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

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

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

Multiple Populations in Globular Clusters: The Possible Contributions of Stellar Collisions

Globular clusters were thought to be simple stellar populations, but recent photometric and spectroscopic evidence suggests that the clusters' early formation history was more complicated. In particular, clusters show star-to-star abundance variations, and multiple sequences in their colour-magnitude diagrams. These effects seem to be restricted to globular clusters, and are not found in open clusters or the field. In this paper, we combine the two competing models for these multiple populations and include a consideration of the effects of stellar collisions. Collisions are one of the few phenomena which occur solely in dense stellar environments like (proto-)globular clusters. We find that runaway collisions between massive stars can produce material which has abundances comparable to the observed second generations, but that very little total mass is produced by this channel. We then add the contributions of rapidly-rotating massive stars (under the assumption that massive stars are spun up by collisions and interactions), and the contribution of asymptotic giant branch stars. We find that collisions can help produce the extreme abundances which are seen in some clusters. However, the total amount of material produced in these generations is still too small (by at least a factor of 10) to match the observations. We conclude with a discussion of the additional effects which probably need to be considered to solve this particular problem.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. Accepted by MNRA

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

‘It's a shot, not a vaccine like MMR’: A new type of vaccine-specific scepticism on Twitter/X during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: While it is well-known that vaccine hesitancy can be vaccine-specific, little is known about how people spontaneously evaluate different vaccines in comparison with one another, or the implications of such comparisons for vaccine attitudes. This paper first investigates how people posting on Twitter/X in 2020–2022 discussed the MMR vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccines in relation to each other. Next it reveals a new manifestation of vaccine scepticism, namely the claim that some vaccines, notably those against COVID-19, are in fact not vaccines. Methods: A 9-million-word ‘corpus’ was created, consisting of tweets containing references to the MMR vaccine posted in 2008–2022. First, tweets posted in 2020–2022 and also containing references to COVID-19 were coded for: (1) vaccine-specific evaluation, and (2) vaccine-related topic. Then, the whole corpus was analysed for tweets that contain expressions that challenge the status of a vaccine as a vaccine (e.g. ‘not a vaccine’, and the use of ‘shot’ in contrast with ‘vaccine’). Results: In 2020–2022, tweets mentioning COVID-19 alongside MMR show an increasing tendency to compare the COVID-19 vaccines unfavourably with MMR, based on perceived low effectiveness against infection. A further analysis of the whole corpus reveals: • A tendency in 2020–2022 to challenge the status of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as flu vaccines, as vaccines; • A perceived contrast in 2020–2022 between ‘shot’ and ‘vaccine’, with the former being described as an inferior medical intervention. • Very little evidence of similar arguments being made about any vaccines in 2008–2019. Conclusion: Data from Twitter/X suggests that perceptions about low effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines against infection have led to a belief that they are inferior to MMR and other vaccines, or are not vaccines at all. It is important to address this new form of scepticism about vaccines that primarily prevent serious illness

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