Verbal Information Research Articles

Relația dintre modalitățile de tratare a informațiilor şi potențialul de învățare

The relationship between information treatment modalities and learning potential. Neuropsychological research (Flessas and Lussier, 2001) focused on the simultaneous and sequential treatment of verbal or nonverbal information and developed the constructivist pedagogical theory and the interactive methodology for the acquisition of knowledge by pupils with learning disabilities in inclusive schools (Shimamura, 2008). Research in cognitive psychology (Kurtz, Borkowski, 1984; Nelson, Narens, 1990) explored metamemory and metacognition skills in relation to information treatment modalities and to the role of the pedagogical interactive methodology in developing the learning potential.

The Influence of Various Information About Insect Content and Its Advantages on the Acceptance of Foods Containing Insects

ABSTRACT Information about the content of food products affects the potential consumers’ willingness to purchase certain foodstuffs and include them in their diet. The presentation and scope of information are essential in the case of marketing specific products such as insect-based foods. The purpose of our study was to investigate the influence of information about a product’s advantages, coupled with verbal and visual information provided on the packaging, on the participants’ assessment of food containing insects. The participants (N = 659) were informed about the environmental or health benefits of ingesting insects. They were subsequently presented with a picture of a food product with different types of information about the insect content and asked to evaluate the product. The results suggest that providing images of insects on the packaging results in a lower assessment of the food containing insects. A brief presentation of the advantages of entomophagy has no impact on insect-based food assessment.

Can children and adolescents with ADHD use attention to maintain verbal information in working memory?

Children and adolescents with attentional-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) present deficits in working memory (WM), but accounts for this phenomenon are still lacking. In this study, we used two variations of a complex-span task to test whether a specific WM mechanism, attentional refreshing, causes these deficits. Attentional refreshing is a maintenance strategy based on the sequential switch of attention between maintaining and processing information in WM. Its use is evidenced by a decrease in recall performance proportional to the distraction of attention away from the memoranda. In this study, we designed two experiments requiring children and adolescents with ADHD symptoms to maintain sequences of letters for subsequent recall, while performing a distracting task. In Experiment 1, the distracting task consisted of reading digits aloud. In Experiment 2, it consisted in making spatial judgements. The pace of the distracting tasks was varied to manipulate the level of attentional distraction. We observed that recall in ADHD participants was higher in the distracting conditions that give attention more opportunity to refresh letters. Moreover, ADHD participants had a similar recall performance to their age-matched typically developing peers. This study shows first evidence that individuals with ADHD can use attention to maintain verbal information in WM and calls for more research to understand their WM development.

Utility of patient information leaflet and perceived impact of its use on medication adherence

BackgroundAlthough patients frequently use patient information leaflets (PILs) to obtain information about medicine, their confidence in using it may be diminished after reading it. This study aimed to assess the public perception of PIL's quality and the perceived impact of its use on medication adherence.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study of 1,138 adult individuals in Saudi Arabia, April–May 2020, was conducted via Survey Monkey using an anonymous validated e-questionnaire. Data were collected on personal characteristics, PIL readership and preferences, perception towards PIL quality and impact of its use on taking medication, and reasons for not reading PIL. In addition, logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the significant predictors of reading PIL. Significance was considered at p < 0.05.ResultsNearly all participants (91.1%) reported reading PIL. The more read PIL's sections were directions of use (52.7%) and side effects (30.3%). Female gender (OR = 5.64, 95%CI: 3.53,9.02), age over 40 years (OR = 2.80, 95%CI: 1.69,4.64), and secondary education or more (OR = 1.74, 95%CI: 1.06,2.85) were the significant predictors of reading PIL. The majority of PIL readers reported their preference for verbal information (65.8%), hard copy presentation (77%), adding graphics (71.1%), and concise content of PIL (68.8%). In addition, most participants reported PIL always/usually adds to their knowledge of medicines (70.6%) and said that PIL reading positively impacted their medication adherence (64.9%). For only 8.8%, PIL reading negatively impacted their adherence, primarily because of reading information on medicine's side effects and complications (74.4%). More than one-half of participants perceived the PIL quality as good/excellent in terms of; font size (51.3%), language comprehensiveness (64.9%), paper quality (68.0%), and general appearance (64.9%). Getting sufficient information from doctors and pharmacists was the main reason for not reading the PIL (59.2%). Most participants (92.5%) agreed on standardizing how information is displayed in the PIL among all PILs of all companies.ConclusionPIL is read by nearly all the study sample, especially females, older, and educated subjects. It was perceived as beneficial in upgrading medication adherence. Effective designing of PILs should focus on patients' literacy level and age. Standardization of the PIL structure in all pharmaceutical companies is recommended.

Differentiating depression using facial expressions in a virtual avatar communication system.

Depression has a major effect on the quality of life. Thus, identifying an effective way to detect depression is important in the field of human-machine interaction. To examine whether a combination of a virtual avatar communication system and facial expression monitoring potentially classifies people as being with or without depression, this study consists of three research aims; 1) to understand the effect of different types of interviewers such as human and virtual avatars, on people with depression symptoms, 2) to clarify the effect of neutral conversation topics on facial expressions and emotions in people with depression symptoms, and 3) to compare verbal and non-verbal information between people with or without depression. In this study, twenty-seven participants-fifteen in the control group and twelve in the depression symptoms group-were recruited. They were asked to talk to a virtual avatar and human interviewers on both neutral and negative conversation topics and to score PANAS; meanwhile, facial expressions were recorded by a web camera. Facial expressions were analyzed by both manual and automatic analyses. In the manual analysis, three annotators counted gaze directions and reacting behaviors. On the other hand, automatic facial expression detection was conducted using OpenFace. The results of PANAS suggested that there was no significance between different interviewers' types. Furthermore, in the control group, the frequency of look-downward was larger in negative conversation topics than in neutral conversation topics. The intensity of Dimpler was larger in the control group than in the depression symptoms group. Moreover, the intensity of Chin Raiser was larger in neutral conversation topics than in negative conversation topics in the depression symptoms group. However, in the control groups, there was no significance in the types of conversation topics. In conclusion, 1) there was no significance between human and virtual avatar interviewers in emotions, facial expressions, and eye gaze patterns, 2) neutral conversation topics induced less negative emotion in both the control and depression symptoms group, and 3) different facial expressions' patterns between people with, or without depression, were observed in the virtual avatar communication system.

When law enforcement interview witnesses and write their statements

ABSTRACT Eyewitness testimony is important to criminal investigations. Research has found that remembering is a process that can be distorted by various factors, such as how witnesses are interviewed. Further, prior research has also found that written statements taken by the investigator are not always accurate. The present study explored for what is believed the first time whether interviewing skills are associated with both how much correct verbal information is provided by witnesses and also the accuracy of written statements, using a sample of 30 interviews conducted by serving professional investigators. We found greater inaccuracies at each of these two phases when interviewers were assessed as being less skilled, when compared to interviews conducted by their more highly rated counterparts. Interviewing skills thus appear important when interviewers attempt to gain accurate information from witnesses, and when they generate accurate written statements. Implications for policies and practice, and for future research, are discussed.

Verbal Qualitative Information in the Daily &amp;quot;La Presse&amp;quot; and the Stock Performance of Tunisian Financial Companies

Relevant financial information is a central concern in the daily life of investors. However, despite the deterioration of the role of classical media channels, the written press, the latter remains an undeniable tool influencing the stock market. In this context, we have collected 1720 articles published in the newspaper the press of Tunis, during 6 years going from 2010 until 2015. In addition, we have used two dynamic models, first to test the impact of verbal qualitative information of print media on the stock returns of Tunisian financial companies and second to test the impact of stock returns on qualitative verbal information of print media. The estimation of the model is performed by the generalized method of moments (GMM) in dynamic panels, using the sofware STATA 12. The results of the empirical study show on the one hand, that the stock exchange of Tunis reacts positively following the publication of positive qualitative information and on the other hand the stock exchange reacts negatively following the publication of negative qualitative information. In sum, despite the deterioration of the place of the written press, we noticed following this study that the qualitative information of classic media remains relevant. Bad information published negatively affects the market and more precisely stock returns. However, it is essential to emphasize good qualitative and quantitative financial communication in the traditional media for the smooth running of the Tunisian financial market.

Co-Occurring Autism Spectrum and Borderline Personality Disorder: An Emerging Clinical Challenge Seeking Informed Interventions.

Co-Occurring Autism Spectrum and Borderline Personality Disorder: An Emerging Clinical Challenge Seeking Informed Interventions.

Communication during encounters about medication switching: Self-reported experiences of pharmacy technicians and patients

BackgroundDuring conversations about medication switches, pharmacy staff often deliver a message to patients that may lead to negative emotions. In these situations, clear and patient-centered communication is important. AimTo gain insight into pharmacy technician-patient experiences regarding the communication during medication switching encounters, and in specific to map the needs and preferences of patients and whether pharmacy technicians (PTs) meet these. MethodPTs were invited to fill in a questionnaire via the Dutch Panel on practical research for Pharmacy Employees. Online questionnaires were distributed to adult chronic mediation users in two patient panels. Questionnaires contained questions on how PTs and patients experience the medication switch conversations at the moment (i.e. type of information patients need/receive, timing of information, channel, communication style), and whether the needs and preferences of patients are met. ResultsIn total, 138 PTs and 4679 patients responded. PTs indicated that they regularly struggle with these conversations due to emotional or negative responses of patients. Most patients expressed the need for information about why the medication switch took place (68%) and about the (same) effect of the medication (61%), while fewer patients currently receive this information (21% and 39%, respectively). Patients also indicated they need verbal information during pick-up/delivery (45%), written information beforehand (29%) and during pick-up/delivery (25%), while patients more often receive verbal information during pick-up (58%), and less frequently receive written information beforehand (6%) and during pick-up/delivery (18%). ConclusionCommunication during medication switch conversations generally goes well. However, there is a difference between what PTs claim they do and what patients experience, e.g. space for questions and patients' satisfaction about this aspect. Dealing with patient emotions is also difficult for PTs. Patients emphasize they need more information than they currently receive, preferably before switching. Matching these needs and preferences can improve patient-centered communication.

The use of multimedia technologies in robotics lessons as the development of cognitive activity

In the environment of educational robotics, the introduction of new pedagogical technologies is relevant. Robotics is at the junction of promising fields of knowledge: mechanics, electronics, automation, assembly, programming, circuit engineering and technical design. The purpose of the article is to describe multimedia software in lessons on the basics of robotics and teaching methods using multimedia technologies at each stage of training. The research methods were analysis, synthesis, and conversation. The authors of the article have developed Digital educational resources for the study of robotics. These resources are an auxiliary tool for the diversity of the lesson. With the help of this software product, robotics training becomes more accessible and convenient. Multimedia allows you to combine verbal and visual-sensory information, which helps to increase the motivation of students, create certain learning parameters and develop cognitive activity. When organizing educational material, the teacher should focus on the activation of cognitive activity of students. In the classroom, not all students turn on active cognitive activity. Active teaching methods are used to purposefully influence this activity. The very name contains the essence of the active method - it is not simple memorization, but the active intellectual activity of students. The result of this study is a digital learning center with the help of which it is possible to conduct lessons using multimedia technologies. Keywords: educational robotics, multimedia technologies, cognitive activity, digital educational resources.

Neuropsychiatric symptoms related to agenesis of the corpus callosum. A case report

IntroductionWe present the case of a 41-year-old male patient with multiple psychiatric diagnoses, he was diagnosed with agenesis of the corpus callosum, which explains his clinical presentation.ObjectivesThe objective is to carry out a brief review of the symptoms associated with the agenesis of the corpus callosum.MethodsThe patient has been diagnosed with ADHD, cyclothymia, depressive anxiety disorder and social phobia. He has been treated with a multitude of drugs such as antidepressants, anxiolytics, stimulants and even low-dose antipsychotics. Despite the pharmacological treatments received, as well as the therapies, the patient’s functionality has progressively worsened, to the point of restricting going out of the home or maintaining a stable job.Biographical data were collected, including psychomotor retardation and inappropriate laughter. He showed mannerisms such as fluttering and low frustration tolerance. He was slow to respond to his name and showed little affective resonance with his sister and parents. Restrictive interests, especially with English culture, for which he later studied English philology. On the other hand, his mother explains that he had no symbolic play and that, from early childhood, he had difficulties in relationships with peers.Due to the aforementioned clinical manifestations, the functional worsening and the examination carried out in the consultation room, it was decided to extend the study with a brain MRI, where an agenesis of the corpus callosum was observed.ResultsAgenesis of the corpus callosum is a malformation of the central nervous system, which affects one in every 4000 births. It can be partial or complete, and occurs between the 7th-20th week of gestation.Agenesis of the corpus callosum presents with a triad of symptoms:-Reduced interhemispheric communication of sensory-motor information.-Increased information processing time-Difficulty in abstract thinking.This triad causes difficulties not only cognitively, but also socially. There is difficulty in integrating and learning new verbal and visual information. Tendency to literalism, with difficulty in understanding double meanings. They also have difficulty understanding non-verbal language and reading emotions, which makes interaction with peers difficult. All these symptoms can sometimes be confused with symptoms compatible with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Conclusions After the diagnosis and after focusing the patient’s treatment on the most limiting symptoms of his daily life, an integrated approach was initiated, not only at a pharmacological level, with the use of antidepressants and anxiolytics, but also from a psychotherapeutic point of view, working on those areas in which the patient is most dysfunctional. He was accompanied in the disability application process, as well as helped in the search for associations for adults with ASD, finding there the answer to his symptoms and difficulties.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Out of Sight Out of Mind: Household Perceptions of “Fair” Water Prices in Nairobi, Kenya

AbstractProviding piped water and sewer services is extremely capital intensive, yet most of this infrastructure is buried, hidden from citizens and ratepayers. Roman emperors built elaborate public fountains to increase the salience of massive infrastructure investments to the public, yet modern households give scarce thought to the water network that serves them. At the same time, tariffs are often too low to recover operations and maintenance costs, let alone capital replacement and system expansion. We use a field experiment to investigate whether providing 353 households in Nairobi, Kenya with information about the water infrastructure that serves them changes their perceptions of water and sewer bills. Compared to a control group, we find that providing households verbal and visual information (in person) about the capital intensity of water service delivery in Nairobi increased their perceptions of “fair” water bills by 15%–24% above the control mean of 404 KSH/mo.

Group conversation assessment in realistic acoustic scenes

Successful communication in background noise is a continuous interaction between conversation partners. They continuously exchange conscious, unconscious, verbal, and non-verbal information regarding how well the other person is understood. Human communication is not limited to one-on-one interactions but can also happen in group conversation situations. The complexity of taking an active part in a group conversation is much higher though, since the continuous interaction happens with more than one conversation partner at the same time. To investigate human communication behavior, real conversations between groups of six people were observed in the Sonova Real Life Lab. All participants were allowed to move around freely within the lab space. The head position and orientation of all six participants was continuously monitored with an optical motion capturing system. The voices of all participants were recorded with wireless headset microphones, which allowed to assess individual vocal effort. During the conversation situation, background noise was played from all four directions simultaneously and systematically varied in overall level. The individual position data and vocal effort were used to estimate perceived communication difficulty and signal to noise ratios. The head orientation data was analyzed to estimate which individuals the participants were talking and listening to.

Assessing method for meta-professional competencies in Russian educational institutions

University graduates may face challenges when solving actual business problems because of their lack of soft skills, which are often inferior to their hard skills. Their knowledge (hard skills) may be at a good level, but they often lack developed universal competencies (soft skills). The paper discusses the methodology for assessing the meta-professional competencies of university students based on the results of the pilot year of the project “Assessment and development of managerial competencies in Russian educational institutions”. The research developed psychometric methods and applied as assessment tools: a universal personality questionnaire, a vitality questionnaire, tests for the analysis of numerical and verbal information. The paper provides descriptions and justifications for the validity and tests reliability used to diagnose universal competencies, as well as the procedure for creating a composite construct. The authors propose a method for creating a composite score to combine the results of assessment using a battery of tests and questionnaires. The resulting composite score makes it possible to consider the links between the evaluated constructs and simplify the interpretation of the evaluation results.

Kontribusi Penerimaan Pajak Bumi dan Bangunan Pada Pendapatan Asli Daerah

This study aims to analyze how big is the contribution of Land and Building Tax to Regional Original Income in Bekasi Regency, where Land and Building Tax is a potential source of local revenue as a source of financing for government activities in Bekasi Regency as well as regional development and economy. The method used in this research is interview with direct communication techniques either directly or indirectly. Data collection in this qualitative research was collected primary data and secondary data. Primary data through observation and interviews with BAPENDA officials who are directly involved with the collection of Land and Building Tax in Bekasi Regency which is used as information to obtain verbal information regarding their understanding, opinion and involvement in tax collection.

The modality effect reverses in a virtual reality learning environment and influences cognitive load

When Virtual Reality (VR) is used to present learning content, the three-dimensional image is often not sufficient and additional text is required, either in the form of visual or auditory text. Such additional instructional text could be particularly beneficial due to the many visual stimuli and the risk of visual working memory overload. Relieving working memory by using both channels in the audio-visual presentation, there might be more cognitive capacity available to invest in germane processes for learning. In addition, the image and the text can be processed simultaneously, supporting deeper learning processes. Based on the modality effect, it is therefore assumed that an audio-visual presentation in VR, compared to a visual-only presentation, can lead to higher learning outcomes (recall, comprehension and transfer). In a between-subjects design we analysed the modality principle in VR with 61 subjects (69% female). We hypothesized that when verbal information in VR is given auditorily instead of visually, it leads to overall higher learning outcomes. For intrinsic cognitive load we assumed no differences, but lower extraneous cognitive load and higher germane cognitive load for the audio-visual condition. However, results show a reverse modality effect. The visual-only condition showed higher learning outcome scores for recall, comprehension and transfer. As expected, the conditions showed no differences with regard to the intrinsic cognitive load. However, we also found no differences in extraneous cognitive load. Contrary to our hypothesis we found higher germane cognitive load for the visual-only condition compared to the audio-visual condition, which may be attributed to repeated reading, reading strategies or other self-regulatory strategies. Future research could focus on the use of strategies or evaluate relevant process data.

Visual Verbal Information Processing under Conditions of Reading and Categorization in Schizotypy: An Event-Related Brain Potential Study

Some individuals exhibit symptoms that resemble schizophrenia, but these manifestations are less in the degree to those seen in schizophrenia. Such a latent personality construct has been called schizotypy. It is known that schizotypal personality traits have an impact on cognitive control and semantic processing. The present study aimed to examine whether visual verbal information processing is modulated by enhancement of top-down processes applied to different words within one phrase in subjects with schizotypal personality traits. The tasks employed were based on differences in the involvement of cognitive control in visual verbal information processing and hypothesized that subjects with schizotypal traits would demonstrate failure in top-down modulation of word processing within a phrase. Forty-eight healthy undergraduate students were enrolled in the study. Participants were screened for schizotypy with the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. Word combinations consisting of an attribute and a noun were used as stimuli. Participants were asked to categorize one word in a phrase and to passively read the other word in the pair. To obtain neurophysiological data during task performance, the event-related brain potential N400 was measured. In the low schizotypy scores group, an increased N400 amplitude was revealed for both attributes and nouns during passive reading compared to categorization. This effect was not observed in the high schizotypy scores group; therefore, word processing was modulated weakly by the experimental task in subjects with schizotypal personality traits. Changes observed in schizotypy can be regarded as a failure in top-down modulation of word processing within a phrase.

Neurocognitive effects of binge drinking on verbal episodic memory. An ERP study in university students.

Background: Verbal memory may be affected by engagement in alcohol binge drinking during youth, according to the findings of neuropsychological studies. However, little is known about the dynamics of the neural activity underlying this cognitive process in young, heavy drinkers. Aims: To investigate brain event-related potentials associated with cued recall from episodic memory in binge drinkers and controls. Methods: Seventy first-year university students were classified as binge drinkers (32: 17 female) or controls (38: 18 female). The participants completed a verbal paired associates learning task during electroencephalogram (EEG) recording. ERPs elicited by old and new word pairs were extracted from the cued-recall phase of the task by using Principal Component Analysis. Subjects also performed a standardized neuropsychological verbal learning test. Results: Two of the three event-related potentials components indicating old/new memory effects provided evidence for anomalies associated with binge drinking. The old/new effects were absent in the binge drinkers in the two subsequent posterior components, identified with the late parietal component and the late posterior negativity The late frontal component revealed similar old/new effects in both groups. Binge drinkers showed similar behavioural performance to controls in the verbal paired associates task, but performed poorly in the more demanding short-term cued-recall trial of a neuropsychological standardized test. Conclusion: Event-related potentials elicited during a verbal cued-recall task revealed differences in brain functioning between young binge drinkers and controls that may underlie emergent deficits in episodic memory linked to alcohol abuse. The brain activity of binge drinkers suggests alterations in the hippocampal - posterior parietal cortex circuitry subserving recognition and recollection of the cue context and generation of the solution, in relation to verbal information shallowly memorised.

Association between olfactory dysfunction and mood disturbances with objective and subjective cognitive deficits in long-COVID.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with olfactory dysfunction. The persistent symptoms of anosmia or hyposmia were associated in previous studies with the development of memory impairment and mood disturbances. We aimed to investigate the association between the chronicity of reported olfactory dysfunction and subjective and objective cognitive performance in long-COVID patients and to explore whether their emotional symptoms are related to their cognition. One hundred twenty-eight long-COVID participants were recruited. Reported symptomatology, subjective memory complaints, anxiety and depression symptomatology, and trait-anxiety were assessed. Subjective memory complaints and mood disturbances were compared among groups of participants with olfactory dysfunction as an acute (AOD), persistent (POD), or nonexistent (NOD) symptom. Seventy-six of the volunteers also participated in a face-to-face session to assess their objective performance on tests of general cognitive function and verbal declarative memory. Objective cognitive performance and mood disturbances were compared among the AOD, POD, and NOD groups. The subjective memory complaints and the anxiety and depression symptoms were similar among the groups, but the score in general cognitive function was lower in the participants with symptoms of acute olfactory dysfunction than in those with no olfactory symptoms at any time. Participants' memory complaints were positively related to their emotional symptoms. The relationship between depressive symptomatology and memory complaints interacted with the olfactory dysfunction, as it only occurred in the participants without symptoms of olfactory dysfunction. Depressive symptomatology and acute olfactory symptoms were negatively associated with general cognitive function and delayed memory performance. The months elapsed from diagnosis to assessment also predicted delayed memory performance. Anxious symptomatology was negatively associated with the immediate ability to recall verbal information in participants who did not present olfactory dysfunction in the acute phase of the infection. Olfactory dysfunction in the acute phase of the infection by COVID-19 is related to cognitive deficits in objective tests, and mood disturbances are associated with self-reported and objective memory. These findings may contribute to further understanding the neuropsychological and emotional aspects of long-COVID.

Cognitive functions and special working capacity in elite boxers

Background and Study Aim. In the basis of the boxer's power qualities is the ability to perceive and process external information. Therefore, in order to ensure the proper training of qualified boxers, there is a need to monitor the functional state of the boxer’s organism. The relationship between cognitive functions and special working capacity of elite boxers were studied.&#x0D; Material and Methods. The level of special working capacity was studied by the test of punching a boxer for 8 s at maximum speed. Cognitive functions (verbal and nonverbal intelligence, and word memory) were studied using the "Multipsychometer-05" hardware-software. 26 elite boxers, aged 18-24, were tested.&#x0D; Results. The research results showed that groups of boxers with different levels of special working capacity differ in terms of accuracy and efficiency when performing a cognitive task with verbal stimuli. The resulted that the high level of special working capacity of elite boxers is provided by the manifestation of verbal intelligence. Besides, the special working capacity is related with activation of mental functions of attention, speed of visual perception, operational and logical thinking. At the same time, significantly higher values of decision latency in this group of boxers indicate a slowdown in the processing of nonverbal information in boxers with a high level of special working capacity to work. It can be noted that the special working capacity of boxers has a direct relationship with quality and inverse relationship with the speed of information processing. The speed of memorizing verbal information is better in boxers with a high level of special working capacity. This fact indicates the importance of the verbal factor for the assimilation of special information in the training of boxers. The best values of accuracy and efficiency indicate the relationship of special working capacity in skilled boxers with the quality and volume of memorized verbal information.&#x0D; Conclusions. The special working capacity of elite boxers has a direct relationship with quality and inverse relationship with the speed of information processing. The elite boxers with a high level of special working capacity have a better speed of verbal information memorizing.