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Biomedical subjects

M J Stones

Publications and source records attributed to M J Stones.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Age, activity, and physical performance: an evaluation of performance models.

Two performance models relating age, physical activity, and physical performance were evaluated on 5 age cohorts involving more than 6,000 persons ranging in age from 20 to 69 years. Significant age and activity main effects, without 1 Age X Activity interaction, were obtained on 5 fitness measures and 2 activity indexes. These results are inconsistent with predictions from the moderation model, but they fit predictions from a recently formulated tonic and overpractice model of physical performance.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1989

Age, exercise, and coding performance.

We investigated the effects of exercise on the coding performance of young and older subjects. Hypotheses were tested that exercise either facilitates spatial localization or reduces susceptibility to distraction in older subjects. In a balanced design, we administered Digit Symbol and Symbol Digit coding tasks to exercisers and nonexercisers at two age levels under conditions of low or high within-task interference. The findings showed higher performance by the exercisers than by the nonexercisers only at the older age level and only with the Symbol Digit task. These findings support the hypothesis that exercise compensates for a loss of spatial localization skills with age. We found no evidence that susceptibility to distraction either increased with age or was affected by chronic exercise.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Multidimensional assessment of the elderly via a microcomputer: the SENOTS program and battery.

We compared the psychometric adequacy of a multidimensional self-report battery for use with cognitively able, elderly adults under conditions of microcomputer and interviewer administration. The SENOTS battery contains scales of Happiness/Depression, Financial Hardship, Physical Symptoms, Activity Limitation, and Activity Propensity. The SENOTS microcomputer program contains sequential phases intended to (a) select out respondents incapable of interacting adequately with the microcomputer, (b) train respondents to make appropriate keyboard responses. (c) administer the program, and (d) store and process the responses. The SENOTS battery was administered to 80 community residents and 80 institution residents by either a microcomputer or an interviewer. Results indicated a comparable psychometric adequacy to the SENOTS battery under both administration conditions. Internal consistencies were all at acceptable levels, and the scales differentiated the community residents from the institution residents.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1989

The prediction of mortality in elderly institution residents.

The relationship between activity and mortality has been examined mainly in middle-aged and elderly community residents. This study investigated the prediction of five-year mortality in 156 institution residents, including a subsample (n = 121) retested one year after the initial assessment. The measures included demographic variables, three health indexes, happiness, quality of life ratings, personality and life stress indexes, cognitive function, and activity level. The strongest predictors of survival beyond five years from initial testing were a younger age and a high activity level. The relationships of age and activity to survival were mutually independent and were not secondary to the effects of any other variable. Health was not related to activity level and did not emerge as a strong predictor of survival. After a consideration of methodological issues, the findings were interpreted as providing support for an activity theory formulation of mortality prediction.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1989

A controlled evaluation of reminiscence and current topics discussion groups in a nursing home context.

In this randomized study, we compared the psychological well-being of elderly nursing home residents who participated in reminiscence and current topics group discussions with a control group of residents. We rated participants happiness/depression, activity, mood, and functional levels before and after the group interventions. The intervention had a significant effect only on the happiness/depression measure, with both intervention groups showing positive changes compared to the control group.

Affect↗
PubMed1987

Social desirability in measures of subjective well-being: a systematic evaluation.

The present investigation addressed the problem of a social desirability response bias in measures of psychological well-being. Data on 150 people, between the ages of 50 and 82, yielded high correlations between three measures of well-being (the MUNSH, the LSI-Z, and the PGC) and the Edwards Social Desirability Scale, but only moderate ones between well-being scales and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Part correlations between well-being measures and an external criterion of happiness, controlling for social desirability, failed to improve on the zero-order criterion/well-being relationship. Controlling for social desirability, therefore, does not enhance the construct validity of well-being scales. These and related results suggest that the high zero-order correlations between measures of well-being and the Edwards scale are more readily attributed to content similarity between the Edwards scale and measures of well-being than to a social desirability response bias in well-being measures.

Aged↗
PubMed1987

Balance and age in the sighted and blind.

This study evaluated the usefulness of a balance test with eyes open and closed to index postural control capability. Experiment 1 was a one-year longitudinal study of 225 subjects aged 50 to 82 years. Comparing the two conditions, balance with eyes open had higher reliability, had greater sensitivity to aging effects, correlated stronger with functional age indices (vital capacity and forced expiratory volume), and showed greater sensitivity to the effects of physical fitness training. Experiment 2 included 22 visually impaired subjects aged 19 to 84 years. Minimally sighted subjects balanced for longer than fully blind subjects, but no differences in balance were found between subjects blind from birth versus those with acquired vision loss. The findings demonstrate the importance of vision to balance and indicate that balance with eyes open is a valid and sensitive test for clinical and research purposes.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Age by distance effects in running and swimming records: a note on methodology.

Running and swimming records by Masters athletes provide useful data for appraising age trends in physical performance; however, different forms of analysis have yielded conflicting conclusions about whether the deterioration with age is greater on sprint events or longer events. Aspects of analytic procedure that have contributed to the conflict include the use of time or velocity as the dependent variable, and the expression of age trend as relative or absolute change. An evaluation of underlying issues showed that meaningful inferences can be derived either where relative age change is compared across events, or the dependent variable is transformed to a logarithmic scale for purposes of comparing absolute change across events. Confounding of variables is introduced if absolute change in velocity is analyzed with respect to both age and event. The conclusion from every analysis in the literature that permits meaningful inference is that deterioration with age is greater on events of beyond sprint distance.

Aging↗
PubMed1986

Age trends in maximal physical performance: comparison and evaluation of models.

Versions of five paradigmatic models of age change in maximal physical performance were compared with respect to internal and validational data. The models were termed power output, power supply, energy output-supply, motivation, and sampling. The power output models tended to be more stringent in terms of internal criteria. The model that best predicted the validational data (i.e., from studies of reaction time, strength assessment, and athletic records) was from the energy output-supply category. This model, the power output relative to power available (POrPA) model, postulates that deterioration with age in physical performance varies with the ratio of peak power output to available power: the numerator generally varies with the strength demands of the task, and the denominator varies with task duration at high power output. The implications of this model were discussed with respect to habitual physical performances in later life.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

"Happy are they who are happy . . ." a test between two causal models of relationships between happiness and its correlates.

The intention of the study was to test between two causal models of relationships between happiness and five of its correlates (i.e., housing satisfaction, financial satisfaction, perceived health, locus of control, and activity level). In Model 1, happiness was identified as a propensity variable that is a source of influence on the lower order correlates. Model 2 is a traditional formulation whereby levels of happiness are determined by its correlates. The models were tested by causal modeling procedures, using 18-month longitudinal data from 408 elderly subjects. The findings support Model 1 over Model 2 for 17/18 predictions that differentiated the models. The status of happiness as a trait was discussed with reference to: the type of items included in the happiness scale; and relationships with variables not included in the research.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Happiness and activities as propensities.

The research proceeded in two stages. The intention at the first stage was to develop a comprehensive activities inventory (i.e., the Memorial University of Newfoundland Activities Inventory, or MUNAI) that reflected recurrent content themes in interview data obtained from elderly adults. The intention at the second stage was to test a reactivity model and a propensity model of happiness-activity relationships in an 18-month longitudinal design. The reactivity model asserts that happiness, in part, is determined by activity levels. The claim of the propensity model is that both happiness and activity indices are reflections of different underlying propensities. The results supported the propensity model in that (a) activity structure retained stability over the longitudinal interval, (b) the relative standing of individuals on both happiness and the structural activity indices retained stability and, (c) the happiness-activities relationship was of a limited order.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1979

Rekitting the Wechsler Paired-Associate Task: the Waterford Index.

The Waterford Index provides a new scoring system for the Wechsler paired-associate task. Item performances across successive trials were coded so as to reflect the psychological phenomena of learning, forgetting and item effects (N = 50). The Index describes two rules for differentiating between cases of cognitive impairment and non-impairment. Rule 1 contrasts the respective contributions of learning and forgetting. Rule 2 takes account of cases characterized by a high proportion of correct responses. Against a criterion index based on performances on other psychological tests of organic dysfunction, the Waterford Index yielded higher predictive efficiencies than associated with other Wechsler indices, intelligence, and age.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

A critique of the clinical-personological approach to idiographic personality study.

Idiographic research occupies an accepted position in personological study and clinical psychology. This review critically examines one such method of investigation, the clinical-personological approach, which relies on inductive inference and attempts to provide description at the level of the "whole person." The data base is essentially clinical, psychosocial and psychometric, and information integration is achieved through "convergent validation." The approach was criticized on three grounds: (a) level of description is only at a single level, ie., the general; (b) the data base is limited to grosser system attributes and is typically of low reliability and validity; and (c) inductive inference formulation is unduly susceptible to influence by chance factors, and attempts to validate the hypothesis are rare. Of the alternative approaches, Personal Construct Theory appears a promising avenue, but is also open to criticism.

Humans↗
PubMed1978

Aging and semantic memory: structural age differences.

The objective of this research was to investigate age differences in the structure of semantic memory. The tasks employed (i.e., vocabulary, word fluency by conceptual category cueing and word fluency by initial consonant cueing) were representative of different age trends in quantitative test scores. Matching across age levels (young versus middle-aged) was in terms of family membership. Results showed a greater intra-individual variability and lower relationships between aspects of semantic memory by the time of middle-age. The results were viewed from process-oriented and environment-oriented explanatory perspectives.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

A further study of response, set and the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI).

The aims of the investigation were to draw attention to systematic scale score discrepancies between Forms A and B of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI), to suggest that these discrepancies might be mediated by acquiesence response set (ARS), and to provide reliability estimates for ARS and lie scale scores. Evidence relevant to all three intentions was obtained from a student group and a group of psychiatric patients. The predicted discrepancies between scale scores were obtained. The ARS measure derived from the E scale was found to be reliable, and ARS measures from both the E and L scales were found to obtain significantly different values across forms. Practical suggestions were made with regard to the utilization of an individual form of the EPI.

Deception↗
PubMed1977

Self-ratings and the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI).

An attempt was made to assess the relationships between self-ratings and psychometric (EPI) estimates on the dimensions of extraversion and neuroticism. Ninety-five individuals served as Ss. The correlations between self-ratings and EPI estimates achieved high significance on both dimensions. Contrary to earlier suggestions (Bem & Allen, 1974), ratings of behavioral variability on the respective dimensions failed to produce a significant moderating effect. However, a tentative trend was observed for cross-procedural comparability (between self-ratings and the EPI) to be higher near the midpoints of the respective distributions. A factor contributory to this was a central regressive tendency (noted at both poles on both dimensions and for both sources of estimation), whereby an extreme estimate from one source was associated with a less extreme estimate from the other.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗
PubMed1977

Memory performance after arousal from different sleep stages.

Learning material was presented to independent groups of subjects either after arousal from non-Rapid Eye Movement (non-REM) sleep, after arousal from REM sleep, or under conditions of no prior sleep. Measures of immediate and subsequent free recall were taken. Memory performance was found to be impaired where learning took place after non-REM arousal. This was manifest in the number of categories recalled, over both immediate and subsequent recall, and in the number of items recalled per category over subsequent recall. It was suggested that the memory performance decrement after non-REM arousal may be understood in terms of a retrieval deficit as well as a coding deficit. It is possible that the former is consequent upon a lower general level of arousal, whereas the latter is specific to memory.

Arousal↗