From introspections, brain scans, and memory tests to the role of social context:advancing research on interaction and learning

The goal of this epilogue is to use the methodological contributions of the studies presented in this special issue as a starting point for suggestions about methodology in conducting future interaction research. As is the case in most developing fields, interaction research develops methods internally as it continually borrows and extends techniques used in other disciplines and revitalizes older techniques by adding new or different angles unique to interaction. Interaction researchers have also begun to forge relationships in new areas (e.g., by working with psychologists and developing working memory [WM] tests). This sort of cooperation is an important step in the drive to uncover more information about the relationship between interaction and learning. As several contributors to this special issue have noted, the most recent advances in methodology have been driven by questions about how interaction works (as opposed to whether it works). In turn, some of the methodological innovations discussed here will also ultimately allow new questions to be asked. Indeed, the relationship between questions (i.e., suggestions about what needs to be investigated next) and methods (i.e., plans for how to carry out such investigations) is particularly close in interaction research, which is a relatively new but vibrant and quickly developing area. Consequently, this epilogue considers both methods and questions conjointly, beginning with a discussion of methodological issues in the most recent theorizing about the interaction hypothesis

Does A Mobile-Bearing Vs. Fixed-Bearing Total Knee Replacement Affect Post-Operative Knee Pain at One Year?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not a mobile-bearing vs. fixed-bearing total knee replacement affects post-operative knee pain at one year. STUDY DESIGN: Review of three English language primary studies, published between 2008 and 2012. DATA SOURCES: Three randomized controlled trials published after 2008 comparing post-operative knee pain in mobile vs. fixed-bearing total knee replacements using PubMed and Cochrane databases. OUTCOMES MEASURED: Knee pain, reported by patients post-operatively using various professional questionnaires, was the primary outcome measured. Subjects reported pain experienced during specific provoking activities on the EuroQol, Western Ontario & McMaster Universities OA Index, Knee Society Score, visual analog scales, Oxford 12-item Questionnaire, and SF-36. Results were then compared one year postoperatively. The tool used to assess significance of outcomes measured was p-value. RESULTS: One year post-operatively, Lampe et al showed no significant difference in post-operative knee pain in mobile vs. fixed-bearing knee replacements. Breugem et al demonstrated less knee pain when using the mobile-bearing implant. Jolles et al showed significantly less pain in the fixed-bearing knee implants in two of the questionnaires, but no difference in the three other evaluation methods, consequently deeming the study inconclusive. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the RCTs are inconclusive in determining whether or not type of implant affects post-operative knee pain one year after a total knee replacement. Further research may identify one of the implants as more effective in a particular gender or race

Characterizing Behavioral and Brain Changes Associated with Practicing Reasoning Skills

We have reported previously that intensive preparation for a standardized test that taxes reasoning leads to changes in structural and functional connectivity within the frontoparietal network. Here, we investigated whether reasoning instruction transfers to improvement on unpracticed tests of reasoning, and whether these improvements are associated with changes in neural recruitment during reasoning task performance. We found behavioral evidence for transfer to a transitive inference task, but no evidence for transfer to a rule generation task. Across both tasks, we observed reduced lateral prefrontal activation in the trained group relative to the control group, consistent with other studies of practice-related changes in brain activation. In the transitive inference task, we observed enhanced suppression of task-negative, or default-mode, regions, consistent with work suggesting that better cognitive skills are associated with more efficient switching between networks. In the rule generation task, we found a pattern consistent with a training-related shift in the balance between phonological and visuospatial processing. Broadly, we discuss general methodological considerations related to the analysis and interpretation of training-related changes in brain activation. In summary, we present preliminary evidence for changes in brain activation associated with practice of high-level cognitive skills.National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research FellowshipEunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U.S.) (F32HD079143-01

IRIS : a new resource for second language research

IRIS is a digital database of materials used to collect data for second language research that went fully live in August 2012. At the time of writing (May 2013), there have been over 3,300 downloads of materials held on the site, and almost 11,000 visits, demonstrating a clear need for the resource. IRIS has the potential to make a step-change in the way our field works, impacting the nature and rate of second language (L2) research. Here we outline the motivations for the project, what the IRIS database consists of, how it is structured, and the future of the resource

Focus on Research : IRIS for teachers and researchers

Instruments for Research Into Second Language Learning and Teaching (IRIS) is a digital repository of materials used to collect data for research into second and foreign language learning and teaching. Since its launch in August 2012, it has attracted considerable interest internationally, with more than 10,000 hits and around 2,500 downloads. One of the aims of the project, which benefits from a wide support network of leading journal editors, research and teaching associations, is to make instruments used to collect second language data more easily accessible for teachers, as well as for novice and experienced researchers. Here, we describe the resource and suggest how it is useful for teachers interested in research

Narratives, Information and Manifestations of Resistance to Persuasion in Online Discussions of HPV Vaccination

There are both theoretical accounts and empirical evidence for the fact that, in health communication, narratives (story telling) may have a persuasive advantage when compared with information (the provision of facts). The dominant explanation for this potential advantage is that narratives inhibit people’s resistance to persuasion, particularly in the form of counterarguing. Evidence in this area to date has most often been gathered through lab or field experiments. In the current study we took a novel approach, gathering our data from naturally-occurring, non-experimental and organically evolving online interactions about vaccinations. We focus on five threads from the parenting forum Mumsnet Talk that centered on indecision about the HPV vaccination. Our analysis revealed that narratives and information were used by posters in similar quantities as a means of providing vaccination-related advice. We also found similar frequencies of direct engagement with both narratives and information. However, our findings showed that narratives resulted in a significantly higher proportion of posts exhibiting supportive engagement, whereas information resulted in posts exhibiting a significantly higher proportion of challenges, including counterarguing and other manifestations of posters’ resistance to persuasion. The proportions of supportive versus challenging engagement also varied depending on the topic and vaccine stance of narratives. Notwithstanding contextual explanations for these patterns, our findings, based on this original approach of using naturalistic data, provide a novel kind of evidence for the potential of narratives to inhibit counterarguing in authentic health-related discourse

Interaction, corrective feedback, and the development of lexical stress

Recasts are probably the most commonly studied type of correct feedback by second language acquisition (SLA) researchers and there is substantial evidence that they facilitate different types of L2 development (Li, 2010; Mackey & Goo, 2007; Sheen & Ellis, 2011). However, to date, their impact on learners’ phonological development has received relatively little attention. In order to fill this gap, the current study examined the effects of recasts on the development of lexical stress in L2 English. Following a pretest-posttest design, 68 L1 Arabic speakers were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The pre- and posttests comprised sentence-reading and decision-making tasks that contained three-syllable words with stress on the second syllable as the target vocabulary. All learners participated in an interactive role-play task, with learners in the intervention group receiving a recast following misplaced primary stress during the role-play task and learners in the control group not receiving any form of corrective feedback. Acoustic analyses of learners’ primary stress placement focused on syllable duration, pitch, and intensity because of their established role as the main correlates of stress in English (Beckman, 1986; Cutler, 2008; Lieberman, 1960). Results demonstrated that the intervention group’s realizations of second syllables at the posttest exhibited statistically longer duration and higher pitch than their pretest productions, whereas the control group did not show any gains. Furthermore, acoustic analyses of the target words produced by the intervention group showed that the gains were limited to the words that received a recast. In sum, the findings showed a positive effect for recasts on the development of primary stress using acoustic analytical tools. Thus, this thesis contributes to the growing body of SLA research by revealing that recasts can promote development of primary stress placement, hence L2 phonology, a relatively understudied area within the interactionist strand of SLA

The role of artificial light at night and road density in predicting the seasonal occurrence of nocturnally migrating birds

The Leon Levy Foundation; The Wolf Creek Charitable Foundation; Lyda Hill Philanthropies; Amon G. Carter Foundation; National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Number: ABI sustaining DBI-1939187 and ICER-1927743. Computing support was provided by the National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Number: CNS-1059284 and CCF-1522054, and the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Number: ACI-1548562, through allocation TG-DEB200010 run on Bridges at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.Aim: Artificial light at night (ALAN) and roads are known threats to nocturnally migrating birds. How associations with ALAN and roads are defined in combination for these species at the population level across the full annual cycle has not been explored. Location: Western Hemisphere. Methods: We estimated range‐wide exposure, predictor importance and the prevalence of positive associations with ALAN and roads at a weekly temporal resolution for 166 nocturnally migrating bird species in three orders: Passeriformes (n = 104), Anseriformes (n = 27) and Charadriiformes (n = 35). We clustered Passeriformes based on the prevalence of positive associations. Results: Positive associations with ALAN and roads were more prevalent for Passeriformes during migration when exposure and importance were highest. Positive associations with ALAN and roads were more prevalent for Anseriformes and Charadriiformes during the breeding season when exposure was lowest. Importance was uniform for Anseriformes and highest during migration for Charadriiformes. Our cluster analysis identified three groups of Passeriformes, each having similar associations with ALAN and roads. The first occurred in eastern North America during migration where exposure, prevalence, and importance were highest. The second wintered in Mexico and Central America where exposure, prevalence and importance were highest. The third occurred throughout North America where prevalence was low, and exposure and importance were uniform. The first and second were comprised of dense habitat specialists and long‐distance migrants. The third was comprised of open habitat specialists and short distance migrants. Main conclusions: Our findings suggest ALAN and roads pose the greatest risk during migration for Passeriformes and during the breeding season for Anseriformes and Charadriiformes. Our results emphasise the close relationship between ALAN and roads, the diversity of associations dictated by taxonomy, exposure, migration strategy and habitat and the need for more informed and comprehensive mitigation strategies where ALAN and roads are treated as interconnected threats.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe