The expertise reversal effect: cognitive load and motivational explanations

The expertise reversal effect occurs when a learner's expertise moderates design principles such as the redundancy principle (i.e., redundant information should be excluded rather than included) derived from the cognitive load theory. Although this effect is supported by numerous experiments, indicating an overall large effect size, a variety of explanations have been proposed. The present experiment tested a cognitive load and a motivational explanation with 104 students, who reported a lack of experience in the presented instructional contents. They spent about 30 min with the instructional material to learn fundamental concepts about the gradient descent (a mathematical optimization algorithm), and with a retention and transfer test used as dependent measures. Each learner was randomly assigned to one cell of a 2 (either novices or experts introduced to through the instructional design presented previously) × 2 (either with or without additional text explaining the animations) between-subjects factorial design. The expertise reversal effect concerning the redundancy principle was replicated. Novices receiving additional text scored higher on retention and transfer than did novices without additional text, while this result was reversed for experts. Results suggest that this effect can be explained by the learner's cognitive load differences rather than overall motivation differences. Furthermore, a partial overlap was found between the motivational subdimension, "probability of success," and a cognitive load measure. On the practical side, instructional designers should consider the learner's level of expertise and their cognitive load when applying design principles. Further implications for adaptive learning environments are discussed.     

Validated intraclass correlation statistics to test item performance models

A new method, with an application program in Matlab code, is proposed for testing item performance models on empirical databases. This method uses data intraclass correlation statistics as expected correlations to which one compares simple functions of correlations between model predictions and observed item performance. The method rests on a data population model whose validity for the considered data is suitably tested and has been verified for three behavioural measure databases. Contrarily to usual model selection criteria, this method provides an effective way of testing under-fitting and over-fitting, answering the usually neglected question "does this model suitably account for these data?"     

Childhood Gender Identity … Disorder? Developmental,Cultural, and Diagnostic Concerns

Childhood gender identity development is reviewed in the context of biological, environmental, cultural, and diagnostic factors. With the upcoming 5th revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the authors offer a critical consideration of childhood gender identity disorder, along with proposed diagnostic changes. They argue that meaningful understanding of issues surrounding gender identity is necessary for a conscientious assessment and diagnostic process that does not pathologize human diversity.     

Macroscopic thermodynamics of reaction times

I present a new interpretation of reaction time (RT) data from behavioural experiments. From a physical perspective, the entropy of the RT distribution–the temporal entropy–provides a model-free estimate of the amount of processing performed by the cognitive system. This new measure shifts the focus from the conventional interpretation of RTs being either long or short, into their distribution being more or less complex in terms of entropy. I introduce the formulation of the theory, followed by an empirical test using a large database of human RTs in lexical processing tasks. Using the measure, I obtain estimates of the processing loads to individual stimuli (i.e., words), as well as estimates for the overall rate at which the system processes information in these tasks. The relation between the temporal entropy and the RTs can be captured by a simple linear equation. I argue that this equation constitutes the equivalent of a ‘phase diagram’ of a task, providing indications about the different mechanisms that are at play in it, and locating critical points signalling the transitions between these different mechanisms. The results suggest an adaptive system that adjusts its operational processing speed to the demands of each individual stimulus. This finding is in contradiction with a generalization of Hick’s Law positing a relatively constant processing speed within an experimental context.     

Comparative Study Between the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Value–Belief–Norm Model Regarding the Environment,on Spanish Housewives' Recycling Behavior

Environmental behaviors have been analyzed from different theoretical models. The theory of planned behavior emphasizes the attitudinal aspects associated with behavior, while the value–belief–norm model regarding the environment focuses on the importance of moral components when setting environmental behaviors in motion. The objective of this study was to analyze both models, comparing both their degree of fit and their predictive power regarding recycling behavior. To do so, we used a sample made up of 154 Spanish housewives. The results indicated that despite the fact that the theory of planned behavior is a general model for predicting and explaining behavior, it has a greater degree of fit and greater capacity to predict recycling behavior than the value–belief–norm model regarding the environment.     

Behavioral and fMRI evidence that cognitive ability modulates the effect of semantic context on speech intelligibility

Text cues facilitate the perception of spoken sentences to which they are semantically related (Zekveld, Rudner, et al., 2011). In this study, semantically related and unrelated cues preceding sentences evoked more activation in middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) than nonword cues, regardless of acoustic quality (speech in noise or speech in quiet). Larger verbal working memory (WM) capacity (reading span) was associated with greater intelligibility benefit obtained from related cues, with less speech-related activation in the left superior temporal gyrus and left anterior IFG, and with more activation in right medial frontal cortex for related versus unrelated cues. Better ability to comprehend masked text was associated with greater ability to disregard unrelated cues, and with more activation in left angular gyrus (AG). We conclude that individual differences in cognitive abilities are related to activation in a speech-sensitive network including left MTG, IFG and AG during cued speech perception.     

Sink positive: Linguistic experience with th substitutions influences nonnative word recognition

We used eyetracking, perceptual discrimination, and production tasks to examine the influences of perceptual similarity and linguistic experience on word recognition in nonnative (L2) speech. Eye movements to printed words were tracked while German and Dutch learners of English heard words containing one of three pronunciation variants (/t/, /s/, or /f/) of the interdental fricative /θ/. Irrespective of whether the speaker was Dutch or German, looking preferences for target words with /θ/ matched the preferences for producing /s/ variants in German speakers and /t/ variants in Dutch speakers (as determined via the production task), while a control group of English participants showed no such preferences. The perceptually most similar and most confusable /f/ variant (as determined via the discrimination task) was never preferred as a match for /θ/. These results suggest that linguistic experience with L2 pronunciations facilitates recognition of variants in an L2, with effects of frequency outweighing effects of perceptual similarity.     

Attenuated response to methamphetamine sensitization and deficits in motor learning and memory after selective deletion of β-catenin in dopamine neurons

In the present study, we analyzed mice with a targeted deletion of β-catenin in DA neurons (DA-βcat KO mice) to address the functional significance of this molecule in the shaping of synaptic responses associated with motor learning and following exposure to drugs of abuse. Relative to controls, DA-βcat KO mice showed significant deficits in their ability to form long-term memories and displayed reduced expression of methamphetamine-induced behavioral sensitization after subsequent challenge doses with this drug, suggesting that motor learning and drug-induced learning plasticity are altered in these mice. Morphological analyses showed no changes in the number or distribution of tyrosine hydroxylase-labeled neurons in the ventral midbrain. While electrochemical measurements in the striatum determined no changes in acute DA release and uptake, a small but significant decrease in DA release was detected in mutant animals after prolonged repetitive stimulation, suggesting a possible deficit in the DA neurotransmitter vesicle reserve pool. However, electron microscopy analyses did not reveal significant differences in the content of synaptic vesicles per terminal, and striatal DA levels were unchanged in DA-βcat KO animals. In contrast, striatal mRNA levels for several markers known to regulate synaptic plasticity and DA neurotransmission were altered in DA-βcat KO mice. This study demonstrates that ablation of β-catenin in DA neurons leads to alterations of motor and reward-associated memories and to adaptations of the DA neurotransmitter system and suggests that β-catenin signaling in DA neurons is required to facilitate the synaptic remodeling underlying the consolidation of long-term memories.