Seeing 'REDD'?: Forests, Climate Change Mitigation and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Examines proposals for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) and their failure to protect indigenous peoples' rights or to address forest governance problems. Calls for talks to include civil society and indigenous peoples

Sampling Assumptions Affect Use of Indirect Negative Evidence in Language Learning.

A classic debate in cognitive science revolves around understanding how children learn complex linguistic patterns, such as restrictions on verb alternations and contractions, without negative evidence. Recently, probabilistic models of language learning have been applied to this problem, framing it as a statistical inference from a random sample of sentences. These probabilistic models predict that learners should be sensitive to the way in which sentences are sampled. There are two main types of sampling assumptions that can operate in language learning: strong and weak sampling. Strong sampling, as assumed by probabilistic models, assumes the learning input is drawn from a distribution of grammatical samples from the underlying language and aims to learn this distribution. Thus, under strong sampling, the absence of a sentence construction from the input provides evidence that it has low or zero probability of grammaticality. Weak sampling does not make assumptions about the distribution from which the input is drawn, and thus the absence of a construction from the input as not used as evidence of its ungrammaticality. We demonstrate in a series of artificial language learning experiments that adults can produce behavior consistent with both sets of sampling assumptions, depending on how the learning problem is presented. These results suggest that people use information about the way in which linguistic input is sampled to guide their learning

Finding the traces of behavioral and cognitive processes in big data and naturally occurring datasets.

Today, people generate and store more data than ever before as they interact with both real and virtual environments. These digital traces of behavior and cognition offer cognitive scientists and psychologists an unprecedented opportunity to test theories outside the laboratory. Despite general excitement about big data and naturally occurring datasets among researchers, three gaps stand in the way of their wider adoption in theory-driven research: the imagination gap, the skills gap, and the culture gap. We outline an approach to bridging these three gaps while respecting our responsibilities to the public as participants in and consumers of the resulting research. To that end, we introduce Data on the Mind ( http://www.dataonthemind.org ), a community-focused initiative aimed at meeting the unprecedented challenges and opportunities of theory-driven research with big data and naturally occurring datasets. We argue that big data and naturally occurring datasets are most powerfully used to supplement-not supplant-traditional experimental paradigms in order to understand human behavior and cognition, and we highlight emerging ethical issues related to the collection, sharing, and use of these powerful datasets

Cultural transmission results in convergence towards colour term universals.

As in biological evolution, multiple forces are involved in cultural evolution. One force is analogous to selection, and acts on differences in the fitness of aspects of culture by influencing who people choose to learn from. Another force is analogous to mutation, and influences how culture changes over time owing to errors in learning and the effects of cognitive biases. Which of these forces need to be appealed to in explaining any particular aspect of human cultures is an open question. We present a study that explores this question empirically, examining the role that the cognitive biases that influence cultural transmission might play in universals of colour naming. In a large-scale laboratory experiment, participants were shown labelled examples from novel artificial systems of colour terms and were asked to classify other colours on the basis of those examples. The responses of each participant were used to generate the examples seen by subsequent participants. By simulating cultural transmission in the laboratory, we were able to isolate a single evolutionary force-the effects of cognitive biases, analogous to mutation-and examine its consequences. Our results show that this process produces convergence towards systems of colour terms similar to those seen across human languages, providing support for the conclusion that the effects of cognitive biases, brought out through cultural transmission, can account for universals in colour naming

Work-related stress case definitions and prevalence rates in national surveys

Background: There is concern about lack of consistency in the design of case definitions used to measure work-related stress in national workforce surveys and the implications of this for the reliability and validity of prevalence estimates as well as for developments in policy and practice on tackling work-related stress. Aims: To examine associations between case definitions used for the measurement of work-related stress in nationally representative workforce surveys and the prevalence rates generated. Methods: The study focused on 18 nationally representative workforce surveys conducted between 1995 and 2008 that involved British samples. The published report from each survey was scrutinized for evidence of the case definition used to measure work-related stress and the associated prevalence rate. Results: Several types of case definition were identified that differed in terms of their theoretical basis, structure, and content. Each was associated with a unique range of prevalence rates. Conclusions: The results illustrate the challenge presented to the production of valid and reliable estimates of the scale of work-related stress by inconsistent case definition design. The imperative for theory-based consistency in the design of case definitions used for the measurement of work-related stress in national workforce surveys is highlighted

How are English language teachers supported to develop professional knowledge and practice, within their schools? Qualitative Study

This was a small-scale, qualitative study into the experiences of ‘support in school for improving knowledge and practice of ELT’ amongst teachers participating in a large- scale, quantitative, quasi-experimental (QE) study (EIA, 2017). The purpose of the study was to identify the nature of ‘support in school’ for the introduction of improved classroom practices, as experienced by teachers. The study sought to explore aspects deliberately incorporated in the EIA School- Based Teacher Development (SBTD) programme (the treatment in the QE study) but which could also occur through other mechanisms (in control schools) such as: * Teachers purposefully introducing communicative language teaching activities that were previously unfamiliar to themselves or their students. * Teachers individually or collaboratively studying, planning, practicing or reflecting upon activities to improve their own English language proficiency, or that of their students * The attitudes and actions of those in positions of authority in schools, such as head teachers and education officers. The study addressed the following research questions: 1. In the setting of the school1, how are English Language Teachers supported to develop their subject or pedagogic knowledge and their classroom practice? 2. How do contextual factors affect English Language Teachers experiences of support in the setting of their schools? 3. Are there identifiable relationships between English Language Teachers’ qualitative experiences of support in the setting of their schools, and the findings of quantitative studies of classroom practices or student learning outcomes

Access to Eye-Gaze Control Technology for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Children with cerebral palsy (CP), whose disability may limit speech production and motor skills, are often considered good candidates for the use of eye-gaze technology to access communication, learning and play. At present, little is known about the skills needed to control this technology, which can make it difficult for clinicians to make decisions, or to manage expectations around progress. This is further complicated by the emergence of “teaching” software packages, claiming to improve basic skills such as cause and effect. Children with CP are known to be at a higher risk of vision disorders, including those related to functional vision – how a child functions in vision related activities. These skills (in particular fixation and gaze switching) are similar to those required to make use of eye-gaze technology, so are likely to impact on children’s performance. This thesis uses typically developing children to provide baseline information and to observe how they respond to tasks which were incrementally lowered in terms of cognitive demand. Over three rounds of experiments a pattern emerged that children aged 32 months were able to use it with only minimal instruction. The impact of teaching on performance was also investigated in this section of the study. A group of children with CP were recruited to investigate the most effective way of assessing functional vision skills in this group, with results indicating behavioural measures were most effective. A final study with children with CP used the activities above to look at the performance of this group on eye-gaze tasks. Results suggested good functional gaze control skills were related to better performance on a novel eye-gaze task. The findings suggest that some children may be at a “developmental advantage” if their functional vision and cognitive skills are more developed

Reaction to Hunsucker and Davison\u27s Vision and Signal Detection

Hunsucker and Davison have authored an important paper that draws upon physiology and engineering to identify a series of lifeguard scanning techniques. It could have been stronger if it also included attention to psychological perceptual variables such as body blindness. The author argues in support of the need for and acceptance of much more peer reviewed research in lifeguarding