An eye for relations: eye-tracking indicates long-term negative effects of operational thinking on understanding of math equivalence

Prior knowledge in the domain of mathematics can sometimes interfere with learning and performance in that domain. One of the best examples of this phenomenon is in students’ difficulties solving equations with operations on both sides of the equal sign. Elementary school children in the U.S. typically acquire incorrect, operational schemata rather than correct, relational schemata for interpreting equations. Researchers have argued that these operational schemata are never unlearned and can continue to affect performance for years to come, even after relational schemata are learned. In the present study, we investigated whether and how operational schemata negatively affect undergraduates’ performance on equations. We monitored the eye movements of 64 undergraduate students while they solved a set of equations that are typically used to assess children’s adherence to operational schemata (e.g., 3 + 4 + 5 = 3 + __). Participants did not perform at ceiling on these equations, particularly when under time pressure. Converging evidence from performance and eye movements showed that operational schemata are sometimes activated instead of relational schemata. Eye movement patterns reflective of the activation of relational schemata were specifically lacking when participants solved equations by adding up all the numbers or adding the numbers before the equal sign, but not when they used other types of incorrect strategies. These findings demonstrate that the negative effects of acquiring operational schemata extend far beyond elementary school.     

Increased Error-Related Brain Activity in Six-Year-Old Children with Clinical Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are the most frequently diagnosed form of psychopathology in children and often result in chronic impairment that persists into adulthood. Identifying neurobehavioral correlates of anxiety that appear relatively early in life would inform etiological models of development and allow intervention and prevention strategies to be implemented more effectively. The error-related negativity (ERN), a negative deflection in the event-related potential at fronto-central sites approximately 50 ms following the commission of errors, has been consistently found to be larger among anxious adults. The current study sought to extend these findings to even younger individuals: the ERN was elicited by a Go/NoGo task in 48 six year-old children with a clinical anxiety disorder assessed by diagnostic interview and 48 age-matched controls. In addition to child anxiety disorder, the ERN was examined in relation to maternal history of anxiety disorder, which was previously related to a smaller ERN. Anxious children were characterized by a larger (i.e., more negative) ERN and maternal history of anxiety disorder was associated with a smaller ERN. Thus, the relationship between an increased ERN and clinical anxiety is evident by age 6, and this effect appears independent from an opposing influence of maternal anxiety history on the ERN. These findings support the ERN as a promising neurobehavioral marker of anxiety, and implications are discussed.     

Neighborhood Crime and School Climate as Predictors of Elementary School Academic Quality: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis

Past research has found negative relationships between neighborhood structural disadvantage and students’ academic outcomes. Comparatively little work has evaluated the associations between characteristics of neighborhoods and schools themselves. This study explored the longitudinal, reciprocal relationships between neighborhood crime and school-level academic achievement within 500 urban schools. Results revealed that higher neighborhood crime (and particularly violent crime) predicted decreases in school academic achievement across time. School climate emerged as one possible mechanism within this relationship, with higher neighborhood crime predicting decreases in socioemotional learning and safety, but not academic rigor. All three dimensions of school climate were predictive of changes in academic achievement. Although this research supports a primarily unidirectional hypothesis of neighborhoods’ impacts on embedded settings, additional work is needed to understand these relationships using additional conceptualizations of neighborhood climate.     

Processing ordinality and quantity: ERP evidence of separate mechanisms

We report an event-related potential (ERP) experiment of ordinal processing exploring the relationship between ordinal and numerical information.     

The Broaching Attitudes and Behavior Survey (BABS): An Exploratory Assessment of Its Dimensionality

The continuum of broaching behavior is a conceptual framework explicating how counselors broach or have explicit discussions about racial, ethnic, and cultural factors with their clients during treatment ( Day‐Vines et al., 2007 ). Counselors can assume 5 particular broaching orientations: avoidant, isolating, continuing/incongruent, integrated/congruent, and infusing. The authors operationalized the continuum of broaching behavior using the Broaching Attitudes and Behavior Scale and found support for a 4‐factor model of broaching behavior. El espectro de comportamiento de abordamiento es un marco conceptual que explica cómo los consejeros abordan o tienen discusiones específicas sobre factores raciales, étnicos y culturales con sus clientes durante el tratamiento ( Day‐Vines et al., 2007 ). Los consejeros pueden asumir 5 orientaciones de abordamiento particulares: evasiva, aislante, continua/incongruente, integrada/congruente e infundida. Los autores operativizaron el espectro de comportamiento de abordamiento usando la Escala de Actitudes de Abordamiento y Comportamiento y hallaron respaldo para un modelo del comportamiento de abordamiento de 4 factores.     

Supporting Universal Prevention Programs: A Two-Phased Coaching Model

Schools are adopting evidence-based programs designed to enhance students’ emotional and behavioral competencies at increasing rates (Hemmeter et al. in Early Child Res Q 26:96–109, 2011). At the same time, teachers express the need for increased support surrounding implementation of these evidence-based programs (Carter and Van Norman in Early Child Educ 38:279–288, 2010). Ongoing professional development in the form of coaching may enhance teacher skills and implementation (Noell et al. in School Psychol Rev 34:87–106, 2005; Stormont et al. 2012). There exists a need for a coaching model that can be applied to a variety of teacher skill levels and one that guides coach decision-making about how best to support teachers. This article provides a detailed account of a two-phased coaching model with empirical support developed and tested with coaches and teachers in urban schools (Becker et al. 2013). In the initial universal coaching phase, all teachers receive the same coaching elements regardless of their skill level. Then, in the tailored coaching phase, coaching varies according to the strengths and needs of each teacher. Specifically, more intensive coaching strategies are used only with teachers who need additional coaching supports, whereas other teachers receive just enough support to consolidate and maintain their strong implementation. Examples of how coaches used the two-phased coaching model when working with teachers who were implementing two universal prevention programs (i.e., the PATHS^® curriculum and PAX Good Behavior Game [PAX GBG]) provide illustrations of the application of this model. The potential reach of this coaching model extends to other school-based programs as well as other settings in which coaches partner with interventionists to implement evidence-based programs.     

Promoting social responsibility amongst health care users: medical tourists’ perspectives on an information sheet regarding ethical concerns in medical tourism

Background

Medical tourists, persons that travel across international borders with the intention to access non-emergency medical care, may not be adequately informed of safety and ethical concerns related to the practice of medical tourism. Researchers indicate that the sources of information frequently used by medical tourists during their decision-making process may be biased and/or lack comprehensive information regarding individual safety and treatment outcomes, as well as potential impacts of the medical tourism industry on third parties. This paper explores the feedback from former Canadian medical tourists regarding the use of an information sheet to address this knowledge gap and raise awareness of the safety and ethical concerns related to medical tourism.

Results

According to feedback provided in interviews with former Canadian medical tourists, the majority of participants responded positively to the information sheet and indicated that this document prompted them to engage in further consideration of these issues. Participants indicated some frustration after reading the information sheet regarding a lack of know-how in terms of learning more about the concerns discussed in the document and changing their decision-making. This frustration was due to participants’ desperation for medical care, a topic which participants frequently discussed regarding ethical concerns related to health care provision.

Conclusions

The overall perceptions of former medical tourists indicate that an information sheet may promote further consideration of ethical concerns of medical tourism. However, given that these interviews were performed with former medical tourists, it remains unknown whether such a document might impact upon the decision-making of prospective medical tourists. Furthermore, participants indicated a need for an additional tool such as a website for continued discussion about these concerns. As such, along with dissemination of the information sheet, future research implications should include the development of a website for ongoing discussion that could contribute to a raised awareness of these concerns and potentially increase social responsibility in the medical tourism industry.

     

Demonstrating how unfamiliar faces become familiar using a face matching task

Two experiments examine a novel method of assessing face familiarity that does not require explicit identification of presented faces. Earlier research (Clutterbuck & Johnston, 2002; Young, Hay, McWeeny, Flude, & Ellis, 1985) has shown that different views of the same face can be matched more quickly for familiar than for unfamiliar faces. This study examines whether exposure to previously novel faces allows the speed with which they can be matched to be increased, thus allowing a means of assessing how faces become familiar. In Experiment 1, participants viewed two sets of unfamiliar faces presented for either many, short intervals or for few, long intervals. At test, previously familiar (famous) faces were matched more quickly than novel faces or learned faces. In addition, learned faces seen on many, brief occasions were matched more quickly than the novel faces or faces seen on fewer, longer occasions. However, this was only observed when participants performed “different” decision matches. In Experiment 2, the similarity between face pairs was controlled more strictly. Once again, matches were performed on familiar faces more quickly than on unfamiliar or learned items. However, matches made to learned faces were significantly faster than those made to completely novel faces. This was now observed for both same and different match decisions. The use of this matching task as a means of tracking how unfamiliar faces become familiar is discussed.     

Recognizing moving faces: a psychological and neural synthesis

Information for identifying a human face can be found both in the invariant structure of features and in idiosyncratic movements and gestures. When both kinds of information are available, psychological evidence indicates that: (1) dynamic information contributes more to recognition under non-optimal viewing conditions, e.g. poor illumination, low image resolution, recognition from a distance; (2) dynamic information contributes more as a viewer's experience with the face increases; and (3) a structure-from-motion analysis can make a perceptually based contribution to face recognition. A recently proposed distributed neural system for face perception, with minor modifications, can accommodate the psychological findings with moving faces.