Computerized attention training - an intervention with older adults

Ageing may have an impact on a variety of physical and health related aspects. In particular cognitive ageing may reflect decline in executive functioning, memory and speed of information processing (Glisky, 2007) as well as fluid intelligence (Salthouse, 2004). The present study assessed whether cognitive training aimed to improve attention in children - Computerised Progressive Attention Training (CPAT; Shalev et al., 2007), can be used to improve symptoms of cognitive ageing (as well as motor control) in older adults. Participants were randomly assigned to either the control or experimental group. For the experimental group CPAT was used during 3 consecutive weeks for three 1-hour sessions each week. For the control group widely available computer games were used for the same duration and frequency. Both groups were assessed before and immediately after the 3-week intervention on motor and visual attention related tasks. Contrasting the two groups’ performance on these tasks revealed substantial differences following training. Participants in the experimental group were faster and less erratic and showed improved performance in untrained tasks including a general improvement in speed of processing. Increased measures of wellbeing were also apparent. Results provide initial evidence to support the efficacy of attention training in older adults

Trolling the trolls: Online Forum Users Constructions of the Nature and Properties of Trolling

‘Trolling’ refers to a specific type of malicious online behaviour, intended to disrupt interactions, aggravate interactional partners and lure them into fruitless argumentation. However, as with other categories, both ‘troll’ and ‘trolling’ may have multiple, inconsistent and incompatible meanings, depending upon the context in which the term is used and the aims of the person using the term. Drawing data from 14 online fora and newspaper comment threads, this paper explores how online users mobilise and make use of the term ‘troll’. Data was analysed from a discursive psychological perspective. Four repertoires describing trolls were identified in posters' online messages: 1) that trolls are easily identifiable; 2) nostalgia; 3) vigilantism; 4) that trolls are nasty. A final theme follows these repertoires – that of identifying trolls. Analysis also revealed that despite repertoire 01, identifying trolls is not a simple and straight-forward task. Similarly to any other rhetorical category, there are tensions inherent in posters' accounts of nature and acceptability of trolling. Neither the category ‘troll’ nor the action of ‘trolling’ has a single, fixed meaning. Either action may be presented as desirable or undesirable, depending upon the aims of the poster at the time of posting

Factors influencing singleton search and cognitive intervention with older adults

The current thesis aimed to investigate visual attention in relation to the effects of stored knowledge and ageing, as well as the contribution of top-down and bottom-up processes in visual search. A first set of experiments focused on ‘singleton search’. The performance of younger adults was compared to older adults. Results of these experiments revealed evidence that the presence of a singleton distractor can sometimes facilitate search as reported by Geng & DiQuattro (2010). Apparent differences between the groups were found to be attributable to the ageing process. In the second set of experiments examined the impact of stored knowledge and colour associations on search. Results of these experiments indicated an impact of stored knowledge. Again, apparent differences between the groups on these 2 experiments were found to be attributable to the ageing process. Finally I carried out a cognitive intervention aimed at improving attention and working memory in older adults, and compared the performance of an intervention group to a control group. Results demonstrated that this computerised attention training programme (CPAT) can improve cognitive functions which otherwise decline with age. The implications of these findings are discussed, and suggestions made for future research

Comparison of the Interactions of Transferrin Receptor and Transferrin Receptor 2 with Transferrin and the Hereditary Hemochromatosis Protein HFE

The transferrin receptor (TfR) interacts with two proteins important for iron metabolism, transferrin (Tf) and HFE, the protein mutated in hereditary hemochromatosis. A second receptor for Tf, TfR2, was recently identified and found to be functional for iron uptake in transfected cells (Kawabata, H., Germain, R. S., Vuong, P. T., Nakamaki, T., Said, J. W., and Koeffler, H. P. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 16618-16625). TfR2 has a pattern of expression and regulation that is distinct from TfR, and mutations in TfR2 have been recognized as the cause of a non-HFE linked form of hemochromatosis (Camaschella, C., Roetto, A., Cali, A., De Gobbi, M., Garozzo, G., Carella, M., Majorano, N., Totaro, A., and Gasparini, P. (2000) Nat. Genet. 25, 14-15). To investigate the relationship between TfR, TfR2, Tf, and HFE, we performed a series of binding experiments using soluble forms of these proteins. We find no detectable binding between TfR2 and HFE by co-immunoprecipitation or using a surface plasmon resonance-based assay. The affinity of TfR2 for iron-loaded Tf was determined to be 27 nM, 25-fold lower than the affinity of TfR for Tf. These results imply that HFE regulates Tf-mediated iron uptake only from the classical TfR and that TfR2 does not compete for HFE binding in cells expressing both forms of TfR

Video summarization by group scoring

In this paper a new model for user-centered video summarization is presented. Involvement of more than one expert in generating the final video summary should be regarded as the main use case for this algorithm. This approach consists of three major steps. First, the video frames are scored by a group of operators. Next, these assigned scores are averaged to produce a singular value for each frame and lastly, the highest scored video frames alongside the corresponding audio and textual contents are extracted to be inserted into the summary. The effectiveness of this approach has been evaluated by comparing the video summaries generated by this system against the results from a number of automatic summarization tools that use different modalities for abstraction

Arts and creativity for people with severe mental illness. A rapid realist review

This review inquires into the role of participatory arts and creativity for people who live with severe mental illness (SMI). A rapid realist informed approach was taken to explore what works from the perspectives of people with SMI, artists and facilitators. This review was intended to be responsive to limited time and resources for knowledge development in an area which has been relatively neglected. The literature review and stakeholder consultation group at the centre of this review revealed that the arts and creativity have an important role for people with severe mental illness in generating outcomes of social connectedness, an identity beyond diagnosis, self belief and compassion (for self and others). Long-term community arts projects are particularly valued by participants but even shorter term initiatives can be worthwhile. This review also revealed some of the difficulties experienced in maintaining community arts groups including conflicting expectations from participants and problems with funding. Finally, we identified gaps in knowledge, including a lack of understanding about the role of every day creativity for people with SMI and an absence in questioning how arts and creativity for everyone might be positively impacted by those with an SMI

Perspective-taking and social competence in adults

Theory of mind (ToM) research assumes an idealized ability in adults (Begeer et al., 2010). Links between ToM and social skills are often presupposed and some researchers argue that claims about the relationship between the two are often broad and unjustified (Hughes & Leekam, 2004; Liddle & Nettle, 2006). Perspective-taking (PT) has been heavily implicated in social cognition (Ruby & Decety, 2004) and is commonly placed under the title of ToM (Baron-Cohen, 2000). However, it is suggested that ToM and PT are not the same skills and may in fact be two distinct forms of social cognition (Cutting & Dunn, 1999). The current study explored the relationship between PT and social skills within a typically developed adult population. Eighty participants completed the Social Skills Inventory (SSI, Riggio & Carney, 2003) in addition to a computerised PT task. Greater PT ability was associated with greater social ability. Expressivity and control scores were predicted by PT ability, indicating that greater PT ability is predictive of greater control skills and expressivity skills in individuals and vice versa. Greater emotional intelligence has been associated with superior PT ability and higher expressivity in individuals (Goleman, 1995; Schutte et al., 2001). We suggest that emotional intelligence could be contributing to the relationship between expressivity and PT. Additionally, as both control behaviors and PT abilities place a demand on cognitive resources (Richards & Gross, 2000; Surtees et al., 2016), we argue that the same executive processes are utilized in both abilities

Running Records as a reading assessment strategy to support reading instruction in South African Foundation Phase classrooms

Vanuit internasionale en nasionale studies kan waargeneem word dat Suid-Afrikaanse grondslagfaseleerders sukkel om basiese leesvaardighede aan die einde van die fase te bemeester. Moontlike redes hiervoor is dat onderwysers ondoeltreffende leesassesseringstrategieë in hul klaskamers aanwend, en onakkurate pedagogie en leeskonteks gebruik om leesprobleme te identifiseer en leesvaardighede vir leerders te leer. Akkurate identifisering van leerders se leesprobleme is noodsaaklik om leesonderrigbeplanning, pedagogie en die onderrig van leesvaardighede korrek in te gee. Effektiewe ingryping en ’n leesassesseringstrategie is noodsaaklik om leerders se leesstruikelblokke aan te spreek en hulle leesvaardighede te verbeter. Running Records (RR) is ’n leesassesseringstrategie wat onderwysers moontlik kan ondersteun om leesprobleme te identifiseer en leesonderrig te rig. In hierdie kwalitatiewe studie is die moontlikheid om RR as ’n leesassesseringstrategie in Suid-Afrikaanse grondslagfaseklaskamers te gebruik vanuit ’n interpretivistiese paradigma ondersoek, en in hierdie artikel word ’n opsommende verslag hieroor gelewer. Die studie is gegrond in die geletterdheidsprosesseringsteorie en die onderwyseragentskapsteorie. Die geletterdheidsprosesseringsteorie is toegespits op die wyse waarop leerders geletterdheidsvaardighede ontwikkel en verkry, terwyl die onderwyseragentskapsteorie sigself toelê op die manier waarop onderwysers hul professionele mag en identiteit gebruik om leesassessering in die klaskamer toe te pas. In hierdie studie het sewe deelnemers (onderwysers) opleiding in die gebruik van RR ontvang. Daarna het hulle RR in hul klaskamers aangewend en terugvoer gelewer oor die uitvoerbaarheid van hierdie strategie in Suid-Afrikaanse grondslagfaseklaskamers. Daar is bevind dat RR die potensiaal het om geldige, betroubare en bestendige inligting op te lewer om leesonderrigbeplanning, pedagogie en leesvaardighede van leerders in te gee sodat leerders se leesstruikelblokke die hoof gebied kan word. Die bevindinge het ook aangedui dat RR leesonderrig akkuraat kan ingee slegs as onderwysers hoëgehalte-opleiding ontvang in die akkurate aanwending en gebruik daarvan. Derhalwe moet daar duidelike riglyne en opleiding verskaf word vir die gebruik van RR en moet onderwysers bereid wees om opleiding oor die gebruik van RR by te woon.International and national studies have extensively reported on the poor reading outcomes of South African foundation phase learners. PIRLS reported that 78% of South African learners cannot read for meaning. Before readers can read for meaning, they must have mastered components of reading that include phonological awareness, decoding, word recognition, vocabulary knowledge, fluency and comprehension. It has been reported that reading assessment strategies that fail to identify learners’ reading needs and barriers in the classroom, as well as inappropriate reading instruction and pedagogy, contribute to poor reading outcomes. School practices also ignore the value of formative reading assessment, which aggravates poor reading outcomes. The accurate and early identification of learners’ reading needs and barriers is essential to inform the instructional planning and pedagogy of reading and the acquisition of reading skills. A need exists for a reading assessment strategy that validly, reliably and accurately identifies learners’ reading needs and barriers and can ultimately inform reading instructional decisions and planning. Reading assessment refers to the continuous process a teacher uses during different types of assessment (diagnostic, formative or summative) to gain information about learners’ reading ability, including their reading fluency, phonological awareness, phonics knowledge, decoding skills, vocabulary span, comprehension and self-correction pace. The purpose of reading assessment, especially in the foundation phase, is to assess a reader’s current performance in all these components of reading and to indicate in which areas of reading the reader needs more support. The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefits and limitations of RR and to determine whether, and if so, how RR can inform reading instruction planning and remove reading barriers. RR is an oral reading assessment strategy that can help teachers to identify reading barriers and inform reading instructional planning by systematically observing, monitoring and recording learners’ literacy processing skills and reading behaviour. Reading behaviour refers to the cognitive process and strategies readers use when they read, make errors and correct them by implementing reading strategies or reading cues. RR enables teachers to identify a reader’s accuracy rate, error rate and self-correction rate. The information provided about learners’ reading behaviour can help teachers make informed decisions about reading instruction and plan possible interventions. RR is based on Mary Clay’s literacy processing theory, which supports RR from a theoretical-pedagogical perspective and focuses on how learners develop and acquire literacy skills and on the decision-making strategies a learner uses while reading. However, in this study participants’ professional agency also played a key role – this theory deals with the way teachers use their professional power and identity to apply reading assessment in the classroom. It is based on teachers’ professional actions and the decisions they made in the past to form decisions and actions for the present. This qualitative exploratory case study aimed to establish collaborative and empowering partnerships with the participants to gain greater insight into their views of RR as a reading assessment strategy for the South African foundation phase classroom. An interpretivist paradigm was used to conduct the research and analyse the data. Seven participants were selected through purposive non-probability sampling. These participants were all qualified South African foundation phase teachers with more than two years’ teaching experience. They attended an online workshop on the use of RR, then applied it in their classrooms and provided feedback on the benefits and feasibility of this reading assessment strategy (specifically in South African foundation phase classrooms) and the limitations and challenges they experienced while implementing RR. For data collection we used online questionnaires before the online workshop to determine the teachers’ existing knowledge of RR and reading assessment. After the online workshop, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. Anecdotal notes were also collected in order to investigate the ways in which the participants had implemented RR. All the data was analysed using inductive content analysis in Atlas.ti qualitative analysis software. Ethical clearance was also obtained to conduct this research. RR was found to provide reliable, valid and consistent information to use for reading instruction if implemented correctly and consistently. Moreover, it is a standardised strategy, has a logical layout, helps teachers identify learners’ reading behaviour and errors, guides future reading instruction, provides evidence of a learner’s reading progress, is a learner-centred strategy, does not disadvantage any learner and can be used in foundation phase classrooms. The limitations of RR that emerged from the data concern its implementation, which can be time-consuming and hampered by a school’s lack of funds. Furthermore, insufficient training of teachers in the use of RR can result in RR notes’ not being reliable, valid and consistent. It was also evident from the findings that if RR is not implemented consistently and accurately, it can benefit some learners but disadvantage others. Furthermore, teachers may have insufficient knowledge and skills to select suitable reading material and may fail to test certain aspects of reading. However, the limitations of RR can be overcome if the time needed and the classroom size are taken into account. RR must also be implemented continuously throughout the year if it is to present a comprehensive picture of a learner’s reading skills. If RR is implemented consistently and continuously, it has the potential to produce valid, reliable and consistent information that could inform reading instruction planning, pedagogy and improve the reading skills of foundation phase learners. However, the findings also indicated that RR can accurately inform reading instruction only if teachers receive high-quality training in its accurate application and use. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers be given clear guidelines and training in the use of RR. This article contains a detailed summary report on this as well as recommendations for future research.http://www.litnet.co.za/category/akademies/litnet-akademiehj2023Early Childhood EducationEducational Psycholog