Wichita State University

About: Wichita State University is a education organization based out in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 4988 authors who have published 9563 publications receiving 253824 citations. The organization is also known as: WSU & Fairmount College.

Effects of age and auditory and visual dual tasks on closed-road driving performance.

Abstract: Purpose. This study investigated how driving performance of young and old participants is affected by visual and auditory secondary tasks on a closed driving course. Methods. Twenty-eight participants comprising two age groups (younger, mean age = 27.3 years; older, mean age = 69.2 years) drove around a 5.1-km closed-road circuit under both single and dual task conditions. Measures of driving performance included detection and identification of road signs, detection and avoidance of large low-contrast road hazards, gap judgment, lane keeping, and time to complete the course. The dual task required participants to verbally report the sums of pairs of single-digit numbers presented through either a computer speaker (auditorily) or a dashboard-mounted monitor (visually) while driving. Participants also completed a vision and cognitive screening battery, including LogMAR visual acuity, Pelli-Robson letter contrast sensitivity, the Trails test, and the Digit Symbol Substitution (DSS) test. Results. Drivers reported significantly fewer signs, hit more road hazards, misjudged more gaps, and increased their time to complete the course under the dual task (visual and auditory) conditions compared with the single task condition. The older participants also reported significantly fewer road signs and drove significantly more slowly than the younger participants, and this was exacerbated for the visual dual task condition. The results of the regression analysis revealed that cognitive aging (measured by the DSS and Trails test) rather than chronologic age was a better predictor of the declines seen in driving performance under dual task conditions. An overall z score was calculated, which took into account both driving and the secondary task (summing) performance under the two dual task conditions. Performance was significantly worse for the auditory dual task compared with the visual dual task, and the older participants performed significantly worse than the young subjects. Conclusions. These findings demonstrate that multitasking had a significant detrimental impact on driving performance and that cognitive aging was the best predictor of the declines seen in driving performance under dual task conditions. These results have implications for use of mobile phones or in-vehicle navigational devices while driving, especially for older adults.

Is money the panacea? Rewards for knowledge workers

Abstract: Purpose – In this empirical study, the aim is to examine the relative effect of various rewards on performance of knowledge workers. It is predicted that non‐monetary rewards are associated with enhanced intrinsic motivation, which in turn is related to better performance and innovation.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 288 research and development employees and their supervisors from 30 Fortune 500 companies. The authors tested the hypothesized relationships with mediated multiple regression.Findings – The results revealed that receiving non‐monetary rewards is a stronger predictor of intrinsic motivation manifested by longer work time in comparison to either group or individual monetary rewards. Furthermore, intrinsic motivation was found to fully mediate the relationships between received non‐monetary rewards and performance and innovation.Research limitations/implications – The paper offers a field test of the cognitive evaluation theory and the crowding theory that have been main...

Social learning theory and alcohol behavior among the elderly

Abstract: Research directly testing Akers's social learning theory has been thus far confined to teenage drug, drinking, and smoking behavior. This study extends the application of social learning theory to older adults' alcohol behavior. Data were gathered through face-to-face interviews of 1,410 people sixty years of age or over living in New Jersey and Florida in either retirement (age homogeneous) or age-integrated communities. A social learning model of differential association, differential reinforcement, and definitions is supported by findings on elderly drinking behavior. As is true for younger age groups, drinking among the elderly is related to the norms and behavior of one's primary groups, one's own attitudes toward (definitions of) alcohol, and the balance of reinforcement for drinking.

The influence of parents and friends on adolescent substance use: a multidimensional approach

Abstract: The current study examined longitudinal associations between friend's substance use, friendship quality, parent-adolescent relationship quality and subsequent substance use. Participants were 166 adolescents, their parents and their close same-sex friends. Measures of relationship characteristics in the 10(th) grade were used to predict concurrent substance use and changes in substance use over a one-year period. The most consistent predictor of the use of different substances and changes in substance use over time was the friend's substance using behavior. Negative interactions with a friend were related only to tobacco use, and friendship support neither contributed to nor protected against substance use. Mother-adolescent relationship support was associated with lower levels of concurrent substance use, as well as lower levels of hard drug use over time. Findings highlight the need to examine parents and peers simultaneously and the importance of parental relationships and peer behavior on adolescent substance use. Limitations and future directions are discussed.