Looking for My Self: Identity-Driven Attention Allocation

This research builds on the motivational aspects of identity salience, finding that social identities direct the allocation of attention in identity‐syntonic ways. Drawing from identity‐based motivation (Oyserman, 2009; Reed, et al., 2012) we suggest individuals use attention to enhance identity‐fit; selectively focusing on cues and stimuli that are identity‐consistent. In two studies we find that activating a social identity drives preferential attention toward identity‐relevant stimuli. Using a novel paradigm, Study 1 demonstrates that individuals strategically focus attention on identity‐consistent emotional stimuli, while also shifting attention away from identity‐inconsistent emotional stimuli. Using a dot‐probe paradigm, Study 2 extends these results to show that individuals allocate attention toward both emotional and non‐emotional (semantic associates) stimuli that are identity‐consistent, and away from those that are incompatible. Consistent with theories suggesting cognition and perception are constructed (James, 1890/1983) and that identities direct and influence meaning‐making (Oyserman, 2009; Reed et al., 2012), we find that social identities drive attention allocation, with identity‐consistent stimuli receiving greater attention; suggesting that an identity\u27s sense‐making begins with motivated attention toward perceiving an identity‐consistent environment

Physical activity programs for balance and fall prevention in elderly: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: Due to demographic changes the world's population is progressively ageing. The physiological decay of the elderly adult may lead to a reduction in the ability to balance and an increased risk of falls becoming an important issue among the elderly. In order to counteract the decay in the ability to balance, physical activity has been proven to be effective. The aim of this study is to systematically review the scientific literature in order to identify physical activity programs able to increase balance in the elderly. METHODS: This review is based on the data from Medline-NLM, Pubmed, ScienceDirect, and SPORTDiscuss and includes randomized control trials that have analyzed balance and physical activity in healthy elderly over 65 years of age during the last decade. A final number of 8 manuscripts were included in the qualitative synthesis, which comprised 200 elderly with a mean age of 75.1 ± 4.4 years. The sample size of the studies varied from 9 to 61 and the intervention periods from 8 to 32 weeks. RESULTS: Eight articles were considered eligible and included in the quantitative synthesis. The articles investigated the effects of resistance and aerobic exercise, balance training, T-bow© and wobble board training, aerobic step and stability ball training, adapted physical activity and Wii Fit training on balance outcomes. Balance measures of the studies showed improvements between 16% and 42% compared to baseline assessments. CONCLUSIONS: Balance is a multifactorial quality that can be effectively increased by different exercise training means. It is fundamental to promote physical activity in the aging adult, being that a negative effect on balance performance has been seen in the no-intervention control groups