Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Sensory Processes, Perception and Performance'

Tese de doutoramento em Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física (Ciências do Desporto) apresentada à Fac. de Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física de Coimbra
Apesar da influência que os comportamentos de liderança e de coesão de grupo parecem ter no rendimento desportivo, poucos são os estudos (Westre e Weiss, 1991 ; Antunes e Cruz, 1997 ; Leitão, 1997) que procuraram avaliar de uma forma processual e concorrente os construtos de liderança e de coesão. Assim, este estudo teve como objectivo geral analisar as relações entre o treinador e o atleta e em particular, observar a influência da percepção dos comportamentos de liderança e de coesão no rendimento desportivo. Os atletas (N=316, M=23.2 anos, DP=4.33) provenientes de 23 equipas de futebol participantes em campeonatos nacionais (2ª e 3ª divisão nacional) e distritais (1ª divisão distrital) foram avaliados em três momentos ao longo de uma época desportiva, através das escalas resultantes do Modelo Multidimensional de Liderança (Chelladurai, 1978, 1991) e do Modelo Conceptual de Coesão (Carron et al., 1985). Como medidas adicionais foram também utilizadas medidas de rendimento individual e de equipa. Desta forma, tendo em vista a análise psicométrica dos instrumentos teóricos de avaliação, foi efectuado um estudo factorial exploratório e confirmatório às escalas - Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS - Chelladurai e Saleh, 1978), Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ - Carron et al., 1985) e à Satisfaction Scale for Athletes (Chelladurai et al., 1988). Através da análise multigrupos, foi igualmente testada a invariância dos parâmetros estruturais dos modelos de liderança, coesão e satisfação. Por sua vez, tendo em atenção os objectivos e hipóteses que orientaram este estudo, as técnicas estatísticas utilizadas - path-analysis, análise discriminante, análise multigrupos e meta-análise - permitiram verificar : i) a existência de diferenças significativas na percepção dos comportamentos de liderança, coesão e de satisfação em função da responsabilidade contratual dos atletas (profissionais e não profissionais) e do estatuto dos atletas (efectivo e não efectivo) ; ii) a instabilidade e mudança permanente dos processos de grupo ; iii) a existência de potenciais variáveis moderadoras (v.g., estatuto dos atletas, obrigação contratual, percepção do rendimento individual e colectivo) da percepção dos comportamentos de liderança, coesão e satisfação e iv) um efeito mais elevado entre o rendimento e coesão do que o observado entre este construto e o rendimento (posterior).

Do participants with external attribution styles outperform participants with internal explanatory styles in pressure-filled situations? Explicit-monitoring theory suggests that performance becomes impaired when conscious attention is devoted to performing a task normally carried out by automatic processes. Attributing potential failure to an external source (e.g., blaming a sudden gust of wind for a poor golf shot) can decrease the negative effects of stereotype threat, a social-psychological predicament known to engender feelings of stress similar to those experienced in pressure-filled situations, by preventing explicit monitoring from taking place. The current study examined whether individual differences in attribution style, as measured by the Attributional Style Questionnaire, affects golf-putting performance under stereotype threat. The present author hypothesized that participants with external explanatory styles would perform better than participants with internal explanatory styles under stereotype threat, because external participants would be predisposed to create external sources to attribute the cause of poor performance.

This study presents an analysis of human encounter with place. It examines the personal and cultural importance of an attachment to place, focusing on the reciprocal relationship between cultural heritage and a sense of place. Place is constructed out of mutual meanings between people and their environment. The study begins with an indepth look at the theory of place. In a series of heritage management case studies, the theory is applied in order to illustrate how meanings of place may be expressed. Place as a normative concept provides a role for resource managers in finding the meanings people associate with places, and in nurturing and enhancing these meanings. This involves the recognition of different values and 'stories' that are associated with place. Recognising these differences helps shift resource management away from the simplicity of grand narratives and totalizing discourses, towards a respect for intangible and multiple meanings in place. To a certain extent an understanding of place is already informing both natural and cultural management decisions in New Zealand, although this may not be explicitly recognised. To approach cultural heritage management from the perspective of place, however, challenges the current directions that heritage management is taking in this country. The study proposes a way of taking up that challenge, and concludes that the importance of place should not be overlooked.

This thesis is concerned with creating and evaluating interactive art systems that facilitate emergent participant experiences. For the purposes of this research, interactive art is the computer based arts involving physical participation from the audience, while emergence is when a new form or concept appears that was not directly implied by the context from which it arose. This emergent ‘whole’ is more than a simple sum of its parts. The research aims to develop understanding of the nature of emergent experiences that might arise during participant interaction with interactive art systems. It also aims to understand the design issues surrounding the creation of these systems. The approach used is Practice-based, integrating practice, evaluation and theoretical research. Practice used methods from Reflection-in-action and Iterative design to create two interactive art systems: Glass Pond and +-now. Creation of +-now resulted in a novel method for instantiating emergent shapes. Both art works were also evaluated in exploratory studies. In addition, a main study with 30 participants was conducted on participant interaction with +-now. These sessions were video recorded and participants were interviewed about their experience. Recordings were transcribed and analysed using Grounded theory methods. Emergent participant experiences were identified and classified using a taxonomy of emergence in interactive art. This taxonomy draws on theoretical research. The outcomes of this Practice-based research are summarised as follows. Two interactive art systems, where the second work clearly facilitates emergent interaction, were created. Their creation involved the development of a novel method for instantiating emergent shapes and it informed aesthetic and design issues surrounding interactive art systems for emergence. A taxonomy of emergence in interactive art was also created. Other outcomes are the evaluation findings about participant experiences, including different types of emergence experienced and the coding schemes produced during data analysis.

The purpose of the research presented here was to systematically investigate the role of speech perception on speech production in speakers of different ages and those with PD and hypokinetic dysarthria. For this, the experimental designs of auditory perturbation and mimicry were chosen. The initial research phase established that the magnitude of compensation to auditory vowel perturbation was reduced in 54 speakers of New Zealand English (NZE) when compared to previous studies conducted with speakers of American (AE) and Canadian English (CE). A number of factors were studied to determine possible predictors of compensation and distinguish between potential changes associated with ageing. However, no predictors of compensation were found for the overall group. Post-hoc analyses established an increased variability in response patterns in NZE when compared to previous studies of AE and CE. Subsequent follow-up analyses focused on the response-dependent categories of (1) big compensators, (2) compensators, (3) big followers, and (4) followers. Linear mixed-effect modelling revealed that in big compensators, the magnitude of compensation was greater in speakers who exhibited larger F1 baseline standard deviation and greater F1 vowel distances of HEAD relative to HEED and HAD. F1 baseline standard deviation was found to have a similar predictive value for the group of compensators. No predictors of compensation were found for the other two subgroups. Phase two was set up as a continuation of phase one and examined whether a subset of 16 speakers classified as big compensators adapted to auditory vowel perturbation. Linear mixed-effect modelling revealed that in the absence of auditory feedback alterations, big compensators maintained their revised speech motor commands for a short period of time until a process of de-adaptation was initiated. No predictors of adaptation were found for the group. Due to the unexpected results from the first two research phases indicating a dominant weighting of somatosensory feedback in NZE compared to auditory-perceptual influences, a different experimental paradigm was selected for phase three - mimicry. The purpose of this study was to determine whether eight speakers with PD and dysarthria and eight age-matched healthy controls (HC) are able to effectively integrate speech perception and speech production when attempting to match an acoustic target. Results revealed that all speakers were able to modify their speech production to approximate the model speaker but the acoustic dimensions of their speech did not move significantly closer to the target over the three mimicry attempts. Although speakers with moderate levels of dysarthria exhibited greater acoustic distances (except for the dimension of pitch variation), neither the perceptual nor the acoustic analyses found significant differences in mimicry behaviour across the two groups. Overall, these findings were considered preliminary evidence that speech perception and speech production can at least to some extent be effectively integrated to induce error-correction mechanisms and subsequent speech motor learning in these speakers with PD and dysarthria.

Evidence suggests that human time perception is likely to reflect an ensemble of recent temporal experience. For example, prolonged exposure to consistent temporal patterns can adaptively realign the perception of event order, both within and between sensory modalities (e.g. Fujisaki et al., 2004 Nat. Neurosci., 7, 773-778). In addition, the observation that 'a watched pot never boils' serves to illustrate the fact that dynamic shifts in our attentional state can also produce marked distortions in our temporal estimates. In the current study we provide evidence for a hitherto unknown link between adaptation, temporal perception and our attentional state. We show that our ability to use recent sensory history as a perceptual baseline for ongoing temporal judgments is subject to striking top-down modulation via shifts in the observer's selective attention. Specifically, attending to the temporal structure of asynchronous auditory and visual adapting stimuli generates a substantial increase in the temporal recalibration induced by these stimuli. We propose a conceptual framework accounting for our findings whereby attention modulates the perceived salience of temporal patterns. This heightened salience allows the formation of audiovisual perceptual 'objects', defined solely by their temporal structure. Repeated exposure to these objects induces high-level pattern adaptation effects, akin to those found in visual and auditory domains (e.g. Leopold & Bondar (2005) Fitting the Mind to the World: Adaptation and Aftereffects in High-Level Vision. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 189-211; Schweinberger et al. (2008) Curr. Biol., 18, 684-688).
Wellcome Trust, College of Optometrists

Dissertação de Mestrado em Ciência do Desporto, área de especialização em Desporto para Crianças e Jovens, apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências do Desporto e de Educação Física da Universidade do Porto
A investigação actual vem realçando a importância dos processos cognitivos nas acções realizadas no âmbito dos Jogos Desportivos Colectivos, em virtude das características complexas da sua intervenção. Entre os requisitos considerados fundamentais, o conhecimento específico da modalidade parece possuir um peso importante na performance desportiva. Contudo, a existência dum elevado nível de conhecimento poderá não garantir uma elevada prestação, se os caminhos de circulação de informação não estiverem optimizados e se o jogador não for capaz de adaptar e reordenar a sua intervenção em cada momento de jogo.No âmbito da avaliação do conhecimento específico em Jogos Desportivos Colectivos, os protocolos têm privilegiado, simultaneamente, a análise da prontidão e da qualidade da resposta, através de inquéritos de resposta múltipla.No presente estudo pretende-se analisar e comparar a forma como a inteligência geral dos jogadores de Futebol e o seu conhecimento específico do jogo se relacionam. Mais especificamente, pretende-se: avaliar e comparar a Inteligência geral e o conhecimento específico do jogo em jovens praticantes de Futebol segundo os respectivos estatutos posicionais e nível competitivo; e contrastar a percepção do treinador, face à capacidade de decisão e ao conhecimento específico do jogo dos seus jogadores, com os resultados obtidos pelos seus jogadores nos testes de inteligência geral e do conhecimento específico do jogo.Para tal, foram utilizados o teste de atenção de Toulouse-Piéron, o teste das figuras Idênticas de Thurstone e as Matrizes Progressivas de Raven, para avaliar os processos cognitivos gerais dos jovens Futebolistas, bem como o protocolo de avaliação do conhecimento específico do jogo construído por Mangas (1999) e aperfeiçoado por Correia (2000). Estes instrumentos foram aplicados a uma amostra de 44 praticantes federados de futebol de diferentes níveis competitivos, com uma média de idades de 16.00±0.53 para o grupo de nível competitivo ...

Dissertação de Mestrado em Ciência do Desporto, área de especialização em Desporto para Crianças e Jovens, apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências do Desporto e de Educação Física da Universidade do Porto
A investigação actual vem realçando a importância dos processos cognitivos nas acções realizadas no âmbito dos Jogos Desportivos Colectivos, em virtude das características complexas da sua intervenção. Entre os requisitos considerados fundamentais, o conhecimento específico da modalidade parece possuir um peso importante na performance desportiva. Contudo, a existência dum elevado nível de conhecimento poderá não garantir uma elevada prestação, se os caminhos de circulação de informação não estiverem optimizados e se o jogador não for capaz de adaptar e reordenar a sua intervenção em cada momento de jogo.No âmbito da avaliação do conhecimento específico em Jogos Desportivos Colectivos, os protocolos têm privilegiado, simultaneamente, a análise da prontidão e da qualidade da resposta, através de inquéritos de resposta múltipla.No presente estudo pretende-se analisar e comparar a forma como a inteligência geral dos jogadores de Futebol e o seu conhecimento específico do jogo se relacionam. Mais especificamente, pretende-se: avaliar e comparar a Inteligência geral e o conhecimento específico do jogo em jovens praticantes de Futebol segundo os respectivos estatutos posicionais e nível competitivo; e contrastar a percepção do treinador, face à capacidade de decisão e ao conhecimento específico do jogo dos seus jogadores, com os resultados obtidos pelos seus jogadores nos testes de inteligência geral e do conhecimento específico do jogo.Para tal, foram utilizados o teste de atenção de Toulouse-Piéron, o teste das figuras Idênticas de Thurstone e as Matrizes Progressivas de Raven, para avaliar os processos cognitivos gerais dos jovens Futebolistas, bem como o protocolo de avaliação do conhecimento específico do jogo construído por Mangas (1999) e aperfeiçoado por Correia (2000). Estes instrumentos foram aplicados a uma amostra de 44 praticantes federados de futebol de diferentes níveis competitivos, com uma média de idades de 16.00±0.53 para o grupo de nível competitivo ...

Cette recherche s'inscrit dans le cadre de l'étude du contrôle postural et s'intéresse aux comportements sensori-moteurs et perceptivo-cognitifs de gymnastes experts ou non. Le premier objectif était de caractériser en fonction du niveau d'expertise gymnique, les relations entre d'une part, les processus sensori-moteurs mis en jeu dans le maintien de deux habiletés motrices (Appui Tendu Renversé et posture érigée), et d'autre part, la typologie perceptive (dépendance/indépendance à l'égard du champ visuel). Le second objectif était de valider, premièrement, l'effet d'un apport informationnel et, deuxièmement, l'effet d'un entraînement spécifique, dit tactilo-kinesthésique, sur les performances posturales d'un Appui Tendu Renversé (ATR). Les trois premières études ont permis de répondre à notre premier objectif. Les résultats ont mis en évidence un effet de l'expertise sur l'utilisation des informations sensorielles nécessaires au maintien postural tant pendant l'ATR que lors de la posture érigée. Un niveau élevé de pratique gymnique permet aux gymnastes experts, contrairement aux non-experts, d'utiliser de façon interchangeable les informations sensorielles lorsque certaines d'entre elles font défaut ou sont perturbées. De plus, un effet de l'expertise gymnique apparaît aussi sur les choix perceptifs plus généraux des gymnastes, ainsi que sur les liens entre ces choix et les processus sensori-moteurs mis en jeu lors du maintien postural. Enfin, les deux dernières études ont permis de tester deux méthodes visant à améliorer la performance posturale lors de l'ATR. Les résultats ont mis en évidence un effet stabilisateur d'un apport informationnel (toucher léger) sur le maintien de l'ATR, aussi bien pour les gymnastes experts que non-experts. En outre, un effet bénéfique d'un entraînement tactilo-kinesthésique a été obtenu sur le maintien de cette posture spécifique
This research is part of a broader study of postural control and focussed particularly on the sensorimotor and perceptual-cognitive behaviours of gymnasts. The first goal was to characterize the relationships between the sensorimotor processes used in the maintenance of two motor skills (handstand and erected posture) and the performer's perceptual style (visual field dependence-independence), according to the level of gymnastics expertise. The second goal was to determine the effects of, firstly, light contact and, secondly, tactile-kinaesthetic training on postural performance in handstand. The results of the first three studies highlighted the effect of expertise on the use of sensory information to maintain posture both during the handstand and in erected posture. As opposed to the non-experts, a high level of practice allowed the expert gymnasts to use types of sensory information interchangeably when some was missing or disturbed. Moreover, gymnastics expertise had an effect on the more general perceptual choices and on the relationships between these choices and the sensorimotor processes used during postural maintenance. Lastly, the final two studies tested two methods of improving postural performance in handstand. The results revealed a stabilizing effect of light touch on handstand maintenance, both for the experts and non-experts. Moreover, tactile-kinaesthetic training had a beneficial effect on the control of this specific posture

Une crise d’épilepsie résulte de la survenue soudaine d’une activité neuronale anormalement intense, rythmique et synchrone dans une région plus ou moins étendue du système nerveux central. Les conséquences cliniques sont extrêmement variées, selon les zones cérébrales affectées et la durée des crises, allant de brèves secousses musculaires très focalisées à une perte de conscience complète, éventuellement associée à des convulsions. Dans le cas de l’épilepsie-absence, une épilepsie généralisée d’origine génétique survenant fréquemment chez les enfants, les crises s’expriment essentiellement par une suspension des processus conscients dans toutes leurs dimensions, y compris une interruption des perceptions conscientes. Ces symptômes sont corrélés à des décharges de pointes-ondes (DPO) dans les électroencéphalogrammes (EEG) bilatéraux. Les mécanismes physiopathologiques des altérations de conscience au cours des crises d’épilepsie-absence restent l’objet de débats intenses, opposant des altérations fonctionnelles à grande échelle à un filtrage des informations exogènes par les oscillations épileptiques. Au cours de mes recherches, j’ai exploré l’hypothèse alternative, mais non exclusive, d’un dysfonctionnement dynamique dans les processus d’intégration sensorielle au sein des circuits thalamo-corticaux primaires. Des explorations électrophysiologiques fines n’étant pas réalisables chez les enfants épileptiques, j’ai utilisé un modèle génétique présentant une forte homologie avec la pathologie humaine : le Genetic Absence Epilepsy Rat from Strasbourg (GAERS). En combinant in vivo des enregistrements électrocorticographiques (ECoG) et intracellulaires dans le cortex somatosensoriel primaire (S1), précédemment identifié comme le site de déclenchement des crises, j’ai d’abord analysé les propriétés intégratives et d’excitabilité des neurones pyramidaux du cortex S1, durant et en dehors des crises, et je les ai comparées à celles des neurones homologues chez des rats non épileptiques. J’ai montré que ces neurones présentent lors des périodes inter-ictales une excitabilité accrue, s‘exprimant par une augmentation de la décharge des neurones en réponse à des stimulations excitatrices d’intensité croissante ainsi qu’une tendance exacerbée à se re-polariser suite à une hyperpolarisation de grande amplitude, suggérant un accroissement du courant cationique h. Au cours des crises, les mêmes neurones montraient des changements différentiels dans leur excitabilité membranaire selon la composante pointe ou onde dans l‘ECoG correspondant. La pointe était associée à une augmentation de décharge évoquée par un courant dépolarisant et à une diminution de résistance membranaire. Symétriquement, l’onde était corrélée avec une augmentation de résistance membranaire et une diminution d’excitabilité. Ces changements dynamiques des propriétés intégratives neuronales suggèrent une instabilité des réponses corticales lors du cycle pointe-onde pouvant « brouiller » les signaux sensoriels lors des crises. J’ai testé cette hypothèse en analysant les réponses des neurones corticaux, et des neurones thalamo-corticaux correspondants, à des stimulations appliquées sur les vibrisses controlatérales. Bien que les réponses synaptiques induites dans les neurones du cortex S1 par les stimulations sensorielles n’étaient pas globalement altérées lors des crises, elles étaient plus amples et plus efficaces pour déclencher des potentiels d’action pendant l’onde comparé à la composante pointe. Cet accroissement relatif de la réponse neuronale lors de l’onde ECoG résulte probablement de l’accroissement de résistance membranaire précédemment décrit, d’une augmentation de la force électromotrice des courants synaptiques glutamatergiques et de la forte probabilité de décharge des neurones thalamiques correspondants lors de cette composante
An epileptic seizure results from the sudden occurrence of abnormally intense, rhythmic and synchronous neuronal activity, in a more or less broad region of the central nervous system. The clinical consequences are extremely varied, depending on the affected brain areas and the duration of the seizures, ranging from brief localized muscular twitches to a complete loss of consciousness, potentially associated with convulsions. Absence epilepsy is a generalised epilepsy of genetic origin, mostly affecting children of school age. During absence attacks, children experience a suspension of conscious processes in all their dimensions, including an interruption of conscious perceptions. These symptoms are correlated with bilateral spike-wave discharges (SWD) in the electroencephalograms (EEGs). The pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the alteration of consciousness during absences remain the subject of an intense debate, opposing functional dysfunctions on large scale neural networks to a filtering of sensory information by epileptic oscillations. During my PhD research, I explored the alternative, but not exclusive, hypothesis of a dynamic dysfunction in sensory integration processes within primary thalamo-cortical circuits. Given that multi-scale electrophysiological investigations cannot be conducted in epileptic children, I used a genetic model prsenting a strong homology with the human pathology: the Genetic Absence Epilepsy Rat from Strasbourg (GAERS).By combining in vivo electrocorticographic (ECoG) and intracellular recordings in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1), previously identified as the site of seizure initiation, I first analysed the integrative properties and excitability of S1 pyramidal neurons, during and in between seizures, and compared them to those measured in homologous neurons from non-epileptic rats. I showed that these neurons exhibit a higher excitability during inter-ictal periods, expressed as an increased firing response to excitatory stimuli of increasing intensity, as well as an exacerbated tendency to depolarize following a hyperpolarization of large amplitude, suggesting an augmented cationic current h. During seizures, the same neurons showed specific changes in their membrane excitability, according to the spike or wave component in the corresponding ECoG. The spike component was associated with increased current-evoked firing and a decreased membrane resistance. Conversely, the wave was correlated with an increase in membrane resistance and a decrease in excitability. These dynamic changes in neuronal integrative properties suggest an instability of cortical responses during the spike-wave epileptic cycle that could "scramble" sensory signals during seizures. I tested this hypothesis by analysing the sensory responses of cortical neurons, and corresponding thalamo-cortical neurons, to stimulations applied to contralateral whiskers. Although synaptic responses induced in S1 neurons by sensory stimuli were not globally impaired during seizures, they were larger and more likely to trigger action potentials during wave compared to the spike component. This relative increase in neuronal responsiveness during the ECoG wave probably results from the previously described increase in membrane resistance, an augmented driving force of glutamatergic synaptic currents and a higher probability of action potentials discharge in the corresponding thalamic neurons during this component. My doctoral research indicates that sensory inputs processing persists in the thalamo-cortical circuits during SWDs, but that the alternation of the spike and wave components introduces a strong instability of the neuronal responses during seizures. This new pathophysiological mechanism could contribute to the inability to generate a conscious, stable and effective, perception during generalised epileptic seizures

Demand for 24-h access to services and goods has led to an increase in the number of employees engaged in shiftwork. However, while shiftwork has become necessary to meet community expectations, it has serious consequences for health and safety. The risk of fatigue-related accidents and injuries is a significant problem for the shift working population. This is because shiftwork places restrictions on the opportunities available for workers to obtain sleep. Shiftworkers, especially those who work night shifts, must often stay awake for long hours and sleep at times inconsistent with their body clocks, so sleep loss is common. This dissertation evaluates alternative options for arranging sleep that could potentially optimise neurobehavioural function in circumstances where long nocturnal sleep episodes are not possible. Two main approaches were used to address these aims. The first was to assess the effectiveness of split sleep-wake schedules at sustaining neurobehavioural function around the clock – with and without sleep restriction – which could have implications for work rosters in certain safety-critical industries. The second approach was to assess the effectiveness of different arrangements of daytime sleep at ameliorating the decline of night-time performance, which could have implications for the sleep strategies shiftworkers employ before and after night shifts.

This thesis has three key aims, firstly to explore the effects that perceived age and ability have on person perception. Secondly to discover how these two constructs add to the theory on person perception and thirdly, to test a new methodological approach to the study of person perception.

The technology availability and hype of virtual reality has intersected as of 2016, bringing a lot of attention to virtual reality (VR) games. The research into this technology has been ongoing since its early exploration in the 1970’s. Methods have been created to try to understand and predict what causes phenomena such as motion and simulator sickness in the human computer interaction devices. Heuristics have been developed to aid the design these applications and to avoid such discomforting circumstances. Concepts and their continued exploration have been growing to improve the experience of virtual reality technology and continue the expanding imagination of what is capable with this technology. All the tools are available to create highly immersive virtual experiences, but it is up to the interpretant, the user to decide how believable, immersive and enjoyable these experiences are. By conducting an interview study on a part of the VR gaming community, more can be understood about the success and failure of immersive design by exploring the experiences of certain highly immersive games. This study takes the opportunity to listen to gamers as a means of highlighting significant key challenges and characteristics creating immersive VR games. By evaluating transcripts via thematic analysis, themes were created to understand and categorize the various aspects that are most important to the immersion and embodiment in VR games. This study and themes drawn from it reflect on the experiences and feelings of experienced VR gamers in the context of role-playing games.

The purpose of this study is to address the hypothesis that service-oriented ego states exist and inhabit the subjective attitudinal elements of personality. The rationale of this research is to apply this theory to address key challenges affecting the Australian hospitality industry. Furthermore, this thesis sets out the identification and analysis of Service-Oriented Ego States (personality attributes) that are recognisable in the industry as desirable and successful attitudes. The purpose of the analysis is to develop a Hospitality-Oriented Personality Profile (HOPP) applicable to the hospitality industry but also malleable to suit other recruitment purposes. Foremost, it seeks to address the issue of retention of hospitality-oriented staff and the correspondent issue of recruitment of individuals who are able to meet the service orientation needs of employers. Service-oriented ego states are assumed to manifest through attitudinal behaviours. The Australian hospitality industry is growing faster than the sector can supply key workers, a situation mirrored in other countries across the world. Using the core theoretical frameworks of Ego State and Altruism to validate the concept of ‘ego states’, this study has analysed the individual personality characteristics and workplace behaviours of twenty-five volunteers, who work in either hospitality management, or as ‘on-the-floor’ hospitality staff. This process was assisted through an application of current industry personality-profiling techniques, in-depth semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis of their transcripts. In particular this study provides insight into the links between self-perception, other-perception, where other-perception refers to the results of ego-grams, and actual service-oriented responses of the participants. By recognising the attributes of those engaged in outstanding service-provider behaviour, a ‘Hospitality Oriented Personality Profile’ (HOPP) was theorised, and a ‘mini-HOPP’ administered to ten of the original participants to produce a series of ego-grams. The ego-grams enabled positioning of each individual on a matrix reflecting serviceorientation. From this it was possible to determine six major categories of positive (that is, demonstrated) and four of negative (that is, avoided) attributes that determine the extent of a service-oriented personality. The utility of an instrument such as the HOPP, that can predict a recruit’s strengths and weaknesses, would be of great benefit for anyone working in the Australian Tourist Industry. The HOPP’s predictive capabilities marks it as unique amongst current employee recruitment instruments, and offers a greater accuracy and efficiency in recognising desired attributes in hospitality industry applicants. It also identifies areas for support and training that are useful to recruiters for targeted professional development of employees. Moreover, the HOPP is malleable to the needs of a wide variety of industries and can be used to identify individuals who are readily reassigned within an industry, or relocated to or from an unrelated one. The HOPP’s focus on attitudes rather than skills also makes it a useful adjunct to existing skills-and-knowledge-based recruitment tools and thus has the potential to accelerate the recruitment process, as well as ensure key staff with known strengths and attitudes are found to suit the workplace environment. Overall, this study clearly demonstrates that identifiable service-oriented ego states can be profiled and an instrument such as the HOPP, that provides a profile of a service-oriented individual, offers considerable benefit to the hospitality industry.

The purpose of this research was to investigate how work orientation (job, career, and calling) affects the professional life of leaders; and how leaders perceive their work regarding these three dimensions. In addition, this study aimed to relate work orientation to performance. Also, phenomenology approach allowed a deep investigation of the experience of leaders with regard to their work.

For this purpose, two surveys were used; one was on work orientation and the other on performance. After completion of the surveys, six participants were invited to participate in an in-depth interview. The participants were aligned with the calling orientation and had a high performance at work. They described their work as integrated into their lives, involving their families in decisions, helping people, and desiring to make a difference in this world. Also, the findings showed that people who live a calling feel that work and life have intertwined meanings. The motivation, well-being, connection with an organization, engagement with work, and having a purpose were factors that had significance for those who perceive work as a calling. The main results were that the participants faced new challenges, built new meanings and understandings about work during their careers. Each experience helped them to improve the next, while also improving their performance. The relationship between these factors revealed a cycle of meanings. The cycle represents the evolution of the creation of new meanings which defines how people perceive their work and how that influences performance. Furthermore, this study showed that it is possible to change the perception of work through goals, achievement, working context, the adversities faced, stages of life, and the work environment. All of these lead to new meanings and becoming aligned to different dimensions of work orientation.

Grounded in Green and Kreuter's (1991) flexible research framework (the PRECEDE model), the prime purpose of this doctoral research agenda has been to enhance our understanding of the frequently obscure psychosocial implications of ageing with hearing handicap (HH) in the audible world, by focusing on the dyadic perspectives of older New Zealand (NZ) ex-service personnel and their spouses. Glass and Balfour's (2003) Ecological Model of Ageing guided the multidisciplinary literature review, in order to accommodate the functional implications of age-related losses which could potentially exacerbate the social and emotional sequelae of ageing with HH and tinnitus. In addition, Cohen's (1992) Transactional Model of Stress (which integrates three social support constructs with Lazarus and Folkman's [1984] model describing adaptations to stressful events), illustrates how on-going social and emotional adjustments to hearing losses could potentially affect older adults' health-related quality of life (H-QoL). Infused by these transdisciplinary ecological perspectives, a composite model of Ageing with Hearing Handicap was proposed to explore older dyadic partner perspectives of NZ veterans' adjustment to ageing with hearing handicap; and to identify which factors exerted the most influence over the veterans' self-reported perceptions of HH and H-QoL. Methods: A purposive pilot study sample (N=51 veterans) initially guided the appropriate selection of ecologically relevant biopsychosocial variables and data collection methods (self-report mail out booklets) for two subsequent studies: (i) The main 'parent' study (referred to as the Hearing Aid Research Project [HARP]), which examined the predictors of hearing aid use in veterans aged 50 year and older; and (ii) The doctoral study, which explored dyadic perspectives of ageing with HH. The doctoral study's dyadic partner sample (N=671 dyads) comprised a subset of the 1249 HARP veterans. This subset met the doctoral study's inclusion criteria of male veterans aged 65 years plus, who had responded with a female partner/spouse residing in the same household. Only dyads with reasonably complete mail out survey response sets were selected. The dyadic partner response sets included social demographic details and responses to a number of constructs relevant to the doctoral research context including: aural rehabilitation, HH, H-QoL, emotional wellbeing, social support and memory in everyday life. Results: The results describe significantly different aural rehabilitation coping trajectories between the self-identified 'first time' and more experienced hearing aid users; and dyadic partner comparisons which highlight that the female partners were more acutely aware of the stigmatising impact of hearing losses on the veterans' social and emotional agency. Analyses of the intersecting structural and functional features of social support illustrated that increasing levels of the veterans' hearing handicap (HH) exacerbated both partners' social isolation. Wenger's (1994) support network typology illustrated how both partners' depressive symptoms and the veterans' frequency of forgetting increased significantly across a socially integrated to isolated support network continuum. The composite model of Ageing with Hearing Handicap accounted for 71.5% of the variation in the veterans' self-reported HH; 62.6% of their physical and 37.3% of their mental H-QoL. The multivariate analyses also demonstrated that HH produced a direct and negative impact on the veterans' mental H-QoL, by constraining their social and emotional agency; but only indirectly on their physical H-QoL, through reducing their energy levels and constraining their social participation. Conclusions: These transdisciplinary perspectives provide cross-sectional insights about the social and emotional wellbeing of veterans ageing with HH and their spouses, and suggest downstream links that affect their H-QoL. These findings highlight the importance of hearing health policy agendas and the communication contexts of health service delivery across all age groups. Moreover, by resolving the complex methodological and conceptual challenges inherent in focussing on older dyadic partners' everyday experiences, targets have become apparent for further investigation, to enhance and refine our understandings of engaging ecological perspectives when conducting health research.

The monitoring-blunting theory of coping in threatening situations (Miller, 1981, 1987) suggests that when faced with a threatening situation, individuals can respond either by attending to threatening information (―monitoring‖) or by avoiding threatening information (―blunting‖). A valid and reliable measure of children’s preferred coping styles in dental situations may assist dental staff in providing efficacious anxiety-reducing interventions to diverse groups of children. The current study sought to validate a scale of children’s preference for monitoring or blunting in dental situations (the Monitoring Blunting Dental Scale or MBDS). The psychometric characteristics of the scale were assessed in a group of 240 eleven to thirteen year old New Zealand children. Internal consistency reliability was adequate for both the monitoring ( = .743) and blunting ( = .762) subscales. Convergent validity was indicated by strong correlations (> .6) between the MBDS monitoring and blunting subscales and those of an adapted version of the Child Behavioural Style Scale (CBSS-M). Discriminant validity with respect to dental anxiety was strong for the monitoring subscale, r = .079, p = .221, but not the blunting subscale, r = .478, p <.001. Confirmatory factor analysis of the MBDS indicated adequate fit for a two factor monitoring-blunting model (RMSEA = .079), but unacceptable fit for a one factor model (RMSEA = .095). A similar finding was observed when confirmatory factor analysis of the CBSS-M was conducted. These confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the monitoring and blunting theoretical constructs cannot be justifiably regarded as representing poles of a single underlying dimension, but are better regarded as distinct, related constructs. A content analysis of children’s comments about the coping strategies they might adopt in several dental scenarios indicated that these strategies were largely classifiable within monitoring-blunting theory, with blunting-type strategies much more commonly mentioned. Given further validity evidence, the MBDS could be a useful measure when attempting to tailor anxiety-reducing interventions in dental settings to children with diverse coping preferences.

yes
Sensory adaptation experiments have revealed the existence of ‘rate after-effects’ - adapting to a relatively fast rate makes an intermediate test rate feel slow, and adapting to a slow rate makes the same moderate test rate feel fast. The present work aims to deconstruct the concept of rate and clarify how exactly the brain processes a regular sequence of sensory signals. We ask whether rate forms a distinct perceptual metric, or whether it is simply the perceptual aggregate of the intervals between its component signals. Subjects were exposed to auditory or visual temporal rates (a ‘slow’ rate of 1.5 Hz and a ‘fast’ rate of 6 Hz), before being tested with single unfilled intervals of varying durations. Results show adapting to a given rate strongly influences the perceived duration of a single empty interval. This effect is robust across both interval reproduction and duration discrimination judgments. These findings challenge our understanding of rate perception. Specifically, they suggest that contrary to some previous assertions, the perception of sequence rate is strongly influenced by the perception of the sequence’s component duration intervals.
This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust [WT097387] grant to NWR

Yue Xiaomin.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-55).
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
Chapter CHAPTER I --- INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1 --- Neuronal Synchronization --- p.1
Chapter 2. --- Synchronization and attention --- p.4
Chapter CHAPTER II --- METHODOLOGY OF EEG SIGNAL ANALYSIS
Chapter 1 --- A time series and a stochastic process --- p.8
Chapter 2 --- Methods to capture neuronal synchronization --- p.10
Chapter 3 --- Disadvantage of traditional method to calculate coherent --- p.11
Chapter 4 --- Multivariate AutoRegressive model (MVAR) --- p.12
Chapter 5 --- Estimation algorithm of MVAR model --- p.15
Chapter 6 --- Validation of the algorithm by simulation --- p.17
Chapter CHAPTER III --- EXPERIMENTS AND RESULTS
Chapter 1 --- Experiment --- p.1
Chapter 1.1 --- Participants and experimental procedures --- p.21
Chapter 1.2 --- EEG recording and processing --- p.22
Chapter 1.3 --- Results and discussion --- p.23
Chapter 2 --- Experiment
Chapter 2.1 --- Participants and experimental procedures --- p.32
Chapter 2.2 --- EEG recording and processing --- p.32
Chapter 2.3 --- Results and discussion --- p.33
Chapter CHAPTER IV --- DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Chapter 1 --- Functional connection between different cortical areas --- p.42
Chapter 2 --- Relationship of coherence to motor behavior --- p.45
Chapter 3 --- Automatic synchronization --- p.46
Reference --- p.48