The S-Shaped Performance Curve Prevails in Practicing Juggling

Author(s):  
Mu Qiao

The development of performance, such as learning a new motor skill, can be represented in a performance curve. The shape of the performance curve is both of theoretical and practical relevance. Here, the author studied the interday performance of juggling over a period of 17 days in 112 college students. The results showed that 60% of participants followed an S-shaped performance curve with the inflection date on the 11th day, followed by a decelerated (20%), accelerated (14%), and linear curve (6%). As expected, except on Day 1, male participants performed at least 33% better than female participants on each practice day. Also as expected, learning performance was found to depend on the type of performance curve with the best learning performance exhibited by the linear group. The results further revealed that pooling all participants’ performance together without considering the percentage of each underlying type of performance curve would lead to biased, nonrepresentative results. Given the variety of the observed performance curves and the dominance of the S-shaped performance curve among them, coaches should continuously monitor the shape of an individual’s performance curve.

1994 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 671-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Joanne Rowe ◽  
Philip Evans

Researchers investigating performance differences between light- and dark-eyed individuals have indicated that dark-eyed individuals perform better on reactive activities than light-eyed individuals. College students (61 men, 64 women) performed a forehand rally with different colored racquetballs. Eye color, sex, and total hits were recorded for each subject. Men scored significantly better with balls of each color than did women. Dark-eyed men performed better than other subjects and performance was better with blue balls than yellow or green balls.


Author(s):  
I Wayan Eka Mahendra

This study aims to determine the effect of formative assessment and learning approach to the mathematics learning outcome after controlling the numerical aptitude. It was a quasi-experiment with a sample of 186 students obtained by using multistage random sampling technique with 2x2 factorial designs. The data were analyzed by ANCOVA. After controlling the numerical aptitude, the results are: the mathematics learning outcome of the students who followed a contextual approach was better than the ones who followed a conventional learning approach, the mathematics learning outcome of the students who were given a performance assessment was better than the ones who were given a conventional assessment, the interaction between the learning approach and formative assessment affected the students learning outcome for mathematics, the students who followed a contextual learning approach were more suitable to be given a performance assessment, whereas the ones who followed a conventional learning approach were more appropriate to be given a conventional assessment. Based on the research findings, junior high school teachers are suggested to improve their students learning outcome for mathematics. Then, teachers need to use a learning approach and formative assessment accurately and correctly. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 226-236
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Daniels

Using an experimental methodology, the present study assessed college students’ perceptions of a male peer who presented himself on Facebook in either an objectified or nonobjectified manner. One hundred eighty-nine college students ( n = 111 women, n = 78 men) viewed a Facebook profile with either an objectified or a nonobjectified profile photo of the same young man and then evaluated the profile owner. They also reported on the desirability of dating the profile owner. Results indicated that the objectified profile owner was considered less competent but not less socially appealing or physically attractive. Participants liked the nonobjectified profile and profile photo better than the objectified profile and profile photo. There was also more interest in a committed dating relationship with the nonobjectified profile owner than the objectified profile owner. Findings suggest that using an objectified profile photo on Facebook may come with some costs for young men.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios - Georgios Kontopoulos ◽  
Erik van Sebille ◽  
Michael Lange ◽  
Gabriel Yvon-Durocher ◽  
Timothy G. Barraclough ◽  
...  

AbstractTo better predict how populations and communities respond to climatic temperature variation, it is necessary to understand how the shape of the response of fitness-related traits to temperature evolves (the thermal performance curve). Currently, there is disagreement about the extent to which the evolution of thermal performance curves is constrained. One school of thought has argued for the prevalence of thermodynamic constraints through enzyme kinetics, whereas another argues that adaptation can—at least partly—overcome such constraints. To shed further light on this debate, we perform a phylogenetic meta-analysis of the thermal performance curves of growth rate of phytoplankton—a globally important functional group—, controlling for environmental effects (habitat type and thermal regime). We find that thermodynamic constraints have a minor influence on the shape of the curve. In particular, we detect a very weak increase of maximum performance with the temperature at which the curve peaks, suggesting a weak “hotter-is-better” constraint. Also, instead of a constant thermal sensitivity of growth across species, as might be expected from strong constraints, we find that all aspects of the thermal performance curve evolve along the phylogeny. Our results suggest that phytoplankton thermal performance curves adapt to thermal environments largely in the absence of hard thermodynamic constraints.


2000 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Lane ◽  
Zhihua Tang

The effectiveness of simulations for teaching statistical concepts was compared to the effectiveness of a textbook. The variable Medium (simulation versus textbook) and Question specificity (Specific versus Non-specific), were manipulated factorially. Question specificity was defined as follows: Subjects were presented with a scenario in which gumballs were sampled from an urn. Subjects in the “Specific” condition were given a specific question about the outcome of the sampling procedure to consider; subjects in the “Non-specific” condition were asked generally to consider what would happen. A no-treatment control was included. The subjects consisted of 115 college students. The dependent variable was performance on problems requiring subjects to apply what they learned to ill defined everyday problems. Subjects trained by simulation performed significantly better than those trained with a textbook. Subjects in the “Specific” condition performed better than those in the “Non-specific” condition, although the difference did not reach conventional levels of significance. These results support the increasing use of simulation in education and training.


1978 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 993-994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark H. Anshel

26 elderly ( M = 74.2 yr.) and 26 younger subjects ( M = 23.4 yr.) were compared for their ability to learn and retain a novel motor skill (limb repositioning). Both age groups demonstrated significant improvement in performance, but elders gained statistically significantly better than younger subjects. The young group, however, was significantly superior to elders in terms of performance across trials. No significant differences between the age groups were noted on motor short-term retention trials. Elderly subjects did not retain more or less than younger participants.


Author(s):  
Liying Mu ◽  
Bin Hu ◽  
A. Amarender Reddy ◽  
Srinagesh Gavirneni

Problem definition: Inspired by India’s challenges in importing pulses, we study the negotiation of government-to-government food importing contracts, with a focus on ad hoc and forward negotiations with multiple suppliers (henceforth referred to as multiple-sourcing negotiations). Academic/practical relevance: We are the first to comprehensively study ad hoc and forward multiple-sourcing negotiations for food importing. Such problems are widespread, especially in developing nations, and thus the research can be relevant to the wellbeing of large underprivileged populations. Methodology: We develop an analytical negotiation model in the Nash bargaining framework and adopt the Nash-in-Nash framework to analyze multiple-sourcing negotiations. Results: We find that while forward negotiations are not necessarily better than ad hoc negotiations for the buyer, it would be true with sufficiently many suppliers. When facing a supplier pool, we show that it may be optimal to mix forward and ad hoc suppliers. In general, fewer suppliers should be assigned as ad hoc as the pool size increases. We also find that adding a hybrid supplier (engaged in a forward negotiation with an ad hoc negotiation as the fallback option) may be better or worse than adding a forward supplier in the presence of other suppliers. Managerial implications: Our findings inform how a food importer should strategically utilize ad hoc and forward negotiations with its suppliers to improve the outcome. The work may help countries’ food importing policymaking and strategies and may improve the wellbeing of large underprivileged populations.


1977 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 317-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn A. Borges ◽  
Linda S. Vaughn

22 male and 22 female college students were shown 30 pairs of faces and names to learn. Subsequent tests indicated that all students recognized more female stimuli than male stimuli and more names than faces. On the name-face matching test, female subjects performed better than did males, and male and female stimuli were matched equivalently.


2020 ◽  
Vol 184 ◽  
pp. 107223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hakpyeong Kim ◽  
Taehoon Hong ◽  
Jimin Kim ◽  
Seungkeun Yeom

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