Showing papers by "Alan D. Baddeley published in 1983"

Waiting in the wings Apprehension, public speaking and performance

Abstract: Inexperienced speakers were tested shortly before they presented colloquium papers at a public forum. Increases in anxiety and arousal were found using subjective and ECG measures. Performance deteriorated in digit span and verbal fluency but not in logical reasoning, tick length or the Stroop test. However, degree of decrement was small and rate of accumulating data slow, suggesting this is not an ideal situation for studying the effects of apprehension on performance.

A Trimix saturation dive to 660 m Studies of cognitive performance, mood and sleep quality

Abstract: This paper reports psychological observations on men during a simulated (pressure chamber) dive to 660 m of sea-water (msw) using a gas mixture known as Trimix (He-O2-N2). Recent studies by Bennett (1981) have suggested that this mixture allows for faster compression with less impairment in performance than the mixture traditionally used (He-O2). Data were obtained from two divers on tests of cognitive performance, namely arithmetic ability, grammatical reasoning, perceptual speed, visuo-spatial manipulation and semantic processing. At maximum depth there was a severe blanket impairment of ability to perform any of the tests. However, at shallower depths the impairments were not as marked, with performance at 300 msw close to that measured at surface pressure. Subjects were also required to fill in two questionnaires, one concerned with the quality of their previous night's sleep, the other with their mood at the time. Sleep quality was disrupted throughout the dive, with one subject affected rather more ...