WorldWideScience

Sample records for visual literacy selected

  1. Visual Literacy in the Digital Age: Selected Readings from the Annual Conference of the International Visual Literacy Association (25th, Rochester, New York, October 13-17, 1993).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beauchamp, Darrel G.; And Others

    This document contains selected papers from the 25th annual conference of the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA). Topics addressed in the papers include the following: visual literacy; graphic information in research and education; evaluation criteria for instructional media; understanding symbols in business presentations;…

  2. VisionQuest: Journeys toward Visual Literacy. Selected Readings from the Annual Conference of the International Visual Literacy Association (28th, Cheyenne, Wyoming, October, 1996).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffin, Robert E., Ed.; And Others

    This document contains 59 selected papers from the 1996 International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA) conference. Topics include: learning to think visually; information design via the Internet; a program for inner-city at-risk children; dubbing versus subtitling television programs; connecting advertisements and classroom reading through…

  3. Visual Literacy and Visual Culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Messaris, Paul

    Familiarity with specific images or sets of images plays a role in a culture's visual heritage. Two questions can be asked about this type of visual literacy: Is this a type of knowledge that is worth building into the formal educational curriculum of our schools? What are the educational implications of visual literacy? There is a three-part…

  4. Visual literacy in HCI

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Overton, K.; Sosa-Tzec, O.; Smith, N.; Blevis, E.; Odom, W.; Hauser, S.; Wakkary, R.L.

    2016-01-01

    The goal of this workshop is to develop ideas about and expand a research agenda for visual literacy in HCI. By visual literacy, we mean the competency (i) to understand visual materials, (ii) to create visuals materials, and (iii) to think visually [2]. There are three primary motivations for this

  5. Visual Competence, Media Literacy and "New Literacies" – Conceptual Considerations in a Plural Discursive Landscape

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Theo Hug

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Debates on media competence and media literacy have been going on now for a few decades. Many concepts have been developed in various disciplines. Along with that, discourses on visual literacy have been intensified, too, although visuals have been used in educational contexts throughout history. But only recently, after almost three thousand years of historiography, turns like the iconic turn, pictorial turn or mediatic turn have been claimed. "Competencies of Visuals" (Ratsch et al. 2009 and their epistemological relevance are intensively discussed in arts, architecture and philosophy as well as in educational, communication and media studies. In this situation, we are facing new conceptual challenges for media education and media literacy discourses.   The paper starts (1 with an outline of some points of departures, followed (2 by a discussion of selected concepts of 'visual competence,' 'media competence' and 'media literacy.' In part (3, "new literacies" are questioned. Finally (4, the contribution aims at conceptual clarifications and the relativization of literacy concepts. In this context, medial forms sensu Leschke (2010 are being considered as a fruitful framework not only for future developments in media theory but also in media education and educational theory.

  6. Visual Literacy and Visual Thinking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hortin, John A.

    It is proposed that visual literacy be defined as the ability to understand (read) and use (write) images and to think and learn in terms of images. This definition includes three basic principles: (1) visuals are a language and thus analogous to verbal language; (2) a visually literate person should be able to understand (read) images and use…

  7. Visual Literacy and Message Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pettersson, Rune

    2009-01-01

    Many researchers from different disciplines have explained their views and interpretations and written about visual literacy from their various perspectives. Visual literacy may be applied in almost all areas such as advertising, anatomy, art, biology, business presentations, communication, education, engineering, etc. (Pettersson, 2002a). Despite…

  8. Visual Literacy Practices in Higher Education

    OpenAIRE

    Schellenberg, Julia

    2015-01-01

    Joint Master Degree in Digital Library Learning (DILL) In our media-driven age visuals are increasingly frequent and prominently present in society and their importance and influence across academic disciplines is growing. This makes it essential to enable learners to become visually literate and justifies the need for teaching visual literacy competencies. Yet, there has been little research on visual literacy practices undertaken across academic subjects and institutions in h...

  9. Enhancing learning and comprehension through strengthening visual literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Le Roux, Cheryl

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Living in an image-rich world, as we currently do, does not mean that individuals naturally possess visual literacy skills. This article explores the concept of ‘visual literacy’, and the skills needed to develop visual literacy and visual intelligence. Developing visual literacy in educational environments is important because it can contribute to individual empowerment, and it is therefore necessary to take pedagogical advantage of visual literacy’s place across the disciplines. Doing this means tapping into experiences, expertise and interest in visual communication and building a new paradigm that takes visual education seriously.

  10. Visual Literacy and Biochemistry Learning: The role of external representations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V.J.S.V. Santos

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Visual Literacy can bedefined as people’s ability to understand, use, think, learn and express themselves through external representations (ER in a given subject. This research aims to investigate the development of abilities of ERs reading and interpretation by students from a Biochemistry graduate course of theFederal University of São João Del-Rei. In this way, Visual Literacy level was  assessed using a questionnaire validatedin a previous educational research. This diagnosis questionnaire was elaborated according to six visual abilitiesidentified as essential for the study of the metabolic pathways. The initial statistical analysis of data collectedin this study was carried out using ANOVA method. Results obtained showed that the questionnaire used is adequate for the research and indicated that the level of Visual Literacy related to the metabolic processes increased significantly with the progress of the students in the graduation course. There was also an indication of a possible interference in the student’s performancedetermined by the cutoff punctuation in the university selection process.

  11. REcall Venice - Exploring disciplines of visual literacy through difficult heritage

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tvedebrink, Tenna Doktor Olsen; Fisker, Anna Marie; Møller, Hans Ramsgaard

    2015-01-01

    According to James Elkin visual literacy is interpreted as material representations, which communicate knowledge and create insight through their visual appearance. Based on the EU Cultural Heritage project REcall, we argue that visual literacy can also relate to interdisciplinary knowledge rooted......, and archeologists question the role of architectural environments when dealing with war heritage. Today, there are still traces left from WWII in the European architectural environments, traces that by visual literacy represent unpleasant memories. However, these visual literacies have shaped our environment, yet...

  12. Constructing and Reading Visual Information: Visual Literacy for Library and Information Science Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Yan

    2015-01-01

    This article examines visual literacy education and research for library and information science profession to educate the information professionals who will be able to execute and implement the ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) Visual Literacy Competency Standards successfully. It is a continuing call for inclusion of visual…

  13. Astronomy, Visual Literacy, and Liberal Arts Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crider, Anthony

    2016-01-01

    With the exponentially growing amount of visual content that twenty-first century students will face throughout their lives, teaching them to respond to it with visual and information literacy skills should be a clear priority for liberal arts education. While visual literacy is more commonly covered within humanities curricula, I will argue that because astronomy is inherently a visual science, it is a fertile academic discipline for the teaching and learning of visual literacy. Astronomers, like many scientists, rely on three basic types of visuals to convey information: images, qualitative diagrams, and quantitative plots. In this talk, I will highlight classroom methods that can be used to teach students to "read" and "write" these three separate visuals. Examples of "reading" exercises include questioning the authorship and veracity of images, confronting the distorted scales of many diagrams published in astronomy textbooks, and extracting quantitative information from published plots. Examples of "writing" exercises include capturing astronomical images with smartphones, re-sketching textbook diagrams on whiteboards, and plotting data with Google Motion Charts or iPython notebooks. Students can be further pushed to synthesize these skills with end-of-semester slide presentations that incorporate relevant images, diagrams, and plots rather than relying solely on bulleted lists.

  14. A Prospective Curriculum Using Visual Literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hortin, John A.

    This report describes the uses of visual literacy programs in the schools and outlines four categories for incorporating training in visual thinking into school curriculums as part of the back to basics movement in education. The report recommends that curriculum writers include materials pertaining to: (1) reading visual language and…

  15. Visual Literacy: A Vital Skill in the Process of Rhetorical Criticism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flory, Joyce

    "Visual literacy" denotes the abilities, competencies, and skills necessary to accurately intercept, interpret, understand, and create communication in visual modes. The term also refers to a popular movement of both students and teachers (e.g., Visual Literacy Association, Action for Children's Television, The Screen Educator's Society) who wish…

  16. Teachers' Spatial Literacy as Visualization, Reasoning, and Communication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore-Russo, Deborah; Viglietti, Janine M.; Chiu, Ming Ming; Bateman, Susan M.

    2013-01-01

    This paper conceptualizes spatial literacy as consisting of three overlapping domains: visualization, reasoning, and communication. By considering these domains, this study explores different aspects of spatial literacy to better understand how a group of mathematics teachers reasoned about spatial tasks. Seventy-five preservice and inservice…

  17. On the relationship between dynamic visual and auditory processing and literacy skills; results from a large primary-school study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Talcott, Joel B; Witton, Caroline; Hebb, Gillian S; Stoodley, Catherine J; Westwood, Elizabeth A; France, Susan J; Hansen, Peter C; Stein, John F

    2002-01-01

    Three hundred and fifty randomly selected primary school children completed a psychometric and psychophysical test battery to ascertain relationships between reading ability and sensitivity to dynamic visual and auditory stimuli. The first analysis examined whether sensitivity to visual coherent motion and auditory frequency resolution differed between groups of children with different literacy and cognitive skills. For both tasks, a main effect of literacy group was found in the absence of a main effect for intelligence or an interaction between these factors. To assess the potential confounding effects of attention, a second analysis of the frequency discrimination data was conducted with performance on catch trials entered as a covariate. Significant effects for both the covariate and literacy skill was found, but again there was no main effect of intelligence, nor was there an interaction between intelligence and literacy skill. Regression analyses were conducted to determine the magnitude of the relationship between sensory and literacy skills in the entire sample. Both visual motion sensitivity and auditory sensitivity to frequency differences were robust predictors of children's literacy skills and their orthographic and phonological skills.

  18. A Need for a Theory of Visual Literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hortin, John A.

    1982-01-01

    Examines sources available for developing a theory of visual literacy and attempts to clarify the meaning of the term. Suggests that visual thinking, a concept supported by recent research on mental imagery, visualization, and dual coding, ought to be the emphasis for future theory development. (FL)

  19. Visual Literacy in Preservice Teachers: a Case Study in Biology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruiz-Gallardo, José Reyes; García Fernández, Beatriz; Mateos Jiménez, Antonio

    2017-07-01

    In this study, we explore the competence of preservice teachers (n = 161) in labelling and creating new cross-sectional human diagrams, based on anatomy knowledge depicted in longitudinal sections. Using educational standards to assess visual literacy and ad hoc open questions, results indicate limited skills for both tasks. However, their competence is particularly poor creating diagrams, where shortcomings were observed not only in visual literacy but in content knowledge. We discuss the misconceptions detected during these assessments. Visual literacy training should be strengthened for these students, as it is a skill that is especially important for future teachers to use in learning, assessing, and reflecting on content in science education. This is particularly important in preservice teachers since they should be fluent in the use of visual teaching tools in teaching anatomy and other content in the biology curriculum.

  20. Timing the impact of literacy on visual processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pegado, Felipe; Comerlato, Enio; Ventura, Fabricio; Jobert, Antoinette; Nakamura, Kimihiro; Buiatti, Marco; Ventura, Paulo; Dehaene-Lambertz, Ghislaine; Kolinsky, Régine; Morais, José; Braga, Lucia W.; Cohen, Laurent; Dehaene, Stanislas

    2014-01-01

    Learning to read requires the acquisition of an efficient visual procedure for quickly recognizing fine print. Thus, reading practice could induce a perceptual learning effect in early vision. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in literate and illiterate adults, we previously demonstrated an impact of reading acquisition on both high- and low-level occipitotemporal visual areas, but could not resolve the time course of these effects. To clarify whether literacy affects early vs. late stages of visual processing, we measured event-related potentials to various categories of visual stimuli in healthy adults with variable levels of literacy, including completely illiterate subjects, early-schooled literate subjects, and subjects who learned to read in adulthood (ex-illiterates). The stimuli included written letter strings forming pseudowords, on which literacy is expected to have a major impact, as well as faces, houses, tools, checkerboards, and false fonts. To evaluate the precision with which these stimuli were encoded, we studied repetition effects by presenting the stimuli in pairs composed of repeated, mirrored, or unrelated pictures from the same category. The results indicate that reading ability is correlated with a broad enhancement of early visual processing, including increased repetition suppression, suggesting better exemplar discrimination, and increased mirror discrimination, as early as ∼100–150 ms in the left occipitotemporal region. These effects were found with letter strings and false fonts, but also were partially generalized to other visual categories. Thus, learning to read affects the magnitude, precision, and invariance of early visual processing. PMID:25422460

  1. Logographic Kanji versus phonographic Kana in literacy acquisition: how important are visual and phonological skills?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koyama, Maki S; Hansen, Peter C; Stein, John F

    2008-12-01

    It is well-established that phonological skills are important for literacy acquisition in all scripts. However, the role of visual skills is less well understood. For logographic scripts in which a symbol represents a whole word or a meaningful unit, the importance of visual memory in literacy acquisition might be expected to be high because of the visual complexity of logographic characters, but in fact its role remains poorly understood. The Japanese writing system uses both phonographic "Kana" and logographic "Kanji" scripts concurrently and thus allows for the assessment of the contribution of phonological and visual processing to literacy acquisition in these two different scripts in the same language. We tested 74 Japanese children (39 second graders and 35 fourth graders) on a range of literacy, sensory, and cognitive tasks. We found that Kana literacy performance was significantly predicted by low-level sensory processing (both auditory frequency modulation sensitivity and visual motion sensitivity) as well as phonological awareness, but not by visual memory. This result is largely consistent with previous studies in other phonographic scripts such as English. In contrast, Kanji literacy performance was strongly predicted by visual memory (particularly visual long-term memory), but not by either low-level sensory processing or phonological awareness. Our results show differences in the skills that predict literacy performance in phonographic Kana and logographic Kanji, as well as providing experimental evidence that visual memory is important when learning Kanji. Therefore, children's literacy problems and remediation programs should be considered in the context of the script in which children are learning to read and write.

  2. Biochemistry Instructors' Views toward Developing and Assessing Visual Literacy in Their Courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Linenberger, Kimberly J.; Holme, Thomas A.

    2015-01-01

    Biochemistry instructors are inundated with various representations from which to choose to depict biochemical phenomena. Because of the immense amount of visual know-how needed to be an expert biochemist in the 21st century, there have been calls for instructors to develop biochemistry students' visual literacy. However, visual literacy has…

  3. The Tools, Approaches and Applications of Visual Literacy in the Visual Arts Department of Cross River University of Technology, Calabar, Nigeria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ecoma, Victor

    2016-01-01

    The paper reflects upon the tools, approaches and applications of visual literacy in the Visual Arts Department of Cross River University of Technology, Calabar, Nigeria. The objective of the discourse is to examine how the visual arts training and practice equip students with skills in visual literacy through methods of production, materials and…

  4. Visual and Plastic Arts in Teaching Literacy: Null Curricula?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wakeland, Robin Gay

    2010-01-01

    Visual and plastic arts in contemporary literacy instruction equal null curricula. Studies show that painting and sculpture facilitate teaching reading and writing (literacy), yet such pedagogy has not been formally adopted into USA curriculum. An example of null curriculum can be found in late 19th - early 20th century education the USA…

  5. Making Information Visual: Seventh Grade Art Information and Visual Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shoemaker, Joel; Schau, Elizabeth; Ayers, Rachael

    2008-01-01

    Seventh grade students entering South East Junior High in Iowa City come from eight elementary feeder schools, as well as from schools around the world. Their information literacy skills and knowledge of reference sources vary, but since all seventh graders and new eighth graders are required to take one trimester of Visual Studies, all entering…

  6. Visual Literacy in Bloom: Using Bloom's Taxonomy to Support Visual Learning Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arneson, Jessie B.; Offerdahl, Erika G.

    2018-01-01

    "Vision and Change" identifies science communication as one of the core competencies in undergraduate biology. Visual representations are an integral part of science communication, allowing ideas to be shared among and between scientists and the public. As such, development of scientific visual literacy should be a desired outcome of…

  7. Pedagogical Praxis Surrounding the Integration of Photography, Visual Literacy, Digital Literacy, and Educational Technology into Business Education Classrooms: A Focus Group Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlosser, Peter Allen

    2010-01-01

    This paper reports on an investigation into how Marketing and Business Education Teachers utilize and integrate educational technology into curriculum through the use of photography. The ontology of this visual, technological, and language interface is explored with an eye toward visual literacy, digital literacy, and pedagogical praxis, focusing…

  8. Refining the Eye: Dermatology and Visual Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmermann, Corinne; Huang, Jennifer T.; Buzney, Elizabeth A.

    2016-01-01

    In 2014 the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and Harvard Medical School began a partnership focused on building visual literacy skills for dermatology residents in the Harvard Combined Dermatology Residency Program. "Refining the Eye: Art and Dermatology", a four session workshop, took place in the museum's galleries and utilized the Visual…

  9. Visual Literacy Development through the Mediation of Grade 4 English Textbooks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sibanda, Jabulani; Sibanda, Lucy

    2013-01-01

    The multimodal world learners inhabit demands visual literacy among other literacies if learners are to effectively navigate its terrain. In this study, we sought to understand the extent to which five Grade 4 English textbooks currently used in some schools in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa facilitated the development of visual…

  10. Problem solving of student with visual impairment related to mathematical literacy problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pratama, A. R.; Saputro, D. R. S.; Riyadi

    2018-04-01

    The student with visual impairment, total blind category depends on the sense of touch and hearing in obtaining information. In fact, the two senses can receive information less than 20%. Thus, students with visual impairment of the total blind categories in the learning process must have difficulty, including learning mathematics. This study aims to describe the problem-solving process of the student with visual impairment, total blind category on mathematical literacy issues based on Polya phase. This research using test method similar problems mathematical literacy in PISA and in-depth interviews. The subject of this study was a student with visual impairment, total blind category. Based on the result of the research, problem-solving related to mathematical literacy based on Polya phase is quite good. In the phase of understanding the problem, the student read about twice by brushing the text and assisted with information through hearing three times. The student with visual impairment in problem-solving based on the Polya phase, devising a plan by summoning knowledge and experience gained previously. At the phase of carrying out the plan, students with visual impairment implement the plan in accordance with pre-made. In the looking back phase, students with visual impairment need to check the answers three times but have not been able to find a way.

  11. Toward a Cohesive Theory of Visual Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avgerinou, Maria D.; Pettersson, Rune

    2011-01-01

    Despite the fact that to date Visual Literacy (VL) scholars have not arrived at a general consensus for a theoretical organization of the VL field, important conceptual investigations have emerged over the past four decades. In this paper we discuss and synthesize those studies. We then present a first attempt toward a cohesive theory of VL. The…

  12. A Review of Research on the Literacy of Students with Visual Impairments and Additional Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Amy T.; Pogrund, Rona L.

    2009-01-01

    Research on the development of literacy in children with visual impairments and additional disabilities is minimal even though these children make up approximately 65% of the population of children with visual impairments. This article reports on emerging themes that were explored after a review of the literature revealed nine literacy studies…

  13. asking questions for higher order thinking in visual literacy

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    thinking skills in the English visual literacy (VL) learning classroom. .... out that the use of assessment in the classroom as a tool to promote greater learner ..... tions on technical knowledge and critical language awareness were not asked.

  14. Advocating for a Population-Specific Health Literacy for People With Visual Impairments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrison, Tracie; Lazard, Allison

    2015-01-01

    Health literacy, the ability to access, process, and understand health information, is enhanced by the visual senses among people who are typically sighted. Emotions, meaning, speed of knowledge transfer, level of attention, and degree of relevance are all manipulated by the visual design of health information when people can see. When consumers of health information are blind or visually impaired, they access, process, and understand their health information in a multitude of methods using a variety of accommodations depending upon their severity and type of impairment. They are taught, or they learn how, to accommodate their differences by using alternative sensory experiences and interpretations. In this article, we argue that due to the unique and powerful aspects of visual learning and due to the differences in knowledge creation when people are not visually oriented, health literacy must be considered a unique construct for people with visual impairment, which requires a distinctive theoretical basis for determining the impact of their mind-constructed representations of health.

  15. Cultivating Common Ground: Integrating Standards-Based Visual Arts, Math and Literacy in High-Poverty Urban Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cunnington, Marisol; Kantrowitz, Andrea; Harnett, Susanne; Hill-Ries, Aline

    2014-01-01

    The "Framing Student Success: Connecting Rigorous Visual Arts, Math and Literacy Learning" experimental demonstration project was designed to develop and test an instructional program integrating high-quality, standards-based instruction in the visual arts, math, and literacy. Developed and implemented by arts-in-education organization…

  16. I See What You Mean: Visual Literacy, K-8. Second Edition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moline, Steve

    2011-01-01

    Some educators may view diagrams, pictures, and charts as nice add-on tools for students who are visual thinkers. But Steve Moline sees visual literacy as fundamental to learning and to what it means to be human. In Moline's view, we are all bilingual. Our second language, which we do not speak but which we read and write every day, is visual.…

  17. Visual literacy and visual communication for global education : innovations in teaching e-learning in art, design and communication

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Velders, Teun; de Vries, Sjoerd A.; Vaicaityte, Loreta

    2007-01-01

    This paper presents the (student) proceedings of a successful inter-university co-operation between a research university and a university of applied sciences, in the field of Visual Literacy and Visual Communication. The origin lays in the international symposium “Digital Communities for Global

  18. Multimodal genres in textbooks: are students being schooled for visual literacy?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cláudia Graziano Paes de Barros

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we discuss some issues involved in teaching and learning reading, especially schooling in visual literacy. We seek to observe the work developed with genres that combine verbal and visual languages, found in the reading activities of two high school textbook series for Portuguese language teaching. Our goal was to understand to what extent these activities contribute towards the development of reading skills needed to deal with the specificities of these genres. Therefore, we used the enunciative and discursive assumptions of the socio-historical approach of Bakhtin Circle, as well as the Social Semiotics perspective to understand multimodality. Data analysis revealed that the incidence of multimodal genres studied in the two textbook series is hardly representative. The didactic treatment these genres receive in reading activities does not favor the mobilization of specific reading skills and contributes little to students‟ visual literacy schooling.

  19. The Dynamic Discourse of Visual Literacy in Experience Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Search, Patricia

    2009-01-01

    Traditionally, people have used perspectives of space and time to define a sense of place and personal identity. Western cultures interpret place and time as static entities. In interactive multimedia computing, visual literacy defines new dimensions in communication that are reshaping traditional Western concepts of place and time. Experience…

  20. Enhancing Emergent Literacy Skills in Inclusive Preschools for Young Children with Visual Impairments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Day, Janice Neibaur; McDonnell, Andrea P.; Heathfield, Lora Tuesday

    2005-01-01

    Emergent literacy can be viewed as skills that are precursors to later reading and writing (Sulzby & Teale, 1991) or can be more broadly conceptualized as literacy acquisition that occurs along a developmental continuum. Because children with disabilities, such as visual impairments, can be at risk for later reading difficulties, it is critical…

  1. Developing Visual Literacy: Historical and Manipulated Photography in the Social Studies Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cruz, Bárbara C.; Ellerbrock, Cheryl R.

    2015-01-01

    The importance of visual literacy development is demonstrated using social studies examples from an innovative, collaborative arts program. Discussion of the Visual Thinking Strategies approach, connections to the Common Core State Standards, prompts for higher-order critical thinking, and the application of historical and social science ideas in…

  2. Selected aspects of health literacy among seniors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Šedová, Lenka; Doskočil, Ondřej; Brabcová, Iva; Hajduchová, Hana; Bártlová, Sylva

    2016-12-01

    This study aimed to map the selected indicators of health literacy in the senior population via a qualitative survey that focused specifically on its relationship with autonomy in the context of health literacy among seniors. A qualitative survey focused on the selected indicators of health literacy of seniors living in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic (R1-19). The snowball sampling method was intentionally selected. Completed interviews were transcribed and data was reduced, analyzed, and categorized. The identified categories were 1) information comprehension, 2) decision-making in healthcare, and 3) compliance with nonpharmacologic treatment. The 'information comprehension' category clearly shows that the seniors involved in this study rated the comprehensibility of information provided by medical professionals as being good. An especially positive finding was that seniors do seek information through the internet, print sources, or other media, even though, as one senior (80-year-old woman) said, comprehension of medical information is becoming "more and more complex". The 'decision-making in healthcare' category touched upon opinions regarding informed consent and opinions regarding seniors' own involvement in healthcare. Results from this category suggest that seniors accept informed consent as a routine necessity. Inhibition regarding personal involvement in healthcare was also apparent: "... I come from a family accustomed to not bothering the doctor unnecessarily, so I just stick out my arm..." The last category of 'compliance with nonpharmacologic treatment' clearly shows that respondents are informed regarding lifestyle modifications that would benefit their treatment, although, few respondents had achieved the desired lifestyle changes. Results of this qualitative research show clear health literacy limits among seniors. As shown in this study, age itself could also be a limiting factor of health literacy.

  3. Unforgivable Blackness: Visual Rhetoric, Reader Response, and Critical Racial Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gardner, Roberta Price

    2017-01-01

    Perceptions of black representations in literature and other visual mediums as positive or negative continuously cause consternation and debate (Fleetwood, 2011). Because African American children are literacy participants and consumers, they are not immune from experiencing this tension. This essay considers the effects and affective threads of…

  4. Visual Literacy: Implications for the Production of Children's Television Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amey, L. J.

    Visual literacy, the integration of seeing with other cognitive processes, is an essential tool of learning. To explain the relationship between the perceiver and the perceived, three types of theories can be brought to bear: introverted; extroverted; and transactional. Franklin Fearing, George Herbert Mead, Martin Buber, and other theorists have…

  5. Geographic Media Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lukinbeal, Chris

    2014-01-01

    While the use of media permeates geographic research and pedagogic practice, the underlying literacies that link geography and media remain uncharted. This article argues that geographic media literacy incorporates visual literacy, information technology literacy, information literacy, and media literacy. Geographic media literacy is the ability…

  6. The essence of student visual-spatial literacy and higher order thinking skills in undergraduate biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milner-Bolotin, Marina; Nashon, Samson Madera

    2012-02-01

    Science, engineering and mathematics-related disciplines have relied heavily on a researcher's ability to visualize phenomena under study and being able to link and superimpose various abstract and concrete representations including visual, spatial, and temporal. The spatial representations are especially important in all branches of biology (in developmental biology time becomes an important dimension), where 3D and often 4D representations are crucial for understanding the phenomena. By the time biology students get to undergraduate education, they are supposed to have acquired visual-spatial thinking skills, yet it has been documented that very few undergraduates and a small percentage of graduate students have had a chance to develop these skills to a sufficient degree. The current paper discusses the literature that highlights the essence of visual-spatial thinking and the development of visual-spatial literacy, considers the application of the visual-spatial thinking to biology education, and proposes how modern technology can help to promote visual-spatial literacy and higher order thinking among undergraduate students of biology.

  7. Exploring EFL Students' Visual Literacy Skills and Global Understanding through Their Analysis of Louis Vuitton's Advertisement Featuring Mikhail Gorbachev

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takaya, Kentei

    2016-01-01

    Visual literacy is an important skill for students to have in order to interpret embedded messages on signs and in advertisements successfully. As advertisements today tend to feature iconic people or events that shaped the modern world, it is crucial to develop students' visual literacy skills so they can comprehend the intended messages. This…

  8. The impact of home care nurses' numeracy and graph literacy on comprehension of visual display information: implications for dashboard design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dowding, Dawn; Merrill, Jacqueline A; Onorato, Nicole; Barrón, Yolanda; Rosati, Robert J; Russell, David

    2018-02-01

    To explore home care nurses' numeracy and graph literacy and their relationship to comprehension of visualized data. A multifactorial experimental design using online survey software. Nurses were recruited from 2 Medicare-certified home health agencies. Numeracy and graph literacy were measured using validated scales. Nurses were randomized to 1 of 4 experimental conditions. Each condition displayed data for 1 of 4 quality indicators, in 1 of 4 different visualized formats (bar graph, line graph, spider graph, table). A mixed linear model measured the impact of numeracy, graph literacy, and display format on data understanding. In all, 195 nurses took part in the study. They were slightly more numerate and graph literate than the general population. Overall, nurses understood information presented in bar graphs most easily (88% correct), followed by tables (81% correct), line graphs (77% correct), and spider graphs (41% correct). Individuals with low numeracy and low graph literacy had poorer comprehension of information displayed across all formats. High graph literacy appeared to enhance comprehension of data regardless of numeracy capabilities. Clinical dashboards are increasingly used to provide information to clinicians in visualized format, under the assumption that visual display reduces cognitive workload. Results of this study suggest that nurses' comprehension of visualized information is influenced by their numeracy, graph literacy, and the display format of the data. Individual differences in numeracy and graph literacy skills need to be taken into account when designing dashboard technology. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

  9. Dynamic visualizations as tools for supporting cosmological literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buck, Zoe Elizabeth

    My dissertation research is designed to improve access to STEM content through the development of cosmology visualizations that support all learners as they engage in cosmological sense-making. To better understand how to design visualizations that work toward breaking cycles of power and access in the sciences, I orient my work to following "meta-question": How might educators use visualizations to support diverse ways of knowing and learning in order to expand access to cosmology, and to science? In this dissertation, I address this meta-question from a pragmatic epistemological perspective, through a sociocultural lens, following three lines of inquiry: experimental methods (Creswell, 2003) with a focus on basic visualization design, activity analysis (Wells, 1996; Ash, 2001; Rahm, 2012) with a focus on culturally and linguistically diverse learners, and case study (Creswell, 2000) with a focus on expansive learning at a planetarium (Engestrom, 2001; Ash, 2014). My research questions are as follows, each of which corresponds to a self contained course of inquiry with its own design, data, analysis and results: 1) Can mediational cues like color affect the way learners interpret the content in a cosmology visualization? 2) How do cosmology visualizations support cosmological sense-making for diverse students? 3) What are the shared objects of dynamic networks of activity around visualization production and use in a large, urban planetarium and how do they affect learning? The result is a mixed-methods design (Sweetman, Badiee & Creswell, 2010) where both qualitative and quantitative data are used when appropriate to address my research goals. In the introduction I begin by establishing a theoretical framework for understanding visualizations within cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and situating the chapters that follow within that framework. I also introduce the concept of cosmological literacy, which I define as the set of conceptual, semiotic and

  10. Supporting the Teaching of the Visual Literacies in the Earth and Life Sciences in Higher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paxton, Moragh; Frith, Vera; Kelly-Laubscher, Roisin; Muna, Natashia; van der Merwe, Mathilde

    2017-01-01

    Internationally, there has been increasing emphasis on the teaching of the academic literacies, particularly reading and writing, in higher education institutions. However, recent research is highlighting the need for more explicit teaching of multimodal forms of communication, such as the visual literacies, in undergraduate courses in a wide…

  11. Justifying the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Whitehead

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Criteria for the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools that allow educators to justify what they do are described within a wider framework of learning theory and research into best practice. Based on a meta-analysis of best practice, results from a three year project designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a secondary school literacy initiative in New Zealand, together with recent research from cognitive and neuro-psychologists, it is argued that the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools used in elementary schools should be consistent with (i teaching focused (ii learner focused, (iii thought linked (iv neurologically consistent, (v subject specific, (vi text linked, (vii developmentally appropriate, and (viii assessment linked criteria.

  12. Designing Visual Aids That Promote Risk Literacy: A Systematic Review of Health Research and Evidence-Based Design Heuristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia-Retamero, Rocio; Cokely, Edward T

    2017-06-01

    Background Effective risk communication is essential for informed decision making. Unfortunately, many people struggle to understand typical risk communications because they lack essential decision-making skills. Objective The aim of this study was to review the literature on the effect of numeracy on risk literacy, decision making, and health outcomes, and to evaluate the benefits of visual aids in risk communication. Method We present a conceptual framework describing the influence of numeracy on risk literacy, decision making, and health outcomes, followed by a systematic review of the benefits of visual aids in risk communication for people with different levels of numeracy and graph literacy. The systematic review covers scientific research published between January 1995 and April 2016, drawn from the following databases: Web of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC, Medline, and Google Scholar. Inclusion criteria were investigation of the effect of numeracy and/or graph literacy, and investigation of the effect of visual aids or comparison of their effect with that of numerical information. Thirty-six publications met the criteria, providing data on 27,885 diverse participants from 60 countries. Results Transparent visual aids robustly improved risk understanding in diverse individuals by encouraging thorough deliberation, enhancing cognitive self-assessment, and reducing conceptual biases in memory. Improvements in risk understanding consistently produced beneficial changes in attitudes, behavioral intentions, trust, and healthy behaviors. Visual aids were found to be particularly beneficial for vulnerable and less skilled individuals. Conclusion Well-designed visual aids tend to be highly effective tools for improving informed decision making among diverse decision makers. We identify five categories of practical, evidence-based guidelines for heuristic evaluation and design of effective visual aids.

  13. Early visual language exposure and emergent literacy in preschool deaf children: findings from a national longitudinal study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Thomas E; Letteri, Amy; Choi, Song Hoa; Dang, Daqian

    2014-01-01

    Brief review is provided of recent research on the impact of early visual language exposure on a variety of developmental outcomes, including literacy, cognition, and social adjustment. This body of work points to the great importance of giving young deaf children early exposure to a visual language as a critical precursor to the acquisition of literacy. Four analyses of data from the Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2) Early Education Longitudinal Study are summarized. Each confirms findings from previously published laboratory findings and points to the positive effects of early sign language on, respectively, letter knowledge, social adaptability, sustained visual attention, and cognitive-behavioral milestones necessary for academic success. The article concludes with a consideration of the qualitative similarity hypothesis and a finding that the hypothesis is valid, but only if it can be presented as being modality independent.

  14. Some Visual Literacy Initiatives in Academic Institutions: A Literature Review from 1999 to the Present

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blummer, Barbara

    2015-01-01

    The ubiquitousness of images in the digital era highlights the importance of individuals' visual communication skills in the 21st Century. We conducted a literature review of visual literacy initiatives in academic institutions to illustrate best practices for imparting these skills in students. The literature review identified five categories of…

  15. A Literacy Based Intervention to Increase the Pretend Play of Young Children with Visual Impairments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greeley-Bennett, Catherine

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a literacy-based intervention on the conventional pretend play skills of preschool children who are visually impaired. The intervention involved experience books, real objects, story-reading, and role-play, which are common strategies used to teach children with visual impairments. A…

  16. Methodological Strategies for Studying the Process of Learning, Memory and Visual Literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Randhawa, Bikkar S.; Hunt, Dennis

    An attempt is made to discuss current models of information processing, learning, and development, thereby suggesting adequate methodological strategies for research in visual literacy. It is maintained that development is a cumulative process of learning, and that learning and memory are the result of new knowledge, sensations, etc. over a short…

  17. Visual Communication in Transition: Designing for New Media Literacies and Visual Culture Art Education across Activities and Settings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuiker, Steven J.

    2014-01-01

    As an example of design-based research, this case study describes and analyses the enactment of a collaborative drawing and animation studio in a Singapore secondary school art classroom. The design embodies principles of visual culture art education and new media literacies in order to organize transitions in the settings of participation and…

  18. Supporting Youth Boundary Crossing – Intertextuality as a Component of Design for Information and Visual Literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristen Radcliff Clark

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available This article charts attempts to derive a theoretically guided approach to engaging children in boundary crossing toward literacies and practices associated with the Age of Information. Using Fifth Dimension (5D afterschool programs as laboratories for informal learning design, interventions were designed to explore the extent to which youth cultures and literacies can be used as intertextual gateways to more educative practices associated with visual and information literacy. Intertextuality is introduced as a concept to consider the relevance of using semantic relationships between popular and educative texts to inform learning design for afterschool programming.

  19. Learning Program for Enhancing Visual Literacy for Non-Design Students Using a CMS to Share Outcomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ariga, Taeko; Watanabe, Takashi; Otani, Toshio; Masuzawa, Toshimitsu

    2016-01-01

    This study proposes a basic learning program for enhancing visual literacy using an original Web content management system (Web CMS) to share students' outcomes in class as a blog post. It seeks to reinforce students' understanding and awareness of the design of visual content. The learning program described in this research focuses on to address…

  20. Justifying the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Whitehead

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Criteria for the design and selection of literacy and thinking tools that allow educators to justifywhat they do are described within a wider framework of learning theory and research into bestpractice. Based on a meta-analysis of best practice, results from a three year project designedto evaluate the effectiveness of a secondary school literacy initiative in New Zealand, togetherwith recent research from cognitive and neuro-psychologists, it is argued that the design andselection of literacy and thinking tools used in elementary schools should be consistent with (iteaching focused (ii learner focused, (iii thought linked (iv neurologically consistent, (vsubject specific, (vi text linked, (vii developmentally appropriate, and (viii assessment linkedcriteria.

  1. Developing Students' Critical Thinking Skills through Visual Literacy in the New Secondary School Curriculum in Hong Kong

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheung, Chi-Kim; Jhaveri, Aditi Dubey

    2016-01-01

    This paper argues that the planned introduction of visual literacy into the New Secondary School Curriculum can play a crucial role in enabling students to think critically and creatively in Hong Kong's highly visual landscape. As Hong Kong's educational system remains entrenched in long-established and conventional pedagogies, the primacy given…

  2. Early Visual Language Exposure and Emergent Literacy in Preschool Deaf Children: Findings from a National Longitudinal Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Thomas E.; Letteri, Amy; Choi, Song Hoa; Dang, Daqian

    2014-01-01

    A brief review is provided of recent research on the impact of early visual language exposure on a variety of developmental outcomes, including literacy, cognition, and social adjustment. This body of work points to the great importance of giving young deaf children early exposure to a visual language as a critical precursor to the acquisition of…

  3. Describing Images: A Case Study of Visual Literacy among Library and Information Science Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beaudoin, Joan E.

    2016-01-01

    This paper reports on a study that examined the development of pedagogical methods for increasing the visual literacy skills of a group of library and information science students. Through a series of three assignments, students were asked to provide descriptive information for a set of historical photographs and record reflections on their…

  4. Neural Mechanisms of Selective Visual Attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Tirin; Zirnsak, Marc

    2017-01-03

    Selective visual attention describes the tendency of visual processing to be confined largely to stimuli that are relevant to behavior. It is among the most fundamental of cognitive functions, particularly in humans and other primates for whom vision is the dominant sense. We review recent progress in identifying the neural mechanisms of selective visual attention. We discuss evidence from studies of different varieties of selective attention and examine how these varieties alter the processing of stimuli by neurons within the visual system, current knowledge of their causal basis, and methods for assessing attentional dysfunctions. In addition, we identify some key questions that remain in identifying the neural mechanisms that give rise to the selective processing of visual information.

  5. Exploring Metacogntive Visual Literacy Tasks for Teaching Astronomy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slater, Timothy F.; Slater, S.; Dwyer, W.

    2010-01-01

    Undoubtedly, astronomy is a scientific enterprise which often results in colorful and inspirational images of the cosmos that naturally capture our attention. Students encountering astronomy in the college classroom are often bombarded with images, movies, simulations, conceptual cartoons, graphs, and charts intended to convey the substance and technological advancement inherent in astronomy. For students who self-identify themselves as visual learners, this aspect can make the science of astronomy come alive. For students who naturally attend to visual aesthetics, this aspect can make astronomy seem relevant. In other words, the visual nature that accompanies much of the scientific realm of astronomy has the ability to connect a wide range of students to science, not just those few who have great abilities and inclinations toward the mathematical analysis world. Indeed, this is fortunate for teachers of astronomy, who actively try to find ways to connect and build astronomical understanding with a broad range of student interests, motivations, and abilities. In the context of learning science, metacognition describes students’ self-monitoring, -regulation, and -awareness when thinking about learning. As such, metacognition is one of the foundational pillars supporting what we know about how people learn. Yet, the astronomy teaching and learning community knows very little about how to operationalize and support students’ metacognition in the classroom. In response, the Conceptual Astronomy, Physics and Earth sciences Research (CAPER) Team is developing and pilot-testing metacogntive tasks in the context of astronomy that focus on visual literacy of astronomical phenomena. In the initial versions, students are presented with a scientifically inaccurate narrative supposedly describing visual information, including images and graphical information, and asked to assess and correct the narrative, in the form of peer evaluation. To guide student thinking, students

  6. Parents' Perceptions of Professional Support for the Emergent Literacy of Young Children with Visual Impairments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brennan, Susan A.; Luze, Gayle J.; Peterson, Carla

    2009-01-01

    This survey explored the emergent literacy experiences that parents provided for their children with visual impairments, aged 1-8, as well as the parents' perceptions of the professional support that they received to facilitate these activities. The results indicated that the parents and children engaged in reading, singing songs, and writing or…

  7. Teaching Early Braille Literacy Skills within a Stimulus Equivalence Paradigm to Children with Degenerative Visual Impairments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toussaint, Karen A.; Tiger, Jeffrey H.

    2010-01-01

    Despite the need for braille literacy, there has been little attempt to systematically evaluate braille-instruction programs. The current study evaluated an instructive procedure for teaching early braille-reading skills with 4 school-aged children with degenerative visual impairments. Following a series of pretests, braille instruction involved…

  8. Literacy, Learning, and Media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Dennis; Hamm, Mary

    2000-01-01

    Considers the expanding definition of literacy from traditional reading and writing skills to include technological, visual, information, and networking literacy. Discusses the impact of media on social interactions and intellectual development; linking technology to educational goals; influences of new media symbol systems on communication;…

  9. The State of Students’ Financial Literacy in Selected Slovak universities and its Relationship with Active Pension Savings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beata Gavurova

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The interest in retirement planning is increasingly brought to common people’s attention due to demographic aging of population and better financial literacy level these days. In this study we analyze the level of financial literacy among Slovak university students in relation to further pension decisions and financial behavior overall. The primary aim of this research was to compare the level of financial literacy among the selected faculties of economics in Slovakia. The analytical part was oriented on evaluation of financial behavior of the respondents and their skills in terms of financial literacy concept along with the analysis of the correlative data dependence of the selected variables and their intensity by using the Logit model. At first, the results have shown a statistically significant dependency of financial literacy on the respondents’ gender. Female respondents reached higher financial literacy than male ones. Older students did not achieve higher level of financial literacy as compared to younger students. Students do not look ahead and most of them do not calculate how much they need to save for their retirement. The results of the presented research provide important information for policy makers who should reflect on the present status of this issue in Slovakia.

  10. The Uses of Literacy in Studying Computer Games: Comparing Students' Oral and Visual Representations of Games

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pelletier, Caroline

    2005-01-01

    This paper compares the oral and visual representations which 12 to 13-year-old students produced in studying computer games as part of an English and Media course. It presents the arguments for studying multimodal texts as part of a literacy curriculum and then provides an overview of the games course devised by teachers and researchers. The…

  11. Visual Literacy Skills of Students in College-Level Biology: Learning Outcomes Following Digital or Hand-Drawing Activities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, Justine C.

    2014-01-01

    To test the claim that digital learning tools enhance the acquisition of visual literacy in this generation of biology students, a learning intervention was carried out with 33 students enrolled in an introductory college biology course. This study compared learning outcomes following two types of learning tools: a traditional drawing activity, or…

  12. Literacy Sign Language Application Using Visual Phonics: A Theoretical Framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abdulghafoor, Maath S.; Ahmad, Azlina; Huang, Jiung-Yao

    2015-01-01

    Literacy is the ability to read and write. Being able to read and write is an important skill in modern society. Deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) students' literacy achievement has been reported as lower than that of hearing students. This research focuses on the literacy skills of D/HH students, aiming to determine their reading/writing skills and…

  13. Prefrontal contributions to visual selective attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Squire, Ryan F; Noudoost, Behrad; Schafer, Robert J; Moore, Tirin

    2013-07-08

    The faculty of attention endows us with the capacity to process important sensory information selectively while disregarding information that is potentially distracting. Much of our understanding of the neural circuitry underlying this fundamental cognitive function comes from neurophysiological studies within the visual modality. Past evidence suggests that a principal function of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is selective attention and that this function involves the modulation of sensory signals within posterior cortices. In this review, we discuss recent progress in identifying the specific prefrontal circuits controlling visual attention and its neural correlates within the primate visual system. In addition, we examine the persisting challenge of precisely defining how behavior should be affected when attentional function is lost.

  14. Toward a Shared Vocabulary for Visual Analysis: An Analytic Toolkit for Deconstructing the Visual Design of Graphic Novels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Connors, Sean P.

    2012-01-01

    Literacy educators might advocate using graphic novels to develop students' visual literacy skills, but teachers who lack a vocabulary for engaging in close analysis of visual texts may be reluctant to teach them. Recognizing this, teacher educators should equip preservice teachers with a vocabulary for analyzing visual texts. This article…

  15. Conditional control in visual selection

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Zoest, Wieske; Van der Stigchel, Stefan; Donk, Mieke

    2017-01-01

    Attention and eye movements provide a window into the selective processing of visual information. Evidence suggests that selection is influenced by various factors and is not always under the strategic control of the observer. The aims of this tutorial review are to give a brief introduction to eye

  16. Literacy for Real: Reading, Thinking, and Learning in the Content Areas. Language & Literacy Practitioners Bookshelf

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lent, ReLeah Cossett

    2009-01-01

    Written for the busy practitioner by an experienced professional development consultant, writer, and speaker, "Literacy for Real" is a hands-on guide to meaningful reading across the content areas of math, science, and social studies in grades 6-12. It presents key information that addresses all types of 21st century literacy--visual, digital, and…

  17. A Qualitative Investigation to Underpin the Development of an Electronic Tool to Assess Nutrition Literacy in Australian Adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alyssa M Cassar

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Nutrition literacy is linked to health via its influence on dietary intake. There is a need for a tool to assess nutrition literacy in research and dietetic practice. We sought guidance from nutrition professionals on topic areas and features of an electronic nutrition literacy assessment tool for Australian adults. 28 experienced nutrition professionals engaged in a range of nutrition and dietetic work areas participated in six focus groups using a semi-structured interview schedule. Data were analysed using an inductive approach using NVivo 10 (QSR International, Pty Ltd., Doncaster, Australia, 2012. Key areas identified to assess nutrition literacy included specific nutrients versus foods, labels and packaging, construction of the diet, knowledge of the Australian Dietary Guidelines and Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, understanding of serve and portion sizes, ability to select healthier foods, and demographics such as belief systems and culture. Exploitation of electronic features to enhance visual and auditory displays, including interactive animations such as “drag and drop” and virtual reality situations, were discussed. This study provided insight into the most relevant topic areas and presentation format to assess the nutrition literacy of adult Australians. The visual, auditory, and interactive capacity of the available technology could enhance the assessment of nutrition literacy.

  18. A Qualitative Investigation to Underpin the Development of an Electronic Tool to Assess Nutrition Literacy in Australians Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cassar, Alyssa M; Denyer, Gareth S; O'Connor, Helen T; Gifford, Janelle A

    2018-02-23

    Nutrition literacy is linked to health via its influence on dietary intake. There is a need for a tool to assess nutrition literacy in research and dietetic practice. We sought guidance from nutrition professionals on topic areas and features of an electronic nutrition literacy assessment tool for Australian adults. 28 experienced nutrition professionals engaged in a range of nutrition and dietetic work areas participated in six focus groups using a semi-structured interview schedule. Data were analysed using an inductive approach using NVivo 10 (QSR International, Pty Ltd., Doncaster, Australia, 2012). Key areas identified to assess nutrition literacy included specific nutrients versus foods, labels and packaging, construction of the diet, knowledge of the Australian Dietary Guidelines and Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, understanding of serve and portion sizes, ability to select healthier foods, and demographics such as belief systems and culture. Exploitation of electronic features to enhance visual and auditory displays, including interactive animations such as "drag and drop" and virtual reality situations, were discussed. This study provided insight into the most relevant topic areas and presentation format to assess the nutrition literacy of adult Australians. The visual, auditory, and interactive capacity of the available technology could enhance the assessment of nutrition literacy.

  19. Learning Visualizations by Analogy: Promoting Visual Literacy through Visualization Morphing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruchikachorn, Puripant; Mueller, Klaus

    2015-09-01

    We propose the concept of teaching (and learning) unfamiliar visualizations by analogy, that is, demonstrating an unfamiliar visualization method by linking it to another more familiar one, where the in-betweens are designed to bridge the gap of these two visualizations and explain the difference in a gradual manner. As opposed to a textual description, our morphing explains an unfamiliar visualization through purely visual means. We demonstrate our idea by ways of four visualization pair examples: data table and parallel coordinates, scatterplot matrix and hyperbox, linear chart and spiral chart, and hierarchical pie chart and treemap. The analogy is commutative i.e. any member of the pair can be the unfamiliar visualization. A series of studies showed that this new paradigm can be an effective teaching tool. The participants could understand the unfamiliar visualization methods in all of the four pairs either fully or at least significantly better after they observed or interacted with the transitions from the familiar counterpart. The four examples suggest how helpful visualization pairings be identified and they will hopefully inspire other visualization morphings and associated transition strategies to be identified.

  20. Mothers' Attention-Getting Utterances during Shared Book Reading: Links to Low-Income Preschoolers' Verbal Engagement, Visual Attention, and Early Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Son, Seung-Hee Claire; Tineo, Maria F.

    2016-01-01

    This study examined associations among low-income mothers' use of attention-getting utterances during shared book reading, preschoolers' verbal engagement and visual attention to reading, and their early literacy skills (N = 51). Mother-child shared book reading sessions were videotaped and coded for each utterance, including attention talk,…

  1. A Visual Test for Visual "Literacy."

    Science.gov (United States)

    Messaris, Paul

    Four different principles of visual manipulation constitute a minimal list of what a visually "literate" viewer should know about, but certain problems exist which are inherent in measuring viewers' awareness of each of them. The four principles are: (1) paraproxemics, or camera work which derives its effectiveness from an analogy to the…

  2. Feature and Region Selection for Visual Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Ji; Wang, Liantao; Cabral, Ricardo; De la Torre, Fernando

    2016-03-01

    Visual learning problems, such as object classification and action recognition, are typically approached using extensions of the popular bag-of-words (BoWs) model. Despite its great success, it is unclear what visual features the BoW model is learning. Which regions in the image or video are used to discriminate among classes? Which are the most discriminative visual words? Answering these questions is fundamental for understanding existing BoW models and inspiring better models for visual recognition. To answer these questions, this paper presents a method for feature selection and region selection in the visual BoW model. This allows for an intermediate visualization of the features and regions that are important for visual learning. The main idea is to assign latent weights to the features or regions, and jointly optimize these latent variables with the parameters of a classifier (e.g., support vector machine). There are four main benefits of our approach: 1) our approach accommodates non-linear additive kernels, such as the popular χ(2) and intersection kernel; 2) our approach is able to handle both regions in images and spatio-temporal regions in videos in a unified way; 3) the feature selection problem is convex, and both problems can be solved using a scalable reduced gradient method; and 4) we point out strong connections with multiple kernel learning and multiple instance learning approaches. Experimental results in the PASCAL VOC 2007, MSR Action Dataset II and YouTube illustrate the benefits of our approach.

  3. Location selection in the visual domain

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Lubbe, Robert Henricus Johannes; Woestenburg, Jaap C.

    2000-01-01

    According to A.H.C. Van der Heijden (1992), attentional selection of visual stimuli can be considered as location selection. Depending on the type of task, location selection can be considered to be automatic )e.g., in case of abrupt onsets), directly controlled (e.g., in case of symbolic precues),

  4. Correlation between Computer and Mathematical Literacy Levels of 6th Grade Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ic, Unal; Tutak, Tayfun

    2018-01-01

    Literacy has been defined in the literature frequently. Each new interpretation leads to the idea that the definition can change based on the relevant environment, instruments used and/or the intended objective and there might be different types of literacy including computer literacy, media literacy and visual literacy (Reinking, McKenna, Labbo…

  5. Defining and identifying concepts of medication literacy: An international perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pouliot, Annie; Vaillancourt, Régis; Stacey, Danielle; Suter, Philippe

    2017-11-08

    Multiple concepts to define health literacy in the context of medication use exist, such as medication literacy, pharmacotherapy literacy, pharmacy health literacy; however, no studies have looked at consensus among experts internationally. A Delphi process was used to achieve consensus on the statements about medication literacy. Experts for the Delphi were selected from a review of the literature and suggestions from an international survey conducted with members of the International Pharmaceutical Federation on medication literacy. The preliminary Delphi questionnaire was built using the statements about medication literacy found in the scientific literature. Responses and comments were analyzed using a pre-established method and communicated to the experts after each round of Delphi. Statements with an agreement of at least 80% were accepted and used to develop a definition of medication literacy. The Delphi process started with 21 experts and included 4 rounds. Overall, 30 statements regarding medication literacy were accepted and divided into 4 clusters representing: (1) type of information necessary for optimal and safe use of medication, (2) skills and abilities, (3) format of information, and (4) outcomes. These statements were used to propose 2 different definitions of medication literacy. One of the definitions was preferred by 75% of the expert panel, which provided further comments for improvements. Of the 11 experts who answered the final questionnaire, nine strongly agreed with the refined definition. Medication literacy is the degree to which individuals can obtain, comprehend, communicate, calculate and process patient-specific information about their medications to make informed medication and health decisions in order to safely and effectively use their medications, regardless of the mode by which the content is delivered (e.g. written, oral and visual). Future studies should focus on how this definition can be operationalized to support the role

  6. Using Visual Analogies To Teach Introductory Statistical Concepts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jessica S. Ancker

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Introductory statistical concepts are some of the most challenging to convey in quantitative literacy courses. Analogies supplemented by visual illustrations can be highly effective teaching tools. This literature review shows that to exploit the power of analogies, teachers must select analogies familiar to the audience, explicitly link the analog with the target concept, and avert misconceptions by explaining where the analogy fails. We provide guidance for instructors and a series of visual analogies for use in teaching medical and health statistics.

  7. Three-Year-Old Photographers: Educational and Parental Mediation as a Basis for Visual Literacy via Digital Photography in Early Childhood

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedman, Arielle

    2016-01-01

    The study examines two years of an educational program for children aged three to four, based on the use of digital cameras. It assesses the program's effects on the children and adults involved in the project, and explores how they help the youngsters acquire visual literacy. Operating under the assumption that formal curricula usually…

  8. Toward a New Theory for Selecting Instructional Visuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Croft, Richard S.; Burton, John K.

    This paper provides a rationale for the selection of illustrations and visual aids for the classroom. The theories that describe the processing of visuals are dual coding theory and cue summation theory. Concept attainment theory offers a basis for selecting which cues are relevant for any learning task which includes a component of identification…

  9. Language, literacy, and communication regarding medication in an anticoagulation clinic: a comparison of verbal vs. visual assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schillinger, Dean; Machtinger, Edward L; Wang, Frances; Palacios, Jorge; Rodriguez, Maytrella; Bindman, Andrew

    2006-01-01

    Despite the importance of clinician-patient communication, little is known about rates and predictors of medication miscommunication. Measuring rates of miscommunication, as well as differences between verbal and visual modes of assessment, can inform efforts to more effectively communicate about medications. We studied 220 diverse patients in an anticoagulation clinic to assess concordance between patient and clinician reports of warfarin regimens. Bilingual research assistants asked patients to (1) verbalize their prescribed weekly warfarin regimen and (2) identify this regimen from a digitized color menu of warfarin pills. We obtained clinician reports of patient regimens from chart review. Patients were categorized as having regimen concordance if there were no patient-clinician discrepancies in total weekly dosage. We then examined whether verbal and visual concordance rates varied with patient's language and health literacy. Fifty percent of patients achieved verbal concordance and 66% achieved visual concordance with clinicians regarding the weekly warfarin regimen (P visual discordance. Shifting from verbal to visual modes was associated with greater patient-provider concordance across all patient subgroups, but especially for those with communication barriers.Clinician-patient discordance regarding patients' warfarin regimen was common but occurred less frequently when patients used a visual aid. Visual aids may improve the accuracy of medication assessment, especially for patients with communication barriers.

  10. Components of working memory and visual selective attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burnham, Bryan R; Sabia, Matthew; Langan, Catherine

    2014-02-01

    Load theory (Lavie, N., Hirst, A., De Fockert, J. W., & Viding, E. [2004]. Load theory of selective attention and cognitive control. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133, 339-354.) proposes that control of attention depends on the amount and type of load that is imposed by current processing. Specifically, perceptual load should lead to efficient distractor rejection, whereas working memory load (dual-task coordination) should hinder distractor rejection. Studies support load theory's prediction that working memory load will lead to larger distractor effects; however, these studies used secondary tasks that required only verbal working memory and the central executive. The present study examined which other working memory components (visual, spatial, and phonological) influence visual selective attention. Subjects completed an attentional capture task alone (single-task) or while engaged in a working memory task (dual-task). Results showed that along with the central executive, visual and spatial working memory influenced selective attention, but phonological working memory did not. Specifically, attentional capture was larger when visual or spatial working memory was loaded, but phonological working memory load did not affect attentional capture. The results are consistent with load theory and suggest specific components of working memory influence visual selective attention. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  11. Audio-visual synchrony and feature-selective attention co-amplify early visual processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keitel, Christian; Müller, Matthias M

    2016-05-01

    Our brain relies on neural mechanisms of selective attention and converging sensory processing to efficiently cope with rich and unceasing multisensory inputs. One prominent assumption holds that audio-visual synchrony can act as a strong attractor for spatial attention. Here, we tested for a similar effect of audio-visual synchrony on feature-selective attention. We presented two superimposed Gabor patches that differed in colour and orientation. On each trial, participants were cued to selectively attend to one of the two patches. Over time, spatial frequencies of both patches varied sinusoidally at distinct rates (3.14 and 3.63 Hz), giving rise to pulse-like percepts. A simultaneously presented pure tone carried a frequency modulation at the pulse rate of one of the two visual stimuli to introduce audio-visual synchrony. Pulsed stimulation elicited distinct time-locked oscillatory electrophysiological brain responses. These steady-state responses were quantified in the spectral domain to examine individual stimulus processing under conditions of synchronous versus asynchronous tone presentation and when respective stimuli were attended versus unattended. We found that both, attending to the colour of a stimulus and its synchrony with the tone, enhanced its processing. Moreover, both gain effects combined linearly for attended in-sync stimuli. Our results suggest that audio-visual synchrony can attract attention to specific stimulus features when stimuli overlap in space.

  12. Digital literacies at school. Students' digital profiles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentina Pennazio

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available L’articolo presenta una ricerca volta a focalizzare le modalità in cui la Digital Literacy si traduce a scuola. Lo studio ha inteso sottolineare le molteplici dimensioni della Digital Literacy: Information Technology Literacy; Information Literacy; Visual Literacy e Media Literacy ed è stato effettuato nelle scuole primarie e secondarie di primo grado in Liguria. Sono state organizzate settimane di attività di ricerca, analisi e rielaborazione di informazioni, in classe e in rete, individualmente e in gruppo. Dalle autovalutazione degli studenti, svolte al termine di ogni attività, sono emersi i profili digitali che gli studenti tendono ad assumere quando utilizzano le tecnologie digitali. Tali profili possono essere utilizzati dagli insegnanti per progettare in maniera più mirata e significativa le attività con le tecnologie a scuola.

  13. Visual attention spreads broadly but selects information locally.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shioiri, Satoshi; Honjyo, Hajime; Kashiwase, Yoshiyuki; Matsumiya, Kazumichi; Kuriki, Ichiro

    2016-10-19

    Visual attention spreads over a range around the focus as the spotlight metaphor describes. Spatial spread of attentional enhancement and local selection/inhibition are crucial factors determining the profile of the spatial attention. Enhancement and ignorance/suppression are opposite effects of attention, and appeared to be mutually exclusive. Yet, no unified view of the factors has been provided despite their necessity for understanding the functions of spatial attention. This report provides electroencephalographic and behavioral evidence for the attentional spread at an early stage and selection/inhibition at a later stage of visual processing. Steady state visual evoked potential showed broad spatial tuning whereas the P3 component of the event related potential showed local selection or inhibition of the adjacent areas. Based on these results, we propose a two-stage model of spatial attention with broad spread at an early stage and local selection at a later stage.

  14. Gaming as a Literacy Practice

    OpenAIRE

    Hall, Amy Conlin

    2011-01-01

    This descriptive study was designed to be a detailed, informative study of a group of adult males who have been gamers since adolescence. The purposes of the study are to provide information regarding gaming as a literacy practice and to explore other vernacular technological literacy practices. The study sheds light on the merits of gaming and other new literacies by examining the literacy development of a select group of adult males. This research was centered on vernacular technological...

  15. FINANCIAL LITERACY AS A PATH TO SUSTAINABILITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michaela Krechovská

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The paper aims to highlight the important role of financial literacy as one of the factors that ensures sustainable development in society. First, the paper deals with the definition of financial literacy and the importance of financial literacy for society. It analyses various symptoms associated with the level of financial literacy in the form of household debt and the number of ordered property repossessions. Furthermore, the paper focuses on the measurement of financial literacy and, in this context, presents selected results of the survey of financial literacy from a selected group of respondents (university students in the Czech Republic that were acquired as part of the "V4 Scientific Centers for the Enhancement of Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship Education" project focused on research in the field of entrepreneurship education and financial literacy in Visegrad Group countries. Financial literacy is seen as one of the most important characteristics that can determine the behaviour of individuals in the world of finance, their approaches to payment discipline, debt and thinking for the future. In this regard, it is important to put emphasis on financial education as a tool for heightening and developing practical financial literacy.

  16. Making a Literacy Plan: Developing an Integrated Curriculum That Meets Your School's Needs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schutte, Annie

    2016-01-01

    Literacy does not happen in a single lesson or course. There are no shortcuts to gaining mastery over a skill set, whether it is reading literacy, information literacy and research skills, online literacy and digital citizenship, or visual literacy. School librarians dream about a perfect integrated curriculum: there is ample time for…

  17. Literacy through Photography: Multimodal and Visual Literacy in a Third Grade Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiseman, Angela M.; Mäkinen, Marita; Kupiainen, Reijo

    2016-01-01

    This article reports findings from a diverse third grade classroom that integrates a literacy through photography (LTP) curriculum as a central component of writing instruction in an urban public school. A case study approach was used in order to provide an in-depth, multi-dimensional consideration of phenomena by drawing on multiple data sources…

  18. Developing visual images for communicating information about ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    African Journal of AIDS Research ... The objective of this study was to design visuals or pictograms illustrating various ARV side effects and to ... adherence, patient education, South Africa, visual aids, visual communication, visual literacy

  19. Selection-for-action in visual search.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hannus, Aave; Cornelissen, Frans W; Lindemann, Oliver; Bekkering, Harold

    2005-01-01

    Grasping an object rather than pointing to it enhances processing of its orientation but not its color. Apparently, visual discrimination is selectively enhanced for a behaviorally relevant feature. In two experiments we investigated the limitations and targets of this bias. Specifically, in Experiment 1 we were interested to find out whether the effect is capacity demanding, therefore we manipulated the set-size of the display. The results indicated a clear cognitive processing capacity requirement, i.e. the magnitude of the effect decreased for a larger set size. Consequently, in Experiment 2, we investigated if the enhancement effect occurs only at the level of behaviorally relevant feature or at a level common to different features. Therefore we manipulated the discriminability of the behaviorally neutral feature (color). Again, results showed that this manipulation influenced the action enhancement of the behaviorally relevant feature. Particularly, the effect of the color manipulation on the action enhancement suggests that the action effect is more likely to bias the competition between different visual features rather than to enhance the processing of the relevant feature. We offer a theoretical account that integrates the action-intention effect within the biased competition model of visual selective attention.

  20. Designing information visualizations for elite soccer children's different levels of comprehension

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Herdal, Thor; Pedersen, Jeppe Gerner; Knudsen, Søren

    2016-01-01

    We describe a study that sought to understand elite soccer children's use of visualizations to learn about, and improve their own sports performance. We specifically investigate how visualizations support the players' data comprehension. In this process, we design and evaluate visualizations base...... on real data. Finally, we discuss how the players' level of comprehension might depend on factors such as their general literacy and visualization literacy, and the role of visualization in coaching children....

  1. More insight into the interplay of response selection and visual attention in dual-tasks: masked visual search and response selection are performed in parallel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reimer, Christina B; Schubert, Torsten

    2017-09-15

    Both response selection and visual attention are limited in capacity. According to the central bottleneck model, the response selection processes of two tasks in a dual-task situation are performed sequentially. In conjunction search, visual attention is required to select the items and to bind their features (e.g., color and form), which results in a serial search process. Search time increases as items are added to the search display (i.e., set size effect). When the search display is masked, visual attention deployment is restricted to a brief period of time and target detection decreases as a function of set size. Here, we investigated whether response selection and visual attention (i.e., feature binding) rely on a common or on distinct capacity limitations. In four dual-task experiments, participants completed an auditory Task 1 and a conjunction search Task 2 that were presented with an experimentally modulated temporal interval between them (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony, SOA). In Experiment 1, Task 1 was a two-choice discrimination task and the conjunction search display was not masked. In Experiment 2, the response selection difficulty in Task 1 was increased to a four-choice discrimination and the search task was the same as in Experiment 1. We applied the locus-of-slack method in both experiments to analyze conjunction search time, that is, we compared the set size effects across SOAs. Similar set size effects across SOAs (i.e., additive effects of SOA and set size) would indicate sequential processing of response selection and visual attention. However, a significantly smaller set size effect at short SOA compared to long SOA (i.e., underadditive interaction of SOA and set size) would indicate parallel processing of response selection and visual attention. In both experiments, we found underadditive interactions of SOA and set size. In Experiments 3 and 4, the conjunction search display in Task 2 was masked. Task 1 was the same as in Experiments 1 and 2

  2. Visual selective attention in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McLaughlin, Paula M; Anderson, Nicole D; Rich, Jill B; Chertkow, Howard; Murtha, Susan J E

    2014-11-01

    Subtle deficits in visual selective attention have been found in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). However, few studies have explored performance on visual search paradigms or the Simon task, which are known to be sensitive to disease severity in Alzheimer's patients. Furthermore, there is limited research investigating how deficiencies can be ameliorated with exogenous support (auditory cues). Sixteen individuals with aMCI and 14 control participants completed 3 experimental tasks that varied in demand and cue availability: visual search-alerting, visual search-orienting, and Simon task. Visual selective attention was influenced by aMCI, auditory cues, and task characteristics. Visual search abilities were relatively consistent across groups. The aMCI participants were impaired on the Simon task when working memory was required, but conflict resolution was similar to controls. Spatially informative orienting cues improved response times, whereas spatially neutral alerting cues did not influence performance. Finally, spatially informative auditory cues benefited the aMCI group more than controls in the visual search task, specifically at the largest array size where orienting demands were greatest. These findings suggest that individuals with aMCI have working memory deficits and subtle deficiencies in orienting attention and rely on exogenous information to guide attention. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  3. Figure analysis: A teaching technique to promote visual literacy and active Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiles, Amy M

    2016-07-08

    Learning often improves when active learning techniques are used in place of traditional lectures. For many of these techniques, however, students are expected to apply concepts that they have already grasped. A challenge, therefore, is how to incorporate active learning into the classroom of courses with heavy content, such as molecular-based biology courses. An additional challenge is that visual literacy is often overlooked in undergraduate science education. To address both of these challenges, a technique called figure analysis was developed and implemented in three different levels of undergraduate biology courses. Here, students learn content while gaining practice in interpreting visual information by discussing figures with their peers. Student groups also make connections between new and previously learned concepts on their own while in class. The instructor summarizes the material for the class only after students grapple with it in small groups. Students reported a preference for learning by figure analysis over traditional lecture, and female students in particular reported increased confidence in their analytical abilities. There is not a technology requirement for this technique; therefore, it may be utilized both in classrooms and in nontraditional spaces. Additionally, the amount of preparation required is comparable to that of a traditional lecture. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 44(4):336-344, 2016. © 2016 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

  4. Selective attention modulates the direction of audio-visual temporal recalibration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ikumi, Nara; Soto-Faraco, Salvador

    2014-01-01

    Temporal recalibration of cross-modal synchrony has been proposed as a mechanism to compensate for timing differences between sensory modalities. However, far from the rich complexity of everyday life sensory environments, most studies to date have examined recalibration on isolated cross-modal pairings. Here, we hypothesize that selective attention might provide an effective filter to help resolve which stimuli are selected when multiple events compete for recalibration. We addressed this question by testing audio-visual recalibration following an adaptation phase where two opposing audio-visual asynchronies were present. The direction of voluntary visual attention, and therefore to one of the two possible asynchronies (flash leading or flash lagging), was manipulated using colour as a selection criterion. We found a shift in the point of subjective audio-visual simultaneity as a function of whether the observer had focused attention to audio-then-flash or to flash-then-audio groupings during the adaptation phase. A baseline adaptation condition revealed that this effect of endogenous attention was only effective toward the lagging flash. This hints at the role of exogenous capture and/or additional endogenous effects producing an asymmetry toward the leading flash. We conclude that selective attention helps promote selected audio-visual pairings to be combined and subsequently adjusted in time but, stimulus organization exerts a strong impact on recalibration. We tentatively hypothesize that the resolution of recalibration in complex scenarios involves the orchestration of top-down selection mechanisms and stimulus-driven processes.

  5. Selective attention modulates the direction of audio-visual temporal recalibration.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nara Ikumi

    Full Text Available Temporal recalibration of cross-modal synchrony has been proposed as a mechanism to compensate for timing differences between sensory modalities. However, far from the rich complexity of everyday life sensory environments, most studies to date have examined recalibration on isolated cross-modal pairings. Here, we hypothesize that selective attention might provide an effective filter to help resolve which stimuli are selected when multiple events compete for recalibration. We addressed this question by testing audio-visual recalibration following an adaptation phase where two opposing audio-visual asynchronies were present. The direction of voluntary visual attention, and therefore to one of the two possible asynchronies (flash leading or flash lagging, was manipulated using colour as a selection criterion. We found a shift in the point of subjective audio-visual simultaneity as a function of whether the observer had focused attention to audio-then-flash or to flash-then-audio groupings during the adaptation phase. A baseline adaptation condition revealed that this effect of endogenous attention was only effective toward the lagging flash. This hints at the role of exogenous capture and/or additional endogenous effects producing an asymmetry toward the leading flash. We conclude that selective attention helps promote selected audio-visual pairings to be combined and subsequently adjusted in time but, stimulus organization exerts a strong impact on recalibration. We tentatively hypothesize that the resolution of recalibration in complex scenarios involves the orchestration of top-down selection mechanisms and stimulus-driven processes.

  6. Selection-for-action in visual search

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hannus, A; Cornelissen, FW; Lindemann, O; Bekkering, H

    2005-01-01

    Grasping an object rather than pointing to it enhances processing of its orientation but not its color. Apparently, visual discrimination is selectively enhanced for a behaviorally relevant feature. In two experiments we investigated the limitations and targets of this bias. Specifically, in

  7. Elementary Teachers' Selection and Use of Visual Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Tammy D.; Gail Jones, M.

    2018-02-01

    As science grows in complexity, science teachers face an increasing challenge of helping students interpret models that represent complex science systems. Little is known about how teachers select and use models when planning lessons. This mixed methods study investigated the pedagogical approaches and visual models used by elementary in-service and preservice teachers in the development of a science lesson about a complex system (e.g., water cycle). Sixty-seven elementary in-service and 69 elementary preservice teachers completed a card sort task designed to document the types of visual models (e.g., images) that teachers choose when planning science instruction. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to analyze the card sort task. Semistructured interviews were conducted with a subsample of teachers to elicit the rationale for image selection. Results from this study showed that both experienced in-service teachers and novice preservice teachers tended to select similar models and use similar rationales for images to be used in lessons. Teachers tended to select models that were aesthetically pleasing and simple in design and illustrated specific elements of the water cycle. The results also showed that teachers were not likely to select images that represented the less obvious dimensions of the water cycle. Furthermore, teachers selected visual models more as a pedagogical tool to illustrate specific elements of the water cycle and less often as a tool to promote student learning related to complex systems.

  8. "Cthulhuic Literacy": Teaching Secondary English with a Dose of Lovecraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, David R.

    2014-01-01

    This paper suggests how the "weird fiction" of H.P. Lovecraft might be mobilised within secondary English classrooms to examine aspects of visual literacy, literary style, narrative form and intertextuality. The approach that is outlined is characterised, after Lovecraft's famous monster, as a "Cthulhuic literacy" and is…

  9. Modeling the effect of selection history on pop-out visual search.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuan-Chi Tseng

    Full Text Available While attentional effects in visual selection tasks have traditionally been assigned "top-down" or "bottom-up" origins, more recently it has been proposed that there are three major factors affecting visual selection: (1 physical salience, (2 current goals and (3 selection history. Here, we look further into selection history by investigating Priming of Pop-out (POP and the Distractor Preview Effect (DPE, two inter-trial effects that demonstrate the influence of recent history on visual search performance. Using the Ratcliff diffusion model, we model observed saccadic selections from an oddball search experiment that included a mix of both POP and DPE conditions. We find that the Ratcliff diffusion model can effectively model the manner in which selection history affects current attentional control in visual inter-trial effects. The model evidence shows that bias regarding the current trial's most likely target color is the most critical parameter underlying the effect of selection history. Our results are consistent with the view that the 3-item color-oddball task used for POP and DPE experiments is best understood as an attentional decision making task.

  10. Multiple-view, Multiple-selection Visualization of Simulation Geometry in CMS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bauerdick, L A T; Eulisse, G; Jones, C; McCauley, T; Osborne, I; Kovalskyi, D; Mrak Tadel, A; Tadel, M; Yagil, A

    2012-01-01

    Fireworks, the event-display program of CMS, was extended with an advanced geometry visualization package. ROOT's TGeo geometry is used as internal representation, shared among several geometry views. Each view is represented by a GUI list-tree widget, implemented as a flat vector to allow for fast searching, selection, and filtering by material type, node name, and shape type. Display of logical and physical volumes is supported. Color, transparency, and visibility flags can be modified for each node or for a selection of nodes. Further operations, like opening of a new view or changing of the root node, can be performed via a context menu. Node selection and graphical properties determined by the list-tree view can be visualized in any 3D graphics view of Fireworks. As each 3D view can display any number of geometry views, a user is free to combine different geometry-view selections within the same 3D view. Node-selection by proximity to a given point is possible. A visual clipping box can be set for each geometry view to limit geometry drawing into a specified region. Visualization of geometric overlaps, as detected by TGeo, is also supported. The geometry visualization package is used for detailed inspection and display of simulation geometry with or without the event data. It also serves as a tool for geometry debugging and inspection, facilitating development of geometries for CMS detector upgrades and for SLHC.

  11. Researching literacy practices in transition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holm, Lars

    Researching literacy practices in transition Postmodern societies are characterized by constant, fast and unpredictable mobility of people, goods, ideas and values. These mobilities are often visualized as a movement from one place to another, as a temporary interference of the stability of fixed...... places. An alternative take on mobilty sees movement as the default and change as the normal way of being rather than the exception (Barton, 2012). This understanding of change is central to the framing concept of this symposium: transition. Transitional processes around literacy are significant because...... literacy is something that is taught and learned, that is adopted, transformed and appropriated and that is used to categorize and classify people (Holm & Pitkänen-Huhta, 2012). Based on detailed empirical studies in the Nordic countries, the aim of this symposium is to discuss how to explore and research...

  12. Multiple-view, multiple-selection visualization of simulation geometry in CMS

    CERN Document Server

    Mrak Tadel, Alja

    2012-01-01

    Fireworks, the event-display program of CMS, was extended with an advanced geometry visualization package. ROOT's TGeo geometry is used as internal representation, shared among several geometry views. Each view is represented by a GUI list-tree widget, implemented as a flat vector to allow for fast searching, selection, and filtering by material type, node name, and shape type. Display of logical and physical volumes is supported. Color, transparency, and visibility flags can be modified for each node or for a selection of nodes. Further operations, like opening of a new view or changing of the root node, can be performed via a context menu. Node selection and graphical properties determined by the list-tree view can be visualized in any 3D graphics view of Fireworks. As each 3D view can display any number of geometry views, a user is free to combine different geometry-view selections within the same 3D view. Node-selection by proximity to a given point is possible. A visual clipping box can be set for each g...

  13. The relationship between media literacy and health literacy among pregnant women in health centers of Isfahan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akbarinejad, Farideh; Soleymani, Mohammad Reza; Shahrzadi, Leila

    2017-01-01

    The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and convey information in various forms of media including print and nonprint requires media literacy, but the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic information and services needed for appropriate decisions regarding health, considered an important element in a woman's ability to participate in health promotion and prevention activities for herself and her children, is needed to a level of health literacy. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between media literacy and health literacy among pregnant women in health centers in Isfahan. This study used a descriptive correlation study. Data collection tools include Shahin media literacy and functional health literacy in adults' questionnaires. The population include pregnant women in health centers of Isfahan (4080 people). Ten out of the 351 health centers in Isfahan were selected as cluster. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Media literacy of respondents in the five dimensions was significantly lower than average 61.5% of pregnant women have inadequate health literacy, 18.8% had marginal health literacy, and only 19.7% of them have had adequate health literacy. There was a significant positive relationship between media literacy and health literacy among pregnant women. This study showed that the majority of pregnant women covered by health centers had limited health literacy and media literacy. Since one of the basic requirements for the utilization of health information is needed for adequate media literacy, promotion of media literacy is necessary for the respondents.

  14. Spatial Scaling of the Profile of Selective Attention in the Visual Field.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gannon, Matthew A; Knapp, Ashley A; Adams, Thomas G; Long, Stephanie M; Parks, Nathan A

    2016-01-01

    Neural mechanisms of selective attention must be capable of adapting to variation in the absolute size of an attended stimulus in the ever-changing visual environment. To date, little is known regarding how attentional selection interacts with fluctuations in the spatial expanse of an attended object. Here, we use event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the scaling of attentional enhancement and suppression across the visual field. We measured ERPs while participants performed a task at fixation that varied in its attentional demands (attentional load) and visual angle (1.0° or 2.5°). Observers were presented with a stream of task-relevant stimuli while foveal, parafoveal, and peripheral visual locations were probed by irrelevant distractor stimuli. We found two important effects in the N1 component of visual ERPs. First, N1 modulations to task-relevant stimuli indexed attentional selection of stimuli during the load task and further correlated with task performance. Second, with increased task size, attentional modulation of the N1 to distractor stimuli showed a differential pattern that was consistent with a scaling of attentional selection. Together, these results demonstrate that the size of an attended stimulus scales the profile of attentional selection across the visual field and provides insights into the attentional mechanisms associated with such spatial scaling.

  15. Exploring Middle School Students' Representational Competence in Science: Development and Verification of a Framework for Learning with Visual Representations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tippett, Christine Diane

    Scientific knowledge is constructed and communicated through a range of forms in addition to verbal language. Maps, graphs, charts, diagrams, formulae, models, and drawings are just some of the ways in which science concepts can be represented. Representational competence---an aspect of visual literacy that focuses on the ability to interpret, transform, and produce visual representations---is a key component of science literacy and an essential part of science reading and writing. To date, however, most research has examined learning from representations rather than learning with representations. This dissertation consisted of three distinct projects that were related by a common focus on learning from visual representations as an important aspect of scientific literacy. The first project was the development of an exploratory framework that is proposed for use in investigations of students constructing and interpreting multimedia texts. The exploratory framework, which integrates cognition, metacognition, semiotics, and systemic functional linguistics, could eventually result in a model that might be used to guide classroom practice, leading to improved visual literacy, better comprehension of science concepts, and enhanced science literacy because it emphasizes distinct aspects of learning with representations that can be addressed though explicit instruction. The second project was a metasynthesis of the research that was previously conducted as part of the Explicit Literacy Instruction Embedded in Middle School Science project (Pacific CRYSTAL, http://www.educ.uvic.ca/pacificcrystal). Five overarching themes emerged from this case-to-case synthesis: the engaging and effective nature of multimedia genres, opportunities for differentiated instruction using multimodal strategies, opportunities for assessment, an emphasis on visual representations, and the robustness of some multimodal literacy strategies across content areas. The third project was a mixed

  16. Texting literacies as social practices among older women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dyers, Charlyn

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available While many studies on mobile messaging have tended to focus on the communicative practices of the urban young, this paper considers the role of mobile messaging (also called texting both as a social practice as well as a form of literacy enhancement among a group of older working class women between the ages of 50 and 80 in a Cape Town township. The paper examines how these women, with little or no formal education, acquire this form of literacy, as well as the purposes for which they use texting. It also explores how this form of late-modern communication is adding to four of their existing or developing literacies – text, numeracy, visual and personal. The paper therefore adopts a multiliteracies approach within the context of portable literacies.

  17. Spatial Scaling of the Profile of Selective Attention in the Visual Field.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew A Gannon

    Full Text Available Neural mechanisms of selective attention must be capable of adapting to variation in the absolute size of an attended stimulus in the ever-changing visual environment. To date, little is known regarding how attentional selection interacts with fluctuations in the spatial expanse of an attended object. Here, we use event-related potentials (ERPs to investigate the scaling of attentional enhancement and suppression across the visual field. We measured ERPs while participants performed a task at fixation that varied in its attentional demands (attentional load and visual angle (1.0° or 2.5°. Observers were presented with a stream of task-relevant stimuli while foveal, parafoveal, and peripheral visual locations were probed by irrelevant distractor stimuli. We found two important effects in the N1 component of visual ERPs. First, N1 modulations to task-relevant stimuli indexed attentional selection of stimuli during the load task and further correlated with task performance. Second, with increased task size, attentional modulation of the N1 to distractor stimuli showed a differential pattern that was consistent with a scaling of attentional selection. Together, these results demonstrate that the size of an attended stimulus scales the profile of attentional selection across the visual field and provides insights into the attentional mechanisms associated with such spatial scaling.

  18. Pain awareness and medication knowledge: a health literacy evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devraj, Radhika; Herndon, Christopher M; Griffin, Jake

    2013-03-01

    Chronic pain is a significant burden to the U.S. health care system. Patient-related barriers such as low health literacy can prevent optimal management of pain. This study aimed to determine the relationship between health literacy, pain awareness, and medication knowledge. Chronic pain patients visiting a family health center were administered a survey addressing the study objectives. Health literacy was measured using the Newest Vital Sign. A total of 139 chronic pain patients participated in the study. Patients with low health literacy had significantly lower overall pain medication knowledge (mean score = 63.3± 18.9 versus 74.3 ± 18.5, p literacy lacked knowledge of non-medication modes of treating pain, and did not know which non-prescription medications could provide pain relief. The mean Visual Analogue Scale score for the entire sample was 51.54 mm (range = 0 - 100 mm). Pain intensity was not related to health literacy (p > 0.05). Multivariate analyses showed a significant relationship between health literacy and medication knowledge after controlling for demographics. Patients with low health literacy have poor knowledge of pain medications. Educational interventions to meet the needs of patients with low health literacy are essential to safely relieve pain.

  19. Student Perceived Importance and Correlations of Selected Computer Literacy Course Topics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciampa, Mark

    2013-01-01

    Traditional college-level courses designed to teach computer literacy are in a state of flux. Today's students have high rates of access to computing technology and computer ownership, leading many policy decision makers to conclude that students already are computer literate and thus computer literacy courses are dinosaurs in a modern digital…

  20. Visual Literacy and Science Education: Results of a Qualitative Research Project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Regula Fankhauser

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available In the didactics of science the role of pictures—mainly photographs and diagrams—as learning media and their function in the acquisition of knowledge have been discussed. However, the specific problems understanding pictures have seldom been reflected systematically. The aim of the project described in this paper was to address this deficiency. In a first step I refer to theoretical concepts of understanding pictures that were generated within the context of qualitative social research. Next I generate a theoretical model of visual literacy. The focus is on the understanding of pictures used in science education. The model includes aesthetic, epistemological, technical, and pragmatic dimensions. This model was then empirically tested. Thirty-five students were interviewed regarding their reception of scientific pictures. The results reveal that students have difficulties in describing the aesthetic features of pictures. The interviews clarified the epistemological frame theory on which picture understanding is based: most of the students consider the picture as a realistic copy of the object represented. Only a few students showed a more constructivist frame theory. Furthermore, the results revealed no connection between the epistemological theory and the technical knowledge of the students. The discussion of the design and the method of interpretation reflects the results of the study; the students' patterns of picture understanding are surprisingly homogeneous. On the one hand this could be reduced to the method of content analysis; on the other hand it could be an effect of the single sided view of the design. I explored only the subjective reception of pictures. Further research must consider other perspectives and focus on the way teachers work with visual material in classroom teaching. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs090129

  1. Visual search in scenes involves selective and non-selective pathways

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolfe, Jeremy M; Vo, Melissa L-H; Evans, Karla K; Greene, Michelle R

    2010-01-01

    How do we find objects in scenes? For decades, visual search models have been built on experiments in which observers search for targets, presented among distractor items, isolated and randomly arranged on blank backgrounds. Are these models relevant to search in continuous scenes? This paper argues that the mechanisms that govern artificial, laboratory search tasks do play a role in visual search in scenes. However, scene-based information is used to guide search in ways that had no place in earlier models. Search in scenes may be best explained by a dual-path model: A “selective” path in which candidate objects must be individually selected for recognition and a “non-selective” path in which information can be extracted from global / statistical information. PMID:21227734

  2. Human Occipital and Parietal GABA Selectively Influence Visual Perception of Orientation and Size.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Chen; Sandberg, Kristian; Andersen, Lau Møller; Blicher, Jakob Udby; Rees, Geraint

    2017-09-13

    GABA is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in human brain. The level of GABA varies substantially across individuals, and this variability is associated with interindividual differences in visual perception. However, it remains unclear whether the association between GABA level and visual perception reflects a general influence of visual inhibition or whether the GABA levels of different cortical regions selectively influence perception of different visual features. To address this, we studied how the GABA levels of parietal and occipital cortices related to interindividual differences in size, orientation, and brightness perception. We used visual contextual illusion as a perceptual assay since the illusion dissociates perceptual content from stimulus content and the magnitude of the illusion reflects the effect of visual inhibition. Across individuals, we observed selective correlations between the level of GABA and the magnitude of contextual illusion. Specifically, parietal GABA level correlated with size illusion magnitude but not with orientation or brightness illusion magnitude; in contrast, occipital GABA level correlated with orientation illusion magnitude but not with size or brightness illusion magnitude. Our findings reveal a region- and feature-dependent influence of GABA level on human visual perception. Parietal and occipital cortices contain, respectively, topographic maps of size and orientation preference in which neural responses to stimulus sizes and stimulus orientations are modulated by intraregional lateral connections. We propose that these lateral connections may underlie the selective influence of GABA on visual perception. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT GABA, the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in human visual system, varies substantially across individuals. This interindividual variability in GABA level is linked to interindividual differences in many aspects of visual perception. However, the widespread influence of GABA raises the

  3. Human Occipital and Parietal GABA Selectively Influence Visual Perception of Orientation and Size

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersen, Lau Møller; Blicher, Jakob Udby

    2017-01-01

    GABA is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in human brain. The level of GABA varies substantially across individuals, and this variability is associated with interindividual differences in visual perception. However, it remains unclear whether the association between GABA level and visual perception reflects a general influence of visual inhibition or whether the GABA levels of different cortical regions selectively influence perception of different visual features. To address this, we studied how the GABA levels of parietal and occipital cortices related to interindividual differences in size, orientation, and brightness perception. We used visual contextual illusion as a perceptual assay since the illusion dissociates perceptual content from stimulus content and the magnitude of the illusion reflects the effect of visual inhibition. Across individuals, we observed selective correlations between the level of GABA and the magnitude of contextual illusion. Specifically, parietal GABA level correlated with size illusion magnitude but not with orientation or brightness illusion magnitude; in contrast, occipital GABA level correlated with orientation illusion magnitude but not with size or brightness illusion magnitude. Our findings reveal a region- and feature-dependent influence of GABA level on human visual perception. Parietal and occipital cortices contain, respectively, topographic maps of size and orientation preference in which neural responses to stimulus sizes and stimulus orientations are modulated by intraregional lateral connections. We propose that these lateral connections may underlie the selective influence of GABA on visual perception. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT GABA, the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in human visual system, varies substantially across individuals. This interindividual variability in GABA level is linked to interindividual differences in many aspects of visual perception. However, the widespread influence of GABA raises the

  4. Visual Thinking Strategies: Teachers' Reflections on Closely Reading Complex Visual Texts within the Disciplines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cappello, Marva; Walker, Nancy T.

    2016-01-01

    The authors offer a new perspective on close reading that uses a range of multimodal texts to capitalize on the visual nature of contemporary society and to support literacy within the academic disciplines. Specifically, a qualitative study explored teachers' perspectives on the use of Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), a practice borrowed from…

  5. Data Visualization and Feature Selection Methods in Gel-based Proteomics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Silva, Tomé Santos; Richard, Nadege; Dias, Jorge P.

    2014-01-01

    -based proteomics, summarizing the current state of research within this field. Particular focus is given on discussing the usefulness of available multivariate analysis tools both for data visualization and feature selection purposes. Visual examples are given using a real gel-based proteomic dataset as basis....

  6. A Collaborative Education Network for Advancing Climate Literacy using Data Visualization Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDougall, C.; Russell, E. L.; Murray, M.; Bendel, W. B.

    2013-12-01

    One of the more difficult issues in engaging broad audiences with scientific research is to present it in a way that is intuitive, captivating and up-to-date. Over the past ten years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has made significant progress in this area through Science On a Sphere(R) (SOS). SOS is a room-sized, global display system that uses computers and video projectors to display Earth systems data onto a six-foot diameter sphere, analogous to a giant animated globe. This well-crafted data visualization system serves as a way to integrate and display global change phenomena; including polar ice melt, projected sea level rise, ocean acidification and global climate models. Beyond a display for individual data sets, SOS provides a holistic global perspective that highlights the interconnectedness of Earth systems, nations and communities. SOS is now a featured exhibit at more than 100 science centers, museums, universities, aquariums and other institutions around the world reaching more than 33 million visitors every year. To facilitate the development of how this data visualization technology and these visualizations could be used with public audiences, we recognized the need for the exchange of information among the users. To accomplish this, we established the SOS Users Collaborative Network. This network consists of the institutions that have an SOS system or partners who are creating content and educational programming for SOS. When we began the Network in 2005, many museums had limited capacity to both incorporate real-time, authentic scientific data about the Earth system and interpret global change visualizations. They needed not only the visualization platform and the scientific content, but also assistance with methods of approach. We needed feedback from these users on how to craft understandable visualizations and how to further develop the SOS platform to support learning. Through this Network and the collaboration

  7. Health literacy in Europe: comparative results of the European health literacy survey (HLS-EU).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sørensen, Kristine; Pelikan, Jürgen M; Röthlin, Florian; Ganahl, Kristin; Slonska, Zofia; Doyle, Gerardine; Fullam, James; Kondilis, Barbara; Agrafiotis, Demosthenes; Uiters, Ellen; Falcon, Maria; Mensing, Monika; Tchamov, Kancho; van den Broucke, Stephan; Brand, Helmut

    2015-12-01

    Health literacy concerns the capacities of people to meet the complex demands of health in modern society. In spite of the growing attention for the concept among European health policymakers, researchers and practitioners, information about the status of health literacy in Europe remains scarce. This article presents selected findings from the first European comparative survey on health literacy in populations. The European health literacy survey (HLS-EU) was conducted in eight countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain (n = 1000 per country, n = 8000 total sample). Data collection was based on Eurobarometer standards and the implementation of the HLS-EU-Q (questionnaire) in computer-assisted or paper-assisted personal interviews. The HLS-EU-Q constructed four levels of health literacy: insufficient, problematic, sufficient and excellent. At least 1 in 10 (12%) respondents showed insufficient health literacy and almost 1 in 2 (47%) had limited (insufficient or problematic) health literacy. However, the distribution of levels differed substantially across countries (29-62%). Subgroups within the population, defined by financial deprivation, low social status, low education or old age, had higher proportions of people with limited health literacy, suggesting the presence of a social gradient which was also confirmed by raw bivariate correlations and a multivariate linear regression model. Limited health literacy represents an important challenge for health policies and practices across Europe, but to a different degree for different countries. The social gradient in health literacy must be taken into account when developing public health strategies to improve health equity in Europe. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association.

  8. The Influence of Administrators on Literacy Instruction through the Promotion and Selection of Professional Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston-Josey, Lucy Katherine

    2017-01-01

    Literacy is a key component to success in school and in life. Literacy has been a focus of education since 1965 when President Jimmy Carter announced a "war on poverty." Since then, history has shown that educators should place an emphasis on literacy within schools. Because literacy is so important, I set out to explore how…

  9. Towards Sensorial Approaches to Visual Research with Racially Diverse Young Men

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emmanuel Tabi

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This is a collaborative ethnographic research project that highlights the artistic, literary contributions of racially diverse young men. It uses Critical Race Theory to question conventional, Eurocentric educational approaches that historically and currently continue to suppress various socially and culturally learned modes of communication. This article presents two research projects in urban and suburban formal and informal educational institutions to highlight multimodal literary approaches. The first project is an amalgamation of two critical, ethnographic case studies that explores how racially diverse young men express their literacy through rap and spoken word poetry. The second project uses ethnographic methods to observe racially diverse young men’s production of films and photographs in high school, community centers, and art gallery spaces. This study uses visual methods coupled with affect and sensory-laden approaches to collect data and conduct an analysis. The article reflects on conversations surrounding young men, particularly racialized young men, their relationship with literacy, and how these conversations are founded on their failure and deficit language about their literacy repertoires. We believe that such research is closely tied with other social justice themes and modes of inquiry. This article steers away from the ways racialized young men do not use literacy, and focuses instead on the ways that they do use literacy. Their literacy practices are predominantly visual in nature, frequently accompanied by other modes such as words and moving images. Fitting within the scope of the special issue on social justice and visual methods, we argue for a greater acknowledgement and analytical gaze on sensory and affective nuances within visual research. This approach adds texture and volume to interpreting racialized young men’s narratives. Interrogating their visuals and talking through their narratives that have agentive

  10. An exploration of workplace literacy as a catalyst to support employees in dealing with changing workplace literacy practices

    OpenAIRE

    Mackey, Hester

    2009-01-01

    The changing workplace requires employees to engage with new ways of working that rely increasingly on a variety of literacy skills. This study used action research to answer the research question whether a workplace literacy initiative could act as a catalyst to support employees to manage these new literacy practices in the workplace with confidence. A multi-national high-tech manufacturing plant in Ireland which is in a process of continuous change was selected as research site. A 45 ho...

  11. Dynamic stereoscopic selective visual attention (dssva): integrating motion and shape with depth in video segmentation

    OpenAIRE

    López Bonal, María Teresa; Fernández Caballero, Antonio; Saiz Valverde, Sergio

    2008-01-01

    Depth inclusion as an important parameter for dynamic selective visual attention is presented in this article. The model introduced in this paper is based on two previously developed models, dynamic selective visual attention and visual stereoscopy, giving rise to the so-called dynamic stereoscopic selective visual attention method. The three models are based on the accumulative computation problem-solving method. This paper shows how software reusability enables enhancing results in vision r...

  12. Children Working with Text in Science: disparities with 'Literacy Hour' practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peacock, Alan; Weedon, Helen

    2002-02-01

    The National Literacy Strategy (NLS) provides a coherent plan of what and how children should be taught about non-fiction text. Nevertheless, the difficulties that children actually experience when using science texts are not fully addressed: in particular, the use and interpretation of the visual elements of science text is given limited attention in the prescriptions for teaching the 'Literacy Hour'. Such disparities identified by prior research and by a content analysis of the NLS Framework Document are considered alongside evidence of the difficulties encountered by a class of Year 5 pupils working with a range of non-fiction texts during science lessons. Pupils' text use is studied through observations and interviews with children, through interviews with their teachers and through a questionnaire about text use strategies. The findings suggest that (1) the pupils experienced considerable difficulty in making sense of the science content of non-fiction text, particularly in terms of interpretation of visual elements and their links to written text and (2) use of retrieval strategies taught during the Literacy Hour was not transferred to learning from text during science lessons. The study proposes closer planning of text use in science and literacy lessons.

  13. Information Literacy on the Web: How College Students Use Visual and Textual Cues to Assess Credibility on Health Websites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katrina L. Pariera

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available One of the most important literacy skills in today’s information society is the ability to determine the credibility of online information. Users sort through a staggering number of websites while discerning which will provide satisfactory information. In this study, 70 college students assessed the credibility of health websites with a low and high design quality, in either low or high credibility groups. The study’s purpose was to understand if students relied more on textual or visual cues in determining credibility, and to understand if this affected their recall of those cues later. The results indicate that when viewing a high credibility website, high design quality will bolster the credibility perception, but design quality will not compensate for a low credibility website. The recall test also indicated that credibility does impact the participants’ recall of visual and textual cues. Implications are discussed in light of the Elaboration Likelihood Model.

  14. Building 21st. Century literacies through digital animated storytelling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gjedde, Lisa

    2016-01-01

    , auditory and verbal with a fluency with digital tools. There is an interest to teach multimodal literacy in open schooling, while bridging informal and formal learning in hybrid environments, that is involving collaboration with libraries and museums. Designs for multimodal learning with animation may have......This paper will present the preliminary findings from a R&D project on developing 21st. Century literacies in a digital Storylab at a public library, doing digital animated storytelling, in collaboration with municipal schools. It will explore the implications for the approach to digital story......-based learning for learner’s engagement, motivation and multimodal learning in a mixed methods study based on surveys, interviews and observations. The key literacy skills needed for 21st. Century learners have shifted from a predominant focus on verbal text towards multimodal literacies, that combine the visual...

  15. Learning through Play: Portraits, Photoshop, and Visual Literacy Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Honeyford, Michelle A.; Boyd, Karen

    2015-01-01

    Play has a significant role in language and literacy learning. However, even when valued in schools, opportunities for play are limited beyond early childhood education. This study of an after-school program for adolescents looks closely at several forms of play that students engaged in to produce self-portraits. The study suggests that play and…

  16. Visual Orientation and Directional Selectivity through Thalamic Synchrony

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanley, Garrett B.; Jin, Jianzhong; Wang, Yushi; Desbordes, Gaëlle; Wang, Qi; Black, Michael J.; Alonso, Jose-Manuel

    2012-01-01

    Thalamic neurons respond to visual scenes by generating synchronous spike trains on the timescale of 10 – 20 ms that are very effective at driving cortical targets. Here we demonstrate that this synchronous activity contains unexpectedly rich information about fundamental properties of visual stimuli. We report that the occurrence of synchronous firing of cat thalamic cells with highly overlapping receptive fields is strongly sensitive to the orientation and the direction of motion of the visual stimulus. We show that this stimulus selectivity is robust, remaining relatively unchanged under different contrasts and temporal frequencies (stimulus velocities). A computational analysis based on an integrate-and-fire model of the direct thalamic input to a layer 4 cortical cell reveals a strong correlation between the degree of thalamic synchrony and the nonlinear relationship between cortical membrane potential and the resultant firing rate. Together, these findings suggest a novel population code in the synchronous firing of neurons in the early visual pathway that could serve as the substrate for establishing cortical representations of the visual scene. PMID:22745507

  17. Climate Literacy Ambassadors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ackerman, S. A.; Mooney, M. E.

    2011-12-01

    The Climate Literacy Ambassadors program is a collaborative effort to advance climate literacy led by the Cooperative Institute of Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With support from NASA, CIMSS is coordinating a three-tiered program to train G6-12 teachers to be Ambassadors of Climate Literacy in their schools and communities. The complete training involves participation at a teacher workshop combined with web-based professional development content around Global and Regional Climate Change. The on-line course utilizes e-learning technology to clarify graphs and concepts from the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Summary for Policy Makers with content intricately linked to the Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science. Educators who take the course for credit can develop lesson plans or opt for a project of their choosing. This session will showcase select lesson plans and projects, ranging from a district-wide action plan that engaged dozens of teachers to Ambassadors volunteering at the Aldo Leopold Climate Change Nature Center to a teacher who tested a GLOBE Student Climate Research Campaign (SCRC) learning project with plans to participate in the SCRC program. Along with sharing successes from the CIMSS Climate Literacy Ambassadors project, we will share lessons learned related to the challenges of sustaining on-line virtual educator communities.

  18. Event-related potentials during visual selective attention in children of alcoholics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Stelt, O; Gunning, W B; Snel, J; Kok, A

    1998-12-01

    Event-related potentials were recorded from 7- to 18-year-old children of alcoholics (COAs, n = 50) and age- and sex-matched control children (n = 50) while they performed a visual selective attention task. The task was to attend selectively to stimuli with a specified color (red or blue) in an attempt to detect the occurrence of target stimuli. COAs manifested a smaller P3b amplitude to attended-target stimuli over the parietal and occipital scalp than did the controls. A more specific analysis indicated that both the attentional relevance and the target properties of the eliciting stimulus determined the observed P3b amplitude differences between COAs and controls. In contrast, no significant group differences were observed in attention-related earlier occurring event-related potential components, referred to as frontal selection positivity, selection negativity, and N2b. These results represent neurophysiological evidence that COAs suffer from deficits at a late (semantic) level of visual selective information processing that are unlikely a consequence of deficits at earlier (sensory) levels of selective processing. The findings support the notion that a reduced visual P3b amplitude in COAs represents a high-level processing dysfunction indicating their increased vulnerability to alcoholism.

  19. Do Workplace Literacy Programs Promote High Skills or Low Wages? Suggestions for Future Evaluations of Workplace Literacy Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarmiento, Tony

    Workplace literacy programs can support the path toward either low wages or high skills. Instead of the "high skill" path, most U.S. companies follow the "low wage" path. Depending on who is involved, which program goals are selected, and what planning process is followed, a workplace literacy program can maintain outdated workplaces or foster…

  20. Special Issue of Selected Papers from Visualization and Data Analysis 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kao, David L.; Wong, Pak Chung

    2012-01-01

    This special issue features the best papers that were selected from the 18th SPIE Conference on Visualization and Data Analysis (VDA 2011). This annual conference is a major international forum for researchers and practitioners interested in data visualization and analytics research, development, and applications. VDA 2011 received 42 high-quality submissions from around the world. Twenty-four papers were selected for full conference papers. The top five papers have been expanded and reviewed for this special issue.

  1. Changes in otoacoustic emissions during selective auditory and visual attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walsh, Kyle P; Pasanen, Edward G; McFadden, Dennis

    2015-05-01

    Previous studies have demonstrated that the otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) measured during behavioral tasks can have different magnitudes when subjects are attending selectively or not attending. The implication is that the cognitive and perceptual demands of a task can affect the first neural stage of auditory processing-the sensory receptors themselves. However, the directions of the reported attentional effects have been inconsistent, the magnitudes of the observed differences typically have been small, and comparisons across studies have been made difficult by significant procedural differences. In this study, a nonlinear version of the stimulus-frequency OAE (SFOAE), called the nSFOAE, was used to measure cochlear responses from human subjects while they simultaneously performed behavioral tasks requiring selective auditory attention (dichotic or diotic listening), selective visual attention, or relative inattention. Within subjects, the differences in nSFOAE magnitude between inattention and attention conditions were about 2-3 dB for both auditory and visual modalities, and the effect sizes for the differences typically were large for both nSFOAE magnitude and phase. These results reveal that the cochlear efferent reflex is differentially active during selective attention and inattention, for both auditory and visual tasks, although they do not reveal how attention is improved when efferent activity is greater.

  2. Learning a New Selection Rule in Visual and Frontal Cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Togt, Chris; Stănişor, Liviu; Pooresmaeili, Arezoo; Albantakis, Larissa; Deco, Gustavo; Roelfsema, Pieter R

    2016-08-01

    How do you make a decision if you do not know the rules of the game? Models of sensory decision-making suggest that choices are slow if evidence is weak, but they may only apply if the subject knows the task rules. Here, we asked how the learning of a new rule influences neuronal activity in the visual (area V1) and frontal cortex (area FEF) of monkeys. We devised a new icon-selection task. On each day, the monkeys saw 2 new icons (small pictures) and learned which one was relevant. We rewarded eye movements to a saccade target connected to the relevant icon with a curve. Neurons in visual and frontal cortex coded the monkey's choice, because the representation of the selected curve was enhanced. Learning delayed the neuronal selection signals and we uncovered the cause of this delay in V1, where learning to select the relevant icon caused an early suppression of surrounding image elements. These results demonstrate that the learning of a new rule causes a transition from fast and random decisions to a more considerate strategy that takes additional time and they reveal the contribution of visual and frontal cortex to the learning process. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

  3. Changes in otoacoustic emissions during selective auditory and visual attention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walsh, Kyle P.; Pasanen, Edward G.; McFadden, Dennis

    2015-01-01

    Previous studies have demonstrated that the otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) measured during behavioral tasks can have different magnitudes when subjects are attending selectively or not attending. The implication is that the cognitive and perceptual demands of a task can affect the first neural stage of auditory processing—the sensory receptors themselves. However, the directions of the reported attentional effects have been inconsistent, the magnitudes of the observed differences typically have been small, and comparisons across studies have been made difficult by significant procedural differences. In this study, a nonlinear version of the stimulus-frequency OAE (SFOAE), called the nSFOAE, was used to measure cochlear responses from human subjects while they simultaneously performed behavioral tasks requiring selective auditory attention (dichotic or diotic listening), selective visual attention, or relative inattention. Within subjects, the differences in nSFOAE magnitude between inattention and attention conditions were about 2–3 dB for both auditory and visual modalities, and the effect sizes for the differences typically were large for both nSFOAE magnitude and phase. These results reveal that the cochlear efferent reflex is differentially active during selective attention and inattention, for both auditory and visual tasks, although they do not reveal how attention is improved when efferent activity is greater. PMID:25994703

  4. Active listening impairs visual perception and selectivity: an ERP study of auditory dual-task costs on visual attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gherri, Elena; Eimer, Martin

    2011-04-01

    The ability to drive safely is disrupted by cell phone conversations, and this has been attributed to a diversion of attention from the visual environment. We employed behavioral and ERP measures to study whether the attentive processing of spoken messages is, in itself, sufficient to produce visual-attentional deficits. Participants searched for visual targets defined by a unique feature (Experiment 1) or feature conjunction (Experiment 2), and simultaneously listened to narrated text passages that had to be recalled later (encoding condition), or heard backward-played speech sounds that could be ignored (control condition). Responses to targets were slower in the encoding condition, and ERPs revealed that the visual processing of search arrays and the attentional selection of target stimuli were less efficient in the encoding relative to the control condition. Results demonstrate that the attentional processing of visual information is impaired when concurrent spoken messages are encoded and maintained, in line with cross-modal links in selective attention, but inconsistent with the view that attentional resources are modality-specific. The distraction of visual attention by active listening could contribute to the adverse effects of cell phone use on driving performance.

  5. Behind the scenes: how visual memory load biases selective attention during processing of visual streams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klaver, Peter; Talsma, Durk

    2013-11-01

    We recorded ERPs to investigate whether the visual memory load can bias visual selective attention. Participants memorized one or four letters and then responded to memory-matching letters presented in a relevant color while ignoring distractor letters or letters in an irrelevant color. Stimuli in the relevant color elicited larger frontal selection positivities (FSP) and occipital selection negativities (OSN) compared to irrelevant color stimuli. Only distractors elicited a larger FSP in the high than in the low memory load task. Memory load prolonged the OSN for all letters. Response mapping complexity was also modulated but did not affect the FSP and OSN. Together, the FSP data suggest that high memory load increased distractability. The OSN data suggest that memory load sustained attention to letters in a relevant color until working memory processing was completed, independently of whether the letters were in working memory or not. Copyright © 2013 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  6. Development of Saudi e-health literacy scale for chronic diseases in Saudi Arabia: using integrated health literacy dimensions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zakaria, Nasriah; AlFakhry, Ohoud; Matbuli, Abeer; Alzahrani, Asma; Arab, Noha Samir Sadiq; Madani, Alaa; Alshehri, Noura; Albarrak, Ahmed I

    2018-05-01

    Health literacy has become a global issue, and it is important that patients and individuals are able to use information technology to access health information and educational services. The research objective is to develop a Saudi e-health literacy scale (SeHL) for measuring e-health literacy among Saudis suffering from non-communicable diseases (NCD). Overall, 14 relevant papers in related interdisciplinary fields were reviewed to select the most useful literacy dimensions. From these articles, we extracted the most common dimensions used to measure e-health literacy across the disciplines. Multiple workshops with multidisciplinary team members reviewed and evaluated items for SeHL. Four key aspects of e-health literacy-use of technology/media, information-seeking, usefulness and confidence-were identified and integrated as e-health literacy dimensions. These will be used to measure e-health literacy among Saudi patients with NCDs. A translation from Arabic to English was performed in order to ensure that translation process was accurate. A SeHL scale was developed to measure e-health literacy among Saudi patients. By understanding e-health literacy levels, we will be able to create a patient-education system to be used by patients in Saudi Arabia. As information technology is increasingly used by people of all ages all over the world, e-health literacy has been identified as a key factor in determining health outcomes. To date, no comprehensive scale exists to assess e-health literacy levels among speakers of Arabic, particularly among people with NCD such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and hypertension.

  7. Visual short-term memory load strengthens selective attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roper, Zachary J J; Vecera, Shaun P

    2014-04-01

    Perceptual load theory accounts for many attentional phenomena; however, its mechanism remains elusive because it invokes underspecified attentional resources. Recent dual-task evidence has revealed that a concurrent visual short-term memory (VSTM) load slows visual search and reduces contrast sensitivity, but it is unknown whether a VSTM load also constricts attention in a canonical perceptual load task. If attentional selection draws upon VSTM resources, then distraction effects-which measure attentional "spill-over"-will be reduced as competition for resources increases. Observers performed a low perceptual load flanker task during the delay period of a VSTM change detection task. We observed a reduction of the flanker effect in the perceptual load task as a function of increasing concurrent VSTM load. These findings were not due to perceptual-level interactions between the physical displays of the two tasks. Our findings suggest that perceptual representations of distractor stimuli compete with the maintenance of visual representations held in memory. We conclude that access to VSTM determines the degree of attentional selectivity; when VSTM is not completely taxed, it is more likely for task-irrelevant items to be consolidated and, consequently, affect responses. The "resources" hypothesized by load theory are at least partly mnemonic in nature, due to the strong correspondence they share with VSTM capacity.

  8. Academic Literacies: The Word Is Not Enough

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Kendall; Pilcher, Nick

    2018-01-01

    For Academic Literacies, the world is textually mediated; written texts and what informs them reveal elements such as subject-discipline practices. Furthermore, multi-modalities, for example, visual representation, inform written text, and multiple methods of inquiry, including interviews, shed light on written text production. In this article we…

  9. The Ascendancy of the Visual and Issues of Gender: Equality versus Difference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Damarin, Suzanne K.

    1993-01-01

    Discussion of visual literacy, visual cognition, visual thinking and learning, and visual knowledge focuses on women and gender differences. Topics addressed include educational equality and the visual, including equality versus difference; women and mass culture; difference and the design of visual instruction; and feminist education and the…

  10. Political Literacy as Information Literacy

    OpenAIRE

    Ross Cory Alexander

    2009-01-01

    This paper contends that political literacy and information literacy are compatible concepts that are inextricably linked and should therefore be taught and stressed simultaneously to students in the classroom. Improving the information literacy and political literacy skills of students will allow them to not only perform better academically, but also empower them to become better citizens who form opinions and make decisions based on appropriate and quality information.

  11. New literacies, multiple literacies, unlimited literacies: what now, what next, where to? A response to blue listerine, parochialism and ASL literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paul, Peter V

    2006-01-01

    This article is a response to Blue Listerine, Parochialism, and ASL Literacy (Czubek, 2006). The author presents his views on the concepts of literacy and the new and multiple literacies. In addition, the merits of print literacy and other types of literacies are discussed. Although the author agrees that there is an American Sign Language (ASL) literacy, he maintains that there should be a distinction between conversational "literacy" forms (speech and sign) and secondary literacy forms (reading and writing). It might be that cognitive skills associated with print literacy and, possibly, other captured literacy forms, are necessary for a technological, scientific-driven society such as that which exists in the United States.

  12. Exploring the Use of the iPad for Literacy Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutchison, Amy; Beschorner, Beth; Schmidt-Crawford, Denise

    2012-01-01

    The goal of this investigation was to explore how a fourth grade teacher could integrate iPads into her literacy instruction to simultaneously teach print-based and digital literacy goals. The teacher used iPads for a three-week period during her literacy instruction and selected apps that provided unique approaches to helping the students meet…

  13. Simulating the role of visual selective attention during the development of perceptual completion

    OpenAIRE

    Schlesinger, Matthew; Amso, Dima; Johnson, Scott P.

    2012-01-01

    We recently proposed a multi-channel, image-filtering model for simulating the development of visual selective attention in young infants (Schlesinger, Amso & Johnson, 2007). The model not only captures the performance of 3-month-olds on a visual search task, but also implicates two cortical regions that may play a role in the development of visual selective attention. In the current simulation study, we used the same model to simulate 3-month-olds’ performance on a second measure, the percep...

  14. In-service teacher education: asking questions for higher order thinking in visual literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Visvaganthie Moodley

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The kinds of questions teachers ask may thwart or promote learner high-order thinking; teachers themselves must have expertise in questioning skills to promote higher order cognition among learners. Drawing on experiential knowledge of assessment, and as an English-teaching professional development programme (PDP facilitator, I demonstrate that within the framework of a carefully structured subject-specific PDP, teachers can be taught how to enhance thinking skills in the English visual literacy (VL learning classroom. Guided by an earlier taxonomy of cognition, and using qualitative methodology, the paper analyses data obtained from: (i observation notes and examination equivalents of 40 teachers from various public schools in Gauteng who were engaged in the Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE, English specialization programme; and (ii a case study of three teachers by means of semi-structured interviews, and a study of their lesson plans and worksheets.The paper examines, specifically, teachers' choice of texts and questions asked, for English second-language learners for the teaching of VL. It concludes by suggesting that if teachers themselves are first engaged in the cognitive processes they wish learners to acquire, they are better positioned to promote higher order among their learners.

  15. Teaching Literacy through Braille in Mainstream Settings whilst Promoting Inclusion: Reflections on Our Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roe, Joao; Rogers, Sue; Donaldson, Marion; Gordon, Clare; Meager, Nathan

    2014-01-01

    We would describe teaching literacy through braille as one of the most rewarding and challenging aspects of the role of a Qualified Teacher for the Visually Impaired (QTVI). This article focuses on teaching literacy through braille in mainstream settings whilst promoting inclusion and meeting the social-emotional needs of children who use braille.…

  16. Visual Communication as an Information Activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benoît, Gerald

    2015-01-01

    Visual literacy discussions and guidelines in LIS practice tend to be principle-driven concepts but are limited to an LIS discourse. In a casual tone, this paper reviews other expressions of what it means to be "informed" through visual means by using examples from literature, philosophy, and how end-users may think about visual…

  17. Learning Information Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diehm, Rae-Anne; Lupton, Mandy

    2014-01-01

    Introduction: This paper reports on university students' experiences of learning information literacy. Method: Phenomenography was selected as the research approach as it describes the experience from the perspective of the study participants, which in this case is a mixture of undergraduate and postgraduate students studying education at an…

  18. Information Literacy and Digital Literacy: Competing or Complementary?

    OpenAIRE

    Rosanne Marie Cordell

    2013-01-01

    Digital Literacy is a more recent term than Information Literacy and is used for multiple categories of library users in multiple types of libraries. Determining the relationship between Information Literacy and Digital Literacy is essential before revision of the Information Literacy Standards can proceed.

  19. Narratives of Agency: The Experiences of Braille Literacy Practitioners in the "Kha Ri Gude" South African Mass Literacy Campaign

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKay, Veronica I.; Romm, Norma R. A.

    2015-01-01

    In this article, we locate the "Kha Ri Gude" South African Mass Literacy Campaign within the context of the problem of illiteracy and exclusion in South Africa, while concentrating on various post-apartheid initiatives designed to give visually challenged adults the opportunity to become literate. We shall provide a detailed account of…

  20. Dynamic interactions between visual working memory and saccade target selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneegans, Sebastian; Spencer, John P.; Schöner, Gregor; Hwang, Seongmin; Hollingworth, Andrew

    2014-01-01

    Recent psychophysical experiments have shown that working memory for visual surface features interacts with saccadic motor planning, even in tasks where the saccade target is unambiguously specified by spatial cues. Specifically, a match between a memorized color and the color of either the designated target or a distractor stimulus influences saccade target selection, saccade amplitudes, and latencies in a systematic fashion. To elucidate these effects, we present a dynamic neural field model in combination with new experimental data. The model captures the neural processes underlying visual perception, working memory, and saccade planning relevant to the psychophysical experiment. It consists of a low-level visual sensory representation that interacts with two separate pathways: a spatial pathway implementing spatial attention and saccade generation, and a surface feature pathway implementing color working memory and feature attention. Due to bidirectional coupling between visual working memory and feature attention in the model, the working memory content can indirectly exert an effect on perceptual processing in the low-level sensory representation. This in turn biases saccadic movement planning in the spatial pathway, allowing the model to quantitatively reproduce the observed interaction effects. The continuous coupling between representations in the model also implies that modulation should be bidirectional, and model simulations provide specific predictions for complementary effects of saccade target selection on visual working memory. These predictions were empirically confirmed in a new experiment: Memory for a sample color was biased toward the color of a task-irrelevant saccade target object, demonstrating the bidirectional coupling between visual working memory and perceptual processing. PMID:25228628

  1. Dynamic interactions between visual working memory and saccade target selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneegans, Sebastian; Spencer, John P; Schöner, Gregor; Hwang, Seongmin; Hollingworth, Andrew

    2014-09-16

    Recent psychophysical experiments have shown that working memory for visual surface features interacts with saccadic motor planning, even in tasks where the saccade target is unambiguously specified by spatial cues. Specifically, a match between a memorized color and the color of either the designated target or a distractor stimulus influences saccade target selection, saccade amplitudes, and latencies in a systematic fashion. To elucidate these effects, we present a dynamic neural field model in combination with new experimental data. The model captures the neural processes underlying visual perception, working memory, and saccade planning relevant to the psychophysical experiment. It consists of a low-level visual sensory representation that interacts with two separate pathways: a spatial pathway implementing spatial attention and saccade generation, and a surface feature pathway implementing color working memory and feature attention. Due to bidirectional coupling between visual working memory and feature attention in the model, the working memory content can indirectly exert an effect on perceptual processing in the low-level sensory representation. This in turn biases saccadic movement planning in the spatial pathway, allowing the model to quantitatively reproduce the observed interaction effects. The continuous coupling between representations in the model also implies that modulation should be bidirectional, and model simulations provide specific predictions for complementary effects of saccade target selection on visual working memory. These predictions were empirically confirmed in a new experiment: Memory for a sample color was biased toward the color of a task-irrelevant saccade target object, demonstrating the bidirectional coupling between visual working memory and perceptual processing. © 2014 ARVO.

  2. Data Literacy is Statistical Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gould, Robert

    2017-01-01

    Past definitions of statistical literacy should be updated in order to account for the greatly amplified role that data now play in our lives. Experience working with high-school students in an innovative data science curriculum has shown that teaching statistical literacy, augmented by data literacy, can begin early.

  3. Health Literacy: Cancer Prevention Strategies for Early Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simmons, Robert A; Cosgrove, Susan C; Romney, Martha C; Plumb, James D; Brawer, Rickie O; Gonzalez, Evelyn T; Fleisher, Linda G; Moore, Bradley S

    2017-09-01

    Health literacy, the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand health information and services needed to make health decisions, is an essential element for early adults (aged 18-44 years) to make informed decisions about cancer. Low health literacy is one of the social determinants of health associated with cancer-related disparities. Over the past several years, a nonprofit organization, a university, and a cancer center in a major urban environment have developed and implemented health literacy programs within healthcare systems and in the community. Health system personnel received extensive health literacy training to reduce medical jargon and improve their patient education using plain language easy-to-understand written materials and teach-back, and also designed plain language written materials including visuals to provide more culturally and linguistically appropriate health education and enhance web-based information. Several sustainable health system policy changes occurred over time. At the community level, organizational assessments and peer leader training on health literacy have occurred to reduce communication barriers between consumers and providers. Some of these programs have been cancer specific, including consumer education in such areas as cervical cancer, skin cancer, and breast cancer that are targeted to early adults across the cancer spectrum from prevention to treatment to survivorship. An example of consumer-driven health education that was tested for health literacy using a comic book-style photonovel on breast cancer with an intergenerational family approach for Chinese Americans is provided. Key lessons learned from the health literacy initiatives and overall conclusions of the health literacy initiatives are also summarized. Copyright © 2017 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. A model of selective visual attention for a stereo pair of images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Min Chul; Kim, Sung Kyu; Son, Jung-Young

    2005-11-01

    Human visual attention system has a remarkable ability to interpret complex scenes with the ease and simplicity by selecting or focusing on a small region of visual field without scanning the whole images. In this paper, a novel selective visual attention model by using 3D image display system for a stereo pair of images is proposed. It is based on the feature integration theory and locates ROI(region of interest) or FOA(focus of attention). The disparity map obtained from a stereo pair of images is exploited as one of spatial visual features to form a set of topographic feature maps in our approach. Though the true human cognitive mechanism on the analysis and integration process might be different from our assumption the proposed attention system matches well with the results found by human observers.

  5. Resources for Designing, Selecting and Teaching with Visualizations in the Geoscience Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirk, K. B.; Manduca, C. A.; Ormand, C. J.; McDaris, J. R.

    2009-12-01

    Geoscience is a highly visual field, and effective use of visualizations can enhance student learning, appeal to students’ emotions and help them acquire skills for interpreting visual information. The On the Cutting Edge website, “Teaching Geoscience with Visualizations” presents information of interest to faculty who are teaching with visualizations, as well as those who are designing visualizations. The website contains best practices for effective visualizations, drawn from the educational literature and from experts in the field. For example, a case is made for careful selection of visualizations so that faculty can align the correct visualization with their teaching goals and audience level. Appropriate visualizations will contain the desired geoscience content without adding extraneous information that may distract or confuse students. Features such as labels, arrows and contextual information can help guide students through imagery and help to explain the relevant concepts. Because students learn by constructing their own mental image of processes, it is helpful to select visualizations that reflect the same type of mental picture that students should create. A host of recommended readings and presentations from the On the Cutting Edge visualization workshops can provide further grounding for the educational uses of visualizations. Several different collections of visualizations, datasets with visualizations and visualization tools are available on the website. Examples include animations of tsunamis, El Nino conditions, braided stream formation and mountain uplift. These collections are grouped by topic and range from simple animations to interactive models. A series of example activities that incorporate visualizations into classroom and laboratory activities illustrate various tactics for using these materials in different types of settings. Activities cover topics such as ocean circulation, land use changes, earthquake simulations and the use of

  6. Literacy Learning in Users of AAC: A Neurocognitive Perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Balkom, L.J.M. van; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

    2010-01-01

    The understanding of written or printed text or discourse – depicted either in orthographical, graphic-visual or tactile symbols – calls upon both bottom-up word recognition processes and top-down comprehension processes. Different architectures have been proposed to account for literacy processes.

  7. Utilizing Multi-Modal Literacies in Middle Grades Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saurino, Dan; Ogletree, Tamra; Saurino, Penelope

    2010-01-01

    The nature of literacy is changing. Increased student use of computer-mediated, digital, and visual communication spans our understanding of adolescent multi-modal capabilities that reach beyond the traditional conventions of linear speech and written text in the science curriculum. Advancing technology opens doors to learning that involve…

  8. Concurrent deployment of visual attention and response selection bottleneck in a dual-task: Electrophysiological and behavioural evidence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reimer, Christina B; Strobach, Tilo; Schubert, Torsten

    2017-12-01

    Visual attention and response selection are limited in capacity. Here, we investigated whether visual attention requires the same bottleneck mechanism as response selection in a dual-task of the psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm. The dual-task consisted of an auditory two-choice discrimination Task 1 and a conjunction search Task 2, which were presented at variable temporal intervals (stimulus onset asynchrony, SOA). In conjunction search, visual attention is required to select items and to bind their features resulting in a serial search process around the items in the search display (i.e., set size). We measured the reaction time of the visual search task (RT2) and the N2pc, an event-related potential (ERP), which reflects lateralized visual attention processes. If the response selection processes in Task 1 influence the visual attention processes in Task 2, N2pc latency and amplitude would be delayed and attenuated at short SOA compared to long SOA. The results, however, showed that latency and amplitude were independent of SOA, indicating that visual attention was concurrently deployed to response selection. Moreover, the RT2 analysis revealed an underadditive interaction of SOA and set size. We concluded that visual attention does not require the same bottleneck mechanism as response selection in dual-tasks.

  9. Female carpet weavers' visual acuity and effective factors: Fordu rural area of Qom

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khajenasiri F.

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available Background: Healthy vision of workers is one of the important elements in carpet weaving industry which has essential role in improving of the job quality and efficiency. Visual acuity is the primary outcome measure in most studies involving eye diseases. Ihe aim of this study was determination of visual acuity and its effective factors in women carpet weaver in fordu rural area of Qom has been investigated.  Methods: In a cross-sectional (descriptive-analytical study visual acuity of 177 women carpet weaver has been determined. Job hours per day, job history, age, literacy, trauma history, diabetes history, family history of eye diseases, eye diseases history and family size  of subjects were determined .Results: The results of study indicated that the right eyes visual acuity of 72.4 % of women were desirable (0 - 0.8 and 27.6 % were undesirable (0.9-1.2. These results for the left eyes were 69.5 % and 30.5 % respectively. In addition, the result showed that with increasing the job hours and history and age, percent of women with undesirable both eyes visual acuity were increased. With higher literacy levels, percent of women with undesirable both eyes visual acuity decreased. In subjects with truma history, the undesirable visual acuity was higher. In this study the relation between visual acuity and job history, age, literacy, truma history and eye diseases history were statistically significant (in all cases P<0.05.Conclusions: High percentage of women carpet weaver were in undesirable  visual acuity and in this study the relation between visual acuity and job history, age, literacy, trauma history and eye diseases history were statistically significant (in all cases P<0.05.

  10. New Literacies, Multiple Literacies, Unlimited Literacies: What Now, What Next, Where to? A Response to "Blue Listerine, Parochialism and ASL Literacy"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paul, Peter V.

    2006-01-01

    This article is a response to "Blue Listerine, Parochialism, and ASL Literacy" (Czubek, 2006). The author presents his views on the concepts of literacy and the new and multiple literacies. In addition, the merits of print literacy and other types of literacies are discussed. Although the author agrees that there is an American Sign…

  11. Clinical, classroom, or personal education: attitudes about health literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Logan, Robert A

    2007-04-01

    This study explores how diverse attitudes about health literacy are assessed by medical librarians and other health care professionals. An online survey of thirty-six items was conducted using Q methodology in two phases in spring 2005 and winter 2006. Respondents (n = 51) were nonrandomly self-selected from a convenience sample of members of the Medical Library Association and a group of environmental health consultants to the National Library of Medicine. Three factors were identified. Factor 1 is optimistic and supportive of health literacy's transformative sociocultural and professional potential, if clinical settings become a launching point for health literacy activities. Factor 2 is less optimistic about health literacy's potential to improve clinical or patient outcomes and prefers to focus health literacy initiatives on classroom education settings. Factor 3 supports improving the nation's health literacy but tends to support health literacy initiatives when people privately interact with health information materials. Each factor's attitudes about the appropriate educational venue to initiate health literacy activities are different and somewhat mutually exclusive. This suggests that health literacy is seen through different perceptual frameworks that represent a possible source of professional disagreement.

  12. Addressing health literacy in patient decision aids

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Background Effective use of a patient decision aid (PtDA) can be affected by the user’s health literacy and the PtDA’s characteristics. Systematic reviews of the relevant literature can guide PtDA developers to attend to the health literacy needs of patients. The reviews reported here aimed to assess: 1. a) the effects of health literacy / numeracy on selected decision-making outcomes, and b) the effects of interventions designed to mitigate the influence of lower health literacy on decision-making outcomes, and 2. the extent to which existing PtDAs a) account for health literacy, and b) are tested in lower health literacy populations. Methods We reviewed literature for evidence relevant to these two aims. When high-quality systematic reviews existed, we summarized their evidence. When reviews were unavailable, we conducted our own systematic reviews. Results Aim 1: In an existing systematic review of PtDA trials, lower health literacy was associated with lower patient health knowledge (14 of 16 eligible studies). Fourteen studies reported practical design strategies to improve knowledge for lower health literacy patients. In our own systematic review, no studies reported on values clarity per se, but in 2 lower health literacy was related to higher decisional uncertainty and regret. Lower health literacy was associated with less desire for involvement in 3 studies, less question-asking in 2, and less patient-centered communication in 4 studies; its effects on other measures of patient involvement were mixed. Only one study assessed the effects of a health literacy intervention on outcomes; it showed that using video to improve the salience of health states reduced decisional uncertainty. Aim 2: In our review of 97 trials, only 3 PtDAs overtly addressed the needs of lower health literacy users. In 90% of trials, user health literacy and readability of the PtDA were not reported. However, increases in knowledge and informed choice were reported in those studies

  13. The selective processing of emotional visual stimuli while detecting auditory targets: an ERP analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schupp, Harald T; Stockburger, Jessica; Bublatzky, Florian; Junghöfer, Markus; Weike, Almut I; Hamm, Alfons O

    2008-09-16

    Event-related potential studies revealed an early posterior negativity (EPN) for emotional compared to neutral pictures. Exploring the emotion-attention relationship, a previous study observed that a primary visual discrimination task interfered with the emotional modulation of the EPN component. To specify the locus of interference, the present study assessed the fate of selective visual emotion processing while attention is directed towards the auditory modality. While simply viewing a rapid and continuous stream of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures in one experimental condition, processing demands of a concurrent auditory target discrimination task were systematically varied in three further experimental conditions. Participants successfully performed the auditory task as revealed by behavioral performance and selected event-related potential components. Replicating previous results, emotional pictures were associated with a larger posterior negativity compared to neutral pictures. Of main interest, increasing demands of the auditory task did not modulate the selective processing of emotional visual stimuli. With regard to the locus of interference, selective emotion processing as indexed by the EPN does not seem to reflect shared processing resources of visual and auditory modality.

  14. Write like a visual artist: Tracing the textually mediated art world

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janna Klostermann

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the social organisation of Canada’s art world from the standpoint of practising visual artists. Bringing together theories of literacy and institutional ethnography, the article investigates the literacy practices of visual artists, making visible how artists use written texts to participate in public galleries and in the social and institutional relations of the art world. Drawing on extended ethnographic research, including interviews, observational field notes and textual analyses, this study sheds light on the ways visual artists enact particular texts, enact organisational processes, and to enact the social and conceptual worlds they are a part of. Through the lens of visual artists, this study locates two particular texts – the artist statement and the bio statement – in the extended social and institutional relations of the art world.

  15. Visual training paired with electrical stimulation of the basal forebrain improves orientation-selective visual acuity in the rat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Jun Il; Groleau, Marianne; Dotigny, Florence; Giguère, Hugo; Vaucher, Elvire

    2014-07-01

    The cholinergic afferents from the basal forebrain to the primary visual cortex play a key role in visual attention and cortical plasticity. These afferent fibers modulate acute and long-term responses of visual neurons to specific stimuli. The present study evaluates whether this cholinergic modulation of visual neurons results in cortical activity and visual perception changes. Awake adult rats were exposed repeatedly for 2 weeks to an orientation-specific grating with or without coupling this visual stimulation to an electrical stimulation of the basal forebrain. The visual acuity, as measured using a visual water maze before and after the exposure to the orientation-specific grating, was increased in the group of trained rats with simultaneous basal forebrain/visual stimulation. The increase in visual acuity was not observed when visual training or basal forebrain stimulation was performed separately or when cholinergic fibers were selectively lesioned prior to the visual stimulation. The visual evoked potentials show a long-lasting increase in cortical reactivity of the primary visual cortex after coupled visual/cholinergic stimulation, as well as c-Fos immunoreactivity of both pyramidal and GABAergic interneuron. These findings demonstrate that when coupled with visual training, the cholinergic system improves visual performance for the trained orientation probably through enhancement of attentional processes and cortical plasticity in V1 related to the ratio of excitatory/inhibitory inputs. This study opens the possibility of establishing efficient rehabilitation strategies for facilitating visual capacity.

  16. Information Literacy and Digital Literacy: Competing or Complementary?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cordell, Rosanne Marie

    2013-01-01

    Digital literacy is a more recent concept than information literacy and can relate to multiple categories of library users in multiple types of libraries. Determining the relationship between information literacy and digital literacy is essential before revision of the ACRL "Standards" can proceed.

  17. 34 CFR 1100.20 - How is a fellow selected?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... LITERACY NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY: LITERACY LEADER FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM How Does the Director Award a Fellowship? § 1100.20 How is a fellow selected? (a) The Director selects applications for fellowships on the basis of the selection criteria in § 1100.21 and any priorities that have been published in the Federal...

  18. Health Literacy, Health Disparities, and Sources of Health Information in U.S. Older Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cutilli, Carolyn Crane; Simko, Lynn C; Colbert, Alison M; Bennett, Ian M

    Low health literacy in older adults has been associated with poor health outcomes (i.e., mortality, decreased physical and cognitive functioning, and less preventive care utilization). Many factors associated with low health literacy are also associated with health disparities. Interaction with healthcare providers and sources of health information are influenced by an individual's health literacy and can impact health outcomes. This study examined the relationships between health literacy, sources of health information, and demographic/background characteristics in older adults (aged 65 years and older) related to health literacy and disparities. This descriptive, correlational study is a secondary analysis of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy, a large-scale national assessment. Older adults with lower health literacy have less income and education, rate their health as poor or fair, have visual or auditory difficulties, need help filling out forms, reading newspaper, or writing notes, and use each source of health information less (print and nonprint). Many of these characteristics and skills are predictive of health literacy and associated with health disparities. The results expand our knowledge of characteristics associated with health literacy and sources of health information used by older adults. Interventions to improve health outcomes including health disparities can focus on recognizing and meeting the health literacy demands of older adults.

  19. IELTS as a Literacy-Based Proficiency Test

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sugeng Purwanto

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available This is an exploratory case study aimed at investigating whether or not International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS scores correspond with literacy levels. During the 2011-2012 academic year, 20 first semester students in the English Literature Program in the Faculty of Language and Cultural Studies (Fakultas Bahasa dan Ilmu Budaya at Universitas Stikubank (UNISBANK were randomly selected to take the IELTS. Results were matched against predetermined criteria for literacy levels (Hammond, et al. 1992 in order to classify them into the appropriate levels of literacy. Findings indicate that all students (100 percent were at the performative level of literacy with respect to their overall IELTS scores. Only 25 percent of the students on the speaking subtest and 20 percent of the students on the reading subtest managed to test at the functional level. It is therefore recommended that action research be conducted in Central Java level to upgrade the level of literacy from the performative level up to the informative level. As well, similar research may be conducted with a multi-disciplinary approach employing a correlational study between IELTS band scores with literacy levels.

  20. Health Literacy Based Communication by Illinois Pharmacists

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radhika Devraj

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: Health literacy has received attention as an important issue for pharmacists to consider when interacting with patients. Yet, there is little information about methods pharmacists use to communicate with patients and their extent of use of health literacy based interventions during patient interactions. The purpose of this study was to examine methods of communication and types of health literacy based interventions that practicing pharmacists use in Illinois. Methods: A survey instrument addressing the study purpose was designed along with other items that were part of a larger study. Eleven items in the survey referred to pharmacist-patient communication. The instrument was pilot tested before administering to a random sample of 1457 pharmacists from the Illinois Pharmacists Association. Data were primarily collected via a mailed survey using Dillman’s five step total design method (TDM. Two reminder letters were mailed at two week intervals to non-respondents. Results: Usable responses were obtained from 701 respondents (48.1% response rate. Using simple words (96% and asking patients open-ended questions to determine comprehension (85% were the most frequent methods that pharmacists used to communicate with patients. Only 18% of respondents always asked patients to repeat medication instructions to confirm understanding. The various recommended types of health literacy interventions were “always” performed by only 8 to 33% of the respondents. More than 50% of respondents indicated that they rarely or never had access to an interpreter (51%, or employed bilingual pharmacists (59%. Only 11% of pharmacists said that they rarely/never pay attention to nonverbal cues that may suggest low health literacy. Conclusions: Pharmacists infrequently use action oriented health literacy interventions such as using visual aids, having interpreter access, medication calendars, etc. Additional training on health literacy, its scope, and

  1. Society, family and learning. The role of home literacy environments

    OpenAIRE

    Querejeta, Maira

    2010-01-01

    This paper explores the relation between society, family, and learning. In particular, it addresses the features of home literacy environments in low income families and their impact on children's pre-literacy skills and knowledge. Sixty-two four/five-year-old children and their mothers were randomly selected for this study. The mothers were interviewed using an adaptation of a family literacy environment survey (Whitehurst, 1992). The children were assessed with specific tests to examine the...

  2. Perceived Visual Deterioration among a Selected Group of Dental ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    To assess the perceived visual deterioration and the determinants among selected dental surgeons in Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey of Resident doctors attending the Revision course of Faculty of Dental Surgery of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria in Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, ...

  3. Pediatric injury information seeking for mothers with young children: The role of health literacy and ehealth literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manganello, Jennifer A; Falisi, Angela L; Roberts, Kristin J; Smith, Katherine C; McKenzie, Lara B

    2016-01-01

    An understanding of preferred sources of injury information among parents is needed to develop best practices for information dissemination. Yet, almost no research examines injury information seeking for a national sample of mothers. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in 2013 with 1081 mothers in the United States (U.S.) with at least one child literacy with the Morris Single-Item Screener (18% low), and eHealth literacy using the eHEALS (28% low). The internet was the most preferred source for injury information (76%), followed by health providers (44%), and family/friends (35%). Most mothers selected the internet as the first choice for information about bicycle helmets (65%) and car seats (63%). For poison prevention, preferences were mixed; 48% internet compared with 41% health providers. Mothers with low health literacy were more likely to have discussed injury prevention with their doctors ( P = 0.022) and searched for injury information ( P = 0.001), but less likely to report the internet as a top source ( P literacy were less likely to search for injury information ( P information ( P = 0.028). Findings suggest the internet is a common source of injury prevention information, but health providers remain a valuable resource for mothers, especially those with lower literacy skills. Despite widespread internet use, health providers should be sure to communicate injury prevention information to mothers, especially those at risk for low health literacy and eHealth literacy.

  4. Productive knowledge of collocations may predict academic literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Van Dyk, Tobie

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The present study examines the relationship between productive knowledge of collocations and academic literacy among first year students at North-West University. Participants were administered a collocation test, the items of which were selected from Nation’s (2006 word frequency bands, i.e. the 2000-word, 3000-word, 5000-word bands; and the Academic Word List (Coxhead, 2000. The scores from the collocation test were compared to those from the Test of Academic Literacy Levels (version administered in 2012. The results of this study indicate that, overall, knowledge of collocations is significantly correlated with academic literacy, which is also observed at each of the frequency bands from which the items were selected. These results support Nizonkiza’s (2014 findings that a significant correlation between mastery of collocations of words from the Academic Word List and academic literacy exists; which is extended here to words from other frequency bands. They also confirm previous findings that productive knowledge of collocations increases alongside overall proficiency (cf. Gitsaki, 1999; Bonk, 2001; Eyckmans et al., 2004; Boers et al., 2006; Nizonkiza, 2011; among others. This study therefore concludes that growth in productive knowledge of collocations may entail growth in academic literacy; suggesting that productive use of collocations is linked to academic literacy to a considerable extent. In light of these findings, teaching strategies aimed to assist first year students meet academic demands posed by higher education and avenues to explore for further research are discussed. Especially, we suggest adopting a productive oriented approach to teaching collocations, which we believe may prove useful.

  5. Event-related potentials during visual selective attention in children of alcoholics.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Stelt, O.; Gunning, W.B.; Snel, J.; Kok, A.

    1998-01-01

    Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 50 7-18 yr old children of alcoholics (COAs) and 50 age- and sex-matched control children while they performed a visual selective attention task. The task was to attend selectively to stimuli with a specified color (red or blue) in an attempt to

  6. Different cortical mechanisms for spatial vs. feature-based attentional selection in visual working memory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Heuer

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The limited capacity of visual working memory necessitates attentional mechanisms that selectively update and maintain only the most task-relevant content. Psychophysical experiments have shown that the retroactive selection of memory content can be based on visual properties such as location or shape, but the neural basis for such differential selection is unknown. For example, it is not known if there are different cortical modules specialized for spatial versus feature-based mnemonic attention, in the same way that has been demonstrated for attention to perceptual input. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS to identify areas in human parietal and occipital cortex involved in the selection of objects from memory based on cues to their location (spatial information or their shape (featural information. We found that TMS over the supramarginal gyrus (SMG selectively facilitated spatial selection, whereas TMS over the lateral occipital cortex selectively enhanced feature-based selection for remembered objects in the contralateral visual field. Thus, different cortical regions are responsible for spatial vs. feature-based selection of working memory representations. Since the same regions are involved in attention to external events, these new findings indicate overlapping mechanisms for attentional control over perceptual input and mnemonic representations.

  7. Social Network Analysis of Elders' Health Literacy and their Use of Online Health Information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Haeran; An, Ji-Young

    2014-07-01

    Utilizing social network analysis, this study aimed to analyze the main keywords in the literature regarding the health literacy of and the use of online health information by aged persons over 65. Medical Subject Heading keywords were extracted from articles on the PubMed database of the National Library of Medicine. For health literacy, 110 articles out of 361 were initially extracted. Seventy-one keywords out of 1,021 were finally selected after removing repeated keywords and applying pruning. Regarding the use of online health information, 19 articles out of 26 were selected. One hundred forty-four keywords were initially extracted. After removing the repeated keywords, 74 keywords were finally selected. Health literacy was found to be strongly connected with 'Health knowledge, attitudes, practices' and 'Patient education as topic.' 'Computer literacy' had strong connections with 'Internet' and 'Attitude towards computers.' 'Computer literacy' was connected to 'Health literacy,' and was studied according to the parameters 'Attitude towards health' and 'Patient education as topic.' The use of online health information was strongly connected with 'Health knowledge, attitudes, practices,' 'Consumer health information,' 'Patient education as topic,' etc. In the network, 'Computer literacy' was connected with 'Health education,' 'Patient satisfaction,' 'Self-efficacy,' 'Attitude to computer,' etc. Research on older citizens' health literacy and their use of online health information was conducted together with study of computer literacy, patient education, attitude towards health, health education, patient satisfaction, etc. In particular, self-efficacy was noted as an important keyword. Further research should be conducted to identify the effective outcomes of self-efficacy in the area of interest.

  8. The study of Health Literacy of adults in Karaj

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mahdi Sahrayi

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Background and objective: Health literacy represents the cognitive and social skills that determine the motivation and ability of individuals to acquire, access and understand the information to maintain and promote health. This study aimed to assess the health literacy of adults in Karaj. Methods: In this cross-sectional and descriptive study, 525 subjects aged 18-65 years old were selected using multistage sampling in Karaj. Relevant information was obtained using demographic questionnaire and HELIA questionnaire (18-65 years-old, respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSS and appropriate tests. Results: The mean age of participants was 33.48 ± 11.39 years old. 48.8% (n=250 the participants were male and 51.2% (n=262 were female. 24.2% (n=124 of the participants had inadequate health literacy, 23.4 % (n=120 not so inadequate health literacy, 37.9 % (n=194 adequate health literacy and 14.5 (n = 74 had higher health literacy. Health literacy was significantly associated with age, gender, marital status, education, BMI, smoking and physical activity (p<0.05. Conclusion: Due to low health literacy and the importance of adult role in society, it is necessary educational programs aimed at improving their health literacy skills , designed and implemented. Paper Type: Research Article.

  9. Moving conceptualizations of language and literacy in SLA

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Laursen, Helle Pia

    in various technological environments, we see an increase in scholarship that highlights the mixing and chaining of spoken, written and visual modalities and how written and visual often precede or overrule spoken language. There seems to be a mismatch between current day language practices......, in language education and in language practices. As a consequence of this and in the light of the increasing mobility and linguistic diversity in Europe, in this colloquium, we address the need for a (re)conceptualization of the relation between language and literacy. Drawing on data from different settings...

  10. Learning Visual Design through Hypermedia: Pathways to Visual Literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lockee, Barbara; Hergert, Tom

    The interactive multimedia application described here attempts to provide learners and teachers with a common frame of reference for communicating about visual media. The system is based on a list of concepts related to composition, and illustrates those concepts with photographs, paintings, graphic designs, and motion picture scenes. The ability…

  11. Ambiguous science and the visual representation of the real

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newbold, Curtis Robert

    The emergence of visual media as prominent and even expected forms of communication in nearly all disciplines, including those scientific, has raised new questions about how the art and science of communication epistemologically affect the interpretation of scientific phenomena. In this dissertation I explore how the influence of aesthetics in visual representations of science inevitably creates ambiguous meanings. As a means to improve visual literacy in the sciences, I call awareness to the ubiquity of visual ambiguity and its importance and relevance in scientific discourse. To do this, I conduct a literature review that spans interdisciplinary research in communication, science, art, and rhetoric. Furthermore, I create a paradoxically ambiguous taxonomy, which functions to exploit the nuances of visual ambiguities and their role in scientific communication. I then extrapolate the taxonomy of visual ambiguity and from it develop an ambiguous, rhetorical heuristic, the Tetradic Model of Visual Ambiguity. The Tetradic Model is applied to a case example of a scientific image as a demonstration of how scientific communicators may increase their awareness of the epistemological effects of ambiguity in the visual representations of science. I conclude by demonstrating how scientific communicators may make productive use of visual ambiguity, even in communications of objective science, and I argue how doing so strengthens scientific communicators' visual literacy skills and their ability to communicate more ethically and effectively.

  12. Affective Aspects of Adult Literacy Programs: A Look at the Types of Support Systems, Teacher Behavior and Materials That Characterize Effective Literacy Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, Kathleen J.; And Others

    To determine the effect of attention to affective needs on the success of adult literacy programs, researchers analyzed data from 400 programs nominated by advisors to the National Adult Literacy Project (NALP), and selected a sample of 15 for the field research. The sample programs included three military, three prison, three English as a second…

  13. Health literacy in the eHealth era: A systematic review of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Henna; Xie, Bo

    2017-06-01

    This study aimed to identify studies on online health service use by people with limited health literacy, as the findings could provide insights into how health literacy has been, and should be, addressed in the eHealth era. To identify the relevant literature published since 2010, we performed four rounds of selection-database selection, keyword search, screening of the titles and abstracts, and screening of full texts. This process produced a final of 74 publications. The themes addressed in the 74 publications fell into five categories: evaluation of health-related content, development and evaluation of eHealth services, development and evaluation of health literacy measurement tools, interventions to improve health literacy, and online health information seeking behavior. Barriers to access to and use of online health information can result from the readability of content and poor usability of eHealth services. We need new health literacy screening tools to identify skills for adequate use of eHealth services. Mobile apps hold great potential for eHealth and mHealth services tailored to people with low health literacy. Efforts should be made to make eHealth services easily accessible to low-literacy individuals and to enhance individual health literacy through educational programs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Health literacy among Saudi population: a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abdel-Latif, Mohamed M M; Saad, Sherif Y

    2017-09-12

    Health literacy is a major problem worldwide and adversely affects an individual's health. The aim of the present study was to assess health literacy level among Saudi population. A cross-sectional study was conducted among a randomly selected population (n = 500) in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire comprised of questions pertaining to demographic characteristics, health literacy and health information. Health literacy was measured by REALM-R test. Internal reliability was determined using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The majority of the respondents had intermediate (43.8%) and basic (34.4%) health literacy levels. A higher percentage among men had intermediate (59.8%) and basic (70.93%) health literacy levels compared with women. About 30% of respondents had difficulty in understanding health screening tests and disease treatment. More than half of participants (52.4%) had difficulty in finding health information. The REALM-R test revealed that about 42.6% of individuals with score of >6 had adequate health literacy compared with 57.4% with score of ≤6 had inadequate health literacy. The present study demonstrated that a majority of Saudi individuals had inadequate health literacy that associated with poor knowledge of health information. Our findings highlighted the importance of understanding the status of health literacy among Saudis and the need for educational programs to raise the health literacy awareness among Saudi population. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  15. Selected Audio-Visual Materials for Consumer Education. [New Version.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, William L.

    Ninety-two films, filmstrips, multi-media kits, slides, and audio cassettes, produced between 1964 and 1974, are listed in this selective annotated bibliography on consumer education. The major portion of the bibliography is devoted to films and filmstrips. The main topics of the audio-visual materials include purchasing, advertising, money…

  16. Arts-Integrated Literacy Instruction: Promising Practices for Preservice Teaching Professionals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharp, Laurie A.; Coneway, Betty; Hindman, Janet Tipton; Garcia, Beth; Bingham, Teri

    2016-01-01

    Classroom teachers are facing increasing responsibility to integrate the arts during literacy instruction. In order to address the arts effectively, teachers require understandings, confidence, and competence with visual arts, music, dance, and theater. Therefore, educator preparation programs must develop the knowledge and skills of preservice…

  17. Functional MRI mapping of visual function and selective attention for performance assessment and presurgical planning using conjunctive visual search.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Jason G; Zalusky, Eric J; Kirbas, Cemil

    2014-03-01

    Accurate mapping of visual function and selective attention using fMRI is important in the study of human performance as well as in presurgical treatment planning of lesions in or near visual centers of the brain. Conjunctive visual search (CVS) is a useful tool for mapping visual function during fMRI because of its greater activation extent compared with high-capacity parallel search processes. The purpose of this work was to develop and evaluate a CVS that was capable of generating consistent activation in the basic and higher level visual areas of the brain by using a high number of distractors as well as an optimized contrast condition. Images from 10 healthy volunteers were analyzed and brain regions of greatest activation and deactivation were determined using a nonbiased decomposition of the results at the hemisphere, lobe, and gyrus levels. The results were quantified in terms of activation and deactivation extent and mean z-statistic. The proposed CVS was found to generate robust activation of the occipital lobe, as well as regions in the middle frontal gyrus associated with coordinating eye movements and in regions of the insula associated with task-level control and focal attention. As expected, the task demonstrated deactivation patterns commonly implicated in the default-mode network. Further deactivation was noted in the posterior region of the cerebellum, most likely associated with the formation of optimal search strategy. We believe the task will be useful in studies of visual and selective attention in the neuroscience community as well as in mapping visual function in clinical fMRI.

  18. Patch-based visual tracking with online representative sample selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ou, Weihua; Yuan, Di; Li, Donghao; Liu, Bin; Xia, Daoxun; Zeng, Wu

    2017-05-01

    Occlusion is one of the most challenging problems in visual object tracking. Recently, a lot of discriminative methods have been proposed to deal with this problem. For the discriminative methods, it is difficult to select the representative samples for the target template updating. In general, the holistic bounding boxes that contain tracked results are selected as the positive samples. However, when the objects are occluded, this simple strategy easily introduces the noises into the training data set and the target template and then leads the tracker to drift away from the target seriously. To address this problem, we propose a robust patch-based visual tracker with online representative sample selection. Different from previous works, we divide the object and the candidates into several patches uniformly and propose a score function to calculate the score of each patch independently. Then, the average score is adopted to determine the optimal candidate. Finally, we utilize the non-negative least square method to find the representative samples, which are used to update the target template. The experimental results on the object tracking benchmark 2013 and on the 13 challenging sequences show that the proposed method is robust to the occlusion and achieves promising results.

  19. Promoting ‘Learning’ Literacy through Picturebooks: Learning How to Learn

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gail Ellis

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Picturebooks provide a rich and motivating resource to develop children’s early language learning such as basic understanding, vocabulary and phrases related to the content of a story, but they can also be used to develop multiple literacies. These include visual, emotional, cultural, nature, digital, moving image literacy and ‘learning’ literacy, which is linked to learning how to learn and learner autonomy. ‘Learning’ literacy is described as an ethos, a culture and a way of life and involves being ready to develop learning capacities and the behaviours individuals need, including being willing to learn continuously, as competencies essential to thriving in a globally connected, digitally driven world. The Important Book (Brown & Weisgard, 1949 is used as an example of how learning literacy can be integrated into primary English language pedagogy by applying the Plan, Do, Review model of reflection. Working through the three stages of the Plan Do Review cycle, children are informed of the aims of the activity; they identify success criteria, draft and refine their own paragraphs about an important object, review what they did, what they learnt and how they learnt and then assess their performance to identify next steps. This process enables the teacher to create learning environments that develop learning literacy, by providing opportunities for systematic reflection and experimentation and the development of metacognitive and cognitive learning strategies.

  20. Hospital evaluation of health literacy and associated outcomes in patients after acute myocardial infarction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rymer, Jennifer A; Kaltenbach, Lisa A; Anstrom, Kevin J; Fonarow, Gregg C; Erskine, Nathaniel; Peterson, Eric D; Wang, Tracy Y

    2018-04-01

    Low health literacy is common in the United States and may affect outcomes after myocardial infarction (MI). How often hospitals screen for low health literacy is unknown. We surveyed 122 hospitals in the TRANSLATE-ACS study and divided them into those that reported routinely (>75% of patients), selectively (1%-75%), or never (0%) screening MI patients for low health literacy prior to discharge. We performed logistic regression with random intercepts to compare 6-week and 6-month patient-reported medication adherence and multivariable Cox regression to compare 1-year major adverse cardiovascular events and all-cause readmission risks between hospital groups. Overall, 25 (20.5%), 47 (38.5%), and 50 (41.0%) hospitals reported routinely, selectively, or never screening patients for low health literacy, respectively. Patients discharged from hospitals that routinely screened were more likely to report 6-week medication adherence [routinely: adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.26, 95% CI 1.01-1.57; selectively: adjusted OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.00-1.43, both referenced to those discharged from hospitals that never screened]. Compared with hospitals that never screened health literacy, 1-year major adverse cardiovascular events were similar for hospitals that reported routinely screening (adjusted HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.75-1.14) or selectively screening (adjusted HR 1.01, 95% CI 0.84-1.21). Hospitals that reported selectively screening health literacy were associated with a lower adjusted risk of 1-year all-cause readmission (adjusted HR 0.89, 95% CI 0.79-1.00, P=.041). Only a minority of US hospitals routinely screen MI patients for low health literacy. Hospital screening was associated with higher medication adherence and lower readmission risk. Further investigation is needed to understand how inpatient screening can be implemented to improve longitudinal post-MI care. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Boy Troubles? Male Literacy Depictions in Children's Choices Picture Books

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gritter, Kristine; Van Duinen, Deborah Vriend; Montgomery, Kimberly; Blowers, Devony; Bishop, Dan

    2017-01-01

    This article is a critical content analysis of Children's Choice award-winning picture books from 2000 to 2014. The "critical" part of the analysis consists of selecting archetypes for males presented in these texts based on applying feminist poststructuralist literacy theory that situates literacy and language at the center of gender…

  2. Native American Visual Vocabulary: Ways of Thinking and Living.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dyc, Gloria; Milligan, Carolyn

    Visual literacy is a culturally-derived strength of Native American students. On a continent with more than 200 languages, Native Americans relied heavily on visual intelligence for trade and communication between tribes. Tribal people interpreted medicine paint, tattoos, and clothing styles to determine the social roles of those with whom they…

  3. Acute exercise and aerobic fitness influence selective attention during visual search

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bullock, Tom; Giesbrecht, Barry

    2014-01-01

    Successful goal directed behavior relies on a human attention system that is flexible and able to adapt to different conditions of physiological stress. However, the effects of physical activity on multiple aspects of selective attention and whether these effects are mediated by aerobic capacity, remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of a prolonged bout of physical activity on visual search performance and perceptual distraction. Two groups of participants completed a hybrid visual search flanker/response competition task in an initial baseline session and then at 17-min intervals over a 2 h 16 min test period. Participants assigned to the exercise group engaged in steady-state aerobic exercise between completing blocks of the visual task, whereas participants assigned to the control group rested in between blocks. The key result was a correlation between individual differences in aerobic capacity and visual search performance, such that those individuals that were more fit performed the search task more quickly. Critically, this relationship only emerged in the exercise group after the physical activity had begun. The relationship was not present in either group at baseline and never emerged in the control group during the test period, suggesting that under these task demands, aerobic capacity may be an important determinant of visual search performance under physical stress. The results enhance current understanding about the relationship between exercise and cognition, and also inform current models of selective attention. PMID:25426094

  4. Acute exercise and aerobic fitness influence selective attention during visual search.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bullock, Tom; Giesbrecht, Barry

    2014-01-01

    Successful goal directed behavior relies on a human attention system that is flexible and able to adapt to different conditions of physiological stress. However, the effects of physical activity on multiple aspects of selective attention and whether these effects are mediated by aerobic capacity, remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of a prolonged bout of physical activity on visual search performance and perceptual distraction. Two groups of participants completed a hybrid visual search flanker/response competition task in an initial baseline session and then at 17-min intervals over a 2 h 16 min test period. Participants assigned to the exercise group engaged in steady-state aerobic exercise between completing blocks of the visual task, whereas participants assigned to the control group rested in between blocks. The key result was a correlation between individual differences in aerobic capacity and visual search performance, such that those individuals that were more fit performed the search task more quickly. Critically, this relationship only emerged in the exercise group after the physical activity had begun. The relationship was not present in either group at baseline and never emerged in the control group during the test period, suggesting that under these task demands, aerobic capacity may be an important determinant of visual search performance under physical stress. The results enhance current understanding about the relationship between exercise and cognition, and also inform current models of selective attention.

  5. Acute exercise and aerobic fitness influence selective attention during visual search

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tom eBullock

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Successful goal directed behavior relies on a human attention system that is flexible and able to adapt to different conditions of physiological stress. However, the effects of physical activity on multiple aspects of selective attention and whether these effects are mediated by aerobic capacity, remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of a prolonged bout of physical activity on visual search performance and perceptual distraction. Two groups of participants completed a hybrid visual search flanker/response competition task in an initial baseline session and then at 17-minute intervals over a 2 hour 16 minute test period. Participants assigned to the exercise group engaged in steady-state aerobic exercise between completing blocks of the visual task, whereas participants assigned to the control group rested in between blocks. The key result was a correlation between individual differences in aerobic capacity and visual search performance, such that those individuals that were more fit performed the search task more quickly. Critically, this relationship only emerged in the exercise group after the physical activity had begun. The relationship was not present in either group at baseline and never emerged in the control group during the test period, suggesting that under these task demands, aerobic capacity may be an important determinant of visual search performance under physical stress. The results enhance current understanding about the relationship between exercise and cognition, and also inform current models of selective attention.

  6. Information Literacy and the Public Library

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Bo Gerner; Borlund, Pia

    2013-01-01

    This paper reports on the results of an empirical study of Danish public librarians’ conceptions of information literacy and user education in order to support and optimize lifelong learning of library users. The study builds on data from interviews of purposely selected public librarians...... and a large-scale e-mail survey (questionnaire). The results show that the public librarians consider the public library an important place for learning, but also that they do not share a common understanding of the concepts of information literacy and lifelong learning. The study further reveals a diversity...

  7. The spatially global control of attentional target selection in visual search

    OpenAIRE

    Berggren, Nick; Jenkins, M.; McCants, C.W.; Eimer, Martin

    2017-01-01

    Glyn Humphreys and his co-workers have made numerous important theoretical and empirical contributions to research on visual search. They have introduced the concept of attentional target templates and investigated the nature of these templates and how they are involved in the control of search performance. In the experiments reported here, we investigated whether feature-specific search template for particular colours can guide target selection independently for different regions of visual s...

  8. Beyond Words: An Enquiry into Children's Home Visual Communication Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamada-Rice, Dylan

    2010-01-01

    This research focuses on young children's experiences of the visual mode embedded in new multimodal literacy practices. An enquiry was undertaken into the role of visual and digital images in a group of 11 four-year-olds' out-of-school lives. The children photographed their use of a range of primarily visual-based media at home, to produce a book…

  9. A Construction of Global Literacy Indicators for Undergraduates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lung-Sheng Lee

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In the era of glocalization and logloblization, only university graduates who are globally literate can effectively deal with international affairs or work overseas. Therefore, this study aimed to construct a set of global literacy indicators for undergraduates in Taiwan. The global literacy indicators can be used as a guide to assess undergraduates’ global literacy level and serve as the foundation for developing global education curriculums. Employing a theoretical framework, this study drafted global literacy dimensions and indicators from reviewing related literature, and invited 18 practitioners with international experience to participate in this study. During the item development process, fuzzy Delphi method (FDM and analytic hierarchy process (AHP were applied to select and weight global literacy indicators respectively. Consequently, a set of global literacy indicators for undergraduates were constructed, which include the following four dimensions: communication, context, career development, and culture. “Communication” is the most important dimension among them, while “communicate with foreign languages” and “use information and communication technology (ICT to communicate with others” are the most important indicators and items at the second and third hierarchical levels, respectively.

  10. Students’ Information Literacy: A Perspective from Mathematical Literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ariyadi Wijaya

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Information literacy is mostly seen from the perspective of library science or information and communication technology. Taking another point of view, this study was aimed to explore students’ information literacy from the perspective of mathematical literacy. For this purpose, a test addressing Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA mathematics tasks were administered to 381 eighth and ninth graders from nine junior high schools in the Province of Yogyakarta. PISA mathematics tasks which were used in this test had specific characteristics regarding information processing, i.e. containing superfluous information, having missing information, and requiring connection across information sources. An error analysis was performed to analyze students’ incorrect responses. The result of this study shows that students did not acquire three characteristics of information literacy; i.e. recognizing information needs, locating and evaluating the quality of information, and making effective and ethical use of information. This result indicates students’ low ability in information literacy.Keywords: information literacy, mathematical literacy, Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22342/jme.7.2.3532.73-82

  11. Carpe Diem: Seizing the Common Core with Visual Thinking Strategies in the Visual Arts Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franco, Mary; Unrath, Kathleen

    2014-01-01

    This article demonstrates how Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) art discussions and subsequent, inspired artmaking can help reach the goals of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, & Technical Subjects (CCSS-ELA). The authors describe how this was achieved in a remedial…

  12. Are Health Literacy and eHealth Literacy the Same or Different?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monkman, Helen; Kushniruk, Andre W; Barnett, Jeff; Borycki, Elizabeth M; Greiner, Leigh E; Sheets, Debra

    2017-01-01

    Many researchers assume that there is a relationship between health literacy and eHealth literacy, yet it is not clear whether the literature supports this assumption. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between health and eHealth literacy. To this end, participants' (n = 36) scores on the Newest Vital Sign (NVS, a health literacy measure) were correlated with the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS, an eHealth literacy measure). This analysis revealed no relationship (r = -.041, p = .81) between the two variables. This finding suggests that eHealth Literacy and health literacy are dissimilar. Several possible explanations of the pattern of results are proposed. Currently, it does not seem prudent to use the eHEALS as the sole measure of eHealth literacy, but rather researchers should continue to complement it with a validated health literacy screening tool.

  13. Financial literacy and financial literacy education : what might be the components of an effective financial literacy curriculum?

    OpenAIRE

    Lee, Nirmala

    2010-01-01

    Abstract There is concern about lack of financial literacy and need for financial literacy education, but little or no attempt to understand their nature. Three questions were asked: 'What is financial literacy?', 'What is financial literacy education?' and 'What might be the components of an effective financial literacy curriculum?'. Adopting an inductive grounded theory approach and a pragmatist philosophy, in association with real-world organisations such as the National ...

  14. Developing Verbal and Visual Literacy through Experiences in the Visual Arts: 25 Tips for Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Margaret H.

    2008-01-01

    Including talk about art--conversing with children about artwork, their own and others'--as a component of visual art activities extends children's experiences in and understanding of visual messages. Johnson discusses practices that help children develop visual and verbal expression through active experiences with the visual arts. She offers 25…

  15. Physical literacy

    OpenAIRE

    Roučka, Ladislav

    2013-01-01

    Topic: Physical literacy Goals: The aproximation of physical literacy, collection and evaluation questionnaires of physical literacy knowledge and students anamnesis. Description of applicants progress in the specific movement skills. Method: Unified questionnaires was used for obtaining informations. We make video for movement analysis. Results: The results didn't obtain our expectation that students are able to express precisely the content of physical literacy by specific skills. However, ...

  16. Selective attention modulates visual and haptic repetition priming: effects in aging and Alzheimer's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ballesteros, Soledad; Reales, José M; Mayas, Julia; Heller, Morton A

    2008-08-01

    In two experiments, we examined the effect of selective attention at encoding on repetition priming in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients for objects presented visually (experiment 1) or haptically (experiment 2). We used a repetition priming paradigm combined with a selective attention procedure at encoding. Reliable priming was found for both young adults and healthy older participants for visually presented pictures (experiment 1) as well as for haptically presented objects (experiment 2). However, this was only found for attended and not for unattended stimuli. The results suggest that independently of the perceptual modality, repetition priming requires attention at encoding and that perceptual facilitation is maintained in normal aging. However, AD patients did not show priming for attended stimuli, or for unattended visual or haptic objects. These findings suggest an early deficit of selective attention in AD. Results are discussed from a cognitive neuroscience approach.

  17. Visual artificial grammar learning in dyslexia: A meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Witteloostuijn, Merel; Boersma, Paul; Wijnen, Frank; Rispens, Judith

    2017-11-01

    Literacy impairments in dyslexia have been hypothesized to be (partly) due to an implicit learning deficit. However, studies of implicit visual artificial grammar learning (AGL) have often yielded null results. The aim of this study is to weigh the evidence collected thus far by performing a meta-analysis of studies on implicit visual AGL in dyslexia. Thirteen studies were selected through a systematic literature search, representing data from 255 participants with dyslexia and 292 control participants (mean age range: 8.5-36.8 years old). If the 13 selected studies constitute a random sample, individuals with dyslexia perform worse on average than non-dyslexic individuals (average weighted effect size=0.46, 95% CI [0.14 … 0.77], p=0.008), with a larger effect in children than in adults (p=0.041; average weighted effect sizes 0.71 [sig.] versus 0.16 [non-sig.]). However, the presence of a publication bias indicates the existence of missing studies that may well null the effect. While the studies under investigation demonstrate that implicit visual AGL is impaired in dyslexia (more so in children than in adults, if in adults at all), the detected publication bias suggests that the effect might in fact be zero. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  18. Exploring Visual Selective Attention towards Novel Stimuli in Alzheimer's Disease Patients

    OpenAIRE

    Sarah A. Chau; Nathan Herrmann; Moshe Eizenman; Jonathan Chung; Krista L. Lanctôt

    2015-01-01

    Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with selective attention impairments, which could contribute to cognitive and functional deficits. Selective attention can be explored through examination of novelty preference. Aims: In this study, we quantified novelty preference in AD patients by measuring visual scanning behaviour using an eye tracking paradigm. Methods: Mild-to-moderate AD patients and elderly controls viewed slides containing novel and repeated images simultaneously. Th...

  19. Selective attention to phonology dynamically modulates initial encoding of auditory words within the left hemisphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoncheva; Maurer, Urs; Zevin, Jason; McCandliss, Bruce

    2015-01-01

    Selective attention to phonology, i.e., the ability to attend to sub-syllabic units within spoken words, is a critical precursor to literacy acquisition. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence has demonstrated that a left-lateralized network of frontal, temporal, and posterior language regions, including the visual word form area, supports this skill. The current event-related potential (ERP) study investigated the temporal dynamics of selective attention to phonology during spoken word perception. We tested the hypothesis that selective atten tion to phonology dynamically modulates stimulus encoding by recruiting left-lateralized processes specifically while the information critical for performance is unfolding. Selective attention to phonology was captured by ma nipulating listening goals: skilled adult readers attended to either rhyme or melody within auditory stimulus pairs. Each pair superimposed rhyming and melodic information ensuring identical sensory stimulation. Selective attention to phonology produced distinct early and late topographic ERP effects during stimulus encoding. Data- driven source localization analyses revealed that selective attention to phonology led to significantly greater re cruitment of left-lateralized posterior and extensive temporal regions, which was notably concurrent with the rhyme-relevant information within the word. Furthermore, selective attention effects were specific to auditory stimulus encoding and not observed in response to cues, arguing against the notion that they reflect sustained task setting. Collectively, these results demonstrate that selective attention to phonology dynamically engages a left-lateralized network during the critical time-period of perception for achieving phonological analysis goals. These findings support the key role of selective attention to phonology in the development of literacy and motivate future research on the neural bases of the interaction between phonological

  20. Simulating the Role of Visual Selective Attention during the Development of Perceptual Completion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlesinger, Matthew; Amso, Dima; Johnson, Scott P.

    2012-01-01

    We recently proposed a multi-channel, image-filtering model for simulating the development of visual selective attention in young infants (Schlesinger, Amso & Johnson, 2007). The model not only captures the performance of 3-month-olds on a visual search task, but also implicates two cortical regions that may play a role in the development of…

  1. Unpacking New Media Literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Der-Thanq “victor” Chen

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available The 21st century has marked an unprecedented advancement of new media. New media has become so pervasive that it has penetrated into every aspect of our society. New media literacy plays an essential role for any citizen to participate fully in the 21st century society. Researchers have documented that literacy has evolved historically from classic literacy (reading-writing-understanding to audiovisual literacy to digital literacy or information literacy and recently to new media literacy. A review of literature on media literacy reveals that there is a lack of thorough analysis of unique characteristics of new media and its impacts upon the notion of new media literacy. The purpose of the study is to unpack new media literacy and propose a framework for a systematic investigation of new media literacy.

  2. Quantitative Literacy at Michigan State University, 2: Connection to Financial Literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dennis Gilliland

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available The lack of capability of making financial decisions has been recently described for the adult United States population. A concerted effort to increase awareness of this crisis, to improve education in quantitative and financial literacy, and to simplify financial decision-making processes is critical to the solution. This paper describes a study that was undertaken to explore the relationship between quantitative literacy and financial literacy for entering college freshmen. In summer 2010, incoming freshmen to Michigan State University were assessed. Well-tested financial literacy items and validated quantitative literacy assessment instruments were administered to 531 subjects. Logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship between level of financial literacy and independent variables including quantitative literacy score, ACT mathematics score, and demographic variables including gender. The study establishes a strong positive association between quantitative literacy and financial literacy on top of the effects of the other independent variables. Adding one percent to the performance on a quantitative literacy assessment changes the odds for being at the highest level of financial literacy by a factor estimated to be 1.05. Gender is found to have a large, statistically significant effect as well with being female changing the odds by a factor estimated to be 0.49.

  3. Multiplied Environmental Literacy. Final Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buethe, Chris

    This booklet presents a pupil-oriented program designed to increase the environmental literacy of teachers and students in Indiana schools through a programmed multiplier effect. Junior and senior high school science teachers were prepared to teach students the meanings of 44 selected environmental terms and related concepts. Those teachers then…

  4. Standards for Competence in Braille Literacy Skills in Teacher Preparation Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amato, Sheila

    2002-01-01

    A survey was conducted with 45 instructors from teacher training programs for teaching students with visual impairments. Respondents evidenced a strong commitment to Braille literacy and teacher preparation, however, findings indicate a lack of consistency in Braille courses with respect to standards and criteria for competence in Braille…

  5. Literacy in America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graubard, Stephen R., Ed.

    1990-01-01

    This collection of essays addresses issues related to basic literacy and mathematical competence in the United States. Articles include the following: "The Roots of Literacy" (David Hawkins); "Historical Perspectives on Literacy and Schooling" (Daniel P. Resnick); "Reconciling the Literacies of Generations" (William…

  6. The Relationship between Bible Literacy and Academic Achievement and School Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeynes, William H.

    2009-01-01

    This study assessed the relationship between Bible literacy among secondary school students and their academic achievement and school behavior. One hundred and forty students in the 7th to 12th grade were randomly selected from a Christian school. Four measures of Bible knowledge were combined to obtain an overall measure of Bible literacy. They…

  7. Reform in Literacy Education in China. Literacy Lessons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yianwei, Wang; Jiyuan, Li

    Literacy in China is mainly concerned with illiteracy in rural areas. Therefore, reforming literacy education is largely a problem of how to eliminate rural literacy within the general framework of reform in contemporary China. From 1949 to 1988, the illiteracy rate among the population decreased from 80 percent to 20 percent. There are still…

  8. Semantic Wavelet-Induced Frequency-Tagging (SWIFT Periodically Activates Category Selective Areas While Steadily Activating Early Visual Areas.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roger Koenig-Robert

    Full Text Available Primate visual systems process natural images in a hierarchical manner: at the early stage, neurons are tuned to local image features, while neurons in high-level areas are tuned to abstract object categories. Standard models of visual processing assume that the transition of tuning from image features to object categories emerges gradually along the visual hierarchy. Direct tests of such models remain difficult due to confounding alteration in low-level image properties when contrasting distinct object categories. When such contrast is performed in a classic functional localizer method, the desired activation in high-level visual areas is typically accompanied with activation in early visual areas. Here we used a novel image-modulation method called SWIFT (semantic wavelet-induced frequency-tagging, a variant of frequency-tagging techniques. Natural images modulated by SWIFT reveal object semantics periodically while keeping low-level properties constant. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI, we indeed found that faces and scenes modulated with SWIFT periodically activated the prototypical category-selective areas while they elicited sustained and constant responses in early visual areas. SWIFT and the localizer were selective and specific to a similar extent in activating category-selective areas. Only SWIFT progressively activated the visual pathway from low- to high-level areas, consistent with predictions from standard hierarchical models. We confirmed these results with criterion-free methods, generalizing the validity of our approach and show that it is possible to dissociate neural activation in early and category-selective areas. Our results provide direct evidence for the hierarchical nature of the representation of visual objects along the visual stream and open up future applications of frequency-tagging methods in fMRI.

  9. Developing a Geoscience Literacy Exam: Pushing Geoscience Literacy Assessment to New Levels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iverson, E. A.; Steer, D. N.; Manduca, C. A.

    2012-12-01

    InTeGrate is a community effort aimed at improving geoscience literacy and building a workforce that can use geoscience to solve societal issues. As part of this work we have developed a geoscience literacy assessment instrument to measure students' higher order thinking. This assessment is an important part of the development of curricula designed to increase geoscience literacy for all undergraduate students. To this end, we developed the Geoscience Literacy Exam (GLE) as one of the tools to quantify the effectiveness of these materials on students' understandings of geoscience literacy. The InTeGrate project is a 5-year, NSF-funded STEP Center grant in its first year of funding. Details concerning the project are found at http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/index.html. The GLE instrument addresses content and concepts in the Earth, Climate, and Ocean Science literacy documents. The testing schema is organized into three levels of increasing complexity. Level 1 questions are single answer, understanding- or application-level multiple choice questions. For example, selecting which type of energy transfer is most responsible for the movement of tectonic plates. They are designed such that most introductory level students should be able to correctly answer after taking an introductory geoscience course. Level 2 questions are more advanced multiple answer/matching questions, at the understanding- through analysis-level. Students might be asked to determine the types of earth-atmosphere interactions that could result in changes to global temperatures in the event of a major volcanic eruption. Because the answers are more complicated, some introductory students and most advanced students should be able to respond correctly. Level 3 questions are analyzing- to evaluating-level short essays, such as describe the ways in which the atmosphere sustains life on Earth. These questions are designed such that introductory students could probably formulate a rudimentary response

  10. Literacy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bremholm, Jesper

    I løbet at de seneste 10 år har literacy-begrebet for alvor vundet indpas som et etableret begreb i den nordiske forsknings- og uddannelsesverden, ikke mindst inden for læse-/skriveområdet. Der er dog langt fra konsensus om den præcise betydning af begrebet, og af samme grund hersker der en udbredt...... forvirring om hvorledes det skal forstås. Man kan på den baggrund stille spørgsmålet om hvorvidt literacy overhovedet er et brugbart og produktivt begreb i en nordisk kontekst. Når man i PISA-undersøgelserne giver læseområdet den pleonastiske betegnelse reading literacy, kunne det give anledning til...... at tvivle på at det er tilfældet. Med afsæt i forskellige begrebs- og forskningsmæssige perspektiver diskuteres i oplægget literacy-begrebets berettigelse, og i forlængelse heraf præsenteres et bud på en trifokal optik som teoretisk blik på literacy i undervisningskontekster. Eksempler fra forskellige...

  11. Early literacy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Anders Skriver

    2012-01-01

    This paper discusses findings from the Danish contribution to the EASE project, a European research project running from 2008 to 2010 on early literacy in relation to the transition from childcare to school. It explores a holistic, inclusive approach to early literacy that resists a narrow...... and schools. The paper also draws on Gee’s (2001, 2003, 2004, 2008) sociocultural approach to literacy, and Honneth’s (2003, 2006) concept of recognition. Emphasizing participation and recognition as key elements, it claims that stakeholders in early liter- acy must pay attention to how diverse early literacy...... opportunities empower children, especially when these opportunities are employed in a project-based learning environ- ment in which each child is able to contribute to the shared literacy events....

  12. Enabling Digital Literacy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ryberg, Thomas; Georgsen, Marianne

    2010-01-01

    There are some tensions between high-level policy definitions of “digital literacy” and actual teaching practice. We need to find workable definitions of digital literacy; obtain a better understanding of what digital literacy might look like in practice; and identify pedagogical approaches, which...... support teachers in designing digital literacy learning. We suggest that frameworks such as Problem Based Learning (PBL) are approaches that enable digital literacy learning because they provide good settings for engaging with digital literacy. We illustrate this through analysis of a case. Furthermore......, these operate on a meso-level mediating between high-level concepts of digital literacy and classroom practice....

  13. Self-construal priming selectively modulates the scope of visual attention

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhuozhuo eLiu

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Self-concept is one of the major factors to explain the cultural differences between East Asians and Westerners. In the field of visual attention, most studies have focused on the modulation of visual spatial-based attention, whereas possible influences of culture or self-concept on other types of visual attention remain largely unexplored. The present study investigated the possible modulation of visual feature-based attention by self-concept, using a within-group self-construal priming design. The experiment paradigm employed visual stimuli consisted of two intermixing random dot clouds presented in the focal visual field with red and green colors. After primed with an interdependent, independent or neutral self-construal, the participants were instructed to attend to one of the focally presented dot cloud and respond to occasional luminance decrement events of the attended dot cloud. The detection of the focal events was found to be significantly faster when exogenously cued by a peripheral dot cloud of either the same or different colors as the attended focal dot cloud (congruent / incongruent, compared to the uncued condition. More importantly, the self-construal priming took effect only on the reaction time (RT differences between the congruent and incongruent cued conditions: the participants responded much slower to incongruent cued events than congruent cued events under interdependent self-construal priming, while the RT difference was significantly smaller under independent self-construal priming. A closer look on the results suggests that the attention scope is selectively modulated by self-construal priming, and the modulation is mainly reflected by varying the degree of suppression on the processing of the incongruent contextual stimuli that do not share visual features with the focal object. Our findings provide new evidences that could possibly extend the current understanding on the cultural influence on visual attention.

  14. Simulating the role of visual selective attention during the development of perceptual completion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlesinger, Matthew; Amso, Dima; Johnson, Scott P

    2012-11-01

    We recently proposed a multi-channel, image-filtering model for simulating the development of visual selective attention in young infants (Schlesinger, Amso & Johnson, 2007). The model not only captures the performance of 3-month-olds on a visual search task, but also implicates two cortical regions that may play a role in the development of visual selective attention. In the current simulation study, we used the same model to simulate 3-month-olds' performance on a second measure, the perceptual unity task. Two parameters in the model - corresponding to areas in the occipital and parietal cortices - were systematically varied while the gaze patterns produced by the model were recorded and subsequently analyzed. Three key findings emerged from the simulation study. First, the model successfully replicated the performance of 3-month-olds on the unity perception task. Second, the model also helps to explain the improved performance of 2-month-olds when the size of the occluder in the unity perception task is reduced. Third, in contrast to our previous simulation results, variation in only one of the two cortical regions simulated (i.e. recurrent activity in posterior parietal cortex) resulted in a performance pattern that matched 3-month-olds. These findings provide additional support for our hypothesis that the development of perceptual completion in early infancy is promoted by progressive improvements in visual selective attention and oculomotor skill. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  15. Pacific CRYSTAL Project: Explicit Literacy Instruction Embedded in Middle School Science Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anthony, Robert J.; Tippett, Christine D.; Yore, Larry D.

    2010-01-01

    Science literacy leading to fuller and informed participation in the public debate about science, technology, society, and environmental (STSE) issues that produce justified decisions and sustainable actions is the shared and central goal of the Pacific CRYSTAL Project. There is broad agreement by science education researchers that learners need to be able to construct and interpret specific scientific discourses and texts to be literate in science. We view these capabilities as components in the fundamental sense of science literacy and as interactive and synergetic to the derived sense of science literacy, which refers to having general knowledge about concepts, principles, and methods of science. This article reports on preliminary findings from Years 1, 2, and 3 of the 5-year Pacific CRYSTAL project that aims to identify, develop, and embed explicit literacy instruction in science programs to achieve both senses of science literacy. A community-based, opportunistic, engineering research and development approach has been utilized to identify problems and concerns and to design instructional solutions for teaching middle school (Grades 6, 7, and 8) science. Initial data indicate (a) opportunities in programs for embedding literacy instruction and tasks; (b) difficulties generalist teachers have with new science curricula; (c) difficulties specialist science teachers have with literacy activities, strategies, genre, and writing-to-learn science tasks; and (d) potential literacy activities (vocabulary, reading comprehension, visual literacy, genre, and writing tasks) for middle school science. Preinstruction student assessments indicate a range of challenges in achieving effective learning in science and the need for extensive teacher support to achieve the project’s goals. Postinstructional assessments indicate positive changes in students’ ability to perform target reading and writing tasks. Qualitative data indicate teachers’ desire for external direction

  16. Category-specific visual responses: an intracranial study comparing gamma, beta, alpha and ERP response selectivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan R Vidal

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available The specificity of neural responses to visual objects is a major topic in visual neuroscience. In humans, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI studies have identified several regions of the occipital and temporal lobe that appear specific to faces, letter-strings, scenes, or tools. Direct electrophysiological recordings in the visual cortical areas of epileptic patients have largely confirmed this modular organization, using either single-neuron peri-stimulus time-histogram or intracerebral event-related potentials (iERP. In parallel, a new research stream has emerged using high-frequency gamma-band activity (50-150 Hz (GBR and low-frequency alpha/beta activity (8-24 Hz (ABR to map functional networks in humans. An obvious question is now whether the functional organization of the visual cortex revealed by fMRI, ERP, GBR, and ABR coincide. We used direct intracerebral recordings in 18 epileptic patients to directly compare GBR, ABR, and ERP elicited by the presentation of seven major visual object categories (faces, scenes, houses, consonants, pseudowords, tools, and animals, in relation to previous fMRI studies. Remarkably both GBR and iERP showed strong category-specificity that was in many cases sufficient to infer stimulus object category from the neural response at single-trial level. However, we also found a strong discrepancy between the selectivity of GBR, ABR, and ERP with less than 10% of spatial overlap between sites eliciting the same category-specificity. Overall, we found that selective neural responses to visual objects were broadly distributed in the brain with a prominent spatial cluster located in the posterior temporal cortex. Moreover, the different neural markers (GBR, ABR, and iERP that elicit selectivity towards specific visual object categories present little spatial overlap suggesting that the information content of each marker can uniquely characterize high-level visual information in the brain.

  17. VISUAL LITERACY AND DOMINANCE OF THE PICTORIAL WORLD

    OpenAIRE

    Supsakova, Bozena

    2018-01-01

    The dominance of the pictorial world forms the beginning of the effect of new visual civilisation in the 21st century. Today, we already know that photograph, film and television are just fist stage of visual era. The modern phenomena of digitalisation and mass communication related to the development of information and communication technologies and Internet, dramatically saturate the pictures and pictorial messages to public space and thus also to our everyday life. Posters, billboards and ...

  18. Literacy as Value: Cultural Capital in Barbara Bush's Foundation for Family Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westmoreland, Brandi Davis

    2010-01-01

    Many different views of literacy exist. In my study, I make use of Brian V. Street's two major models of literacy--the autonomous and the ideological. These models show contrasting views of literacy and are based on very different assumptions. I examine the views of literacy prevalent in family literacy campaigns, with special focus on Barbara…

  19. Robust selectivity to two-object images in human visual cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agam, Yigal; Liu, Hesheng; Papanastassiou, Alexander; Buia, Calin; Golby, Alexandra J.; Madsen, Joseph R.; Kreiman, Gabriel

    2010-01-01

    SUMMARY We can recognize objects in a fraction of a second in spite of the presence of other objects [1–3]. The responses in macaque areas V4 and inferior temporal cortex [4–15] to a neuron’s preferred stimuli are typically suppressed by the addition of a second object within the receptive field (see however [16, 17]). How can this suppression be reconciled with rapid visual recognition in complex scenes? One option is that certain “special categories” are unaffected by other objects [18] but this leaves the problem unsolved for other categories. Another possibility is that serial attentional shifts help ameliorate the problem of distractor objects [19–21]. Yet, psychophysical studies [1–3], scalp recordings [1] and neurophysiological recordings [14, 16, 22–24], suggest that the initial sweep of visual processing contains a significant amount of information. We recorded intracranial field potentials in human visual cortex during presentation of flashes of two-object images. Visual selectivity from temporal cortex during the initial ~200 ms was largely robust to the presence of other objects. We could train linear decoders on the responses to isolated objects and decode information in two-object images. These observations are compatible with parallel, hierarchical and feed-forward theories of rapid visual recognition [25] and may provide a neural substrate to begin to unravel rapid recognition in natural scenes. PMID:20417105

  20. Second-Language Literacy, Immigration, and Globalization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soto Huerta, M. E.; Pérez, B.

    2015-01-01

    Second language literacy development is a significant factor influencing immigrants' opportunities to integrate with the host society. To examine the opportunities that different immigrant groups have had for obtaining both, we selected four published studies that had been originally analyzed through a sociocultural perspective, a prominent…

  1. Literacy in Francophone Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kokora, Pascal D.

    1991-01-01

    Literacy in francophone Africa, where literacy is still a privilege, is reviewed in terms of the complex linguistic situation, effects of population change, concepts and definitions of literacy, promotion of literacy in adult nonformal settings (e.g., African language literacy materials, multilingual settings). (23 references) (LB)

  2. Sound frequency and aural selectivity in sound-contingent visual motion aftereffect.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maori Kobayashi

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: One possible strategy to evaluate whether signals in different modalities originate from a common external event or object is to form associations between inputs from different senses. This strategy would be quite effective because signals in different modalities from a common external event would then be aligned spatially and temporally. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that after adaptation to visual apparent motion paired with alternating auditory tones, the tones begin to trigger illusory motion perception to a static visual stimulus, where the perceived direction of visual lateral motion depends on the order in which the tones are replayed. The mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain unclear. One important approach to understanding the mechanisms is to examine whether the effect has some selectivity in auditory processing. However, it has not yet been determined whether this aftereffect can be transferred across sound frequencies and between ears. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Two circles placed side by side were presented in alternation, producing apparent motion perception, and each onset was accompanied by a tone burst of a specific and unique frequency. After exposure to this visual apparent motion with tones for a few minutes, the tones became drivers for illusory motion perception. However, the aftereffect was observed only when the adapter and test tones were presented at the same frequency and to the same ear. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings suggest that the auditory processing underlying the establishment of novel audiovisual associations is selective, potentially but not necessarily indicating that this processing occurs at an early stage.

  3. Cell phone-based health education messaging improves health literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhuang, Runsen; Xiang, Yueying; Han, Tieguang; Yang, Guo-An; Zhang, Yuan

    2016-03-01

    The ubiquity of cell phones, which allow for short message service (SMS), provides new and innovative opportunities for disease prevention and health education. To explore the use of cell phone-based health education SMS to improve the health literacy of community residents in China. A multi-stage random sampling method was used to select representative study communities and participants ≥ 18 years old. Intervention participants were sent health education SMSs once a week for 1 year and controls were sent conventional, basic health education measures. Health literacy levels of the residents before and after the intervention were evaluated between intervention and control groups. Public health literacy scores increased 1.5 points, from 61.8 to 63.3, after SMS intervention for 1 year (P<0.01); the increase was greater for males than females (2.01 vs. 1.03; P<0.01) and for Shenzhen local residents than non-permanent residents (2.56 vs. 1.14; P<0.01). The frequency of high health literacy scores was greater for the intervention than control group (22.03% to 30.93% vs. 22.07% to 20.82%). With health literacy as a cost-effective index, the cost-effectiveness per intervention was 0.54. SMS may be a useful tool for improving health literacy.

  4. Subcortical orientation biases explain orientation selectivity of visual cortical cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vidyasagar, Trichur R; Jayakumar, Jaikishan; Lloyd, Errol; Levichkina, Ekaterina V

    2015-04-01

    The primary visual cortex of carnivores and primates shows an orderly progression of domains of neurons that are selective to a particular orientation of visual stimuli such as bars and gratings. We recorded from single-thalamic afferent fibers that terminate in these domains to address the issue whether the orientation sensitivity of these fibers could form the basis of the remarkable orientation selectivity exhibited by most cortical cells. We first performed optical imaging of intrinsic signals to obtain a map of orientation domains on the dorsal aspect of the anaesthetized cat's area 17. After confirming using electrophysiological recordings the orientation preferences of single neurons within one or two domains in each animal, we pharmacologically silenced the cortex to leave only the afferent terminals active. The inactivation of cortical neurons was achieved by the superfusion of either kainic acid or muscimol. Responses of single geniculate afferents were then recorded by the use of high impedance electrodes. We found that the orientation preferences of the afferents matched closely with those of the cells in the orientation domains that they terminated in (Pearson's r = 0.633, n = 22, P = 0.002). This suggests a possible subcortical origin for cortical orientation selectivity. © 2015 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Physiological Society and The Physiological Society.

  5. Digital Technologies and performative pedagogies: Repositioning the visual

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathryn Grushka

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available Images are becoming a primary means of information presentation in the digitized global media and digital technologies have emancipated and democratized the image. This allows for the reproduction and manipulation of images on a scale never seen before and opens new possibilities for teachers schooled in critical visuality. This paper reports on an innovative pre-service teacher training course in which a cross-curricula cohort of secondary teachers employed visual performative competencies to produce a series of learning objects on a digital platform. The resulting intertextual narratives demonstrate that the manipulation of image and text offered by digital technologies create a powerful vehicle for investigating knowledge and understandings, evolving new meaning and awakening latent creativity in the use of images for meaning making. This research informs the New Literacies and multimodal fields of enquiry and argues that visuality is integral to any pedagogy that purports to be relevant to the contemporary learner. It argues that the visual has been significantly under-valued as a conduit for knowledge acquisition and meaning making in the digital environment and supports the claim that critical literacy, interactivity, experimentation and production are vital to attaining the tenets of transformative education (Buckingham, 2007; Walsh, 2007; Cope & Kalantzis, 2008.

  6. Using Coding Apps to Support Literacy Instruction and Develop Coding Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutchison, Amy; Nadolny, Larysa; Estapa, Anne

    2016-01-01

    In this article the authors present the concept of Coding Literacy and describe the ways in which coding apps can support the development of Coding Literacy and disciplinary and digital literacy skills. Through detailed examples, we describe how coding apps can be integrated into literacy instruction to support learning of the Common Core English…

  7. Students’ Information Literacy: A Perspective from Mathematical Literacy

    OpenAIRE

    Ariyadi Wijaya

    2016-01-01

    Information literacy is mostly seen from the perspective of library science or information and communication technology. Taking another point of view, this study was aimed to explore students’ information literacy from the perspective of mathematical literacy. For this purpose, a test addressing Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) mathematics tasks were administered to 381 eighth and ninth graders from nine junior high schools in the Province of Yogyakarta. PISA mathematics ...

  8. Literacy of the Other: The Inner Life of Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tarc, Aparna Mishra

    2015-01-01

    My paper situates literacy in the pre-symbolic implications of the maternal relation. Turning to child psychoanalysis, particularly Melanie Klein's theories of infancy and symbolization, my paper discusses the role the child's inner life plays in her engagements with literacy. Citing cases of second language learning, I pose literacy as…

  9. How learning might strengthen existing visual object representations in human object-selective cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brants, Marijke; Bulthé, Jessica; Daniels, Nicky; Wagemans, Johan; Op de Beeck, Hans P

    2016-02-15

    Visual object perception is an important function in primates which can be fine-tuned by experience, even in adults. Which factors determine the regions and the neurons that are modified by learning is still unclear. Recently, it was proposed that the exact cortical focus and distribution of learning effects might depend upon the pre-learning mapping of relevant functional properties and how this mapping determines the informativeness of neural units for the stimuli and the task to be learned. From this hypothesis we would expect that visual experience would strengthen the pre-learning distributed functional map of the relevant distinctive object properties. Here we present a first test of this prediction in twelve human subjects who were trained in object categorization and differentiation, preceded and followed by a functional magnetic resonance imaging session. Specifically, training increased the distributed multi-voxel pattern information for trained object distinctions in object-selective cortex, resulting in a generalization from pre-training multi-voxel activity patterns to after-training activity patterns. Simulations show that the increased selectivity combined with the inter-session generalization is consistent with a training-induced strengthening of a pre-existing selectivity map. No training-related neural changes were detected in other regions. In sum, training to categorize or individuate objects strengthened pre-existing representations in human object-selective cortex, providing a first indication that the neuroanatomical distribution of learning effects depends upon the pre-learning mapping of visual object properties. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Category Selectivity of Human Visual Cortex in Perception of Rubin Face–Vase Illusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaogang Wang

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available When viewing the Rubin face–vase illusion, our conscious perception spontaneously alternates between the face and the vase; this illusion has been widely used to explore bistable perception. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI studies have studied the neural mechanisms underlying bistable perception through univariate and multivariate pattern analyses; however, no studies have investigated the issue of category selectivity. Here, we used fMRI to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the Rubin face–vase illusion by introducing univariate amplitude and multivariate pattern analyses. The results from the amplitude analysis suggested that the activity in the fusiform face area was likely related to the subjective face perception. Furthermore, the pattern analysis results showed that the early visual cortex (EVC and the face-selective cortex could discriminate the activity patterns of the face and vase perceptions. However, further analysis of the activity patterns showed that only the face-selective cortex contains the face information. These findings indicated that although the EVC and face-selective cortex activities could discriminate the visual information, only the activity and activity pattern in the face-selective areas contained the category information of face perception in the Rubin face–vase illusion.

  11. Instruments of health literacy used in nursing studies with hypertensive elderly

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Larissa Gomes Machado

    Full Text Available This study aimed to analyze nursing research regarding the instruments used to evaluate health literacy in elderly hypertensive patients. This is an integrative literature review done in the databases LILACS, PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and Cochrane, in June 2013. The articles, electronically available, were selected for full-text review by nurses, who assessed health literacy of elderly with hypertension. Eight studies were selected for analysis and four different instruments were used in the research. The instruments were developed according to a methodology and they were all designed to evaluate the abilities of elderly regarding reading, numeracy, pronunciation and recognition of some health-related words. The nursing research analyzed in this study revealed the gaps in care related to measures aimed to increase patient's involvement in decision-making. Also, the instruments used for measuring health literacy showed limitations, and there is no gold standard test.

  12. An event-related brain potential study of visual selective attention to conjunctions of color and shape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smid, H G; Jakob, A; Heinze, H J

    1999-03-01

    What cognitive processes underlie event-related brain potential (ERP) effects related to visual multidimensional selective attention and how are these processes organized? We recorded ERPs when participants attended to one conjunction of color, global shape and local shape and ignored other conjunctions of these attributes in three discriminability conditions. Attending to color and shape produced three ERP effects: frontal selection positivity (FSP), central negativity (N2b), and posterior selection negativity (SN). The results suggested that the processes underlying SN and N2b perform independent within-dimension selections, whereas the process underlying the FSP performs hierarchical between-dimension selections. At posterior electrodes, manipulation of discriminability changed the ERPs to the relevant but not to the irrelevant stimuli, suggesting that the SN does not concern the selection process itself but rather a cognitive process initiated after selection is finished. Other findings suggested that selection of multiple visual attributes occurs in parallel.

  13. Health Literacy Among Parents of Pediatric Patients Seen in the Emergency Department

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tran, T. Paul

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Health literacy is an important predictor of healthcare outcomes, but research on this topic has largely been absent from the emergency medicine literature.OBJECTIVE: We measured the prevalence of health literacy in parents or guardians of pediatric patients seen in the emergency department (ED.METHODS: This was an observational study conducted in a Midwestern urban, university-based, tertiary, Level 1 trauma center ED with 33,000 visits/year. Using convenience sampling during a three-month period, English-speaking parents or guardians of pediatric patients (< 19 yrs. were asked to complete the short version of the Test of Functional Health Literacy for Adults (s-TOFHLA. Parents/guardians were excluded if they had uncorrected visual impairment, required an interpreter, had altered mental status, or if the patients they accompanied were the subjects of a medical or trauma activation.RESULTS: Of the 188 parents or guardians approached, six did not consent or withdrew, one was excluded, leaving 181 (96.3% in the study. Of these, 19 (10.5% had either "marginal" or "inadequate" health literacy, while 162 (89.5%, 95% CI: 84.1%, 93.6% had "adequate" health literacy.CONCLUSION: A large majority (89.5% of English-speaking parents or guardians of pediatric patients evaluated in the ED have adequate health literacy. This data may prompt ED professionals to adjust their communication styles in the evaluation of children. Future multi-center studies are needed to confirm the findings in this pilot study.

  14. Tracing Literacy Journeys: The Use of the Literacy Autobiography in Preservice Teacher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Debra

    2009-01-01

    This paper analyses the use of literacy autobiography as a way for preservice teachers to examine their own understandings of literacy, multiliteracies and literacy teaching. We reflect on what we as lecturers have learnt about our students and their literacy experiences, about our own literacy experiences and values, as well as what the students…

  15. Literacy and Health Disparities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prins, Esther; Mooney, Angela

    2014-01-01

    This chapter explores the relationship between literacy and health disparities, focusing on the concept of health literacy. Recommendations are provided for ways to bridge the health literacy gap for learners in adult basic education and family literacy programs.

  16. Lay Worker Health Literacy: A Concept Analysis and Operational Definition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cadman, Kathleen Paco

    2017-10-01

    The concept of lay worker health literacy is created by concurrently analyzing and synthesizing two intersecting concepts, lay workers and health literacy. Articulation of this unique intersection is the result of implementing a simplified Wilson's Concept Analysis Procedure. This process incorporates the following components: a) selecting a concept, b) determining the aims/purposes of analysis, c) identifying all uses of the concept, d) determining defining attributes, e) identifying a model case, f) identifying borderline, related, contrary, and illegitimate cases, g) identifying antecedents and consequences, and h) defining empirical referents. Furthermore, as current literature provides no operational definition for lay worker health literacy, one is created to contribute cohesion to the concept. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  17. THE USE OF STATISTIC KNOWLEDGE IN ACADEMIC DISCOURSES OF LITERACY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renata Sperrhake

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The present paper analyzes how discourses of literacy, illiteracy and alphabetic literacy have used statistical knowledge. We carried out a search into digital files of journals specialized in Education and Statistics, as well as into CAPES Thesis Database. From the selected corpus, it is possible to perceive the following kinds of uses: 1 statistics used as empirical material; 2 statistics used as methodological procedure; 3 reference to statistical knowledge. Besides evidencing how the statistical knowledge has been used, the analysis of academic productions has enabled us to perceive other two points: the appearance of levels of alphabetic literacy, and the change in the understanding of the relationship of the subject with reading and writing.

  18. Web Literacy, Web Literacies or Just Literacies on the Web? Reflections from a Study of Personal Homepages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karlsson, Anna-Malin

    2002-01-01

    Discusses the question of whether there is such a thing as web literacy. Perspectives from media studies, literacy studies, and the study of multimodal texts are used to find the main contextual parameters involved in what might be classed as web literacy. The parameters suggested are material conditions, domain, power or ideology, and semiotic…

  19. Assessment of health literacy of municipal employees in Shemiranat, Iran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solhi, Mahnaz; Jormand, Hanieh

    2017-12-01

    Health literacy is one of the major determinants of health promotion among individuals and within society. The present study is aimed to determine the health literacy status of office employees in Shemiranat using the native instruments of health literacy for Iranian adults (HELIA). The present descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was done in 2016-17. It was conducted on 360 office employees in Shemiranat. The samples were selected using a multi-stage simple random sampling method. Data collection tools in this study included HELIA questionnaire. The data were imported into SPSS v.18 software and then analyzed using descriptive statistical indices (mean, SD, number, and percentage) and inferential statistics (Chi-square, Pearson's correlation coefficient, Spearman's correlation coefficient, and Kruskal-Wallis test). Written informed consent was obtained from the employees participating in the study and they were assured about confidentiality. Also, they were informed that participation was voluntary. The mean and standard deviation of the total health literacy score among the studied individuals was 125.99±16.01. The mean score of health literacy in the areas of reading (15.36±2.89) and evaluation (5.01±2.8) among the studied individuals was lower than other dimensions of health literacy. Based on the Chi-square test, there was a statistically significant relationship between health literacy and education level, occupational rank, work place, and work experience (p=0.0001 in all the cases). The individuals with medium and good levels of health literacy acquired most of their health-related information through the Internet, friends, relatives, physicians, and health staff. Health literacy status was not sufficient among the studied staff. Thus, it is recommended to perform promotional interventions in order to improve the health literacy status and its dimensions among these staff.

  20. Promoting Information Literacy by Promoting Health Literacy in the Information Society

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meisam Dastani

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available In the information society, the production, distribution and use of information are freely and widely available for all issues of life. Proper and appropriate use of reliable information is especially important in health care. The present study introduces the concepts and benefits of health literacy and information literacy and its role in improving health literacy. This study was a review based on the concepts of information society, information literacy and information education to present importance of promoting information literacy on health literacy in the information society. The information society is presented by providing a platform of information technology and computer systems to attempt to exchange and develop information among people in the community. Currently, electronic and web-based health information in the mass form is available. Information as a fundamental base of the information society is a phenomenon that our decisions are affected in relation to various issues such as safety and health issues. It is important to avoid the mass of invalid, incorrect and inappropriate information which is available on the internet. This requires information literacy skills such as identifying, accessing and evaluating information. In general, it can be said that the promotion of health literacy in communities requires learning different skills in the form of information literacy.Data obtained from this study can be used in developing the long term health programs to prevention of non-communicable diseases in our country

  1. The Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters through Visual Media: Exploring Images of Others in Telecollaboration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindner, Rachel; Méndez Garcia, Maria del Carmen

    2014-01-01

    Positioned against the background of the Council of Europe's interest in developing intercultural competence through education, the study presented in this paper investigates the impact on intercultural visual literacy of the Council of Europe's "Images of Others--An Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters through Visual Media"…

  2. Cervical Cancer Literacy in Women of Reproductive Age and Its Related Factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bazaz, Maryam; Shahry, Parvin; Latifi, Sayed Mahmood; Araban, Marzieh

    2017-08-10

    Cancer health literacy, which is the ability to search, understand, and use health information to make appropriate health decisions, plays an important role in the use of preventative and screening information. The present study aims to evaluate cervical cancer health literacy in women of reproductive age and its related factors. In this cross-sectional study, 231 women of reproductive age who referred to health centers of Khuzestan Province, Iran, were selected via convenience sampling. A valid and reliable measure was employed to collect information about various dimensions of cervical cancer health literacy, including having access to, reading, understanding, appraising, using, and communicating it. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS 16. Data analysis was conducted by independent sample t test, one-way ANOVA, Spearman's correlation, chi-square, and linear regression. The participants' average health literacy score was 97.88 ± 12.7 (from 135 points), and 47.2% of the participants had limited health literacy. Health literacy was associated with education, employment, income, searching, mothers' and young friends' counseling, and duration of the study time (p literacy scores. In this study, no significant association was observed between age and health literacy. This study indicated that the cervical cancer literacy in women of reproductive age was not at good levels. Health workers should pay more attention to groups who are at greater risk of having low health literacy. Moreover, targeting and tailoring educational interventions with respect to different levels of cervical cancer literacy might increase cervical cancer screening.

  3. Orientation selectivity of synaptic input to neurons in mouse and cat primary visual cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Andrew Y Y; Brown, Brandon D; Scholl, Benjamin; Mohanty, Deepankar; Priebe, Nicholas J

    2011-08-24

    Primary visual cortex (V1) is the site at which orientation selectivity emerges in mammals: visual thalamus afferents to V1 respond equally to all stimulus orientations, whereas their target V1 neurons respond selectively to stimulus orientation. The emergence of orientation selectivity in V1 has long served as a model for investigating cortical computation. Recent evidence for orientation selectivity in mouse V1 opens cortical computation to dissection by genetic and imaging tools, but also raises two essential questions: (1) How does orientation selectivity in mouse V1 neurons compare with that in previously described species? (2) What is the synaptic basis for orientation selectivity in mouse V1? A comparison of orientation selectivity in mouse and in cat, where such measures have traditionally been made, reveals that orientation selectivity in mouse V1 is weaker than in cat V1, but that spike threshold plays a similar role in narrowing selectivity between membrane potential and spike rate. To uncover the synaptic basis for orientation selectivity, we made whole-cell recordings in vivo from mouse V1 neurons, comparing neuronal input selectivity-based on membrane potential, synaptic excitation, and synaptic inhibition-to output selectivity based on spiking. We found that a neuron's excitatory and inhibitory inputs are selective for the same stimulus orientations as is its membrane potential response, and that inhibitory selectivity is not broader than excitatory selectivity. Inhibition has different dynamics than excitation, adapting more rapidly. In neurons with temporally modulated responses, the timing of excitation and inhibition was different in mice and cats.

  4. THE ROLE OF OUT-OF-SCHOOL ENGLISH LITERACY ACTIVITIES IN PROMOTING STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LITERACY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LILIES SETIASIH

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper reports on a case study of the role of out-of-school English literacy activities in promoting students’ English literacy at an elementary school in Bandung. The study is an attempt to respond to controversy among decision makers about the idea of offering English at elementary schools and the reality that at the school where the research was conducted, English is fully used as a means of instruction for English, Mathematics, and Science. Considering that literacy is shaped in socio-cultural contexts, the researcher assumed that the students acquired and developed their English literacy not only at school but also outside of school. Their out-of-school English literacy activities might contribute to their English literacy development. The research aims were to investigate the students’ English literacy level and to identify their out-of-school literacy activities. The theoretical framework covered the cognitive and socio-cultural theories of literacy. The research results were: 1 the majority of the fourth grade students were in early advanced and advanced levels for the aspects of reading and writing proficiency; and 2 their out-of-school English literacy activities played an important role in building their English literacy.

  5. Selective visual scaling of time-scale processes facilitates broadband learning of isometric force frequency tracking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Adam C; Newell, Karl M

    2015-10-01

    The experiment investigated the effect of selectively augmenting faster time scales of visual feedback information on the learning and transfer of continuous isometric force tracking tasks to test the generality of the self-organization of 1/f properties of force output. Three experimental groups tracked an irregular target pattern either under a standard fixed gain condition or with selectively enhancement in the visual feedback display of intermediate (4-8 Hz) or high (8-12 Hz) frequency components of the force output. All groups reduced tracking error over practice, with the error lowest in the intermediate scaling condition followed by the high scaling and fixed gain conditions, respectively. Selective visual scaling induced persistent changes across the frequency spectrum, with the strongest effect in the intermediate scaling condition and positive transfer to novel feedback displays. The findings reveal an interdependence of the timescales in the learning and transfer of isometric force output frequency structures consistent with 1/f process models of the time scales of motor output variability.

  6. Studying bilingual students’ literacy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Laursen, Helle Pia

    2012-01-01

    In the official educational discourse in the Nordic countries literacy teaching has become a central and contested issue. In both public and political debate literacy seems to be constructed as a unified concept streamlined for administration and measurement (Prinsloo & Baynham, 2008...... conceived of as a threat to a school’s profile (Rampton, Harris & Leung, 2001). In this paper, I focus on different conceptualizations of literacy and discuss the implications for research on bilingual children's literacy acquisition and the need to expand the understanding of literacy in ways, which might...... contribute to lift the basic understanding of bilinguals’ literacy out of a disqualifying political discourse. Drawing on the ongoing study Sign of Language (Laursen, 2011), I reflect on how a social semiotic framework might help open new research perspectives on bilingual children’s literacy acquisition...

  7. Electrophysiological evidence for altered visual, but not auditory, selective attention in adolescent cochlear implant users.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Jill; Kamke, Marc R

    2014-11-01

    Selective attention fundamentally alters sensory perception, but little is known about the functioning of attention in individuals who use a cochlear implant. This study aimed to investigate visual and auditory attention in adolescent cochlear implant users. Event related potentials were used to investigate the influence of attention on visual and auditory evoked potentials in six cochlear implant users and age-matched normally-hearing children. Participants were presented with streams of alternating visual and auditory stimuli in an oddball paradigm: each modality contained frequently presented 'standard' and infrequent 'deviant' stimuli. Across different blocks attention was directed to either the visual or auditory modality. For the visual stimuli attention boosted the early N1 potential, but this effect was larger for cochlear implant users. Attention was also associated with a later P3 component for the visual deviant stimulus, but there was no difference between groups in the later attention effects. For the auditory stimuli, attention was associated with a decrease in N1 latency as well as a robust P3 for the deviant tone. Importantly, there was no difference between groups in these auditory attention effects. The results suggest that basic mechanisms of auditory attention are largely normal in children who are proficient cochlear implant users, but that visual attention may be altered. Ultimately, a better understanding of how selective attention influences sensory perception in cochlear implant users will be important for optimising habilitation strategies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Oculomotor selection underlies feature retention in visual working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanning, Nina M; Jonikaitis, Donatas; Deubel, Heiner; Szinte, Martin

    2016-02-01

    Oculomotor selection, spatial task relevance, and visual working memory (WM) are described as three processes highly intertwined and sustained by similar cortical structures. However, because task-relevant locations always constitute potential saccade targets, no study so far has been able to distinguish between oculomotor selection and spatial task relevance. We designed an experiment that allowed us to dissociate in humans the contribution of task relevance, oculomotor selection, and oculomotor execution to the retention of feature representations in WM. We report that task relevance and oculomotor selection lead to dissociable effects on feature WM maintenance. In a first task, in which an object's location was encoded as a saccade target, its feature representations were successfully maintained in WM, whereas they declined at nonsaccade target locations. Likewise, we observed a similar WM benefit at the target of saccades that were prepared but never executed. In a second task, when an object's location was marked as task relevant but constituted a nonsaccade target (a location to avoid), feature representations maintained at that location did not benefit. Combined, our results demonstrate that oculomotor selection is consistently associated with WM, whereas task relevance is not. This provides evidence for an overlapping circuitry serving saccade target selection and feature-based WM that can be dissociated from processes encoding task-relevant locations. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

  9. Influence of olfactory and visual cover on nest site selection and nest success for grassland-nesting birds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fogarty, Dillon T; Elmore, R Dwayne; Fuhlendorf, Samuel D; Loss, Scott R

    2017-08-01

    Habitat selection by animals is influenced by and mitigates the effects of predation and environmental extremes. For birds, nest site selection is crucial to offspring production because nests are exposed to extreme weather and predation pressure. Predators that forage using olfaction often dominate nest predator communities; therefore, factors that influence olfactory detection (e.g., airflow and weather variables, including turbulence and moisture) should influence nest site selection and survival. However, few studies have assessed the importance of olfactory cover for habitat selection and survival. We assessed whether ground-nesting birds select nest sites based on visual and/or olfactory cover. Additionally, we assessed the importance of visual cover and airflow and weather variables associated with olfactory cover in influencing nest survival. In managed grasslands in Oklahoma, USA, we monitored nests of Northern Bobwhite ( Colinus virginianus ), Eastern Meadowlark ( Sturnella magna ), and Grasshopper Sparrow ( Ammodramus savannarum ) during 2015 and 2016. To assess nest site selection, we compared cover variables between nests and random points. To assess factors influencing nest survival, we used visual cover and olfactory-related measurements (i.e., airflow and weather variables) to model daily nest survival. For nest site selection, nest sites had greater overhead visual cover than random points, but no other significant differences were found. Weather variables hypothesized to influence olfactory detection, specifically precipitation and relative humidity, were the best predictors of and were positively related to daily nest survival. Selection for overhead cover likely contributed to mitigation of thermal extremes and possibly reduced detectability of nests. For daily nest survival, we hypothesize that major nest predators focused on prey other than the monitored species' nests during high moisture conditions, thus increasing nest survival on these

  10. Investigating the relationship between information literacy and academic performance among students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soleymani, Mohammad Reza

    2014-01-01

    Nowadays, no student can ever pursue the ends of his studies unless he makes use of his information literacy skills. To become lifelong learners, they do need these skills. Information literacy is a set of information needed for searching, retrieval, evaluating, and making best use of information. This study uncovers the relationship between information literacy and academic performance among students at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. This is a practical study using a survey method. All MA students in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences make the statistical population for this study, according to the sample size determined by using Cochran formula 265 samples that were selected by stratified random sampling. Data collection was through information literacy questionnaires designed by Davarpanah and Siamak, verified by Library and Information Sciences experts; and finally, gave a Cronbach's alpha of 0.83. To determine academic performance, the average scores of the students in previous semesters were considered. The information literacy of all other students was significantly higher than medium except for students at Nursing and Nutrition faculties. The students of Management and Information Sciences faculty had the highest level of information literacy and students of nutrition faculty were attributed with the least level. There was no significant difference between male and female students' information literacy. We also found out that there was a significant positive relationship between information literacy and students' academic performance in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Information literacy is one of the most important factors that leads to educational success. As there is a significant positive relationship between information literacy and students' academic performance, we should necessarily provide them with relative skills dealing with information literacy to improve their academic performance.

  11. Literacy in the Southern Sudan: A Case Study of Variables Affecting Literacy Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cowan, J. Ronayne

    1983-01-01

    Describes the Local Languages Literacy Project in the Southern Sudan; delineates the most important educational, socioeconomic, and linguistic variables affecting the success of large-scale literacy programs in Africa; and questions the widely held assumption that indigenous language literacy is essential to subsequent literacy in the prestige…

  12. Information literacy: Educate through literacy

    OpenAIRE

    Atjo, Nur Amanah Ilham; Pratama, Muhammad Fadhil

    2017-01-01

    The concepts and terms about “Information Literacy” has become general study in education studies. Information literacy is pivotal in this global world where the information literacy equip a person’s ability to access, understand and use the information intelligently. In higher education, in the learning process, students should be able to get used to a new way in education. Students must independently by finding, training themselves and absorbing the education material from lecturers. The de...

  13. A Young Child's Intergenerational Practices through the Use of Visual Screen-Based Multimodal Communication to Acquire Qur'anic Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akhter, Parven

    2016-01-01

    This paper is derived from a wider small-scale study of digital literacy practice that explores the ways in which a multilingual seven-year-old child, Bablu, interacts with his grandmother during Internet activities connected to Qur'anic literacy. The study aims to reveal how intergenerational learning support was given to Bablu by his…

  14. A reaction-diffusion model to capture disparity selectivity in primary visual cortex.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed Sultan Mohiuddin Siddiqui

    Full Text Available Decades of experimental studies are available on disparity selective cells in visual cortex of macaque and cat. Recently, local disparity map for iso-orientation sites for near-vertical edge preference is reported in area 18 of cat visual cortex. No experiment is yet reported on complete disparity map in V1. Disparity map for layer IV in V1 can provide insight into how disparity selective complex cell receptive field is organized from simple cell subunits. Though substantial amounts of experimental data on disparity selective cells is available, no model on receptive field development of such cells or disparity map development exists in literature. We model disparity selectivity in layer IV of cat V1 using a reaction-diffusion two-eye paradigm. In this model, the wiring between LGN and cortical layer IV is determined by resource an LGN cell has for supporting connections to cortical cells and competition for target space in layer IV. While competing for target space, the same type of LGN cells, irrespective of whether it belongs to left-eye-specific or right-eye-specific LGN layer, cooperate with each other while trying to push off the other type. Our model captures realistic 2D disparity selective simple cell receptive fields, their response properties and disparity map along with orientation and ocular dominance maps. There is lack of correlation between ocular dominance and disparity selectivity at the cell population level. At the map level, disparity selectivity topography is not random but weakly clustered for similar preferred disparities. This is similar to the experimental result reported for macaque. The details of weakly clustered disparity selectivity map in V1 indicate two types of complex cell receptive field organization.

  15. Enhancing Literacy Skills through Technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sistek-Chandler, Cynthia

    2003-01-01

    Discusses how to use technology to enhance literacy skills. Highlights include defining literacy, including information literacy; research to support reading and writing instruction; literacy software; thinking skills; organizational strategies for writing and reading; how technology can individualize literacy instruction; and a new genre of…

  16. 102: PROMOTING INFORMATION LITERACY BY PROMOTING HEALTH LITERACY IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dastani, Meisam; Sattari, Masoume

    2017-01-01

    Background and aims In the information society the production, distribution and use of information is freely and widely available for all issues of life. Correct and appropriate use of appropriate and reliable information is especially important in health care. The present study introduces the concepts and benefits of health literacy and information literacy and its role in improving health literacy. Methods This study is a review based on a review of the concepts of the information society, information literacy and information educated to present importance of promoting information literacy on health literacy in the information society. Results and Conclusion The information society by providing a platform of information technology and computer systems to attempts exchange and development information between people in the community. Currently, electronic and web-based health information in the form of mass is available for people. Information as a fundamental base of the information society is a phenomenon that our decisions are affect in relation to various issues such as safety and health issues. It is important point to avoid the mass of information invalid, incorrect and inappropriate available on the internet. This requires information literacy skills such as identifying, accessing and evaluating information. In general, it can be said that the promotion of health literacy in communities are required to learn different skills in the form of information literacy.

  17. Weak surround suppression of the attentional focus characterizes visual selection in the ventral stream in autism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Ronconi

    Full Text Available Neurophysiological findings in the typical population demonstrate that spatial scrutiny for visual selection determines a center-surround profile of the attentional focus, which is the result of recurrent processing in the visual system. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD manifest several anomalies in their visual selection, with strengths in detail-oriented tasks, but also difficulties in distractor inhibition tasks. Here, we asked whether contradictory aspects of perception in ASD might be due to a different center-surround profile of their attentional focus. In two experiments, we tested two independent samples of children with ASD, comparing them with typically developing (TD peers. In Experiment 1, we used a psychophysical task that mapped the entire spatial profile of the attentional focus. In Experiment 2, we used dense-array electroencephalography (EEG to explore its neurophysiological underpinnings. Experiment 1 results showed that the suppression, surrounding the attentional focus, was markedly reduced in children with ASD. Experiment 2 showed that the center-surround profile in TD children resulted in a modulation of the posterior N2 ERP component, with cortical sources in the lateral-occipital and medial/inferior temporal areas. In contrast, children with ASD did not show modulation of the N2 and related activations in the ventral visual stream. Furthermore, behavioural and neurophysiological measures of weaker suppression predicted more severe autistic symptomatology. The present findings, showing an altered center-surround profile during attentional selection, give an important insight to understand superior visual processing in autism as well as the experiencing of sensory overload. Keywords: EEG, Source analysis, Ventral visual stream, Perception, Rehabilitation

  18. Why Information Literacy Is Invisible

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William Badke

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Despite the many information literacy programs on higher education campuses, the literature of information literacy and the concept of information literacy as a viable academic subject remain hidden to most professors and academic administrators. Information literacy is invisible to academia because it is misunderstood, academic administrators have not put it on their institutions' agendas, the literature of information literacy remains in the library silo, there is a false belief that information literacy is acquired only by experience, there is a false assumption that technological ability is the same as information literacy, faculty culture makes information literacy less significant than other educational pursuits, faculty have a limited perception of the ability of librarians. and accrediting bodies have not yet advanced information literacy to a viable position in higher education. The new information age demands that these barriers be overcome and information literacy take a prominent place within the academic experience.

  19. Peptide-activated gold nanoparticles for selective visual sensing of virus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sajjanar, Basavaraj; Kakodia, Bhuvna; Bisht, Deepika; Saxena, Shikha; Singh, Arvind Kumar [Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Division of Veterinary Biotechnology (India); Joshi, Vinay [Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Department of Animal Biotechnology (India); Tiwari, Ashok Kumar; Kumar, Satish, E-mail: drsatishkumar-ivri@yahoo.co.in [Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Division of Veterinary Biotechnology (India)

    2015-05-15

    In this study, we report peptide–gold nanoparticles (AuNP)-based visual sensor for viruses. Citrate-stabilized AuNP (20 ± 1.9 nm) were functionalized with strong sulfur–gold interface using cysteinylated virus-specific peptide. Peptide–Cys–AuNP formed complexes with the viruses which made them to aggregate. The aggregation can be observed with naked eye and also with UV–Vis spectrophotometer as a color change from bright red to purple. The test allows for fast and selective detection of specific viruses. Spectroscopic measurements showed high linear correlation (R{sup 2} = 0.995) between the changes in optical density ratio (OD{sub 610}/OD{sub 520}) with the different concentrations of virus. The new method was compared with the hemagglutinating (HA) test for Newcastle disease virus (NDV). The results indicated that peptide–Cys–AuNP was more sensitive and can visually detect minimum number of virus particles present in the biological samples. The limit of detection for the NDV was 0.125 HA units of the virus. The method allows for selective detection and quantification of the NDV, and requires no isolation of viral RNA and PCR experiments. This strategy may be utilized for detection of other important human and animal viral pathogens.

  20. Expectation violations in sensorimotor sequences: shifting from LTM-based attentional selection to visual search.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foerster, Rebecca M; Schneider, Werner X

    2015-03-01

    Long-term memory (LTM) delivers important control signals for attentional selection. LTM expectations have an important role in guiding the task-driven sequence of covert attention and gaze shifts, especially in well-practiced multistep sensorimotor actions. What happens when LTM expectations are disconfirmed? Does a sensory-based visual-search mode of attentional selection replace the LTM-based mode? What happens when prior LTM expectations become valid again? We investigated these questions in a computerized version of the number-connection test. Participants clicked on spatially distributed numbered shapes in ascending order while gaze was recorded. Sixty trials were performed with a constant spatial arrangement. In 20 consecutive trials, either numbers, shapes, both, or no features switched position. In 20 reversion trials, participants worked on the original arrangement. Only the sequence-affecting number switches elicited slower clicking, visual search-like scanning, and lower eye-hand synchrony. The effects were neither limited to the exchanged numbers nor to the corresponding actions. Thus, expectation violations in a well-learned sensorimotor sequence cause a regression from LTM-based attentional selection to visual search beyond deviant-related actions and locations. Effects lasted for several trials and reappeared during reversion. © 2015 New York Academy of Sciences.

  1. Visual object agnosia is associated with a breakdown of object-selective responses in the lateral occipital cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ptak, Radek; Lazeyras, François; Di Pietro, Marie; Schnider, Armin; Simon, Stéphane R

    2014-07-01

    Patients with visual object agnosia fail to recognize the identity of visually presented objects despite preserved semantic knowledge. Object agnosia may result from damage to visual cortex lying close to or overlapping with the lateral occipital complex (LOC), a brain region that exhibits selectivity to the shape of visually presented objects. Despite this anatomical overlap the relationship between shape processing in the LOC and shape representations in object agnosia is unknown. We studied a patient with object agnosia following isolated damage to the left occipito-temporal cortex overlapping with the LOC. The patient showed intact processing of object structure, yet often made identification errors that were mainly based on the global visual similarity between objects. Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) we found that the damaged as well as the contralateral, structurally intact right LOC failed to show any object-selective fMRI activity, though the latter retained selectivity for faces. Thus, unilateral damage to the left LOC led to a bilateral breakdown of neural responses to a specific stimulus class (objects and artefacts) while preserving the response to a different stimulus class (faces). These findings indicate that representations of structure necessary for the identification of objects crucially rely on bilateral, distributed coding of shape features. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. The selective processing of emotional visual stimuli while detecting auditory targets : An ERP analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Schupp, Harald Thomas; Stockburger, Jessica; Bublatzky, Florian; Junghöfer, Markus; Weike, Almut I.; Hamm, Alfons O.

    2008-01-01

    Event-related potential studies revealed an early posterior negativity (EPN) for emotional compared to neutral pictures. Exploring the emotion-attention relationship, a previous study observed that a primary visual discrimination task interfered with the emotional modulation of the EPN component. To specify the locus of interference, the present study assessed the fate of selective visual emotion processing while attention is directed towards the auditory modality. While simply viewing a rapi...

  3. How serious do we need to be? Improving Information Literacy skills through gaming and interactive elements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meegen, van A.E.; Limpens, I.A.M.

    Nowadays technology makes information accessible for everyone everywhere. The art of selecting the best information in a short period of time and use it correctly is called information literacy. Information literacy training provides students with the tools necessary to efficiently find and

  4. Mathematics Literacy on Problem Based Learning with Indonesian Realistic Mathematics Education Approach Assisted E-Learning Edmodo

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wardono; Waluya, S. B.; Mariani, Scolastika; Candra D, S.

    2016-02-01

    This study aims to find out that there are differences in mathematical literacy ability in content Change and Relationship class VII Junior High School 19, Semarang by Problem Based Learning (PBL) model with an Indonesian Realistic Mathematics Education (called Pendidikan Matematika Realistik Indonesia or PMRI in Indonesia) approach assisted Elearning Edmodo, PBL with a PMRI approach, and expository; to know whether the group of students with learning PBL models with PMRI approach and assisted E-learning Edmodo can improve mathematics literacy; to know that the quality of learning PBL models with a PMRI approach assisted E-learning Edmodo has a good category; to describe the difficulties of students in working the problems of mathematical literacy ability oriented PISA. This research is a mixed methods study. The population was seventh grade students of Junior High School 19, Semarang Indonesia. Sample selection is done by random sampling so that the selected experimental class 1, class 2 and the control experiment. Data collected by the methods of documentation, tests and interviews. From the results of this study showed average mathematics literacy ability of students in the group PBL models with a PMRI approach assisted E-learning Edmodo better than average mathematics literacy ability of students in the group PBL models with a PMRI approach and better than average mathematics literacy ability of students in the expository models; Mathematics literacy ability in the class using the PBL model with a PMRI approach assisted E-learning Edmodo have increased and the improvement of mathematics literacy ability is higher than the improvement of mathematics literacy ability of class that uses the model of PBL learning with PMRI approach and is higher than the improvement of mathematics literacy ability of class that uses the expository models; The quality of learning using PBL models with a PMRI approach assisted E-learning Edmodo have very good category.

  5. Children's Literacy Interest and Its Relation to Parents' Literacy-Promoting Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hume, Laura E.; Lonigan, Christopher J.; McQueen, Jessica D.

    2015-01-01

    This study examined how children's literacy interests related to parent literacy-promoting practices across time. Using a sample of 909 preschool-age children and the newly developed Child Activities Preference Checklist, literacy interest appeared to be a complex construct, not easily captured by a single measure. In a subsample of 230 children…

  6. Letramento metamidiático: transformando significados e mídias Metamedia literacy: transforming meanings and media

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jay L. Lemke

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Toda semiótica é semiótica multimídiática e todo letramento é letramento multimidiático. A análise da semiótica multimidiática me levou a refazer algumas perguntas antigas de maneiras novas e a começar a olhar para a história da escrita, do desenho, do cálculo e da mostra visual de imagens em uma perspectiva diferente. Faz um bom tempo que as tecnologias do letramento não são tão simples quanto a caneta, a tinta e o papel. E na era da imprensa, assim como antes dela, o letramento raramente esteve atrelado de forma estrita ao texto escrito. Muitos dos gêneros do letramento, do artigo da revista popular ao relatório de pesquisa científica, combinam imagens visuais e texto impresso em formas que tornam as referências entre eles essenciais para entendê-los do modo como o fazem seus leitores e autores regulares. Nenhuma tecnologia é uma ilha. Conforme nossas tecnologias se tornam mais complexas, elas se tornam situadas em redes mais amplas e longas de outras tecnologias e de outras práticas culturais.All semiotics is multimedia semiotics, and all literacy is multimedia literacy. Analyzing multimedia semiotics has led me to ask some old questions in new ways and to begin to see the history of writing, drawing, calculating, and displaying images visually in a different light. It's been a long time since the technologies of literacy were as simple as pen, ink, and paper; and in the era of print, as before, literacy has rarely meant verbal text alone. Many of the genres of literacy, from the popular magazine article to the scientific research report, combine visual images and printed text in ways that make cross-reference between them essential to understanding them as their regular readers and writers do. No technology is an island. As our technologies become more complex they find themselves situated in larger and longer networks of other technologies and other cultural practices

  7. Perspectives on Literacy as a Tool for Sustainable Social Relationship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Osalusi F. M.

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated perspectives on literacy as a tool for sustainable relationship among people. The study was conducted due to the significant role of literacy as an instrument of empowerment to improve relationship with other people by sharing information, ideas and knowledge to meet variety of purposes. The study adopted descriptive research design of the survey type. A sample of 1675 respondents that comprised of 1032 literates and 643 illiterates was selected through purposive and simple random sampling techniques from two local government areas of Ekiti state, Nigeria. An instrument tagged ‘Perception of Literacy for Social Relationship Questionnaire (PLHLSRQ’ was used to collect data from the respondents. The instrument was validated by experts and tested for reliability at 0.71 coefficients through test-re-test method. Data collected were statistically analysed using mean, standard deviation and student t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study showed a significant difference between literates and illiterates’ perspectives on literacy as a tool for sustainable social relationship. The study also revealed significant gender difference in perspectives on literacy for sustainable social relationship. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that government should organise more awareness and sensitization programmes and seminars to purposefully attract illiterate commercial drivers and riders to literacy programmes.

  8. Visual artificial grammar learning in dyslexia : A meta-analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Witteloostuijn, Merel; Boersma, Paul; Wijnen, Frank; Rispens, Judith

    2017-01-01

    Background Literacy impairments in dyslexia have been hypothesized to be (partly) due to an implicit learning deficit. However, studies of implicit visual artificial grammar learning (AGL) have often yielded null results. Aims The aim of this study is to weigh the evidence collected thus far by

  9. Morphing Literacy: Boys Reshaping Their School-Based Literacy Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blair, Heather A.; Stanford, Kathy

    2004-01-01

    Details about a two-year ethnographic case study research in middle school boys to understand school literacy are presented. The study revealed that boys resist many school-based practices by transforming the assigned literacy work.

  10. Spatial and Climate Literacy: Connecting Urban and Rural Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boger, R. A.; Low, R.; Mandryk, C.; Gorokhovich, Y.

    2013-12-01

    Through a collaboration between the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Brooklyn College, and Lehman College, four independent but linked modules were developed and piloted in courses offered at Brooklyn College and UNL simultaneously. Module content includes climate change science and literacy principles, using geospatial technologies (GIS, GPS and remote sensing) as a vehicle to explore issues associated with global, regional, and local climate change in a concrete, quantitative and visual way using Internet resources available through NASA, NOAA, USGS, and a variety of universities and organizations. The materials take an Earth system approach and incorporate sustainability, resilience, water and watersheds, weather and climate, and food security topics throughout the semester. The research component of the project focuses on understanding the role of spatial literacy and authentic inquiry based experiences in climate change understanding and improving confidence in teaching science. In particular, engaging learners in both climate change science and GIS simultaneously provides opportunities to examine questions about the role that data manipulation, mental representation, and spatial literacy plays in students' abilities to understand the consequences and impacts of climate change. Pre and post surveys were designed to discern relationships between spatial cognitive processes and effective acquisition of climate change science concepts in virtual learning environments as well as alignment of teacher's mental models of nature of science and climate system dynamics to scientific models. The courses will again be offered simultaneously in Spring 2014 at Brooklyn College and UNL. Evaluation research will continue to examine the connections between spatial and climate literacy and teacher's mental models (via qualitative textual analysis using MAXQDA text analysis, and UCINET social network analysis programs) as well as how urban-rural learning interactions may

  11. Processing a programming handbook for visual designers and artists

    CERN Document Server

    Reas, Casey

    2014-01-01

    The visual arts are rapidly changing as media moves into the web, mobile devices, and architecture. When designers and artists learn the basics of writing software, they develop a new form of literacy that enables them to create new media for the present, and to imagine future media that are beyond the capacities of current software tools. This book introduces this new literacy by teaching computer programming within the context of the visual arts. It offers a comprehensive reference and text for Processing (www.processing.org), an open-source programming language that can be used by students, artists, designers, architects, researchers, and anyone who wants to program images, animation, and interactivity. Written by Processing's cofounders, the book offers a definitive reference for students and professionals. Tutorial chapters make up the bulk of the book; advanced professional projects from such domains as animation, performance, and installation are discussed in interviews with their creators. This secon...

  12. The Geography of Financial Literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher Bumcrot

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper explores how well equipped today’s households are to make complex financial decisions in the face of often high-cost and high-risk financial instruments. Specifically we focus on financial literacy. Most importantly, we describe the geography of financial literacy, i.e., how financial literacy is distributed across the fifty US states. We describe the correlation of financial literacy and some important aggregate variables, such as state-level poverty rates. Finally, we examine the extent to which differences in financial literacy can be explained by states’ demographic and economic characteristics. To assess financial literacy, five questions were added to the 2009 National Financial Capability Study, covering fundamental concepts of economics and finance encountered in everyday life: simple calculations about interest rates and inflation, the workings of risk diversification, the relationship between bond prices and interest rates, and the relationship between interest payments and maturity in mortgages. We constructed an index of financial literacy based on the number of correct answers provided by each respondent to the five financial literacy questions. The financial literacy index reveals wide variation in financial literacy across states. Much of the variation is attributable to differences in the demographic makeup of the states; however, a handful of states have either higher or lower levels of financial literacy than is explained by demographics alone. Also, there is a significant correlation between the financial literacy of a state and that state’s poverty level. The findings indicate directions for policy makers and practitioners interested in targeting areas where financial literacy is low.

  13. Computational Literacy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chongtay, Rocio; Robering, Klaus

    2016-01-01

    In recent years, there has been a growing interest in and recognition of the importance of Computational Literacy, a skill generally considered to be necessary for success in the 21st century. While much research has concentrated on requirements, tools, and teaching methodologies for the acquisit......In recent years, there has been a growing interest in and recognition of the importance of Computational Literacy, a skill generally considered to be necessary for success in the 21st century. While much research has concentrated on requirements, tools, and teaching methodologies...... for the acquisition of Computational Literacy at basic educational levels, focus on higher levels of education has been much less prominent. The present paper considers the case of courses for higher education programs within the Humanities. A model is proposed which conceives of Computational Literacy as a layered...

  14. Information Literacy in the 21st Century Multicultural Classroom: Using Sociocultural Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blas, Elise A.

    2014-01-01

    Sociocultural literacy guides an instructor's pedagogy in the multicultural university classroom. By employing sociocultural literacy in the information literacy classroom, the instruction librarian can better teach students from all cultures including international students, first generation students, or students from a wide array of…

  15. What Is the Unit of Visual Attention? Object for Selection, but Boolean Map for Access

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Liqiang

    2010-01-01

    In the past 20 years, numerous theories and findings have suggested that the unit of visual attention is the object. In this study, I first clarify 2 different meanings of unit of visual attention, namely the unit of access in the sense of measurement and the unit of selection in the sense of division. In accordance with this distinction, I argue…

  16. Digital literacies

    CERN Document Server

    Hockly, Nicky; Pegrum, Mark

    2014-01-01

    Dramatic shifts in our communication landscape have made it crucial for language teaching to go beyond print literacy and encompass the digital literacies which are increasingly central to learners' personal, social, educational and professional lives. By situating these digital literacies within a clear theoretical framework, this book provides educators and students alike with not just the background for a deeper understanding of these key 21st-century skills, but also the rationale for integrating these skills into classroom practice. This is the first methodology book to address not jus

  17. A multichip aVLSI system emulating orientation selectivity of primary visual cortical cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimonomura, Kazuhiro; Yagi, Tetsuya

    2005-07-01

    In this paper, we designed and fabricated a multichip neuromorphic analog very large scale integrated (aVLSI) system, which emulates the orientation selective response of the simple cell in the primary visual cortex. The system consists of a silicon retina and an orientation chip. An image, which is filtered by a concentric center-surround (CS) antagonistic receptive field of the silicon retina, is transferred to the orientation chip. The image transfer from the silicon retina to the orientation chip is carried out with analog signals. The orientation chip selectively aggregates multiple pixels of the silicon retina, mimicking the feedforward model proposed by Hubel and Wiesel. The chip provides the orientation-selective (OS) outputs which are tuned to 0 degrees, 60 degrees, and 120 degrees. The feed-forward aggregation reduces the fixed pattern noise that is due to the mismatch of the transistors in the orientation chip. The spatial properties of the orientation selective response were examined in terms of the adjustable parameters of the chip, i.e., the number of aggregated pixels and size of the receptive field of the silicon retina. The multichip aVLSI architecture used in the present study can be applied to implement higher order cells such as the complex cell of the primary visual cortex.

  18. Tracing Academic Literacies across Contemporary Literacy Sponsorscapes: Mobilities, Ideologies, Identities, and Technologies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wargo, Jon M.; De Costa, Peter I.

    2017-01-01

    Locating itself broadly within the "sociolinguistics of mobility" (Blommaert, 2014) and taking heed of Stornaiuolo and Hall's (2014) call to "trace resonance" in writing and literacies research, this article works to trace academic literacies across the emerging "literacy sponsorscapes" (Wargo, 2016a) of contemporary…

  19. Health Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Improvement, April 19, 2017 Considerations for a New Definition of Health Literacy, April 04, 2016 Health Literacy Online, Office of Disease Prevention & Health Promotion Connect with Us Contact Us Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube Flickr More Social Media from NIH ...

  20. Sensation seeking and visual selective attention in adults with HIV/AIDS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardy, David J; Castellon, Steven A; Hinkin, Charles H; Levine, Andrew J; Lam, Mona N

    2008-11-01

    The association between sensation seeking and visual selective attention was examined in 31 adults with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Sensation seeking was measured with Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale Form V (SSS-V). Selective attention was assessed with a perceptual span task, where a target letter-character must be identified in a quickly presented array of nontarget letter-characters. As predicted, sensation seeking was strongly associated (R(2) = .229) with perceptual span performance in the array size 12 condition, where selective attention demands were greatest, but not in the easier conditions. The Disinhibition, Boredom Susceptibility, and Experience Seeking subscales of the SSS-V were associated with span performance. It is argued that personality factors such as sensation seeking may play a significant role in selective attention and related cognitive abilities in HIV positive adults. Furthermore, sensation seeking differences might explain certain inconsistencies in the HIV neuropsychology literature.

  1. Teachers' Experiences with Literacy Instruction for Dual-Media Students Who Use Print and Braille

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herzberg, Tina S.; Rosenblum, Penny; Robbins, Mary E.

    2017-01-01

    Introduction: This study analyzed survey responses from 84 teachers of students with visual impairments who had provided literacy instruction to dual-media students who used both print and braille. Methods: These teachers in the United States and Canada completed an online survey during spring 2015. Results: The teachers reported that they…

  2. Understanding the Health Literacy of America Results of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy

    OpenAIRE

    Cutilli, Carolyn Crane; Bennett, Ian M.

    2009-01-01

    Health literacy refers to an individual’s ability to understand healthcare information to make appropriate decisions (S. C Ratzen & R. M. Parker, 2000). Healthcare professionals are obligated to make sure that patients understand information to maximize the benefits of healthcare. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) provides information on the literacy/health literacy levels of the U.S. adult population. The NAAL is the only large-scale survey of health literacy. The results of t...

  3. Improving Readability of an Evaluation Tool for Low-Income Clients Using Visual Information Processing Theories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Townsend, Marilyn S.; Sylva, Kathryn; Martin, Anna; Metz, Diane; Wooten-Swanson, Patti

    2008-01-01

    Literacy is an issue for many low-income audiences. Using visual information processing theories, the goal was improving readability of a food behavior checklist and ultimately improving its ability to accurately capture existing changes in dietary behaviors. Using group interviews, low-income clients (n = 18) evaluated 4 visual styles. The text…

  4. "What Happened Before?" "What Happened After?" The Value and Process of Visual Thinking Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Heidi; Burns, Claudia; Daisey, Peggy

    2016-01-01

    (Purpose) The purpose of this paper is to describe visual literacy and an adapted version of Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS) and its value to enhance students' inferential thinking. (Methodology) An example of a middle school VTS, art-integrated lesson is described as well as reflections of a middle school language arts teacher about what she…

  5. Visual Short-Term Memory Activity in Parietal Lobe Reflects Cognitive Processes beyond Attentional Selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheremata, Summer L; Somers, David C; Shomstein, Sarah

    2018-02-07

    Visual short-term memory (VSTM) and attention are distinct yet interrelated processes. While both require selection of information across the visual field, memory additionally requires the maintenance of information across time and distraction. VSTM recruits areas within human (male and female) dorsal and ventral parietal cortex that are also implicated in spatial selection; therefore, it is important to determine whether overlapping activation might reflect shared attentional demands. Here, identical stimuli and controlled sustained attention across both tasks were used to ask whether fMRI signal amplitude, functional connectivity, and contralateral visual field bias reflect memory-specific task demands. While attention and VSTM activated similar cortical areas, BOLD amplitude and functional connectivity in parietal cortex differentiated the two tasks. Relative to attention, VSTM increased BOLD amplitude in dorsal parietal cortex and decreased BOLD amplitude in the angular gyrus. Additionally, the tasks differentially modulated parietal functional connectivity. Contrasting VSTM and attention, intraparietal sulcus (IPS) 1-2 were more strongly connected with anterior frontoparietal areas and more weakly connected with posterior regions. This divergence between tasks demonstrates that parietal activation reflects memory-specific functions and consequently modulates functional connectivity across the cortex. In contrast, both tasks demonstrated hemispheric asymmetries for spatial processing, exhibiting a stronger contralateral visual field bias in the left versus the right hemisphere across tasks, suggesting that asymmetries are characteristic of a shared selection process in IPS. These results demonstrate that parietal activity and patterns of functional connectivity distinguish VSTM from more general attention processes, establishing a central role of the parietal cortex in maintaining visual information. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Visual short-term memory (VSTM) and

  6. Visual coding with a population of direction-selective neurons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiscella, Michele; Franke, Felix; Farrow, Karl; Müller, Jan; Roska, Botond; da Silveira, Rava Azeredo; Hierlemann, Andreas

    2015-10-01

    The brain decodes the visual scene from the action potentials of ∼20 retinal ganglion cell types. Among the retinal ganglion cells, direction-selective ganglion cells (DSGCs) encode motion direction. Several studies have focused on the encoding or decoding of motion direction by recording multiunit activity, mainly in the visual cortex. In this study, we simultaneously recorded from all four types of ON-OFF DSGCs of the rabbit retina using a microelectronics-based high-density microelectrode array (HDMEA) and decoded their concerted activity using probabilistic and linear decoders. Furthermore, we investigated how the modification of stimulus parameters (velocity, size, angle of moving object) and the use of different tuning curve fits influenced decoding precision. Finally, we simulated ON-OFF DSGC activity, based on real data, in order to understand how tuning curve widths and the angular distribution of the cells' preferred directions influence decoding performance. We found that probabilistic decoding strategies outperformed, on average, linear methods and that decoding precision was robust to changes in stimulus parameters such as velocity. The removal of noise correlations among cells, by random shuffling trials, caused a drop in decoding precision. Moreover, we found that tuning curves are broad in order to minimize large errors at the expense of a higher average error, and that the retinal direction-selective system would not substantially benefit, on average, from having more than four types of ON-OFF DSGCs or from a perfect alignment of the cells' preferred directions. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

  7. Exploring Visual Selective Attention towards Novel Stimuli in Alzheimer's Disease Patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah A. Chau

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD is associated with selective attention impairments, which could contribute to cognitive and functional deficits. Selective attention can be explored through examination of novelty preference. Aims: In this study, we quantified novelty preference in AD patients by measuring visual scanning behaviour using an eye tracking paradigm. Methods: Mild-to-moderate AD patients and elderly controls viewed slides containing novel and repeated images simultaneously. The outcome measure was time spent on specific images, with novelty preference defined by greater relative fixation time (RFT on novel versus repeated images. Cognitive status (Standardized Mini-Mental State Examination, SMMSE and attention (Digit Span, DS were also measured. Results: AD patients (age 79.2 ± 6.7 years, SMMSE 22.2 ± 4.0, n = 41 and controls (age 76.2 ± 6.4 years, SMMSE 28.1 ± 2.0, n = 24 were similar in age, education and sex. Compared with controls, AD patients had lower RFT on novel than on repeated images (F1,63 = 11.18, p = 0.001. Further, reduced RFT was associated with lower scores on SMMSE (r63 = 0.288, p = 0.020 and DS (r63 = 0.269, p = 0.030. Within individuals, novelty preference was detected in 92.3% of patients and in 100% of controls. Conclusion: These findings suggest that novelty preference, measured by visual scanning behaviour, can differentiate cognitively healthy and impaired people and may offer a nonverbal, less cognitively demanding method of assessing selective attention.

  8. Exploring Visual Selective Attention towards Novel Stimuli in Alzheimer's Disease Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chau, Sarah A; Herrmann, Nathan; Eizenman, Moshe; Chung, Jonathan; Lanctôt, Krista L

    2015-01-01

    Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with selective attention impairments, which could contribute to cognitive and functional deficits. Selective attention can be explored through examination of novelty preference. In this study, we quantified novelty preference in AD patients by measuring visual scanning behaviour using an eye tracking paradigm. Mild-to-moderate AD patients and elderly controls viewed slides containing novel and repeated images simultaneously. The outcome measure was time spent on specific images, with novelty preference defined by greater relative fixation time (RFT) on novel versus repeated images. Cognitive status (Standardized Mini-Mental State Examination, SMMSE) and attention (Digit Span, DS) were also measured. AD patients (age 79.2 ± 6.7 years, SMMSE 22.2 ± 4.0, n = 41) and controls (age 76.2 ± 6.4 years, SMMSE 28.1 ± 2.0, n = 24) were similar in age, education and sex. Compared with controls, AD patients had lower RFT on novel than on repeated images (F1,63 = 11.18, p = 0.001). Further, reduced RFT was associated with lower scores on SMMSE (r63 = 0.288, p = 0.020) and DS (r63 = 0.269, p = 0.030). Within individuals, novelty preference was detected in 92.3% of patients and in 100% of controls. These findings suggest that novelty preference, measured by visual scanning behaviour, can differentiate cognitively healthy and impaired people and may offer a nonverbal, less cognitively demanding method of assessing selective attention.

  9. Why Information Literacy Is Invisible

    OpenAIRE

    William Badke

    2011-01-01

    Despite the many information literacy programs on higher education campuses, the literature of information literacy and the concept of information literacy as a viable academic subject remain hidden to most professors and academic administrators. Information literacy is invisible to academia because it is misunderstood, academic administrators have not put it on their institutions' agendas, the literature of information literacy remains in the library silo, there is a false belief that infor...

  10. Interactions between visual working memory and visual attention

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Olivers, C.N.L.

    2008-01-01

    Visual attention is the collection of mechanisms by which relevant visual information is selected, and irrelevant visual information is ignored. Visual working memory is the mechanism by which relevant visual information is retained, and irrelevant information is suppressed. In addition to this

  11. The Language of Literacy: A National Resource Directory of Aboriginal Literacy Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabourin, Beverly; Globensky, Peter Andre

    This directory presents, in narrative form, core information about the operations of approximately 100 Aboriginal literacy programs throughout Canada. To qualify for inclusion in the directory, each program had to offer basic, functional, or advanced literacy training; offer literacy training in English, French, or an Aboriginal language; be…

  12. Functional Literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fani Nolimal

    2000-12-01

    Full Text Available The author first defines literacy as the ability of co-operation in all fields of life and points at the features of illiterate or semi-literate individuals. The main stress is laid upon the assessment of literacy and illiteracy. In her opinion the main weak­ ness of this kind of evaluation are its vague psycho-metric characteristics, which leads to results valid in a single geographical or cultural environment only. She also determines the factors causing illiteracy, and she states that the level of functional literacy is more and more becoming a national indicator of successfulness.

  13. Rethinking literacy education in new times: Multimodality, multiliteracies, and new literacies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jenniffer Rowsell

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The article presents a theoretical overview of new fields of research, pedagogy, and practice in literacy education. In a digital, media-driven, globalized world, educators are faced with the challenge of mediating traditional notions of what it means to be literate (e.g., read and writing print-based texts with new and ever-emerging skills and interests in technology and digital media. Focusing on a pilot study in Oakville, ON and a longitudinal research study in Sydney, Australia, we compel readers to think about literacy in a new light. Without a push to redefine literacy, educators run the risk of teaching and learning language and literacy skills in anachronistic paradigms and frameworks. While research has not been able to fully establish the impact of multimodal communication, it is essential that educators learn to use these different modes of communication to teach literacy.

  14. Analytical implications of using practice theory in workplace information literacy research

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Moring, Camilla Elisabeth; Lloyd, Annemaree

    2013-01-01

    Introduction: This paper considers practice theory and the analytical implications of using this theoretical approach in information literacy research. More precisely the aim of the paper is to discuss the translation of practice theoretical assumptions into strategies that frame the analytical...... focus and interest when researching workplace information literacy. Two practice theoretical perspectives are selected, one by Theodore Schatzki and one by Etienne Wenger, and their general commonalities and differences are analysed and discussed. Analysis: The two practice theories and their main ideas...... of what constitute practices, how practices frame social life and the central concepts used to explain this, are presented. Then the application of the theories within workplace information literacy research is briefly explored. Results and Conclusion: The two theoretical perspectives share some...

  15. Literacy Coaching: Middle School Academic Achievement and Teacher Perceptions Regarding Content Area Literacy Strategy Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Anjell H.; Neill, Patricia; Faust, Phyllis B.

    2015-01-01

    This study examined differences in perceptions of content area teachers receiving literacy coaching and teachers receiving no literacy coaching regarding implementation of literacy instruction. It also examined student achievement on standardized tests relative to literacy coaching. A survey measured teachers' perceptions regarding their…

  16. Effectiveness of health-promoting media literacy education: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergsma, Lynda J; Carney, Mary E

    2008-06-01

    Media literacy education to promote health among youth involves them in a critical examination of media messages that promote risky behaviors and influence their perceptions and practices. Research on its effectiveness is in its infancy. Studies to date have been conducted with more or less rigor and achieved differing results, leaving many questions about effectiveness unanswered. To elucidate some of these questions, we conducted a systematic review of selected health-promoting media literacy education evaluation/research studies, guided by the following research question: What are the context and process elements of an effective health-promoting media literacy education intervention? Based on extensive analysis of 28 interventions, our findings provide a detailed picture of a small, 16- to 17-year (1990 to July 2006) body of important research, including citation information, health issue, target population/N/age, research design, intervention length and setting, concepts/skills taught, who delivered the intervention and ratings of effectiveness. The review provides a framework for organizing research about media literacy education which suggests that researchers should be more explicit about the media literacy core concepts/skills they are including in their interventions, and should more carefully address who delivered the intervention with what fidelity, in what setting, for how long and utilizing what pedagogical approach.

  17. Relocalising academic literacy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Clemensen, Nana; Holm, Lars

    2017-01-01

    This article contributes to the continuing discussion about academic literacy in international higher education. Approaching international study programmes as temporary educational contact zones, marked by a broad diversity in students’ educational and discursive experiences, we examine the negot......This article contributes to the continuing discussion about academic literacy in international higher education. Approaching international study programmes as temporary educational contact zones, marked by a broad diversity in students’ educational and discursive experiences, we examine...... the negotiation and relocalisation of academic literacy among students of the international master’s programme, Anthropology of Education and Globalisation (AEG), University of Aarhus, Denmark. The article draws on an understanding of academic literacy as a local practice situated in the social and institutional...... contexts in which it appears. Based on qualitative interviews with eleven AEG-students, we analyse students’ individual experiences of, and perspectives on, the academic literacy practices of this study programme. Our findings reveal contradictory understandings of internationalism and indicate a learning...

  18. Hierarchical event selection for video storyboards with a case study on snooker video visualization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parry, Matthew L; Legg, Philip A; Chung, David H S; Griffiths, Iwan W; Chen, Min

    2011-12-01

    Video storyboard, which is a form of video visualization, summarizes the major events in a video using illustrative visualization. There are three main technical challenges in creating a video storyboard, (a) event classification, (b) event selection and (c) event illustration. Among these challenges, (a) is highly application-dependent and requires a significant amount of application specific semantics to be encoded in a system or manually specified by users. This paper focuses on challenges (b) and (c). In particular, we present a framework for hierarchical event representation, and an importance-based selection algorithm for supporting the creation of a video storyboard from a video. We consider the storyboard to be an event summarization for the whole video, whilst each individual illustration on the board is also an event summarization but for a smaller time window. We utilized a 3D visualization template for depicting and annotating events in illustrations. To demonstrate the concepts and algorithms developed, we use Snooker video visualization as a case study, because it has a concrete and agreeable set of semantic definitions for events and can make use of existing techniques of event detection and 3D reconstruction in a reliable manner. Nevertheless, most of our concepts and algorithms developed for challenges (b) and (c) can be applied to other application areas. © 2010 IEEE

  19. Investigating category- and shape-selective neural processing in ventral and dorsal visual stream under interocular suppression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ludwig, Karin; Kathmann, Norbert; Sterzer, Philipp; Hesselmann, Guido

    2015-01-01

    Recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies using continuous flash suppression (CFS) have suggested that action-related processing in the dorsal visual stream might be independent of perceptual awareness, in line with the "vision-for-perception" versus "vision-for-action" distinction of the influential dual-stream theory. It remains controversial if evidence suggesting exclusive dorsal stream processing of tool stimuli under CFS can be explained by their elongated shape alone or by action-relevant category representations in dorsal visual cortex. To approach this question, we investigated category- and shape-selective functional magnetic resonance imaging-blood-oxygen level-dependent responses in both visual streams using images of faces and tools. Multivariate pattern analysis showed enhanced decoding of elongated relative to non-elongated tools, both in the ventral and dorsal visual stream. The second aim of our study was to investigate whether the depth of interocular suppression might differentially affect processing in dorsal and ventral areas. However, parametric modulation of suppression depth by varying the CFS mask contrast did not yield any evidence for differential modulation of category-selective activity. Together, our data provide evidence for shape-selective processing under CFS in both dorsal and ventral stream areas and, therefore, do not support the notion that dorsal "vision-for-action" processing is exclusively preserved under interocular suppression. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. A paired case-control comparison of ziprasidone on visual sustained attention and visual selective attention in patients with paranoid schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, X; Zhang, Z H; Song, Y; Yuan, W; Liu, Z X; Tang, M Q

    2015-08-01

    Cognitive impairment is one of the main targets of the treatment to schizophrenia.The atypical antipsychotic was proved to improve the cognition function of the patients. There were a few of clinical trials to detect the effect of medicine treatment on attention function. But the respective changes of sustained and selective attention in the patients with treatment of ziprasidone were rarely investigated. This present study was to explore the effect of ziprasidone on visual sustained and selective attention in schizophrenia. There were 81 patients who were treated with ziprasidone and matched with 81 healthy controls in this open-label trial. The functions were evaluated by Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and Color Word Test (CWT) at baseline and eight weeks later. Between two groups the functions were compared at the two time points, and in patients group those were compared prior to and post treatment. As compared with healthy controls, the functions of the patients were worse. But after 8 weeks treatment of ziprasidone the functions improved in some degree, which were indicated by the change of CPT and CWT indexes. Furthermore, those of patients post treatment were better than prior to treatment. Patients with paranoid schizophrenia have visual sustained and selective attention deficits. The deficits can be improved partly with ziprasidone treatment.

  1. Hand placement near the visual stimulus improves orientation selectivity in V2 neurons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sergio, Lauren E.; Crawford, J. Douglas; Fallah, Mazyar

    2015-01-01

    Often, the brain receives more sensory input than it can process simultaneously. Spatial attention helps overcome this limitation by preferentially processing input from a behaviorally-relevant location. Recent neuropsychological and psychophysical studies suggest that attention is deployed to near-hand space much like how the oculomotor system can deploy attention to an upcoming gaze position. Here we provide the first neuronal evidence that the presence of a nearby hand enhances orientation selectivity in early visual processing area V2. When the hand was placed outside the receptive field, responses to the preferred orientation were significantly enhanced without a corresponding significant increase at the orthogonal orientation. Consequently, there was also a significant sharpening of orientation tuning. In addition, the presence of the hand reduced neuronal response variability. These results indicate that attention is automatically deployed to the space around a hand, improving orientation selectivity. Importantly, this appears to be optimal for motor control of the hand, as opposed to oculomotor mechanisms which enhance responses without sharpening orientation selectivity. Effector-based mechanisms for visual enhancement thus support not only the spatiotemporal dissociation of gaze and reach, but also the optimization of vision for their separate requirements for guiding movements. PMID:25717165

  2. Factors influencing the recruitment and retention of literacy learners in Oman

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Barwani, Thuwayba; Kelly, Edward F.

    1985-12-01

    The study investigates factors influencing the recruitment and retention of learners in the national adult literacy programme in Oman. Personal interviews were conducted in the interior and Capital regions of Oman (N=102). Respondents included 46 randomly selected enrolled learners, 26 randomly selected dropouts and 30 unenrolled adults. Results of the interviews were content-analyzed and frequencies, cross tabulations and Chi-square were calculated. Findings indicated regional differences in the adults' motivation for enrolling, but the spiritual motive was over all the most significant. Men and women reported different patterns of conflict and obstacles in completing their literacy studies: Men indicated work demands as their biggest obstacle while women complained about family responsibilities. Programme attrition was mainly attributed to structural characteristics of the programme.

  3. Health literacy in Europe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heide, van der Iris; Uiters, Ellen; Sørensen, Kristine; Röthlin, Florian; Pelikan, Jürgen; Rademakers, Jany; Boshuizen, Hendriek

    2016-01-01

    Background: Health literacy is an important determinant of health, but national health literacy levels are known for only some European countries. This study aims to examine to what extent national health literacy levels can be estimated based on publicly available census data. Method:

  4. Health literacy in Suriname

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Diemer, Frederieke S.; Haan, Yentl C.; Nannan Panday, Rani V.; van Montfrans, Gert A.; Oehlers, Glenn P.; Brewster, Lizzy M.

    2017-01-01

    Low health literacy is an independent predictor of cardiovascular mortality. However, data on health literacy in low- and middle-income countries are scarce. Therefore, we assessed the level of health literacy in Suriname, a middle-income country with a high cardiovascular mortality. We estimated

  5. Five Fabulous Literacy-Oriented Web Sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurlychek, Ken

    1997-01-01

    Profiles six noteworthy web sites on literacy-related information, including sites that deal with issues addressing literacy and deafness, literacy development, family literacy program development, evaluation of family literacy programs, and encouraging young children with deafness to read. Online addresses of the web sites are provided. (CR)

  6. Brazilian immigrants? oral health literacy and participation in oral health care in Canada

    OpenAIRE

    Calvasina, Paola; Lawrence, Herenia P.; Hoffman-Goetz, Laurie; Norman, Cameron D.

    2016-01-01

    Background Inadequate functional health literacy is a common problem in immigrant populations. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between oral (dental) health literacy (OHL) and participation in oral health care among Brazilian immigrants in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Methods The study used a cross-sectional design and a convenience sample of 101 Brazilian immigrants selected through the snowball sampling technique. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logi...

  7. The temporal dynamics of visual working memory guidance of selective attention

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jinfeng eTan

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The biased competition model proposes that there is top-down directing of attention to a stimulus matching the contents of working memory (WM, even when the maintenance of a WM representation is detrimental to target relevant performance. Despite many studies elucidating that spatial WM guidance can be present early in the visual processing system, whether visual WM guidance also influences perceptual selection remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the electrophysiological correlates of early guidance of attention by WM in humans. Participants were required to perform a visual search task while concurrently maintaining object representations in their visual working memory. Behavioral results showed that response times (RTs were longer when the distractor in the visual search task was held in WM. The earliest WM guidance effect was observed in the P1 component (90-130 ms, with match trials eliciting larger P1 amplitude than mismatch trials. A similar result was also found in the N1 component (160-200 ms. These P1 and N1 effects could not be attributed to bottom-up perceptual priming from the presentation of a memory cue, because there was no significant difference in early ERP component when the cue was merely perceptually identified but not actively held in working memory. Standardized Low Resolution Electrical Tomography Analysis (sLORETA showed that the early WM guidance occurred in the occipital lobe and the N1-related activation occurred in the parietal gyrus. Time-frequency data suggested that alpha-band event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP magnitudes increased under the match condition compared with the mismatch condition. In conclusion, the present study suggests that the reappearance of a stimulus held in WM enhanced activity in the occipital area. Subsequently, this initial capture of attention by WM could be inhibited by competing visual inputs through attention re-orientation, reflecting by the alpha-band rhythm.

  8. Visual evoked potentials and selective attention to points in space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Voorhis, S.; Hillyard, S. A.

    1977-01-01

    Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were recorded to sequences of flashes delivered to the right and left visual fields while subjects responded promptly to designated stimuli in one field at a time (focused attention), in both fields at once (divided attention), or to neither field (passive). Three stimulus schedules were used: the first was a replication of a previous study (Eason, Harter, and White, 1969) where left- and right-field flashes were delivered quasi-independently, while in the other two the flashes were delivered to the two fields in random order (Bernoulli sequence). VEPs to attended-field stimuli were enhanced at both occipital (O2) and central (Cz) recording sites under all stimulus sequences, but different components were affected at the two scalp sites. It was suggested that the VEP at O2 may reflect modality-specific processing events, while the response at Cz, like its auditory homologue, may index more general aspects of selective attention.

  9. Why Does Media Literacy Matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sargant, Naomi

    2004-01-01

    Media literacy is taking its place in the array of literacies increasingly recognised as necessary for participating actively in democracy or, indeed, in day-to-day life. Financial literacy is another current example. "Literacy" is a term now widely used in relation to adults. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as a…

  10. Factors that affect South African Reading Literacy Achievement: evidence from prePIRLS 2011

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Surette van Staden

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to identify factors that predict reading literacy achievement among Grade 4 learners in South Africa by utilising aspects of Carroll's model of school learning. The study draws on the preProgress in International Reading Literacy Study (prePIRLS 2011 data, which places South African Grade 4 learners' results substantially below the international centre point of 500 at 461 (SE = 3.7. Selected items from the prePIRLS 2011 learner, parent and teacher questionnaires were used in a two-level model to determine the effect of learner aptitude, opportunity to learn and quality of instructional events on reading literacy achievement. The results point to the statistical significance of engaged reading and cultivating motivation for reading among learners from an early age, specifically through parental involvement in introducing early literacy activities as foundation of reading literacy by school-going age. Other results provide evidence for the importance of the value of reading across the curriculum not confined to formal reading lessons only. The teaching of reading comprehension skills and strategies is identified as a significant predictor of reading literacy achievement, instruction of which should form an integral part of teaching reading in the classroom.

  11. Health Literacy in Europe: the development and validation of health literacy prediction models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heide, I. van der; Uiters, E.; Boshuizen, H.; Rademakers, J.

    2015-01-01

    Introduction: Health literacy is considered an important determinant of health disparities. It is therefore important to have insight into health literacy skills of the general population within countries. Little is known on the health literacy skills of the general population in EU member states.

  12. Health literacy in Europe: the development and validation of health literacy prediction models.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heide, I. van der; Uiters, E.; Sorensen, K.; Rothlin, F.; Pelikan, J.; Rademakers, J.; Boshuizen, H.

    2016-01-01

    Background: Health literacy is an important determinant of health, but national health literacy levels are known for only some European countries. This study aims to examine to what extent national health literacy levels can be estimated based on publicly available census data. Method: Multivariate

  13. Update on Health Literacy and Diabetes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, Stacy Cooper; Brega, Angela G.; Crutchfield, Trisha M.; Elasy, Tom; Herr, Haley; Kaphingst, Kimberly; Karter, Andrew J.; Moreland-Russell, Sarah; Osborn, Chandra Y.; Pignone, Michael; Rothman, Russell; Schillinger, Dean

    2014-01-01

    Purpose Inadequate literacy is common among patients with diabetes and may lead to adverse outcomes. We reviewed the relationship between literacy and health outcomes in patients with diabetes and potential interventions to improve such outcomes. Methods We reviewed 79 articles covering three key domains: 1) evaluation of screening tools to identify inadequate literacy and numeracy; 2) the relationships of a range of diabetes-related health outcomes with literacy and numeracy; and 3) interventions to reduce literacy-related differences in health outcomes. Results Several screening tools are available to assess patients' print literacy and numeracy skills, some of which specifically address diabetes. Literacy and numeracy are consistently associated with diabetes-related knowledge. Some studies suggest literacy and numeracy are associated with intermediate outcomes, including self-efficacy, communication, and self-care (including adherence), but the relationship between literacy and glycemic control is mixed. Few studies have assessed more distal health outcomes, including diabetes-related complications, health care utilization, safety, or quality of life, but available studies suggest low literacy may be associated with an increased risk of complications, including hypoglycemia. Several interventions appear effective in improving diabetes-related outcomes regardless of literacy status, but it is unclear if these interventions can reduce literacy-related differences in outcomes. Conclusions Low literacy is associated with less diabetes-related knowledge and may be related to other important health outcomes. Further studies are needed to better elucidate pathways by which literacy skills affect health outcomes. Promising interventions are available to improve diabetes outcomes for patients with low literacy, but more research is needed to determine their effectiveness outside of research settings. PMID:24947871

  14. A Pilot Project – From Illiteracy to Computer Literacy: Teaching and Learning Using Information Technology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamad Adnan Al-Alaoui

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the use of information and communication technologies, ICT or IT for brevity, to combat illiteracy and move participants directly from illiteracy to computer literacy. The resulting assistive technology and instructional software and hardware can be employed to speed up literacy programs and make them more attractive and effective. The approach provides an interactive, self-paced, autonomous and entertaining learning experience, eases entry and exit in and out of the program, and permits monitoring and updating progress status. The hallmark of the proposed approach is the integration of speech and handwriting recognition, as well as audio and visual aids into the flow.

  15. ICT Literacy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Riis, Søren

    2017-01-01

    The entanglement of ethics and technology makes it necessary for us to understand and reflect upon our own practices and to question technological hypes. The information and communication technology (ICT) literacy required to navigate the twenty-first century has to do with recognizing our own...... human limitations, developing critical measures and acknowledging feelings of estrangement, puzzlement as well as sheer wonder of technology. ICT literacy is indeed all about visions of the good life and the art of living in the twenty-first century. The main focus of this paper is to explore...... sensitivity with regard to ICT in the ‘classic’ literacy context of the educational system....

  16. Literacy in South America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hornberger, Nancy H.

    1991-01-01

    Literacy in South America must be understood in terms of the linguistic diversity there, where only 2 of 14 nations and territories are monolingual. Oral traditions, standardization of indigenous languages, nonstandard varieties of colonial languages, bilingual education and mother tongue literacy, literacy teaching, and politics are discussed.…

  17. Quantitative Literacy Courses as a Space for Fusing Literacies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tunstall, Samuel Luke; Matz, Rebecca L.; Craig, Jeffrey C.

    2016-01-01

    In this article, we examine how students in a general education quantitative literacy course reason with public issues when unprompted to use quantitative reasoning. Michigan State University, like many institutions, not only has a quantitative literacy requirement for all undergraduates but also offers two courses specifically for meeting the…

  18. Framing Information Literacy

    OpenAIRE

    Anneke Dirkx

    2016-01-01

    In 2000 the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) published the Standards for Information Literacy. After 15 years these standards were in desperate need of revision. Instead of releasing a revised edition of the Standards, in 2015 ACRL presented a completely new vision on information literacy in higher education. In this keynote we will explore the new ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in all its glory. We will compare it to the old standards. Is this new American Fram...

  19. Brain activity during divided and selective attention to auditory and visual sentence comprehension tasks

    OpenAIRE

    Moisala, Mona; Salmela, Viljami; Salo, Emma; Carlson, Synnove; Vuontela, Virve; Salonen, Oili; Alho, Kimmo

    2015-01-01

    Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured brain activity of human participants while they performed a sentence congruence judgment task in either the visual or auditory modality separately, or in both modalities simultaneously. Significant performance decrements were observed when attention was divided between the two modalities compared with when one modality was selectively attended. Compared with selective attention (i.e., single tasking), divided attention (i.e., dua...

  20. Space-based visual attention: a marker of immature selective attention in toddlers?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rivière, James; Brisson, Julie

    2014-11-01

    Various studies suggested that attentional difficulties cause toddlers' failure in some spatial search tasks. However, attention is not a unitary construct and this study investigated two attentional mechanisms: location selection (space-based attention) and object selection (object-based attention). We investigated how toddlers' attention is distributed in the visual field during a manual search task for objects moving out of sight, namely the moving boxes task. Results show that 2.5-year-olds who failed this task allocated more attention to the location of the relevant object than to the object itself. These findings suggest that in some manual search tasks the primacy of space-based attention over object-based attention could be a marker of immature selective attention in toddlers. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Just a subtle difference? Findings from a systematic review on definitions of nutrition literacy and food literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krause, Corinna; Sommerhalder, Kathrin; Beer-Borst, Sigrid; Abel, Thomas

    2018-06-01

    Nutrition literacy and food literacy have become increasingly important concepts in health promotion. Researchers use one or the other term to describe the competencies needed to maintain a healthy diet. This systematic review examines whether these terms are synonymous or if their meanings are substantially different.We searched major bibliographic databases (Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect, CINAHL, SocIndex and ERIC) for publications that provided an original definition of nutrition or food literacy. Then we used Nutbeam's tripartite health literacy model as an analytical grid. The definitions we found included specific competencies, which we mapped to the domains of functional, interactive, or critical literacy.In the 173 full-text publications we screened, we found six original definitions of nutrition literacy, and 13 original definitions of food literacy. Seven food literacy definitions were integrated into a conceptual framework. Analysing their structure revealed that nutrition literacy and food literacy are seen as specific forms of health literacy, and represent distinct but complementary concepts. Definitions of nutrition literacy mainly described the abilities necessary to obtain and understand nutrition information. Definitions of food literacy incorporated a broader spectrum of theoretical and practical knowledge and skills. To be food literate also means to apply information on food choices and critically reflect on the effect of food choice on personal health and on society. Since food literacy is based on a more comprehensive understanding of health behaviours, it is the more viable term to use in health promotion interventions. For the practical implication, a harmonization of the different definitions is desirable.

  2. The Complete Picture: "Standards for Technological Literacy" and "Advancing Excellence in Technological Literacy."

    Science.gov (United States)

    Technology Teacher, 2003

    2003-01-01

    Provides an overview of the "Standards for Technological Literacy: Content for the Study of Technology" (STL) and "Advancing Excellence in Technological Literacy: Student Assessment, Professional Development, and Program Standards" (AETL). Shows how the documents work together to advance the technological literacy of technology educators and K-12…

  3. Characteristics of Family Literacy Programmes That Improve Child Literacy, Behaviour and Parenting Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terlitsky, Amy Bowlin; Wilkins, Julia

    2015-01-01

    Children who struggle with reading, a critical component of literacy, may exhibit behavioural problems. Having difficulties in both literacy and behaviour increases children's risk of poor educational outcomes. We reviewed 82 studies of family literacy programmes and identified 15 empirical studies that reported positive child outcomes related to…

  4. Evidence-Based Literacy Support: The "Literacy Octopus" Trial. Evaluation Report and Executive Summary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lord, Pippa; Rabiasz, Adam; Roy, Palak; Harland, Jennie; Styles, Ben; Fowler, Katherine

    2017-01-01

    The Evidence-based Literacy Support-"Literacy Octopus" Trial tested a range of dissemination interventions and resources, all of which aimed to engage schools in using evidence-based materials to improve teaching and learning in Key Stage 2 literacy. Four delivery partners provided interventions. These included light-touch,…

  5. Origins of media literacy and its theories funded on Len Masterman

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina Tornero

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Media literacy is the subject that teaches critical thinking about media. Despite its importance in a society dominated by television, newspapers and especially the Internet, it is still a big unknown in the educational environment. This article shows its evolution from the concept of Semiotics by Roland Barthes and Umberto Eco to the analysis of visual culture as a way of understanding the search for information and entertainment among young people and adults.  One of the leading experts in media literacy is Len Masterman, whose publications revolutionized the use of media in education not as a tool for learning, but the object to study in a critical way. His educational perspective is focused on making young people participate in the classroom, actively questioning what they see daily in the media environment and facilitating its critical development.

  6. Literacy for the New Millennium. Volume 1: Early Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guzzetti, Barbara J., Ed.

    2007-01-01

    Living in an age of communication, literacy is an extremely integral part of our society. We are impacted by literature during our infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. "Literacy for the New Millennium" includes information from specialists in the field who discuss the influence of popular culture, media, and technology on…

  7. Selectivity in Postencoding Connectivity with High-Level Visual Cortex Is Associated with Reward-Motivated Memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murty, Vishnu P; Tompary, Alexa; Adcock, R Alison; Davachi, Lila

    2017-01-18

    Reward motivation has been demonstrated to enhance declarative memory by facilitating systems-level consolidation. Although high-reward information is often intermixed with lower reward information during an experience, memory for high value information is prioritized. How is this selectivity achieved? One possibility is that postencoding consolidation processes bias memory strengthening to those representations associated with higher reward. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the influence of differential reward motivation on the selectivity of postencoding markers of systems-level memory consolidation. Human participants encoded intermixed, trial-unique memoranda that were associated with either high or low-value during fMRI acquisition. Encoding was interleaved with periods of rest, allowing us to investigate experience-dependent changes in connectivity as they related to later memory. Behaviorally, we found that reward motivation enhanced 24 h associative memory. Analysis of patterns of postencoding connectivity showed that, even though learning trials were intermixed, there was significantly greater connectivity with regions of high-level, category-selective visual cortex associated with high-reward trials. Specifically, increased connectivity of category-selective visual cortex with both the VTA and the anterior hippocampus predicted associative memory for high- but not low-reward memories. Critically, these results were independent of encoding-related connectivity and univariate activity measures. Thus, these findings support a model by which the selective stabilization of memories for salient events is supported by postencoding interactions with sensory cortex associated with reward. Reward motivation is thought to promote memory by supporting memory consolidation. Yet, little is known as to how brain selects relevant information for subsequent consolidation based on reward. We show that experience-dependent changes in connectivity of both the

  8. Literacies in the Body

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Stephanie

    2013-01-01

    In this commentary, the author invites readers to consider the body and its central place in literacy pedagogy, practice and research. She emphasizes two interrelated paths for teachers and researchers interested in literacies to tend to the body: (1) the ways literacies are engaged and cultivated for making sense of bodies, and (2) the literacies…

  9. Measuring News Media Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maksl, Adam; Ashley, Seth; Craft, Stephanie

    2015-01-01

    News media literacy refers to the knowledge and motivations needed to identify and engage with journalism. This study measured levels of news media literacy among 500 teenagers using a new scale measure based on Potter's model of media literacy and adapted to news media specifically. The adapted model posits that news media literate individuals…

  10. A Commentary on Literacy Narratives as Sponsors of Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandt, Deborah

    2015-01-01

    This brief commentary first clarifies Brandt's concept of sponsors of literacy in light of the way the concept has been taken up in writing studies. Then it treats Brandt's methods for handling accounts of literacy learning in comparison with other ways of analyzing biographical material. Finally it takes up Lawrence's argument about literacy…

  11. Health Literacy and Social Capital: What Role for Adult Literacy Partnerships and Pedagogy?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, Stephen; Balatti, Jo; Falk, Ian

    2013-01-01

    This paper makes the case for adult literacy (including numeracy) practitioners to play a greater role in health literacy initiatives in Australia. The paper draws on data from a national research project that investigated adult literacy partnerships and pedagogy viewed from a social capital perspective. The primary purpose of the project was to…

  12. The Comprehensive Emergent Literacy Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leigh Rohde

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The early skills of Emergent Literacy include the knowledge and abilities related to the alphabet, phonological awareness, symbolic representation, and communication. However, existing models of emergent literacy focus on discrete skills and miss the perspective of the surrounding environment. Early literacy skills, including their relationship to one another, and the substantial impact of the setting and context, are critical in ensuring that children gain all of the preliminary skills and awareness they will need to become successful readers and writers. Research findings over the last few decades have led to a fuller understanding of all that emergent literacy includes, resulting in a need for a new, more comprehensive model. A new model, described in this article, strives to explain how emergent literacy can be viewed as an interactive process of skills and context rather than a linear series of individual components. Early literacy learning opportunities are more likely to happen when teachers have a solid knowledge base of emergent literacy and child development. Research has shown that preschool teachers with limited knowledge about literacy development are significantly less able to provide such experiences for children. Teachers will be better able to facilitate all of the components of emergent literacy if they have access to, and understanding of, a model that describes the components, their interactions, and the importance of environmental factors in supporting children.

  13. THE WORD IN A VISUAL STATUS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Otavio Henrique Meloni

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available The poetry of João Maimona presents itself as a differential in Angola’s recent poetic universe. There are many reasons that make us think that way, but in this text, we intend to analyze the relationships established by the poet with the visual arts, notably in his book . Thus, we observe how the poet brings to his literacy techniques and references to other arts, in this case in particular, painting.

  14. Literacy Coaches' Perspectives of Themselves as Literacy Leaders: Results from a National Study of K-12 Literacy Coaching and Leadership

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calo, Kristine M.; Sturtevant, Elizabeth G.; Kopfman, Kimberly M.

    2015-01-01

    As the face of education and the demands on teachers continues to change in the 21st century, so does the role of the literacy coach in schools across the country. This article explores the changing roles and responsibilities of literacy coaches by sharing the results of a study of 270 literacy coaches around the country. In this article, we share…

  15. Literacy in the contemporary scene

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angela B. Kleiman

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available In this paper I examine the relationship between literacy and contemporaneity. I take as a point of departure for my discussion school literacy and its links with literacies in other institutions of the contemporary scene, in order to determine the relation between contemporary ends of reading and writing (in other words, the meaning of being literate in contemporary society and the practices and activities effectively realized at school in order to reach those objectives. Using various examples from teaching and learning situations, I discuss digital literacy practices and multimodal texts and multiliteracies from both printed and digital cultures. Throughout, I keep as a background for the discussion the functions and objectives of school literacy and the professional training of teachers who would like to be effective literacy agents in the contemporary world.

  16. My child at mealtime: A visually enhanced self-assessment of feeding styles for low-income parents of preschoolers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ontai, Lenna L; Sitnick, Stephanie L; Shilts, Mical K; Townsend, Marilyn S

    2016-04-01

    The importance of caregiver feeding styles on children's dietary outcomes is well documented. However, the instruments used to assess feeding style are limited by high literacy demands, making selfassessment with low-income audiences challenging. The purpose of the current study is to report on the development of My Child at Mealtime (MCMT), a self-assessment tool with reduced literacy demands, designed to measure feeding styles with parents of preschool-aged children. Cognitive interviews were conducted with 44 Head Start parents of 2-5 year old children to develop question wording and identify appropriate visuals. The resulting tool was administered to 119 ethnically diverse, low-income parents of 2-5 year old children. Factor analysis resulted in a two-factor structure that reflects responsiveness and demandingness in a manner consistent with existing assessment tools. Results indicate the final visually enhanced MCMT self-assessment tool provides a measure of parenting style consistent with existing measures, while reducing the literacy demand. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Mathematical Literacy: A new literacy or a new mathematics?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renuka Vithal

    2006-10-01

    Full Text Available Mathematical Literacy is a ‘hot’ topic at present in most countries, whether it is referred to by that name, or in some cases as Numeracy, or Quantitative Literacy, or Matheracy, or as some part of Ethnomathematics, or related to Mathematics in Society. Questions continue to be asked about what is meant by mathematics in any concept of Mathematical Literacy and the use of the very word ‘Literacy’ in its association with Mathematics has been challenged. Its importance, however, lies in changing our perspective on mathematics teaching, away from the elitism so often associated with much mathematics education, and towards a more equitable, accessible and genuinely educational ideal.

  18. Literacy: State of the Nation--A Picture of Literacy in the UK Today

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jama, Deeqa; Dugdale, George

    2012-01-01

    Literacy is the combination of reading, writing, speaking and listening skills we all need to fulfil our potential. These life skills are essential to the happiness, health and wealth of individuals and society. "Literacy: State of the Nation" provides a coherent picture of literacy in the UK today. It reveals that: (1) One in six people…

  19. Financial Literacy and Self-Employment

    OpenAIRE

    Cumurovic, Aida; Hyll, Walter

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we study the relationship between financial literacy and self-employment. We use established financial knowledge-based questions to measure financial literacy levels. The analysis shows a highly significant correlation between self-employment and financial literacy scores. To investigate the impact of financial literacy on being self-employed, we apply instrumental variable techniques based on information on economic education before entering the labour market and education of ...

  20. Bridging the Gap: A Longitudinal Study of the Relationship between Pedagogical Continuity and Early Chinese Literacy Acquisition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Hui; Rao, Nirmala; Tse, Shek Kam

    2011-01-01

    This longitudinal study examined the relationship between pedagogical continuity in literacy education and early literacy development by comparing Chinese children in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Stratified random sampling was used to select 24 preschool and Primary 1 classes in four communities catering to middle-class families in each city. The 24…

  1. Research Directions: Multimodal Books in Science-Literacy Units: Language and Visual Images for Meaning Making

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pappas, Christine C.; Varelas, Maria

    2009-01-01

    This article presents a review of the author's long-term research in urban classrooms. The authors explore six illustrated information books created by children as culminating activities of integrated science-literacy units, Forest and Matter, that they developed, implemented, and studied in several 1st-3rd grade classrooms in Chicago Public…

  2. An investigation of visual selection priority of objects with texture and crossed and uncrossed disparities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khaustova, Dar'ya; Fournier, Jérôme; Wyckens, Emmanuel; Le Meur, Olivier

    2014-02-01

    The aim of this research is to understand the difference in visual attention to 2D and 3D content depending on texture and amount of depth. Two experiments were conducted using an eye-tracker and a 3DTV display. Collected fixation data were used to build saliency maps and to analyze the differences between 2D and 3D conditions. In the first experiment 51 observers participated in the test. Using scenes that contained objects with crossed disparity, it was discovered that such objects are the most salient, even if observers experience discomfort due to the high level of disparity. The goal of the second experiment is to decide whether depth is a determinative factor for visual attention. During the experiment, 28 observers watched the scenes that contained objects with crossed and uncrossed disparities. We evaluated features influencing the saliency of the objects in stereoscopic conditions by using contents with low-level visual features. With univariate tests of significance (MANOVA), it was detected that texture is more important than depth for selection of objects. Objects with crossed disparity are significantly more important for selection processes when compared to 2D. However, objects with uncrossed disparity have the same influence on visual attention as 2D objects. Analysis of eyemovements indicated that there is no difference in saccade length. Fixation durations were significantly higher in stereoscopic conditions for low-level stimuli than in 2D. We believe that these experiments can help to refine existing models of visual attention for 3D content.

  3. Benefits literacy, Bugs Bunny and bridge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moses, John; Hogg, Barbara

    2009-01-01

    The human resources world is buzzing about literacy--specifically, financial literacy and health literacy. Yet if employers truly want their employees to take action based on that literacy, then employers must add motivation and process simplification to their benefits equation. This article provides employers with things to keep in mind in order to deliver content that improves employees' benefits literacy, and makes taking desired actions both relevant and easy for employees.

  4. National Institute for Literacy. Literacy Information and Communication System ("LINCS")

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Institute for Literacy, 2010

    2010-01-01

    Each month, the Literacy Information and Communication System ("LINCS") will feature one of the three LINCS Resource Collections--Basic Skills, Program Management, and Workforce Competitiveness--and introduce research-based resources that practitioners can use in their adult and family literacy programs and classrooms. This edition features the…

  5. Film Literacy--A Door to Dialogue with Young Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyers, Donna

    1984-01-01

    Discusses a public library film literacy program offered to adolescents and young adults which incorporates films that are not curriculum-oriented and center around specific themes such as self-identity, creativity, speculations, and lifestyles. Seven films selected for program on social issues and viewers' evaluations are highlighted.…

  6. Oscillatory Mechanisms of Stimulus Processing and Selection in the Visual and Auditory Systems: State-of-the-Art, Speculations and Suggestions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benedikt Zoefel

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available All sensory systems need to continuously prioritize and select incoming stimuli in order to avoid overflow or interference, and provide a structure to the brain's input. However, the characteristics of this input differ across sensory systems; therefore, and as a direct consequence, each sensory system might have developed specialized strategies to cope with the continuous stream of incoming information. Neural oscillations are intimately connected with this selection process, as they can be used by the brain to rhythmically amplify or attenuate input and therefore represent an optimal tool for stimulus selection. In this paper, we focus on oscillatory processes for stimulus selection in the visual and auditory systems. We point out both commonalities and differences between the two systems and develop several hypotheses, inspired by recently published findings: (1 The rhythmic component in its input is crucial for the auditory, but not for the visual system. The alignment between oscillatory phase and rhythmic input (phase entrainment is therefore an integral part of stimulus selection in the auditory system whereas the visual system merely adjusts its phase to upcoming events, without the need for any rhythmic component. (2 When input is unpredictable, the visual system can maintain its oscillatory sampling, whereas the auditory system switches to a different, potentially internally oriented, “mode” of processing that might be characterized by alpha oscillations. (3 Visual alpha can be divided into a faster occipital alpha (10 Hz and a slower frontal alpha (7 Hz that critically depends on attention.

  7. Enhancing Auditory Selective Attention Using a Visually Guided Hearing Aid

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-01-01

    Purpose Listeners with hearing loss, as well as many listeners with clinically normal hearing, often experience great difficulty segregating talkers in a multiple-talker sound field and selectively attending to the desired “target” talker while ignoring the speech from unwanted “masker” talkers and other sources of sound. This listening situation forms the classic “cocktail party problem” described by Cherry (1953) that has received a great deal of study over the past few decades. In this article, a new approach to improving sound source segregation and enhancing auditory selective attention is described. The conceptual design, current implementation, and results obtained to date are reviewed and discussed in this article. Method This approach, embodied in a prototype “visually guided hearing aid” (VGHA) currently used for research, employs acoustic beamforming steered by eye gaze as a means for improving the ability of listeners to segregate and attend to one sound source in the presence of competing sound sources. Results The results from several studies demonstrate that listeners with normal hearing are able to use an attention-based “spatial filter” operating primarily on binaural cues to selectively attend to one source among competing spatially distributed sources. Furthermore, listeners with sensorineural hearing loss generally are less able to use this spatial filter as effectively as are listeners with normal hearing especially in conditions high in “informational masking.” The VGHA enhances auditory spatial attention for speech-on-speech masking and improves signal-to-noise ratio for conditions high in “energetic masking.” Visual steering of the beamformer supports the coordinated actions of vision and audition in selective attention and facilitates following sound source transitions in complex listening situations. Conclusions Both listeners with normal hearing and with sensorineural hearing loss may benefit from the acoustic

  8. The temporal dynamics of visual working memory guidance of selective attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Jinfeng; Zhao, Yuanfang; Wu, Shanshan; Wang, Lijun; Hitchman, Glenn; Tian, Xia; Li, Ming; Hu, Li; Chen, Antao

    2014-01-01

    The biased competition model proposes that there is top-down directing of attention to a stimulus matching the contents of working memory (WM), even when the maintenance of a WM representation is detrimental to target relevant performance. Despite many studies elucidating that spatial WM guidance can be present early in the visual processing system, whether visual WM guidance also influences perceptual selection remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the electrophysiological correlates of early guidance of attention by WM in humans. Participants were required to perform a visual search task while concurrently maintaining object representations in their visual WM. Behavioral results showed that response times (RTs) were longer when the distractor in the visual search task was held in WM. The earliest WM guidance effect was observed in the P1 component (90-130 ms), with match trials eliciting larger P1 amplitude than mismatch trials. A similar result was also found in the N1 component (160-200 ms). These P1 and N1 effects could not be attributed to bottom-up perceptual priming from the presentation of a memory cue, because there was no significant difference in early event-related potential (ERP) component when the cue was merely perceptually identified but not actively held in WM. Standardized Low Resolution Electrical Tomography Analysis (sLORETA) showed that the early WM guidance occurred in the occipital lobe and the N1-related activation occurred in the parietal gyrus. Time-frequency data suggested that alpha-band event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) magnitudes increased under the match condition compared with the mismatch condition only when the cue was held in WM. In conclusion, the present study suggests that the reappearance of a stimulus held in WM enhanced activity in the occipital area. Subsequently, this initial capture of attention by WM could be inhibited by competing visual inputs through attention re-orientation, reflecting by the

  9. Literacy as a Translocal Practice: Digital Multimodal Literacy Practices among Girls Resettled as Refugees

    Science.gov (United States)

    Omerbašic, Delila

    2015-01-01

    Situated in critical sociocultural theory of literacy with a particular focus on literacy in relation to space and displacement, this qualitative study considers how nine teenage girls who were resettled as refugees from Thailand engage in productions of translocality through multimodal literacy practices in digital spaces. The girls are…

  10. Preparing Content Area Teachers for Disciplinary Literacy Instruction: The Role of Literacy Teacher Educators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Zhihui

    2014-01-01

    The recent call for secondary reading instruction to move away from a focus on generic literacy strategies to discipline-specific language and literacy practices presents new challenges for secondary teacher preparation. This column identifies some of the roles literacy teacher educators can play in helping address these challenges.

  11. Constructing Adult Literacies at a Local Literacy Tutor-Training Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roderick, Ryan

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates how literacy was constructed at an adult literacy organization's volunteer tutor-training program. By drawing on qualitative analysis of training texts used during training, such as training evaluations, and data gathered from interviews with experienced tutors, it is possible to identify the assumptions about literacy…

  12. Writing, Literacy, and Applied Linguistics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leki, Ilona

    2000-01-01

    Discusses writing and literacy in the domain of applied linguistics. Focus is on needs analysis for literacy acquisition; second language learner identity; longitudinal studies as extensions of identity work; and applied linguistics contributions to second language literacy research. (Author/VWL)

  13. Suitability of the Literacy and Numeracy Screening (LINUS) 2.0 Programme in Assessing Children's Early Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luyee, Eunice Ong; Roselan, Fauzan Izzati; Anwardeen, Nor Hafizah; Mustapa, Fatin Hazirah Mohd

    2015-01-01

    Early literacy skills are crucial in a child's learning process and awareness should be raised in order to ensure the quality of early literacy assessments. In this paper, the writers discuss the quality of early literacy assessment in Malaysia, LINUS 2.0 by looking at its validity and reliability. An established early literacy program is compared…

  14. Effectiveness of Education Module Implementation on Increasing Islamic Financial Literacy and Halal Literacy of MSMEs Perpetrators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ikka Nur Wahyuny

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This research was conducted to measure the impact of the implementation of Islamic Financial Literacy Education Module and Halal Product for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs. The population in this study is the perpetrators of SMEs that run their business in the region of Yogyakarta Special Region. The sampling technique used is purposive sampling so that the sample used is 60 with the division of 30 experimental group and 30 people as the control group. Development of media using ADDIE model. Educational module has been through the phase of analysis, design, development, and implementation of MSMEs. At the evaluation stage, measurements are made to the perpetrators of SMEs with paired t test. The results of effectiveness test show the use of Islamic Financial Literacy Education Module and Halal Product can increase Islamic financial literacy and halal literacy of MSMEs perpetrators. Increased Islamic financial literacy and halal literacy can be seen from the average score before and after the use of Islamic financial literacy learning module and halal literacy. The conclusion of this research is a module with an important syariah theme done to provide ease in the transfer of knowledge of Islamic financial management and halal literacy for MSMEs.

  15. Results of Studying Astronomy Students’ Science Literacy, Quantitative Literacy, and Information Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buxner, Sanlyn; Impey, Chris David; Follette, Katherine B.; Dokter, Erin F.; McCarthy, Don; Vezino, Beau; Formanek, Martin; Romine, James M.; Brock, Laci; Neiberding, Megan; Prather, Edward E.

    2017-01-01

    Introductory astronomy courses often serve as terminal science courses for non-science majors and present an opportunity to assess non future scientists’ attitudes towards science as well as basic scientific knowledge and scientific analysis skills that may remain unchanged after college. Through a series of studies, we have been able to evaluate students’ basic science knowledge, attitudes towards science, quantitative literacy, and informational literacy. In the Fall of 2015, we conducted a case study of a single class administering all relevant surveys to an undergraduate class of 20 students. We will present our analysis of trends of each of these studies as well as the comparison case study. In general we have found that students basic scientific knowledge has remained stable over the past quarter century. In all of our studies, there is a strong relationship between student attitudes and their science and quantitative knowledge and skills. Additionally, students’ information literacy is strongly connected to their attitudes and basic scientific knowledge. We are currently expanding these studies to include new audiences and will discuss the implications of our findings for instructors.

  16. Contributions of the emergent literacy environment to literacy outcomes for young children who are deaf.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Easterbrooks, Susan R; Lederberg, Amy R; Connor, Carol M

    2010-01-01

    Specific characteristics of early literacy environments support hearing children's emergent literacy. The researchers investigated these characteristics' role in emergent literacy in young deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children, using the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO; M. W. Smith, Dickinson, Sangeorge, & Anastasopoulos, 2002). Eighteen self-contained classrooms of preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade DHH children (N = 40) were studied. Hierarchical linear analysis was used to examine study participants' classroom environment and growth in emergent literacy skills. Correlations suggested that classroom environment was more closely related to vocabulary and phonological awareness in DHH children than in typically hearing children. Major differences among classrooms were also indicated. However, growth in children's skills did not correlate strongly with attributes captured by the ELLCO. This suggests that classrooms promoting emergent literacy skills acquisition in DHH children may differ from classrooms of typically developing hearing children.

  17. Self-administered health literacy instruments for people with diabetes: systematic review of measurement properties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Eun-Hyun; Kim, Chun-Ja; Lee, Jiyeon; Moon, Seung Hei

    2017-09-01

    The aims of this study were to identify all available self-administered instruments measuring health literacy in people with diabetes and to determine the current instrument that is the most appropriate for applying to this population in both practice and research. A systematic review of measurement properties. MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL electronic databases from their inception up to 28 March 2016. The methodological quality of each included study was assessed using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments checklist. The reported results for measurement properties in the studies were assessed according to Terwee's quality criteria. Thirteen self-administered instruments measuring health literacy in people with diabetes were identified, of which six (44%) were diabetes-specific instruments. The instruments that covered the broadest contents of health literacy were the Health Literacy Scale and Health Literacy Questionnaire. The (test-retest) reliability, measurement error and responsiveness were not evaluated for any instrument, while internal consistency and hypothesis testing validity were the most frequently assessed measurement properties. With the current evidence, the Health Literacy Scale may be the most appropriate instrument for patients with diabetes in practice and research. However, the structural validity of this scale needs to be further established, particularly in other language versions. It is also recommended to use the Diabetes Numeracy Test-15 along with the Health Literacy Scale to complement the lack of numeracy measures in the Health Literacy Scale. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  18. Linguistic processing in visual and modality-nonspecific brain areas: PET recordings during selective attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vorobyev, Victor A; Alho, Kimmo; Medvedev, Svyatoslav V; Pakhomov, Sergey V; Roudas, Marina S; Rutkovskaya, Julia M; Tervaniemi, Mari; Van Zuijen, Titia L; Näätänen, Risto

    2004-07-01

    Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to investigate the neural basis of selective processing of linguistic material during concurrent presentation of multiple stimulus streams ("cocktail-party effect"). Fifteen healthy right-handed adult males were to attend to one of three simultaneously presented messages: one presented visually, one to the left ear, and one to the right ear. During the control condition, subjects attended to visually presented consonant letter strings and ignored auditory messages. This paper reports the modality-nonspecific language processing and visual word-form processing, whereas the auditory attention effects have been reported elsewhere [Cogn. Brain Res. 17 (2003) 201]. The left-hemisphere areas activated by both the selective processing of text and speech were as follows: the inferior prefrontal (Brodmann's area, BA 45, 47), anterior temporal (BA 38), posterior insular (BA 13), inferior (BA 20) and middle temporal (BA 21), occipital (BA 18/30) cortices, the caudate nucleus, and the amygdala. In addition, bilateral activations were observed in the medial occipito-temporal cortex and the cerebellum. Decreases of activation during both text and speech processing were found in the parietal (BA 7, 40), frontal (BA 6, 8, 44) and occipito-temporal (BA 37) regions of the right hemisphere. Furthermore, the present data suggest that the left occipito-temporal cortex (BA 18, 20, 37, 21) can be subdivided into three functionally distinct regions in the posterior-anterior direction on the basis of their activation during attentive processing of sublexical orthography, visual word form, and supramodal higher-level aspects of language.

  19. Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy: Examining the Effects of Paraeducator Implemented Early Literacy Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bingham, Gary E.; Hall-Kenyon, Kendra M.; Culatta, Barbara

    2010-01-01

    This study examined the effect of explicit and engaging supplemental early literacy instruction on at-risk kindergarten children's literacy development. Sixty-three kindergarten-aged children who had been ranked in the lowest 20th percentile on basic literacy skills participated in this study (38 treatment). Results reveal that children who…

  20. The Geography of Financial Literacy

    OpenAIRE

    Christopher Bumcrot; Judy Lin; Annamaria Lusardi

    2013-01-01

    This paper explores how well equipped today’s households are to make complex financial decisions in the face of often high-cost and high-risk financial instruments. Specifically we focus on financial literacy. Most importantly, we describe the geography of financial literacy, i.e., how financial literacy is distributed across the fifty US states. We describe the correlation of financial literacy and some important aggregate variables, such as state-level poverty rates. Finally, we examine the...

  1. Heritage Literacy: Adoption, Adaptation, and Alienation of Multimodal Literacy Tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rumsey, Suzanne Kesler

    2009-01-01

    This article presents the concept of heritage literacy, a decision-making process by which people adopt, adapt, or alienate themselves from tools and literacies passed on between generations of people. In an auto-ethnographic study, four generations of a single family and Amish participants from the surrounding community were interviewed to…

  2. 102: PROMOTING INFORMATION LITERACY BY PROMOTING HEALTH LITERACY IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

    OpenAIRE

    Dastani, Meisam; Sattari, Masoume

    2017-01-01

    Background and aims In the information society the production, distribution and use of information is freely and widely available for all issues of life. Correct and appropriate use of appropriate and reliable information is especially important in health care. The present study introduces the concepts and benefits of health literacy and information literacy and its role in improving health literacy. Methods This study is a review based on a review of the concepts of the information society, ...

  3. Reward speeds up and increases consistency of visual selective attention: a lifespan comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Störmer, Viola; Eppinger, Ben; Li, Shu-Chen

    2014-06-01

    Children and older adults often show less favorable reward-based learning and decision making, relative to younger adults. It is unknown, however, whether reward-based processes that influence relatively early perceptual and attentional processes show similar lifespan differences. In this study, we investigated whether stimulus-reward associations affect selective visual attention differently across the human lifespan. Children, adolescents, younger adults, and older adults performed a visual search task in which the target colors were associated with either high or low monetary rewards. We discovered that high reward value speeded up response times across all four age groups, indicating that reward modulates attentional selection across the lifespan. This speed-up in response time was largest in younger adults, relative to the other three age groups. Furthermore, only younger adults benefited from high reward value in increasing response consistency (i.e., reduction of trial-by-trial reaction time variability). Our findings suggest that reward-based modulations of relatively early and implicit perceptual and attentional processes are operative across the lifespan, and the effects appear to be greater in adulthood. The age-specific effect of reward on reducing intraindividual response variability in younger adults likely reflects mechanisms underlying the development and aging of reward processing, such as lifespan age differences in the efficacy of dopaminergic modulation. Overall, the present results indicate that reward shapes visual perception across different age groups by biasing attention to motivationally salient events.

  4. Early auditory evoked potential is modulated by selective attention and related to individual differences in visual working memory capacity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giuliano, Ryan J; Karns, Christina M; Neville, Helen J; Hillyard, Steven A

    2014-12-01

    A growing body of research suggests that the predictive power of working memory (WM) capacity for measures of intellectual aptitude is due to the ability to control attention and select relevant information. Crucially, attentional mechanisms implicated in controlling access to WM are assumed to be domain-general, yet reports of enhanced attentional abilities in individuals with larger WM capacities are primarily within the visual domain. Here, we directly test the link between WM capacity and early attentional gating across sensory domains, hypothesizing that measures of visual WM capacity should predict an individual's capacity to allocate auditory selective attention. To address this question, auditory ERPs were recorded in a linguistic dichotic listening task, and individual differences in ERP modulations by attention were correlated with estimates of WM capacity obtained in a separate visual change detection task. Auditory selective attention enhanced ERP amplitudes at an early latency (ca. 70-90 msec), with larger P1 components elicited by linguistic probes embedded in an attended narrative. Moreover, this effect was associated with greater individual estimates of visual WM capacity. These findings support the view that domain-general attentional control mechanisms underlie the wide variation of WM capacity across individuals.

  5. The Ocean Literacy Campaign

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schoedinger, S. E.; Strang, C.

    2008-12-01

    "Ocean Literacy is an understanding of the ocean's influence on you and your influence on the ocean." This simple statement captures the spirit of a conceptual framework supporting ocean literacy (COSEE et al., 2005). The framework comprises 7 essential principles and 44 fundamental concepts an ocean literate person would know (COSEE et al., 2005). The framework is the result of an extensive grassroots effort to reach consensus on (1) a definition for ocean literacy and (2) an articulation of the most important concepts to be understood by ocean-literate citizen (Cava et al., 2005). In the process of reaching consensus on these "big ideas" about the ocean, what began as a series of workshops has emerged as a campaign "owned" by an ever-expanding community of individuals, organizations and networks involved in developing and promoting the framework. The Ocean Literacy Framework has provided a common language for scientists and educators working together and serves as key guidance for the ocean science education efforts. This presentation will focus on the impact this Ocean Literacy Campaign has had to date as well as efforts underway to provide additional tools to enable educators and educational policy makers to further integrate teaching and learning about the ocean and our coasts into formal K-12 education and informal education. COSEE, National Geographic Society, NOAA, College of Exploration (2005). Ocean Literacy: The Essential Principles of Ocean Sciences Grades K-12, a jointly published brochure, URL: http://www.coexploration.org/oceanliteracy/documents/OceanLitChart.pdf Cava, F., S. Schoedinger , C. Strang, and P. Tuddenham (2005). Science Content and Standards for Ocean Literacy: A Report on Ocean Literacy, URL: http://www.coexploration.org/oceanliteracy/documents/OLit2004-05_Final_Report.pdf.

  6. Institutionalizing Information Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiner, Sharon A.

    2012-01-01

    There is increasing recognition that information literacy is essential for individual and community empowerment, workforce readiness, and global competitiveness. However, there is a history of difficulty in integrating information literacy with the postsecondary educational process. This paper posits that a greater understanding of the…

  7. Effects of prey abundance, distribution, visual contrast and morphology on selection by a pelagic piscivore

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, Adam G.; Beauchamp, David A.

    2014-01-01

    Most predators eat only a subset of possible prey. However, studies evaluating diet selection rarely measure prey availability in a manner that accounts for temporal–spatial overlap with predators, the sensory mechanisms employed to detect prey, and constraints on prey capture.We evaluated the diet selection of cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) feeding on a diverse planktivore assemblage in Lake Washington to test the hypothesis that the diet selection of piscivores would reflect random (opportunistic) as opposed to non-random (targeted) feeding, after accounting for predator–prey overlap, visual detection and capture constraints.Diets of cutthroat trout were sampled in autumn 2005, when the abundance of transparent, age-0 longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys) was low, and 2006, when the abundance of smelt was nearly seven times higher. Diet selection was evaluated separately using depth-integrated and depth-specific (accounted for predator–prey overlap) prey abundance. The abundance of different prey was then adjusted for differences in detectability and vulnerability to predation to see whether these factors could explain diet selection.In 2005, cutthroat trout fed non-randomly by selecting against the smaller, transparent age-0 longfin smelt, but for the larger age-1 longfin smelt. After adjusting prey abundance for visual detection and capture, cutthroat trout fed randomly. In 2006, depth-integrated and depth-specific abundance explained the diets of cutthroat trout well, indicating random feeding. Feeding became non-random after adjusting for visual detection and capture. Cutthroat trout selected strongly for age-0 longfin smelt, but against similar sized threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and larger age-1 longfin smelt in 2006. Overlap with juvenile sockeye salmon (O. nerka) was minimal in both years, and sockeye salmon were rare in the diets of cutthroat trout.The direction of the shift between random and non-random selection

  8. Visual encoding and fixation target selection in free viewing: presaccadic brain potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrey R Nikolaev

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available In scrutinizing a scene, the eyes alternate between fixations and saccades. During a fixation, two component processes can be distinguished: visual encoding and selection of the next fixation target. We aimed to distinguish the neural correlates of these processes in the electrical brain activity prior to a saccade onset. Participants viewed color photographs of natural scenes, in preparation for a change detection task. Then, for each participant and each scene we computed an image heat map, with temperature representing the duration and density of fixations. The temperature difference between the start and end points of saccades was taken as a measure of the expected task-relevance of the information concentrated in specific regions of a scene. Visual encoding was evaluated according to whether subsequent change was correctly detected. Saccades with larger temperature difference were more likely to be followed by correct detection than ones with smaller temperature differences. The amplitude of presaccadic activity over anterior brain areas was larger for correct detection than for detection failure. This difference was observed for short scrutinizing but not for long explorative saccades, suggesting that presaccadic activity reflects top-down saccade guidance. Thus, successful encoding requires local scanning of scene regions which are expected to be task-relevant. Next, we evaluated fixation target selection. Saccades moving up in temperature were preceded by presaccadic activity of higher amplitude than those moving down. This finding suggests that presaccadic activity reflects attention deployed to the following fixation location. Our findings illustrate how presaccadic activity can elucidate concurrent brain processes related to the immediate goal of planning the next saccade and the larger-scale goal of constructing a robust representation of the visual scene.

  9. Enhanced health E-decision literacy via interactive multi-criterial support

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kaltoft, Mette Kjer; Almeida, J.; Moncho Mas, Vicent

    Healthcare lacks a generic language for decisional communication. We aim to enhance health decision literacy via specific e-decision support. Given the multi-criterial, preference-sensitive nature of decision-making, we implement the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) technique online...... in an interactive and visual template (Annalisa), developing decision-specific tools at the clinical/personal and group/policy levels. Our current nationally funded project on bone health caters for home-prepared, informed and preference-based consent and taps into existing e-health infrastructures towards person...

  10. Studying Students' Science Literacy: Non-Scientific Beliefs and Science Literacy Measures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Impey, C.; Buxner, S.

    2015-11-01

    We have been conducting a study of university students' science literacy for the past 24 years. Based on the work of the National Science Board's ongoing national survey of the US public, we have administered the same survey to undergraduate science students at the University of Arizona almost every year since 1989. Results have shown relatively little change in students' overall science literacy, descriptions of science, and knowledge of basic science topics for almost a quarter of a century despite an increase in education interventions, the rise of the internet, and increased access to knowledge. Several trends do exist in students' science literacy and descriptions of science. Students who exhibit beliefs in non-scientific phenomenon (e.g., lucky numbers, creationism) consistently have lower science literacy scores and less correct descriptions of scientific phenomenon. Although not surprising, our results support ongoing efforts to help students generate evidence based thinking.

  11. Family Literacy and Second Language Literacy Research: Focus on Language Minority Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Özgür Yıldırım

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Problem Statement: Countries like the U. S. A. or Canada have citizens from various ethnic backgrounds. Although English is the dominant language in many parts of these countries, immigrants generally prefer speaking their native language when they are in their homes. Whatever the reason for using native language at home is, when we consider the children in these families, we can say that being exposed to different languages at home and at school may be a problem for their language development.Purpose of Study: There are many studies conducted in order to better understand the problems of language minority children. A great deal of literature on language minority students focuses on the ties between these children‟s literacy development and their literacy practices at home. In other words, these studies aim to see how the literacy events these children are exposed to at home affect their literacy learning in the second language.Methods: This paper is an attempt to put together and discuss various theoretical and empirical studies conducted on the literacy development of language minority children in English speaking countries.Findings: Literacy education of language minority students is not an easy task. It is very complicated and difficult to achieve as it requires a complete collaboration among all the responsible parties (teachers, families, researchers, education policy makers, school administrators. Conclusion and Recommendations: Successful collaboration among all the involved parties would bring successful outcomes in terms of children‟s healthy literacy development. The collaboration between teachers and families is the most vital one because these two parties are the ones that have one-to-one interaction with children.

  12. Information Literacy at Augustana: A Programmatic Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nancy E. Goebel

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Information literacy programs, and the factors that influence their development and structure, can vary significantly from institution to institution. Credit-bearing discipline-specific information literacy courses are a rare and valuable component of an undergraduate educational experience and form the basis of Augustana's information literacy program. This article provides an overview of the development, implementation, successes, and drawbacks of the credit-bearing discipline-specific information literacy courses at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta (Camrose, Alberta, Canada. Additional program components including Augustana's annual information literacy workshop, information literacy awards, information literacy DVD, and marketing/branding, are discussed.

  13. Examining health literacy disparities in the United States: a third look at the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. V. Rikard

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In the United States, disparities in health literacy parallel disparities in health outcomes. Our research contributes to how diverse indicators of social inequalities (i.e., objective social class, relational social class, and social resources contribute to understanding disparities in health literacy. Methods We analyze data on respondents 18 years of age and older (N = 14,592 from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL restricted access data set. A series of weighted Ordinary Least Squares (OLS regression models estimate the association between respondent’s demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status (SES, relational social class, social resources and an Item Response Theory (IRT based health literacy measure. Results Our findings are consistent with previous research on the social and SES determinants of health literacy. However, our findings reveal the importance of relational social status for understanding health literacy disparities in the United States. Objective indicators of social status are persistent and robust indicators of health literacy. Measures of relational social status such as civic engagement (i.e., voting, volunteering, and library use are associated with higher health literacy levels net of objective resources. Social resources including speaking English and marital status are associated with higher health literacy levels. Conclusions Relational indicators of social class are related to health literacy independent of objective social class indicators. Civic literacy (e.g., voting and volunteering are predictors of health literacy and offer opportunities for health intervention. Our findings support the notion that health literacy is a social construct and suggest the need to develop a theoretically driven conceptual definition of health literacy that includes a civic literacy component.

  14. Positive selection of a duplicated UV-sensitive visual pigment coincides with wing pigment evolution in Heliconius butterflies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Briscoe, Adriana D.; Bybee, Seth M.; Bernard, Gary D.; Yuan, Furong; Sison-Mangus, Marilou P.; Reed, Robert D.; Warren, Andrew D.; Llorente-Bousquets, Jorge; Chiao, Chuan-Chin

    2010-01-01

    The butterfly Heliconius erato can see from the UV to the red part of the light spectrum with color vision proven from 440 to 640 nm. Its eye is known to contain three visual pigments, rhodopsins, produced by an 11-cis-3-hydroxyretinal chromophore together with long wavelength (LWRh), blue (BRh) and UV (UVRh1) opsins. We now find that H. erato has a second UV opsin mRNA (UVRh2)—a previously undescribed duplication of this gene among Lepidoptera. To investigate its evolutionary origin, we screened eye cDNAs from 14 butterfly species in the subfamily Heliconiinae and found both copies only among Heliconius. Phylogeny-based tests of selection indicate positive selection of UVRh2 following duplication, and some of the positively selected sites correspond to vertebrate visual pigment spectral tuning residues. Epi-microspectrophotometry reveals two UV-absorbing rhodopsins in the H. erato eye with λmax = 355 nm and 398 nm. Along with the additional UV opsin, Heliconius have also evolved 3-hydroxy-DL-kynurenine (3-OHK)-based yellow wing pigments not found in close relatives. Visual models of how butterflies perceive wing color variation indicate this has resulted in an expansion of the number of distinguishable yellow colors on Heliconius wings. Functional diversification of the UV-sensitive visual pigments may help explain why the yellow wing pigments of Heliconius are so colorful in the UV range compared to the yellow pigments of close relatives lacking the UV opsin duplicate. PMID:20133601

  15. Lrit1, a Retinal Transmembrane Protein, Regulates Selective Synapse Formation in Cone Photoreceptor Cells and Visual Acuity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akiko Ueno

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Summary: In the vertebrate retina, cone photoreceptors play crucial roles in photopic vision by transmitting light-evoked signals to ON- and/or OFF-bipolar cells. However, the mechanisms underlying selective synapse formation in the cone photoreceptor pathway remain poorly understood. Here, we found that Lrit1, a leucine-rich transmembrane protein, localizes to the photoreceptor synaptic terminal and regulates the synaptic connection between cone photoreceptors and cone ON-bipolar cells. Lrit1-deficient retinas exhibit an aberrant morphology of cone photoreceptor pedicles, as well as an impairment of signal transmission from cone photoreceptors to cone ON-bipolar cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated that Lrit1 interacts with Frmpd2, a photoreceptor scaffold protein, and with mGluR6, an ON-bipolar cell-specific glutamate receptor. Additionally, Lrit1-null mice showed visual acuity impairments in their optokinetic responses. These results suggest that the Frmpd2-Lrit1-mGluR6 axis regulates selective synapse formation in cone photoreceptors and is essential for normal visual function. : Ueno et al. finds that Lrit1 plays an important role in regulating the synaptic connection between cone photoreceptors and cone ON-bipolar cells. The Frmpd2-Lrit1-mGluR6 axis is crucial for selective synapse formation in cone photoreceptors and for development of normal visual function. Keywords: retina, circuit, synapse formation, cone photoreceptor cell, ON-bipolar cell, visual acuity

  16. Marketing Information Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seale, Maura

    2013-01-01

    In 2012, more than a decade after the original Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (hereafter the Standards) were institutionalized as the goal of academic library instruction, the Information Literacy Competency Standards Review Task Force convened by ACRL recommended…

  17. Home Literacy Environments and Foundational Literacy Skills for Struggling and Nonstruggling Readers in Rural Early Elementary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tichnor-Wagner, Ariel; Garwood, Justin D.; Bratsch-Hines, Mary; Vernon-Feagans, Lynne

    2016-01-01

    Factors such as weak early literacy skills and living in poverty may put young students at risk for reading disabilities. While home literacy activities and access to literacy materials have been associated with positive reading outcomes for urban and suburban students, little is known about home literacy environments of rural early elementary…

  18. The importance of academic literacy for undergraduate nursing students and its relationship to future professional clinical practice: A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jefferies, Diana; McNally, Stephen; Roberts, Katriona; Wallace, Anna; Stunden, Annette; D'Souza, Suzanne; Glew, Paul

    2018-01-01

    This systematic review was designed to assess the importance of academic literacy for undergraduate nursing students and its relationship to future professional clinical practice. It aimed to explore the link between academic literacy and writing in an undergraduate nursing degree and the development of critical thinking skills for their future professional clinical practice. A systematic review of qualitative studies and expert opinion publications. A systematic literature search was undertaken of the following databases: ERIC, PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE and Scopus. All papers reviewed were from 2000 to 2016 and were written in English. We identified 981 studies and expert opinion papers from the selected databases. After reviewing key words and abstracts for the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 48 papers were selected for review. These were read and reread, with 22 papers, including one thesis, selected for quality appraisal. One paper was discarded due to the exclusion criteria. Three major themes were evident from this study. First, students need assistance to develop tertiary level academic literacy skills when they commence their undergraduate nursing degree. Second, that teaching practices need to be consistent in both designing assessments and in giving feedback to students, in order to assist improvement of academic literacy skills. And finally, academic literacy can facilitate critical thinking when students are assessed using discipline specific genres that relate to their future professional nursing practice. This review highlights the importance of critical thinking in clinical nursing practice and its strong relationship with academic writing skills. It has shown critical thinking is discipline specific and nursing students need to be taught discipline specific literacy genres in undergraduate nursing degrees. Nursing has a diverse educational and cultural mix of students, and educators should not assume academic literacy skills upon commencement of an

  19. Information Literacy: A Bogus Bandwagon?

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCrank, Lawrence J.

    1991-01-01

    Discusses the concept of information literacy and its target audience of library users. Topics discussed include the relationship of information literacy to bibliographic instruction (BI) and other library instruction; the role of librarians; terminology problems in librarianship; and the effects of information literacy on the value of information…

  20. The Value of Literacy Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esposito, Lucio; Kebede, Bereket; Maddox, Bryan

    2015-01-01

    The concepts of literacy events and practices have received considerable attention in educational research and policy. In comparison, the question of value, that is, "which literacy practices do people most value?" has been neglected. With the current trend of cross-cultural adult literacy assessment, it is increasingly important to…

  1. Literacy in an Information Society.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breivik, Patricia Senn

    1991-01-01

    Today's definition of literacy must include the ability to find and evaluate needed information. Proposes a national literacy agenda to change the way information is used in educational settings and provide greater access to expanding information resources. Considers information literacy a means of personal and national empowerment. (DMM)

  2. Visual attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, Karla K; Horowitz, Todd S; Howe, Piers; Pedersini, Roccardo; Reijnen, Ester; Pinto, Yair; Kuzmova, Yoana; Wolfe, Jeremy M

    2011-09-01

    A typical visual scene we encounter in everyday life is complex and filled with a huge amount of perceptual information. The term, 'visual attention' describes a set of mechanisms that limit some processing to a subset of incoming stimuli. Attentional mechanisms shape what we see and what we can act upon. They allow for concurrent selection of some (preferably, relevant) information and inhibition of other information. This selection permits the reduction of complexity and informational overload. Selection can be determined both by the 'bottom-up' saliency of information from the environment and by the 'top-down' state and goals of the perceiver. Attentional effects can take the form of modulating or enhancing the selected information. A central role for selective attention is to enable the 'binding' of selected information into unified and coherent representations of objects in the outside world. In the overview on visual attention presented here we review the mechanisms and consequences of selection and inhibition over space and time. We examine theoretical, behavioral and neurophysiologic work done on visual attention. We also discuss the relations between attention and other cognitive processes such as automaticity and awareness. WIREs Cogni Sci 2011 2 503-514 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.127 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  3. Adapting Practices of Science Journalism to Foster Science Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polman, Joseph L.; Newman, Alan; Saul, Ellen Wendy; Farrar, Cathy

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, the authors describe how the practices of expert science journalists enable them to act as "competent outsiders" to science. We assert that selected science journalism practices can be used to design reform-based science instruction; these practices not only foster science literacy that is useful in daily life, but also…

  4. An independent brain-computer interface using covert non-spatial visual selective attention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Dan; Maye, Alexander; Gao, Xiaorong; Hong, Bo; Engel, Andreas K.; Gao, Shangkai

    2010-02-01

    In this paper, a novel independent brain-computer interface (BCI) system based on covert non-spatial visual selective attention of two superimposed illusory surfaces is described. Perception of two superimposed surfaces was induced by two sets of dots with different colors rotating in opposite directions. The surfaces flickered at different frequencies and elicited distinguishable steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) over parietal and occipital areas of the brain. By selectively attending to one of the two surfaces, the SSVEP amplitude at the corresponding frequency was enhanced. An online BCI system utilizing the attentional modulation of SSVEP was implemented and a 3-day online training program with healthy subjects was carried out. The study was conducted with Chinese subjects at Tsinghua University, and German subjects at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) using identical stimulation software and equivalent technical setup. A general improvement of control accuracy with training was observed in 8 out of 18 subjects. An averaged online classification accuracy of 72.6 ± 16.1% was achieved on the last training day. The system renders SSVEP-based BCI paradigms possible for paralyzed patients with substantial head or ocular motor impairments by employing covert attention shifts instead of changing gaze direction.

  5. Literacy testing practices in transition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holm, Lars

    Literacy testing has been researched as a social practice from different perspectives (McNamara & Roewer, 2006; Shohamy, 2001). Drawing on a Faucault inspired concept og governmentality in which literacy testing practices are seen as social technologies (Dean, 1999) and as a phenomenon closely...... related to supra- and transnational agencies this paper investigates the relation between state, pedagogy and conceptualizations of literacy. Drawing on data and findings from three ethnographic oriented studies of institutional testing practices of literacy in preschool, primary school and adult second...... language teaching in Denmark (Holm, 2004; 2007; 2009) this paper reveals the construction of values, ideologies and practices around institutional testing of litaracy in education. The analyses of testing instruments and assessment practices indicate among other things that testing of literacy have become...

  6. Visual Input Enhances Selective Speech Envelope Tracking in Auditory Cortex at a ‘Cocktail Party’

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golumbic, Elana Zion; Cogan, Gregory B.; Schroeder, Charles E.; Poeppel, David

    2013-01-01

    Our ability to selectively attend to one auditory signal amidst competing input streams, epitomized by the ‘Cocktail Party’ problem, continues to stimulate research from various approaches. How this demanding perceptual feat is achieved from a neural systems perspective remains unclear and controversial. It is well established that neural responses to attended stimuli are enhanced compared to responses to ignored ones, but responses to ignored stimuli are nonetheless highly significant, leading to interference in performance. We investigated whether congruent visual input of an attended speaker enhances cortical selectivity in auditory cortex, leading to diminished representation of ignored stimuli. We recorded magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signals from human participants as they attended to segments of natural continuous speech. Using two complementary methods of quantifying the neural response to speech, we found that viewing a speaker’s face enhances the capacity of auditory cortex to track the temporal speech envelope of that speaker. This mechanism was most effective in a ‘Cocktail Party’ setting, promoting preferential tracking of the attended speaker, whereas without visual input no significant attentional modulation was observed. These neurophysiological results underscore the importance of visual input in resolving perceptual ambiguity in a noisy environment. Since visual cues in speech precede the associated auditory signals, they likely serve a predictive role in facilitating auditory processing of speech, perhaps by directing attentional resources to appropriate points in time when to-be-attended acoustic input is expected to arrive. PMID:23345218

  7. Spatiotemporal oscillatory dynamics of visual selective attention during a flanker task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDermott, Timothy J; Wiesman, Alex I; Proskovec, Amy L; Heinrichs-Graham, Elizabeth; Wilson, Tony W

    2017-08-01

    The flanker task is a test of visual selective attention that has been widely used to probe error monitoring, response conflict, and related constructs. However, to date, few studies have focused on the selective attention component of this task and imaged the underlying oscillatory dynamics serving task performance. In this study, 21 healthy adults successfully completed an arrow-based version of the Eriksen flanker task during magnetoencephalography (MEG). All MEG data were pre-processed and transformed into the time-frequency domain. Significant oscillatory brain responses were imaged using a beamforming approach, and voxel time series were extracted from the peak responses to identify the temporal dynamics. Across both congruent and incongruent flanker conditions, our results indicated robust decreases in alpha (9-12Hz) activity in medial and lateral occipital regions, bilateral parietal cortices, and cerebellar areas during task performance. In parallel, increases in theta (3-7Hz) oscillatory activity were detected in dorsal and ventral frontal regions, and the anterior cingulate. As per conditional effects, stronger alpha responses (i.e., greater desynchronization) were observed in parietal, occipital, and cerebellar cortices during incongruent relative to congruent trials, whereas the opposite pattern emerged for theta responses (i.e., synchronization) in the anterior cingulate, left dorsolateral prefrontal, and ventral prefrontal cortices. Interestingly, the peak latency of theta responses in these latter brain regions was significantly correlated with reaction time, and may partially explain the amplitude difference observed between congruent and incongruent trials. Lastly, whole-brain exploratory analyses implicated the frontal eye fields, right temporoparietal junction, and premotor cortices. These findings suggest that regions of both the dorsal and ventral attention networks contribute to visual selective attention processes during incongruent trials

  8. Health Literacy and Education Predict Nutrient Quality of Diet of Socioeconomically Diverse, Urban Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuczmarski, Marie F; Adams, Erica L; Cotugna, Nancy; Pohlig, Ryan T; Beydoun, May A; Zonderman, Alan B; Evans, Michele K

    2016-01-01

    Research has shown that health literacy may be a stronger predictor of health than age, employment status, education level, race, and income. Evidence supports a strong link between low health literacy and poor dietary management of chronic diseases. The aim was to evaluate the relationship of micronutrient quality of diet, health numeracy and health literacy in White and African American adults randomly selected from 13 Baltimore neighborhoods. Cross-sectional analysis of Wave 3 (2009-2013) of the longitudinal Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study initiated in 2004. Health literacy was measured using the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM). Health numeracy was measured using the numeracy subscale of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA). Nutrient-based diet quality was measured using Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR-S) scores calculated from 17 micronutrients from diet plus dietary supplement intake. The relationship of MAR-S scores to the health literacy measures were explored with multiple ordinary least square regression models, adjusting for a number of potential confounders. REALM but not numeracy was associated with MAR-S; significant covariates included age, current cigarette smoking status, and energy intake. The interactions of race and educational attainment, and REALM and educational attainment were significant, with the relationship between REALM and MAR-S becoming stronger as education level increased. There is a synergistic relationship between health literacy and educational attainment in predicting nutrient-based diet quality. Education was a stronger predictor for Whites compared to African Americans emphasizing the need for health professionals to focus on both education and literacy when creating and providing diet and health-related interventions and resources.

  9. Validating an electronic health literacy scale in an older hispanic population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aponte, Judith; Nokes, Kathleen M

    2017-09-01

    To examine the validity of the Spanish version of an instrument used to measure electronic health literacy (eHEALS) with an older Hispanic population from a number of Spanish-language countries living in New York City in the United States (US). Although the Internet is available globally, complex skills are needed to use this source of valuable health-related information effectively. Electronic health literacy is a multifactorial concept that includes health literacy but also requires technology skills. Cross-sectional. Recruitment occurred at a Senior Organization located in a largely Hispanic neighbourhood in New York City (N = 100). Participants completed eHEALS and selected items from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) which assesses how adults use different communication channels, including the Internet, to obtain vital health information. Data from the US HINTS sample (N = 162) were matched to the Senior Organization sample on age range and Hispanic ethnicity. The average Senior Organization participant was 68 years old, female, born in one of six different Spanish-language countries, and completed high school while the average HINTS participant was 67 years old, female and had high school or less education. Although there was no relationship with the two HINTS subscales and electronic health literacy, there were significant relationships between electronic health literacy and health status and confidence in self-care. Inadequate electronic health literacy is a barrier to positive health outcomes. The Spanish version of eHEALS could be used as a screening instrument to identify gaps and tailored interventions could be developed to increase consumer confidence in using the Internet for reliable health-related information. Knowledge in self-management is related to positive health outcomes; all persons irrespective of their electronic health literacy should be able to use all sources of health information to enhance their self-care.

  10. Literacy events during science instruction in a fifth-grade classroom: Listening to teacher and student voices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deal, Debby

    Concern with science literacy and how to achieve it has a long history in our education system. The goals and definitions established by the National Science Education Standards (1996) suggest that if we are to successfully prepare students for the information age, science education must blend the natural and social sciences. However, research indicates that connections between hands-on science and literacy, as a tool for processing information, do not regularly occur during school science instruction. This case study explored the use of literacy by a second year teacher in a fifth grade class during consecutive science units on chemistry and liquids. The research questions focused on how and why the teacher and students used literacy during science and how and why the teacher and selected focus students believed literacy influenced their learning in science. Data was collected through classroom observations and multiple interviews with the teacher and selected focus students. Interview data was analyzed and coded using an iterative process. Field notes and student artifacts were used to triangulate the data. The study found that the teacher and students used reading and writing to record and acquire content knowledge, learn to be organized, and to facilitate assessment. Although the teacher had learned content literacy strategies in her pre-service program, she did not implement them in the classroom and her practice seemed to reflect her limited science content knowledge and understanding of the nature of science. The focus students believed that recording and studying notes, reading books, drawing, and reading study guides helped them learn science. The findings suggest the following implications: (1) More data is needed on the relationship between teaching approach, science content knowledge, and beliefs about science. (2) Elementary student voices make a valuable contribution to our understanding of science learning. (3) Pre-service candidates should have

  11. Priming and the guidance by visual and categorical templates in visual search

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna eWilschut

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Visual search is thought to be guided by top-down templates that are held in visual working memory. Previous studies have shown that a search-guiding template can be rapidly and strongly implemented from a visual cue, whereas templates are less effective when based on categorical cues. Direct visual priming from cue to target may underlie this difference. In two experiments we first asked observers to remember two possible target colors. A postcue then indicated which of the two would be the relevant color. The task was to locate a briefly presented and masked target of the cued color among irrelevant distractor items. Experiment 1 showed that overall search accuracy improved more rapidly on the basis of a direct visual postcue that carried the target color, compared to a neutral postcue that pointed to the memorized color. However, selectivity towards the target feature, i.e. the extent to which observers searched selectively among items of the cued versus uncued color, was found to be relatively unaffected by the presence of the visual signal. In Experiment 2 we compared search that was based on either visual or categorical information, but now controlled for direct visual priming. This resulted in no differences in overall performance nor selectivity. Altogether the results suggest that perceptual processing of visual search targets is facilitated by priming from visual cues, whereas attentional selectivity is enhanced by a working memory template that can formed from both visual and categorical input. Furthermore, if the priming is controlled for, categorical- and visual-based templates similarly enhance search guidance.

  12. Priming and the guidance by visual and categorical templates in visual search.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilschut, Anna; Theeuwes, Jan; Olivers, Christian N L

    2014-01-01

    Visual search is thought to be guided by top-down templates that are held in visual working memory. Previous studies have shown that a search-guiding template can be rapidly and strongly implemented from a visual cue, whereas templates are less effective when based on categorical cues. Direct visual priming from cue to target may underlie this difference. In two experiments we first asked observers to remember two possible target colors. A postcue then indicated which of the two would be the relevant color. The task was to locate a briefly presented and masked target of the cued color among irrelevant distractor items. Experiment 1 showed that overall search accuracy improved more rapidly on the basis of a direct visual postcue that carried the target color, compared to a neutral postcue that pointed to the memorized color. However, selectivity toward the target feature, i.e., the extent to which observers searched selectively among items of the cued vs. uncued color, was found to be relatively unaffected by the presence of the visual signal. In Experiment 2 we compared search that was based on either visual or categorical information, but now controlled for direct visual priming. This resulted in no differences in overall performance nor selectivity. Altogether the results suggest that perceptual processing of visual search targets is facilitated by priming from visual cues, whereas attentional selectivity is enhanced by a working memory template that can formed from both visual and categorical input. Furthermore, if the priming is controlled for, categorical- and visual-based templates similarly enhance search guidance.

  13. Literacy in India and the Example of Kerala (Changes in Literacy).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chandran, K. Narayana

    1994-01-01

    Discusses the National Literacy Mission (NLM) launched in 1988 in India. Notes the barriers to successful campaigns for literacy in India. Describes the reasons for the particularly successful campaign in the state of Kerala, including the fact that it was in every sense a people's campaign. (SR)

  14. Economic literacy amongst the secondary school teachers in Perak Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nek Kamal Yeop Yunus, Norasibah Abdul Jalil

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between economics education exposure, saving, expenditure, investment and economics literacy amongst teachers in secondary schools in Perak. The theoretical framework was designed based on the literature and hence five hypotheses for the study were formulated. The samples were selected by quota sampling methods. The data were collected by distributing structured 35 items questionnaires to 100 teachers in secondary schools in eight districts in Perak. The instrument was adapted form Leader Behaviour Description Questionnaires which were used to measure economic literacy. Only 60 questionnaires were returned and analysed which gave 60% respond rate. Data collected were sorted out and keyed in into SPSS version 17. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics to answer the research questions. The result of the analyses showed that there was significant relationship between economics education and its predictors. Together the independent variables explained 81.7% of the variance in the dependent variables. The remaining 18.3% was due to unidentified variables. In relation to that, the study had contributed some knowledge about the understanding of economic of literacy. For future research, it is recommended that other than the above variables might influence economic literacy perhaps with a bigger samples and wider scope.

  15. Age-Related Changes in Selective Attention and Perceptual Load During Visual Search

    OpenAIRE

    Madden, David J.; Langley, Linda K.

    2003-01-01

    Three visual search experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that age differences in selective attention vary as a function of perceptual load (E. A. Maylor & N. Lavie, 1998). Under resource-limited conditions (Experiments 1 and 2), the distraction from irrelevant display items generally decreased as display size (perceptual load) increased. This perceptual load effect was similar for younger and older adults, contrary to the findings of Maylor and Lavie. Distraction at low perceptua...

  16. literacy.ca EXPRESS. April 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Movement for Canadian Literacy, 2010

    2010-01-01

    This issue of "literacy.ca EXPRESS" focuses on poverty. The articles included in this issue are: (1) Poverty Overview; (2) Tony's Story; (3) LAN (Learner Advisory Network) Member's Story (Dianne Smith); (4) Linking Adult Literacy to Poverty Reduction; (5) MCL (Movement for Canadian Literacy) Update; (6) Highlights from the LAN; (7) Good…

  17. A mental model for successful inter-disciplinary collaboration in curriculum innovation for information literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Detken Scheepers

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The University of Pretoria introduced a compulsory Information Literacy module to address the need for delivering motivated knowledgeable employees that embrace information and have the skills to find, select and use relevant information accurately, efficiently and effectively in an explosive information age. Low class attendance, an indication of unmotivated students, as well as the limited scholarly application of information literacy skills in consecutive academic years of study have been identified as possible barriers to the application of the desired skills. A collaborative action research project based on Whole Brain principles was introduced to motivate learners through innovative learning material in the module. A deeper understanding of the role of thinking preferences and thinking avoidances is essential in selecting a team that is responsible for the planning, design, development and delivery of learning opportunities and material. This article discusses the Whole Brain Model® as a mental model that underpins the successful collaboration of multidisciplinary teams and enhances innovative curriculum design that addresses alternative approaches to the teaching of Information Literacy.

  18. Computer Literacy Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    1989-01-01

    Cognitive Aspect ," AEDS Journal, 18, 3 (Spring 1985) 150. "°Geoffrey Akst, "Computer Literacy: An Interview with Dr. Michael Hoban." Journal of Develop- m...1984. Cheng, Tina T.; Plake, Barbara; and Stevens, Dorothy Jo. "A Validation Study of the Computer Literacy Examination: Cognitive Aspect ." AEDS

  19. Literacy Practices and Linguistic Choices: A Sociocultural Study of a Multilingual Adult Literacy Student Group.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, Stephen R.; Thorp, Kay

    The report describes a study of a multilingual group of six adult literacy students, five women and one man, enrolled in an English literacy class at an Australian college. Subjects' countries of origin include Afghanistan, Indonesia/China, Lebanon, Iran, and China. The study examined factors affecting subjects' daily literacy practices and…

  20. Splitting Attention across the Two Visual Fields in Visual Short-Term Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delvenne, Jean-Francois; Holt, Jessica L.

    2012-01-01

    Humans have the ability to attentionally select the most relevant visual information from their extrapersonal world and to retain it in a temporary buffer, known as visual short-term memory (VSTM). Research suggests that at least two non-contiguous items can be selected simultaneously when they are distributed across the two visual hemifields. In…

  1. The Association of Health Literacy and Electronic Health Literacy With Self-Efficacy, Coping, and Caregiving Perceptions Among Carers of People With Dementia: Research Protocol for a Descriptive Correlational Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Efthymiou, Areti; Middleton, Nicos; Charalambous, Andreas; Papastavrou, Evridiki

    2017-11-13

    In the last decade, electronic health (eHealth) literacy has attracted the attention of the scientific community, as it is associated with the self-management of patients with chronic diseases and the quality and cost of care. It is estimated that 80% of people with chronic diseases are cared for at home by a family member, friend, or relative. Informal carers are susceptible to physical and mental health problems, as well as social and financial hardships. Nevertheless, there seems to be a research gap in terms of carers' needs, skills, and available resources in the age of new technologies, with the vital role of eHealth literacy of the carers remaining unexplored. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of eHealth literacy and health literacy of primary and secondary carers of people with dementia, to explore the association between health and eHealth literacy, as well as their association with the caregiving variables: self-efficacy, coping, and caring perceptions. A sample of 200 primary carers (the carer who supports the people with dementia in everyday living) and 200 secondary carers (family member, friend, or other person in the social network assisting the primary carer in their role) will be recruited from dementia day care centers and Alzheimer's associations in Greece and Cyprus. The study will be a cross-sectional correlational descriptive study. Tools to be used include the eHealth Literacy Scale adapted for carers to measure eHealth literacy, European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire 16 (HLS-EU-Q16), Single Item Literacy Screener, Revised Scale for Caregiving Self-Efficacy, Carers of Older People in Europe (COPE) index for caregiving perceptions, and COPE brief to measure selected coping strategies. Descriptive statistics will be reported, and correlations between different variables will be explored with parametric and nonparametric measures. As a preliminary study, the HLS-EU-Q16 has been validated in 107 older people. The internal

  2. What's More Important--Literacy or Content? Confronting the Literacy-Content Dualism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Draper, Roni Jo; Smith, Leigh K.; Hall, Kendra M.; Siebert, Daniel

    2005-01-01

    The literacy-content dualism, which suggests that teachers must decide whether to provide literacy or content instruction, is a false dualism and adherence to it is detrimental to student participation in content-area reasoning, learning, and communicating. This article describes the experiences that prompted the teacher educators who authored…

  3. Measuring Practicing Clinicians’ Information Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barboza, Katherine; Jensen, Ashley E.; Bennett, Katelyn J.; Sherman, Scott E.; Schwartz, Mark D.

    2017-01-01

    Summary Background As healthcare moves towards technology-driven population health management, clinicians must adopt complex digital platforms to access health information and document care. Objectives This study explored information literacy, a set of skills required to effectively navigate population health information systems, among primary care providers in one Veterans’ Affairs (VA) medical center. Methods Information literacy was assessed during an 8-month randomized trial that tested a population health (panel) management intervention. Providers were asked about their use and comfort with two VA digital tools for panel management at baseline, 16 weeks, and post-intervention. An 8-item scale (range 0-40) was used to measure information literacy (Cronbach’s a=0.84). Scores between study arms and provider types were compared using paired t-tests and ANOVAs. Associations between self-reported digital tool use and information literacy were measured via Pearson’s correlations. Results Providers showed moderate levels of information literacy (M= 27.4, SD 6.5). There were no significant differences in mean information literacy between physicians (M=26.4, SD 6.7) and nurses (M=30.5, SD 5.2, p=0.57 for difference), or between intervention (M=28.4, SD 6.5) and control groups (M=25.1, SD 6.2, p=0.12 for difference). Information literacy was correlated with higher rates of self-reported information system usage (r=0.547, p=0.001). Clinicians identified data access, accuracy, and interpretability as potential information literacy barriers. Conclusions While exploratory in nature, cautioning generalizability, the study suggests that measuring and improving clinicians’ information literacy may play a significant role in the implementation and use of digital information tools, as these tools are rapidly being deployed to enhance communication among care teams, improve health care outcomes, and reduce overall costs. PMID:28197620

  4. Web-Based Inquiry Learning: Facilitating Thoughtful Literacy with WebQuests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ikpeze, Chinwe H.; Boyd, Fenice B.

    2007-01-01

    An action research study investigated how the multiple tasks found in WebQuests facilitate fifth-grade students' literacy skills and higher order thinking. Findings indicate that WebQuests are most successful when activities are carefully selected and systematically delivered. Implications for teaching include the necessity for adequate planning,…

  5. Body-selective areas in the visual cortex are less active in children than in adults

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ross, Paddy D.; de Gelder, Beatrice; Crabbe, Frances; Grosbras, Marie-Helene

    2014-01-01

    Our ability to read other people's non-verbal signals gets refined throughout childhood and adolescence. How this is paralleled by brain development has been investigated mainly with regards to face perception, showing a protracted functional development of the face-selective visual cortical areas.

  6. Commercial Literacy Software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balajthy, Ernest

    1997-01-01

    Presents the first year's results of a continuing project to monitor the availability of software of relevance for literacy education purposes. Concludes there is an enormous amount of software available for use by teachers of reading and literacy--whereas drill-and-practice software is the largest category of software available, large numbers of…

  7. Levels of Literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nettle, Keith

    Democracy in western countries now depends on literacy at every level: censuses by which governments can plan for the future; elections which are the cornerstone of democratic choice; local meetings which have agendas and minutes--the whole apparatus of social living is organized and recorded through literacy. This paper is concerned with how…

  8. The relationship between health, education, and health literacy: results from the Dutch Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Heide, Iris; Wang, Jen; Droomers, Mariël; Spreeuwenberg, Peter; Rademakers, Jany; Uiters, Ellen

    2013-01-01

    Health literacy has been put forward as a potential mechanism explaining the well-documented relationship between education and health. However, little empirical research has been undertaken to explore this hypothesis. The present study aims to study whether health literacy could be a pathway by which level of education affects health status. Health literacy was measured by the Health Activities and Literacy Scale, using data from a subsample of 5,136 adults between the ages of 25 and 65 years, gathered within the context of the 2007 Dutch Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey. Linear regression analyses were used in separate models to estimate the extent to which health literacy mediates educational disparities in self-reported general health, physical health status, and mental health status as measured by the Short Form-12. Health literacy was found to partially mediate the association between low education and low self-reported health status. As such, improving health literacy may be a useful strategy for reducing disparities in health related to education, as health literacy appears to play a role in explaining the underlying mechanism driving the relationship between low level of education and poor health.

  9. Boys' Literacy Development: Navigating the Intersection of Popular Culture, New Literacies, and High-Stakes Assessments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeung, Daniel; Curwood, Jen Scott

    2015-01-01

    Prior scholarship suggests that many boys are disengaged from school-based literacy because they do not see its value or significance in their lives. In response, this study investigates the role of popular culture and new literacies in motivating adolescent boys within secondary English. Drawing on sociocultural approaches to literacy research,…

  10. The association between expressive grammar intervention and social and emergent literacy outcomes for preschoolers with SLI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Washington, Karla N

    2013-02-01

    To determine whether (a) expressive grammar intervention facilitated social and emergent literacy outcomes better than no intervention and (b) expressive grammar gains and/or initial expressive grammar level predicted social and emergent literacy outcomes. This investigation was a follow-up to a recently published study exploring the impact of grammatical language intervention on expressive grammar outcomes for preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI). Twenty-two 3- to 5-year-old preschoolers received ten 20-minute intervention sessions addressing primary deficits in grammatical morphology. Participants' social and emergent literacy skills were not targeted. Twelve children awaiting intervention, chosen from the same selection pool as intervention participants, served as controls. Blind assessments of social and emergent literacy outcomes were completed at preintervention, immediately postintervention, and 3 months postintervention. Only intervention participants experienced significant gains in social and emergent literacy outcomes and maintained these gains for 3 months postintervention. Expressive grammar gains was the only single significant predictor of these outcomes. Expressive grammar intervention was associated with broad impacts on social and emergent literacy outcomes that were maintained beyond the intervention period. Gains in expressive grammar predicted these outcomes. Social and emergent literacy skills were positively affected for preschoolers with SLI during a grammatical language intervention program.

  11. Modulation of human extrastriate visual processing by selective attention to colours and words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nobre, A C; Allison, T; McCarthy, G

    1998-07-01

    The present study investigated the effect of visual selective attention upon neural processing within functionally specialized regions of the human extrastriate visual cortex. Field potentials were recorded directly from the inferior surface of the temporal lobes in subjects with epilepsy. The experimental task required subjects to focus attention on words from one of two competing texts. Words were presented individually and foveally. Texts were interleaved randomly and were distinguishable on the basis of word colour. Focal field potentials were evoked by words in the posterior part of the fusiform gyrus. Selective attention strongly modulated long-latency potentials evoked by words. The attention effect co-localized with word-related potentials in the posterior fusiform gyrus, and was independent of stimulus colour. The results demonstrated that stimuli receive differential processing within specialized regions of the extrastriate cortex as a function of attention. The late onset of the attention effect and its co-localization with letter string-related potentials but not with colour-related potentials recorded from nearby regions of the fusiform gyrus suggest that the attention effect is due to top-down influences from downstream regions involved in word processing.

  12. Specific and Nonspecific Neural Activity during Selective Processing of Visual Representations in Working Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Hwamee; Leung, Hoi-Chung

    2010-01-01

    In this fMRI study, we investigated prefrontal cortex (PFC) and visual association regions during selective information processing. We recorded behavioral responses and neural activity during a delayed recognition task with a cue presented during the delay period. A specific cue ("Face" or "Scene") was used to indicate which one of the two…

  13. Rural Media Literacy: Youth Documentary Videomaking as a Rural Literacy Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pyles, Damiana Gibbons

    2016-01-01

    Through an analysis of a corpus of youth-produced documentary video data collected at a youth media arts organization in rural Appalachia, I explore how these rural youth engaged in media literacy practices through creating documentary videos about themselves and their community. Using a theoretical foundation in literacies research, especially…

  14. Literacy for the New Millennium. Volume 4: Adult Literacy. Praeger Perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guzzetti, Barbara J., Ed.

    2007-01-01

    Living in an age of communication, literacy is an extremely integral part of our society. We are impacted by literature during our infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. "Literacy for the New Millennium" includes information from specialists in the field who discuss the influence of popular culture, media, and technology on…

  15. Early Auditory Evoked Potential Is Modulated by Selective Attention and Related to Individual Differences in Visual Working Memory Capacity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giuliano, Ryan J.; Karns, Christina M.; Neville, Helen J.; Hillyard, Steven A.

    2015-01-01

    A growing body of research suggests that the predictive power of working memory (WM) capacity for measures of intellectual aptitude is due to the ability to control attention and select relevant information. Crucially, attentional mechanisms implicated in controlling access to WM are assumed to be domain-general, yet reports of enhanced attentional abilities in individuals with larger WM capacities are primarily within the visual domain. Here, we directly test the link between WM capacity and early attentional gating across sensory domains, hypothesizing that measures of visual WM capacity should predict an individual’s capacity to allocate auditory selective attention. To address this question, auditory ERPs were recorded in a linguistic dichotic listening task, and individual differences in ERP modulations by attention were correlated with estimates of WM capacity obtained in a separate visual change detection task. Auditory selective attention enhanced ERP amplitudes at an early latency (ca. 70–90 msec), with larger P1 components elicited by linguistic probes embedded in an attended narrative. Moreover, this effect was associated with greater individual estimates of visual WM capacity. These findings support the view that domain-general attentional control mechanisms underlie the wide variation of WM capacity across individuals. PMID:25000526

  16. Community oral health literacy: improving use of oral-health care guarantee in children aged 6.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marco Cornejo-Ovalle

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available The assessment of comprehensive oral health care for children aged 6 (GES-6years showed low utilization of this guarantee, with lower use for children from municipal public schools. The empowerment and health literacy of parents improve their role as oral-health promoters for their children. Objective: To implement and to assess a strategy of empowerment and health literacy of the community about their guaranteed health rights to increase the use of GES-6years. Methods: A mixed design. Using qualitative methodology we will design a communication tool, culturally and socially appropriate to be sent to the beneficiary community of this guarantee. Using a nonrandomized community trial, this instrument designed to empower and improve oral health literacy on GES-6 guarantee, will be sent as personalized letter (intervention signed by the mayor of the municipality with a message aimed to children beneficiaries for GES -6years and another addressed to their parents/guardians. Schools would be selected from clusters (communes of the two regions selected for convenience. Communes will be randomly selected amog those whose authorities agree to participate, and will be selected as for intervention or control. Data analysis will assess the differences in the prevalence of use of this guarantee among children from municipal schools belonging to the intervention or control arm.

  17. A Historical Reflection on Literacy, Gender and Opportunity: Implications for the Teaching of Literacy in Early Childhood Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levy, Rachael

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents a historical reflection on gender and literacy, with a view to informing the present teaching of literacy in early childhood. The relationship between gender, literacy and opportunity in the labour market is examined, given that despite girls' achievement in literacy, in comparison with boys', women continue to earn…

  18. The Comprehensive Emergent Literacy Model

    OpenAIRE

    Leigh Rohde

    2015-01-01

    The early skills of Emergent Literacy include the knowledge and abilities related to the alphabet, phonological awareness, symbolic representation, and communication. However, existing models of emergent literacy focus on discrete skills and miss the perspective of the surrounding environment. Early literacy skills, including their relationship to one another, and the substantial impact of the setting and context, are ...

  19. Developing visual images for communicating information aboutantiretroviral side effects to a low-literate population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dowse, Ros; Ramela, Thato; Barford, Kirsty-Lee; Browne, Sara

    2010-09-01

    The side effects of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy are linked to altered quality of life and adherence. Poor adherence has also been associated with low health-literacy skills, with an uninformed patient more likely to make ARV-related decisions that compromise the efficacy of the treatment. Low literacy skills disempower patients in interactions with healthcare providers and preclude the use of existing written patient information materials, which are generally written at a high reading level. Visual images or pictograms used as a counselling tool or included in patient information leaflets have been shown to improve patients' knowledge, particularly in low-literate groups. The objective of this study was to design visuals or pictograms illustrating various ARV side effects and to evaluate them in a low-literate South African Xhosa population. Core images were generated either from a design workshop or from posed photos or images from textbooks. The research team worked closely with a graphic artist. Initial versions of the images were discussed and assessed in group discussions, and then modified and eventually evaluated quantitatively in individual interviews with 40 participants who each had a maximum of 10 years of schooling. The familiarity of the human body, its facial expressions, postures and actions contextualised the information and contributed to the participants' understanding. Visuals that were simple, had a clear central focus and reflected familiar body experiences (e.g. vomiting) were highly successful. The introduction of abstract elements (e.g. fever) and metaphorical images (e.g. nightmares) presented problems for interpretation, particularly to those with the lowest educational levels. We recommend that such visual images should be designed in collaboration with the target population and a graphic artist, taking cognisance of the audience's literacy skills and culture, and should employ a multistage iterative process of modification and

  20. Learn about Health Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Submit What's this? Submit Button What is Health Literacy? Recommend on Facebook Tweet Share Compartir Low Resolution ... and services to make appropriate health decisions. Health Literacy Capacity and Skills Capacity is the potential a ...

  1. Take II--Information Literacy: Revolution in Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breivik, Patricia Senn

    1999-01-01

    Discussion of information literacy focuses on resource-based learning. Considers library instruction versus information literacy; documenting value added; the workforce and information literacy; user-friendly library systems; and educational reform. Information literacy standards, endorsed by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL)…

  2. Information Literacy

    OpenAIRE

    Basili, Carla

    2015-01-01

    Information literacy is a concept which is well established in theory while in practice it is only slowly breaking ground in accordance with the understanding of its significance and the possibilities of its realisation. Based on fundamental works, the characteristics of information literacy, its cognitive foundations and significance for individuals as well as for society, are argumented in the article. The analyzed content of this concept is connected with the content of a librarian’s knowl...

  3. Synaptic Basis for Differential Orientation Selectivity between Complex and Simple Cells in Mouse Visual Cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ya-tang; Liu, Bao-hua; Chou, Xiao-lin; Zhang, Li I; Tao, Huizhong W

    2015-08-05

    In the primary visual cortex (V1), orientation-selective neurons can be categorized into simple and complex cells primarily based on their receptive field (RF) structures. In mouse V1, although previous studies have examined the excitatory/inhibitory interplay underlying orientation selectivity (OS) of simple cells, the synaptic bases for that of complex cells have remained obscure. Here, by combining in vivo loose-patch and whole-cell recordings, we found that complex cells, identified by their overlapping on/off subfields, had significantly weaker OS than simple cells at both spiking and subthreshold membrane potential response levels. Voltage-clamp recordings further revealed that although excitatory inputs to complex and simple cells exhibited a similar degree of OS, inhibition in complex cells was more narrowly tuned than excitation, whereas in simple cells inhibition was more broadly tuned than excitation. The differential inhibitory tuning can primarily account for the difference in OS between complex and simple cells. Interestingly, the differential synaptic tuning correlated well with the spatial organization of synaptic input: the inhibitory visual RF in complex cells was more elongated in shape than its excitatory counterpart and also was more elongated than that in simple cells. Together, our results demonstrate that OS of complex and simple cells is differentially shaped by cortical inhibition based on its orientation tuning profile relative to excitation, which is contributed at least partially by the spatial organization of RFs of presynaptic inhibitory neurons. Simple and complex cells, two classes of principal neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1), are generally thought to be equally selective for orientation. In mouse V1, we report that complex cells, identified by their overlapping on/off subfields, has significantly weaker orientation selectivity (OS) than simple cells. This can be primarily attributed to the differential tuning selectivity

  4. Sleep deprivation impairs object-selective attention: a view from the ventral visual cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Julian; Tan, Jiat Chow; Parimal, Sarayu; Dinges, David F; Chee, Michael W L

    2010-02-05

    Most prior studies on selective attention in the setting of total sleep deprivation (SD) have focused on behavior or activation within fronto-parietal cognitive control areas. Here, we evaluated the effects of SD on the top-down biasing of activation of ventral visual cortex and on functional connectivity between cognitive control and other brain regions. Twenty-three healthy young adult volunteers underwent fMRI after a normal night of sleep (RW) and after sleep deprivation in a counterbalanced manner while performing a selective attention task. During this task, pictures of houses or faces were randomly interleaved among scrambled images. Across different blocks, volunteers responded to house but not face pictures, face but not house pictures, or passively viewed pictures without responding. The appearance of task-relevant pictures was unpredictable in this paradigm. SD resulted in less accurate detection of target pictures without affecting the mean false alarm rate or response time. In addition to a reduction of fronto-parietal activation, attending to houses strongly modulated parahippocampal place area (PPA) activation during RW, but this attention-driven biasing of PPA activation was abolished following SD. Additionally, SD resulted in a significant decrement in functional connectivity between the PPA and two cognitive control areas, the left intraparietal sulcus and the left inferior frontal lobe. SD impairs selective attention as evidenced by reduced selectivity in PPA activation. Further, reduction in fronto-parietal and ventral visual task-related activation suggests that it also affects sustained attention. Reductions in functional connectivity may be an important additional imaging parameter to consider in characterizing the effects of sleep deprivation on cognition.

  5. Sleep deprivation impairs object-selective attention: a view from the ventral visual cortex.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julian Lim

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Most prior studies on selective attention in the setting of total sleep deprivation (SD have focused on behavior or activation within fronto-parietal cognitive control areas. Here, we evaluated the effects of SD on the top-down biasing of activation of ventral visual cortex and on functional connectivity between cognitive control and other brain regions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Twenty-three healthy young adult volunteers underwent fMRI after a normal night of sleep (RW and after sleep deprivation in a counterbalanced manner while performing a selective attention task. During this task, pictures of houses or faces were randomly interleaved among scrambled images. Across different blocks, volunteers responded to house but not face pictures, face but not house pictures, or passively viewed pictures without responding. The appearance of task-relevant pictures was unpredictable in this paradigm. SD resulted in less accurate detection of target pictures without affecting the mean false alarm rate or response time. In addition to a reduction of fronto-parietal activation, attending to houses strongly modulated parahippocampal place area (PPA activation during RW, but this attention-driven biasing of PPA activation was abolished following SD. Additionally, SD resulted in a significant decrement in functional connectivity between the PPA and two cognitive control areas, the left intraparietal sulcus and the left inferior frontal lobe. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: SD impairs selective attention as evidenced by reduced selectivity in PPA activation. Further, reduction in fronto-parietal and ventral visual task-related activation suggests that it also affects sustained attention. Reductions in functional connectivity may be an important additional imaging parameter to consider in characterizing the effects of sleep deprivation on cognition.

  6. Visual Representations of Academic Misconduct: Enhancing Information Literacy Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivancic, Sonia R.; Hosek, Angela M.

    2017-01-01

    Courses: This unit activity is suited for courses with research and source citation components, such as the Basic Communication; Interpersonal, and Organizational Communication courses. Objectives: Students will (a) visually interpret and analyze instances of plagiarism; (b) revise their work to use proper citations and reduce instances of…

  7. Limits of selection against cheaters: birds prioritise visual fruit advertisement over taste.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Zhen; Schaefer, H Martin

    2014-04-01

    The concept of biological markets aims to explain how organisms interact with each other. Market theory predicts that organisms choose the most rewarding partner in mutualisms. However, partner choice may also be influenced by advertisement which may not be reliable. In seed dispersal mutualism, we analysed whether seed dispersers prioritise taste cues over visual advertisement to select the most rewarding fruits and whether they select against partners with unreliable advertisement. We conducted experiments on black elder (Sambucus nigra), a species of which the colours of the peduncles match the sugar content of their fruits. We created infructescences the colours of which matched or mismatched the sugar content of their fruits. There was no selection against cheaters in the field or by captive blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) as seed dispersers. Blackcaps were constrained to select against unreliable advertisement because they swallowed fruits entirely and thus did not obtain an immediate feedback by taste. Instead, blackcaps selected fruits according to the colour variation of red peduncles. Overall, we suggest that the concept of constraints should be incorporated into biological markets. We further contend that biological markets can be more complex than currently acknowledged because a moderate degree of reliability occurred in black elder even in the absence of selection against cheaters.

  8. Health Literacy and Older Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chesser, Amy K.; Keene Woods, Nikki; Smothers, Kyle; Rogers, Nicole

    2016-01-01

    Objective: The objective of this review was to assess published literature relating to health literacy and older adults. Method: The current review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses. Results: Eight articles met inclusion criteria. All studies were conducted in urban settings in the United States. Study sample size ranged from 33 to 3,000 participants. Two studies evaluated health-related outcomes and reported significant associations between low health literacy and poorer health outcomes. Two other studies investigated the impact of health literacy on medication management, reporting mixed findings. Discussion: The findings of this review highlight the importance of working to improve health care strategies for older adults with low health literacy and highlight the need for a standardized and validated clinical health literacy screening tool for older adults. PMID:28138488

  9. Health Literacy Assessment in an Otolaryngology Clinic Population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Megwalu, Uchechukwu C; Lee, Jennifer Y

    2016-12-01

    To assess health literacy in an adult tertiary care otolaryngology clinic population and to explore potential determinants of inadequate health literacy. Cross-sectional study. Tertiary care otolaryngology clinic. The study population included all adult patients treated at 3 of Stanford University's adult otolaryngology clinic sites between March 1 and 11, 2016. Data were collected via an anonymous questionnaire. Health literacy was assessed with the Brief Health Literacy Screen. Ten percent of patients had inadequate health literacy. White race (odds ratio [OR], 0.23) and having English as the primary language (OR, 0.12) were associated with adequate health literacy, while high school or lower level of education (OR, 3.2) was associated with inadequate health literacy. Age, sex, and Hispanic ethnicity were not associated with health literacy. Our study highlights the need for health literacy screening in the otolaryngology clinic setting and identifies sociodemographic risk factors for inadequate health literacy. Further studies are needed to assess the impact of health literacy on patient outcomes and to test specific interventions to address health literacy and health outcomes. © American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2016.

  10. Visual communication materials for rural audiences: re-orienting artists and copy-writers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, P

    1989-01-01

    An agency of the Indian government cooperated with a United Nations Children Fund to produce posters for the child survival and development program in India. To make the posters and other visual communications more effective a workshop was planned for the artists, visualizers, and copywriters. Previous experience had shown that some visual materials were not always oriented to the local contexts and villages often misinterpreted the messages of these materials. The 12 day workshop was designed to assist artists to better understand the audiences needs. there had been little pretesting of art work for health communication and no consideration of the visual literacy of the audience. The first project in the workshop consisted of artists and copywriters visiting villages to pretest posters presently in circulation. After some reservations they quickly found that the villagers perception of the posters was entirely different than the message being conveyed. By going back and getting the villagers perceptions of common sights related to maternal and child health, the artist could better prepare communication materials. They also collected basic sociological data at each village. New posters were then prepared with the help of inputs from midwives, nurses, and other health care workers. By pretesting these materials again they were able to clarify the messages, and repeated testing showed the posters were more understandable. The participants in the workshop found that visual communications materials demand proper understanding of the subject matter and the audience. Pretesting of materials is necessary before production, and changes should be made to reflect the local culture and surroundings. Posters for rural illiterate audiences should have the minimum written text needed and visual literacy must be assessed.

  11. Functional literacy of Young Guyanese Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jennings, Zellyne

    2000-05-01

    Functional literacy is interpreted as the ability of the individual to apply skills in reading, writing, calculation and basic problem-solving in those activities in which literacy is required for effective functioning in his/her own group and community. The paper describes the rationale, development and administration of the test used for measuring levels (high, moderate, low) of achievement in functional literacy in three domains (document, prose and quantitative). An assumption of the study was that a high level of functional literacy was required for the individual to function effectively in his/her own group and community. The context of the study is Guyana the most underdeveloped and impoverished country in the English-speaking Caribbean. The subjects are out of school youth in Guyana aged 14-25. Amongst the main findings are: only approximately 11% of the young people show a high level of functional literacy; females tend to have a higher level of functional literacy than males: and most of those at the low level never went beyond primary and low status secondary schools and usually end up unemployed or in semi- or unskilled jobs. Attention is drawn to the difficulty of attracting funding for literacy programmes from international aid agencies, given the inflated adult literacy rate which is reported for Guyana in international statistics. While they credit Guyana with an adult literacy rate of 97.5%, the study suggests that a more realistic figure is in the 70s. The importance of adult and continuing education is underscored in view of the need to help those who are out of school to meet the ever-changing demands of society for improved skills in literacy and numeracy.

  12. A social ecological conceptual framework for understanding adolescent health literacy in the health education classroom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wharf Higgins, Joan; Begoray, Deborah; MacDonald, Marjorie

    2009-12-01

    With the rising concern over chronic health conditions and their prevention and management, health literacy is emerging as an important public health issue. As with the development of other forms of literacy, the ability for students to be able to access, understand, evaluate and communicate health information is a skill best developed during their years of public schooling. Health education curricula offer one approach to develop health literacy, yet little is known about its influence on neither students nor their experiences within an educational context. In this article, we describe our experience applying a social ecological model to investigating the implementation of a health education curriculum in four high schools in British Columbia, Canada. We used the model to guide a conceptual understanding of health literacy, develop research questions, select data collection strategies, and interpret the findings. Reflections and recommendations for using the model are offered.

  13. Picture Books Are for Little Kids, Aren't They? Using Picture Books with Adolescent Readers to Enhance Literacy Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senokossoff, Gwyn W.

    2013-01-01

    This article discusses the benefits of using picture books with adolescent readers, describes strategies that can be taught with picture books, and provides examples of books the author has used. Some of the topics discussed include: reading comprehension, visual literacy, interactive read-aloud with facilitative talk, literary elements, and…

  14. Relationship between Pre-School Preservice Teachers' Environmental Literacy and Science and Technology Literacy Self Efficacy Beliefs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Surmeli, Hikmet

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the relationship between preschool teachers' environmental literacy and their science and technology self efficacy beliefs. 120 preschool teachers from teacher education programme at one university participated in this study. Data were collected by using Environmental Literacy Scale and Science and Technology Literacy Self…

  15. Issues in Literacy: A Research Perspective. Thirty-Fourth Yearbook of the National Reading Conference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niles, Jerome A., Ed.; Lalik, Rosary V., Ed.

    Reflecting current themes that scholars in reading/language research, by their selective attention, have indicated are important in the field of literacy and learning in natural settings, this yearbook presents a collection of 62 selected research articles from the National Reading Conference for 1984. Included are the following articles, listed…

  16. Visual intelligence Microsoft tools and techniques for visualizing data

    CERN Document Server

    Stacey, Mark; Jorgensen, Adam

    2013-01-01

    Go beyond design concepts and learn to build state-of-the-art visualizations The visualization experts at Microsoft's Pragmatic Works have created a full-color, step-by-step guide to building specific types of visualizations. The book thoroughly covers the Microsoft toolset for data analysis and visualization, including Excel, and explores best practices for choosing a data visualization design, selecting tools from the Microsoft stack, and building a dynamic data visualization from start to finish. You'll examine different types of visualizations, their strengths and weaknesses, a

  17. Health Literacy - Multiple Languages

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Here: Home → Multiple Languages → All Health Topics → Health Literacy URL of this page: https://medlineplus.gov/languages/ ... W XYZ List of All Topics All Health Literacy - Multiple Languages To use the sharing features on ...

  18. Using geometric morphometric visualizations of directional selection gradients to investigate morphological differentiation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weaver, Timothy D; Gunz, Philipp

    2018-04-01

    Researchers studying extant and extinct taxa are often interested in identifying the evolutionary processes that have lead to the morphological differences among the taxa. Ideally, one could distinguish the influences of neutral evolutionary processes (genetic drift, mutation) from natural selection, and in situations for which selection is implicated, identify the targets of selection. The directional selection gradient is an effective tool for investigating evolutionary process, because it can relate form (size and shape) differences between taxa to the variation and covariation found within taxa. However, although most modern morphometric analyses use the tools of geometric morphometrics (GM) to analyze landmark data, to date, selection gradients have mainly been calculated from linear measurements. To address this methodological gap, here we present a GM approach for visualizing and comparing between-taxon selection gradients with each other, associated difference vectors, and "selection" gradients from neutral simulations. To exemplify our approach, we use a dataset of 347 three-dimensional landmarks and semilandmarks recorded on the crania of 260 primate specimens (112 humans, 67 common chimpanzees, 36 bonobos, 45 gorillas). Results on this example dataset show how incorporating geometric information can provide important insights into the evolution of the human braincase, and serve to demonstrate the utility of our approach for understanding morphological evolution. © 2018 The Author(s). Evolution © 2018 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

  19. The relationship between parental literacy involvement, socio-economic status and reading literacy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hemmerechts, K.; Agirdag, O.; Kavadias, D.

    2017-01-01

    In this article, we explore the relationship between parental literacy activities with the child, socio-economic status (SES) and reading literacy. We draw upon the Bourdieusian theory of habitus development to explore this relationship. Multilevel analyses of a survey of 43,870 pupils (with an

  20. Relationship between BOLD amplitude and pattern classification of orientation-selective activity in the human visual cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Frank; Harrison, Stephenie A.; Dewey, John A.; Kamitani, Yukiyasu

    2012-01-01

    Orientation-selective responses can be decoded from fMRI activity patterns in the human visual cortex, using multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA). To what extent do these feature-selective activity patterns depend on the strength and quality of the sensory input, and might the reliability of these activity patterns be predicted by the gross amplitude of the stimulus-driven BOLD response? Observers viewed oriented gratings that varied in luminance contrast (4, 20 or 100%) or spatial frequency (0.25, 1.0 or 4.0 cpd). As predicted, activity patterns in early visual areas led to better discrimination of orientations presented at high than low contrast, with greater effects of contrast found in area V1 than in V3. A second experiment revealed generally better decoding of orientations at low or moderate as compared to high spatial frequencies. Interestingly however, V1 exhibited a relative advantage at discriminating high spatial frequency orientations, consistent with the finer scale of representation in the primary visual cortex. In both experiments, the reliability of these orientation-selective activity patterns was well predicted by the average BOLD amplitude in each region of interest, as indicated by correlation analyses, as well as decoding applied to a simple model of voxel responses to simulated orientation columns. Moreover, individual differences in decoding accuracy could be predicted by the signal-to-noise ratio of an individual's BOLD response. Our results indicate that decoding accuracy can be well predicted by incorporating the amplitude of the BOLD response into simple simulation models of cortical selectivity; such models could prove useful in future applications of fMRI pattern classification. PMID:22917989

  1. Provider and patient perception of psychiatry patient health literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bacon O

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: Inadequate health literacy in adults is a nationwide issue that is associated with worse health outcomes. There is a paucity of literacy regarding rates of inadequate health literacy in psychiatric populations. Objective: The aim of the study was to identify an existing tool that would easily identify patients who had inadequate health literacy, so that a targeted intervention could be performed. Secondarily we attempted to compare rates of inadequate health literacy with providers’ perception of patients’ health literacy. Methods: We assessed health literacy in a psychiatric population by administering the Brief Health Literacy Survey (BHLS. Additionally, all psychiatry residents, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and social workers were surveyed to assess their perception of patient health literacy. Differences between patient health literacy and provider expectations of patient health literacy were compared. Results: Inadequate health literacy was identified in 31 out of 61 patients (50.8% using 2 questions from the BHLS. Only 9 (29% of patients who were identified as having inadequate health literacy were identified by both BHLS questions. In contrast, almost 100% of providers identified their patients, in general, as having inadequate health literacy. Conclusions: These results identify a higher rate of health literacy in a psychiatric inpatient population than in the general population. However, providers at this institution likely over-identify health literacy. This highlights the need for a health literacy tool that can easily target patients with inadequate health literacy for an intervention.

  2. Online cancer communication: meeting the literacy, cultural and linguistic needs of diverse audiences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neuhauser, Linda; Kreps, Gary L

    2008-06-01

    This article provides an analysis of issues and empirical evidence related to literacy, cultural, and linguistic factors in online health and cancer communication, and recommendations to improve cancer communication for diverse audiences. We examined English-language online literature and selected books and policy documents related to literacy, cultural, and linguistic factors in health and cancer communication. Studies about literacy, cultural, and linguistic factors in online cancer communication for diverse audiences are limited, but have increased during the past 15 years. Empirical evidence and theoretical guidance describe the critical importance of these factors, significant unmet needs among low-literate, multicultural and non-English-speaking populations, and strategies to improve communication. Overall, online cancer communication has not met the literacy, cultural, and linguistic needs of diverse populations. The literature offers valuable recommendations about enhancing research, practice, and policy for better cancer communication. Practitioners should understand the strengths and weaknesses of online cancer communication for vulnerable groups, guide patients to better Websites, and supplement that information with oral and tailored communication.

  3. The Intersection of Information and Science Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klucevsek, Kristin

    2017-01-01

    To achieve higher science literacy, both students and the public require discipline-specific information literacy in the sciences. Scientific information literacy is a core component of the scientific process. In addition to teaching how to find and evaluate resources, scientific information literacy should include teaching the process of…

  4. Examining Media Literacy Levels of Prospective Teachers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taskın INAN

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available As in many other countries, following the 2007-2008 education year when media literacy courses began to be included in the curricula, media literacy has become one of the discussion topics among educators and decision makers in Turkey. Discussion topics related to media literacy have included who is going to give the media literacy courses, what qualifications will be sought out in media literacy education teachers, what will be included in the media literacy curriculum in terms of its content, and at what level the media literacy course will be given. The current study which aims to examine media literacy levels of prospective teachers utilized thesurvey method. The sample of the study included prospective teachers (480 attending Elementary School Education, Social Studies Education and Turkish Language Education departments in the Education Faculty at the Dumlupinar University in the 2008-2009 education year. The results of the study showed that prospective teachers have a low level of reaction to media messages, do not educate people around enough about the effects of media, but make use of different sources of media to gain information, and are cognizant of media literacy.

  5. Examining media literacy levels of prospective teachers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taşkın İnan

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available As in many other countries, following the 2007-2008 education year when media literacy courses began to be included in the curricula, media literacy has become one of the discussion topics among educators and decision makers in Turkey. Discussion topics related to media literacy have included who is going to give the media literacy courses, what qualifications will be sought out in media literacy education teachers, what will be included in the media literacy curriculum in terms of its content, and at what level the media literacy course will be given. The current study which aims to examine media literacy levels of prospective teachers utilized the survey method. The sample of the study included prospective teachers (480 attending Elementary School Education, Social Studies Education and Turkish Language Education departments in the Education Faculty at the Dumlupinar University in the 2008-2009 education year. The results of the study showed that prospective teachers have a low level of reaction to media messages, do not educate people around enough about the effects of media, but make use of different sources of media to gain information, and are cognizant of media literacy.

  6. Scientific Literacy Matters: Using Literature to Meet Next Generation Science Standards and 21st Century Skills

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cynthia Tomovic

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Scientific literacy matters. It matters because it is vitally important to the education and development of America’s children, tomorrow's workforce, and the keepers of our future. If the future of American individual decision making, engagement in civic and cultural affairs, and valuable contributions to economic development is to be protected, it is critical that American students become more scientifically literate than they are today. Today, most Americans, including students, are considered scientifically illiterate. Recognizing the need to develop and enhance scientific literacy (also known as science literacy, science educators have worked diligently at developing new science standards, new approaches to science teaching, and new techniques aimed at engaging students in the practice of science. In this article, the use of literature is discussed as one method to augment or supplement the teaching of science. In the context of making a literature selection, a new conceptual approach is proposed that includes attention to meeting the Next Generation Science Standards while being responsive to the importance of 21st Century Skills. Additionally, a Literary Assessment Tool is shared that demonstrates how science educators can evaluate a literary selection in terms of how well it will help them to enhance scientific literacy.

  7. Impact of Nintendo Wii Games on Physical Literacy in Children: Motor Skills, Physical Fitness, Activity Behaviors, and Knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    George, Amanda M; Rohr, Linda E; Byrne, Jeannette

    2016-01-15

    Physical literacy is the degree of fitness, behaviors, knowledge, and fundamental movement skills (agility, balance, and coordination) a child has to confidently participate in physical activity. Active video games (AVG), like the Nintendo Wii, have emerged as alternatives to traditional physical activity by providing a non-threatening environment to develop physical literacy. This study examined the impact of AVGs on children's (age 6⁻12, N = 15) physical literacy. For six weeks children played one of four pre-selected AVGs (minimum 20 min, twice per week). Pre and post measures of motivation, enjoyment, and physical literacy were completed. Results indicated a near significant improvement in aiming and catching ( p = 0.06). Manual dexterity significantly improved in males ( p = 0.001), and females felt significantly less pressured to engage in PA ( p = 0.008). Overall, there appears to be some positive impact of an AVG intervention on components of physical literacy.

  8. Climate Literacy: Springboard to Action

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, B.; Bader, D.

    2011-12-01

    Research indicates that the public views zoos and aquariums as reliable and trusted sources for information on conservation (Ocean Project, 2009). The Aquarium of the Pacific is using NOAA's Science on a Sphere (SOS)° and linked flat screens to convey climate concepts to the public and serve as a model for how aquariums can promote climate literacy. The Ocean Science Center houses the SOS and is designed to immerse our visitors in an experience that extends from the sphere, to our live animals, and to our public programming. The first SOS exhibit, the sea level rise story, opened as the cornerstone of an aquarium-wide climate literacy strategy. Large panels next to the SOS prompts visitors to pledge actions to reduce their personal carbon footprint. The exhibit objectives were to provide a visual presentation that conveys a dramatic story about sea level rise, and to engage the audience in confronting the impact of sea level rise, and the local implications. The Aquarium utilized Yale's Six Americas survey instrument during summer 2010 to measure our audience interpretations of and responses to climate change. The survey showed that 78% of visitors categorized themselves as either alarmed or concerned about climate change, greater than the national average. Thus our climate literacy programs do not focus on convincing visitors of climate change and its causes, but on encouraging adaptive responses to varying scenarios. University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Hall of Science Center for Research Evaluation and Assessment (REA) conducted a pre-opening evaluation of the exhibit's impact. The participants, 58% of whom were families with children, did not want to know more about climate change, but wanted tangible activities they could engage in to mitigate human induced effects, and more details about the impact of climate change on marine animals. REA stated that, "the sea level rise programs (both facilitated and non-facilitated) are well positioned to be

  9. Resisting Age Bias in Digital Literacy Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowen, Lauren Marshall

    2011-01-01

    Through an eighty-one-year-old woman's literacy narrative, I argue that literacy researchers should pay greater attention to elder writers, readers, and learners. Particularly as notions of literacy shift in digital times, the perspective of a lifespan can reveal otherwise hidden complexities of literacy, including the motivational impact of…

  10. Urban Literacies: Critical Perspectives on Language, Learning, and Community. Language & Literacy Series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinloch, Valerie, Ed.

    2011-01-01

    Urban Literacies showcases cutting-edge perspectives on urban education and language and literacy by respected junior and senior scholars, researchers, and teacher educators. The authors explore--through various theoretical orientations and diverse methodologies--meanings of urban education in the lives of students and their families across three…

  11. Using Superheroes to Visually and Critically Analyze Comics, Stereotypes, and Society

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cook, Mike P.; Frey, Ryle

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to provide teachers and students useful methods for utilizing the power of comic books as literacy sponsors in ELA classrooms. Given the continued boom in the popularity of comics in popular culture, this provides a relevant way to introduce students to visual and critical analysis. Engaging in meaningful analysis of…

  12. The Relationship between Health Literacy and Physical Activity Level of Elderly Women in the City of Urmia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Friborz Fathi

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Background and objective: Health Literacy refers to cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and knowledge intended for people to obtain information and access to understand and using them to promote and keeping fitness. Regular physical activity is necessary for human. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Health Literacy and physical activity level of elderly women in the of Urmia city. Methods: In this descriptive – correlation study of 120 elderly women of Urmia were selected. In Order to collect data, two questionnaire Functional Health Literacy of TOFHLA adults   and a physical activity questionnaire of Baekce was used. It was used SPSS software and one-sample T- test, and it was also conducted Pearson correlation and stepwise regression. Results: of 30% of the elderly had adequate Health Literacy 38/34 had inadequate health literacy and 31/64 had cross-border Health Literacy. Correlations were positive and significant correlation between adequate Health Literacy and physical activity were cross-border health physical activity in respectively. One-sample T-Tak results showed that the level Health Literacy in both access and reading in elderly women is higher than the average level in Urmia. Stepwise regression analysis showed that adequate health and cross-border Health Literacy can account for more than 80 percent of their sporting activities. Conclusion:  In order to promote physical activity levels of elderly women it should be improved their health literacy. By planning and designing useful training in the field of Health Literacy programs tailored to the elderly it can be done effective step to develop literacy skills in community health and physical health of elderly. Paper Type: Research Article

  13. Visual cells remember earlier applied target: plasticity of orientation selectivity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Narcis Ghisovan

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: A canonical proposition states that, in mature brain, neurons responsive to sensory stimuli are tuned to specific properties installed shortly after birth. It is amply demonstrated that that neurons in adult visual cortex of cats are orientation-selective that is they respond with the highest firing rates to preferred oriented stimuli. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In anesthetized cats, prepared in a conventional fashion for single cell recordings, the present investigation shows that presenting a stimulus uninterruptedly at a non-preferred orientation for twelve minutes induces changes in orientation preference. Across all conditions orientation tuning curves were investigated using a trial by trial method. Contrary to what has been previously reported with shorter adaptation duration, twelve minutes of adaptation induces mostly attractive shifts, i.e. toward the adapter. After a recovery period allowing neurons to restore their original orientation tuning curves, we carried out a second adaptation which produced three major results: (1 more frequent attractive shifts, (2 an increase of their magnitude, and (3 an additional enhancement of responses at the new or acquired preferred orientation. Additionally, we also show that the direction of shifts depends on the duration of the adaptation: shorter adaptation in most cases produces repulsive shifts, whereas adaptation exceeding nine minutes results in attractive shifts, in the same unit. Consequently, shifts in preferred orientation depend on the duration of adaptation. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The supplementary response improvements indicate that neurons in area 17 keep a memory trace of the previous stimulus properties, thereby upgrading cellular performance. It also highlights the dynamic nature of basic neuronal properties in adult cortex since repeated adaptations modified both the orientation tuning selectivity and the response strength to the preferred orientation. These

  14. Can Earlier Literacy Skills Have a Negative Impact on Future Home Literacy Activities? Evidence from Japanese

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inoue, Tomohiro; Georgiou, George K.; Muroya, Naoko; Maekawa, Hisao; Parrila, Rauno

    2018-01-01

    We examined the cross-lagged relations between the home literacy environment and literacy skills in Japanese, and whether child's gender, parents' education and child's level of literacy performance moderate the relations. One hundred forty-two Japanese children were followed from Grades 1 to 2 and assessed on character knowledge, reading fluency…

  15. Factors that Affect Emergent Literacy Development When Engaging with Electronic Books

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salmon, Lynda G.

    2014-01-01

    This article reviews extant literature with the purpose of identifying factors that affect the potential efficacy of electronic books to support literacy development during early childhood. Selection criteria include experimental, quasi-experimental, and observational studies from peer-reviewed journals from 2000 to 2013 with a target population…

  16. Preschool Teachers' Language and Literacy Practices with Dual Language Learners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sawyer, Brook E.; Hammer, Carol Scheffner; Cycyk, Lauren M.; López, Lisa; Blair, Clancy; Sandilos, Lia; Komaroff, Eugene

    2016-01-01

    The purposes of this study were to (a) examine the degree to which teachers used linguistically responsive practices to support the language and literacy development of Spanish-speaking Dual Language Learners (DLL) and (b) to investigate the associations between these practices and select teacher-level factors. The sample consisted of 72 preschool…

  17. Cross-modal selective attention: on the difficulty of ignoring sounds at the locus of visual attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spence, C; Ranson, J; Driver, J

    2000-02-01

    In three experiments, we investigated whether the ease with which distracting sounds can be ignored depends on their distance from fixation and from attended visual events. In the first experiment, participants shadowed an auditory stream of words presented behind their heads, while simultaneously fixating visual lip-read information consistent with the relevant auditory stream, or meaningless "chewing" lip movements. An irrelevant auditory stream of words, which participants had to ignore, was presented either from the same side as the fixated visual stream or from the opposite side. Selective shadowing was less accurate in the former condition, implying that distracting sounds are harder to ignore when fixated. Furthermore, the impairment when fixating toward distractor sounds was greater when speaking lips were fixated than when chewing lips were fixated, suggesting that people find it particularly difficult to ignore sounds at locations that are actively attended for visual lipreading rather than merely passively fixated. Experiments 2 and 3 tested whether these results are specific to cross-modal links in speech perception by replacing the visual lip movements with a rapidly changing stream of meaningless visual shapes. The auditory task was again shadowing, but the active visual task was now monitoring for a specific visual shape at one location. A decrement in shadowing was again observed when participants passively fixated toward the irrelevant auditory stream. This decrement was larger when participants performed a difficult active visual task there versus fixating, but not for a less demanding visual task versus fixation. The implications for cross-modal links in spatial attention are discussed.

  18. Financial Literacy and Retirement Planning in Switzerland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Brown

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available We use a representative survey covering 1,500 households to document the level of financial literacy in Switzerland and to examine how financial literacy is related to retirement planning. We measure financial literacy with standardized questions that capture knowledge about three basic financial concepts: Compound interest, inflation, and risk diversification. We measure retirement planning by the incidence of a voluntary retirement savings account. Our results show that financial literacy in Switzerland is high by international standards--a result which is compatible with the high ranking of Switzerland on the PISA mathematical scales. Financial literacy is lower among low-income, less-educated, and immigrant, non-native-speaking households as well as among women. We find that financial literacy is strongly correlated with voluntary retirement saving. Our results also show that financial literacy is correlated with financial market participation and mortgage borrowing.

  19. Literacy at All Levels. Proceedings of the Annual Study Conference of the United Kingdom Reading Assn. (8th, Manchester, 1971).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Southgate, Vera, Ed.

    Edited versions of selected major papers presented at the July 1971 study conference of the United Kingdom Reading Association, which had the theme "Literacy at All Levels," are included in this book. This group defines literacy as "the mastery of our native language in all its aspects, as a means of communication," and…

  20. Accelerating the health literacy agenda in Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quaglio, Gianluca; Sørensen, Kristine; Rübig, Paul; Bertinato, Luigi; Brand, Helmut; Karapiperis, Theodoros; Dinca, Irina; Peetso, Terje; Kadenbach, Karin; Dario, Claudio

    2017-12-01

    Health literacy can be defined as the knowledge, motivation and competence to access, understand, appraise and apply information to make decisions in terms of healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion. Health literacy is a European public health challenge that has to be taken seriously by policy-makers. It constitutes an emerging field for policy, research and practice. However, recent research has shown that health literacy advancement is still at its infancy in Europe, as reflected in the scarce scientific health literacy literature published by European authors. From a total of 569 articles published until 2011 on this subject, the first author of only 15% of them is from Europe. This article conveys recommendations of different European stakeholders on how to accelerate the health literacy agenda in Europe. A general introduction on the current status of health literacy is provided, followed by two cases applying health literacy in the areas of prevention of communicable diseases and promotion of digital health. The current EU strategies integrating health literacy are listed, followed by examples of challenges threatening the further development of health literacy in Europe. Recommendations as to how European stakeholders involved in research, policy, practice and education can promote health literacy are given. It is vital that the European Commission as well as European Union Member States take the necessary steps to increase health literacy at individual, organizational, community, regional and national levels. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  1. A Case Study On Media Literacy Levels Of Secondary Students Who Attend Media Literacy Course

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erhan GÖRMEZ

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to determine the media literacy levels of secondary school students who attend media literacy courses. In this qualitative study, interview method was used to gather required data. In this qualitative study, interview method was used to gather required data. The interviews were conducted with 10 secondary school students of grade 8 attending media literacy courses by using semi-structured interview forms developed by the researcher. The questions used in semi-structured interview forms were prepared considering the outcomes of Media Literacy program related to units in Media Literacy Lesson Teacher Guide Book such as What is Communication?, Mass Communication, Media, Television, Newspaper and the Internet. The data gathered through the student's interviews were analyzed by applying content analysis method. Having evaluated the research results, it was concluded that the students who attend Media Literacy courses have a bit data and skills as knowing what communication is, using media and knowing its functions, telling the difference between TV program sorts in terms of their functions, knowing smart signs and explanations and obeying them, knowing basic concepts about newspaper and knowing and applying basic concepts concerning internet usage.

  2. Evaluation of information literacy status among medical students at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bazrafkan, Leila; Hayat, Ali Asghar; Abbasi, Karim; Bazrafkan, Aghdas; Rohalamini, Azadeh; Fardid, Mozhgan

    2017-01-01

    The information literacy status and the use of information technology among students in the globalization age of course plans are very momentous. This study aimed to evaluate the information literacy status and use of information technology among medical students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2013. This was a descriptive-analytical study with cross-sectional method. The study population consisted of all medical students (physiopathology, externship and internship) studying at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The sample size (n=310) was selected by systematic random sampling. The tool of data gathering was LASSI questionnaire (assigned by America research association) with 48 closed items in five-point LIKERT scale. The questionnaire included two distinct parts of demographic questions and the information literacy skills based on the standards of information literacy capacities for academic education. The content validity was acquired by professors' and experts' comments. The reliability was also calculated by Cronbach'salpha (0.85). Data were analyzed in both descriptive (frequency- mean) and analytical level (t-test, analysis of variance) using SPSS 14 software. 60.3% of the participants were females, and the remaining (29.7%) were males. The mean score of information literacy and its five subgroups among the students weren't at a desirable level. The mean scores of information literacy for educational grades from the highest to lowest belonged to the internship, physiopathology and externship. The results showed that the highest average was related to the effective access ability to information among interns (9.27±3.57) and the lowest one was related to the ability of understanding legal and economical cases related with using information among externs (3.11±1.32).The results of ANOVA showed that there wasn't a significant difference between educational grades and information literacy. Finally, the result of independent t-test did not show a

  3. Scientific visualization uncertainty, multifield, biomedical, and scalable visualization

    CERN Document Server

    Chen, Min; Johnson, Christopher; Kaufman, Arie; Hagen, Hans

    2014-01-01

    Based on the seminar that took place in Dagstuhl, Germany in June 2011, this contributed volume studies the four important topics within the scientific visualization field: uncertainty visualization, multifield visualization, biomedical visualization and scalable visualization. • Uncertainty visualization deals with uncertain data from simulations or sampled data, uncertainty due to the mathematical processes operating on the data, and uncertainty in the visual representation, • Multifield visualization addresses the need to depict multiple data at individual locations and the combination of multiple datasets, • Biomedical is a vast field with select subtopics addressed from scanning methodologies to structural applications to biological applications, • Scalability in scientific visualization is critical as data grows and computational devices range from hand-held mobile devices to exascale computational platforms. Scientific Visualization will be useful to practitioners of scientific visualization, ...

  4. Reimagining Understandings of Literacy in Teacher Preparation Programs Using Digital Literacy Autobiographies

    Science.gov (United States)

    McTavish, Marianne; Filipenko, Margot

    2016-01-01

    This article examines preservice teachers' understandings and beliefs about literacy in the 21st century specifically at the beginning of their teacher education program. In particular, the authors explored preservice teachers' responses to the first assignment of their foundations literacy course for evidence of their emerging beliefs and…

  5. African literacies: Which of them matter, and why?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kate Parry

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper draws on data collected at the Kitengesa Community Library in Masaka District of Uganda to discuss some of the different literacies that are important in African environments. First, the literacies associated with different languages are analysed, these being classified assupralanguages (English in Uganda, lingua francas (such as Kiswahili, and local languages (Luganda in Kitengesa. Literacies also vary with social context, and the paper considers the cases of school, family, peer group, and private literacies. Work at Kitengesa has shown that although literacy is generally thought of as part of school life, other literacies are developing in response to the opportunities provided by the library. Supralanguage and school literacies remain dominant, but it is argued that they will become much more productive if supported by other literacies and that it is a major function of a community library to help such other literacies to develop

  6. Selective Attention to Visual Stimuli Using Auditory Distractors Is Altered in Alpha-9 Nicotinic Receptor Subunit Knock-Out Mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terreros, Gonzalo; Jorratt, Pascal; Aedo, Cristian; Elgoyhen, Ana Belén; Delano, Paul H

    2016-07-06

    During selective attention, subjects voluntarily focus their cognitive resources on a specific stimulus while ignoring others. Top-down filtering of peripheral sensory responses by higher structures of the brain has been proposed as one of the mechanisms responsible for selective attention. A prerequisite to accomplish top-down modulation of the activity of peripheral structures is the presence of corticofugal pathways. The mammalian auditory efferent system is a unique neural network that originates in the auditory cortex and projects to the cochlear receptor through the olivocochlear bundle, and it has been proposed to function as a top-down filter of peripheral auditory responses during attention to cross-modal stimuli. However, to date, there is no conclusive evidence of the involvement of olivocochlear neurons in selective attention paradigms. Here, we trained wild-type and α-9 nicotinic receptor subunit knock-out (KO) mice, which lack cholinergic transmission between medial olivocochlear neurons and outer hair cells, in a two-choice visual discrimination task and studied the behavioral consequences of adding different types of auditory distractors. In addition, we evaluated the effects of contralateral noise on auditory nerve responses as a measure of the individual strength of the olivocochlear reflex. We demonstrate that KO mice have a reduced olivocochlear reflex strength and perform poorly in a visual selective attention paradigm. These results confirm that an intact medial olivocochlear transmission aids in ignoring auditory distraction during selective attention to visual stimuli. The auditory efferent system is a neural network that originates in the auditory cortex and projects to the cochlear receptor through the olivocochlear system. It has been proposed to function as a top-down filter of peripheral auditory responses during attention to cross-modal stimuli. However, to date, there is no conclusive evidence of the involvement of olivocochlear

  7. Health Literacy and Access to Care

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janke, Alex

    2016-01-01

    Despite well-documented links between low health literacy, low rates of health insurance coverage, and poor health outcomes, there has been almost no research on the relationship between low health literacy and self-reported access to care. This study analyzed a large, nationally representative sample of community-dwelling adults ages 50 and older to estimate the relationship between low health literacy and self-reported difficulty obtaining care. We found that individuals with low health literacy were significantly more likely than individuals with adequate health literacy to delay or forego needed care or to report difficulty finding a provider, even after controlling for other factors including health insurance coverage, employment, race/ethnicity, poverty, and general cognitive function. They were also more likely to lack a usual source of care, although this result was only marginally significant after controlling for other factors. The results show that in addition to any obstacles that low health literacy creates within the context of the clinical encounter, low health literacy also reduces the probability that people get in the door of the health care system in a timely way. PMID:27043757

  8. Adults with dyslexia demonstrate large effects of crowding and detrimental effects of distractors in a visual tilt discrimination task.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rizan Cassim

    Full Text Available Previous research has shown that adults with dyslexia (AwD are disproportionately impacted by close spacing of stimuli and increased numbers of distractors in a visual search task compared to controls [1]. Using an orientation discrimination task, the present study extended these findings to show that even in conditions where target search was not required: (i AwD had detrimental effects of both crowding and increased numbers of distractors; (ii AwD had more pronounced difficulty with distractor exclusion in the left visual field and (iii measures of crowding and distractor exclusion correlated significantly with literacy measures. Furthermore, such difficulties were not accounted for by the presence of covarying symptoms of ADHD in the participant groups. These findings provide further evidence to suggest that the ability to exclude distracting stimuli likely contributes to the reported visual attention difficulties in AwD and to the aetiology of literacy difficulties. The pattern of results is consistent with weaker and asymmetric attention in AwD.

  9. Relationship between Health Literacy, Health-Related Behaviors and Health Status: A Survey of Elderly Chinese

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yong-Bing; Liu, Liu; Li, Yan-Fei; Chen, Yan-Li

    2015-01-01

    Background: Despite the large volume of research dedicated to health-related behavior change, chronic disease costs continue to rise, thus creating a major public health burden. Health literacy, the ability to seek, understand, and utilize health information, has been identified as an important factor in the course of chronic conditions. Little research has been conducted on the relationship between health literacy and health-related behaviors and health status in elderly Chinese. The aim of this study was to elucidate the relationship between health literacy and health-related behaviors and health status in China. Methods: The subjects enrolled in this study were selected based on a stratified cluster random sampling design. Information involving >4500 older adults in 44 pension institutions in Urumqi, Changji, Karamay, and Shihezi of Xinjiang between September 2011 and June 2012 was collected. The Chinese Citizen Health Literacy Questionnaire (China Health Education Centre, 2008) and a Scale of the General Status were administered and the information was obtained through face-to-face inquiries by investigators. A total of 1452 respondents met the inclusion criteria. A total of 1452 questionnaires were issued and the valid response rate was 96.14% (1396 of 1452). Factors affecting health literacy and the relationship to health literacy were identified by one-way ANOVA and a multiple linear regression model. Results: The average health literacy level of the elderly in nursing homes was relatively low (71.74 ± 28.35 points). There were significant differences in the health literacy score among the factors of age, gender, race, education level, household income, marital conditions, and former occupation (p 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the independent influencing factors of health literacy included education level, race, former occupation, household income, age, physical exercise, health examination, smoking, and health information access (p

  10. Media Literacy Education from Kindergarten to College: A Comparison of How Media Literacy Is Addressed across the Educational System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Hans C.

    2013-01-01

    This study of media literacy education at all levels of the educational system considered faculty perceptions of student media literacy competencies, the extent to which media literacy is addressed in class, and the extent to which faculty members consider media literacy education to be important. Data suggest that despite the research and policy…

  11. How Financial Literacy Affects Household Wealth Accumulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Behrman, Jere R; Mitchell, Olivia S; Soo, Cindy K; Bravo, David

    2012-05-01

    This study isolates the causal effects of financial literacy and schooling on wealth accumulation using a new household dataset and an instrumental variables (IV) approach. Financial literacy and schooling attainment are both strongly positively associated with wealth outcomes in linear regression models, whereas the IV estimates reveal even more potent effects of financial literacy. They also indicate that the schooling effect only becomes positive when interacted with financial literacy. Estimated impacts are substantial enough to imply that investments in financial literacy could have large wealth payoffs.

  12. The Continuum of Literacy in American Indian Communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zepeda, Ofelia

    1995-01-01

    Describes the O'odham language and oral tradition of the Tohono O'odham Indians of southern Arizona, relating it to the development of O'odham children's English literacy. Oral tradition and school literacy constitute opposite ends of a literacy continuum, in which English literacy is often isolated from and in conflict with O'odham literacy. (10…

  13. An event-related brain potential study of visual selective attention to conjunctions of color and shape

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smid, HGOM; Jakob, A; Heinze, HJ

    What cognitive processes underlie event-related brain potential (ERP) effects related to visual multidimensional selective attention and how are these processes organized? We recorded ERPs when participants attended to one conjunction of color, global shape and local shape and ignored other

  14. Childhood roots of financial literacy

    OpenAIRE

    Grohmann, Antonia; Kouwenberg, Roy; Menkhoff, Lukas

    2015-01-01

    Financial literacy predicts informed financial decisions, but what explains financial literacy? We use the concept of financial socialization and aim to represent three major agents of financial socialization: family, school and work. Thus we compile twelve relevant childhood characteristics in a new survey study and examine their relation to financial literacy, while controlling for established socio-demographic characteristics. We find in a mediation analysis that both family and school pos...

  15. Task-irrelevant distractors in the delay period interfere selectively with visual short-term memory for spatial locations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marini, Francesco; Scott, Jerry; Aron, Adam R; Ester, Edward F

    2017-07-01

    Visual short-term memory (VSTM) enables the representation of information in a readily accessible state. VSTM is typically conceptualized as a form of "active" storage that is resistant to interference or disruption, yet several recent studies have shown that under some circumstances task-irrelevant distractors may indeed disrupt performance. Here, we investigated how task-irrelevant visual distractors affected VSTM by asking whether distractors induce a general loss of remembered information or selectively interfere with memory representations. In a VSTM task, participants recalled the spatial location of a target visual stimulus after a delay in which distractors were presented on 75% of trials. Notably, the distractor's eccentricity always matched the eccentricity of the target, while in the critical conditions the distractor's angular position was shifted either clockwise or counterclockwise relative to the target. We then computed estimates of recall error for both eccentricity and polar angle. A general interference model would predict an effect of distractors on both polar angle and eccentricity errors, while a selective interference model would predict effects of distractors on angle but not on eccentricity errors. Results showed that for stimulus angle there was an increase in the magnitude and variability of recall errors. However, distractors had no effect on estimates of stimulus eccentricity. Our results suggest that distractors selectively interfere with VSTM for spatial locations.

  16. Literacy Benefits for Latina/o Parents Engaged in a Spanish Literacy Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larrotta, Clarena; Ramirez, Ysabel

    2009-01-01

    This qualitative study reports on a Latina/o parent literacy project teaching literacy lessons in Spanish to Latina mothers and their children enrolled at a public elementary school. The participating mothers study and practice reading strategies to later put them into practice with their children. Data sources include: Parents' reflective…

  17. Sequence-selective single-molecule alkylation with a pyrrole-imidazole polyamide visualized in a DNA nanoscaffold.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshidome, Tomofumi; Endo, Masayuki; Kashiwazaki, Gengo; Hidaka, Kumi; Bando, Toshikazu; Sugiyama, Hiroshi

    2012-03-14

    We demonstrate a novel strategy for visualizing sequence-selective alkylation of target double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) using a synthetic pyrrole-imidazole (PI) polyamide in a designed DNA origami scaffold. Doubly functionalized PI polyamide was designed by introduction of an alkylating agent 1-(chloromethyl)-5-hydroxy-1,2-dihydro-3H-benz[e]indole (seco-CBI) and biotin for sequence-selective alkylation at the target sequence and subsequent streptavidin labeling, respectively. Selective alkylation of the target site in the substrate DNA was observed by analysis using sequencing gel electrophoresis. For the single-molecule observation of the alkylation by functionalized PI polyamide using atomic force microscopy (AFM), the target position in the dsDNA (∼200 base pairs) was alkylated and then visualized by labeling with streptavidin. Newly designed DNA origami scaffold named "five-well DNA frame" carrying five different dsDNA sequences in its cavities was used for the detailed analysis of the sequence-selectivity and alkylation. The 64-mer dsDNAs were introduced to five individual wells, in which target sequence AGTXCCA/TGGYACT (XY = AT, TA, GC, CG) was employed as fully matched (X = G) and one-base mismatched (X = A, T, C) sequences. The fully matched sequence was alkylated with 88% selectivity over other mismatched sequences. In addition, the PI polyamide failed to attach to the target sequence lacking the alkylation site after washing and streptavidin treatment. Therefore, the PI polyamide discriminated the one mismatched nucleotide at the single-molecule level, and alkylation anchored the PI polyamide to the target dsDNA.

  18. Functional Imaging of Audio–Visual Selective Attention in Monkeys and Humans: How do Lapses in Monkey Performance Affect Cross-Species Correspondences?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muers, Ross S.; Salo, Emma; Slater, Heather; Petkov, Christopher I.

    2017-01-01

    Abstract The cross-species correspondences and differences in how attention modulates brain responses in humans and animal models are poorly understood. We trained 2 monkeys to perform an audio–visual selective attention task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), rewarding them to attend to stimuli in one modality while ignoring those in the other. Monkey fMRI identified regions strongly modulated by auditory or visual attention. Surprisingly, auditory attention-related modulations were much more restricted in monkeys than humans performing the same tasks during fMRI. Further analyses ruled out trivial explanations, suggesting that labile selective-attention performance was associated with inhomogeneous modulations in wide cortical regions in the monkeys. The findings provide initial insights into how audio–visual selective attention modulates the primate brain, identify sources for “lost” attention effects in monkeys, and carry implications for modeling the neurobiology of human cognition with nonhuman animals. PMID:28419201

  19. 8 CFR 312.1 - Literacy requirements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Literacy requirements. 312.1 Section 312.1... FOR NATURALIZATION § 312.1 Literacy requirements. (a) General. Except as otherwise provided in... determining English proficiency, as outlined in paragraph(c) of this section. (c) Literacy examination—(1...

  20. Defining food literacy: A scoping review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Truman, Emily; Lane, Daniel; Elliott, Charlene

    2017-09-01

    The term "food literacy" describes the idea of proficiency in food related skills and knowledge. This prevalent term is broadly applied, although its core elements vary from initiative to initiative. In light of its ubiquitous use-but varying definitions-this article establishes the scope of food literacy research by identifying all articles that define 'food literacy', analysing its key conceptualizations, and reporting outcomes/measures of this concept. A scoping review was conducted to identify all articles (academic and grey literature) using the term "food literacy". Databases included Medline, Pubmed, Embase, CAB Abstracts, CINAHL, Scopus, JSTOR, and Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Of 1049 abstracts, 67 studies were included. From these, data was extracted on country of origin, study type (methodological approach), primary target population, and the primary outcomes relating to food literacy. The majority of definitions of food literacy emphasize the acquisition of critical knowledge (information and understanding) (55%) over functional knowledge (skills, abilities and choices) (8%), although some incorporate both (37%). Thematic analysis of 38 novel definitions of food literacy reveals the prevalence of six themes: skills and behaviours, food/health choices, culture, knowledge, emotions, and food systems. Study outcomes largely focus on knowledge generating measures, with very few focusing on health related outcome measures. Current definitions of food literacy incorporate components of six key themes or domains and attributes of both critical and functional knowledge. Despite this broad definition of the term, most studies aiming to improve food literacy focus on knowledge related outcomes. Few articles address health outcomes, leaving an important gap (and opportunity) for future research in this field. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.