The effect of signaling in dependence on the extraneous cognitive load in learning environments

Text-based learning media are often used in primary, secondary and university education. Therefore, text designers can support the learner by highlighting the most relevant information by using visual cues. Despite this signaling effect’s broad empirical basis, the extent to which the effectiveness of educational signals is dependent on moderator variables, like the design and layout of the text has not been investigated to date. In the current experiment, 138 university students learned about the formation of tsunamis from an instructional text. The text was manipulated in terms of signaling (color cues vs. no color cues) and induced learning-irrelevant extraneous cognitive load (fluent text font vs. disfluent text font). The results revealed that learners who had received the signaled text outperformed those who received the non-signaled text in terms of transfer performance. These results are explained by cognitive load, which was reduced in the signaling condition. The text font had no influence on the learning outcomes. Extraneous load induction further led to higher metacognitive accuracy and invested effort, while cognitive load and frustration were also increased. Interaction effects only occurred in terms of testing time, ease of learning and navigation. Results indicate that signaling is beneficial for transfer performance, independent of the font design of text.

     

Correction to: The effect of signaling in dependence on the extraneous cognitive load in learning environments

Cognitive Processing -     

Attentional bias for doping words and its relation with physical self-esteem in young adolescents

ObjectivesPrevious studies revealed that adolescence is a period of risk for doping and drug addiction and that young athletes who used doping agents reported low self-esteem. We conducted a preventive study with the aims to investigate whether young adolescents displayed an attentional bias to doping-related words and whether this attentional bias was related to physical self-esteem.MethodNinety seven adolescents (44 girls and 53 boys) from 11 to 15 years-old participated to a study designed to measure reaction times (RT) in a Stroop emotional task related to doping, cheating and control words. They also completed the Physical Self-Perception Profile subscales assessing perceived general self-esteem, physical self-worth, physical condition, sport competence, body attractiveness, and physical strength.ResultsParticipants exhibited longer RT after doping words than after control words. RT was also longer after doping than after cheating words. Participants belonging to the low physical self-esteem group exhibited larger carry-over effects than those who were in the high physical self-esteem group.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that attentional resources allocated to doping words are already present at the onset of adolescence, and that they may be linked to a psychological feature (physical self-esteem) considered as a risk factor of substance abuse in young adults involved in competitive sports.     

Behaviors of Swiss-Webster and C57/BL/6N sin mice in a fear/defense test battery

When confronted by an approaching threat stimulus (experimenter or laboratory rat), Swiss-Webster mice show initial flight, followed by freezing and defensive vocalization and biting, the latter only when escape is blocked. These defense patterns resemble those of the wild rat, suggesting that mice of this strain do not show the reductions in flight and defensive threat/attack that are typical of laboratory rats. C57/BL/6N Sin strain mice showed fewer avoidances to an approaching predator, as well as reduced vocalization and defensive biting, a pattern more similar to that of laboratory rats. As with rats, female mice appeared to be more defensive to a predator. They showed greater reactivity to dorsal contact and more frequent defensive biting and jump attacks than males of the same strains. These patterns of defensive behaviors suggest that, although strain differences in defense are substantial, laboratory mice are suitable for, and may offer several advantages in, the study of the genetic, endocrine, and pharmacological basis of antipredator defense. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Gratitude,Emotional Intelligence,and Life Satisfaction Among Older Adults: Evidence for a Broaden-and-Build Model or an Amplification Model?

Journal of Happiness Studies - The present study was concerned with how gratitude and facets of emotional intelligence (i.e., self-emotions appraisal, others-emotions appraisal, use of emotion,...     

Repeated Effects of Vigorous Interval Training in Basketball,Running-Biking,and Boxing on the Physical Self-Perceptions of Obese Adolescents

This study aims to examine the repeated effects of three sessions of vigorous interval training (VIT) in basketball, running-biking, and boxing on the physical self-perceptions (PSP) of obese adolescents participating in a dietary program. A sample of 24 obese adolescents performed the consecutive VIT sessions every week for 5 weeks. PSP were measured immediately after each training session. Analyses of covariance were used to examine changes in PSP. The results showed rapid and constant increases in PSP with significant differences according to sex, time, type of VIT, and an interaction of sex by time by type of VIT, mainly for basketball.     

宗教资本:从布迪厄到斯达克

"宗教资本"概念对理性选择理论的发展至关重要,然而,"宗教资本"的诸多定义却常常模糊不清,或脱离于其所源出的知识构架。关于"宗教资本"概念,有两种相互独立发展的理论:其一大致属于欧洲,源自韦伯和布迪厄的研究;其二大致属于美国,源自艾纳孔和斯达克的研究。泰瑞·雷对通过对两种理论的比较研究,进而厘清其理论谱系,仔细考察了宗教资本概念及其衍生概念"灵性资本"的应用和批评,并提出了两个具有独创性的修正概念("制度宗教资本"和"民间宗教资本"),以此解决宗教资本概念在学术著作和文章中所出现的问题。     

Marketing the goods of salvation: Bourdieu on religion

Pierre Bourdieu's work has had a resounding impact on disciplines ranging from linguistics to anthropology to art history to literary criticism. Scholars of religion have, however, been relatively slow to catch on to the theoretical gold mine that academics in other fields have discovered in Bourdieu's work, doubtless in part because Bourdieu himself pays only limited attention to religion. The present article is intended to serve as an introduction to Bourdieu's theory of practice as it applies to his sociological theory of religion, which is especially serviceable for the analysis of the relationship among religion, class and power. Haitian religion and culture are used as a case study in the spirit of Bourdieu's own insistence that theory always be confronted with the substantive and never be exercised in a vacuum.     

Immersion and emotion: their impact on the sense of presence.

The present study is designed to test the role of immersion and media content in the sense of presence. Specifically, we are interested in the affective valence of the virtual environments. This paper describes an experiment that compares three immersive systems (a PC monitor, a rear projected video wall, and a head-mounted display) and two virtual environments, one involving emotional content and the other not. The purpose of the experiment was to test the interactive role of these two media characteristics (form and content). Scores on two self-report presence measurements were compared among six groups of 10 people each. The results suggest that both immersion and affective content have an impact on presence. However, immersion was more relevant for non-emotional environments than for emotional ones.     

Clarifying The Links Between Perceived Emotional Intelligence and Well-Being in Older People: Pathways Through Perceived Social Support from Family and Friends

Applied Research in Quality of Life - Although emotional intelligence (EI) and social support are important predictors of well-being in adolescents and adults, there has been little research on...