Biomedical subjects

Nilam Ram

Publications and source records attributed to Nilam Ram.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Using Rasch measurement to investigate volleyball skills and inform coaching.

This paper illustrates some of the ways that Rasch modeling techniques can be used to inform coaching of volleyball. Volleyball game statistics for 11 volleyball players collected over 27 matches on 3 skills were analyzed using a multifaceted Rasch model (Lincare, 1999) incorporating the partial credit model (Masters, 1982). Rating scale analyses and model fit statistics were used to derive interval level scales that provided more objective information regarding player ability and consistency than is usually available to coaches. Detailed results illustrate that Rasch analyses can provide very specific information that coaches might use in drill, practice, and game strategy design.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Cognitive performance inconsistency: intraindividual change and variability.

Although many studies have examined inconsistency of cognitive performance, few have examined how inconsistency changes over time. 91 older adults (age 52 to 79) were tested weekly for 36 consecutive weeks on a series of multitrial memory speed (i.e., letter recognition) tasks. A number of multivariate techniques were used to examine how individuals' level of inconsistency changed across weeks and how this change was related to interindividual differences in age and intelligence. Results indicated that (a) inconsistency of performance is a construct separate from the underlying performance ability (i.e., memory speed); (b) inconsistency reduces exponentially with practice; (c) individuals with higher scores on tests of fluid general intelligence (G-sub(f)) reached lower asymptotic levels of inconsistency compared to lower scorers; and (d) after controlling for the systematic effects of practice, variability in inconsistency from week-to-week was more pronounced for individuals with lower G-sub(f) scores compared to individuals with higher scores.

Aged↗

PubMed2005

Emotion as a thermostat: representing emotion regulation using a damped oscillator model.

The authors present in this study a damped oscillator model that provides a direct mathematical basis for testing the notion of emotion as a self-regulatory thermostat. Parameters from this model reflect individual differences in emotional lability and the ability to regulate emotion. The authors discuss concepts such as intensity, rate of change, and acceleration in the context of emotion, and they illustrate the strengths of this approach in comparison with spectral analysis and growth curve models. The utility of this modeling approach is illustrated using daily emotion ratings from 179 college students over 52 consecutive days. Overall, the damped oscillator model provides a meaningful way of representing emotion regulation as a dynamic process and helps identify the dominant periodicities in individuals' emotions.

Adult↗