Knowledge revision processes during reading: How pictures influence the activation of outdated information.

Outdated information (i.e., information that is not or no longer accurate) continues to be automatically activated during reading and can hinder learning processes. Thus, it is important to understand which factors influence the activation of outdated information and, therefore, knowledge revision processes. In three online experiments, we investigated how illustrating updated or outdated information via pictures influences the activation of outdated information. In Experiments 1 (N = 421) and 2 (N = 422), we varied whether participants read texts containing outdated information that was later updated (outdated text) or texts containing only updated information (consistent text). In addition, the updated information was or was not illustrated by a picture. In Experiment 3 (N = 441), participants read outdated texts, and we varied whether the outdated, the updated, or no information was illustrated. In all experiments, we measured reading times for a target sentence referring to the updated information and the sentence following the target sentence. Results showed that target sentences' reading times were faster for illustrated than for non-illustrated texts (Experiments 1 and 2). Moreover, reading times were longer when the outdated information was illustrated than when the updated information was illustrated (Experiment 3). These results suggest that pictures overall facilitate cognitive processes during reading, but their content matters: Pictures showing the updated information had a greater impact on reading times than pictures showing the outdated information. The results extend existing theories on knowledge revision but also reading comprehension, by demonstrating how pictures might influence cognitive processes during reading.

"Let's get back to normal": emotions mediate the effects of persuasive messages on willingness to vaccinate for COVID-19.

Objective: We examined the effectiveness of three different messages for persuading individuals to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and the role that emotions play in persuasion. Methods: Four hundred-thirty-six participants reported their concern about the COVID-19 pandemic and confidence/hesitancy toward vaccines. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three text conditions: (1) self-interest: a persuasive message that focused on how much of a "serious threat COVID-19 is to you," and to get vaccinated to "protect yourself"; (2) self-interest + altruistic: a persuasive message that focused on the "threat to you and your community" and to get vaccinated to "protect you and your loved ones"; (3) self-interest + altruistic + normal: a persuasive message that included (2) but added "This is the only way we can get back to a normal life."; and, (4) a baseline control: no text. After reading, participants reported their emotions toward COVID-19 vaccines and their willingness to get vaccinated. Results: Individuals in the self-interest + altruistic + normal condition were more willing to get vaccinated compared to the control condition and self-interest + altruistic condition. However, there were no differences in willingness between the self-interest + altruistic + normal condition and the self-interest condition. Moreover, emotions mediated relations between vaccine confidence/hesitancy and willingness. Conclusion: A message that focuses on "getting back to normal" can achieve important public health action by increasing vaccine uptake to protect the population. Future work is needed across multiple countries and contexts (i.e., non-pandemic) to assess message effectiveness.

Dynamic source credibility and its impacts on knowledge revision.

Corrections to readers' misconceptions should result in higher belief when information sources are of high credibility. However, evaluations of credibility may be malleable, and we do not yet fully understand how changes to a source's credibility influence readers' credibility evaluations and knowledge revision outcomes. Thus, in two experiments, we examined how updating a source's credibility (Experiment 1: initially neutral sources later updated to be high-, low-, or neutral-credibility sources; Experiment 2: initially high- or low-credibility sources later updated to be low- or high-credibility sources) influenced knowledge revision and source credibility evaluations after readers engaged with refutation and non-refutation texts. Results showed that readers revised their credibility judgments from neutral-, high-, and low-credibility initial evaluations, indicating that source judgments are malleable rather than fixed. In addition, refutations from sources that are later revealed to be of high credibility can facilitate revision of both knowledge and initial source credibility evaluations.

Indirect and direct contributions of executive functions to reading comprehension.

In the current study, we investigated the role of executive functions in explaining how word recognition and language comprehension jointly predict reading comprehension in multilingual and monolingual students (Grades 1 and 2). Specifically, mediation and moderation models were tested and compared to offer a more nuanced understanding of the role of executive functions in reading comprehension. The results provided support for the mediation model in which executive functions indirectly contribute to reading comprehension via word recognition and language comprehension in both language groups. In addition, executive functions directly predicted reading comprehension (i.e., partial mediation). These findings suggest that executive functions serve as general cognitive processes that support word recognition, language comprehension, and reading comprehension (i.e., direct contribution) as well as facilitate connecting word recognition and language comprehension in support for reading comprehension (i.e., indirect contribution). These findings are consistent with prominent models of reading comprehension.

The nature of misinformation in education.

In this opinion piece, we review and characterize the nature of misinformation in education and discuss the implications for corrective efforts. In education, misinformation manifests at three different levels: the individual, the community, and the system. At the individual level, misinformation manifests as naive beliefs or misconceptions students hold before they receive instruction or because of instruction. At the community level, misinformation manifests as shared flawed views or misconceptions about certain topics often around risk factors and treatments of learning disabilities. At the system level, misinformation manifests as state or district educational policies and practices that have no scientific evidence. Thus, corrective efforts in education must be implemented at all three levels and follow best practices.

Efficacy of a Technology-Based Early Language Comprehension Intervention: A Randomized Control Trial.

We examined the efficacy of a Technology-Based Early Language Comprehension Intervention (TeLCI) designed to teach inferencing in a non-reading context. First- and second graders identified as at risk of comprehension difficulties were assigned randomly to a business-as-usual control group or to use TeLCI over an 8-week period. TeLCI comprised three learning modules per week that involved (a) learning new vocabulary, (b) watching fiction or nonfiction videos, and (c) answering inferential questions. Students also engaged in small-group read-alouds with their teachers once per week. Students who experienced TeLCI improved their inferencing and benefited from scaffolding and feedback provided during the intervention. Students' pre- to posttest inferencing gains were comparable with those of control students. Female students and those receiving special education services appeared less likely to benefit from TeLCI, whereas multilingual students were more likely to respond. Further work is needed to determine the optimal conditions under which TeLCI will benefit young children.

Corrigendum: Flattening the COVID-19 curve: Emotions mediate the effects of a persuasive message on preventive action.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1047241.].

Supporting inference-making during COVID-19 through individualized scaffolding and feedback: a natural experiment.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of the Early Language Comprehension Individualized Instruction (ELCII) program in supporting kindergarteners' learning of inference-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two different cohorts of pre- and in-pandemic students completed the ELCII program, which was designed to teach them how to make inferences. Results suggest that kindergarteners during COVID-19 made slower growth over the course of the intervention compared to their counterparts who completed the intervention before the pandemic. However, when growth rates between the two cohorts were compared accounting for the scaffolding and feedback provided by the ELCII program, the growth rates were similar. These findings suggest that the individualized scaffolding and feedback component of ELCII may have supported kindergarteners' learning of inference-making during the pandemic.

Flattening the COVID-19 curve: Emotions mediate the effects of a persuasive message on preventive action.

Introduction: Across four countries (Canada, USA, UK, and Italy), we explored the effects of persuasive messages on intended and actual preventive actions related to COVID-19, and the role of emotions as a potential mechanism for explaining these effects. Methods: One thousand seventy-eight participants first reported their level of concern and emotions about COVID-19 and then received a positive persuasive text, negative persuasive text, or no text. After reading, participants reported their emotions about the pandemic and their willingness to take preventive action. One week following, the same participants reported the frequency with which they engaged in preventive action and behaviors that increased the risk of contracting COVID-19. Results: Results revealed that the positive persuasive text significantly increased individuals' willingness to and actual engagement in preventive action and reduced risky behaviors 1 week following the intervention compared to the control condition. Moreover, significant differences were found between the positive persuasive text condition and negative persuasive text condition whereby individuals who read the positive text were more willing and actually engaged in more preventive action compared to those who read the negative text. No differences were found, however, at the 1-week follow-up for social distancing and isolation behaviors. Results also revealed that specific discrete emotions mediated relations between the effects of the texts and preventive action (both willing and actual). Discussion: This research highlights the power of educational interventions to prompt behavioral change and has implications for pandemic-related interventions, government policy on health promotion messages, and future research.

The 'Fauci Effect': Reducing COVID-19 misconceptions and vaccine hesitancy using an authentic multimodal intervention.

Social media environments enable users to proliferate misinformation surrounding COVID-19. Expert sources, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci have leveraged social media to present corrective multimedia messages. However, little is known about the efficacy of these messages in revising common misconceptions about COVID-19 and influencing behavior. In this study, we examined the efficacy of a multimodal intervention using authentic social media messages that directly addressed common COVID-19 misconceptions. Going further, we identified individual differences that influenced the effectiveness of the intervention, as well as whether those factors predicted individuals' willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The results showed that the intervention was successful in increasing knowledge when compared to a baseline control. Those who were older and reported less vaccine hesitancy showed greater learning from the intervention. Factors that significantly predicted intention to vaccinate included receiving the intervention, vaccine confidence, vaccine hesitancy, prior flu vaccination history, age, and fear of COVID-19. These findings indicate that multimodal messages can be effectively leveraged in social media to both fight misinformation and increase intention to be vaccinated - however, these interventions may not be as effective for all individuals.

The effects of experimentally induced emotions on revising common vaccine misconceptions.

Knowledge revision is the process of updating incorrect prior knowledge in light of new, correct information. Although theoretical and empirical knowledge has advanced regarding the cognitive processes involved in revision, less is known about the role of emotions, which have shown inconsistent relations with key revision processes. This study examined the effects of experimentally induced emotions on online and offline knowledge revision of vaccination misconceptions. Before reading refutation and non-refutation texts, 96 individuals received a positive, negative, or no emotion induction. Findings showed that negative emotions, more than positive emotions, resulted in enhanced knowledge revision as indicated by greater ease of integrating correct information during reading and higher comprehension test scores after reading. Findings are discussed with respect to contemporary frameworks of knowledge revision and emotion in reading comprehension and implications for educational practice.

The effects of positive and negative emotional text content on knowledge revision.

Across three experiments, we sought to determine the effects of positive and negative emotional content in refutation texts on misconceptions about vaccines. The addition of negative emotional content to texts that identify, refute, and explain vaccine misconceptions improved knowledge revision observed during reading (Experiment 1). However, the addition of positive emotional content to refutation texts weakened this effect (Experiment 2). A direct comparison between negative and positive emotional content provided corroborating evidence for these findings (Experiment 3). Across experiments, results show that all refutation texts (with or without positive or negative emotional content) improved learning assessed after reading. These findings show the differential effects of emotional content on processing misconceptions about an important socio-scientific topic and provide consistent support for refutation texts as a potentially useful tool in these corrective efforts.

The Inferential Language Comprehension (iLC) Framework: Supporting Children's Comprehension of Visual Narratives.

We present an integrated theoretical framework guiding the use of visual narratives in educational settings. We focus specifically on the use of static and dynamic visual narratives to teach and assess inference skills in young children and discuss evidence to support the efficacy of this approach. In doing so, first we review the basis of the integrated framework, which builds on major findings of cognitive, developmental, and language research highlighting that (a) inference skills can be developed in non-reading contexts using different media, (b) inference skills can transfer across different media, and (c) inference skills can be improved using questioning that includes scaffolding and specific feedback. Second, we review instructional and assessment approaches that align with the proposed framework; these approaches are designed to teach or assess inference making skills using visual narratives and interactive questioning. In this context, we discuss how these approaches leverage the unique affordances of static and dynamic visual narratives with respect to unit of meaning (by increasing opportunities to generate inferences), multimodality (by providing opportunities to generate inferences of higher complexity than text), and vocabulary/knowledge demands (by providing vocabulary/knowledge support), while also reviewing evidence for their usability, feasibility, and efficacy to improve educational outcomes. We conclude with important theoretical and practical questions about future work in this area.

Public Perception of Autism Treatments: The Role of Credibility and Evidence.

We explored the influence of credibility and evidence on public perceptions of ASD treatments using survey methodology. Participants (N = 379) read texts about different ASD treatments. The text presentation was based on a 2 × 2 within-subjects factorial design with treatment status [evidence based practices (EBP) vs. non-EBP] and source credibility in the text (credible vs. non-credible) as the independent variables. An instructional manipulation condition served as a between subjects factor. Respondents were more familiar with non-EBPs than EBPs, but viewed EBPs as being more credible and were more likely to endorse them compared to pseudoscientific practices. Interactions between source credibility and instructional manipulation were found on ratings of credibility and recommendation of both EBP and non-EBP texts. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Knowledge revision through the lenses of the three-pronged approach.

In the present study, we employed the three-pronged approach to determine the actual cognitive processes theorized in knowledge revision. First, the Knowledge Revision Components (KReC) framework was identified as the guiding theory. Second, think-aloud analysis highlighted at which points in refutation texts readers detected discrepancies between their incorrect, commonsense beliefs and the correct beliefs, and the exact processes with which they dealt with these discrepancies-successfully or unsuccessfully, as indicated by posttest scores. Third, corroborating reading-time data and posttest data demonstrated that the structure of the refutation texts facilitated the coactivation and integration of the explanation with the commonsense belief, resulting in knowledge revision. Finally, an analysis directly connected the processes identified during think-aloud to sentence reading times. These findings systematically identify the cognitive processes theorized during knowledge revision and, in doing so, provide evidence for the conditions for revision outlined in the KReC framework.

Source credibility and the processing of refutation texts.

The knowledge revision components framework (KReC) outlines the basic comprehension processes and text factors that can be accentuated to increase the potential for knowledge revision during reading. The goal of the present study was to explore source credibility as one such text factor. In Experiment 1, we established the utility of a set of refutation texts in influencing knowledge revision. Participants read ten refutation and ten control texts. The participants had faster reading times and higher posttest scores for the refutation than for the control texts, providing evidence for knowledge revision. In Experiment 2, we examined the influence of source credibility under normal reading conditions. Participants read 20 refutation texts, ten with high-credibility and ten with low-credibility sources. The reading times and posttest scores suggested that knowledge revision unfolded successfully, independent of credibility. Using the same texts, in Experiment 3 we examined the influence of direct instructions that made the credibility of the source of information more salient. When the credibility of the source was made salient, the revision process was disrupted in the low-credibility condition, as evidenced by slower reading times and lower posttest scores than in the high-credibility condition. The results add to our understanding of the factors that constrain knowledge revision during the reading of refutation texts, and are discussed in the context of the extant literature and KReC.

The Interplay of Reader Goals, Working Memory, and Text Structure During Reading.

In the current study we examined the complex interactions of instructional context, text properties, and reader characteristics during comprehension. College students were tasked with the goal of reading for study versus entertainment (instructional context) while thinking-aloud about four different expository text structures (text properties). Working memory also was assessed (reader characteristics). Reading goals and working memory interacted to influence paraphrasing and non-coherence processes when thinking aloud. Reading goals, working memory, and text structure all interacted to influence text-based inferences. Text structure also influenced knowledge-based inferences. Post-reading recall was highest for those with the instructional goal of reading for study (compared to entertainment), as well as for problem-response and compare-contrast texts (compared to descriptive and chronological texts). Implications of the findings are discussed.

Validation of the factor structure of the Greek adaptation of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ-3).

The current study aimed to confirm the factor structure and reliability of the newly translated Greek version of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-3 (SATAQ-3) among 1753 Greek-Cypriot high school students. Results of the structural equation modeling indicated a very good fit with the original four-factor structure of the SATAQ-3 for both males and females. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the four subscales were .92 for 'Internalization-General', .82 for 'Internalization-Athlete', .94 for 'Pressure' and .88 for 'Information'. Further analyses showed no significant differences between BMI categories with respect to the Internalization-General, Internalization-Athlete and Information factors but there were significant differences on the Pressure factor. The findings of the current study support the existence of the original four-factor structure of the SATAQ-3. The validity and reliability results of the Greek version of the SATAQ-3 support its use in Greek-speaking countries or populations.

Updating during reading comprehension: why causality matters.

The present set of 7 experiments systematically examined the effectiveness of adding causal explanations to simple refutations in reducing or eliminating the impact of outdated information on subsequent comprehension. The addition of a single causal-explanation sentence to a refutation was sufficient to eliminate any measurable disruption in comprehension caused by the outdated information (Experiment 1) but was not sufficient to eliminate its reactivation (Experiment 2). However, a 3 sentence causal-explanation addition to a refutation eliminated both any measurable disruption in comprehension (Experiment 3) and the reactivation of the outdated information (Experiment 4). A direct comparison between the 1 and 3 causal-explanation conditions provided converging evidence for these findings (Experiment 5). Furthermore, a comparison of the 3 sentence causal-explanation condition with a 3 sentence qualified-elaboration condition demonstrated that even though both conditions were sufficient to eliminate any measurable disruption in comprehension (Experiment 6), only the causal-explanation condition was sufficient to eliminate the reactivation of the outdated information (Experiment 7). These results establish a boundary condition under which outdated information will influence comprehension; they also have broader implications for both the updating process and knowledge revision in general.

Adults' and children's monitoring of story events in the service of comprehension.

When reading narratives, adults monitor shifts in time, space, characters, goals, and causation. Shifts in any of these dimensions affect both moment-by-moment reading and memory organization. The extant developmental literature suggests that middle school children have relatively sophisticated understandings of each of these dimensions but does not indicate whether they spontaneously monitor these dimensions during reading experiences. In four experiments, we examined the processing of event shifts by adults and children, using both an explicit verb-clustering task and a reading time task. The results indicate that middle school children's and adults' post-reading memory is organized using these dimensions but that children do not monitor dimensions during moment-by-moment reading in the same manner as adults. These differences were not a function of differentially difficult texts for children and adults, or between-group differences. The findings have implications for models of adult and child text processing and for understanding children's developing narrative comprehension.