A substantial amount of studies have addressed the influence of sound on human performance. In many of these, however, the large acoustic differences between experimental conditions prevent a direct translation of the results to realistic effects of room acoustic interventions. This review identifies those studies which can be, in principle, translated to (changes in) room acoustic parameters and adds to the knowledge about the influence of the indoor sound environment on people. The review procedure is based on the effect room acoustics can have on the relevant quantifiers of the sound environment in a room or space. 272 papers containing empirical findings on the influence of sound or noise on some measure of human performance were found. Of these, only 12 papers complied with this review's criteria. A conceptual framework is suggested based on the analysis of results, positioning the role of room acoustics in the influence of sound on task performance. Furthermore, valuable insights are pre- sented that can be used in future studies on this topic. Whi le the influence of the sound environment on performance is clearly an issue in many situations, evidence regarding the effectiveness of strategies to control the sound environment by room acoustic design is lacking and should be a focus area in future studies.
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This article reports on a post hoc study using a randomised controlled trial with 31,842 students in the Netherlands and an instrument consisting of 21 paired problems. The trial showed a variability in the differences of students’ results in solving contextual mathematical problems with either a descriptive or a depictive representation of the problem situation. In this study the relation between this variability and two task characteristics is investigated: (1) complexity of the task representation; and (2) the content domain of the task. We found indications that differences in performance on descriptive and depictive representations of the problem situation are related to the content domain of the problems. One of the tentative conclusions is that for depicted problems in the domain of measurement and geometry the inferential step from representation of the problem situation to the mathematical problem to be solved is smaller than for word problems.
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The purpose of this research was to meta-analyze studies which experimentally induced an achievement goal state to examine its causal effect on the individual’s performance at the task at hand, and to investigate the moderator effects of feedback anticipation and time pressure. The data set comprised 19 papers, 79 individual effect sizes, and 3,482 participants. Performance measures represented task performance across a variety of tasks. The findings indicate that relative to avoidance goals (either performance-avoidance goals or mastery-avoidance goals), approach goals (either mastery-approach goals or performance-approach goals) enhance task performance. Furthermore, relative to performance-approach goals, mastery-approach goals lead to better performance, particularly when individuals do not anticipate feedback and when there is no time pressure. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.
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This study investigated temporal changes in movement strategy and performance during fatiguing short-cycle work. Eighteen participants performed six 7-min work blocks with repetitive reaching movements at 0.5 Hz, each followed by a 5.5-min rest break for a total duration of 1 h. Electromyography (EMG) was collected continuously from the upper trapezius muscle, the temporal movement strategy and timing errors were obtained on a cycle-to-cycle basis, and perceived fatigue was rated before and after each work block. Clear signs of fatigue according to subjective ratings and EMG manifestations developed within each work block, as well as during the entire hour. For most participants, timing errors gradually increased, as did the waiting time at the near target. Changes in temporal movement strategy were negatively correlated with changes in the level and variability of EMG, suggesting that an adaptive temporal strategy offset the development of unstable motor solutions in this fatiguing, short-cycle work.Practitioner Summary: Sustained performance of operators is essential to maintain competitiveness. In this study of repetitive work, participants gradually changed their temporal movement strategy, for possibly alleviating the effects of fatigue. This suggests that in order to effectively counteract fatigue and sustain performance, industrial production should allow extensive spatial and temporal flexibility.
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Research conducted by the Research Group Study Success indicates that many students experience performance pressure. In addition, we’ve noticed an increase in performance pressure in recent years. A little bit of performance pressure can be a good thing: it can facilitate concentration or hitting your deadlines. Are you feeling pressured over extensive periods of time, or are you experiencing stress, lack of sleep, or decreased concentration due to concerns about delivering on performance? Then it is probably a good plan to spring into action. With this info sheet we will explain what performance pressure entails, what causes it, and we will offer suggestions on how to handle performance pressure.
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The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of manipulating game constraints on match performance in youth field hockey. A total of 25 participants aged 10.6–14.6 years old played four different 25-min games where density (228m2 or 158m2 per player) and/or number of players (11 per side or 8 per side) was manipulated. Match performance was determined by using notational analysis and physical demands were determined by using GPS analyses. Manipulating the number of players led to an increase in a successful passes (+2.68 passes), skilled actions (+3.73 skilled actions) and successful actions (+3.77 successful actions) performed per player and also created a more advantageous environment to enhance decision making. Increasing the density led to a decrease in unsuccessful dribbles (–0.59 unsuccessful dribbles) made by players and an increase in high intensity running (+38 m) and sprinting (+21.2 m). The findings of this study provide an insight into the effect of manipulating task constraints in skilled junior field hockey and the findings highlight that all types of constraints influence emergent performance in their unique way and that coaches should consider these interactions to promote specific playing behaviour.
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Although creativity is often seen as requiring spontaneity and flexibility, recent work suggests that there is creative potential in a structured and systematic approach as well. In a series of four experiments, we show that when Personal Need for Structure (PNS) is high, either chronic (Study 1) or situationally induced (Study 2), creative performance benefits from high task structure. Further, in line with earlier work on cognitive fixation effects, we show that when high task structure contains an example of noncreative task execution, creative performance is impaired, regardless of individuals' PNS. Nevertheless, participants high in PNS react relatively favorably to high task structure (Study 3) and are more likely to adopt a structured task approach when given the choice (Study 4). In sum, our results show that task structure can both stimulate and inhibit creative performance, particularly for people high in need for structure. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Duchenne muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive degenerative muscle disease, affecting, among others, the upper extremities. Effective hand rehabilitation can improve the hand function of people with DMD. To reach this goal, we first need to gain more insight into the hand cognitive-motor performance of people with DMD. This is the first study employing a systematic analysis on multi-finger, cognitive-motor performance of people with DMD. For this purpose, we propose an active dynamic visuo-motor task. The task employed six visual stimuli, a subset of which was activated at each trial. The stimuli were activated with a frequency of 1, 2, 3 and 4 Hz. Eight healthy participants and three participants with DMD performed the task. Additionally, the healthy participants performed seven sessions, and we assessed the training effects. Task-related cognitive-motor performance was evaluated using information transfer rate (ITR) and perceived workload. Regarding ITR, healthy participants performed significantly better than DMD participants; however, this was more evident for trials involving more than three fingers. Workload showed no difference between the healthy and the DMD groups. Healthy participants significantly improved their performance during training. Our results suggest that hand rehabilitation of people with DMD should consider multi-finger dynamic training. However, additional research with more people with DMD is needed for further generalization of our conclusions.
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Increasing mental health issues, such as emotional problems, pose a threat for the academic performance of undergraduate students. We propose a route connecting emotional problems and academic performance through executive functioning skills (EFS). Despite the abundance of research on the topic of EFS, there is a significant gap in understanding this route, specifically among a population of undergraduate students. The aim of this study was to examine whether EFS mediated the association between emotional problems and academic performance among undergraduate students. Cross-sectional data (n = 2,531) was used from a survey among Dutch undergraduate students from a large variety of faculties at a university of applied sciences. We assessed emotional problems using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, five EFS (cognitive inhibition, task initiation, sustained attention, planning, time management), and academic performance (study delay; yes/no). Mediation analyses were performed, using the Hayes PROCESS macro, adjusted for gender. We found that cognitive inhibition, task initiation, sustained attention, planning, and time management mediated the association between emotional problems and academic performance. Regarding separate EFS, no large differences were found. The data suggests that improving all EFS in undergraduates experiencing emotional problems could be a fruitful strategy for preventing academic delays.
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Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) was used to study the activation of cerebral motor networks during auditory perception of music in professional keyboard musicians (n=12). The activation paradigm implied that subjects listened to two-part polyphonic music, while either critically appraising the performance or imagining they were performing themselves. Two-part polyphonic audition and bimanual motor imagery circumvented a hemisphere bias associated with the convention of playing the melody with the right hand. Both tasks activated ventral premotor and auditory cortices, bilaterally, and the right anterior parietal cortex, when contrasted to 12 musically unskilled controls. Although left ventral premotor activation was increased during imagery (compared to judgment), bilateral dorsal premotor and right posterior-superior parietal activations were quite unique to motor imagery. The latter suggests that musicians not only recruited their manual motor repertoire but also performed a spatial transformation from the vertically perceived pitch axis (high and low sound) to the horizontal axis of the keyboard. Imagery-specific activations in controls were seen in left dorsal parietal-premotor and supplementary motor cortices. Although these activations were less strong compared to musicians, this overlapping distribution indicated the recruitment of a general 'mirror-neuron' circuitry. These two levels of sensori-motor transformations point towards common principles by which the brain organizes audition-driven music performance and visually guided task performance.
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