Julia D. Irwin

Self-control in honeybees.

Self-control means choosing a large delayed reward over a small immediate reward; impulsiveness is its opposite. The metabolic hypothesis states that the amount of self-control across species correlates negatively with metabolic rate (Tobin & Logue, 1994). Foraging honeybees have high metabolic rates; the metabolic hypothesis would predict little self-control in bees. But foraging bees work for the longterm good of their hive, conditions that seem to require self-control. In three experiments, we gave bees the choice between (1) a sweeter delayed reward and a less sweet immediate reward and (2) a large delayed reward and a small immediate reward. Bees showed much self-control, inconsistent with the metabolic hypothesis.

In-class distractions

While laptops and other Internet accessible technologies facilitate student learning in the classroom, they also increase opportunities for interruptions from off-task social networking sites such as Facebook (FB). A small number of correlational studies have suggested that FB has a detrimental effect on learning performance, however; these studies had neglected to investigate student-engagement in the primary learning task and how this affects task-switching to goal-irrelevant FB intrusions (distractions); and how purposeful deployment of attention to FB (goal-relevant interruptions) affect lecture comprehension on such tasks. This experiment fills a gap in the literature by manipulating lecture interest-value and controls for duration of FB exposure, time of interruption, FB material and the order of FB posts. One hundred and fifty participants were randomly allocated to one of six conditions: (A) no FB intrusions, high-interest (HI) lecture; (B) no FB intrusions, low-interest (LI) lecture (C) goal-relevant FB intrusions, HI lecture (D) goal-relevant FB intrusions, LI lecture (E) goal-irrelevant FB intrusions, HI lecture (F) goal-irrelevant FB intrusions, LI lecture. As predicted, participants were more susceptible to FB distractions when the primary learning task was of low-interest. The study also found that goal-relevant FB intrusions significantly reduced HI lecture comprehension compared to the control condition (A). The results highlight the need for recourses that will help educators increase student engagement with their learning task. Implications for future research are discussed. We conducted a study to examine Facebook (FB) as a distraction in the classroom.Students significantly more distracted by FB when listening to a lecture of lower interest.Lecture comprehension was significantly reduced by FB interruptions, for high-interest lecture.

Impaired Driving Performance as Evidence of a Magnocellular Deficit in Dyslexia and Visual Stress.

High comorbidity and an overlap in symptomology have been demonstrated between dyslexia and visual stress. Several researchers have hypothesized an underlying or causal influence that may account for this relationship. The magnocellular theory of dyslexia proposes that a deficit in visuo-temporal processing can explain symptomology for both disorders. If the magnocellular theory holds true, individuals who experience symptomology for these disorders should show impairment on a visuo-temporal task, such as driving. Eighteen male participants formed the sample for this study. Self-report measures assessed dyslexia and visual stress symptomology as well as participant IQ. Participants completed a drive simulation in which errors in response to road signs were measured. Bivariate correlations revealed significant associations between scores on measures of dyslexia and visual stress. Results also demonstrated that self-reported symptomology predicts magnocellular impairment as measured by performance on a driving task. Results from this study suggest that a magnocellular deficit offers a likely explanation for individuals who report high symptomology across both conditions. While conclusions about the impact of these disorders on driving performance should not be derived from this research alone, this study provides a platform for the development of future research, utilizing a clinical population and on-road driving assessment techniques.