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PubMedDate not supplied

Four assessment tools of ergonomics interventions: case study at an electric utility's warehouse system.

An ergonomics program was developed in a Midwestern electric utility warehouse system. Tasks problematic with respect to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) affecting both the back and upper extremities were identified and engineering controls were implemented. Quantitative analysis was performed on each task before and after ergonomics intervention to evaluate exposure to the risk of WMSDs. Four methods were used to evaluate the risk of exposure to injury before and after ergonomics intervention: the 1991 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) lifting equation, the Static Strength Prediction Program, the Lumbar Motion Monitor, and the Borg psychophysical assessment of effort. Results from applying these four methods to the reengineered tasks showed that the probability of low-back disorder risk factors was reduced by as much as 29%, the percentage of people capable of performing tasks was increased by as much as 90%, the NIOSH Lifting Index was reduced from above 2.0 to less than 2.0, and the psychophysical assessment of effort was consistently reduced from the "heavy or strong" range to the "light or moderate" range.

Back Injuries↗
PubMed1994

The revised NIOSH lifting guidelines. Application in a hospital setting.

1. Ergonomic interventions, which include the application of biomechanical models, are an integral part of a workplace injury control program. 2. The NIOSH 1991 Lifting Guide is an example of a biomechanical model. It is utilized as an assessment tool in the ergonomic analysis of a task performed by hospital nursing personnel. 3. The risk for musculoskeletal injury is quantified from the analysis. Economically feasible modifications to the task are outlined to reduce the associated lifting hazards.

Back Pain↗
PubMed1982

Effects of leader contingent and noncontingent reward and punishment behaviors on subordinate performance and satisfaction.

This study investigated the nature of the relationships between leader reward and punishment behaviors and subordinate performance and satisfaction. Only performance-contingent reward behavior was found to affect subordinate performance significantly. Positive relationships were found between leader contingent reward behavior and employee satisfaction. Contingent punishment had no effects on subordinate performance or satisfaction.

Employee Discipline↗
PubMed1999

Test anxiety versus academic skills: a comparison of two alternative models for predicting performance in a statistics exam.

BACKGROUND: Two competing theoretical models to explain academic performance were proposed. The interference model stresses the detrimental effect of task-irrelevant thoughts during the test-taking situation whereas the deficit model suggests Study Habits and domain-specific skills as main predictors of test performance. AIMS: The study compares the two models by determining the relative contribution of Test Anxiety, Study Habits, and Maths Skill to performance in a statistics exam. SAMPLE: Sixty-six undergraduate students who were enrolled in the first semester of two parallel introductory statistic courses participated in the study. METHOD: Hierarchical regression analyses were performed on the performance in the final statistics exam. The unique variance attributable to Test Anxiety, Study Habits, and Maths Skill was calculated. RESULTS: Both Maths Skill and Test Anxiety added unique variance in explaining performance, whereas Study Habits did not. Although Maths Skill emerged as relatively more important than Test Anxiety, a purely deficit-based account nevertheless appears untenable because interfering effects of Test Anxiety during the examination also contributed an important portion of variance. CONCLUSIONS: It is recommended that cognitive-attentional accounts stressing test anxiety be supplemented by a deficit formulation, and that multimodal counselling address both Test Anxiety and skill deficits. COMMENT: Methodological problems in investigating the causal relationship between skill deficits, anxiety, and performance are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

The contribution of anthropometric characteristics to performance scores in elite female gymnasts.

BACKGROUND: Aims of this study were: a) to identify anthropometric variables correlated with gymnastic performance, and b) to predict performance scores from a combination of anthropometric dimensions. METHODS EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: correlational analysis and a stepwise multiple regression were used. SETTING: Subjects were participants at the 24th World Championships Artistic Gymnastics, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in 1987. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 168 female gymnasts (mean age: 16.5 +/- 1.8 years) were investigated. Each gymnast participated in all events. MEASURES: An extensive battery of anthropometric dimensions was taken on each athlete. The somatotype was estimated. Skeletal maturation of the hand-wrist was assessed. Competition scores for the four individual gymnastic events (balance beam, floor exercise, vault, uneven bars) and a composite score for each gymnast were the dependent variables. RESULTS: Moderately high, significant correlations (p < 0.01) were observed between skinfolds and endomorphy, and gymnastics performance scores, r varying from -0.38 to -0.60, for biceps skinfold and the score on balance beam, and for endomorphy and the total score, respectively. The correlations suggest that gymnasts with more subcutaneous fat and higher endomorphy have lower performance scores. About 32% to 45% of the variance in gymnastic performance scores could be explained by anthropometric dimensions and/or derived variables, but endomorphy and chronological age are the most important predictors. CONCLUSIONS: There is a relatively strong relationship between several anthropometric variables and gymnastic performance in a sample of elite female gymnasts, but the associations are not sufficiently high to predict performance scores on an individual basis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Applied cognitive task analysis (ACTA): a practitioner's toolkit for understanding cognitive task demands.

Cognitive task analysis (CTA) is a set of methods for identifying cognitive skills, or mental demands, needed to perform a task proficiently. The product of the task analysis can be used to inform the design of interfaces and training systems. However, CTA is resource intensive and has previously been of limited use to design practitioners. A streamlined method of CTA, Applied Cognitive Task Analysis (ACTA), is presented in this paper. ACTA consists of three interview methods that help the practitioner to extract information about the cognitive demands and skills required for a task. ACTA also allows the practitioner to represent this information in a format that will translate more directly into applied products, such as improved training scenarios or interface recommendations. This paper will describe the three methods, an evaluation study conducted to assess the usability and usefulness of the methods, and some directions for future research for making cognitive task analysis accessible to practitioners. ACTA techniques were found to be easy to use, flexible, and to provide clear output. The information and training materials developed based on ACTA interviews were found to be accurate and important for training purposes.

Cognition↗
PubMed2002

Aging, executive control, and attention: a review of meta-analyses.

We review the results of a series of meta-analyses by the first author and colleagues, examining age-related differences in selective attention (Stroop-task survey and negative-priming task survey) and in divided attention (dual-task survey and task-switching survey). The four task families all lent themselves to state trace analysis, in which performance in baseline conditions was contrasted with performance in experimental conditions separately for college-aged subjects and for elderly subjects. These analyses found no age-related deficits specific to selective attention or local task-switching. Age deficits were found for dual-task performance and global task-switching. Unlike selective attention and local task-switching costs, dual-task and global task-switching costs were found to be additive in both young and old subjects, unmodulated by task difficulty. These forms of executive intervention then did not alter computational processes already present in the simple tasks, but rather added one or more additional processing steps or stages to the processing stream. The cost was greater in older adults, but was limited to those experimental conditions that activated multiple task sets.

Aging↗
PubMed2000

Performance with tables and graphs: effects of training and a Visual Search Model.

After more than 70 years of research it is still not clear under what conditions graphic presentations of information have an advantage over tables. A minimum assumption Visual Search Model (VSM) was designed to predict the performance of various tasks with tables and graphs that show data with different levels of complexity. An experiment tested the performance of five tasks with tables, bargraphs and line-graphs, showing data with various levels of complexity, over the course of nine experimental sessions in order to assess possible changes in the relative efficiency of the displays after practice. Tables had an initial advantage over graphs for all tasks, and there were complex interactions between the variables. The initial differences between the displays disappeared for some tasks after users gained experience with the displays, while for other tasks the differences continued to exist even after extended practice. The VSM predicted the results for tables well. For graphs the model was adequate for tasks that involve single data points, such as reading values or comparing pairs of values. The performance of tasks that require the analysis of data configurations, such as reading a trend, could not be predicted with the VSM. Hence the VSM can predict task performance with tables and graphs for low-integration tasks.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Training in virtual and real environments.

Transfer of training between real and virtual environments was examined using a pick-and place task with two different difficulty levels. The task was to minimize the time to move cans from one color coded location in the first row to the same color coded location in the back row and then to reverse the process. In the first task, the front and back disk colors were aligned, and in the second disk order, the front and back disk colors were randomly placed on the table. Subjects trained in one environment were then tested in the other and their performance compared with that of subjects being trained in that environment. Some virtual world-trained subjects showed small but significant improvement in performance compared with the untrained subjects for the real world task for both disk arrangements. The differences in performance between the two groups decreased with trial number until no difference was seen at the end of the sessions. None of the real world-trained subjects showed any significant improvement when performing the task in the virtual world compared with the untrained subjects. These results suggest that transfer-of-training from virtual to real world tasks can take place under certain conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Influence of body mass and height on the energy cost of running in highly trained middle- and long-distance runners.

Previous studies about the influence of body dimensions on running economy have not compared athletes specialized in different competition events. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to assess the influence of body mass (m(b)) and height (h) on the energy cost of running (Cr) in 38 highly trained male runners, specialized in either marathon (M, n = 12), long middle-distance (5000 - 10000 m, LMD, n = 14) or short middle-distance (800 - 1500 m, SMD, n = 12), and to assess possible differences in body dimensions for each event. Subjects performed a progressive maximal exercise on the treadmill to determine oxygen uptake VO(2)) at different submaximal velocities and maximal oxygen uptake VO(2)max). Cr was calculated from VO(2) measurements. LMD runners had significantly higher mean Cr (0.192 +/- 0.007, 0.182 +/- 0.009, and 0.180 +/- 0.009 ml O(2) x kg(-1) x m(-1) for LMD, M and SMD, respectively) and VO(2)max (74.1 +/- 3.7, 68.5 +/- 2.9 and 69.7 +/- 3.4 ml x kg (-1) x min (-1)). Cr correlated with h (r = -0.86, p < 0.001) and m(b) (r = -0.77, p < 0.01) only in the SMD group. In conclusion, these data suggest that highly trained distance runners tend to show counterbalancing profiles of running economy and VO(2)max (the higher Cr, the higher VO(2) max and vice versa), and that anthropometric characteristics related with good performance are different in long-distance and middle-distance events.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Movement training: when trainer initiated reinforcement and self-monitoring are not enough.

Trainer initiated reinforcement and client self-monitoring have been used successfully to increase the vocational productivity of individuals with moderate and severe mental retardation. Some previous research, however, has reported cases in which reinforcement strategies had minimal influence on productivity. The current study introduced reinforcement and self-monitoring sequentially in an attempt to improve the productivity levels of five clients with moderate and severe mental retardation in an adult development center. In a subsequent alternating treatments phase, the self-monitoring was compared to self-monitoring with movement training--prompting through a task analysis of the most efficient movements to perform a task. In a final phase, the most effective treatment of the alternating treatments for each subject was replicated across sessions. Four of the five subjects responded minimally to trainer initiated reinforcement or self-monitoring but showed improvement with movement training. This increase was replicated across sessions for three of these four subjects. A fifth subject increased productivity substantially with reinforcement, maintained the increase with self-monitoring, and replicated the increase across sessions with self-monitoring alone. This fifth subject did not increase productivity with movement training.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Perceived motivational climate and cognitive and affective correlates among Norwegian athletes.

Based on Ames' conception of situational goal structures, the present study investigated whether achievement-related cognitions and affect were related to specific motivational climates. The participants were 148 experienced students in team sport at a Norwegian university who responded to a questionnaire on their perceptions of the motivational climate in their sport, use of learning strategies, satisfaction, sources of satisfaction and perceived purposes of participating in sport. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that the perception of the motivational climate as either mastery- or performance-involving was related to reporting of affect, achievement strategies and perceived purposes of sport in a conceptually consistent manner. Controlling for dispositional goals, regression analyses, in which the athletes' dispositional achievement goals were controlled, showed that perception of a performance-oriented climate emerged as a negative and unique predictor of satisfaction or interest in addition to the variance accounted for by ego orientation. Athletes who perceived the motivational climate as mastery-oriented endorsed mastery as a source of satisfaction, and were less inclined to report avoiding practice. In addition, athletes who perceived the climate as mastery-oriented believed that sport may develop lifetime skills. In contrast, perceiving the climate as performance-oriented was positively related to status as a perceived purpose of team sport. Our findings suggest that, when athletes perceive the sport climate as task-involving, it facilitates the adoption of adaptive learning strategies, the use of controllable criteria to determine satisfaction, and enhances perception of sport as being important for developing lifetime skills.

Achievement↗
PubMed1991

Wetsuits, body density and swimming performance.

To determine the influence of body composition upon swimming performance with and without wetsuits, 14 competitive female swimmers (mean (s.d.) age, 19.9 (0.9) years) were measured for body density while wearing both wetsuits and normal swimsuits. Subjects swam 400 and 1500 m trials with and without wetsuits, randomly, over a 12-day period. Six subjects participated in an additional trial while wearing neoprene leg-bands fitted over the wetsuit. Mean (s.d.) subject density without and with wetsuits was 1.048 (.009) and 1.021 (.007) g/ml respectively. Wetsuits reduced (P less than 0.05) swim times for the 400 (-4.96%) and 1500 m swim (-3.23%) compared with swimsuit trials. The neoprene bands increased (P less than 0.05) swim times relative to swimsuit and wetsuit trials. With wetsuits, swim times were inversely (P less than 0.05) related to density for the 400 (r = -0.46) and 1500 m swim (r = -0.54) suggesting that wetsuits increase performance by increasing buoyancy and that lean subjects benefit more from wearing wetsuits than do fatter subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Relationship between upper body anaerobic power and freestyle swimming performance.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of upper body anaerobic power, as measured by the Wingate Anaerobic Arm Test (WAAT), in 50-m sprint swim performance. Thirty competitive age-group swimmers (14 males and 16 females) participated in this investigation. Subjects had been training daily for 5 months prior to the study, swimming an average of 6,000 m.d-1, 6 d.wk-1. Swimmers performed a WAAT and a 50-m time-trial. Peak power (PP), mean power (MP) and fatigue index (FI) were determined for the WAAT. Subjects also reported their current competition performances for all distances up to 400 m. Significant relationships were obtained between swim speed over 50 m (S50) and PP (r = 0.82, p less than 0.001), S50 and MP (r = 0.83, p less than 0.001), and S50 and FI (r = 0.41, p less than 0.05). PP and MP showed significant but generally decreasing correlations with swim speed as distance increased. Substantial relationships (r = 0.74-0.96, p less than 0.001) were found between S50 and swim speeds over distances up to and including 400 m. This study shows a strong relationship exists between upper body anaerobic power, as measured by the WAAT, and performance in both sprint and longer distance (400 m) swim events. The WAAT may serve as a useful tool for coaches to objectively evaluate and monitor the upper body anaerobic power of competitive swimmers.

Acceleration↗
PubMed1977

Development of psychomotor objectives for classroom of clinical education in physical therapy.

A systematic method for developing and evaluating psychomotor objectives for students in clinical and laboratory education was presented. In preparing objectives for motor learning, the instructor must perform a task analysis of each skill to be taught. The analysis involves 1) identifying components of the movement, 2) salient features of facilitating stimuli, such as placement of grips, intensity and speed of stimulation, and 3) timing of commands or resistance. The senses, such as vision or kinesthesia, through which the student is to perceive the selected features must be chosen. After determining the level of skill to be attained, teaching methods are easily fit to the objectives. A simple checklist aids evaluation of student competency and provides immediate feedback on performance level.

Humans↗
PubMed1993

Visuomotor control of the relative movement of random-dot patterns.

A series of experiments were made on human performance in controlling optical relative movement. The aim was to test the influence of different kinds of relative movement on visually controlled steering tasks. Within adjacent displays on a computer screen random dot patterns moved in a fixed direction at continually changing speeds (Exp. 1) or at constant speed and in continually changing directions (Exp. 2). The subject was required to compensate for the unpredictable modulations of the pattern movement by means of an isometric joystick. The task was to adjust relative movements involving pure translation, symmetric convergence, divergence, or shear. Analysis indicated that the task performance was not dependent on the special kind of relative movement. However, performance was significantly higher in tasks where directionally disturbed relative movement had to be controlled compared to those situations in which relative movement varied with respect to speed.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Explicit memory and repetition priming in dementia: evidence for a common basic mechanism underlying conscious and unconscious retrieval deficits.

The present study was designed to assess performance of Alzheimer's (AD) and Multi-infarct (MID) demented patients on the explicit and implicit versions of two memory tasks, namely Word-Stem Completion and Word-Pair Learning. Consistently with previous studies, the AD patients were deficient on the explicit and implicit versions of both tasks. In MID patients, a dissociation emerged between normal implicit and deficient explicit Word-Stem Completion. Two multiple regression analyses were performed to evaluate patients' ability on measures of lexical-semantic competence, explicit memory, and global intellective efficiency in predicting level of repetition priming. The results demonstrate a close association between explicit and implicit memory performance in AD patients but no relation between repetition priming level and measures of lexical-semantic competence or general intelligence. Overall, the results of the present study do not support previous conceptualizations suggesting that a breakdown in the structure of semantic memory is at the root of deficient priming in demented patients. Alternative interpretations of the deficient repetition priming effect in dementia, based on a common mechanism underlying conscious and unconscious retrieval deficits, are discussed.

Aged↗