance.

Kunz, Jenifer

doi: 10.2466/pms.1993.77.3f.1097pmid: 8170753

69 college women showed a preference for expensive ice cream while 53 college men preferred the less expensive ice cream. Analysis indicates the taste for more expensive ice cream is linked to gender, but it is not clear whether this is learned or not.

Cash, Thomas F.

doi: 10.2466/pms.1993.77.3f.1099pmid: 8170754

Substantial research shows less favorable body-image experiences among overweight and obese persons relative to persons of average weight. The purpose of this investigation of body image was to compare 102 enrollees in a commercial, very-low-calorie diet program to 258 age- and weight-matched control subjects. Whereas enrollees were more strongly invested in their physical appearance, they held a more disparaging view of their looks. Relative to the control group, enrollees also felt less healthy, yet their evaluation of and investment in their physical fitness were more positive. Obese persons constitute a heterogeneous population, and those who seek rapid and extensive weight loss in commercial programs may have special body-image concerns and needs.

Fergusson, Lee C.

doi: 10.2466/pms.1993.77.3f.1104pmid: 8170755

This study confirmed that scores on the Group Embedded Figures Test of 106 undergraduate art students from four universities were positively correlated .32 with grade point average, .27 with artistic ability, and .21 with how students perceived their own artistic competence in relation to peers. The 12 art students who practiced Transcendental Meditation tended to score higher on the test of field independence (Ms = 13.7 vs 10.4, 10.5, and 12.8) than the nonmeditating students (ns = 22, 38, and 34). Data suggest experiments may be useful.

Hicks, Robert A. ;Pass, Karen ;Freeman, Hope ;Bautista, Jose ;Johnson, Crystal

doi: 10.2466/pms.1993.77.3f.1119pmid: 8170758

As evidence for the hypothesis on the claim of reduced longevity for left-handers, Coren in 1989 reported data which suggested that left-handers were 1.89 times more likely to report injuries which required medical attention. This left-handed group included both left- and mixed-handed individuals. To clarify the results of his study, we repeated in part Coren's study but defined handedness so that groups of right-, mixed-, and left-handed individuals were considered. In contrast to Coren's data, we found that right- and left-handers did not differ significantly in the frequency with which they reported having experienced accidents with injury and that mixed-handers reported being significantly more likely to have had an injury-accident than either right- or left-handers. These data underscore the need to consider mixed-handedness as a separate group in studies of this type.

Thompson, Bruce

doi: 10.2466/pms.1993.77.3f.1128pmid: N/A

Conventional methods for computing factor scores yield factor scores with a mean of zero on each factor. This precludes meaningful comparisons of mean differences across factors. An algorithm for computing scores that are standardized but do not have means of zero is proposed and illustrated.

McMorris, Terry ;Francis, Myles ;MacDonald, Andrew ;Priday, Kevin

doi: 10.2466/pms.1993.77.3f.1151pmid: 8170763

The purpose of this study was to compare the scores on the Group Embedded Figures Test, a measure of field dependence, for 25 male intermediate-level snooker players with scores of 25 intermediate-level sportsmen engaged in soccer, rugby, field hockey, and tennis and to examine the relation between scores on field dependence and performance on a snooker decision-making test. All the snooker players also took a test of decision making in snooker. The snooker players scored significantly more field independent than the sports-science majors on the Group Embedded Figures Test. A Pearson correlation of 0.78 was obtained between scores on the Group Embedded Figures Test and the decision-making test. As there may be an association between scores on field dependence and decision making in snooker, further research should examine sports like lawn bowls and pool where decisions are made in a static environment.

McNaughten, Dennis ;Gabbard, Carl

doi: 10.2466/pms.1993.77.3f.1155pmid: 8170764

The intent of this investigation was to examine the potential influence of varying durations of physical exertion at different times of the day on immediate mathematical performance by 120 sixth-grade boys and girls. Subjects were assigned to two control and two treatment groups (Solomon Four-group Design), with treated subjects administered physical exertion (paced walking at controlled moderate intensity) for durations of 20, 30, and 40 min. at three different times of the school day [8:30 a.m., 11:50 a.m. (before lunch), 2:20 p.m.] over 3 weeks. After each exertion session, subjects were immediately administered a 90-sec. mathematical computation test. Analysis indicated no significant differences in mathematical performance at any duration in the morning, but scores were significantly higher at 11:50 a.m. and 2:20 p.m. at 30- and 40-min. durations in comparison to the 20-min. duration. There were no differences by gender of subject.

Jr., Paul Dunham,;Mueller, Rebecca

doi: 10.2466/pms.1993.77.3f.1187pmid: 8170767

45 subjects employing procedures for continuous, intermittent, or faded knowledge of results exhibited for drawing a 7.5-cm line no significant difference in acquisition, retention, or transfer to a 5-cm line.