Role of exteroceptive background context in taste-aversion conditioning and extinction

In two experiments, saccharin (CS) and lithium chloride (US) were paired in a context consisting of specific visual, auditory, tactual, and olfactory cues. The saccharin aversion was then extinguished in a context free from conditioning-context cues. Later, saccharin preference tests were given in the presence and absence of these cues. The results indicated that the background cues of the conditioning trial controlled the amount of saccharin drunk on extinction trials, and, furthermore, that extinction of the taste aversion was context specific; i.e., groups given extinction trials in a different (from conditioning) context retained their saccharin aversion in the conditioning context only. The results indicate an important role played by the exteroceptive context in taste-aversion conditioning.     

Coaching performance and leadership behaviours in team sports

The aim of this study was to investigate coaching performance in team sports taking leadership behaviours into focus. To do so, coaching performance was put in a literature-based frame and analysed with reference to a task structure based on the idea of hierarchical planning. The focus of the paper is on a mixed methods multi-strand study using qualitative as well as quantitative threads to develop and verify a set of coaching strategies focussing on teambuilding and team leadership. Qualitative analyses showed that coaches do have a clear understanding of forming and leading a team, which could be shown by a specific set of strategies being used by high performance coaches from different team sports (basketball, football, handball, and volleyball). These strategies could be confirmed in a sequential quantitative study analysing coaches’ and players’ attitudes towards the previously analysed schemes. The results of this study are discussed in terms of methodical and practical implications.     

NEGOTIATING POLITICIANS’ RESPONSIBILITIES IN NEWS INTERVIEWS

News interviews are contexts in which political responsibilities are articulated and negotiated. Although the accountability interview is recognized as a commonsense practice in journalism, and the research on political interviews is substantial, it partly remains to explore how responsibilities are negotiated in different forms of questioning in journalism. This study investigates three generic forms of questioning: accountability questioning, the clarifying of promises, and the principal assessments. Key features of the different forms are specified. The empirical study investigates how the questionings are performed in news on industrial crises in Sweden, in the different political regimes in the 1970s and the 2000s. The data consist of 27 news interviews with the formally responsible Ministers. The method is based on Conversation Analysis and includes detailed analyses of questions and answers. The study shows (1) how the forms of questioning differ when it comes to the action agenda and in how responsibilities are invoked and negotiated; (2) how the questionings tend to reproduce particular expectations of Governmental interventions; (3) how increased assertiveness and adversarialness in interviewing coincide with reduced expectations of political responsibilities.     

Language and reading impairments are associated with increased prevalence of non-right-handedness

Handedness has been studied for association with language-related disorders because of its link with language hemispheric dominance. No clear pattern has emerged, possibly because of small samples, publication bias, and heterogeneous criteria across studies. Non-right-handedness (NRH) frequency was assessed in N = 2503 cases with reading and/or language impairment and N = 4316 sex-matched controls identified from 10 distinct cohorts (age range 6–19 years old; European ethnicity) using a priori set criteria. A meta-analysis (N_cases = 1994) showed elevated NRH % in individuals with language/reading impairment compared with controls (OR = 1.21, CI = 1.06–1.39, p = .01). The association between reading/language impairments and NRH could result from shared pathways underlying brain lateralization, handedness, and cognitive functions.     

University students’ emotions in virtual learning: a review of empirical research in the 21st century

This paper presents a systematic review of university students’ emotions in connection with virtual learning based on 91 articles published between 2002 and 2017 in four international journals that focus on virtual learning and educational technology or on learning in higher education. These journals were considered potential channels for research on emotions in virtual learning and higher education. The objective was to analyse the articles for concepts and theoretical background related to virtual learning and emotions, contextual focus, methodological choice, and/or results. The review showed that the most common emotion-related concept was “satisfaction.” The most common context for the articles was a complete non-physical learning environment (e.g. Second Life). Approximately 60% of the articles used quantitative methods. The most common design for studying emotions was an explanatory design. Students’ emotions were mainly studied through concepts related to emotion (e.g. “satisfaction”). Yet only a few of the studies focused on the fluctuation of emotions in the course of events, relying instead on post hoc data that treat students’ emotions as traits rather than states.     

Learner-friendly textbooks: Chemistry texts based on a constructivist view of learning

In this study, the use of inquiry methods, learning cycles, a conceptual change model and analogy in creating alternative science texts was discussed. An alternative text on the topic of acids and bases was created by integrating the methods and models discussed in this paper. The alternative text and a sample of a traditional text taken from a textbook, which is still used in Turkish high schools, were given to two groups, totaling 42 pre-service teachers—the alternative text was given to an experimental group and the traditional text to a control group—in an experimental setting and their understandings of acids and bases were compared. In addition, in the second step of the study, the pre-service teachers read both texts and indicated their preferences in terms of interest, understandability and helpfullness.     

Collaborative research for sustainable learning: the case of developing innovation capabilities at Volvo Cars

This paper aims to make a contribution to the stream of literature on action research by describing a longitudinal collaborative research project which evolved out of a long-term, participation partnership with Volvo Cars. The collaboration was aimed at developing innovation capabilities in the company and accumulating knowledge on how capabilities are developed. The paper provides insights into the design of collaborative research projects to enable mutual, sustainable learning. It draws on key notions in the literature on collaborative management research and action learning, highlighting the research design of the project at Volvo Cars and its relations to action learning. The paper describes how the research design opened the way to establishing a learning system at Volvo Cars while simultaneously generating new scientific knowledge within the area of innovation capabilities. The paper provides rich and detailed data on a collaborative research setting and highlights key aspects related to organizing and undertaking collaborative research.