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The release and rapid diffusion of ChatGPT have caught the attention of educators worldwide. Some educators are enthusiastic about its potential to support learning. Others are concerned about how it might circumvent learning opportunities or contribute to misinformation. To better understand reactions about ChatGPT concerning education, we analyzed Twitter data (16,830,997 tweets from 5,541,457 users). Based on topic modeling and sentiment analysis, we provide an overview of global perceptions and reactions to ChatGPT regarding education. ChatGPT triggered a massive response on Twitter, with education being the most tweeted content topic. Topics ranged from specific (e.g., cheating) to broad (e.g., opportunities), which were discussed with mixed sentiment. We traced that authority decisions may influence public opinions. We discussed that the average reaction on Twitter (e.g., using ChatGPT to cheat in exams) differs from discussions in which education and teaching-learning researchers are likely to be more interested (e.g., ChatGPT as an intelligent learning partner). This study provides insights into peoples reactions when new groundbreaking technology is released and implications for scientific and policy communication in rapidly changing circumstances.

Understanding the main factors contributing to individual differences in fluid intelligence is one of the main challenges of psychology. A vast body of research has evolved from the theoretical framework put forward by Cattell, who developed the Culture-Fair IQ Test (CFT 20-R) to assess fluid intelligence. In this work, we extend and complement the current state of research by analysing the differential and combined relationship between eye-movement patterns and socio-demographic information and the ability of a participant to correctly solve a CFT item. Our work shows that a participants eye movements while solving a CFT item contain discriminative information and can be used to predict whether the participant will succeed in solving the test item. Moreover, the information related to eye movements complements the information provided by socio-demographic data when it comes to success prediction. In combination, both types of information yield a significantly higher predictive performance than each information type individually. To better understand the contributions of features related to eye movements and socio-demographic information to predict a participants success in solving a CFT item, we employ state-of-the-art explainability techniques and show that, along with socio-demographic variables, eye-movement data. Especially the number of saccades and the mean pupil diameter, significantly increase the discriminating power. The eye-movement features are likely indicative of processing efficiency and invested mental effort. Beyond the specific contribution to research on how eye movements can serve as a means to uncover mechanisms underlying cognitive processes, the findings presented in this work pave the way for further in-depth investigations of factors predicting individual differences in fluid intelligence.

The application of artificial intelligence (AI) for text generation in creative domains raises questions regarding the credibility of AI-generated content. In two studies, we explored if readers can differentiate between AI-based and human-written texts (generated based on the first line of texts and poems of classic authors) and how the stylistic qualities of these texts are rated. Participants read 9 AI-based continuations and either 9 human-written continuations (Study 1, N=120) or 9 original continuations (Study 2, N=302). Participants' task was to decide whether a continuation was written with an AI-tool or not, to indicate their confidence in each decision, and to assess the stylistic text quality. Results showed that participants generally had low accuracy for differentiating between text types but were overconfident in their decisions. Regarding the assessment of stylistic quality, AI-continuations were perceived as less well-written, inspiring, fascinating, interesting, and aesthetic than both human-written and original continuations.Keywords: Cognition, Artificial Intelligence, Literature, NLP, GPT-2

E-learning opportunities have become an increasingly important component of university education. Various laboratory studies have shown that e-learning environments can meaningfully enhance learning by incorporating various interventions and design choices (e.g., providing feedback and scaffolds). However, many computer-based interventions have not yet been applied in authentic university courses, raising questions about whether and how the provision of certain forms of feedback works and scales in an applied context. In this paper, we addressed this research gap. Specifically, we investigated whether including an elaborative component (hints) in multiple-try feedback increases student learning in e-learning exercises in an undergraduate statistics course. In one exercise, after completing a statistical problem, one group received feedback that conveyed knowledge about the correct response, while the other group additionally received elaborative feedback in the form of hints. We conducted an experimental comparison of these two types of feedback with third-semester sociology students in the tutorial component of an introductory statistics course. The results show that additional feedback helps students perform better during the session and on a delayed test one week later. Implications for further research and the application of such e-learning environments in university settings are discussed.

Background: It is well established that successful learning with multimedia is challenging, especially for younger learners. Aims: It was investigated whether students would profit from instructional support regarding the use of multimedia learning strategies. Sample: Participants were high school students in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade (N = 168). Methods: Participants were assigned to a no-support control group or one of four experimental groups. In the experimental groups, students received either only a multimedia strategy training before learning (training group) or the training was enriched by prompts (prompts before or during learning) or if-then plans (implementation intentions). In the training, multimedia learning strategies were introduced (e.g., linking information from text and picture). The prompts and implementation intentions were aimed at enhancing the application of the multimedia strategies conveyed through the training. Students learned about the process of mitosis by studying multimedia instructions and were tested regarding the acquired knowledge. It was expected that solely training students to use adequate multimedia learning strategies would not promote learning compared with the control group, rather, that additional support like prompts or implementation intentions would be necessary to enhance learning. Results: Although in the experimental groups, multimedia learning strategies were used more frequently especially in the beginning of the instructional unit, there were no effects on learning outcome. Conclusions: Promoting multimedia strategy use did not improve learning. The quality of the different instructional support measures and their suitability for the target groups are discussed as possible explanations for these findings.

Prior research on epistemic beliefs, that is, individuals' views about knowledge and knowing, has mainly focused either on individuals' professed beliefs (as reported in questionnaires) or on their enacted beliefs (as indicated during task processing). However, little is known about the relation between professed and enacted epistemic beliefs. The present study focused on beliefs about the uncertainty of scientific knowledge and investigated both professed and enacted beliefs in the context of evaluations of scientific controversies. Participants were N = 79 university students who first completed a questionnaire that targeted their professed uncertainty beliefs about scientific knowledge. Then, approximately 1 week later, they completed a standardized test in which they evaluated five scientific controversies. Cued retrospective verbal reports were used to measure their enacted uncertainty beliefs while taking the test. Results revealed that professed and enacted uncertainty beliefs were interrelated and that both variables predicted individuals' performance with regard to the evaluation of scientific controversies. Furthermore, the effect of professed uncertainty beliefs on controversy-evaluation performance was partly mediated by enacted uncertainty beliefs. The findings of the present study point toward novel theoretical insights and educational implications regarding the relations between professed and enacted beliefs about the uncertainty of scientific knowledge and their role in individuals' evaluation of scientific controversies.

Teachers must be able to monitor students' behavior and identify valid cues in order to draw conclusions about students' actual engagement in learning activities. Teacher training can support (inexperienced) teachers in developing these skills by using videotaped teaching to highlight which indicators should be considered. However, this supposes that: (1) valid indicators of students' engagement in learning are known; and (2) work with videos is designed as effectively as possible to reduce the effort involved in manual coding procedures and in examining videos. One avenue for addressing these issues is to utilize the technological advances made in recent years in fields such as machine learning to improve the analysis of classroom videos. Assessing students' attention-related processes through visible indicators of (dis)engagement in learning might become more effective if automated analyses can be employed. Thus, in the present study, we validated a new manual rating approach and provided a proof of concept for a machine vision-based approach evaluated on pilot classroom recordings of three lessons with university students. The manual rating system was significantly correlated with self-reported cognitive engagement, involvement, and situational interest and predicted performance on a subsequent knowledge test. The machine vision-based approach, which was based on gaze, head pose, and facial expressions, provided good estimations of the manual ratings. Adding a synchrony feature to the automated analysis improved correlations with the manual ratings as well as the prediction of posttest variables. The discussion focuses on challenges and important next steps in bringing the automated analysis of engagement to the classroom.

This study examined the effect of the reading environment, i.e., documents presentation and possibility of text-highlighting, on readers' integrated understanding, as well as the interplay between the reading environment and overt reading processes (i.e., online integrative processes) in forming intertextual connections. University students (N = 126) read six partly conflicting documents presented on a large multi-touch table, which were presented simultaneously or sequentially, with or without the possibility of text-highlighting. The simultaneous presentation yielded better integrated understanding, with this effect being fully mediated by an increased likelihood to spatially organize documents during reading. Furthermore, the possibility of text-highlighting also fostered readers' integrated understanding. Additional analyses (sequential presentation only), however, indicated that this was not the case for participants who only infrequently revisited documents. We discuss this complex interplay between the reading environment and readers' online integrative processes in the light of the RESOLV model.

Laypeople are increasingly confronted with scientific controversies, as science concerns many aspects of everyday life. In the present study, we investigated how epistemic beliefs regarding the uncertainty of knowledge (i.e. uncertainty beliefs) and invested mental effort during task processing contribute to how individuals evaluate scientific controversies. Forty-four undergraduate university students completed a questionnaire targeting their uncertainty beliefs and a week later worked on a test that required the evaluation of five scientific controversies. Eye-tracking technology was used to measure participants' pupil dilation while reading the controversies as an indicator of individuals' invested mental effort. Results revealed that both uncertainty beliefs and mental effort were positive predictors of individuals' test performance (i.e. their proficient evaluation of the controversies). Furthermore, uncertainty beliefs predicted mental effort. Finally, a mediation analysis revealed that mental effort partially explained the relation between uncertainty beliefs and test performance. We discuss implications of how individuals' epistemic beliefs regarding the uncertainty of knowledge influence the evaluation of conflicting scientific information through mental effort, offering both theoretical clarification and practical recommendations.

When reading scientific information on the Internet laypersons frequently encounter conflicting claims. However, they usually lack the ability to resolve these scientific conflicts based on their own prior knowledge. This study aims to investigate how differences in the trustworthiness and/or expertise of the sources putting forward the conflicting claims affect laypersons' explanation and resolution of the scientific conflict. We sequentially presented 144 participants with two conflicting scientific claims regarding the safety of nanoparticles in sunscreen and manipulated whether the scientists putting forward the claims differed in their trustworthiness and/or expertise. After having read the claims on a computer in a self-paced manner, participants rated their subjective explanations for the conflicting claims, assessed their personal claim agreement, and completed a source memory task. We examined how differences in source trustworthiness and source expertise affected these measures. Results showed that trustworthiness differences resulted in higher attribution of the conflict to motivational explanations, and expertise differences in higher attribution of the conflict to competence explanations, than without respective differences. Furthermore, main effects of trustworthiness differences and of expertise differences on readers' claim agreement were shown, with participants agreeing more with claims from sources of higher trustworthiness or expertise.

This study investigates whether making and observing(human) gestures facilitates learning about non-humanbiological movements and whether correspondence betweengesture and to-be-learned movement is superior to non-correspondence. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy wasused to address whether gestures activate the human mirror-neuron system (hMNS) and whether this activation mediatesthe facilitation of learning. During learning, participantsviewed the animations of the to-be-learned movements twice.Depending on the condition, the second viewing wassupplemented with either a self-gesturing instruction (Y/N)and/or a gesture video (corresponding/non-corresponding/no).Results showed that high-visuospatial-ability learners showedbetter learning outcomes with non-corresponding gestures,whereas those gestures were detrimental for low-visuospatial-ability learners. Furthermore, the activation of the inferior-parietal cortex (part of the hMNS) tended to predict betterlearning outcomes. Unexpectedly, making gestures did notinfluence learning, but cortical activation differed for learnerswho self-gestured depending on which gesture they observed.Results and implications are discussed.

Prior research indicated that information processing isinfluenced by the proximity of the hands to information:visuospatial processing is fostered near the hands, whereastextual processing might not be affected or even inhibitednear the hands. This study investigated how the proximity ofthe hands to digital information in pop-ups influenceslearning outcomes on multi-touch devices. Depending on thedistance between the information in the pop-ups and thehands of the users there were three conditions: (1) all pop-upsopened near the hands, (2) all pop-ups opened far from thehands, and (3) pop-ups with visuospatial information openednear the hands, whereas pop-ups with textual informationopened far from the hands (mixed condition). Results showedbetter learning outcomes when visuospatial pop-ups arepresented near the hands, whereas there was no difference inlearning outcomes between near and far presented textualpop-ups. Results and implications for multi-touch designs arediscussed.

Subjective life expectancy (SLE) has been related to psychological variables, such as optimism. Based on previousstudies where positive attitude was related with longer lifetime, the present study examined whether modifying participants’attitude would influence their SLE. Therefore, 50 participants were randomly assigned either to a positive or to a neutral attitudegroup. During one week, participants of the positive (neutral) group, had to choose the three most accurate positive (neutral)sentences (among 22) to describe their day. After this week, they had to estimate the probability of being 60, 70, 80, or 90years old (traditional measure) and to situate themselves on a line representing their lifetime (spatial based measure). Resultsshow that 1) a more positive attitude increased SLE more than a neutral one, 2) the spatial based measure was sensitive to theintervention and 3) both measures correlated positively with participants’ optimism.

The present research examines how the usefulness of source information to explain conflicting scientific claims affects laypersons' processing of this information as they seek possible explanations for the conflicting scientific claims in the sources and during resolution of the conflict. In an eye-tracking experiment, we presented 76 participants with two conflicting scientific claims (on a controversial nanotechnology issue) put forward by two scientists (sources) that did or did not differ in their implied trustworthiness. We expected differences in trustworthiness to be useful source information for claim evaluation and explanation of the conflict. This should lead to longer processing of the source information during reading, to a stronger explanation of the conflict through differences in the scientists' motivations, and to stronger agreement with the claim of the source which was more trustworthy. Our results show that differences in the sources' trustworthiness indeed led to increased visual attention to source information during reading. Moreover, the source information affected individuals' explanation of the conflict as well as their claim agreement: Individuals in the condition with differences in trustworthiness agreed more strongly with scientists' motivations as a potential explanation for the conflict and agreed more strongly with the claim of the more trustworthy source than the individuals in the control condition. These results are discussed in the context of the content-source integration (CSI) model.