As young children's digital media use increases, more research on parents' decisions, such as preferred digital content and mediation strategies, is necessary, particularly with underrepresented populations. The present study analyzed survey data on Arab parents' decisions regarding digital media use of their children under 3 years in the United Arab Emirates. Most children did not use digital media, and those who did predominantly engaged in "watching" activities. Media content focused on early learning activities and Arabic-language videos. Most parents engaged in digital media together with their child, and joint engagement was linked to less digital media use. The results suggest Arab parents' media decisions included consideration of content and an emphasis on co-using media with their children. Implications are suggested for policymakers, media developers, and parental guidelines.

We investigated the effect of three virtual reality design features on users' emotional responses, including two visual features (object luminosity and background lighting) and an interaction feature (available actions). Our findings revealed the affective quality of these three design features, showing that object luminosity and actions significantly increase positive emotion, while dark background lighting induces slightly negative emotions. Object luminosity and action also had an effect on perceived presence, whereas background lighting did not. Only action increased the level of perceived cognitive load. We discuss the implications of our findings for the emotional design of VR games for learning.

This study pursues two goals. First, to investigate the relationship between vibrotactile feedback and sense of presence in VR. Second, to better understand the ways in which corrective and reenforcing feedback can influence STEM learning outcomes in a VR environment called [Looking Inside Cells]. The VR experience consists of a tutorial and two learning activities. The first level, "Build a cell", relies on corrective feedback. The second level, "Mitosis" employs reenforcing feedback. A vibration in the Build level signals a mistake. A vibration in Mitosis rewards the learner for correct actions. We ran a within-subject design experiment (N = 68) in which participants got randomly assigned to a vibrotactile and non-vibrotactile condition. We tested two hypotheses: Participants with a higher sense of presence achieve higher post assessment scores. Participants in the vibrotactile-condition report higher sense of presence ratings compared to the non-haptic condition. Results indicate that vibrotactile feedback increases the sense of presence and impacts metacognition, which might influence learning outcomes. Participants who received corrective feedback as a vibrotactile stimuli are more likely to underestimate their actual test performance but report higher satisfaction compared to the non-vibrotactile condition. The results highlight the importance of haptic feedback in VR environments. This study might help guide engineers and designers in creating beneficial VR experiences by considering the affordances of the medium and the cognitive mechanisms underlying human computer interaction.

Research on the effectiveness of immersive VR for science learning has found mixed results when VR learning is compared to traditional learning. While media comparison studies have been criticised for their methodological problems, they provide important information for policy makers as well as for educators. We believe the mixed results were found because many VR learning environments do not take advantage of the unique affordances of VR. We therefore designed Looking Inside Cells (LIC), a set of VR simulations that are interactive, immersive, use spatial features of VR, and take advantage of emotional design. We compared LIC to a slide show of the same content in a quasi-experimental between-subject control group design (N = 63). Outcome variables were recall, comprehension, interest, motivation, and experienced emotions. Results indicate that learners in the VR group scored significantly higher than learners in the control group on some dimensions of the post assessment. The treatment group reported higher levels of positive affect and interest. The results endorse the idea that adopting an affordances approach can enhance the effectiveness of VR in a learning context.

Measuring cognitive gains in a multi-skill training game is challenging, especially with dynamic difficulty levels that must be factored into metric design. This exploratory study aims to investigate whether Item Response Theory (IRT) can be used to model the mission difficulty and scale the performance score of participants' attentional abilities to reflect their training gains in an attentional training game, Skylar's Run. Properties of EEG-based attention performance were investigated. We modeled the participants' focused and sustained attention scores during gameplay that are physiologically measured every 1/10th of a second. Using IRT, we calculated difficulty weights for 15 missions and scaled the performance scores accordingly to reflect the inherent difficulty across the missions. We also accounted for EEG data variability. Lastly, we validated the scaled performance scores by fitting regression models and found that training duration had a marginally significant positive association with the performance score of sustained attention but not focused attention. These results provide evidence of the viability of using IRT to consider variability in physiological measures of attention as well as in game difficulty in complex cognitive training games.

Recognizing the importance of emotion for learning in general, and for VR games in particular, we investigated three emotional design features, including two visual features (background lighting and particle effects) and an interaction feature (available actions). Our findings revealed the affective quality of these three design features, showing that particle effects and actions significantly increase positive emotion, while dark background lighting induces slightly negative emotions. Action, however, also increased the perceived level of cognitive load. Only action had an effect on perceived presence, whereas background lighting and particle effects did not. We discuss the implication of our findings for the design of VR games for learning.

Prosocial behavior is a distinguishing characteristic of human nature. Although prosocial behaviors emerge early in development, contextual factors play an important role in how these behaviors are manifested over development. A large body of research focuses on the trajectory of prosocial development across diverse cultures and investigating contexts that foster it. Against this backdrop of developmental research endeavoring to understand and enhance the cooperative side of humanity, is the catastrophic impact of profoundly negative forces on social-emotional development for children forced to flee from violent conflict. Close to half a million Rohingya children, whose families were forced to flee genocide in Myanmar, now live in the largest refugee camp in the world. To examine the resilience of human prosociality in the face of extreme adversity, we documented initial levels of prosociality in Rohingya refugee children living in a mega-camp (Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh) and the extent to which those levels were improved following a multifaceted intervention designed to foster prosociality. The research was a partnership between Rohingya community members with lived experience, humanitarian practitioners, and developmental researchers. A sample of 152 Rohingya children (5-12 years) participated in pre- and postintervention assessments of prosocial behaviors and related cognitive-affective processes. The 10-day collaboration-based intervention was implemented between November 2021 and January 2022 by Rohingya researchers. Birthplace was used as a proxy measure of trauma level. Children born in Myanmar (N = 88) directly experienced relatively higher levels of trauma (genocide, forced migration) than children who were born in the camp after their families fled from Myanmar (N = 64). Children were individually tested pre- and postintervention with a task battery, including a helping (Origami) and two sharing tasks (Dictator Game [DG], Forced Choice sharing) measuring prosocial behavior. Assessments of related cognitive-affective processes included measures of empathic responding and emotion perspective-taking in story tasks (Imagine, Judgment) and executive function (EF) skills (Younger: Hearts & Flowers; Older: Dimensional Change Card Sorting). Small group intervention sessions conducted over 10 days targeted these prosocial behaviors and cognitive-affective processes and were based on collaborative activities, emotion perspective taking and EF skills training with the same partner throughout the intervention phase. We used latent change modeling to examine initial levels (preintervention) and intervention-related changes in these measures from pre- to postintervention. Prosocial responding was found across all measures (preintervention) and improvements (pre- to postintervention change) were apparent across most measures. Age and birthplace variables were significant predictors of initial levels and intervention-related change. Initial levels: Regarding age, older children (9-12 years) showed higher levels than younger children (5-8 years) of sharing in the Forced Choice task but lower levels in the DG. Older children also showed higher levels of empathic responding when asked to report how they would feel and respond to another person's misfortune in the Imagine task. Regarding birthplace, prior to the intervention camp-born children showed higher levels than Myanmar-born children of helping in the Origami task and reported more behavioral responses indicating how they would respond to misfortune in the Imagine task. In contrast, Myanmar-born children had higher levels of sharing in the DG and consistently chose equality over inequality in the Forced Choice sharing task, even when their partner would receive more, indicating a pattern of generosity in these children. Myanmar-born children had lower levels than camp-born children on EF measures. Intervention-related change: Regarding age, older but not younger children were more likely to increase choices for equality over inequality on the Forced Choice sharing task following the intervention. Regarding birthplace and helping, camp-born children increased behaviors that helped their partner make origami shapes themselves ("how-to" helping), whereas Myanmar-born children increased behavior that took over folding for their partner ("do-for" helping). For sharing tasks, Myanmar-born but not camp-born children increased sharing in the DG and showed an increased pattern of generosity in Forced Choice sharing task. In the Imagine story task, children born in Myanmar were more likely than those born in camp to increase empathic responding (i.e., imagining how they would feel). Children born in Myanmar showed less improvement on EF measures than children born in the camp. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that in a context of extreme adversity, Rohingya children exhibited prosociality and benefitted from a multifaceted intervention. Our research adds credence to the view that human prosociality is a fundamental characteristic of humanity that not only survives but can be enhanced in even the most adverse of childhood environments. Our multifaceted intervention, which was implemented within a collaborative social context and targeted prosocial behaviors and related cognitive-affective processes, was designed to be easily implemented within existing psychosocial support programs in refugee contexts. As the numbers of children affected by violent conflict and forced migration rise alarmingly worldwide, there is a critical need to expand research partnerships that aim to improve developmental outcomes for these millions of children.

Research data have consistently shown that military veterans are more likely than the general U.S. population to experience mental health problems, as well as homelessness and unemployment. Additionally, data show exceptionally high attrition rates from mainstream mental health treatments for veterans. While several emerging, alternative programs have great potential to support veterans in dealing with trauma and with the transition to civilian life, there is a paucity of research documenting the effectiveness of these programs. This lack of data prevails partly because of biases within the scientific community, which remains largely ignorant of the pervasive difficulties confronting veterans. Our antidote to this problem is a model of veteran-led research. In this article, we outline a set of principles of veteran-led research that we have developed through our ongoing empirical investigation of the DE-CRUIT treatment program, which uses theatre to address traumatic stress and related problems encountered by veterans. We describe the challenges involved in prioritizing the veteran perspective in conducting research within a mainstream scientific context as well as ways of meeting these challenges in order to use the tools of science to better serve our nation’s veterans.

Purpose In the USA, 22–40% of youth who have been accepted to college do not enroll. Researchers call this phenomenon summer melt, which disproportionately affects students from disadvantaged backgrounds. A major challenge is providing enough mentorship with the limited number of available college counselors. The purpose of this study is to present a case study of a design and user study of a chatbot (Lilo), designed to provide college advising interactions. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted four primary data sources to capture aspects of user experience: daily diary entries; in-depth, semi-structured interviews; user logs of interactions with the chatbot; and daily user surveys. User study was conducted with nine participants who represent a range of college experiences. Findings Participants illuminated the types of interactions designs that would be particularly impactful for chatbots for college advising including setting reminders, brokering social connections and prompting deeper introspection that build efficacy and identity toward college-going. Originality/value As a growing body of human-computer interaction research delves into the design of chatbots for different social interactions, this study illuminates key design needs for continued work in this domain. The study explores the implications for a specific domain to improve college enrollment: providing college advising to youth.

Can digital game play enhance child wellbeing? Applying a wellbeing framework that identified six dimensions of wellbeing (competence, agency, relatedness, curiosity, optimism, and reduced stress) we conducted a playtesting study (N = 25) to develop wellbeing profiles for six games. These profiles informed an experimental study in which 8- to 12-year-olds (N = 62) either played tablet-based casual games over an 8-week period (play group) or engaged in other activities (control group) in an afterschool program. We administered the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Scale (BPNSFS) as pre-test, and the KIDSCREEN-27, a standardized measure of wellbeing, as pre- and post-intervention test. We found that for children with specific psychological needs, the play intervention improved related domains of wellbeing. Results have theoretical and practical implications, including guidance for game designers to add features supporting child wellbeing.

Executive functions' (EF) role in adolescents' advanced theory of mind (aToM) was examined. In Study 1, adolescents (N = 189 in 2017, M-age = 13.1 years, 55.6% female from racially/ethnically diverse schools) completed the Flexibility and Automaticity of Social Cognition task (FASC), and shifting and inhibition measures. Study 2 (N = 289 in 2018 and 2019, M-age = 15.7 years, 59.9% female, 56.4% Hispanic/Latino) replicated Study 1 in older adolescents using automated scoring of FASC flexibility. Flexibility of social cognition varied based on ambiguity and language use; automaticity of social cognition varied by ambiguity. The role of EF was less conclusive; shifting and inhibition predicted some flexibility and automaticity measures. Ambiguity, language, and EF, particularly shifting, influence aToM into adolescence.

We assessed whether videos with medical footage of organ preservation and transplantation plus sad, unresolved, or uplifting stories differentially affect deceased organ donor registration among clients in Latinx-owned barbershops and beauty salons. In a 2 × 3 randomized controlled trial, participants (N = 1,696, mean age 33 years, 67% female) viewed one of six videos. The control portrayed a mother who received a kidney (uplifting), excluding medical footage. Experimental videos included medical footage and/or showed a mother waiting (unresolved) or sisters mourning their brother's death (sad). Regression models assessed relative impact of medical footage and storylines on: (1) registry enrollment, (2) donation willingness stage of change, and (3) emotions. Randomization yielded approximately equal groups relative to age, sex, education, religion, nativity, baseline organ donation willingness, beliefs, and emotions. Overall, 14.8% of participants registered. Neither medical footage, sad, nor unresolved stories differentially affected registration and changes in organ donation willingness. Sad and unresolved stories increased sadness and decreased positive affect by ~0.1 logits compared with the uplifting story. Educational videos about organ donation which excluded or included medical footage and varying emotional valence of stories induced emotions marginally but did not affect viewers' registration decisions differently. Heterogeneity of responses within video groups might explain the attenuated impact of including medical footage and varying emotional content. In future work, we will report qualitative reasons for participants' registration decisions by analyzing the free text responses from the randomized trial and data from semistructured interviews that were conducted with a subset of participants.

INTRODUCTION:Although much is known about theory of mind (ToM) development during childhood, data on how these skills develop in adolescence is scarce. This cavity is due in part to the limited knowledge about measures of advanced theory of mind. METHODS:The study examined the relation among six common story-based tasks designed to measure advanced ToM in two age groups of Polish adolescents: early (13-year-olds; 78 girls) and late (16-year-olds; 143 girls) adolescents. RESULTS:Factor models for individual tasks were constructed, followed by an examination of the underlying structure that explained the variability of factor scores. Only in half of the tasks, the results revealed an age-related increase in advanced ToM. Contrary to expectation, results showed a lack of correlations among story-based advanced ToM tasks in the two adolescent groups. CONCLUSIONS:The results suggest a lack of coherence among advanced story-based ToM tasks and the need for further development of reliable and valid advanced ToM measures which are sensitive enough to show increasingly complex social reasoning abilities in adolescence.

To be optimally effective, digital technologies should be adaptive to specific learners’ needs. Two examples are presented of data-informed approaches to developing digital games that support the development of executive functions (EF) in neurodiverse populations. The first is an experiment with younger and older adolescents that compared two versions of a video game designed to train the EF skill of inhibition. Based on developmental neurocognitive differences, one version focused on the speed of learners’ responses, while the other focused on the accuracy of responses. Results indicated that, as hypothesized, younger adolescents benefited more from the focus on speed, while the older adolescents benefited more from the focus on accuracy. In the second example, ongoing work on adapting an EF game designed to train the EF skill of shifting for high-functioning adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is presented. A detailed analysis of game log data, specifically data on speed and accuracy of responses in the game, revealed that although accuracy was near ceiling, there was greater variability in speed of responses. This suggests that for high-functioning adolescents with ASD, a version of the EF game that focuses on speed of response would be most beneficial. Next steps for the project are discussed, as are broader implications for data-driven approaches to designing adaptive digital tools for learning.

Indicators of behavioral engagement derived from log data may provide insight about variation in participants' interactions with and the efficacy of digital cognitive skills training games. We first sought to determine whether distinct groups of adolescents (N = 163; Mean age = 14.1 years, SD = 1.3) could be identified based on variables derived from digital log data collected while participants played a game designed to enhance inhibitory control. We then examined whether these data-driven participant groupings were associated with improvement in inhibitory control. Latent class mixture modeling was conducted both with reaction time and a measure of response accuracy (d') of log data. Results indicated two distinct classes based on reaction time, and four classes based on response accuracy over the course of training. Class membership based on reaction time was associated with differential improvements in performance on a subsequent standardized measure of inhibitory control. The findings point towards the need for formative metrics of progress, as well as the need for more adaptive and user-centered cognitive skills interventions. Our findings suggest that there may be some utility in analyzing log data as an indicator of student engagement, particularly when used in complement with more traditional measures of performance.

The present study examines whether playing a video game can help improve cognitive skills needed for successful performance on cognitive tasks, such as updating, which involves continuous monitoring of incoming information that results in rapid addition or deletion of information in working memory. For example, in the n-back task, the participant sees a series of rapidly presented letters on a screen and must press a key each time the current letter is the same as one presented n trials previously (e.g., 3 trials back). Young adults were randomly assigned to play CrushStations (a desktop game the authors designed to teach updating skill) or Bookworm (a commercially available word search game used as a control) for 4 30-min sessions spread over 9 days. Consistent with specific transfer theory, CrushStations players improved on performing the target skill in the game context across the four sessions (the highest level achieved). Consistent with specific transfer of general skill theory, CrushStations players outscored Bookworm players on a posttest involving accurately performing the target skill in a non-game context (n-back task). In contrast to general transfer theory, CrushStations players did not differ from Bookworm players on posttests measuring skills not directly targeted in the game (visuospatial memory task). These results show the benefits of designing educational games in line with the cognitive theory of game-based training (Parong et al., 2020).

Purpose: We examined whether variation in task-switching indirectly predicted variation in reading comprehension by way of variation in decoding, and furthermore, whether this effect differed among adolescents with ASD compared to an age-matched control group. Methods: We examined whether the association between task-switching and reading comprehension was mediated by decoding among a sample of autistic adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; N = 45, Mage = 14.9 years) and an age-matched comparison group (N = 43, Mage = 14.3 years). Analyses were conducted using path models to test for direct effects of decoding and task switching on reading comprehension, as well as indirect effects of task-switching on reading comprehension by way of decodingResults: Though the indirect effect did not significantly differ between the ASD and comparison groups, the indirect effect of task-switching on reading comprehension via decoding was only significant among adolescents with ASD. This suggest that task-switching plays a particularly prominent role in decoding and reading comprehension among adolescents with ASD.Conclusion: Though further work is necessary to replicate this effect, the findings may have implications for interventions that may target improvements in word reading abilities as a means for improving reading comprehension outcomes among youth with ASD.