Ostensive Cueing, Epistemic Trust, and Reflective Functioning: A Conceptual Review and Exploration of a Quantitative Paradigm

Paper 1: Learning within a social context is a key feature of human development and communication, and there are numerous different theories attempting to explain the processes and mechanisms by which it occurs. This conceptual introduction intends to synthesize the varying concepts and frameworks within the social learning literature into a clearer narrative which further empirical research could use as a foundation. It will review frameworks from social-cognitive and behavioural models that explain social learning mechanisms in infants, before exploring mentalization and epistemic trust as a new framework. This will include a review of the attachment theory literature and how this relates to epistemic trust and learning. The roots of epistemic trust will also be explored through psychoanalytic literature. Ostensive cues are noted to be of importance across the models, and their definition and role is critically examined. These fields will then be linked to the process of learning in adults, alongside an explanation of clinical implications for when these processes are disrupted throughout development and adult life. The field lacks a quantitative measure of epistemic trust, and this conceptual introduction will conclude by setting out research aims for the empirical paper to investigate this. Paper 2: Aims. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how implicit learning is linked to ostensive cues, epistemic trust, and a range of individual differences through a performance-based learning task. The impact of specific ostensive cueing forms (e.g., person vs computer) on implicit learning was also explored. Method. Participants were invited to complete demographics and individual difference questionnaires that included measures of attachment, Borderline Personality Disorder traits, reflective functioning, childhood trauma, and general mental wellbeing. They then completed an implicit learning task involving a mix of ostensive cues that came from the computer, a researcher, both, or neither. Results. Participants in the computer ostensive cueing condition recalled significantly less words, specifically fewer negative words, than those receiving no ostensive cueing or person ostensive cueing. There was no significant difference in accuracy scores. Individual difference measures did not significantly predict the total words recalled by participants when entered into the regression model. Conclusions. The findings from this study suggest a possible negative effect of computer ostensive cues on social learning. This does not align with results from previous research (Fillingham, 2018), and it casts some doubt on the effectiveness of the paradigm as a measure of epistemic trust. However, there are several limitations that require further research

Exploring the Efficacy of Audio Email Feedback in Information Management Assessment (ExAEF Project) : Final Report

Formative assessment generates feedback on students' performance, thereby accelerating and improving student learning. Anecdotal evidence gathered by a number of evaluations has hypothesised that audio feedback may be capable of enhancing student learning more than other approaches. A quasi-experimental study employing qualitative techniques for triangulation was conducted to formally evaluate the efficacy of formative audio feedback on student learning in a web technologies module. We focussed on the delivery of 'voice emails' to undergraduate students (n = 66) and attempted to evaluate the efficacy of such feedback in formative assessment and ergo students’ learning, as well as achieving a better understanding of students’ feedback behaviour post-delivery. The results indicated that audio feedback better conforms to existing models of ‘quality’ formative feedback as defined by the pedagogical research, can enhance the student learning experience and can be more efficient in feedback delivery. Despite this and high levels of feedback re-use by student participants, the audio treatment group underperformed in learning tasks when compared to the control group. The benefits to be gained when using audio feedback has led to its wider adoption within information and computer science teaching practice and greater use of formative assessment in taught modules

Investigating 'voice email' technology efficacy in information management assessment

This paper introduces the use of 'voice emails' as an approach to improving formative feedback and describes how such technology can be embedded within curricula. A quasi-experimental study was conducted with a student sample (n = 42) comparing audio and written approaches to feedback delivery. Student performance at formative and summative assessment points was analysed and the influence of the feedback format used was studied. The ability of voice emails to better meet recognised theoretical models of 'quality' formative feedback was also investigated using a specially designed web survey research instrument. Results reveal that in most instances voice email can better meet the conditions of formative feedback thus enhancing the student learning experience. Results from the study also suggest that voice email feedback, although offering many positive applications to lecturers, may not significantly improve the learning of students

Exploratory evaluation of audio email technology in formative assessment feedback

Formative assessment generates feedback on students’ performance, thereby accelerating and improving student learning. Anecdotal evidence gathered by a number of evaluations has hypothesised that audio feedback may be capable of enhancing student learning more than other approaches. In this paper we report on the preliminary findings of a quasi-experimental study employing qualitative techniques for triangulation, conducted to evaluate the efficacy of formative audio feedback on student learning. We focus on the delivery of ‘voice emails’ to undergraduate students (n = 24) and evaluate the efficacy of such feedback in formative assessment and ergo students' learning, as well as achieving a better understanding of students' feedback behaviour post-delivery. The results indicate that audio feedback better conforms to existing models of 'quality' formative feedback, can enhance the student learning experience and can be more efficient in feedback delivery. Despite this, and high levels of feedback re-use by student participants, the audio treatment group underperformed in learning tasks when compared with the control group. Differences between the groups were not statistically significant and analyses of individual and mean learning gains across the treatment group provide little indication of improvements in learning

Booderee National Park Management: Connecting science and management

A 10-year science-management partnership has focussed on three key issues within Booderee National Park in eastern Australia: the impacts of fire on native biota, the response of vertebrates to feral animal control and the control of Bitou Bush. What ha

Vegetation structure moderates the effect of fire on bird assemblages in a heterogeneous landscape

Ecological theory predicting the impact of fire on ecological communities is typically focused on post-disturbance recovery processes or on disturbance-diversity dynamics. Yet the established relationship between vegetation structure and animal diversit

Performance Auditing to Assess the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Indonesia

Regular assessment of progress on the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is crucial for achieving the goals by 2030 yet such assessments often require extensive resources and data. Here, we describe a method using performance auditing as a novel approach for assessing the implementation of SDGs that would be useful for countries with limited resources and data availability but might also provide an alternative to choosing particular goals and implementing them one at a time, for all countries. We argue that, instead of monitoring all 169 targets and 242 indicators, a country could assess the effectiveness of its governance arrangement as a way of ensuring that progress on implementing SDGs is on track, and hence improve the likelihood of achieving the SDGs by 2030. Indonesia is an archipelagic upper-middle-income country facing challenges in data availability and reliability, which limits accurate assessments of SDG implementation. We applied a standardized performance audit to assess the effectiveness of current governance arrangements for the implementation of SDGs. We used the Gephi 0.9.2 software (Open sourced program by The Gephi Concortium, Compiègne, France) to illustrate the regulatory coordination among public institutions. We found that Indonesia’s governance arrangements are not yet effective. They might be improved if Indonesia: (1) synchronize its SDG regulations; (2) redesigns its governance structure to be more fit for purpose; and (3) involves audit institutions in the SDG governance arrangements. These findings would likely apply to many other countries striving to implement the SDGs

Non-target impacts of weed control on birds, mammals, and reptiles

The impacts of invasive plant control on native animals are rarely evaluated. Using data from an eight-year study in southeastern Australia, we quantified the effects on native bird, mammal, and reptile species of (1) the abundance of the invasive Bitou Bush, Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. rotundata, and (2) a Bitou Bush control program, which involved repeated herbicide spraying interspersed with prescribed burning. We found that overall species richness of birds, mammals, and reptiles and the majority of individual vertebrate species were unresponsive to Bitou Bush cover and the number of plants. Two species including the nationally endangered Eastern Bristlebird (Dasyurus brachypterus) responded positively to measures of native vegetation cover following the control of Bitou Bush. Analyses of the effects of different components of the treatment protocol employed to control Bitou Bush revealed (1) no negative effects of spraying on vertebrate species richness; (2) negative effects of spraying on only one individual species (Scarlet Honeyeater); and (3) lower bird species richness but higher reptile species richness after fire. The occupancy of most individual vertebrates species was unaffected by burning; four species responded negatively and one positively to fire. Our study indicated that actions to remove Bitou Bush generally have few negative impacts on native vertebrates. We therefore suggest that controlling this highly invasive exotic plant species has only very limited negative impacts on vertebrate biota.This project was supported by grants by the Australian Research Council, the Department of the Environment and Energy, and the Department of Defence

Multimorbidity pattern and risk of dementia in later life: an 11-year follow-up study using a large community cohort and linked electronic health records

Background: Several long-term chronic illnesses are known to be associated with an increased risk of dementia independently, but little is known how combinations or clusters of potentially interacting chronic conditions may influence the risk of developing dementia. Methods: 447,888 dementia free participants of the UK Biobank cohort at baseline (2006 – 2010) were followed-up until 31 May 2020 with a median follow-up duration of 11.3 years to identify incident cases of dementia. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was used to identify multimorbidity patterns at baseline and covariate adjusted Cox regression was used to investigate their predictive effects on the risk of developing dementia. Potential effect moderations by C-reactive protein (CRP) and APOE genotype were assessed via statistical interaction. Results: LCA identified four multimorbidity clusters representing Mental health, Cardiometabolic, Inflammatory/autoimmune and Cancer related pathophysiology respectively. Estimated hazard ratios (HR) suggests that multimorbidity clusters dominated by Mental health (HR=2.12, p<0.001, 95%CI: 1.88 to 2.39), and Cardiometabolic conditions (2.02, p<0.001, 1.87 to 2.19) have the highest risk of developing dementia. Risk level for the Inflammatory/autoimmune cluster was intermediate (1.56, p<0.001, 1.37 to 1.78) and that for the Cancer cluster was least pronounced (1.36, p<0.001, 1.17 to 1.57). Contrary to expectation, neither C-reactive protein (CRP) nor APOE genotype was found to moderate the effects of multimorbidity clusters on the risk of dementia. Conclusions: Early identification of older adults at higher risk of accumulating multimorbidity of specific pathophysiology, and tailored interventions to prevent or delay the onset of such multimorbidity may help prevention of dementia