Cognitive Task Analysis for Implicit Knowledge About Visual Representations With Similarity Learning Methods

Visual representations are prevalent in STEM instruction. To benefit from visuals, students need representational competencies that enable them to see meaningful information. Most research has focused on explicit conceptual representational competencies, but implicit perceptual competencies might also allow students to efficiently see meaningful information in visuals. Most common methods to assess students’ representational competencies rely on verbal explanations or assume explicit attention. However, because perceptual competencies are implicit and not necessarily verbally accessible, these methods are ill‐equipped to assess them. We address these shortcomings with a method that draws on similarity learning, a machine learning technique that detects visual features that account for participants’ responses to triplet comparisons of visuals. In Experiment 1, 614 chemistry students judged the similarity of Lewis structures and in Experiment 2, 489 students judged the similarity of ball‐and‐stick models. Our results showed that our method can detect visual features that drive students’ perception and suggested that students’ conceptual knowledge about molecules informed perceptual competencies through top‐down processes. Furthermore, Experiment 2 tested whether we can improve the efficiency of the method with active sampling. Results showed that random sampling yielded higher accuracy than active sampling for small sample sizes. Together, the experiments provide the first method to assess students’ perceptual competencies implicitly, without requiring verbalization or assuming explicit visual attention. These findings have implications for the design of instructional interventions that help students acquire perceptual representational competencies.     

Die höchste Gottheit bei den kulturarmen Völkern

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Der Analogiebegriff in der modernen Phyfik

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

How Couple- and Parenting-Focused Programs Affect Child Behavioral Problems: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The significance of enhancing parenting skills to reduce child maladjustment is well-established and supports the important role of evidence-based parenting programs. However, the notion that parenting should be the exclusive focus for enhancing child behavior is necessarily limiting. Evidence is growing that relationship-oriented treatments may be another powerful approach to improve child adjustment, albeit the underlying effects in couple- versus parenting-focused programs have been subject to limited study. The aim of this RCT was to compare the treatment effects of (1) a couple-focused program (the Couples Coping Enhancement Training) to (2) a parenting training (Triple P) and (3) a control group on children’s behavioral problems in 150 couples. The parents’ perceptions of relationship quality, parenting behavior, and child’s behavioral problems were assessed by means of questionnaires completed prior to and 2 weeks after the end of the treatment. Multi-group path analyses revealed that in mothers’ perception the couple-focused program reduced child behavioral problems by enhancing the relationship quality whereas improved parenting mediated the benefits in the parenting training. In fathers’ evaluations the couple-focused program reduced dysfunctional parenting which largely accounted for the benefits in child adjustment. The dearth of research on child outcomes in couple-focused intervention studies is a striking gap that should be overcome. It is a promising field because of its evident potential to foster the health of many children.     

Trust or Distrust Toward Healthcare Services: Breast Screening in the North and South of Italy

This article follows a previous study that has recently been published in Narrare I Gruppi and explored the reasons for the large numeric gap between the regions of the North and South of Italy, referring to the breast cancer screening program adherence rate sponsored by the Italian Healthcare System, that addresses all women living in Italy ranging in age between 48 and 69 years, and proposes a free mammogram every two years. The effectiveness of cancer early detections has been widely demonstrated by medical research; this kind of diagnosis is particularly important in the case of breast cancer. A diagnosis of this form of cancer at its early phases in 97% of cases allows women to survive at least five years after it. However, the different level of trust women feel for healthcare structures is the discriminating element between the North and South of Italy for their access to the screening program. This topic will be thoroughly analyzed by presenting the results of research aimed at evaluating the meaning given to the outcomes of a first exploratory study, this second study also offers the opportunity to share our results within the social context that has generated them. The outcomes of the present research have been presented to a group of “privileged witnesses” living in the South (Naples and its surroundings): 12 women aging from 49 to 65, and 5 healthcare workers (one doctor, 25 two nurses, and two Local Health Authority supervisors); they took part in three Focus Groups for an in-depth look of the theme in question. The analyses of the groups' debates, carried out by means of a software for text analysis (T-LAB), confirmed the results of the previous research: the diffidence and lack of synergy between institutions and healthcare workers are the causes of southern women's lack of participation to the breast cancer screening program. In particular, the comparison between women's and workers' viewpoints shows a different emotional connotation about the possibility to improve participation to the screening: the workers' optimism countervails women's distrust and pessimism.     

The relationship between childhood adversity,psychiatric disorder and clinical severity: results from a multi-centre study

Although several studies have shown a clear association between childhood adversities and later development of a number of psychiatric disorders, a number of recent reports have cast doubts regarding the aetiological role played by abuse, neglect and loss, arguing that they are neither necessary nor sufficient to account for the development of subsequent psychopathology. In this study, we aimed to investigate the associations and predictive power of childhood adversities on later onset of Axis-I &-II psychiatric conditions and the impact on severity of psychiatric presentation in a large sample of patients. This cross-sectional multi-centre study evaluated patients (N = 1136) recruited in fourteen NHS psychotherapy departments in the UK. Patients were assessed using a number of rater-based questionnaires and self-rated measures. Multiple regression analyses showed that childhood experiences of loss and physical abuse were predictive of severe personality disorder and borderline personality disorder, but not of other less severe PD and Axis-I diagnoses. Sexual abuse predicted later onset of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. In addition, we found that childhood abusive experiences were strongly associated with severity of psychiatric distress, interpersonal problems and global functioning. Having experienced two or more childhood adversities significantly increased severity of psychiatric distress, interpersonal malfunctioning and CORE scores.