The Misconceptions About Multimedia Learning Questionnaire: An Empirical Evaluation Study With Teachers and Student Teachers

In this study, we present the newly developed Misconceptions about Multimedia Learning Questionnaire (MMLQ), we evaluate its psychometric properties (item difficulties, scale reliabilities, and internal structure), and we use it to examine the prevalence of four different misconceptions about multimedia learning in student teachers and teachers. A total of 311 participants (176 teachers and 135 student teachers) responded to the items of the MMLQ. The results revealed moderate reliabilities of the MMLQ scales. Moreover, an a priori assumed four-factor structure of misconceptions about multimedia learning was most compatible with teachers’ and student teachers’ answers to the MMLQ items. These four factors were learning styles (multimedia instruction needs to be adapted to students’ learning styles [visual or auditory]), hemispheric isolation (multimedia instruction enables hemispheric communication), naïve summation (multimedia instruction is more effective the more sensory channels are used), and motivation primacy (multimedia instruction is mainly effective because it is motivating). The majority of teachers and student teachers endorsed three of the four misconceptions about multimedia learning (i.e., learning styles [78.1%], hemispheric isolation [58.8%], and naïve summation [81.4%]) as assessed by the MMLQ. This finding may provide valuable information for teacher education and training regarding this specific issue.

Effective Connectivity During Rest and Music Listening: An EEG Study on Parkinson’s Disease

Music-based interventions seem to enhance motor, sensory and cognitive functions in Parkinson’s disease (PD), but the underlying action mechanisms are still largely unknown. This electroencephalography (EEG) study aimed to investigate the effective connectivity patterns characterizing PD in the resting state and during music listening. EEG recordings were obtained from fourteen non-demented PD patients and 12 healthy controls, at rest and while listening to three music tracks. Theta- and alpha-band power spectral density and multivariate partial directed coherence were computed. Power and connectivity measures were compared between patients and controls in the four conditions and in music vs. rest. Compared to controls, patients showed enhanced theta-band power and slightly enhanced alpha-band power, but markedly reduced theta- and alpha-band interactions among EEG channels, especially concerning the information received by the right central channel. EEG power differences were partially reduced by music listening, which induced power increases in controls but not in patients. Connectivity differences were slightly compensated by music, whose effects largely depended on the track. In PD, music enhanced the frontotemporal inter-hemispheric communication. Our findings suggest that PD is characterized by enhanced activity but reduced information flow within the EEG network, being only partially normalized by music. Nevertheless, music capability to facilitate inter-hemispheric communication might underlie its beneficial effects on PD pathophysiology and should be further investigated.

Cloudiness and Earth's hemispheric albedo symmetry

<p>Radiation measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that the two hemispheres of Earth reflect the same amount of shortwave radiation in the long time average (so-called hemispheric albedo symmetry). Here we try to find the origin of this symmetry by analyzing radiation data directly, as well as cloud properties. The radiation data, while being mostly noise, hint that a hemispheric communication mechanism is likely but do not provide enough information to identify it. Cloud properties allow us to define an effective cloud albedo field, much more useful than the commonly used cloud area fraction. Based on that we first show that extra cloud albedo of the SH exactly compensates the extra surface albedo of the NH. We then identify that this this compensation comes almost exclusively from the storm tracks of the extratropics. We close discussing the importance of approaching planetary albedo as a whole and open questions that remain.</p>

Lateralization as a Symphony: Joint Influence of Interhemispheric Inhibition and Transmission Delay on Brain Asymmetry and Syntactic Processing

The present study investigated the roles of cross-hemispheric communication in promoting left-lateralization of syntactic processing in the brain. Fifty-six young right-handers without familial sinistrality background underwent a divided visual field ERP grammaticality judgment experiment to assess syntactic responses from each hemisphere. Two behavioral tasks--bilateral flanker task and bilateral word-association task, were used to assess cross-hemispheric inhibition and transmission delays. The grand average ERP data showed a significant unilateral P600 grammaticality effect in the left hemisphere only. However, individual variations in the P600 responses were observed in both hemispheres. Results of correlational analyses showed that larger LH P600 effects were associated with slower inter-hemispheric transmission, and that smaller right hemisphere (RH) P600 effects were associated with more effective LH-on-RH inhibition. These results yielded support for both the callosal distance and inhibition hypotheses for language lateralization and demonstrated that different aspects of cross-hemispheric communication jointly influence the degree of syntactic lateralization.