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As health-related mobile apps have proliferated in recent years in USA and Australia, counsellor opinions were solicited to aid development of therapeutic apps. After being informed of the therapeutic potential of time and location-based reminders, 33 drug and alcohol counsellors from New Zealand and Australia answered an anonymous online survey. Counsellors were willing to use timed and location based reminders to assist clients with their sobriety, but were concerned about running costs. Less experienced counsellors may be less willing to use mobile technology therapeutically. Counsellors could be willing to use location services on mobile phones therapeutically, but training may be required to address concerns about privacy and the ability to engage with clients about their spatial and temporal vulnerabilities.

The label 'Stop' potentially generates conflict—signifying important corrective action, or a warning not to touch. To examine potential conflict between an incongruent label (i.e. STOP) and an imperative command (i.e. MOVE!), 18 participants used a computer mouse to move a crosshair cursor to targets with superimposed labels. Trials systematically varied Imperative (blank or MOVE!), Label (+GO + or STOP) and movement Distance. Kinematic analyses examined response latency, movement duration and accuracy. Incongruent labels had little impact upon response latencies, but they affected cursor deceleration and the variability of cursor placement. Although reading is assumed to be obligatory, the impact of written labels is not immediate, instead affecting cursor deceleration. Indeed, responses to controls labelled STOP were less accurate than those labelled + GO+. As labelled interfaces can create error versus command confusions, enhancing the discriminability of controls to afford more obvious visible cues as to method of use is recommended. Practitioner summary: Emergency stop and shutdown controls can cause response conflict as their labels signify both urgent corrective actions and 'don't touch'. Response conflict caused by confusing superimposed labels is resolved as cursors near the target control and may result in reduced movement accuracy. Prior warnings may influence resolution of response conflict. Abbreviations: Hz: Hertz; M: Mean; ms: millisecond; mm: millimetre; S: second; SD: Standard Deviation; SE: Standard Error; USB: Universal Serial Bus [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within a Learning and Teaching Support platform, Janis and Mann's (1977). "Emergency Decision Making: A Theoretical Analysis of Responses to Disaster Warnings." Journal of Human Stress 3 (2): 35–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/0097840X.1977.9936085) model of decision making was used to examine relationships between people's decisional styles, objective measurements of file use and the subsequent quality of their work. A total of 95 Undergraduate Psychology students consented to the monitoring of their online study behaviours, and completed the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire. Better online grades were linked to the general ability and better decisional self-esteem. Greater amounts of file access were associated with hypervigilance and more time spent online. The number of missed supplementary online quizzes was related to poorer decisional self-esteem, fewer files accessed online but less procrastination. While good decisional styles were associated with better quality outcomes, defective decisional styles can manifest online as greater file access or fewer tasks completed. An absence, inappropriate or an excess of online activity can indicate students are defensively avoidant or panicking and need assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basal ganglia (BG) may play a part in motor sequencing. Individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) may exhibit progressive slowing (sequence effect) during motor sequences such as writing (micrographia) and gait. In the present study, a serial two-way choice reaction time (CRT) task was employed, in which advance information about each next movement was not provided until the participant began moving, thereby assessing the participant's ability to utilize advance information. Participants were 13 individuals with idiopathic PD and 13 age-matched controls. Both PD subjects and controls showed a significant sequence effect in the absence of advance information, possibly reflecting difficulty in initiating and maintaining movement without external cues. PD subjects and controls both exhibited a sequence effect at moderate levels of advance information. At high levels of advance information, PD subjects showed the effect but controls did not, suggesting that controls, unlike PD subjects, were able to use the extra information to facilitate performance, perhaps reflecting more frontal aspects of impairment in PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]