Verbal Reports Research Articles

Disrupted sense of agency-related ownership and disownership increase in the Rubber Hand Illusion.

Empirical evidence suggests that body ownership and the sense of agency operate as an interactive system correlated with the level of consciousness during tasks involving modifications in body representation. This study sought to elucidate the nature of this association by documenting the verbal manifestations of this interaction. Specifically, the study aimed to reveal the role of a sense of agency in the individual sensitivity to the Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI). The sense of agency was measured through a post hoc interview wherein participants could verbally express their rubber hand ownership and real hand disownership experiences following the RHI examination. The RHI was induced in 49 healthy, right-handed college volunteers, including 28 males (mean age 28.6) and 21 females (mean age 26.6). Three main scores - ownership, disownership, and proprioceptive drift - were defined to measure individual sensitivity to Rubber Hand Illusion. Verbal reports related to the RHI were analyzed utilizing an automated narrative content analysis toolkit which explored the deeper content of words and stories to identify situation-driven cognitive processes, specifically focusing on the rate of sense of agency and other cognitive variables. The findings indicated that a greater disruption in the sense of agency predicts increased sensitivity to the Rubber Hand Illusion. Therefore, individuals with a lower rate sense of agency exhibit increased malleability in body representation when a rubber hand illusion is induced.

ATTENTIONAL GUIDANCE TOWARDS AUDIOVISUAL SYNCHRONY IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD): AN EYE TRACKING STUDY

In recent years, the study of alterations in sensorimotor and perceptual development in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has opened interesting avenues of empirical inquiry and has allowed the emergence of new explanatory hypotheses regarding the causal factors underlying the alterations present in this disorder. In this line of research, this paper is based on an interest in studying the relationship between the development of intersensory perception and that of social cognition in ASD. Specifi cally, the main objective has been to compare, by means of eye-tracking technology, attentional orientation and recognition of audiovisual synchrony (through linguistic judgment) of children with ASD and children with typical development (TD), in experimental tasks with dynamic stimuli (video clips) with social and non-social content, in which audiovisual temporal synchrony is experimentally manipulated. As a methodological strategy, three experiments have been designed focused on examining the recognition of audiovisual synchrony ) in speech; ) in object sounds and ) in point-light stimuli (Point Light Display [PLD]) that simulate human movement and interactions. The differences presented in the two groups were examined in relation to three variables: ) Number of fi xations on the synchronous stimulus; ) time spent looking at the synchronous stimulus; ) time elapsed until the synchronous stimulus was identifi ed by means of verbal report. The partial results associated with each of the groups and in each of the implemented experiments are presented. This research contributes to the knowledge of the characteristics of intersensory processing in ASD and the relationship that this has with the social competence indices of each group, recorded by means of standardized tests. The implications for evaluation and intervention that the fi ndings obtained may have are explored in depth.

The Underlying Cognitive Processes of Thin Slices Judgments on Teaching Quality

Thin slices ratings (i.e., ratings based on first impressions) have yielded intriguingly accurate results in various domains. Among other, researcher have applied the thin slices technique to assess instructional quality, showing that teacher-student interactions can be reliably inferred by just very short snippets of classroom instruction. The accuracy of thin slices ratings is often explained by dual process theories of social cognition, whereby System 1 refers to an intuitive and fast way of processing, while System 2 denotes a more reflective and analytical way of processing. System 1 is considered the cognitive foundation of thin slices ratings. The central aim of the present study was to understand the underlying cognitive processes shaping the impression formation of thin slices raters of teaching quality. Therefore, an unconventional and innovative research design was required to gain insights into the cognitive “black box” of thin slices raters by examining their verbal data. In an exploratory mixed method research design, we set up Cognitive Laboratories with two different rating situations. In a thin slices rating situation, participants rated instructional quality based on short classroom videos (30 seconds). Participants in a long-video rating situation rated instructional quality based on longer classroom videos (10 minutes). We collected, coded and statistically analyzed participants’ verbal reports regarding their rating processes. The findings suggest that thin slices ratings evolve primarily based on typical processes of System 1 and not on those of System 2. For instance, thin slices ratings are associative and tend to be rather negative than positive. Moreover, an initially formed impression tends to remain stable and is resistant to alteration. Ratings of instructional quality based on longer videos rely on both cognitive systems, with System 2 possibly modifying an initial judgment. Thus, our study does not only explain the cognitive processes under-lying the thin slices ratings, but additionally provides valuable insights into the processes occurring in conventional rating settings.

More than words: can free reports adequately measure the richness of perception?

The question of the richness (or sparseness) of conscious experience has evoked ongoing debate and discussion. Claims for both richness and sparseness are supported by empirical data, yet they are often indirect, and alternative explanations have been put forward. Recently, it has been suggested that current experimental methods limit participants' responses, thereby preventing researchers from assessing the actual richness of perception. Instead, free verbal reports were presented as a possible way to overcome this limitation. As part of this approach, a novel paradigm of freely reported words was developed using a new metric, intersubjective agreement (IA), with experimental results interpreted as capturing aspects of conscious perception. Here, we challenge the validity of freely reported words as a tool for studying the richness of conscious experience. We base our claims on two studies (each composed of three experiments), where we manipulated the richness of percepts and tested whether IA changed accordingly. Five additional control experiments were conducted to validate the experimental logic and examine alternative explanations. Our results suggest otherwise, presenting four challenges to the free verbal report paradigm: first, impoverished stimuli did not evoke lower IA scores. Second, the IA score was correlated with word frequency in English. Third, the original positive relationship between IA scores and rated confidence was not found in any of the six experiments. Fourth, a high rate of nonexisting words was found, some of which described items that matched the gist of the scene but did not appear in the image. We conclude that a metric based on freely reported words might be better explained by vocabulary conventions and gist-based reports than by capturing the richness of perception.

Engaging in dialogic peer feedback in L2 writing development: A microgenetic approach

Recent research on the multifaceted nature of student engagement indicating that students engaged with peer feedback dynamically, varying with the interaction of individuals and the environment, while neglecting the impact of engagement with peer feedback on L2 learners’ writing development. Grounded in sociocultural theory, this longitudinal case study aimed to investigate the roles of dialogic peer feedback as a mediating tool for promoting L2 writing development. Four first-year English major students participated in eight tutorials over 16 weeks in a university in China. Data were collected from peer feedback dialogue, pre- and post-mediation drafts, retrospective verbal reports, self-reflection, and focus groups through microgenesis. The findings revealed that dialogic peer feedback enhanced student engagement from various dimensions. Engaging in dialogic peer feedback facilitated the diagnosis of writing problems and appropriate mediation through interaction. Mediation rather than correction in dialogic peer feedback was critical in assisting learners in achieving L2 writing goals.

Verbal reports as data revisited: Using natural language models to validate cognitive models.

Verbal reports as data revisited: Using natural language models to validate cognitive models.

Evaluation of recognition memory through oculomotorius behavior in Alzheimer disease.

INTRODUCTION: The study of ocular movements in patients with Alzheimer disease is an useful tool to evaluate recognition memory. METHODS: assessment of this specific type of explicit memory in 15 individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer disease and 15 controls. The parameters of ocular fixation were examined using the Eye-Tracking Tobii Tx300 through Pair-wised ranking with the paradigm novel object recognition. RESULTS: People with Alzheimer disease present difficulties in the recognition of previously presented stimulus when the latency of presentation of the familiarization and the test period is longer than two minutes. DISCUSSION: The analysis of oculomotorius behavior can simplify the evaluation of recognition memory without appealing to verbal report and the visual paired comparison task. This contributes to the comprehension of the relationship among spatial attention, working memory and episodic memory.

Homogenization of word relationships in schizophrenia: Topological analysis of cortical semantic representations.

Patients with schizophrenia typically exhibit symptoms of disorganized thought and display concreteness and over-inclusion in verbal reports, depending on the level of abstraction. While concreteness and over-inclusion may appear contradictory, the underlying psychopathology that explains these symptoms remains unclear. In the current study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging with an encoding modeling approach to examine how concepts of various words, represented as brain activity, are anomalously connected at different levels of abstraction in patients with schizophrenia. Fourteen individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and 17 healthy controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activity representing concepts of various words. We used a persistent homology (PH) method to analyze the topological structures of word representations in schizophrenia patients, healthy controls, and random data, across different levels of abstraction by varying dissimilarity scales in the representation space. The results revealed that patients with schizophrenia exhibited more homogeneous word relationships across different levels of abstraction compared with healthy controls. Additionally, topological structures exhibited a shift toward a random network structure in patients with schizophrenia compared with controls. The PH method successfully distinguished semantic representations of patients with schizophrenia from those of controls. The current results provide an explanation for the mechanisms underlying the deficits in abstraction ability observed in schizophrenia. The isotopic connection of individual concepts reflects both the reduction of contextual connections at a semantically fine-grained scale and the absence of clear boundaries between related concepts at a coarse scale, which lead to concreteness and over-inclusion, respectively.

Rancangan Pola Sistem Informasi Akuntansi Penerimaan dan Pengeluaran Kas: Studi Fenomenologi pada Situs Patirtaan Ngawonggo Tajinan Malang

Accounting information system (AIS) is an important part of corporate financial management. This research aims to study the design pattern of AIS for cash receipts and disbursements using a phenomenological approach based on a background that illustrates how important AIS optimization is at the Ngawonggo Patirtaan Site. To investigate the experiences of four informants regarding the current AIS implementation, this study used qualitative phenomenology. Data were collected through observation, documentation, and in-depth interviews. Then, a model was used to analyze the relationship between theme attributes and meanings. The research was conducted at Ngawonggo Patirtaan Site, which is located in Tajinan District, Malang. The results showed that the current AIS at Ngawonggo Patirtaan Site is still simple but organized. Expenditures are allocated based on needs, but the cash receipt system uses a kotak asih. Periodic recording is done manually in the cash ledger. Information is provided through verbal reports every month. The absence of supporting facilities is a major obstacle. The results show that the AIS should be more integrated and organized. The design of the proposed AIS pattern includes online registration process, cash receipt through kotak asih, digital and manual recording of transactions, and periodic reports. It is expected that better use of AIS will improve the efficiency and accountability of financial management at Ngawonggo Patirtaan Site.

Can Listening to a Verbal Trauma Report Induce Intrusions? – Replication of a Randomized Trial

ABSTRACT Recent evidence suggests that indirect verbal exposure to traumatic events can be sufficient to cause intrusions and other posttraumatic stress symptoms. In this study, we used a verbal trauma report to experimentally induce intrusions and a tactile task to manipulate the putative processes underlying intrusion development. Our findings indicate that the verbal report indeed induced intrusive recall. Moreover, the verbal report induced negative mood, state anxiety, and state dissociation, with mood and state dissociation predicting intrusion development. Additionally, the tactile task interfered with intrusion formation as indicated by the primary diary measure, but not the retrospective self-report. However, these results await further replication as this and previous trials suffered from limited statistical power. The findings support the reports by trauma therapists who experience secondary traumatization. They also challenge the assumption that all intrusions develop bottom-up from low-level sensory input via sensory representations. Future studies should explore differential processes for intrusion development based on their modality.

The importance of a One Health approach in preventing human Rift Valley fever infections in Uganda

Rift valley fever (RVF) is an endemic viral zoonosis in Uganda that causes sporadic outbreaks. In May 2021, a 19-year-old woman from Kasaana Village, Kiruhura District, Western Uganda was diagnosed with RVF. In addition, five case patients identified from the same village were immunoglobulin (Ig) M–seropositive for RVF virus (RVFV), all with a history of contact with livestock. We interviewed farmers in Kasaana Village to find out whether their livestock had recently experienced any sign of RVF (livestock abortions and neonatal mortality). We conducted a veterinary records review at the regional animal diagnostic laboratory and a case search for livestock that had a recent history of abortion or neonatal mortality. Among 162 livestock (94 cattle and 68 goats) from four farms reporting one or more abortions during March-June 2021, 57 (33 cattle and 24 goats) were randomly selected for testing for RVFV using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Verbal reports from farmers and veterinary records review revealed increases in livestock abortions and neonatal mortality during March-May 2021, before the human cases occurred. Serological testing indicated that eight (14%) livestock, including three (9%) cattle and five (21%) goats, were IgM-seropositive for RVFV. The presence of anti-RVFV IgM antibodies in sera suggested current infection in livestock, corroborating livestock abortions within the same period. Hence, human RVFV infections likely resulted from contact with infected animal products. The recurring pattern of livestock abortions observed before human RVFV infections in Uganda indicates a gap in the zoonotic disease surveillance system, through which reports on such events should trigger rapid response to detect disease, control spread among animals, and prevent spillover to humans. An expanded One Health approach on collaboration and information sharing on such events could facilitate RVF risk reduction in humans in Uganda.

Exploring Children’s Reasoning about Continuous Causal Processes through Visual Cues and Non-Verbal Assessment in Science Education

Abstract Causal reasoning is important to children’s cognition and academic development. However, there have been few empirical studies on the impact of visual cues and non-verbal scaffolding on children’s reasoning in continuous causal processes. Hence, the present study aims to explore how causal reasoning in continuous processes is facilitated by visual mind maps and multiple-choice questions through science experiments. By randomly selecting 136 children aged 9–13, the following results were obtained: Children provided with a mind map containing visual causal cues performed significantly better than the non-cue group on explanation tasks regardless of age differences, and children assessed using non-verbal multiple-choice questions scored significantly higher in explaining causal relationships than those using only verbal reports. This suggests that identification and explanation need to be differentiated for a more accurate evaluation of causal reasoning ability. These results have valuable implications for science curriculum and pedagogy at primary schools.

Verbal Case Reports for Adult Nurse Practitioner Students.

Verbal Case Reports for Adult Nurse Practitioner Students.

Mixed-method evaluation study of a targeted mass drug administration of long-acting anti-malarials among children aged 3 months to 15 years in the Bossangoa sub-prefecture, Ouham, Central African Republic, during the COVID-19 pandemic

BackgroundIn 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) initiated three cycles of dihydroartemisin-piperaquine (DHA-PQ) mass drug administration (MDA) for children aged three months to 15 years within Bossangoa sub-prefecture, Central African Republic. Coverage, clinical impact, and community members perspectives were evaluated to inform the use of MDAs in humanitarian emergencies.MethodsA household survey was undertaken after the MDA focusing on participation, recent illness among eligible children, and household satisfaction. Using routine surveillance data, the reduction during the MDA period compared to the same period of preceding two years in consultations, malaria diagnoses, malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT) positivity in three MSF community healthcare facilities (HFs), and the reduction in severe malaria admissions at the regional hospital were estimated. Twenty-seven focus groups discussions (FGDs) with community members were conducted.ResultsOverall coverage based on the MDA card or verbal report was 94.3% (95% confidence interval (CI): 86.3–97.8%). Among participants of the household survey, 2.6% (95% CI 1.6–40.3%) of round 3 MDA participants experienced illness in the preceding four weeks compared to 30.6% (95% CI 22.1–40.8%) of MDA non-participants. One community HF experienced a 54.5% (95% CI 50.8–57.9) reduction in consultations, a 73.7% (95% CI 70.5–76.5) reduction in malaria diagnoses, and 42.9% (95% CI 36.0–49.0) reduction in the proportion of positive RDTs among children under five. A second community HF experienced an increase in consultations (+ 15.1% (− 23.3 to 7.5)) and stable malaria diagnoses (4.2% (3.9–11.6)). A third community HF experienced an increase in consultations (+ 41.1% (95% CI 51.2–31.8) and malaria diagnoses (+ 37.3% (95% CI 47.4–27.9)). There were a 25.2% (95% CI 2.0–42.8) reduction in hospital admissions with severe malaria among children under five from the MDA area. FGDs revealed community members perceived less illness among children because of the MDA, as well as fewer hospitalizations. Other indirect benefits such as reduced household expenditure on healthcare were also described.ConclusionThe MDA achieved high coverage and community acceptance. While some positive health impact was observed, it was resource intensive, particularly in this rural context. The priority for malaria control in humanitarian contexts should remain diagnosis and treatment. MDA may be additional tool where the context supports its implementation.

Conducting L2 listener verbal reports: Common missteps by novice researchers and ways to address them

We have conducted second language (L2) listener verbal reports (VRs) for many years, and during that time have also advised or trained colleagues and research assistants to use these VRs. Based on these experiences, this article outlines various common missteps we and our trainees have made in conducting the VRs and how these missteps were, or could be, addressed. Through this approach, we provide advice to novice researchers planning to use this method to study L2 listeners. This advice is given as a series of recommendations in the following areas: the type of texts to use in the VR and how to select and trial them beforehand; how to prepare the participants for their VR; the language to use in the VR (L1 or L2); and procedural advice when conducting the VR. In addition, there's an extended section advising on the use of researcher questions to help elicit information from the participants about their listening behaviors during the VR. This is followed by advice on how to generally help train a novice researcher to conduct listener VRs. The article concludes by identifying some possible future research directions for addressing validity threats to listener VRs.

The role of exposure condition, awareness and item type in developing implicit and explicit knowledge of collocational rules.

This study expands on previous SLA research by focusing on learning collocational rules. The study also explores the interaction between exposure conditions, awareness, and item-related variables in the context of collocation learning. Chinese learners of English were exposed to sentences from large corpora, featuring four target node verbs (replaced with pseudowords) and their respective noun collocates. There are two pairs of novel verbs with different L1-L2 congruencies in the experimental material. Participants were divided into incidental and intentional groups. The learning effectiveness was assessed through a plausibility judgment test (PJT), which included trained, new, and swapped items. Awareness of the underlying rules was measured using source attributions, retrospective verbal reports, and posttest thinking aloud. The results revealed that participants acquired both explicit and implicit knowledge of collocational rules. Rule-searching led to greater explicit knowledge but did not improve overall learning outcomes. Additionally, an interaction was observed among awareness, rule type, and test type. As the difficulty level increased in terms of L1-L2 congruency or item type, the importance of awareness in meeting the learning demands also increased.

Effect of Paramedics in Emergency Department Triage on Ambulance Patient Offload Times

Background: Emergency Department (ED) overcrowding limits patient care in the prehospital and hospital system. A program was implemented to decrease the time to patient handoff from EMS arrival to ED staff, also known as the delivery interval and total turnaround interval. Paramedics were added to the ED ambulance triage staff to receive verbal reports and perform certain tasks done traditionally by nurses. We hypothesized adding paramedics to the ED triage process would reduce delivery interval times and total turnaround times. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study comparing delivery and turnaround intervals for patients brought to the ED by ambulance, before and after the addition of a paramedic in triage. The study period included all adult ED patients brought in by ambulance between 11 AM and 11 PM. Pediatric patients (<21 years old), direct-to-inpatient interfacility transfers, and critical patients requiring immediate care in the resuscitation area and thus bypassing normal triage processes were excluded. The data was analyzed with two-sample t-tests with a confidence interval of a = 0.05. Results: Delivery interval pre-implementation of the program was 15:48 minutes (95% CI [15:28, 16:09]) compared to 14:04 minutes (95% CI [13:44, 14:25]) post-implementation. The mean turnaround interval pre-implementation was 35:21 minutes (95% CI [35:01, 35:42]) and 36:04 minutes (95% CI [35:40, 36:29]) post-implementation. The mean difference for the delivery interval was shortened by 01:44 minutes (p<0.0001; 95% CI [01:15, 02:13]). The mean turnaround interval increased by 00:43 seconds (p<0.01; 95% CI [00:11, 01:16]). Conclusion: Staffing a paramedic in ED triage decreased delivery interval by 1:44 minutes but did not affect ambulance turnaround times. Further research is needed to determine if the decrease in delivery interval improved patient outcomes and ways to translate the time saved in the delivery interval to total turnaround times.

Raters’ scoring process in assessment of interpreting: an empirical study based on eye tracking and retrospective verbalisation

ABSTRACT Human raters’ assessment of interpreting is a complex process. Previous researchers have mainly relied on verbal reports to examine this process. To advance our understanding, we conducted an empirical study, collecting raters’ eye-movement and retrospection data in a computerised interpreting assessment in which three groups of raters (n = 35) used an analytic rubric to assess 12 English-to-Chinese consecutive interpretations. We examined how the raters interacted with the source text, the rating scale, and the audio player displayed on the computer screen when they were assessing. We found that a) the source text and the rating scale were competing for the raters’ visual attention, with the former attracting more attention than the latter across the rater groups; b) when the raters were consulting the rating scale, they fixated less frequently on the sub-scale of target language quality than the other two sub-scales; c) the rater groups did not seem to exhibit substantially discrepant gazing behaviours overall, although there emerged different eye-movement patterns concerning certain sub-scales; and d) the raters utilised an array of strategies and shortcuts to facilitate their assessment. We discuss these findings in relation to rater training and validation of score meaning for interpreting assessment.

Changes in food preferences and ingestive behaviors after glucagon-like peptide-1 analog treatment: techniques and opportunities.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogs are approved for the treatment of obesity in adults and adolescents. Reports have emerged that the weight loss effect of these medications may be related to changes in food preferences and ingestive behaviors following the treatment. Understanding the mechanisms which impact ingestive behavior could expand opportunities to develop more refined and personalized treatment options for obesity. Recent studies investigating the relationship between GLP-1 analogs and ingestive behaviors were retrieved from PubMed using the search terms: "obesity," "food preference," "taste," "ingestive behavior," "weight loss medication," "anti-obesity medication," "GLP-1 analog," "tirzepatide," "liraglutide," "semaglutide." Measurement tools were studied to compare variables used to assess food intake behavior. The main outcomes from each study were analyzed to evaluate the current standing and future directions of appetitive, ingestive, and consummatory behaviors and their association with GLP-1 analogs. Thus far, studies have primarily explored the weight loss phase and report decreased short-term appetite and food intake upon treatment. However, research during the weight maintenance phase and objective measurements of food intake are notably sparse. Additionally, verbal reports have been primarily used to examine food intake, which can be susceptible to subjectivity. Elucidating the relationship between GLP-1 analogs and ingestive behavior could reveal additional parameters which contribute to their anti-obesity effects. To better understand these mechanisms, it is imperative to consider objective measurements of food intake in future studies. Several measurement tools have been adapted to measure variables of food behavior in humans, and each must be carefully considered with their strengths and limitations to develop optimal investigations.

Examination of fire scene reconstructions using virtual reality to enhance forensic decision-making. A case study in Scotland.

When attending a crime scene, first responders are responsible for identifying areas of potential interest for subsequent forensic examination. This information is shared with the police, forensic practitioners, and legal authorities during an initial meeting of all interested parties, which in Scotland is known as a forensic strategy meeting. Swift documentation is fundamental to allow practitioners to learn about the scene(s) and to plan investigative strategies, traditionally relying on word-of-mouth briefings using digital photographs, videos, diagrams, and verbal reports. We suggest that these early and critical briefings can be augmented positively by implementing an end-to-end methodology for indoor 3D reconstruction and successive visualisation through immersive Virtual Reality (VR). The main objective of this paper is to provide an integrative documentation tool to enhance the decision-making processes in the early stages of the investigation. Taking a fire scene as an example, we illustrate a framework for rapid spatial data acquisition of the scene that leverages structure-from-motion photogrammetry. We developed a VR framework that enables the exploration of virtual environments on a standalone, low-cost immersive head-mounted display. The system was tested in a two-phased inter-agency fire investigation exercise, where practitioners were asked to produce hypotheses suitable for forensic strategy meetings by (1) examining traditional documentation and then (2) using a VR walkthrough of the same premises. The integration of VR increased the practitioners’ scene comprehension, improved hypotheses formulation with fewer caveats, and enabled participants to sketch the scene, in contrast to the orientation challenges encountered using conventional documentation.