Biomedical subjects

David Waller

Publications and source records attributed to David Waller.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Scaling techniques for modeling directional knowledge.

A common way for researchers to model or graphically portray spatial knowledge of a large environment is by applying multidimensional scaling (MDS) to a set of pairwise distance estimations. We introduce two MDS-like techniques that incorporate people's knowledge of directions instead of (or in addition to) their knowledge of distances. Maps of a familiar environment derived from these procedures were more accurate and were rated by participants as being more accurate than those derived from nonmetric MDS. By incorporating people's relatively accurate knowledge of directions, these methods offer spatial cognition researchers and behavioral geographers a sharper analytical tool than MDS for studying cognitive maps.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Orientation specificity and spatial updating of memories for layouts.

This article examines the degree to which knowledge about the body's orientation affects transformations in spatial memory and whether memories are accessed with a preferred orientation. Participants learned large paths from a single viewpoint and were later asked to make judgments of relative directions from imagined positions on the path. Experiments 1 and 2 contribute to the emerging consensus that memories for large layouts are orientation specific, suggesting that prior findings to the contrary may not have fully accounted for latencies. Experiments 2 and 3 show that knowledge of one's orientation can create a preferred direction in spatial memory that is different from the learned orientation. Results further suggest that spatial updating may not be as automatic as previously thought.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A follow-up study of adherence and glycemic control among Hong Kong youths with diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To extend longitudinally an earlier study of the pathway from symptoms of emotional distress (ED) through self-efficacy (SE) and adherence to glycemic control (GC) in youths with diabetes, and to examine the contribution of different specific adherence behaviors to changes in GC. METHODS: Fifty-six Hong Kong youths with diabetes received a follow-up evaluation 12-24 months after initial participation. ED, SE, self-reported adherence to medical regimen (SRA), and GC were assessed at both evaluations. RESULTS: The pathway from ED to SE to SRA to GC was replicated. Participants' SRA to regular checks on blood glucose levels, and taking steps to maintain levels in the recommended range, explained significant variance in changes in GC. CONCLUSIONS: The model offers strategies to enhance health care in youths with diabetes. Findings support the importance of adherence to the medical regimen but emphasize the complexity of the relationship between adherence behaviors and GC. Self-regulatory behaviors, rather than compliance with fixed instructions, appear to have the most impact on GC.

Adaptation, Psychological↗