Untrained Condition Research Articles

Maintenance of Cooperative and Helping Behaviors in Reconstituted Groups

The authors conducted a 1-year investigation of whether children, who had been trained in the previous school year to cooperate, were able to use the skills they had been taught in reconstituted groups without additional training. Sixty-four 4th graders, who had participated in training in cooperative group behaviors in the previous year, were assigned to the trained condition; 84 4th graders, who had not received any training, were assigned to the untrained condition. The children worked in mixed-ability (high, medium, low) gender-balanced groups (2 boys, 2 girls). Results indicate that the children in the trained groups were consistently more cooperative and helpful than their peers in the untrained groups, although they had not received “refresher” training in cooperative group behaviors.

Bridging the gap between the practical and the theoretical: An evaluation of a conflict resolution model.

This study investigated the validity of the Conflict Resolution Model (Wertheim, Love, Littlefield, & Peck, 1992), and evaluated the components of the model that are influenced by contextual cues. The 48 volunteers for conflict resolution training were randomly allocated to a trained or untrained condition. The trained group received 3 hours of conflict resolution training a week for 3 weeks prior to a testing phase. Participants were tested in 1 of 3 dyad types (trained-trained, trained-untrained, or untrained-untrained) and worked together to resolve a problem on which they held conflicting views. In terms of process, there were significant increases in all integrative resolution measures for trained participants. In addition, working with a trained partner increased brainstorming and possibly cooperation, but not active listening or appropriate assertiveness. On the outcome measure, trained-trained dyads were superior to trained-untrained, which were superior to untrained-untrained.

Performance analysis of rotating machinery using enhanced cerebellar model articulation controller (E-CMAC) neural networks

For today's sophisticated machinery systems, on-line predictive maintenance has become a most reliable and cost effective method for machinery maintenance. An effective fault monitoring and diagnosis tool is able to recognize the characteristics, conditions, and developing trends of an operating machinery system, and is able to estimate fault severity of the system quantitatively. In order to meet the requirements, a new approach combining cerebellar model articulation controller (CMAC) neural networks and advanced vibration monitoring methods has been presented. A test rig consisting of two rotating hubs driven by a d.c. motor was used to produce different machine imbalance levels. A two-stage experiment is proposed. First, a CMAC network is trained with pre-defined imbalance conditions and a test data set is given to check the trained CMAC for imbalance severity prediction. Second, a CMAC network is trained by using a set of different imbalance levels and is then given an untrained condition to test the CMACs ability of imbalance severity interpolation. In addition, several potential capabilities of CMAC networks will be discussed and shown. The properties of the CMAC are notable. If implemented properly, CMAC can be used as an effective machinery condition monitor and fault severity estimation tool.

Effect of chewing training on masticatory efficiency.

A special, hard chewing gum was used to study the effects of chewing training on masticatory efficiency. An experimental group of 17 individuals used this chewing gum 1 h daily for 28 days, while a control group of 8 individuals performed no chewing-gum training. The percentage of masticatory efficiency was measured with a special sieve system, and the time for 10 chewing cycles was taken from EMG recordings. These measurements were made in trained and untrained condition before and after 30 min of intense chewing. The results indicate that intense chewing for 30 min decreased the masticatory efficiency and increased the frequency of the chewing cycles significantly in both trained and untrained individuals, possibly due to fatigue of the masticatory muscles. However, chewing training for 28 days did not influence these factors significantly.

The effects of observational training on spouse agreement about events in their relationship

Several studies have found that spouses using the Spouse Observation Checklest (SOC) agree over the occurrence of specified relationship events only about half the time. The present study investigated the effects of spouse observational training on spouse agreement. Twenty-five married couples were randomly assigned to (a) a training condition, (b) an informed but untrained condition, or (c) an uninformed and untrained control condition. Self-administered training procedures during 15 days of home spouse observation nearly doubled kappa agreement coefficients, suggesting that spouses may be trained to be relatively reliable observers.

Changes in diastolic coronary resistance during submaximal exercise in conditioned dogs.

Diastolic coronary resistance (DCR) was studied in 10 conscious dogs in the untrained (UT) and partially trained (PT) condition. The PT regime consisted of treadmill running 5 days/wk for 4-5 wk. Left circumflex coronary flow, aortic pressure, and heart rate were measured, and diastolic coronary resistance (DCR) was calculated. Adrenergic blockade was achieved with propranolol (1 mg/kg, iv) (beta B) and phentolamine (1 mg/kg, iv) (alpha B). During submaximal exercise in the UT condition, DCR fell from a resting value of 3.84 +/- 0.24 Torr . ml-1 . min with increasing work load to 1.57 +/- 0.12 Torr . ml-1 . min at 6.4 km/h (speed)/16% (grade). The decrease in DCR during submaximal exercise was greater in the PT than in the UT condition. DCR following alpha-adrenergic blockade was not significantly changed in the UT and PT conditions (e.g., at 6.4 km/h (speed)/16% (grade), 1.10 +/- 0.141 vs. 1.03 +/- 0.107 Torr . ml-1 . min, whereas following beta-adrenergic blockade, DCR was larger in the UT compared with the PT condition (e.g., at 6.4 km/h (speed)/16% (grade), 2.03 +/- 0.091 vs. 1.73 +/- 0.073 Torr . ml-1 X min). Myocardial oxygen consumption was not significantly different in the PT and UT conditions, indicating no difference in metabolism with partial training. The present study suggests that during submaximal exercise in the PT condition there is a change in the neurogenic control of the coronary vasculature by a reduction in sympathetic neural activity on the coronary resistance vessels.

Effect of exercise conditioning on coronary resistance.

Diastolic coronary resistance (DCR) was determined in seven conscious dogs in the untrained state and after 4-5 wk of daily exercise conditioning (partial training). The conditioning regime consisted of treadmill running 5 days/wk. The dogs were instrumented to measure aortic pressure and left circumflex coronary flow during atrial pacing with implanted electrodes. Heart rate was varied from the resting value to 240 beats/min before and after adrenergic blockade with propranolol (beta B, 1 mg/kg) or phentolamine (alpha B, 1 mg/kg); myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2) was measured in three dogs under the same condition in both the untrained (UT) and partially trained (PT) condition. DCR decreased with increasing heart rate [from 4.75 +/- 0.56 (SE) to 2.48 +/- 0.22 Torr . ml-1 . min at 240 beats/min]; alpha B reduced DCR, whereas beta B increased DCR. In the PT condition, DCR decreased to 4.02 +/- 0.40 Torr . ml-1 . min at rest and was decreased to 1.82 +/- 0.16 Torr . ml-1 . min at 240 beats/min (P less than 0.05 compared with UT). alpha-Adrenergic and beta-adrenergic blockade in the PT condition resulted in parallel reduction in DCR compared with the UT condition. MVO2 was unaffected by either PT or adrenergic blockade but increased as heart rate increased with atrial pacing. These data suggest a change in caliber of the coronary resistance vessel because of the parallel shift in the relationship between DCR and heart rate.

Effects of physical training on hypothalamic obesity in rats.

Forty-eight male rats either underwent sterotaxic placement of electrolytic lesions in the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus or had a sham operation and, after a recovery period of at least two weeks, were assigned to either a trained or untrained condition. Training consisted of treadmill running for 120 min per day, 5 days per week, for 12 weeks. At which point all rats were sacrificed to allow the determination of carcass analysis and fat pad lipolysis rates. Both untrained and trained animals with lesions had significantly increased carcass fat. The increased fat content not be attributed to an increased intake since the average daily food consumption of the four groups was not different. Training significantly reduced the fat content in both the lesioned and unlesioned rats. However, the loss in the lesioned rats was about one third less than that of the unlesioned. Training also increased the rate of lipolysis irrespective of whether an animal was lesioned or not. However, the amount of increase was about one third less than in trained normals. Destruction of the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus apparently does not destroy the ability of exercise to alter body composition. The lesions may diminish the capacity of endurance programs to reduce carcass fat. Since the findings relative to lipolysis result from an in vitro investigation, they do not necessarily reflect the events occurring in the in vivo state.

Coronary flow, myocardial oxygen consumption, and exercise training in dogs

Changes in coronary blood flow (CBF) and myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2) were measured in 17 conscious dogs during submaximal exercise and before and after exercise training. The CBF responses to atrial pacing and a 10-s occlusion were measured in the resting animals. With atrial pacing at 240 beats/min, the change in CBF from resting values increased significantly (12.8 +/- 1 to 15.2 +/- 3 cm/s), reactive hyperemia response was decreased (463 +/- 55 to 328 +/- 52%), and CBF during submaximal exercise was reduced by the end of the 4th or 5th wk of training. These changes persisted for the duration of the training program. When the animals were trained, the CBF response to submaximal exercise was the same as in the untrained condition. Exercise MVO2 did not change with training, but oxygen extraction increased (80 +/- 1 to 83 +/- 1%). These results indicate that changes in the coronary vascular bed occurred very early in the training program and may be explained by either an autonomic nervous system change in control of coronary flow or a change in the anatomic architecture of the bed.

THE RIGORS OF TRAINING EVALUATION: A DISCUSSION AND FIELD DEMONSTRATION1

Training evaluation is one of the most under‐researched and neglected areas of industrial/organizational psychology. This article discusses the need for, and feasibility of, utilizing extended‐control‐group pretest designs in evaluation research; and reports a field application of such a design (the Solomon 4‐Group) in an organizational training context. The effectiveness of a basic electricity training program for telephone installer‐repairmen was measured, and the potential contaminating effects of pretesting were monitored. The results indicated that the training was potentially effective, but that pretest contaminations were present. To identify the pretest effects it was necessary to go beyond the Solomon model and consider complex interactions involving numerical aptitude level, pretesting and training. Pretest exposure depressed the posttest performance of trained subjects of medium and low numerical aptitude, while facilitating that of medium level untrained subjects. Pretest exposure had no effect on subjects scoring high in numerical aptitude in either the trained or untrained condition. Possible explanations for the moderating role of numerical aptitude are offered, and implications of the findings are discussed relative to applied organizational evaluation efforts and future research.