Significant Experimental Effects Research Articles

Running women or women runners: Does identity salience affect intention to exercise outside and feelings of safety?

AbstractSafety concerns for women are prevalent and influence their likelihood to exercise outside. While some women modify their exercise behaviour due to safety concerns, others exercise outside more freely. In this paper, two experiments are reported with women runners to examine whether making their identity as a runner or a woman salient changed their self‐reported likelihood of exercising outside, sense of safety and personal safety anxiety. While study 1 (n = 153) found no significant experimental effect, it revealed a trend: women whose runner identity was made salient were more likely to self‐report their willingness to exercise outside than those in the gender identity condition. Study 2 (n = 236) was conducted to examine this trend further. The second study employed a larger sample size and a more robust manipulation of social identity salience. A significant effect of the experimental condition on women's sense of safety was observed. Specifically, women in the runner identity salience condition had significantly greater feelings of safety than women in the gender identity salience condition. A similar trend emerged for self‐reported likelihood to exercise outside. These findings corroborate prior research on the impact of identity salience on intention to engage in health behaviours. They contribute to the existing body of literature on the intricate interplay between women's physical activity intentions and safety concerns. Furthermore, these findings could aid in the development of interventions to increase women's physical activity levels. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Can an Educational Activity Program Based on Feuerstein’s Program and Gardner’s Theory Increase Excellence and Creativity in Math in Omani Students?

Excellence and creativity in mathematics are necessary requirements for the twenty-first century, and some countries have gone to build and develop new curricula for excellence and creativity. We prepared an activity program in mathematics based on Feuerstein's instrumental enrichment program and Gardner's multiple intelligences theory to increase excellence and creativity in mathematics for Omani students.We hypothesized that the success of previous programs based on the same foundations would generalize to Omani students. Inan experiment,the experimental group received a special training and the control group did not. We then checked whether the pretest-posttest gain was larger for the experimental group than for the control group. The study sample was comprised of an experimental group of n= 35 8th-grade girl students of class nr. 8/1 in Aesha bent Abu Bakr school in Salalah, Oman, and a control group of n= 36 of 8th-grade girl students of class nr. 8/3 in the same school.The differences in pretest-posttest gains were analyzed using t-tests, significance levels, correlations, and effect sizes.There were large and significant experimental effects in favor of the experimental group, showing these educational outcomes can be generalized to Oman.We note various limitations of the study and give various recommendations.

Salience theory of mere exposure: Relative exposure increases liking, extremity, and emotional intensity.

We propose and support a salience explanation of exposure effects. We suggest that repeated exposure to stimuli influences evaluations by increasing salience, the relative quality of standing out from other competing stimuli. In Experiments 1 and 2, we manipulated exposure, presenting some stimuli 9 times and other stimuli 3 times, 1 time, or 0 times, as in previous mere exposure research. Exposure increased liking, replicating previous research (Zajonc, 1968), and increased salience, made evaluations more extreme, and made stimuli more emotionally intense. Across experiments, results of multiple mediation models and a causal chain of experiments supported the idea that salience explains these exposure effects. Fluency and apprehension, 2 constructs that have been invoked to explain mere exposure, accounted for less of these effects according to the mediation models and the chain of experiments. We next manipulated relative exposure and absolute exposure orthogonally, finding that relative exposure increases liking more than absolute exposure. Stimuli presented 9 times were liked more when other stimuli in the context were presented less than 9 times than when the other stimuli were presented more than 9 times (Experiment 4). Whereas absolute exposure had no significant effect in Experiment 4, relative exposure increased liking, extremity, and emotional intensity. In Experiment 5, a direct manipulation of salience increased liking, evaluative extremity, and emotional intensity. These results suggest that salience partially explains effects previously attributed to absolute "mere" exposure. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Testing a dual-process model of moral judgement in college athletes and non-athletes: Abstract reasoning or emotion control

Does participation in sport promote good character? Many academics have attempted to investigate this question from philosophical, sociological and psychological perspectives. Most recently, several psychologists have adopted a range of methods to investigate the relationship between sport participation and moral character. To do so, they eschew the lay methodological approach, which focuses on a concept of character couched in terms of good and evil. Instead, they rely on a cognitive developmental concept of moral judgement. Moral judgement is the process of deciding what is right or wrong based on social norms. In the context of the mode of cognitive moral development, the moral judgement of non-athlete college students was significantly more mature than that of athletes. With the development of theory and technique, a substantial body of research supports a dual-process theory of moral judgement, which involves an automatic-emotional factor in the process of moral judgement. To date, however, limited work has been performed to explore whether sport participation can alter moral judgement in the context of the dual-process theory. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the different moral judgement mechanisms between athlete and non-athlete college students. A total of 30 college students (including 15 high-level basketball players with at least five years of professional training experience) participated in this cross-sectional study. The moral judgement task, consisting of personal and impersonal dilemmas, was designed with E-Prime software. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS Devices 1100, fNIR Devices LLC, 4 dual-wavelength source probes and 10 optical detector probes paired to obtain 16 channels) was adopted to monitor haemodynamic activities in the prefrontal cortex while the subjects performed the moral judgement task. Significant experimental effects were observed in behavioural and haemodynamic performance. Both subject groups revealed more utilitarianism in impersonal dilemmas than in personal dilemmas. In addition, compared with the non-athlete group, the athlete group evoked a greater haemodynamic response in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-related channel (channel 13, channel 14 and channel 15) and evoked a decreased haemodynamic response in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-related channel (channel 3). Moreover, the peak latency in the athlete group was shorter than that in the non-athlete group. This study verified the dual-process theory of moral judgement in athlete samples. Individual differences were observed in temporal and spatial indicators during the moral judgement task. Taking brain function into consideration, our findings reflect an enhanced emotion control ability in the athlete group to suppress a prepotent response to moral dilemmas.

The Experimental Effects of Acute Walking on Cognitive Creativity Performance

To examine the experimental effects of acute moderate-intensity walking exercise on cognitive creativity. Twenty young adults (Mage = 21.3 yrs) completed a within-subject experimental protocol involving three trials on a single laboratory visit. Trials 1 and 2 were control trials involving creativity task performance. Following Trial 2, participants completed a 15-minute acute bout of treadmill walking exercise. After this, participants completed the Trial 3 creativity assessment. For all trials, both convergent (Remote Associates Task) and divergent (Alternative Uses Task) creativity was assessed. There was no statistically significant experimental effect of acute exercise on convergent creativity performance (F=0.48; P=.62; η2=.05). Results were similar for divergent creativity. Our findings do not provide evidence that acute walking enhances cognitive creativity.

Distant Healing Intention Therapies: An Overview of the Scientific Evidence.

This article provides a broad overview of “distant healing intention” (DHI) therapies, ie, intentional healing modalities claimed to transcend the usual constraints of distance through space or time. We provide a summary of previous reviews and meta-analyses that have explored a diverse array of DHI modalities, outcome measures, and experimental protocols. While some significant experimental effects have been observed, the evidence to date does not yet provide confidence in its clinical efficacy. The purported “nonlocal” nature of DHI raises significant methodological and theoretical challenges. We recommend several avenues for improving future research.

Effective self-regulated science learning through multimedia-enriched skeleton concept maps

Background: This study combines work on concept mapping with scripted collaborative learning. Purpose: The objective was to examine the effects of self-regulated science learning through scripting students’ argumentative interactions during collaborative ‘multimedia-enriched skeleton concept mapping’ on meaningful science learning and retention. Programme description: Each concept in the enriched skeleton concept map (ESCoM) contained annotated multimedia-rich content (pictures, text, animations or video clips) that elaborated the concept, and an embedded collaboration script to guide students’ interactions. Sample: The study was performed in a Biomolecules course on the Bachelor of Applied Science program in the Netherlands. All first-year students (N=93, 31 women, 62 men, aged 17–33 years) took part in this study. Design and methods: The design used a control group who received the regular course and an experimental group working together in dyads on an ESCoM under the guidance of collaboration scripts. In order to investigate meaningful understanding and retention, a retention test was administered a month after the final exam. Results: Analysis of covariance demonstrated a significant experimental effect on the Biomolecules exam scores between the experimental group and the control, and the difference between the groups on the retention test also reached statistical significance. Conclusions: Scripted collaborative multimedia ESCoM mapping resulted in meaningful understanding and retention of the conceptual structure of the domain, the concepts, and their relations. Not only was scripted collaborative multimedia ESCoM mapping more effective than the traditional teaching approach, it was also more efficient in requiring far less teacher guidance.

유아의 기후변화 대응능력 향상 프로그램 개발 및 효과 검증

The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate a climate change education program for children in early childhood. The program was developed to enhance young children's ability to prepare for climate change. The program consists of 15 30-minute sessions. 38 5-year-olds (23 boys and 15 girls) participated in this program. The effects of this program were evaluated by the pre-school children's knowledge and problem solving abilities preventing climate change. Results showed that there was a significant experimental effect for knowledge of how to prevent climate change. Experimental group showed more knowledge than the control group. Also, there was a significant experimental effect on the problem solving abilities for preventing climate change. The experimental group showed greater problem solving abilities than the control group. The results of program evaluation revealed that this program was helpful for preparing young children for climate change.

Effect of Homobaric Pure Oxygen on Sensory Gating in the Human Brain

Sensory gating, a viable function of the brain, is an adaptive mechanism to prevent overstimulation of nervous system. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of homobaric pure (i.e. 100%) oxygen on the human brain at different periods of inhalation. EEG was recorded while an auditory paired-click sensory gating test was conducted during 4 study periods: before inhalation of pure oxygen (Before), inhalation of 100% oxygen (air in control group) for 20 min (Oxy20) and 50 min (Oxy50), 30 min after oxygen (air in control group) inhalation (After). Each of the auditory stimuli elicited 4 clear peaks at 20, 39, 55 and 100 ms in ERPs, demonstrating that sensory gating is a multi-stage process. Comparing the S1-S2 differences of field potentials between two groups, significant experimental effects (P < 0.05-0.01) were shown at Oxy50 and After periods mainly at the 20 and 100 ms peak in ERPs. Pure oxygen was experimentally shown, for the first time, to affect the human brain activation, at the beginning of early P20 sensory cortical activation and late N100 auditory perception. The effect found in this study shall encourage further investigation on the oxygen treatment in human brain.

False positives in neuroimaging genetics using voxel-based morphometry data

Voxel-wise statistical inference is commonly used to identify significant experimental effects or group differences in both functional and structural studies of the living brain. Tests based on the size of spatially extended clusters of contiguous suprathreshold voxels are also widely used due to their typically increased statistical power. In “imaging genetics”, such tests are used to identify regions of the brain that are associated with genetic variation. However, concerns have been raised about the adequate control of rejection rates in studies of this type. A previous study tested the effect of a set of ‘null’ SNPs on brain structure and function, and found that false positive rates were well-controlled. However, no similar analysis of false positive rates in an imaging genetic study using cluster size inference has yet been undertaken.We measured false positive rates in an investigation of the effect of 700 pre-selected null SNPs on grey matter volume using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). As VBM data exhibit spatially-varying smoothness, we used both non-stationary and stationary cluster size tests in our analysis. Image and genotype data on 181 subjects with mild cognitive impairment were obtained from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). At a nominal significance level of 5%, false positive rates were found to be well-controlled (3.9–5.6%), using a relatively high cluster-forming threshold, αc=0.001, on images smoothed with a 12mm Gaussian kernel. Tests were however anticonservative at lower cluster-forming thresholds (αc=0.01, 0.05), and for images smoothed using a 6mm Gaussian kernel. Here false positive rates ranged from 9.8 to 67.6%. In a further analysis, false positive rates using simulated data were observed to be well-controlled across a wide range of conditions.While motivated by imaging genetics, our findings apply to any VBM study, and suggest that parametric cluster size inference should only be used with high cluster-forming thresholds and smoothness. We would advocate the use of nonparametric methods in other cases.

다문화가정 미취학 아동의 학교생활적응을 위한 프로그램 개발 및 효과 검증

Abstract This study developed and evaluated a school adjustment program for children from multi-cultural families. The program was developed to enhance Korean language ability and adjustment to school for children from multi-cultural backgrounds. 14 preschool children (5 boys and 9 girls) participated in this program. The effect of this program was assessed through a preschool-children's receptive and expressive vocabulary test as well as through a reading ability test. Results showed there was a significant experimental effect ( p <.05) in receptive and expressive vocabulary test scores. After the experiment, children showed higher scores in the receptive and expressive vocabulary test than before. Results of the program evaluation revealed this program was helpful for promoting Korean language ability in children and assisted their adjustment to school for children from multi-cultural backgrounds. Keywords : children from multi-cultural families, school adjustment program, Korean language ability

Flexible target representations underlie repetition priming in visual search

Repeating target features across consecutive visual search trials can influence response time. Three experiments are reported that show that this repetition priming is dependent on the exact stimulus configuration and feature type. In Experiment 1 the target was defined relative to distractors by its orientation and target colour was task irrelevant. The roles played by these features were reversed in Experiment 2. Repeating target colour across trials speeded responses in both Experiments 1 and 2. Repeating orientation significantly slowed responses in Experiment 1 but had no significant effect in Experiment 2. Existing feature-based and episodic memory-based explanations of priming cannot account for these data, but instead more flexible explanations are required. Experiment 3 showed that significant positive priming results from repeating distractor-defining orientation, indicating that priming of pop-out effects previously reported in the literature may result from combined target and distractor effects.

Using Goal Setting to Enhance Positive Affect Among Junior Multievent Athletes

Positive affect is linked to enhanced motivation, commitment, and performance among youth sport performers; yet, few psychological interventions have specifically attempted to enhance positive affect among these athletes. To address this circumstance, we implemented a single-subject multiple-baseline design to examine the effects of a goal-setting intervention on the positive and negative affective responses of three competitive youth athletes. Statistical analysis coupled with visual inspection criteria revealed a significant overall increase in positive affect for participants 1 and 2. A statistically significant increase in positive affect also emerged for participant 3, yet it was not possible to detect a significant experimental effect using visual inspection criteria. No statistically significant decreases in negative effect emerged for any of the three participants. These results show some support for the hypothesis that goal setting may enhance positive affect among junior multievent athletes.

Flexible target representations underlie repetition priming in visual search

Repeating target features across consecutive visual search trials can influence response time. Three experiments are reported that show that this repetition priming is dependent on the exact stimulus configuration and feature type. In Experiment 1 the target was defined relative to distractors by its orientation and target colour was task irrelevant. The roles played by these features were reversed in Experiment 2. Repeating target colour across trials speeded responses in both Experiments 1 and 2. Repeating orientation significantly slowed responses in Experiment 1 but had no significant effect in Experiment 2. Existing feature-based and episodic memory-based explanations of priming cannot account for these data, but instead more flexible explanations are required. Experiment 3 showed that significant positive priming results from repeating distractor-defining orientation, indicating that priming of pop-out effects previously reported in the literature may result from combined target and distractor effects.

The Causal Generalization Paradox: The Case of Treatment Outcome Research

Data from psychological experiments pose a causal generalization paradox. Unless the experimental results have some generality, they contribute little to scientific knowledge. Yet, because most experiments use convenience samples rather than probability-based samples, there is almost never a formal justification, or set of rigorous guidelines, for generalizing the study's findings to other populations. This article discusses the causal generalization paradox in the context of outcome findings from experimental evaluations of psychological treatment programs and services. In grappling with the generalization paradox, researchers often make misleading (or at least oversimplified) assumptions. The article analyzes 10 such assumptions, including the belief that a significant experimental treatment effect is likely to be causally generalizable and the belief that the magnitude of a significant experimental effect provides a sound effect size estimate for causal generalization. The article then outlines 10 constructive strategies for assessing and enhancing causal generality. They include strategies involving the scaling level of outcome measures, variable treatment dosages, effectiveness designs, multiple measures, corroboration from observational designs, and the synthesis of multiple studies. Finally, the article's discussion section reviews the conditions under which causal generalizations are justified.

IDENTIFYING TREATMENT EFFECTS IN MULTI‐CHANNEL MEASUREMENTS IN ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC STUDIES: MULTIVARIATE PERMUTATION TESTS AND MULTIPLE COMPARISONS

SummaryA versatile procedure is described comprising an application of statistical techniques to the analysis of the large, multi‐dimensional data arrays produced by electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements of human brain function. Previous analytical methods have been unable to identify objectively the precise times at which statistically significant experimental effects occur, owing to the large number of variables (electrodes) and small number of subjects, or have been restricted to two‐treatment experimental designs. Many time‐points are sampled in each experimental trial, making adjustment for multiple comparisons mandatory. Given the typically large number of comparisons and the clear dependence structure among time‐points, simple Bonferroni‐type adjustments are far too conservative. A three‐step approach is proposed: (i) summing univariate statistics across variables; (ii) using permutation tests for treatment effects at each time‐point; and (iii) adjusting for multiple comparisons using permutation distributions to control family‐wise error across the whole set of time‐points. Our approach provides an exact test of the individual hypotheses while asymptotically controlling family‐wise error in the strong sense, and can provide tests of interaction and main effects in factorial designs. An application to two experimental data sets from EEG studies is described, but the approach has application to the analysis of spatio‐temporal multivariate data gathered in many other contexts.

Diurnal activity cycles and synchrony in layer hen chicks ( Gallus gallus domesticus)

The role of the broody hen under natural conditions with regard to temperature regulation, protection, and affecting the feeding behaviour of the chicks appears irrelevant in commercial production. However, other aspects of the chicks’ behaviour may be affected by the absence of a broody hen, e.g. social synchronisation of activity. The aim of the two present experiments was to investigate the effect of broody hens and dark brooders on chicks’ diurnal activity cycles and social synchrony. In experiment 1, 6 groups of 10 chicks were reared with broody hens and 6 groups were provided with heating lamps. In experiment 2, 6 groups of 15 chicks were provided with dark brooders and 6 groups were provided with heating lamps. In both experiments, the duration of active and inactive behaviour of a focal animal was recorded continuously for 4–4.5 h. With 5 min intervals the focal-animal sampling was briefly interrupted by a scan sample of the behaviour of all the pen-mates. One pen from each treatment was observed when the chicks were 1, 3, 7, 9, 14, and 16 days of age. The durations of the active and inactive phases of the chicks brooded by a hen or a dark brooder were significantly longer as for the heating-lamp chicks. Age had no significant effect in experiment 1, whereas the duration of inactive but not active phases shortened with age in both treatments in experiment 2. In both experiments, no significant difference was found between the two treatments in the proportion of total time spent active. Chicks brooded by a broody hen or by a dark brooder were found to be significantly more synchronised in activity than heating-lamp chicks. Long active and inactive phases may be closely associated with and pre-disposing for synchrony in groups of chicks, which may reduce development of feather pecking. The broody hens may be more efficient in synchronising both active and inactive phases of activity.

Systemizing empathy: Teaching adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism to recognize complex emotions using interactive multimedia

This study evaluated Mind Reading, an interactive systematic guide to emotions, for its effectiveness in teaching adults with Asperger syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA) to recognize complex emotions in faces and voices. Experiment 1 tested a group of adults diagnosed with AS/HFA (n = 19) who used the software at home for 10-15 weeks. Participants were tested on recognition of faces and voices at three different levels of generalization. A matched control group of adults with AS/HFA (n = 22) were assessed without any intervention. In addition, a third group of general population controls (n = 24) was tested. Experiment 2 repeated the design of Experiment 1 with a group of adults with AS/HFA who used the software at home and met in a group with a tutor on a weekly basis. They were matched to a control group of adults with AS/HFA attending social skills training and to a general population control group (n = 13 for all three groups). In both experiments the intervention group improved significantly more than the control group on close, but not distant, generalization tasks. Verbal IQ had significant effects in Experiment 2. Using Mind Reading for a relatively short period of time allows users to learn to recognize a variety of complex emotions and mental states. However, additional methods are required to enhance generalization.

Recommended housing conditions and test procedures can interact to obscure a significant experimental effect

Routine animal husbandry variables, such as group housing of mice and the order of testing of cage-mates, are currently viewed to be essentially neutral with respect to the outcome of most, if not all, animal-based experiments, including those that utilize behavioral measurements. During the course of experiments that have utilized the elevated plus-maze to examine the ability of a bacterial challenge of mice to induce anxiety-like behavior, due to the activation of various cytokine pathways, we followed the recommendation of laboratory animal care staff to house the mice in pairs. Whenwe testedthe members of the pairs successively, it was found, for the first experimental set, that the behavior that reflects anxiety (time in closed arms) of the first-tested animal differed from that of the second-tested animal for both the experimental and the control animals and, critically, that these changes were in the opposite directions for the controls and the experimental animals, thus obscuring the effect of the experimental manipulation. A second, independent experimental set also obtained a significant effect for the order of testing effect in the bacterial-challenged group, but not in the saline control group, although a similar trend was evident in this group as well. These results indicate that special care should to be taken in implementing housing recommendations and that preliminary tests may be necessary to ensure that housing conditions do not interact with tests of the phenomenon under experimental investigation.

Just a few words: The influence of positive and negative bias on participants’ judgements of an interviewee’s mental health

AbstractWe report a practical exercise in abnormal psychology designed to give students an insight into social stereotypes. Apart from bringing to life, through the student’s personal experience, important issues in psychiatric diagnosis, the study enables an entrée to accessible published studies in the related literature, consideration of the ethics of deception, comparison of questionnaire and qualitative interview data, and discussion of experimental design, statistical testing and basic elements of psychometrics. Ninety-six newly arrived undergraduates viewed a 25-minute video of a female nurse. In a 2X2 factorial design the alleged nature of the interview was varied (job interview or psychological assessment) as was the rating scale information (exposure prior to the video, after the video). Students then rated the mental status of the interviewee on 20 items and reflected in small discussion groups on what they had seen. Ten items showed significant experimental effects, four as a result of prior information about the nature of the interview, five as a result of prior exposure of the questionnaire, and there was one interaction between treatments. Participants saw the person as less healthy when the interview was said to be a psychological assessment, and more healthy having seen the questionnaire prior to the video. Qualitative data from the small group discussions reflect the quantitative experimental data, the same interview generating contradictory views of the interviewee. Apart from its pedagogical benefits the study replicates previous studies supporting labelling theory and negative bias but also shows unlike the previous literature that prior exposure induces a positive bias. Students wrote up the practical exercise and discussed its various implications with personal tutors.