Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Perceptual training'

In this thesis, two concepts concerning conditions of practice were examined for the practice, retention and transfer of perceptual-cognitive skill, specifically anticipation in tennis. First, from the motor skills literature, the contextual interference (CI) effect was investigated for the first time in perceptual-cognitive skill training. A blocked and random schedule of practice was used to train anticipation skills in tennis using video simulation techniques with transfer of learning assessed using a field-based task. Results showed support for the CI effect in this new domain as random practice had significantly greater response accuracy in the retention test, and significantly reduced decision time in the field-based transfer test, when compared to the blocked group. Subsequently, the underpinning mechanisms of the CI effect were examined focusing on cognitive effort and error processing. Across two experiments results showed that following errors, the random groups exhibited greater cognitive effort compared to errorless trials, whereas the blocked groups showed no difference between errorless and error trials. These results provided an alternative account for the CI effect by suggesting that it is not solely the switching of the tasks during random practice, but the role of error processing in conjunction with the switching tasks that result in greater cognitive effort and the CI effect. Second, the role of contextual information in perceptual-cognitive skills training was examined. Tennis shots were displayed to participants in either a smart-random structure, which showed shots in a tactically relevant manner, or in a random order so that no contextual information was available, just postural cue information. The smart-random structure group showed superior response accuracy in retention and reduced decision time in a field-based transfer test. Results demonstrated the benefits of contextual information for the retention and transfer of perceptual-cognitive skills in tennis. The overall findings extend the research in perceptual-cognitive skill training and have several theoretical and applied implications.

The research presented in this thesis represents a body of work which addresses issues in medical imaging, primarily as it applies to breast cancer screening and laparoscopic surgery. The concern here is how computer based methods can aid medical practitioners in these tasks. Thus, research is presented which develops both new techniques of analysing radiologists performance data and also new approaches of examining surgeons visual behaviour when they are undertaking laparoscopic training. Initially a new chest X-Ray self-assessment application is described which has been developed to assess and improve radiologists performance in detecting lung cancer. Then, in breast cancer screening, a method of identifying potential poor performance outliers at an early stage in a national self-assessment scheme is demonstrated. Additionally, a method is presented to optimize whether a radiologist, in using this scheme, has correctly localised and identified an abnormality or made an error. One issue in appropriately measuring radiological performance in breast screening is that both the size of clinical monitors used and the difficulty in linking the medical image to the observer s line of sight hinders suitable eye tracking. Consequently, a new method is presented which links these two items. Laparoscopic surgeons have similar issues to radiologists in interpreting a medical display but with the added complications of hand-eye co-ordination. Work is presented which examines whether visual search feedback of surgeons operations can be useful training aids.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2007.
"A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, June 30, 2007." Includes bibliographical references (p. 24-27). Also available in print.

Athlete load monitoring is standard in high-performance sports environments, and is principally utilised to maximise performance and physiological adaptations, while limiting the deleterious costs of training and competition. Modified wellness questionnaires are a popularly utilised method of load monitoring, and are commonly used to evaluate the athlete training response from a holistic viewpoint. However, there remains a lack of evidence to support their use. This thesis investigated the dosage effects of wellness measures on controlled acute and chronic modulations in training intensity and overall volume; and the associations between wellness and psychological states, load monitoring markers and common performance measures.

Contemporary aerobic exercise guidelines comprised of continuous durations and higher intensities have been shown to be effective in the prevention and treatment of risk factors associated with obesity and cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has recently been examined as an advantageous protocol for producing more favorable physiological and psychological benefits in comparison to traditional continuous exercise guidelines. The dual-mode model, which examines the dose response relationship between exercise intensity and affective valence, would suggest that exercise performed well above the ventilatory threshold (VT) in the severe domain should result in negative affective valence.

Numerous investigations have confirmed the reliability of the dual-mode models ability to predict compromised affective valence in the presence of heavy to severe exercise intensities, but only a small amount of research has examined the efficacy of the dual-mode model during HIIT. However, no research to date has combined HIIT with the dual-mode model's efficacy to predict affective valence in target populations challenged by exercise adherence, such as overweight and sedentary individuals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the dual-mode model's reliability to predict affective valence for overweight and sedentary individuals performing HIIT.

A total of 14 participants (7 male, 7 female) with a mean age of 23 ± 4 (range = 18-33) and mean BMI of 29 ± 3 (range = 25-33) completed the study. Each participant completed a ramp maximal exercise test to determine VT and peak power data, which allowed for specific exercise intensities of delta (DT) to be prescribed for experimental trials. Participants were low to moderate risk. The four experimental conditions were all matched for total work: 1) continuous at 10% DT (Continuous-Heavy - CH), 2) 24 × 30-second intervals at 60% DT (Interval-Severe 30 Second - IS30), 3) 12 × 60-second intervals at 60% DT (Interval-Severe 60 Second - IS60), 4) 6 × 120-second intervals at 60% DT (Interval-Severe 120 Second – IS120). The continuous exercise condition was 20 minutes in duration, whereas all interval exercise conditions were 24 minutes in duration.

Results indicated that in-task perceptual responses defined, as affective valence and perceived enjoyment were overall more favorable during IS30 and IS60 in comparison to CH and IS120. IS30 was the only experimental condition in which affective valence did not decline significantly (p > 0.05). Ratings of perceived enjoyment were greater at all measured time points during IS60 (p < 0.05) in comparison to CH. The findings of this study suggest that HIIT comprised of 30 and or 60 seconds help to facilitate more favorable perceptual responses of affective valence and perceived enjoyment than continuous exercise and intervals of longer than 60 seconds duration.

Objective: The perceptual mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of excessive physical symptom reporting (i.e. 'somatisation') are poorly understood. Research with non-clinical participants suggests that high and low symptom reporters perform differently when detecting somatosensory signals and have different false alarm rates in which the presence of a signal is incorrectly reported when no signal is present. High symptom reporters often incorrectly report the presence of a signal particularly when a stimulus in a different sensory modality is presented. Previous research has shown that it may be possible to reduce false alarm rates by perceptual training using bi-modal visuo-tactile stimuli pairing. The current was designed to test this hypothesis. Methods: Seventy non-clinical participants scoring either high or low on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15; a measure of somatisation) completed the Somatic Signal Detection Task (SSDT), a novel perceptual paradigm that purports to measure individual differences in somatosensory distortion. Prior to the SSDT, approximately two thirds of the sample completed either a 'weak' or 'strong' perceptual training protocol in which a suprathreshold tactile and visual stimuli were paired either infrequently (25%) or frequently (75%), with the intention of training participants to discriminate tactile signal from noise more effectively. The remaining participants received no perceptual training. Factors known to be strongly associated with somatisation were controlled for. Negative affectivity was controlled for using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Trait Version (STAI-T; Spielberger, Gorsuch & Lushene, 1970), somatosensory amplification was controlled for using the Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS; Barsky, Goodson, Lane & Cleary, 1988), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9; Kroenke, Spitzer, & Williams, 2001) was used to control for depression and the Health Anxiety Inventory-Short Version (SHAI; Salkovskis, Rimes, Warwick & Clark, 2002) was used to control for hypochondriacal factors with the Patient Health Questionnaire-Generalised Anxiety Disorder (PHQ-GAD-7; Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams & Löwe, 2006) being used to control for anxiety. Results: The high PHQ-15 group reported significantly more false alarms and had a significantly higher response criterion than the low PHQ-15 group in the no perceptual training conditions. The perceptual training reduced the false alarm rate for the high PHQ-15 group but did not alter response criterion. Although the findings were in the predicted direction, neither of these findings reached significance. The effect size indicated that this was due to low power. Conclusions: The findings were suggestive of the effect of perceptual training reducing false alarm rates; however, low power meant that it was impossible to draw firm conclusions. Further research with a larger sample is required.

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras Inglês e Literatura Correspondente.
Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-23T19:00:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 259883.pdf: 2343056 bytes, checksum: 4577b44c74618102ce30aeced0cae596 (MD5)
Research has shown that Brazilians tend to insert a vowel before word-initial /s/-clusters and to voice the /s/ depending on the following consonant features (e.g., Cornelian, 2003; Rauber, 2006; Rebello & Baptista, 2006). The present study investigated the perception and production of /s/-clusters in the Brazilian Portuguese/English interphonology and effects of perceptual training on learners' performance. The data collection was carried out through a pretest, a training phase, a posttest, and a retention test. Production was assessed by four reading tests and an interview. Perception was assessed by an AX discrimination task and by a forced-choice identification test similar to the task used in the training, but with additional words and recorded by an unfamiliar talker. The main objective of the study was to verify whether perceptual training would lead to improvement in perception and production. Transfer of training to a discrimination task and to untrained words was also tested. The training was designed following a high-variability approach (Logan et al., 1991) with difficulty gradually increasing throughout the training program. The training set consisted of two-alternative-forced-choice identification trials with immediate feedback and replay allowed after hitting the decision key. The stimuli consisted of phrases recorded by two Americans. The results showed that the phonological context did not significantly affect perception and production and that /s/+sonorant clusters were more difficult than /s/+stop clusters in both perception and production. There was improvement in identification, transfer to production, to discrimination and to untrained clusters. Improvement in identification, discrimination, and production was still detected in an eight-month follow-up test. Correlations between identification, discrimination, and production were stronger before training because the improvement in performance varied considerably among the tasks. Estudos anteriores sobre /sC(C)/ em início de palavras mostraram que brasileiros tem a tendência de inserir uma vogal antes de /sC(C)/ iniciais e de vozear o /s/ dependendo dos traços fonológicos do som posterior (e.g., Cornelian, 2003; Rauber, 2006; Rebello & Baptista, 2006). O presente estudo investigou a percepção e a produção de /sC(C)/ iniciais na interfonologia do Português do Brasil/Inglês além de efeitos do treinamento perceptual na percepção e produção de /sC(C)/. A coleta de dados consistiu de um teste anterior, treinamento, um teste posterior e um teste de retenção. A produção foi acessada através de quatro testes de leitura e de uma entrevista. Percepção foi também acessada através de uma tarefa de discriminação AX e de um teste de identificação com alternativa dupla similar à tarefa de treinamento, com palavras extras e um locutor diferente. O objetivo principal era verificar se o treinamento perceptual provocaria melhora na percepção e na produção de /sC(C)/ iniciais. Transferência de treinamento para uma tarefa de discriminação e para palavras não treinadas também foi testada. O treinamento foi projetado seguindo uma abordagem de alta variação (e.g., Logan et al., 1991) com dificuldade gradualmente aumentando depois de cada bloco de treinamento. O programa de treinamento consistiu em questões de dupla alternativa com retroalimentação imediata e possibilidade de escutar o estímulo conforme vontade do participante até que uma resposta fosse dada. Os estímulos consistiam de frases gravadas por dois americanos. Os resultados mostraram que o contexto fonológico não afetou de forma significativa a produção e a percepção de /sC(C)/ e que /s/+soante sofreram mais modificações que /s/+plosiva tanto na percepção quanto na produção. Houve melhora na identificação e transferência de melhora para produção, discriminação e /sC(C)/ não treinados. Melhora na identificação, discriminação e produção ainda foram detectadas no teste administrado oito meses após o treinamento. Correlações entre identificação, discriminação e produção reduziram após o treinamento devido às diferenças na melhora de desempenho entre as tarefas testadas.

Administration of educational curriculum beyond the traditional classroom are becoming an increasing concern for public and private sector organizations that offer formalized supervisory and management training. Training is expensive. Salaries of trainers, materials and equipment, and especially lost production are factors that go into the decision-making process when companies invest dollars into training employees. The establishment of cost effectiveness in terms of whether or not training content transfers to the job is of vital concern. Studies of learning transfer are rare, but even rarer are long-term measures. This study empirically, measured learning transfer and utilization from Communication, Stress Management, and Team Building content seminar/workshops at both short and long-term intervals. The study was divided into three distinct phases. The first phase was an experimental design using randomly selected treatment and control groups with an uncorrelated t-test used in the statistical treatment of group measures. The second phase of the study utilized treatment group only comparison of matched item measures at six-week and one-year intervals. A correlated t-test was employed for statistical analysis. The final phase of the study utilized external interviewing of supervisors of the managers who received the treatment. The supervisors were employed as external anchors to provide testimony as to the perceptual effects of learning transfer. The study suggested that learning transfer and utilization did occur in all three areas of intervention relevant to Phase I. Phase II suggested that long-term effects were present in two of the three interventions. External interviews in Phase III were not found to be highly contributing to the conformation of training transfer.
Ed. D.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1987.
Title from title page screen, viewed August 3, 2005. Dissertation Committee: Max R. Rennels (chair), Susan F. Amster, Ronald S. Halinski, Heather Hanlon, John R. McCarthy. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-66) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2000.
"A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 10, 2000." Also available in print.

The goal of this dissertation was to bridge the gap between perceptual learning theory and training application. Visual perceptual skill has been a vexing topic in training science for decades. In complex task domains, from aviation to medicine, visual perception is critical to task success. Despite this, little, if any, emphasis is dedicated to developing perceptual skills through training. Much of this may be attributed to the perceived inefficiency of perceptual training. Recent applied research in perceptual training with discrimination training, however, holds promise for improved perceptual training efficiency. As with all applied research, it is important to root application in solid theoretical bases. In perceptual learning, the challenge is connecting the basic science to more complex task environments. Using a common aviation task as an applied context, participants were assigned to a perceptual training condition based on variation of image complexity and training type. Following the training, participants were tested for transfer of skill. This was intended to help to ground a potentially useful method of perceptual training in a model category learning, while offering qualitative testing of model fit in increasingly complex visual environments. Two hundred and thirty-one participants completed the computer based training module. Results indicate that predictions of a model of category learning largely extend into more complex training stimuli, suggesting utility of the model in more applied contexts. Although both training method conditions showed improvement across training blocks, the discrimination training condition did not transfer to the post training transfer tasks. Lack of adequate contextual information related to the transfer task in training was attributed to this outcome. Further analysis of the exposure training condition showed that individuals training with simple stimuli performed as well as individuals training on more complex stimuli in a complex transfer task. On the other hand, individuals in the more complex training conditions were less accurate when presented with a simpler representation of the task in transfer. This suggests training benefit to isolating essential task cues from irrelevant information in perceptual judgment tasks. In all, the study provided an informative look at both the theory and application associated with perceptual category learning. Ultimately, this research can help inform future research and training development in domains where perceptual judgment is critical for success.
ID: 030646257; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2011.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-114).
Ph.D.
Doctorate
Psychology
Sciences
Psychology; Human Factors

Thesis: Ph. D., Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, 2016.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references.
The global hearing healthcare field is faced with two principal challenges. First, the demand for basic audiometric testing services far exceeds the capacity of trained clinicians even in high income countries, and this supply/demand mismatch is expected to worsen secondary to population aging. Next, once patients are identified as having a hearing loss, the treatments that are provided (hearing aids) do not sufficiently address their primary complaint, namely that they have trouble hearing in noisy environments. To begin to address the first problem, we executed a proof-of-concept study to ask whether mobile consumer electronics could be used to replace manually performed clinic-based testing with self-directed hearing measurements from home. We found that self-administered home hearing measurements were largely equivalent to standard clinical measures. To begin to address the second problem (hearing in noise challenges of patients), we performed three additional experiments. Inspired by promising findings of enhanced visual attention following action videogame training, we developed a closed-loop audiomotor training application and asked if playing a game that focused on tone in noise discriminations would provide generalized benefit for speech recognition in noise abilities. In young normally hearing adults, closed-loop training for one month provided a 12 percentage point improvement in speech understanding in noise scores. Next, we recruited older adults who wore hearing aids to play a similar closed-loop training game and observed a 10 percentage point enhancement of speech recognition in noise abilities secondary to gameplay, suggesting that this training could be coupled with standard treatments to improve patient outcomes. Finally, we studied the neurophysiological correlates of audiomotor signal in noise training in a rodent model, where we observed enhanced resistance to noise suppression in auditory cortical neurons following three months of training, perhaps contributing to the perceptual benefits that we observed in human subjects.
by Jonathon Whitton.
Ph. D.

Although phoneme perception and production in second-language (L2) learners has been the focus of much research over the past few decades, the learning mechanisms and the factors that influence them are still far from understood. The purpose of this PhD research is to cast some light on the mechanisms underlying the learning of L2 phonemes and the effects of age. Japanese speakers who have problems in perception and production of the English /r/-/l/ contrast participated in three perceptual training studies. The first study examined whether Japanese adults can improve their perception and production with identification and discrimination training. The results demonstrated that both identification and discrimination training methods improved their perception and production of the English /r/-/l/ contrast, but the combination of two different training methods did not have additive effects. The second study investigated how age affects the learning of the English /r/-/l/ contrast at phonetic and phonological levels of perception. The results demonstrated that Japanese adults are disadvantaged in improving their phonetic perception of the English /r/-/l/ contrast due to their relatively fossilised brain plasticity and their developed L1 phonetic units. On the other hand, younger learners are able to improve both phonetic and phonological perception of the contrast. This may be attributed to their greater brain plasticity and less interference from undeveloped L1 phonetic categories. Finally, the third study examined how Japanese speakers improve production of English /r/ and /l/ through perceptual training, and found that perceptual training transferred to production ability in both identifiability and acoustic realisations. The improvement in production seemed to be attributable to perceptual learning. There may be a common underlying ability for perception and production, although the acoustic dimensions which link the two may be different between individuals. The theoretical implications for understanding learning mechanisms and age effects are discussed.

INTRODUCTION Research in sport and exercise science suggested that both placebo and nocebo can influence sport performance (1), with effect ranging from small to moderate (2). Most of studies proposed as treatment nutritional ergogenic aids or peripheral stimulation. However, a more ecological approach lowered into a conventional training session, could exploit some parts of the training itself to administer placebo/nocebo effect. The aim of the present study was to test the effect on the running performance of a placebo/nocebo treatment consisting in conditioning manipulation plus verbal suggestion. METHODS Thirty-nine active young students (mean age 22±0.9) were randomly assigned to CONTROL group, PLACEBO group and NOCEBO group. The experiment consisted in 3 sessions. During TEST Session participants performed the Cooper test to evaluate the cardiorespiratory fitness. During SESSION 1, they performed a high intensity interval training (HIIT) protocol till exhaustion (30s all-out, with 2 min of passive recovery) preceded by a conventional warm-up (20min, running and dynamic stretching). During SESSION 2, warm up consisted in the FIFA 11+ (20min, running and balance exercises) (3), and was used as conditioning treatment. Participants’ expectancy about warm-up efficacy in not-changing/improving/worsening the following HITT performance was manipulated through verbal suggestion in CONTROL/PLACEBO/NOCEBO groups. At last, during the HIIT rest-period a surreptitious manipulation, consisting in none/positive/negative verbal feedback about the current performance, was administered to CONTROL/PLACEBO/NOCEBO group. The time to exhaustion (TTE) and total running distance (TRD) were considered as performance outcome. The rate of perceived exertion (RPE), maximal heart rate (HR) and blood lactate ([LA+]) were used to determine whether participants reached the exhaustion. ANOVA was applied to evaluate normally-distributed parameters, whilst non parametric analysis were applied to not-normally distributed data. RESULTS TTE and TRD values of the PLACEBO group significantly increased in SESSION 2 with respect to SESSION 1 whilst they significantly decreased in NOCEBO group (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). Further, TTE (p<0.05) and TRD (p<0.01) in SESSION 2 of the PLACEBO group was significantly higher than those of NOCEBO group. No differences appeared in the CONTROL group. No differences among groups and session were found in RPE, HR and [LA+]. CONCLUSION The innovative placebo/nocebo treatment proposed in this study succeeded to improve/worsen the running performance of active young adult. These results provide insight on the interaction between the athlete’s cognitive domain and the running performance and pave the way for the application of combined cognitive/motor strategies during training.
Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the acute cardiorespiratory and metabolic effects induced by a High-Intensity Continuous Training (HI-CT) and three High-Intensity Interval Training regimes (HIITs) in young active students. The assessment of internal training load through the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) at iso-time was also a focus. Methods: Fifteen active university students (age: 21.0±1.1 ys, height: 1.74±0.9 m, weight: 64.8±12.9 kg, VO2max 48.1±7.5 mL∙kg-1∙min-1) performed an incremental treadmill test to assess VO2max and maximal aerobic speed (MAS). Then, each participant performed, on testing sessions, separated by a minimum of 72 h and in a randomized order, one HI-CT session at 95% MAS for 8 minutes and three different HIIT sessions (10s-20s, 30s-30s, 50s-30s) with a work phase at 95% MAS and an active recovery at 40% MAS for 16 minutes. Oxygen consumption (VO2), heart rate (HR), time spent near or above 90%VO2max (T@90%VO2max) and blood lactate concentration ([La]+) were measured. The rating of perceived exertion (RPE), by the Borg’s CR 10 scale, was used to assess the subjective level of fatigue experienced at the end of each testing session. Results: The statistical analysis revealed that VO2peak, HRpeak, T@90%VO2max, and RPE values in 10-20 HIIT were significantly lower compared to 30-30 and 50-30 HIIT regimes (p always <0.001). In HI-CT session VO2peak, HRpeak, T@90%VO2max were significantly higher than in 10-20 and 30-30 sessions (p<0.0001 and p<0.05). Blood lactate values were significantly higher in HI-CT and in 50-30 and 30-30 HIITs, compared to 10-20 protocol. Finally, internal workload in HI-CT and 50-30 HIIT was significantly higher than those in 30-30 (p<0.01) and 10-20 (p<0.0001) HIIT sessions. Conclusions: Our results show that in active young subjects a HI-CT and a long work interval HIIT regime (50-30) represent an optimal training stimulus to elicit higher physiological and metabolic responses compared to short work interval HIIT regimes (30-30 and 10-20), being the most effective for stressing both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. Coaches can choose and balance the level of aerobic/anaerobic energy requirements and neuromuscular engagement associated with the three HIIT regimes and a HI-CT protocol based on the expected physiological and metabolic adaptations as well as neuromuscular characteristic and ability level of the athlete/subject individual profile.
Purpose: High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), in a variety of forms, is today widely used to improve cardiorespiratory and metabolic function of moderately- or well-trained subjects. The aim of this study was to examine physiological and metabolic responses to three different short-bout HIIT regimes in young active subjects. Methods: Twenty healthy active university students (age: 22.80 ± 2.76 years, height: 178.85 ± 8.64 cm, body mass: 72.51 ± 11.47 kg) were enrolled in this study. They performed one incremental treadmill test to determine the VO2max and maximal aerobic speed (MAS). Then, each participant performed, on separate days, in a randomized order: 1) 15 repetitions of bouts of 10 s at 40% MAS and 10 s at 120%MAS (10-10); 2) 15 repetitions of bouts of 15 s at 40% MAS and 15 s at 120%MAS (15-15); 3) 15 repetitions of bouts of 20 s at 40% MAS and 20 s at 120%MAS (20-20). Peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak), volume of carbon dioxide (VCO2) and heart rate (HR) were continuously monitored during each session. Respiratory-exchange ratio (RER) and blood lactate concentration ([La]) were measured after the end of exercise. The psychophysiological stress was evaluated by the whole-body rating of perceived exertion (RPE), measured by the Borg’s CR 10 scale. Results: The results showed significantly lower VO2peak, VCO2 and blood lactate values in 10-10 protocol, than either in 15-15 or in 20-20 protocol (always p.001). Maximal HR values were the lowest in 10-10 (p.0001), followed by those in 15-15, which, in turn, were lower than those in 20-20 (p.01). RER values recorded in 10-10 protocol were significantly lower than those obtained in 20-20 session (p.05). Similarly, RPE values measured at the end of 10-10 session were the lowest (always p.01), followed by those of 15-15 protocol, that were, in turn, lower than those obtained after the 20-20 regime (p.05). Conclusions: Under our experimental conditions, 15-15 and 20-20 HIIT regimes induced significantly higher VO2peak, RER and ([La]) values, compared to those recorded during 10-10 protocol, whereas maximal HR and RPE were lower during 15-15 and 10-10 compared to 20-20. These results suggest that 15-15 is the most effective short HIIT modality for young active subjects to determine acute cardiorespiratory and metabolic responses, combined with a sustainable perception of effort, also in view of a RPE-based prescription of exercise intensity.
This study investigated the effects of two High Intensity Interval Trainings (HIITs) on physiological and metabolic responses and performance parameters, in elite adolescent rowers. Ten elite adolescent male rowers (15.7±0.2 years) were enrolled. A randomized-crossover trial consisting of a 1500 m all-out rowing exercise test and two HIIT sessions (Short: S-HIIT; Long: L-HIIT) matched per training volume, was designed. The L-HIIT consisted of 4x4 min at P@90% of Peak Power Output (PPO) interspersed with 3 min of active recovery (P@30%PPO) while the S-HIIT consisted of 25 repetitions of 30 s at P@100%PPO interspersed with 30 s of active recovery (P@20%PPO). Physiological and metabolic responses and rowing performance parameters were evaluated. The internal workload through the rating of perceived exertion (RPE), was also assessed. ANOVAs were applied and significance level was set at p<0.05. Oxygen Uptake (VO 2 ) (p<0.05), time spent per session in exercise bouts at an intensity close to 90% VO 2 max (T@90%VO 2 max) (p<0.01), Total VO 2 (TotVO 2 ) and blood lactate ([La] + ) (p<0.0001) were significantly higher in L-HIIT than in S-HIIT. Total distance (TD) was significantly higher and PPO was significantly lower in L-HIIT compared to S-HIIT (p<0.0001), respectively. Finally, RPE was significantly higher in L-HIIT respect to S-HIIT (p<0.0001). Our results show that, in elite adolescent rowers, L-HIIT stimulates both aerobic and anaerobic systems to a greater extent and with better performance than S-HIIT. We recommend coaches to incorporate HIIT into the traditional training program, given its effectiveness in improving cardiorespiratory parameters along with a reduced training volume.
Aim. Small-Sided Games (SSGs) represent a widely used training modality to develop concurrently physical performance and technical-tactical skills in soccer players1 as well as in other team sports2. This study aimed to compare external and internal training loads in élite junior soccer players between two different SSGs (only ball possession, SSG-POS; ball possession play, and shuttle run after the pass, SSG-SHU) and those of official matches (OM). Methods. Ten élite young male soccer players (age 18.6±1.9 years; weight 73.1±5 kg; height 175± 1.5 cm) were recruited from Under 19 Italian professional team and monitored during 10 official championship matches of the corresponding age category. Players performed two different 5vs5 SSGs (SSG-POS and SSG-SHU) of the same duration (4x4 min–1min rest), 2 times each, in a randomized order, one per week for 4 weeks. SSGs sessions and OM data of locomotor activity were recorded using 10-Hz Global Positioning System. Total distance (TD), Distance at high speed (DHS; 14.4–19.8 km·h-1) (m), distance at very high speed (DVHS; 19.8–25.2 km·h-1) (m); average metabolic power (AMP;W·kg-1); high and very high intensity accelerations (HA; ≥2/3 m·s–2), high and very high intensity decelerations (HD; ≤–2/-3 m·s–2) and the relative distance (Drel; m·min-1) were monitored. Heart rate (HR) was continuously recorded, whereas blood lactate [La]+ was measured at the end of each SSGs session. The internal training load was assessed through the rate of perceived exertion (RPE). ANOVA was applied to statistically evaluate normally-distributed parameters, whilst non parametric statistical analysis were applied to not-normally distributed data. Results. The comparison of locomotor activity parameters between the two SSGs formats showed that TD was higher (p<0.001) in SSG-SHU than in SSG-POS, whilst no significant differences were found in AMP, DHS, DVHS, Drel, HA, HD. HRpeak and RPE values did not differ between SSGs, while [La]+ values in SSG-SHU were significantly higher than in SSG-POS (p<0.001). The comparison between SSGs and OM showed higher values of AMP (p<0.05), HA (p<0.01) and HD (0.001) in SSGs compared to OM. DHS and DHVS values were higher in OM than in both SSGs (p<0.001), while Drel and HRpeak values did not differ between SSGs conditions and OM. Finally, internal workload measured through RPE was found to be higher (p<0.05) after OM, than after either SSG-SHU or SSG-POS. Conclusions. This study shows that SSG-SHU induces higher total distance covered with a higher solicitation of anaerobic energy contribution compared to SSG-POS. Furthermore, our results show that in young élite soccer players both SSGs, when compared to OM, might be an effective training regime in terms of average mean power and speed-based conditioning, with greater enjoyment and lower subjective perception of effort.

This thesis investigated the development and effectiveness of a perceptual training programmes for coaches and judges in gymnastics. Study one examined the variability of visual search for coaches and judges when viewing handspring vaults. The study found that there were no significant differences between the mean number of fixations, fixation duration and number of areas fixated across two time-points four weeks apart. In addtion, the natural range of variation of the number of fixations, fixation duration and number of area fixated was found to be 9/7%, 5.7% and 14.2% (expressed as coefficient of variation). Study two examined differences between expert and novice gymnastics coaches' and judges' visual search. Analysis of gaze behaviour showed that experts make significantly more fixations of significantly longer duration to significantly fewer areas than novies. There was no significant difference between the outcome juddgements made by the expert and novice coaches and judges. These findings suggest that visual search may be a contributing factor to expert performance in judgement formation. Study three explored the visual search pattern and knowledge used by expert coaches and judges when making decisions. Data were gathered through the used of eye-tracking and semi-structered interviews. Analyses established that experts tend to fixate on the torso and shoulders of gymnasts throughout the vault, and that there are three to four specific areas which are explored during each phase of a vault. Study four examined the effectiveness of a perceptual training programme for a perceptual traning and control group. Fixation number, fixation duration, number of areas fixated and outcome judgement were recorded at baseline, immediently after the programme and four weeks after it had been withdrawn. 2 (control vs. perceputal training) x 3 (intervention phase) ANOVA's with repeated measures showed that the perceptual training group produced significantly less error at the retention stage for number of fixations (F (2,6) = 12.57, p = 0.01, effect size n2 = .81), at the post-test for fixation duration (F (2,6) = 7.49, p = 0.02, effect size n2 = .71). However post-hoc analyses could not detect the difference for number of areas fixated. In study five, four participants that took part in the experiental condition watched a perceptual training DVD twice a week for six weeks. The case study data showed that the expert and novices who watched the perceptual training DVD made changes to their visual search variables and judgements and therefore became more analogous to the experts from study three to baseline to the post-test. However, only the novices retained the beneficial effects of the intervention. To conclude, this programme of research examinaed the development and effectiveness of a perceptual training programee for coaches' and judges' in gymnastics. This thesis suggests that a perceptual training programme based on the visual search and declarative knowledge of expert coaches and judges is effective at altering visual search and enhancing decision making for noveice coaches and judges. This research programme therefore promotes the use of perceptual training programmes for novice coaches and judges in sport.

Current military operational environments are highly improvised and constantly evolving, threatening the lives of U.S. warfighters. For instance, since 2001, 60% of all hostile casualties and 65% of hostile injuries in the Middle East theater have been attributed to improvised explosive devices (IEDs). IEDs are powerful physical weapons, and the stressful atmosphere they, and other operational challenges create, can also result in a range of psychological dysfunctions, including anxiety, depression, alcohol abuse, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Not only are these issues concerning for mental health reasons, they are also problematic in terms of combat performance. Extreme arousal (i.e., stress) negatively affects performance through the suppression of cognitive and physiological resources, which inhibits verbal, perceptual, and motor performance. Perceptual abilities are particularly susceptible to the effects of acute hyperarousal, and the degradation of these abilities may limit warfighters’ threat detection skills. Therefore, military researchers are interested in whether and how the visual perceptual field is changed under stress, and the Services are making predeployment training programs a priority, in an attempt to mitigate these concerns. This dissertation first outlines the cognitive processes related to visual perceptual abilities and how these processes are negatively affected by acute arousal. Current training programs in perceptual skills and stress tolerance are then described, along with recommendations for areas of improvement within the status quo. Based on these recommendations, an experimental procedure and five hypotheses were designed to assess training effects on visual perceptual skills and performance under stress. Experimental outcomes suggest that participants who were trained using a novel integrated perceptual skills plus stress resilience (“perceptual resilience”) program performed faster and with higher accuracy during a stressful threat detection task than participants trained using a perceptual skills-only program and participants trained using an existing status-quo knowledge trainer. Participants in this perceptual resilience training group also reported lower feelings of acute stress and anxiety immediately post-task than the two other training groups who did not receive the stress resilience training component. Based on these outcomes, implications for future military-specific training development, study limitations, and recommendations for future research is presented.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2007.
"A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, June 30, 2007." Includes bibliographical references (p. 25-27). Also available in print.

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras/Inglês e Literatura Correspondente.
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Pesquisas recentes mostram que o treinamento perceptual é uma ferramenta eficaz para melhorar a habilidade de perceber certos sons não-nativos de aprendizes de uma L2, especialmente quando esse treinamento é feito com a manipulação das pistas acústico-perceptuais. O presente estudo investigou o efeito do treinamento perceptual no aprendizado das vogais do inglês /i/, /I/, /E/, /Q/, /U/ e /u/, cuja percepção deficiente pode causar problemas de compreensão. Os objetivos específicos incluem investigar (i) o efeito do treinamento com estímulo artificial, (ii) a generalização do novo conhecimento para novos contextos e novos falantes, (iii) a transferência da melhora na percepção auditiva para produção oral e (iv) os efeitos de longo prazo. O treinamento das vogais foi ministrado durante o período de três semanas para 29 aprendizes brasileiros distribuídos em dois grupos: 15 treinaram com estímulo natural (grupo NatS) e 14 com estímulo sintetizado (grupo SynS). O estímulo sintetizado consistiu em elocuções com pistas espectrais enfatizadas e sem variação de duração e foram geradas por computador, enquanto que o estímulo natural foi gravado por falantes nativos de inglês americano. Os resultados apontam para uma melhora significativa dos grupos experimentais após o treinamento, sendo que houve uma melhora maior no grupo SynS do que no grupo NatS. Considerando que o treinamento ministrado para o grupo SynS consistiu apenas de estímulos sintetizados e que os testes incluíam apenas estímulos naturais, esse resultado também sugere que houve uma transferência do conhecimento adquirido com estímulo artificial para estímulos produzidos naturalmente. A melhora na performance dos alunos também foi mantida durante um mês após o final do treinamento. Estes resultados mostram que o treinamento perceptual pode servir como uma ferramenta eficaz para professores auxiliarem seus alunos a superar dificuldades perceptuais, evitando possíveis mal entendidos. Recent research has shown perceptual training to be an effective tool for improving L2 learners# ability to perceive certain non-native sounds, especially when done with enhanced acoustic-perceptual cues. This study investigates the effect of perceptual training on the learning of the English vowels /i/, /I/, /E/, /Q/, /U/ and /u/, whose misperception can potentially cause comprehension problems. Secondary objectives include (i) the effect of training with enhanced stimuli, (ii) generalization of the acquired knowledge to new contexts and speakers, (iii) transfer of the perceptual improvement to the production domain, and (iv) long-term effects. The training on these vowels was given over a three-week period to twenty-nine Brazilian EFL learners, who were distributed within two groups: fifteen trained with natural stimuli (NatS group) and fourteen with synthesized stimuli (SynS group). The synthesized stimuli consisted of computer-generated utterances with enhanced spectral cues and no variation in duration, whereas the natural stimuli were recorded normally by native speakers of American English. Results show that the experimental groups improved significantly after training, and there was more improvement in the SynS group than in the NatS group. Considering that the training given the SynS group involved only synthesized stimuli and the tests involved only natural stimuli, this finding suggests also that the knowledge acquired with artificially enhanced stimuli is transferred to stimuli produced naturally. The improvement was also maintained one month after the training was over. These findings support the claim that perceptual training may serve as an effective tool for teachers to help learners overcome potential perceptual difficulties, and thus prevent potential miscomprehension.

The technique of 'open throat' is a pedagogical concept transmitted through the oral tradition of singing. This thesis explored the pedagogical perceptions and practices of 'open throat' using empirical methodologies to assess technical skill and associated vocal quality. In the first study (Mitchell, Kenny, Ryan, & Davis, 2003), we assessed the degree of consensus amongst singing pedagogues regarding the definition of, and use in the singing studio of the technique called 'open throat.' Results indicated that all fifteen pedagogues described 'open throat' technique as fundamental to singing training and were positive about the sound quality it achieved, especially in classical singing. It was described as a way of maximising pharyngeal space or abducting the false vocal folds. Hypotheses generated from pedagogical beliefs expressed in this first study were then tested acoustically (Mitchell & Kenny, 2004a, 2004b). Six advanced singing students sang in two conditions: 'optimal' (O), using maximal open throat, 'sub-optimal' (SO), using reduced open throat and loud sub-optimal (LSO) to control for the effect of loudness. From these recordings, acoustic characteristics of vibrato (Mitchell & Kenny, 2004b) and energy distribution (Mitchell & Kenny, 2004a) were examined. Subsequent investigations of the vibrato parameters of rate, extent and onset, revealed that extent was significantly reduced and onset increased when singers did not use the technique. As inconsistent vibrato is considered indicative of poor singing, it was hypothesized that testing the energy distribution in these singers' voices in each condition would identify the timbral changes associated with open throat. Visual inspection of long term average spectra (LTAS) confirmed differences between O and SO, but conventional measures applied to long term average spectra (LTAS), comparing energy peak height [singing power ratio (SPR)] and peak area [energy ratio (ER)] were not sensitive to the changes identified through visual inspection of the LTAS. These results were not consistent with the vibrato findings and suggest that conventional measures of SPR and ER are not sufficiently sensitive to evaluate LTAS. In the fourth study, fifteen expert listeners consistently and reliably identified the presence of open throat technique with 87% accuracy (Mitchell & Kenny, in press). In the fifth study, LTAS measurements were examined with respect to the perceptual ratings of singers. There was no relationship between perceptual rankings of vocal beauty and acoustic rankings of vocal quality (Kenny & Mitchell, 2004, in press). There is a vast literature of spectral energy definitions of good voice but the studies in this thesis have indicated that current acoustic methods are limited in defining vocal quality. They also suggest that current work in singing has not sufficiently incorporated perceptual ratings and descriptions of sound quality or the relationship between acoustic and perceptual factors with pedagogical practices.

The technique of �open throat� is a pedagogical concept transmitted through the oral tradition of singing. This thesis explored the pedagogical perceptions and practices of �open throat� using empirical methodologies to assess technical skill and associated vocal quality. In the first study (Mitchell, Kenny, Ryan, & Davis, 2003), we assessed the degree of consensus amongst singing pedagogues regarding the definition of, and use in the singing studio of the technique called �open throat.� Results indicated that all fifteen pedagogues described �open throat� technique as fundamental to singing training and were positive about the sound quality it achieved, especially in classical singing. It was described as a way of maximising pharyngeal space or abducting the false vocal folds. Hypotheses generated from pedagogical beliefs expressed in this first study were then tested acoustically (Mitchell & Kenny, 2004a, 2004b). Six advanced singing students sang in two conditions: �optimal� (O), using maximal open throat, �sub-optimal� (SO), using reduced open throat and loud sub-optimal (LSO) to control for the effect of loudness. From these recordings, acoustic characteristics of vibrato (Mitchell & Kenny, 2004b) and energy distribution (Mitchell & Kenny, 2004a) were examined. Subsequent investigations of the vibrato parameters of rate, extent and onset, revealed that extent was significantly reduced and onset increased when singers did not use the technique. As inconsistent vibrato is considered indicative of poor singing, it was hypothesized that testing the energy distribution in these singers� voices in each condition would identify the timbral changes associated with open throat. Visual inspection of long term average spectra (LTAS) confirmed differences between O and SO, but conventional measures applied to long term average spectra (LTAS), comparing energy peak height [singing power ratio (SPR)] and peak area [energy ratio (ER)] were not sensitive to the changes identified through visual inspection of the LTAS. These results were not consistent with the vibrato findings and suggest that conventional measures of SPR and ER are not sufficiently sensitive to evaluate LTAS. In the fourth study, fifteen expert listeners consistently and reliably identified the presence of open throat technique with 87% accuracy (Mitchell & Kenny, in press). In the fifth study, LTAS measurements were examined with respect to the perceptual ratings of singers. There was no relationship between perceptual rankings of vocal beauty and acoustic rankings of vocal quality (Kenny & Mitchell, 2004, in press). There is a vast literature of spectral energy definitions of good voice but the studies in this thesis have indicated that current acoustic methods are limited in defining vocal quality. They also suggest that current work in singing has not sufficiently incorporated perceptual ratings and descriptions of sound quality or the relationship between acoustic and perceptual factors with pedagogical practices.

Inertial forces experienced during driving can perturb a driver’s posture, which may in turn diminish a driver’s perceptual sensitivity and corresponding control actions. The general purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a specific driver-training program taught by Holden Performance Driving Centre (Norwell, Queensland) on driver skill and driving performance as revealed by vehicle motion and postural stability during a range of common driving manoeuvres; emergency braking, cornering, and evasive lane change and return. Three driving experiments were conducted on a closed-circuit track, from which vehicle and driver kinematic data was collected using a variety of instruments. After an initial test-sessions, trainee drivers participated in a driver-training program based upon the development of perceptual-motor skills through enhanced driver’s postural stability as well as instruction in vehicle control strategies that were not primarily reliant upon safety technology, such as an antilock brake system (ABS). A second test-session followed training. For all three experiments, statistical analyses were conducted between cohorts of trainee and control drivers’ first and second test-sessions. For the turning manoeuvres, data from a cohort of driver-training instructors was analysed against the post-test sessions from trainee and control drivers.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science
Griffith Health
Full Text

Law enforcement officers can come into conflict with suspects when they need to act fast under time pressure. Improving such a decision¬-making skill is a challenge in a police academy. Academies can train future officers in correct psychomotor responses to attacks by a suspect. However, the ability to anticipate such attacks, and thereby make more appropriate defensive and control responses, is often assumed to come only with experience. The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptual–cognitive sub-skill of attack recognition, which contributes to the anticipation that police officers should have in order to handle potentially violent situations appropriately, and thus take the situation under control without using extreme or lethal force. This study examines the feasibility of using the temporal video-occlusion method as a training tool to accelerate the law enforcement officer’s performance by de-coupling the perception–action link and concentrating on the perceptual–cognitive aspect of the full defensive and control performance. Once the video-occlusion task is calibrated and validated to differentiate expert from non-expert performers, then instructional designers and trainers can be confident is repurposing video-occlusion research method by employing instructional strategies such as deliberate practice and progressive difficulty to train law enforcement trainees and officers.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to examine the outcome of repetitive-part training and dual-task training in the acquisition of dribbling technique and decision making in prepubescent novice soccer players. Method: Twenty four preschool pupils, with an age of 6.2 ± 0.4 years (mean ± SD) and with no previous experience of partaking in any organized team or ball sport participated in the study. The participants were tested (pre test) for initial performance level of dribbling technique and decision making and were then divided into two balanced experimental groups. The repetitive-part group underwent four weeks of part-task training (isolated dribbling-technique training) which were followed by four weeks of dual-task training (simultaneous training of dribbling technique and decision making). The dual-task group underwent eight weeks of dual-task training. The outcome in acquisition of dribbling technique and decision making was examined after four (mid test) and eight (post test) weeks of training. Both training regimes were followed by four weeks of non-training and thereafter a test (retention test) of the retention effects was carried out. Effect sizes (d) of the acquisition within each group and of the difference in performance and acquisition between the two groups were evaluated based on Cohen's effect size criteria (|d| > 0.2, small effect; |d| > 0.5, moderate effect; |d| > 0.8, large effect). Results: Between the pre and mid test, both groups showed large improvements in dribbling technique. The corresponding improvement was small in the repetitive-part group and moderate in the dual-task group between the mid and post test. There were large differences between the groups' decision-making performances at the mid, post, and retention test where the dual-task group was superior to the repetitive-part group. The dual task group showed large improvements of decision making between the pre and mid test. Between the mid and post test, the corresponding effect was large within the repetitive-part group and moderate in the dual-task group. The improvement of the dual-task group's decision making between the pre and mid test was greater than the corresponding improvement showed by the repetitive-part group, between the mid and post test. This difference produced a moderate effect size. Conclusions: These findings challenge conventional repetitive-part training regimes and, with references to previous research, emphasize the importance of dual-task training for skill acquisition in prepubescent novice soccer players.

Recently concern about aviation security has focused on the work of airport security screeners who detect threat items in passengers' luggage. An effective method of training and screening is required for improving screeners' detection abilities and performance to cope with the unreliable human performance of screening. The overall aim of this thesis is to understand and define the potential visual and cognitive factors in the task of inspecting airport passengers' X-ray luggage images, examine usability of perceptual feedback in this demanding task and develop a new method of salient regions which assist screeners to detect targets. The result of this work would obtain knowledge and skills of X-ray luggage images examination, provide insight into the design of training system and develop a method to significantly enhance screeners' detection ability. A questionnaire was developed for screeners to extract the expertise of the screening task and investigate the effect of image features on visual attention. A series of experiments were designed to understand the screening task and explore how knowledge and skills are developed with practice. Results indicated that training under time stressed conditions is recommended for ensuring adequate high detection ability in real life situation as screeners have to balance accuracy and speed in time pressure. The advantages of screeners are better detection ability and search skills which were gained by experience of the search task. Hit rate of naive people was improved with the perceptual exposure of images of threat items. However, scanning did not become efficient. It has demonstrated that detection performance and search skills are improved by the practice of frequency exposure targets in the search task and such ability partly transfer to novel targets. Learning in visual search of threat items is stimuli specific such that familiarity with stimulus and task is the source of performance enhancement. Threat items should be updated constantly and massive amount of X-ray threat objects should be employed for airport security screeners training so as to enlarge object knowledge and enhance recognition ability. Perceptual feedback of circling areas with dwell duration longer than 1000ms does not Significantly improve observers' detection ability in the airport screening task. Features of bags and threat items influence initial attention and attention allocation in the search process. Salient regions, based on the pure stimulus properties, not only contain most of targets in X-ray images but also improve observers' detection performance of high hit rate by forcing observers to scrutinize these areas carefully.

Perceptual speech and voice analysis is an essential skill for all speech-language pathologists, but it is a difficult skill to teach. Even the reliability for experienced experts is variable. Some training literature and practices in speech-language pathology suggest that imitating pathological voices may be useful for developing perceptual judgment. Evidence from other fields suggests that motor experience influences perception. Until now the link between production and perception of voice quality has not been addressed. The purpose of this pilot study is to test the hypothesis that imitating pathological voice samples would improve the perceptual discrimination abilities of naïve, inexperienced listeners. Three expert listeners rated 25 voice samples using a perceptual voice evaluation scale, the Grade, Instability, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain Scale (GIRBAS) (Dejonckere et al., 1996), and identified anchor samples for the training protocol. These expert ratings were used to develop summary expert ratings that served as a comparison for the naïve listener ratings. Two groups of naïve undergraduate listeners received training in evaluating voice quality and in administering the GIRBAS. They completed a pretest, a training session, a homework session, and a post-test. During each activity, they rated 6 voices and provided a confidence rating for their scores. The experimental group imitated the voice samples during the study, and the control group completed the training without supplemental motor experience. It was hypothesized that both listener groups would have improved accuracy and confidence levels between the pretest and post-test, with a larger improvement for the experimental group. Data suggested that training improved naïve listener accuracy and confidence levels and that this improvement was maintained for at least seven days after the initial training. Post-test accuracy for both groups was approximately the same. Imitation did not improve the accuracy of ratings, although those subjects had higher confidence levels. The data supported previous research that found that training improved the accuracy of perceptual voice evaluations. However, the hypothesis that imitation could improve perceptual ratings was not supported by this study and bears further investigation due to the small sample size.

Thesis (M Sport Sc (Sport Science)-- University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a perceptual-motor training programme on the coincident anticipation timing and batting performance of university club cricket players. The intervention programme focused on developing players‟ visual attention and concentration. Vickers‟ (2007) Three-Step Decision Training Model was used to structure the training sessions. The study followed a repeated measures experimental design with three groups (experimental, placebo, and control) formed by volunteers from a university club cricket team. The independent variable was a four-week training programme. The dependent variables were coincident anticipation timing and performance on a cricket batting test. Subjects were pre- and post-tested with retention tests occurring after a set period of “no training” following the post-tests. Differences between groups were compared using Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA by Ranks Tests. Differences within each group were compared using multiple Mann-Whitney U-Tests. No significant improvements were observed in the experimental group‟s coincident anticipation timing and batting performance. Although neither coincident anticipation timing nor batting performance significantly improved, further research into the use of Vickers‟ (2007) Model to enhance sport performance is recommended.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie was om die uitwerking van ʼn perseptueel-motoriese opleidingsprogram op die samevallende vooruittydsberekening (“coincident anticipation timing”) en kolfprestasie van universiteitsklubkrieketspelers te bepaal. Die klem van die intervensieprogram het op die ontwikkeling van spelers se visuele aandag en konsentrasie geval. Die opleidingsessies is volgens Vickers (2007) se drieledige model vir besluitnemingsopleiding saamgestel. Die studie het ʼn eksperimentele ontwerp van herhaalde metings op drie groepe (eksperimenteel, plasebo en kontrole) van ʼn universiteitsklubkrieketspan toegepas. Die onafhanklike veranderlike was ʼn vier weke lange opleidingsprogram. Die afhanklike veranderlikes was samevallende vooruittydsberekening, en prestasie in ʼn krieketkolftoets. Proefpersone het voor en net ná die opleiding toetse ondergaan, sowel as behoudtoetse drie weke ná die na-opleidingstoetse. Verskille tussen groepe is met behulp van rangtoetse uit Kruskal-Wallis se variansie-analisemodel (ANOVA) bepaal, terwyl verskille binne groepe met veelvuldige Mann-Whitney-U-toetse vergelyk is. Geen beduidende verbetering is in die eksperimentele groep se samevallende vooruittydsberekening of kolfprestasie waargeneem nie. Hoewel nóg samevallende vooruittydsberekening nóg kolfprestasie aansienlik verbeter het, word verdere navorsing oor die gebruik van Vickers (2007) se model vir die verbetering van sportprestasie aanbeveel.

In today s complex combat environments, troops are often faced with increasingly challenging tasks different from those experienced in the past. Warfighters must be trained in adaptive perceptual skill sets, such as search strategies that enable them to detect threats across any number of environmental, cultural, and situational conditions. The goal of the present study was to explore how advanced technology, specifically eye tracking, can be used to increase understanding of perceptual processes such as search and detection and provide tools that can be used to train search skills. Experiment 1 examined a method of diagnosing perceptual performance in order to be able to identify the perceptual root cause of target detection deficiencies and how these impact overall target detection performance. Findings indicate the method can be used to pinpoint where in the perceptual process a target miss originated, whether due to ineffective search strategy, inability to detect the subtle cues of the threat or inability to recognize these cues as indicative of a threat. Experiment 2 examined the training effectiveness of providing trainees with process level tailored feedback which incorporates elements of expert and trainee scan patterns. Findings indicate that providing trainees with elements of either expert or trainee scan patterns has the ability to significantly improve the search strategy being employed by the trainee. This work provides strong support for the use of eye tracking based perceptual performance diagnosis methods and training strategies in improving trainee search performance for complex target detection tasks.
Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
Sciences
Psychology PhD

xviii, 216 p. : ill. (some col.)
The focus of this dissertation is on how language experience shapes perception of a non-native prosodic contrast. In Tokyo Japanese, fundamental frequency (F0) peak and fall are acoustic cues to lexically contrastive pitch patterns, in which a word may be accented on a particular syllable or unaccented (e.g., tsúru 'a crane', tsurú 'a vine', tsuru 'to fish'). In English, lexical stress is obligatory, and it may be reinforced by F0 in higher-level prosodic groupings. Here I investigate whether English listeners can attend to F0 peaks as well as falls in contrastive pitch patterns and whether training can facilitate the learning of prosodic categories. In a series of categorization and discrimination experiments, where F0 peak and fall were manipulated in one-word utterances, the judgments of prominence by naïve English listeners and native Japanese listeners were compared. The results indicated that while English listeners had phonetic sensitivity to F0 fall in a same-different discrimination task, they could not consistently use the F0 fall to categorize F0 patterns. The effects of F0 peak location and F0 fall on prominence judgments were always larger for Japanese listeners than for English listeners. Furthermore, the interaction between these acoustic cues affected perception of the contrast by Japanese, but not English, listeners. This result suggests that native, but not non-native, listeners have complex and integrated processing of these cues. The training experiment assessed improvement in categorization of Japanese pitch patterns with exposure and feedback. The results suggested that training improved identification of the accented patterns, which also generalized to new words and new contexts. Identification of the unaccented pattern, on the other hand, showed no improvement. Error analysis indicated that native English listeners did not learn to attend specifically to the lack of the F0 fall. To conclude, language experience influences perception of prosodic categories. Although there is some sensitivity to F0 fall in non-native listeners, they rely mostly on F0 peak location in language-like tasks such as categorization of pitch patterns. Learning of new prosodic categories is possible. However, not all categories are learned equally well, which suggests that first language attentional biases affect second language acquisition in the prosodic domain.
Committee in charge: Susan Guion Anderson, Chairperson; Melissa A. Redford, Member; Vsevolod Kapatsinki, Member; Kaori Idemaru, Outside Member

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of web-based instruction (WBI) on cognitive and psychomotor learning. The subjects of the study received two types of instructional methods, WBI (experimental group) and traditional classroom instruction (control group). Each group received 30 minutes of instruction on "Soldering a Circuit Board." The researcher chose this content subject because it involved both cognitive and psychomotor objectives, which suited the purpose of this study. It was hypothesized that there would be no significant difference between the two methods of instruction, and also that there would be no significant interaction effects between methods of instruction and gender. Forty-six subjects from a population of students enrolled in summer classes offered by the Applied Technology, Training and Development (ATTD) program at the University of North Texas voluntarily participated in this study. Random assignment of subjects was applied in this study. A subject matter expert delivered the content for both the experimental and control groups. To measure cognitive variable, a 10 item, multiple-choice test was administered immediately after instruction. To measure the psychomotor variable, a 15-item checklist was utilized by trained judges to evaluate learners’ performances while soldering. The 2 x 2 factorial model with interaction was used in this study. The analysis was run for each of the dependent variables, cognitive and psychomotor learning. Although there was not a statistically significant difference in the main effects of method of instruction or interaction effects between method and gender, the results imply that students in the traditional-classroom instruction group performed better than those in the WBI group in psychomotor learning. Perhaps, this trend would be statistically significant if the sample size were larger. This study provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of WBI in delivering cognitive and psychomotor objectives. The outcome of this study supports the need for more research on the effects of WBI on learning domains.

The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of specially designed instructional strategies utilizing an art criticism model upon the perceptual differentiation and compositional drawing skills of college students. The an elementary art education course.All subjects received instruction in the studio activities of drawing and painting during the ten week treatment period. The three experimental groups received additional instruction in art criticism.Instrumentation consisted of the Group Embedded Figures Test, a standardized measure of perceptual differentiation, and the Student Composition Rating Scale, a measure developed by the investigator to quantify judgments of five expert judges on compositional skills displayed in drawings. Each instrument was administered as a pre- and post-test for all groups.Three null hypotheses were tested which maintained no significant differences for perceptual differentiation or compositional drawing skills among the three experimental sample consisted of 86 students enrolled in four sections of groups or between the experimental and control groups. A fourth null hypothesis maintained no significant difference between field-dependent and field-independent subjects on compositional skills displayed in drawing. These hypotheses were tested using multivariate analysis of variance and covariance. The .05 level of confidence was established. Inter-rater reliability was computed and found to be high for pre- and post-test SCRS measures.Findings and Conclusions1. All groups experienced gains in skills of perceptual differentiation. This result suggests that involvement in concentrated art activities, whether limited to studio activities, or coupled with the more cognitive aspects of art criticism, has the potential for increasing the visual perceptual skills of college students.2. The experimental groups significantly outperformed the control group on compositional drawing skill.This result suggests that the art criticism model did assist in the development and utilization of compositional strategies.3. No significant difference was found in perceptual differentiation or compositional drawing skills among the three various approaches to the implementation of the art criticism model. It would appear that student involvement with the structured analysis matrix determining factor, rather than the focus of criticism, or the degree of student involvement.4. Students who display greater skills of perceptual differentiation also display greater utilization of compositional strategies in drawing. This finding supports earlier contentions regarding the relationship between perceptual differentiation and art production.

Movement and perception interact continuously in daily activities. Motor output changes the outside world and affect perceptual representations. Similarly, perception has consequences on movement. Nevertheless, how movement and perception influence each other and share information is still an open question. Mappings from movement to perceptual outcome and vice versa change continuously throughout life. For example, a cerebrovascular accident (stroke) elicits in the nervous system a complex series of reorganization processes at various levels and with different temporal scales. Functional recovery after a stroke seems to be mediated by use-dependent reorganization of the preserved neural circuitry. The goal of this thesis is to discuss how interaction with the environment can influence the progress of both sensorimotor performance and neuromotor recovery. I investigate how individuals develop an implicit knowledge of the ways motor outputs regularly correlate with changes in sensory inputs, by interacting with the environment and experiencing the perceptual consequences of self-generated movements. Further, I applied this paradigm to model the exercise-based neurorehabilitation in stroke survivors, which aims at gradually improving both perceptual and motor performance through repeated exercise. The scientific findings of this thesis indicate that motor learning resolve visual perceptual uncertainty and contributes to persistent changes in visual and somatosensory perception. Moreover, computational neurorehabilitation may help to identify the underlying mechanisms of both motor and perceptual recovery, and may lead to more personalized therapies.

Understanding the process of language acquisition is a challenge that many researchers spanning different disciplines (e.g. linguistics, psychology, neuroscience) have grappled with for centuries. One which has in recent years attracted a lot of attention has been in the area of non-native phoneme acquisition. Speech sounds that contain multiple phonetic cues are often difficult for foreign-language learners, especially if certain cues are weighted differently in the foreign and native languages. Greek adult and child speakers of English were studied to determine which cues (duration or spectral) they were using to make discrimination and identification judgments for an English vowel contrast pair. To this end, two forms of identification and discrimination tasks were used: natural (unedited) stimuli and another ‘modified’ vowel duration stimuli which were edited so that there were no duration differences between the vowels. Results show the Greek speakers were particularly impaired when they were unable to use the duration cue as compared to the native English speakers. Similar results were also obtained in control experiments where there was no orthographic representation or where the stimuli were cross-spliced to modify the phonetic neighborhood. Further experiments used high-variability training sessions to enhance vowel perception. Following training, performance improved for both Greek adult and child groups as revealed by post training tests. However the improvements were most pronounced for the child Greek speaker group. A further study examined the effect of different orthographic cues that might affect rhyme and homophony judgment. The results of that study showed that Greek speakers were in general more affected by orthography and regularity (particularly of the vowel) in making these judgments. This would suggest that Greek speakers were more sensitive to irrelevant orthographic cues, mirroring the results in the auditory modality where they focused on irrelevant acoustic cues. The results are discussed in terms of current theories of language acquisition, with particular reference to acquisition of non-native phonemes.

The development of new technologies, such as non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) methods, has become a new frontier in cognitive neuroscience. Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) has recently established its role as a promising tool for influencing brain functions, and even for enhancing cognitive, perceptual or motor performances, with potential benefits for pathological conditions. Interest has raised in transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS), which consists in the application of alternating current over the cortex at random frequencies. This thesis concentrates on the investigation of tRNS as a technique to boost brain functioning and to promote plastic effects. In particular, the focus is to investigate the neural plasticity of the human brain using tRNS independently and combined with behavioural training. The first study concentrates on tRNS effect of the high-frequency band on primary motor cortex (M1) excitability. The results suggest that a wide range, compared to the reduced frequency bands, is required to induce a cortical excitability increase. The second study describes an innovative experimental protocol consisting of tRNS coupled with perceptual training aimed to improve visual function in patients with amblyopia. By combining eight sessions of hf-tRNS with a lateral masking training, a general improvement in contrast sensitivity has been obtained and tRNS has been shown useful to improve visual acuity compared to sham stimulation. The third study involved, in addition to tRNS, an exergame training (physical exercise combined with a videogame) chosen as a potential training tool for healthy young adults to improve the motor response speed and the response time when inhibition is required. The protocol consists of eight sessions of motor and cognitive training associated with the activation of the prefrontal cortex activation (PFC), the target area. Interestingly, the exergame training led to an improvement of simple reaction time, while the tRNS showed its efficacy in a higher demanding task, the Go/NoGo, with faster performance in go trials. This manuscript aims to contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of action of tRNS in modulating neural excitability and boosting brain plasticity and offers new insights into the combined approach of tRNS and behavioural training. Future directions include creating well-calibrated protocols exploiting NIBS and behavioural training, in order to improve, compensate and recovery our abilities toward new perspective of treatment.

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different procedures on the transfer function between perceptual and verbal stimuli. Three experiments were conducted with 10 participants each, of both sex and university. In Experiment 1 was performed a conditional discrimination procedure using Matching-to-Smple having a stimulus as a model and three as a comparison. A set A was composed of three perceptual stimuli (pictures), a joint B consisted of three words without meaning and set C consisted of three words with meaning. Training was made between set B and set C then set A to set B (Group 1) and inverse training (group 2). The Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1, but comparisons were made gradually over the first comparison blocks to complete 3 comparisons and all followed the Group s training sequence 1 Experiment 1. In Experiment 3 was made a training with presentation of stimuli verbal (sentences) and a conditional discrimination training between meaningless words and words with meaning. Data from the three procedures indicate that there is transfer function between words with meaning, figures and meaningless words, and 40% of the participants in Experiment 1 were obtained transfer function for the three meaningless words, 80% of the participant in Experiment 2 achieved transfer function for the three meaningless words and 100% of the participants in Experiment 3 obtained transfer function for the three meaningless words.
O objetivo do presente trabalho foi verificar o efeito de diferentes procedimentos sobre a transferência de função entre estímulos perceptuais e verbais. Foram realizados três experimentos contendo 10 participantes cada, de ambos os sexos e universitários. No Experimento 1 foi realizado um procedimento de discriminação condicional utilizando Matching-to-Smple tendo um estímulo como modelo e três como comparação. Um conjunto A compunha-se de três estímulos perceptuais (figuras), um Conjunto B compunha-se de três palavras sem sentido e um Conjunto C compunha-se de três palavras com sentido. Foi feito treino entre Conjunto B e Conjunto C e depois de Conjunto A com Conjunto B (Grupo 1) e treino inverso (Grupo 2). No Experimento 2 foi semelhante ao Experimento 1, mas as comparações eram apresentadas gradualmente durante os blocos de 1 comparação até completar 3 comparações e todos seguiram a sequência de treino do Grupo 1 do Experimento 1. No Experimento 3 foi feito um treino com apresentação de estímulos verbais (sentenças) e um treino de discriminação condicional entre palavras sem sentido e palavras com sentido. Os dados dos três procedimentos indicam que há transferência de função entre palavras com sentido, figuras e palavras sem sentido, sendo que 40% dos participantes do Experimento 1 obtiveram transferência função para as três palavras sem sentido, 80% dos participantes do Experimento 2 obtiveram transferência de função para as três palavras sem sentido e 100% dos participantes do Experimento 3 obtiveram transferência de função para as três palavras sem sentido.

The visual content represented on information displays used in training environments prescribe display attributes as brightness, color, contrast, and motion blur, but considerations regarding cognitive processes corresponding to these visual features require further attention in order to optimize the display for training applications. This dissertation describes an empirical study with which information display features, specifically color and motion blur reduction, were investigated to assess their impact in a training scenario involving visual search and threat detection. Presented in this document is a review of the theory and literature describing display technology, its applications to training, and how eye-tracking systems can be used to objectively measure cognitive activity. The experiment required participants to complete a threat identification task, while altering the displays settings beforehand, to assess the utility of the display capabilities. The data obtained led to the conclusion that motion blur had a stronger impact on perceptual load than the addition of color. The increased perceptual load resulted in approximately 8-10% longer fixation durations for all display conditions and a similar decrease in the number of saccades, but only when motion blur reduction was used. No differences were found in terms of threat location or threat identification accuracy, so it was concluded that the effects of perceptual load were independent of germane cognitive load.
Ph.D.
Doctorate
Optics and Photonics
Optics and Photonics
Optics

Dans cette thèse nous testons l’effet de différents types d’entraînements sur l’acquisition des monophtongues /æ, ʌ, ɑː, ɪ, et iː/ de l’anglais par des apprenants francophones adultes. Des mesures comportementales sont réalisées avant et après entraînements afin d’évaluer les changements sur la perception et la production de ces voyelles. De plus, une étude en potentiels évoqués a été menée afin de mettre en évidence des corrélats neuronaux consécutifs à l’entraînement du contraste /æ-ʌ/.Deux types d’entraînements ont donc été mis en place : 1) le premier, du type High Variability Phonetic Training (HVPT) comportait des tâches classiques d’identification et de discrimination avec feedback sur la justesse des réponses. Cet entraînement était proposé à 16 participants constituant le groupe PE. 2) le second reposait sur une tâche d’imitation de mots dans lequel un feedback était donné sur la justesse des voyelles produites à partir des paramètres acoustiques mesurés en quasi temps réel. Cet entraînement était proposé à 16 participants constituant le groupe PR. Un troisième groupe ne recevant pas d’entraînement constituait le groupe contrôle (groupe C).En perception, les résultats montrent que l’entraînement HVPT améliore significativement les performances des apprenants en identification et en discrimination comparativement au groupe C, alors que l’amélioration du groupe PR est limitée à l’identification.Les performances en production ont été évaluées par le biais de deux méthodes : 1) une méthode « objective » basée sur l’analyse des paramètres acoustiques des voyelles. 2) une méthode « subjective » basée sur une tâche d’identification des voyelles produites réalisée par des juges natifs. L’entraînement de type HVPT semble être le plus enclin à améliorer les performances en production des apprenants. Cependant, il a été observé que l’amélioration en production était restreinte à l’intelligibilité telle qu’évaluée par des locuteurs natifs et que l’accent étranger mesuré par le biais de mesures acoustiques n’était pas significativement réduit dans les groupes expérimentaux comparés au groupe contrôle.L’étude en électroencéphalographie n’a pas permis d’observer les corrélats attendus mais nous discutons les améliorations potentielles à apporter à notre protocole
This work examines the effects of different kinds of training for the acquisition of the British English monophthongs /æ, ʌ, ɑː, ɪ and iː/ by French late learners. Behavioral measures were computed before and after training in order to evaluate changes occurring on perception and production abilities. Furthermore, an Event Related Potentials study (MMN) was conducted in order to observe the neural correlates of the acquisition of the trained /æ-ʌ/ contrast.A first High Variability Phonetic Training including identification and discrimination tasks with feedback was designed. It was proposed to 16 French learners constituting the so-called PE-Group. 16 other participants constituting the PR-Group received the second training program composed of a word imitation task with visual feedback. The feedback was based on the analysis of the acoustic parameters of the vowel produced by the learners, allowing them to evaluate their own production. A third group, who did not receive any training program was also included (C-Group).The PE-group was shown to perform better after training in identification and discrimination compared to the C-Group, and the PR-Group improved in identification only. Production performances were evaluated through two different methods: 1) one based on the acoustic parameters of the vowels; 2) the other based on the classification of the produced vowels by native English speakers. It was shown that the HVPT was better to improve production performances. However, it was observed that production improvement was restricted to intelligibility, as evaluated by native speakers, and that foreign accent reflected by acoustic measures was not significantly reduced in experimental groups (PE and PR) compared to the C-Group.The expected Event Related Potentials were not observed, but we discuss potential improvements to our protocol