A grammatico-pragmatic analysis of the because X construction: Private expression within public expression

Background: This article investigates an innovative use of because, called the because X construction (e.g., because homework). Quantitative and qualitative research as well as research about the historical development of the construction have been conducted. The present article aims to determine what motivates the use of the construction. Methods: Based on the data collected from the literature and online sources, the grammar of the because X construction is described in detail. The construction is then analyzed within Hirose’s (2015) three-tier model of language use. Results: A two-layered expressive structure is proposed: The X-element serves as a private expression, which is a speaker’s expression of thought with no intention of communication, whereas the whole construction functions publicly. The private nature of the X-element consistently accounts for the syntactic categories of the X-element and the restrictions on them observed in the literature. Conclusion: The proposed two-layered expressive structure reflects a metapragmatic function of the construction. A private, subjective expression embedded in a public expression has the function of connecting the hearer to the speaker, and it accordingly brings about a joint attention effect. With such a function, the proposed structure is effective especially (but not exclusively) in online communication because one can strategically indicate closeness or intimacy to others, particularly in an environment where nonverbal means are difficult to apply.

The effect of gender stereotypes on cross-modal spatial attention

Using a spatial-cueing paradigm in which trait words were set as visual cues and gender words were set as auditory targets, we examined whether cross-modal spatial attention was influenced by gender stereotypes. Results of an experiment conducted with 24 participants indicate that they tended to focus on targets in the valid-cue condition (i.e., the cues located at the same position as targets), regardless of the modality of cues and targets, which is consistent with the cross-modal attention effect found in previous studies. Participants tended to focus on targets that were stereotype-consistent with cues only when the cues were valid, which shows that stereotype-consistent information facilitated visual–auditory cross-modal spatial attention. These results suggest that cognitive schema, such as gender stereotypes, have an effect on cross-modal spatial attention.

Emotions or attention – what are predictors for the development of childhood psychopathology? A longitudinal study with pre- and elementary school children

Current debate has identified the factors emotion knowledge (EK) and attention as specific trajectories longitudinally influencing psychopathological development in childhood. The “Emotion Knowledge Hypothesis” assumes that children with great emotion skills have high self-regulating abilities that result in lower cognitive load and stronger attention capacities. Attention problems are thus perceived as a consequence of reduced EK. According to the competing “Attention Effect Hypothesis”, attention problems and EK deficits are associated because of impaired learning capacities due to attention problems. According to this hypothesis, attention problems are predictive of impaired EK. If those specific trajectories are disrupted, this might attenuate the development of later behavior problems. The present study tests those competing hypotheses replicating previous studies in this field to shed light on potential psychopathology trajectories. A total of 136 pre- and elementary school children as well as their teachers participated in this study. Children’s symptoms of inattention as well as their emotional competences were assessed 3 times over a 12-month period. We applied multilevel structural equation modelling and cross-lagged panel models for data analysis. Overall, we noted a drop in inattention scores and rise in emotional competences over the one-year course, indicating maturation effects. There was a significant but very small effect for attention scores predicting emotional competences. With respect to the question whether interventions should focus on the “Emotion Knowledge” or “Attention Effect” hypothesis, our findings imply that none of them has superiority over the other. Therefore, both emotion knowledge and attention are crucial for development, and that children with deficits in either domain should receive targeted interventions in order to disrupt potentially harmful developmental pathways.

Strategi meminimalkan beban kognitif eksternal dalam pembelajaran matematika berdasarkan load cognitive theory

Memahami objek, konsep, prosedur merupakan salah satu tujuan mempelajari pelajaran matematika disekolah. Muatan materi yang cendrung kompleks dengan elemen-elemen yang abstrak menjadi masalah bagi siswa sehingga memunculkan beban kognitif, diantaranya adalah beban kognitif eksternal. Tujuan dari penelitian ini untuk menunjukkan beberapa strategi yang perlu diperhatikan dalam mendesain pembelajaran matematika agar dapat meminimalkan beban kognitif eksternal. Penelitian ini berupa studi kepustakaan (library research). Teknik pengumpulan data dalam penelitian ini, dilakukan dengan melakukan penelusuran referensi secara online melalui beberapa sumber basis data Google Cendikia, ERIC Institute of Education Science, serta Science Direct. Analisis data dalam penelitian ini menggunakan metode analisis isi (content analysis). Hasil kajian dalam studi ini terdapat 8 strategi dalam mendesain pembelajaran matematika untuk meminimalkan beban kognitif eksternal diantaranya The Goal-Free Effect, The Worked Exampel Effect, The Split-Attention Effect, The Modality Effect, The Redundancy Effect, The Element Interactivity Effect, The Imagination Effect dan The Guidance Fading Effect.Understanding objects, concepts, procedures is one of the goals of studying mathematics in school. Material content that tends to be complex with abstract elements becomes a problem for students so that it creates cognitive loads, including external cognitive loads. The purpose of this study is to show several strategies that need to be considered in designing mathematics learning in order to minimize external cognitive load. This research is in the form of library research (library research). The data collection technique in this study was carried out by searching for references online through several Google Cendikia database sources, ERIC Institute of Education Science, and Science Direct. Analysis of the data in this study using content analysis method. The results of the study in this study there are 8 strategies in designing mathematics learning to minimize external cognitive load including The Goal-Free Effect, The Worked Exampel Effect, The Split-Attention Effect, The Modality Effect, The Redundancy Effect, The Element Interactivity Effect, The Imagination Effect and The Guidance Fading Effect.

Interviewer presence can affect learning with interview videos

Interviews with scholars and experts are becoming more and more popular as e-learning materials. Yet how an interview video should be edited is mostly based on personal preference rather than on rigorous scientific research. Thus this study tested whether showing the interviewer in educational interview videos can affect the learning outcome. Two interview learning materials on two topics (eye tracking and text–picture integration) were conducted by the author and edited in two versions. One version was with the interviewer and the other version was without the interviewer, the latter’s image and voice being edited out. Psychology students ( N = 180) watched either the video with or the one without the interviewer and answered the corresponding questions. Results in an online experiment yielded a better learning outcome in the video without the interviewer than in the video with the interviewer. It is probable that the absence of the interviewer can protect participants from extraneous processing and a split-attention effect. The without-interviewer video, segmented by displaying interview questions in keywords on slides, seemed to assist participants in managing the essential processing. The absence of the interviewer may avoid the confusion of multiple instructors, which fosters the generative processing. This study provides practical and pedagogical implications and suggests that removing the image and voice of the interviewer is likely to promote learning.

When Sharing Attention Does Not Help: Reduced Attention Effect in Pairs

Research has generally suggested enhanced cognitive performance when performing jointly with others in social settings. However, the interpersonal influence on visuospatial attention was not well understood. With a newly developed dual attention paradigm, we investigated how paying attention to the same spatial location with another person affects one’s attention performance. Participant pairs independently performed go/no-go tasks to visual targets while sustainedly attending to same or different locations, and showed reduced attention effects when sharing spatial attention (Experiment 1, N = 40). This dual attention effect relied on the presence of another individual performing a similar task, being reversed when participants performed the same task in isolation (Experiment 2, N = 38), and persisted under an increased perceptual load (Experiment 3, N = 45). These data showed a diminishing effect of shared attention, likely driven by stronger response inhibition or increased mentalizing/monitoring when people attended together.

Cross-Regional Differences in News Tone and Local Stock Ownership

This study examines cross-regional differences in news tone for the same news event and relates it to local stock ownership of individual investors using a combination of detailed investor and media data. The results show that news tone amplifies the overall attention effect and decreases the difference between the trading activities of local and nonlocal investors when locally sourced news is republished across regions. In general, trading activity decreases for given republished news, but it still exists because the same news event garners attention as it diffuses to other regional outlets in a different news tone. Overall, individual investors seem to realize that the news is stale but expect subsequent price reversals following the republished news, thus showing news-contrarian trading behavior. Furthermore, they distinguish good firms from bad firms, indicating that adverse selection is partially responsible for the observed news-contrarian trading behaviors. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, finance.