Perceptual and motor skills
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Responses to a questionnaire study of initial reasons to study martial arts by 170 students in a school of martial arts are described. Although self-defense and physical fitness motives were prominently claimed, further analyses of more subtle existential and psychological issues are warranted.
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Two patterns of reactions to painful medical procedures were found in infancy, i.e., continuous and interval patterns. Also, infants often in a good mood in everyday life (as reported by their mothers) showed pain more briefly after blood sampling, while infants often in a bad mood in everyday life showed pain longer.
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Anecdotal reports and limited research suggest that enrolling in self-defense courses can enhance feelings of control and reduce feelings of vulnerability; however, much self-defense is taught in the context of martial arts courses. To assess the effects of martial arts courses on perceptions of vulnerability and control, 83 students in physical fitness and 59 students in martial arts courses at 10 randomly chosen large universities responded to questionnaires. ⋯ Neither gender nor prior history of assault was related to responses. Enrolling in martial arts courses may not enhance people's feelings of control, at least in the initial stages of training.
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This study examined the color identification and vocabulary skills of 101 female and 52 male college students. Femininity scores, color-related hobbies, and academic aptitude scores were also examined for their influence on color identification. ⋯ Color identification was significantly correlated with vocabulary but not with scores on femininity. Academic aptitude scores and having a color-related hobby also predicted color identification under some conditions.
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The reactivity of surface paraspinal EMG was contrasted among groups of (1) patients seeking treatment for chronic back pain, (2) nonpatients reporting chronic back pain, and (3) healthy controls. The EMG response to the personally relevant stressor (all stimuli were 1 min.) tasks was greater for the patient group relative to the other two groups. However, the patients' magnitude of response elicited by the control task was nearly equal to that of the personally relevant task, suggesting that the task demand to "describe a recent event" may be the "personally relevant" stressor component rather than the emotional valence attached to the content of that description.