The purpose of the study is to investigate the potential benefits of using animation, visual cueing, and their combination in a multimedia environment designed to support learners’ acquisition and ...retention of scientific concepts and processes. Undergraduate participants (
N
=
119) were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions in a 2
×
2 factorial design with visual presentation format (animated vs. static graphics) and visual cueing (visual cues vs. no cues) as factors. Participants provided with animations retained significantly more concepts than their peers provided with static graphics and those afforded visual cues learned equally well but in significantly less time than their counterparts in uncued conditions. Moreover, taking into consideration both learning outcomes and learning time, cued participants displayed more instructional efficiency than their uncued peers. Implications and future directions are discussed.
OBJECTIVE:While HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) remain prevalent despite combination antiretroviral therapy (CART), the clinical relevance of asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment ...(ANI), the most common HAND diagnosis, remains unclear. We investigated whether HIV-infected persons with ANI were more likely than those who were neurocognitively normal (NCN) to experience a decline in everyday functioning (symptomatic decline).
METHODS:A total of 347 human participants from the CNS HIV Anti-Retroviral Therapy Effects Research (CHARTER) cohort were NCN (n = 226) or had ANI (n = 121) at baseline. Neurocognitive assessments occurred approximately every 6 months, with median (interquartile range) follow-up of 45.2 (28.7–63.7) months. Symptomatic decline was based on self-report (SR) or objective, performance-based (PB) problems in everyday functioning. Proportional hazards modeling was used to generate risk ratios for progression to symptomatic HAND after adjusting for baseline and time-dependent covariates, including CD4+ T-lymphocyte count (CD4), virologic suppression, CART, and mood.
RESULTS:The ANI group had a shorter time to symptomatic HAND than the NCN after adjusting for baseline predictorsadjusted risk ratios for symptomatic HAND were 2.0 (confidence interval CI 1.1–3.6; p = 0.02) for SR, 5.8 (CI 3.2–10.7; p < 0.0001) for PB, and 3.2 (CI 2.0–5.0; p < 0.0001) for either SR or PB. Current CD4 and depression were significant time-dependent covariates, but antiretroviral regimen, virologic suppression, and substance abuse or dependence were not.
CONCLUSIONS:This longitudinal study demonstrates that ANI conveys a 2-fold to 6-fold increase in risk for earlier development of symptomatic HAND, supporting the prognostic value of the ANI diagnosis in clinical settings. Identifying those at highest risk for symptomatic decline may offer an opportunity to modify treatment to delay progression.
This study attempted to optimize a computer-based learning environment designed to teach learners how to solve word problems by incorporating an animated pedagogical agent. The agent was programmed ...to deliver instructional explanations either textually or aurally, while simultaneously using gaze and gesture to direct the learners to focus their attention on the relevant part of the example. In Experiment 1, learners presented with an agent delivering explanations aurally (voice plus agent) outperformed their control peers on measures of transfer. In Experiment 2, learners in the voice-plus-agent condition outperformed their peers presented with textual explanations on a variety of measures, including far transfer. In sum, an animated agent programmed to deliver instructions aurally can help optimize learning from examples.
Combination antiretroviral therapy (CART) has greatly reduced medical morbidity and mortality with HIV infection, but high rates of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) continue to be ...reported. Because large HIV-infected (HIV+) and uninfected (HIV−) groups have not been studied with similar methods in the pre-CART and CART eras, it is unclear whether CART has changed the prevalence, nature, and clinical correlates of HAND. We used comparable methods of subject screening and assessments to classify neurocognitive impairment (NCI) in large groups of HIV + and HIV − participants from the pre-CART era (1988–1995;
N
= 857) and CART era (2000–2007;
N
= 937). Impairment rate increased with successive disease stages (CDC stages A, B, and C) in both eras: 25%, 42%, and 52% in pre-CART era and 36%, 40%, and 45% in CART era. In the medically asymptomatic stage (CDC-A), NCI was significantly more common in the CART era. Low nadir CD4 predicted NCI in both eras, whereas degree of current immunosuppression, estimated duration of infection, and viral suppression in CSF (on treatment) were related to impairment only pre-CART. Pattern of NCI also differed: pre-CART had more impairment in motor skills, cognitive speed, and verbal fluency, whereas CART era involved more memory (learning) and executive function impairment. High rates of mild NCI persist at all stages of HIV infection, despite improved viral suppression and immune reconstitution with CART. The consistent association of NCI with nadir CD4 across eras suggests that earlier treatment to prevent severe immunosuppression may also help prevent HAND. Clinical trials targeting HAND prevention should specifically examine timing of ART initiation.
This review provides a critical analysis of the central nervous system effects of acute and chronic methamphetamine (MA) use, which is linked to numerous adverse psychosocial, neuropsychiatric, and ...medical problems. A meta-analysis of the neuropsychological effects of MA abuse/dependence revealed broadly medium effect sizes, showing deficits in episodic memory, executive functions, information processing speed, motor skills, language, and visuoconstructional abilities. The neuropsychological deficits associated with MA abuse/dependence are interpreted with regard to their possible neural mechanisms, most notably MA-associated frontostriatal neurotoxicity. In addition, potential explanatory factors are considered, including demographics (e.g., gender), MA use characteristics (e.g., duration of abstinence), and the influence of common psychiatric (e.g., other substance-related disorders) and neuromedical (e.g., HIV infection) comorbidities. Finally, these findings are discussed with respect to their potential contribution to the clinical management of persons with MA abuse/dependence.
Although research has demonstrated that successively fading or successively removing more and more worked-out solution steps as learners transition from relying on examples to independent problem ...solving reliably fosters performance on near-transfer tasks-relative to example-problem pairs-this effect is not reliable on far-transfer tasks. To address this, the authors combined fading with the introduction of prompts designed to encourage learners to identify the underlying principle illustrated in each worked-out solution step. Across 2 experiments, this combination produced medium to large effects on near and far transfer without requiring additional time on task. Thus, the instructional procedure is highly recommendable because it (a) is relatively straightforward to implement, (b) does not prolong learning time, and (c) fosters both near- and far-transfer performance.
Research suggests that students learn better when studying a picture coupled with narration rather than on-screen text in a computer-based multimedia learning environment. Moreover, combining ...narration with the visual presence of an animated pedagogical agent may also encourage students to process information deeper than narration or on-screen text alone. The current study was designed to evaluate three effects among students learning about the human cardiovascular system: the modality effect (narration vs. on-screen text), the embodied agent effect (narration
+
agent vs. on-screen text), and the image effect (narration
+
agent vs. narration). The results of this study document large and significant embodied agent and image effects on the posttest (particularly retention items) but surprisingly no modality effect was found. Overall, the results suggest that incorporating an animated pedagogical agent – programmed to coordinate narration with gaze and pointing – into a science-focused multimedia learning environment can foster learning.
Abstract Mammalian inner ear hair cell loss leads to permanent hearing and balance dysfunction. In contrast to the cochlea, vestibular hair cells of the murine utricle have some regenerative ...capacity. Whether human utricular hair cells regenerate in vivo remains unknown. Here we procured live, mature utricles from organ donors and vestibular schwannoma patients, and present a validated single-cell transcriptomic atlas at unprecedented resolution. We describe markers of 13 sensory and non-sensory cell types, with partial overlap and correlation between transcriptomes of human and mouse hair cells and supporting cells. We further uncover transcriptomes unique to hair cell precursors, which are unexpectedly 14-fold more abundant in vestibular schwannoma utricles, demonstrating the existence of ongoing regeneration in humans. Lastly, supporting cell-to-hair cell trajectory analysis revealed 5 distinct patterns of dynamic gene expression and associated pathways, including Wnt and IGF-1 signaling. Our dataset constitutes a foundational resource, accessible via a web-based interface, serving to advance knowledge of the normal and diseased human inner ear.
The current study was conducted to investigate the effects of an animated agent's presence and different types of feedback on learning, motivation and cognitive load in a multimedia-learning ...environment designed to teach science content. Participants were 135 college students randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions formed by a 2 × 2 factorial design with agent presence as one factor (agent vs. no-agent) and type of verbal feedback it provided as the other factor (simple feedback vs. elaborate feedback). Results revealed that participants who learned with the animated agent that delivered elaborate feedback had significantly higher scores on a learning measure compared to participants who learned with an agent that provided simple feedback. The results are interpreted from both social agency and cognitive load theoretical perspectives.
•Agents providing elaborate feedback outperformed agents offering simple feedback.•The type of feedback provided by pedagogical agents moderated their effectiveness.•An agent's visual presence and verbal social cues optimize learning.
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