Davidson (1992)

Davidson, R. (1992)

Anterior cerebral asymmetry and the nature of Emotion

Brain and Cognition, 20, 125-151

Cf cognition Emotion is observable by others and often accompanied by frank biological changes that are readily perceived by the individual concerned.

Theory that motivates the research - role of cerebral hemispheres in emotional processing

p 126 ' approach and withdrawal are fundamental motivational dimensions which may be found at any level of phylogeny where behaviour itself is present.

Damage to left frontal p127 'results in behaviour an experience which might best be characterised as a deficit in approach. (KRO ? Right hemisphere modulation of emotional experience predominates)

'during the experimental arousal of withdrawal -reared emotional sates ( e.g. Fear and disgust) the right frontal and anterior temporal regions are selectively activated. In addition, subjects with baseline tonic activation in these regions show a propensity to respond with accentuated withdrawal related negative affect to appropriate emotional elicitors'

Anterior activation asymmetry (?kro as a trait) functions as a diathesis which predisposes an individual to respond with predominately positive or negative affect, given an appropriate emotion elicitor.

Methods description

p 130 time resolution

sub zero to several minutes ' many of the core phenomena of emotion are brief  and therefore require measures that have a very fast time resolution'. 'periods of peak emotional intensity are unpredictable' 'It is also important to be able to record physiological activity over much long time intervals. This is needed when subjects are presented with affect elicitors that last several minutes, requiring physiology to be integrated over the entire period of the eliciting stimulus'

Non invasive less like that PET, fMRI, to cause emotion related states such as anxiety

Can synchronise with behavioural signs

P 152 ' The principal measure extracted from the EEG in the studies I present in this article is power in the alpha band....... A wealth of evidence indicates that power in this frequency band is inversely related to activation in adults (e.g.  Shagass, 1972)....... Our measures. Of band power are computed from the output of the FFT which decomposes the brain activity into its underlying sine wave components ( KRO why not cosine as well).

From another Davidson article and based on   Schaffer, C.E., Davidson, R.J., and Saron, C. (1983) Frontal and parietal asymmetries in depressed and non-depressed subjects, Biological Psychiatry, 18, 753-762

Resting EEG was recorded for both eyes open and eyes closed for 30 sec periods prior to the administration of various cognitive and affective tasks. Alpha activity from left and right frontal and left and right parietal regions (F3, F4,P3, P4) referenced to a common vertex (Cz) was extracted from all artefact-free epochs. The results revealed no group differences. For either frontal or parietal EEG during the eyes open base-line period. However for the eyes-closed resting period, a significant (0.5) Group effect was obtained on a measure of frontal alpha asymmetry (R-L/R+L. Alpha power; higher numbers on this index reflect greater relative left-sided activation). Depressed subjects show greater relative right-frontal activation than do non-depressed subjects

Research on anterior asymmetries associated with the phasic arousal of emotion

IDs in baseline asymmetry and affective reactivity

Anterior asymmetries during the experimental arousal of approach and withdrawal related emotion

p 132 ' adult subjects were exposed to short film clips designed to induce approach-related positive emotion and withdrawal-related negative emotion'

' when two or more emotions are compared for their effects on either physiological or behavioural dependent variables the intensity of the elicited emotion must be comparable,. If the emotions differ in intensity, then  any differences found between them could be attributed to intensity per se , rather than to the qualitative nature of the emotions aroused.'

-matched intensity determined by self report!

FACs scoring of concurrent video recording used to termite onset of happy and disgust facial expressions

EEG during the periods was Fourier transformed and power in different frequency bands was calculated. p 133 'Based upon on the theory evidence reviewed above, we hypothesised that the disgust periods would be associated with greater right sided anterior activation that would happy periods and that the happy periods would be associated with greater left- sided activation than would disgust periods.

Davidson takes the mean log-transformed alpha power and with this transformation ' more negative numbers indicate less alpha power. The negative numbers are a function of the log transformation.  Lower  numbers  ( i.e. more negative ) are associated with increased activation' (KRO ???? implies that less alpha power is associated with increased activation)  The results p 133-134 ' disgust is associated with less alpha power I.e. more activation, in the right frontal lead than is happiness, while happiness is associated with less alpha power in the left frontal lead than is disgust. '  Also found at temporal electrodes but not at the parietal.

For asymmetry index p 134 ' log right minus log left alpha power. Higher numbers on this scale denote greater relative left sided activation' all subjects showed a lowers ore on is index during the disgust rather than happy phase. 'We also found at there were large IDs among individuals in their average asymmetry scores. ( across emotion conditions ). The difference between happy and disgust conditions appears to be superimposed upon subjects' basal levels of asymmetry.'  When comparisons were made without preselects on of EEG based on facial expression the means were in the expected direction but   a statistically significant difference could not be  confirmed for the asymmetry measures.

Studies in infants: Important because it compares spontaneous  and voluntary smiling

Used taste to investigate whether asymmetries are present at birth - yes.

Spontaneous - both zygomatic and orbicularis oculi - felt happiness (Duchenne)

Voluntary zygomatic

Darwin (1872) suggested that the duration of each smile type differed. Ie spontaneous longer.  Confirmed by Ekman, Davidson & Frieson, 1990 self report of emotion and relative activation of the appropriate facial muscles was correlated.

Facial behaviour coded by EM FACs system (streamlined version of the FACs)

Stimulus - approach of either a stranger or the mother. Results p 138  'We specifically predicted that smiles with orbicularis activity would be accompanied by more relative left - sided frontal activation than the other smile.  ..... Data strongly supported this hypothesis.'  more left frontal activation with spontaneous smiling  has been confirmed in adults. (Ekman, Davidson & Friesen, 1990)

Individual differences in anterior symmetry: A neural substrate for affective style.

Davidson sees any response to emotional stimuli as  p 139 ' superimposed upon large individual differences in the overall magnitude and direction of asymmetry. In other research, we have found that a subject's overall (across task) EEG asymmetry during task performance  is highly correlated with their asymmetry during a resting baseline. ( e.g. Davidson, Taylor and Sharon, 1979)  and that anterior asymmetries during resting baselines are stable over time ( Tomarken et al, 1990). With test- retreat correlations ranging between 0.66 and 0.73 for different measures of anterior activation asymmetry

Scaffer, Davidson & Saron, 1983 -depressed subjects had less left frontal activation than the non depressed  subjects. p 140 ' An important question concerning these findings with depressives is the degree to which they are state - dependent. Is the decrease in left frontal activation a marker of the state of depression or  is a more trait like characteristic which marks an individual' s vulnerability to depression'

Results from an experiment to investigate that question  ' The results indicate that the decreased left anterior activation which is characteristic of depression remains. Even when the depression is remitted. In turn, these findings suggest that 'depressogenic' asymmetry patterns may be a  state -independent marker that indexes risk for depression.'

In a further study p 141 ' We hypothesised that subjects with greater right sided frontal activation at rest would report more intense negative affect in spouse to film clips signed to elicit fear and disgust. ...... W found that measures of frontal activations asymmetry recorded prior to the presentation of the film clips accounted fro a significant variance in subjects' self-reports of  negative affect in response to the clips. Subjects with greater relative right-sided frontal activation reported. More intense negative affect to the clips.'

J & J (2009)

Hanna Järvenoja & Sanna Järvelä (2009)

Emotion control in collaborative learning situations: Do students regulate emotions evoked by social challenges?

British Journal of Educational Psychology , 463-481

Research moves from ideas of self regulated learning to how motivation is regulated in collaborative contexts where there are socio-emotional challenges.

P463 ‘ During recent years, self regulated learning (SRL) has become a major research field. SRL successfully integrates the cognitive and motivational components of learning. Self regulated learning (SRL) p463 ‘ an active, goal orientated process that encompasses the control of cognitive and metacognitive actions, motivation and affect, and context’ with social as primarily contextual article goes on to interrogate the impact of socio-emotional challenges.

In collaborative learning individuals need to regulate the process of learning together and this involves

· Negotiate

· Compromise

· Reconsider

· Explain

· Listen

P464 ‘ group members regulate their emotions and cognition together through shared responsibility for the learning task requirements’ can be conceptualized as either

1. Shared regulation – group employs common strategies and tactics to control challenges together’

2. Co-regulation , ‘in which individuals assist each other’s regulation’ – ‘ the individual seeks to affect others and is affected by others with the intention of achieving their own goals’

RQs p 466

1. What kinds of socio-emotional challenges students experience during collaborative learning

2. Whether students use self, other, or shared regulation in socio-emotionally challenging situations

3. How group members interpretations of the group challenges and of the different forms of regulation vary within and between the group

Method

63 first year teacher education students. Studied (f-f) in groups of 3-5 and participated in 3 different collaborative tasks(1-structured, creates cognitive conflicts between group members, stimulate student augmentation n and negotiation), (2-case, encourage discussion and sharing of authentic real-life experiences, share expertise), (3=Open, stimulate group to take responsibility and regulate their work, encourage students v to be persistent and tolerate uncertainty))

Measurements

Adaptive Instrument for the Regulation of Emotions (AIRE - ? whether methodology paper published). 4 sections

1. Personal task specific goals (originates from research on achievement, well-being and social Goals Dowson & McInerney(2003) – Students asked to identify the most important goal from 12 options)

2. Socio-emotional challenges (5 point Likert scale – the extent to which they experienced 14 socially challenging situations - based on empirical studies ( Van den Bossche et al, 2006) why learners fail to successfully complete. After rating all the challenges, students were asked to indicate which challenge triggered the most emotions in their group in the specific task they had just finishes) p469 ‘The 14 challenge scenarios represent five different challenge types, namely challenges in personal priorities (A,B), work and communication(C,D,E,F), teamwork(G,H,I,J) collaboration(K,L,M) and external constraints(N). This thematic distribution demonstrates that the challenges within each category share some qualitative characteristics. However, each challenge scenario describes a socio-emotionally different situation that is independent of the other scenarios)

3. Regulation of emotions (self(i), shared(we). Other(I))

4. Goal attainment and reflection on group work

Results

Quantitative

1. Association of collaborative task(1,2,3) with thematic category (5) for socio emotional challenge i.e. challenge associated with task - KRO BUT tasks always done in the same order therefore effects may be due to time spent working together rather than the type of collaborative task. Over the three tasks ( time) teamwork and collaboration become more challenging and personal priorities and work and communication less so.

2. Reports of regulation type varied between tasks and groups. Reports about self regulation varied within groups – p472 ‘ an indicator of intrinsic group dynamics’

P473 ‘To sum up, students reported experiencing a variety of socio-emotional challenges in collaborative learning situations. There was a shift from more personal priorities challenges to collaborative type challenges when the task became less structured. Regardless of the task or type of challenge, the students engages in self and shared regulation processes. The level of congruent reports of shared –regulation by group members was different. Differences that are elaborated in the qualitative analysis.

Qualitative – individual measures using personal goals(themes), socio-emotional (themes), control of social challenge, ratings of category, goal achievement and function of group in achieving goal

2 project groups chosen for detailed comparisons p473 ‘ in order to demonstrate how groups’ intrinsic dynamics vary, and how the congruence or dissimilarity in reports of shared-regulation can be explained’ Group G range of reported oshared regulation was small, whereas in B it was substantial.

Group G Task 3 (note the task could be considered to be more challenging than task 2 (see B group) but then students have group worked together for longer)

Shared learning as the personal goal

2 students reported that emotion came from challenges in collaboration and two from challenges in teamwork

2 students reported slightly more individual regulation , socially shared regulation similar for all. P474 ‘ suggesting that group members had a shared understanding oh how they interacted as a group’

all 4 students were satisfied that their personal goals had been achieved and all 4 recognised the part that the group had played in this achievement.

Group B Task 2

2 students had a personal goal well being ( avoid being stressed) whereas the other two had a social goal (have a good time and enjoy the experience)

For socio emotional challenge 2 students reported personal priorities, 1 communication and another teamwork.

2 students reported relatively high levels of shared regulation - p475 ‘members of this group did not seem to share an understanding of the shared-regulation’

All reported that they achieved personal goals but differed on their interpretation of the role played by the group.

Conclusion

P476 ‘ Most group members believe they do something together to overcome socio-emotional challenges’

‘The concept of socially shared regulation requires further eloboration and empirical evidence. The concept of socially shared regulation ( Volet et al, 200() emphasizes the use of common strategies and tactics by group members’

Socio-emotional challenge scenarios and their distribution to the different challenge types

Personal priorities

A. Our goals for the project were different

B. We had different priorities

Work and communication

C. We seemed to have incompatible styles of

working

D. We seemed to have different styles of interacting

E. One/some people had problems with other students' accents and/or level of language proficiency

and thought it was difficult to work with them

Teamwork

R People in our group did not connect very well

with one another

G. One/some people were not fully committed

to the group project

H. People had very different standards of work

I. Group members were not equal

J. Some people were easily distracted

Collaboration

K. Our ideas about what we should

do were not the same

L We differed in our understanding of the content/task

M. Our conceptions of how to organize the work varied

External constraints

N. We had different personal life circumstances

or family/study and work commitments

Examples of self, other and shared self-regulation related to challenges C and L

Type of regulation	Challenge CChallenge L
self	I tried to accept the situation, realizing that some people had different styles of working	I tried to accept the situation, realizing that some people had a different perspective or understandings of the content
other	I told the others we needed to accept different styles of working	I told the others we needed to accept that there can be different ways to understand and interpret the content or the task
shared	We accepted that different members had different styles of working	We accepted that different members had different perspectives or understanding of the content or the task

developing social brain

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore(2010)

The Developing Brain: Implications for Education

Neuron, 65, 6, 744-747

P2 ‘ We are constantly reading each others’ actions, gestures and faces in terms of underlying mental states and emotions, in an attempt to figure out what other people are thinking and feeling, and what they are about to do next’

Age 4 ‘ children begin explicitly to understand that others can hold a belief that is different from their own’

Refers to Kuhl work on language learning and video

P3

‘ What is so special about social interaction with a real person is not yet understood. One possibility is that social interaction increases infants’ motivation through enhanced attention and arousal. Social interaction also directs the adult trainer to focus on the learner’s individual needs and tailors the training content for the learner. In addition, by nine months, infants start to understand that pointing to, or looking in the direction of an object indicates that this object is being referred to (KRO Multi modality). This is one of the first building blocks of theory of mind’

examples of mentalizing

· understanding irony ( separating the literal from the intended meaning)

· thinking about ones own intentions

· thinking about social emotions such as guilt and embarrassment

We need to ask whether online social networking, which is particularly important with teenagers, is the same as real live interaction, or whether it might be denying the developing brain of important real-life interactions. There is yet no research on this important question. What is the critical factor in social interaction that is so evidently missing from video conferencing, and which makes it incomparable to a meeting with real people? Being able to ascertain whether or not involuntary emotional expression occurs and if so when is a critical piece of evidence for this debate.’

Affective and social : Jones & Issroff(2007)

Ann Jones and Kim Issroff (2007)

Learning technologies: Affective and social issues

In Conole & Oliver (2007)

Affect can cover emotion, mood, attitude & value

Cook (2000) argued that collaboration was motivating. Argument for this coheres around the idea that participants develop shared histories and shared meanings.

What are the elements that motivate?

· P191 Keller & Suzuki (1988, book) Keller’s ARCS – attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction.

· Issroff & del Sddata (1996) identified 4 motivational factors namely curiousity, challenge, confidence and control

· Eales et al (2002) distinguish between

1. authentic motivation – related to a focus on the development of robust, long term knowledge

2. inauthentic motivation – focused on assessment and the tactics of schooling

This led onto ideas about the importance of ownership for motivation.

Focus on Research contexts

Since the 1980s research on motivation is more likely to be carried out in real learning contexts rather than being lab based.

193 Jarvela, 2001,4. ‘motivation is no longer a separate variable or a distinct factor, which can be applied in explanations of an individuals’s readiness to act or learn – but it is reflective of the social and cultural environment’ (KRO partly true but…. I would rather say that using only a lab based approach is never going to be totally satisfactory)

Studies

Face to face

P195 face to face with children – the importance of affinity and attraction (Issroff and also Vass refs)

CMC

· Wegerith (1998) ‘individual success or failure on one online course depended on the extent to which students were able to cross a threshold from felling like outsiders to feeling like insiders’

· Tolmie & Boyle (2000) review the factors influencing the success of CMC environments in university teaching. P196 ‘Some of them are affective factors and others involve affective considerations’ Size of group ( if too large the participants cannot get to know each other sufficiently for trust to develop), knowledge of other participants, student experience, ownership of the task , need for/ the function of CMC.

· Preece (2000) ‘ argues for the importance of sociability in communications that depend on trust, collaboration and appropriate styles of communication. Preece has a particular concern with empathy and has analysed the nature of empathetic support across a number of online communities’

Reflection and evaluation

P201 From an evaluation perspective ‘ what are the desired outcomes from the use of technology?’

‘what aspects of learning situations influence students’ affections’ ( KRO possible research question ).