Task Goals Research Articles

Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire: A Mokken Scale Analysis

Athletes’ goal orientations have been associated with a wide array of sport-related behaviors, thoughts, and perceptions. The two main goal orientations defined in the achievement goal theory framework are task and ego orientations. The task and ego orientation questionnaire (TEOSQ) was developed to assess levels of task and ego goal orientations in sport-related settings and is widely used in research in the field of sport psychology. Its use in research rests on the assumption that sum scores of the TEOSQ can be used to order individuals by their levels of the two goal orientations. In this study, the soundness of this assumption is evaluated using Mokken scale analysis (MSA). TEOSQ responses from 749 football players were used in the analysis. Both the monotone homogeneity model and the double monotonicity model were fitted. The scalability coefficients for both the task and ego orientation subscales were 0.45 indicating a moderately good scalability. Invariant item ordering did not hold for either of the two subscales. There is definite room for improvement in the TEOSQ. Several improvement suggestions are made and further research directions are discussed.

Grip selection without tool knowledge: end-state comfort effect in familiar and novel tool use.

A well-known phenomenon for the study of movement planning is the end-state comfort (ESC) effect: When they reach and grasp tools, individuals tend to adopt uncomfortable initial hand postures if that allows a subsequent comfortable final posture. In the context of tool use, this effect is modulated by tool orientation, task goal, and cooperation. However, the cognitive bases of the ESC effect remain unclear. The goal of this study was to determine the contribution of semantic tool knowledge and technical reasoning to movement planning, by testing whether the ESC effect typically observed with familiar tools would also be observed with novel tools. Twenty-six participants were asked to reach and grasp familiar and novel tools under varying conditions (i.e., tool's handle downward vs. upward; tool transport vs. use; solo vs. cooperation). In our findings, the effects of tool orientation, task goal and cooperation were replicated with novel tools. It follows that semantic tool knowledge is not critical for the ESC effect to occur. In fact, we found an "habitual" effect: Participant adopted uncomfortable grips with familiar tools even when it was not necessary (i.e., to transport them), probably because of the interference of habitual movement programming with actual movement programming. A cognitive view of movement planning is proposed, according to which goal comprehension (1) may rely on semantic tool knowledge, technical reasoning, and/or social skills, (2) defines end-state configuration, which in turn (3) calibrates beginning-state comfort and hence the occurrence of the ESC effect.

Kinematic coordinations capture learning during human–exoskeleton interaction

Human–exoskeleton interactions have the potential to bring about changes in human behavior for physical rehabilitation or skill augmentation. Despite significant advances in the design and control of these robots, their application to human training remains limited. The key obstacles to the design of such training paradigms are the prediction of human–exoskeleton interaction effects and the selection of interaction control to affect human behavior. In this article, we present a method to elucidate behavioral changes in the human–exoskeleton system and identify expert behaviors correlated with a task goal. Specifically, we observe the joint coordinations of the robot, also referred to as kinematic coordination behaviors, that emerge from human–exoskeleton interaction during learning. We demonstrate the use of kinematic coordination behaviors with two task domains through a set of three human-subject studies. We find that participants (1) learn novel tasks within the exoskeleton environment, (2) demonstrate similarity of coordination during successful movements within participants, (3) learn to leverage these coordination behaviors to maximize success within participants, and (4) tend to converge to similar coordinations for a given task strategy across participants. At a high level, we identify task-specific joint coordinations that are used by different experts for a given task goal. These coordinations can be quantified by observing experts and the similarity to these coordinations can act as a measure of learning over the course of training for novices. The observed expert coordinations may further be used in the design of adaptive robot interactions aimed at teaching a participant the expert behaviors.

Massive open online course recommendation system based on a reinforcement learning algorithm

AbstractMassive open online courses (MOOCs) are open online courses designed on the basis of the teaching progress. Videos and learning exercises are used as learning materials in these courses, which are open to numerous users. However, determining the prerequisite knowledge and learning progress of learners is difficult. On the basis of learners’ online learning trajectory, we designed a set of practice questions for a recommendation system for MOOCs, provided suitable practice questions to students through the LINE chatbot (a type of social media software), and used mobile devices to encourage participation in MOOCs. Reinforcement learning, which involves reward function design and iterative solution improvement, was used to set task goals, including those related to course learning and practice question difficulty. The proposed system encouraged certain learning behaviors among students. Students who used the system exhibited an exercise completion rate of 89.97%, which was higher than that of students who did not use the system (47.23%). The system also increased the students’ overall learning effectiveness. Students who used and did not use the proposed system exhibited average midterm scores of 64.73 and 58.21, respectively. We also collected 227 online questionnaires from students. The results of the questionnaires indicated that 90% of the students were satisfied with the system and hoped to continue using it.

The effect of sex hormones on decision-making in healthy young women

Risky decision-making is associated with several mental health disorders and deleterious health behaviours. As men are known to engage in riskier behaviours, the effects of testosterone on decision-making have been extensively studied. However, few studies have been conducted in women and by extension, examined female sex hormones (progesterone and estradiol). This study aimed to understand the role of sex hormones (progesterone, estradiol, and testosterone) on decision-making. Forty healthy young women provided saliva samples to assess their sex hormones before completing the Iowa Gambling Task. The goal of this decision-making task was to maximize monetary profits by drawing cards from four decks: two with large gains and larger losses (risky decks) and two with small gains and smaller losses (safe decks). For the purposes of data analysis, card draws were separated into five blocks of 20 draws each, allowing us to quantify the learning rate of the advantageous safe decks. Multilevel linear models revealed two inverse interactions: time*testosterone and time*progesterone. Specifically, lower levels of progesterone and higher levels of testosterone were independently associated with riskier decision-making. In both cases, this effect led to slower learning of the advantageous safer decks. These data suggest that the effects of testosterone on risk-taking are not unique to men. Moreover, the results suggest that progesterone also influence risk-taking. This raises important questions regarding risk-taking tendencies in women throughout the menstrual cycle (which induces endogenous hormonal variations) and in women using hormonal contraceptives (which dampen the menstrual cycle).

TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY: CONTRADICTIONS, PROBLEMS, PRIORITIES

The processes taking place in all subsystems without exception that form the structure of modern society have become the reason for the attention of the scientific community to the study of contradictions, problems and priorities for the development of the territory of the municipality as a socio-economic system of a complex nature. It is the complex nature of the system that gives rise to a large number of questions that arise in the process of a comprehensive study of territorial and unique features, difficulties in choosing research methods and tools for solving problems at the stages of developing and implementing a territorial development strategy. The individual characteristics of a particular municipality and the goals of the territory development strategy set tasks for the developers, the solution of which depends on the correct choice of priorities, taking into account emerging barriers and limiting factors in the implementation process. The authors systematized legal acts as the foundation for building a territory development strategy, approaches to classifying contradictions on the scale of the economic system, substantiated the need to adjust the strategy as a medium-term and long-term task to the challenges of the new time, including technological breakthroughs in management and information and communication space.

Velocity tracking control best explains the modulation of saccade kinematics during eye-hand coordination: Velocity-based control of saccades during eye-hand coordination.

Fast movements like saccadic eye movements that occur in the absence of sensory feedback are thought to be controlled by internal feedback. Such internal feedback provides an instantaneous estimate of the output, which serves as a proxy for sensory feedback, that can be used by the controller to correct deviations from the desired plan. In the predominant view, the desired plan/input is encoded in the form of a static displacement signal (endpoint model), believed to be encoded in the spatial map of the superior colliculus (SC). However, recent evidence has shown that SC neurons have a dynamic signal that correlates with saccade velocity, suggesting that information for velocity-based control is available for generating saccades. Motivated by this observation, we used a novel optimal control framework to test whether saccadic execution could be achieved by tracking a dynamic velocity signal at the input. We validated this velocity tracking model in a task where the peak saccade velocity was modulated by the speed of a concurrent hand movement independent of the saccade endpoint. A comparison showed that in this task, the velocity tracking model performed significantly better than the endpoint model. These results suggest that the saccadic system may have additional flexibility to incorporate a velocity-based internal feedback control when imposed by task goals or context.

The Neural Correlates of Updating and Gating in Procedural Working Memory.

Goal-directed behavior relies on maintaining relevant goals in working memory (WM) and updating them when required. Computational modeling, behavioral, and neuroimaging work has previously identified the processes and brain regions involved in selecting, updating, and maintaining declarative information, such as letters and pictures. However, the neural substrates that underlie the analogous processes that operate on procedural information, namely, task goals, are currently unknown. Forty-three participants were therefore scanned with fMRI while performing a procedural version of the reference-back paradigm that allowed for the decomposition of WM updating processes into gate-opening, gate-closing, task switching, and task cue conflict components. Significant behavioral costs were observed for each of these components, with interactions indicating facilitation between gate-opening and task switching, and a modulation of cue conflict by gate state. In neural terms, opening the gate to procedural WM was associated with activity in medial pFC, posterior parietal cortex (PPC), the basal ganglia (BG), thalamus, and midbrain, but only when the task set needed to be updated. Closing the gate to procedural WM was associated with frontoparietal and BG activity specifically in conditions where conflicting task cues had to be ignored. Task switching was associated with activity in the medial pFC/ACC, PPC, and BG, whereas cue conflict was associated with PPC and BG activity during gate closing but was abolished when the gate was already closed. These results are discussed in relation to declarative WM and to gating models of WM.

그릿이 고등학교 농구선수의 성취목표지향과 경기력에 미치는 영향

This study purpose to learn about the impact of the grit on high school basketball player’s achievement goal orientation and performance. To this end, 303 high school basketball teams registered with the Korea Basketball Association were selected from the population of high school basketball players in the Seoul metropolitan area, Chungcheong-do, and Jeolla-do. A total of 303 data were used in the final analysis. First, Grit (persistence of interest, steady effort) has been shown to have a partial positive(+) effect on task goal orientation and self goal orientation, which are sub-factors of achievement goal orientation. Second, Grit (persistence of interest, steady effort) has been shown to have a partial positive(+) effect on performance. Third, achievement goal orientation (task goal orientation, self goal orientation) has been shown to have a partial positive(+) effect on concentration and confidence, which are sub-factors of performance.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE MANIFESTATION OF THE EVALUATION COMPONENT OF MOTIVATION IN SENIOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN WITH COGNITIVE DISORDERS OF DEVELOPMENT

The article analyzes psychological and pedagogical sources on the peculiarities of the evaluation component of motivation. It has been outlined that, in general, motivation is considered as external, which arises in the process of achieving the goals of those educational tasks that are not related to the cognitive interests of the subject (motivation to avoid failure) and internal, which arises as a result of the subject's desire for self-development, self-improvement. It has been determined that the peculiarities of the motivation of children with cognitive disorders include those that have a certain peculiarity of purposefulness, which is manifested in the incorrect orientation in the task, erroneous and partial performance, inadequate attitude to the difficulties that arise, uncritical attitude to the evaluation of the result of educational and cognitive motives. It has been determined the main ways of formation of the evaluative component of motivation, which are interpreted as a personal formation that directly affects the regulation of behavior and activity, as an autonomous characteristic of the individual, its central component, which is formed with the active participation of the individual and reflects the originality of his or her inner world. The relevance of this problem is due to the fact that the senior preschool age is an important period for the formation of the evaluation component of the preschooler's motivation, its further development and influence on the personality. It has been revealed the leading role of the evaluative component of motivation, which is decisive for the successful learning and adaptation of the child to school in the future, since in the future the child must learn to find the mistakes made by comparing the results of his/her work with the sample; independently evaluate the results of his/her activity according to the guidelines given by the teacher (correct or not, what exactly; what is the identified error; what needs to be changed, what needs to be avoided in the next one and the ability to express self-evaluative judgments). It has been identified the criteria of the assessment component of motivation in senior preschoolers with cognitive developmental disorders. They are: consistency / inconsistency between the educational motive and the child's needs; the ability to subordinate intermediate goals to the overall goal; the ability to control their own activities, i.e. to exercise self-control; the ability to independently evaluate their own activities. It has been determined ways of correcting the evaluative component of motivation in older preschoolers with cognitive developmental disorders, which are aimed at its formation.

Islamic Broadcasting Communication Students Need Analysis Based on Task-Based Language Teaching for ESP Curriculum Development

Islamic Broadcasting Communication students need certain experiences in learning English. English as a global language should be in line with their specific purposes. Therefore, it is essential to formulate students’ language skill experiences during their study in the Islamic Broadcasting Communication study program to find real benefits in EFL learning. The study is a Need Analysis (NA) which involves 30 students of the Islamic Broadcasting Communication study program, and 3 ESP lecturers of Universitas Sains Alqur’an, Central Java in Wonosobo, Indonesia. The aims are to investigate the students’ needs in ESP and to confirm if students’ needs in English lectures are reflected in the existing curriculum or not. The study is conducted using descriptive qualitative. The data are collected through a questionnaire, documentation, and interview. The study reveals that (1) the students of the study program need some changes to adapt to present needs in terms of ESP outcomes, task goals, preferred topics, setting, teacher and student roles, and media (2) the study promotes curriculum development as the provided curriculum does not accommodate students’ needs appropriately.

When memory meets distraction: The role of unexpected stimulus-driven attentional capture on contextual cueing

ABSTRACT Visuospatial attention plays a critical role in prioritizing behaviourally-relevant information and can be guided by task goals, stimulus salience, and memory. Here, we examined the interaction between memory-guided attention (contextual cueing) and stimulus-driven attention (unexpected colour singletons). In two visual search experiments with different set sizes, colour singletons were introduced unexpectedly in some trials after repeated configurations were used to establish contextual cueing. Reaction times were rapidly impacted by both contextual cueing and colour singletons, without significant interaction. However, introducing color singletons also impeded reaction times for novel configurations without color singletons, while repeated configurations were not impacted. These results suggest that on a trial level, contextual cueing and colour singleton effects are largely two independent factors driving selective attention, but there is evidence for a more general disruption of introducing distraction in cases where memory cannot be relied upon, suggesting a more complex interaction between attentional influences.

An Exploration of the Relationships Between Cognitive Style, Psychological Safety, and the Paradigm-Relatedness of Design Solutions in Engineering Design Teams in Education

Abstract Thomas Kuhn revolutionized how we think of scientific discovery and innovation when he identified that scientific change can occur on a continuum from incremental developments to drastic change in the form of a paradigm shift. In engineering design, both types of scientific change are critical when exploring the solution space. This study investigates this gap under a psychological safety lens through an empirical study with 64 engineering design student teams over the course of a 4- and 8-week design project. Specifically, we sought to identify the role of cognitive style using KAI scores, derived from Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation (A-I) theory, on the paradigm-relatedness of ideas generated by individuals and teams. Our results identify that cognitive style may not have a direct relationship to the paradigm of ideas an individual generates, or a team selects and develops. Similarly, both individual perceptions and team psychological safety do not predict the paradigm of ideas generated or selected in a team. The results instead identify that the availability of ideas in each paradigm is the primary driver for teams selecting a higher ratio of these ideas during concept screening. These results highlight that cognitive style at the individual and team levels may not be of paramount importance for developing paradigm-challenging ideas, and that teams should instead turn their focus to developing strategies to generate more ideas within the paradigm that fits best with the desired goals of the design tasks.

How functional movement variability facilitates successful skill adaptation during the volleyball attack

From an ecological dynamics perspective, careful manipulation of task constraints can provide opportunities for action, exploited by functional movement variability of participants. The constraints-led approach (CLA) induces functional movement variability in practice designs, supporting athlete performance in satisfying task constraints and finding performance solutions to achieve intended task goals. Young male volleyball players were randomly assigned to either a traditional approach (TA) or CLA practice group. Selected spatial-temporal movement coordination variables were recorded, to explore their relations to successful performance outcomes in the attacking phase. Binomial logistic regression was used to verify the association of spatial-temporal movement variables with the percentage of successful attacks. Six spatial-temporal variables were included, and a manual backward stepwise regression was used to remove those which did not contribute to the best predictive model of successful performance. After a 6-week intervention programme, the CLA practice group displayed a significantly higher percentage of successful attack actions, when facing the opposition block. The TA group showed a small increase in successful attack actions after the intervention. The final binomial logistic regression model revealed that the variables ‘lateral deviation of the participants’ centre of mass’ at the planting step and ‘longitudinal deviation of the participants’ centre of mass’ at point of ball contact were the main predictors of successful attacking outcomes. To overcome the opposition's block in volleyball, infusing functional variability in a CLA task design, promoted superior performance in practice. Presumably, greater movement pattern variability emerged in participants to satisfy performance constraints in successful volleyball attacks.

Drivers of divergent industry and consumer food waste behaviors: The case of reclosable and resealable packaging

Optimizing packaging to align with consumers' food management needs can improve packaging's potential to reduce household food waste, important for a sustainable food system. This paper provides actionable insights to support the food/beverage–packaging industry, policymakers, and researchers to better understand the factors impeding industry implementation of packaging aligned to consumer needs and the potential flow-on effects on household food waste. To facilitate understanding, a consumer-industry grounded model is presented based in the Australian context, developed through qualitative research using the Gioia method to examine reclosable/resealable packaging, food storage, and household food waste.The results indicate that divergent packaging priorities and needs in industry and consumers impede food waste reduction. Industry concerns for business viability mean prioritizing features to sell products, hence consumer needs are secondary. Consumer needs are framed by individual task goals for managing food storage and the availability of supporting resources, including appropriate packaging. Suggestions to help align consumer and industry priorities include increased industry–consumer communication to better help industry understand consumer needs and validating product-packaging with consumers.

Precision aiming performance with the paretic upper limb is associated with center of pressure patterns in individuals with chronic stroke

BackgroundIndividuals with stroke commonly demonstrate upper-limb sensorimotor impairments. Upper-limb tasks occur against a background level of postural control and thus require a flexible postural control system to facilitate performance. Anterior precision aiming tasks, for example, benefit from lower medial-lateral (ML) center of pressure (COP) fluctuations (where increased fluctuations erode performance) relative to anterior-posterior (AP) fluctuations (where increased fluctuations do not strongly influence performance). After stroke, individuals may compensate for upper-limb impairments by increasing trunk movement which increases overall COP fluctuations and thus may make it more difficult to modulate COP in a task-sensitive manner. Research questionDo upper-limb task demands modulate COP movement patterns after stroke? MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, adults with chronic stroke (n = 23) and unilateral upper-limb impairments were immersed in a virtual environment displaying an anterior target. Participants aimed to maintain the position of a virtual laser pointer (via handheld controller) in the target with each hand. COP was concurrently recorded. Mixed effects models and correlations were used to detect differences in COP patterns between limbs and movement planes and evaluate associations between task performance and COP patterns, respectively. ResultsParticipants showed greater COP standard deviation and regularity in the AP compared to the ML direction. The magnitude of difference between AP and ML COP metrics was greater using the nonparetic limb. Task performance was moderately and positively associated with task-sensitive COP patterns (i.e., higher AP:ML ratios of COP metrics) using the paretic upper limb. Participants consistently demonstrated high levels of task performance and task-sensitive COP movement patterns using the nonparetic limb. SignificanceImpairments in postural control after stroke may be related to the upper limb used. It is important to recognize the role of directional COP variability and regularity in the context of a task goal after stroke.

Walking Stability and Risk of Falls.

Walking stability is considered a necessary physical performance for preserving independence and preventing falls. The current study investigated the correlation between walking stability and two clinical markers for falling risk. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to extract the three-dimensional (3D) lower-limb kinematic data of 43 healthy older adults (69.8 ± 8.5 years, 36 females) into a set of principal movements (PMs), showing different movement components/synergies working together to accomplish the walking task goal. Then, the largest Lyapunov exponent (LyE) was applied to the first five PMs as a measure of stability, with the interpretation that the higher the LyE, the lower the stability of individual movement components. Next, the fall risk was determined using two functional motor tests-a Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) and a Gait Subscale of Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA-G)-of which the higher the test score, the better the performance. The main results show that SPPB and POMA-G scores negatively correlate with the LyE seen in specific PMs (p ≤ 0.009), indicating that increasing walking instability increases the fall risk. The current findings suggest that inherent walking instability should be considered when assessing and training the lower limbs to reduce the risk of falling.

Nonlinear neural control using feedback linearization explains task goals of central nervous system for trunk stability in sitting posture

Objective. Characterizing the task goals of the neural control system for achieving seated stability has been a fundamental challenge in human motor control research. This study aimed to experimentally identify the task goals of the neural control system for seated stability. Approach. Ten able-bodied young individuals participated in our experiments, which allowed us to measure their body motion and muscle activity during perturbed sitting. We used a nonlinear neuromechanical model of the seated human, along with a full-state feedback linearization approach and optimal control theory for identifying the neural control system and characterizing its task goals. Main results. We demonstrated that the neural feedback for trunk stability during seated posture uses angular position, velocity, acceleration, and jerk in a linearized space. The mean squared error between the predicted and measured motor commands was less than 0.6% among all trials and participants, with a median correlation coefficient of more than 0.9. Our identified optimal neural control primarily used trunk angular acceleration and near-minimum muscle activation to achieve seated stability while keeping the deviations of the trunk angular position and acceleration sufficiently small. Significance. Our proposed approach to neural control system identification relied on a performance criterion (e.g. cost function) explaining what the functional goal is and subsequently, finds the control law that leads to the best performance. Therefore, instead of assuming what control schemes the neural control might utilize (e.g. proportional-integral-derivative control), optimal control allows the motor task and the neuromechanical model to dictate a control law that best describes the physiological process. This approach allows for a mechanistic understanding of the neuromuscular mechanisms involved in seated stability and for inferring the task goals used by the neural control system to achieve the targeted motor behavior. Such neural control characterization can contribute to the development of objective balance evaluation tools and of bio-inspired assistive neuromodulation technologies.

Traffic Analysis Through Deep-Learning-Based Image Segmentation From UAV Streaming

Alongside many traditional as well as novel applications, in the latest years, drones have been widely adopted as remote sensing platforms for road traffic monitoring in urban areas and on highways. The problem of traffic monitoring on Region of Interest (RoI) based on drone imagery is a challenging task, especially when the surveillance drone is constantly moving. In this work, two specific subtasks have been addressed. The goal of the first stage is to predict the RoI in drone imagery of traffic scenes using deep-learning (DL)-based approaches instead of traditional image processing; in this connection, the goal of the second task is to perform vehicle detection on the selected RoI. To ensure diversity and robustness, drone images with different altitudes, positions, and view points have been considered. To achieve these goals, two custom aerial data sets for RoI extraction and detection were built by collecting aerial sequences from flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and by transmitting them to the base station leveraging 5G technology. Two different ad hoc DL-based architectures have been designed for the RoI extraction task to maximize the accuracy and inference speed, respectively, and have been evaluated on two different data sets: 1) a custom-built data set and 2) a Massachusetts roads data set. Finally, the models providing the best performance have been combined to further improve the overall results. Experimental tests show that the proposed framework represents a promising solution for drone-based road traffic monitoring in critical areas, exploiting imagery from a variety of viewing angles and altitudes.

Differential replay of reward and punishment paths predicts approach and avoidance

Neural replay is implicated in planning, where states relevant to a task goal are rapidly reactivated in sequence. It remains unclear whether, during planning, replay relates to an actual prospective choice. Here, using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we studied replay in human participants while they planned to either approach or avoid an uncertain environment containing paths leading to reward or punishment. We find evidence for forward sequential replay during planning, with rapid state-to-state transitions from 20 to 90 ms. Replay of rewarding paths was boosted, relative to aversive paths, before a decision to avoid and attenuated before a decision to approach. A trial-by-trial bias toward replaying prospective punishing paths predicted irrational decisions to approach riskier environments, an effect more pronounced in participants with higher trait anxiety. The findings indicate a coupling of replay with planned behavior, where replay prioritizes an online representation of a worst-case scenario for approaching or avoiding.