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Background: Leaderboards are a highly popular gamification component used in student learning to enhance motivation, attentional engagement, and learning performance. However, few studies have examined the effects of individual leaderboard elements on English vocabulary learning through video lectures. Objectives: The present study aimed to examine how different leaderboard elements (i.e., points and rank) may affect students' English vocabulary learning through video lectures. Methods: A total of 34 students were assigned to groups using different leaderboard elements in a counterbalanced order. Participants' motivation, eye movements, and learning performance were measured and analysed. Results and Conclusions: Students' leaderboard rank was shown to increase their motivation regardless of whether other elements were present. Eye movement tracking revealed that the presence of the leaderboard increased students' saccades between the questions and the options, and lengthened their dwell time on the learning materials while reducing their dwell time on the non‐learning‐related screen areas. Presenting students' rank alone also improved their learning performance. Implications: Our findings strongly support the use of video lectures for English vocabulary learning, with the following recommendations: (1) Instructors should present students' rank on the leaderboard to enhance students' motivation and engagement; (2) Instructors should present only the students' rank on the leaderboard to also enhance students' learning performance. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: While learning English vocabulary from video lectures, students might experience low levels of motivation and engagement, and pay less attention to the lectures.Leaderboards are a highly popular gamification component used in student learning to enhance motivation, attentional engagement, and learning performance.It remains unclear which leaderboard elements (i.e., points or rank) contribute most significantly to the effectiveness of the leaderboards. What this paper adds: Leaderboard elements have different effects on English vocabulary learning.The rank on the leaderboard benefited students' motivation and engagement.The rank also enhances students' confidence and learning performance. Implications for practice and/or policy: Instructors should present students' rank on the leaderboard to enhance students' motivation and engagement.Instructors should present only the students' rank on the leaderboard to also enhance students' learning performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Learning which letters correspond to which speech sounds is fundamental for learning to read. Based on previous experimental studies, we developed a serious game aiming to boost letter‐speech sound (L‐SS) correspondences in a motivational game environment. Objectives: The goal of this study was to determine the efficacy of this game in training L‐SS correspondences in pre‐readers. Additionally, an extended version of the game was developed given the importance of handwriting in audio‐visual integration. We established whether including a motoric component in the game boosted the letter‐speech sound training on top of the effect of the game without the motoric component. Methods: One‐hundred forty‐five kindergartners were randomly allocated to play either the standard audio‐visual version of the game, the motoric version or a control math game. All children were pre‐ and post‐tested on L‐SS knowledge and reading accuracy. Results and conclusions: We found that playing the game enhanced pre‐readers' L‐SS knowledge, but not reading accuracy, after a short, intensive intervention period of 3 weeks. However, children who played the motoric version of the game did not differ significantly from either the standard or the control condition. Implications: This game was efficient in training L‐SS correspondences in pre‐readers. These results suggest that this game might be useful as a preventive evidence‐based intervention for at‐risk children in kindergarten who might benefit from a head start before learning how to read. Future studies are needed to examine whether a longer intervention period results in L‐SS knowledge being translated into reading skills. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Automatised and fluent reading requires much exposure and practice, but intensive teacher support for all at‐risk readers is economically and practically unfeasibleHandwriting movement likely to enhance coupling of auditory and visual informationOne way to provide high exposure is with game‐based interventionsLack of studies examining the efficacy of these interventions What this paper adds: Serious game enhances letter‐speech sound knowledge in pre‐readers after 3 weeks of intensive interventionThis effect did not transfer to reading performanceNo additional effect of the handwriting movement, possibly due to the short intervention periodIn‐game measures slightly mediated intervention progress Implications for practice and/or policy: Growing evidence of game‐based interventions as promising tools to support reading developmentGame can possibly serve as evidence‐based intervention for at‐risk children in kindergarten who might benefit from a head start before learning how to read [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual reality (VR) can promote design performance, and may generate a high cognitive load and affect creative design thinking as well. In order to examine the effect of VR application on cognitive load and engineering design creativity, this study recruited 81 eighth‐grade students as participants and employed a non‐equivalent‐groups quasi‐experimental design to examine how VR application influences creativity components and creative performance. A creativity component scale (creative motivation, creative thinking, and professional cognition), a measurement of creative performance, and a cognitive load scale were used to collect data. The study also investigated the ability of VR application to predict creativity components and creative performance, using cognitive load as the mediator. The conclusions are as follows: (1) VR application had marked effects on professional cognition and creative motivation but no effect on creative thinking skills. (2) VR application had marked effects on the novelty and usefulness aspects of creative performance, particularly with respect to usefulness. (3) VR application had marked effects on extraneous and germane cognitive load, but no influence on intrinsic cognitive load, and (4) Both VR application and cognitive load were able to predict creativity components and creative performance. Their abilities to predict creative performance approached an acceptable level. Nevertheless, VR application had no effect on general creative thinking skills; therefore, other teaching strategies are needed to strengthen creative thinking. Lay Description: What is already known about this topicVirtual reality (VR) can transmit complex knowledge.Virtual reality (VR) can promote design performance.What this paper addsInfluence of VR application on creativity components and creative performance.Ability of VR application and cognitive load to predict creativity components.Ability of VR application and cognitive load to predict creative performance.Implications for practice and/or policyUsing VR teaching to improve learning effects and creativity in high‐risk, expensive, and inaccessible learning fields.Using VR teaching to practice repeatedly, and facilitate basic understanding of the application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migraine has close associations with depression and anxiety. Catastrophizing, an alarmist reaction to pain, has been proposed as one of the mediators in the relationship between headache and emotional distress. However, much experimental evidence is needed to make such a view more validated. The aims of this study are to examine the effects of mood induction on the pain responses and to investigate the role of pain catastrophizing in the relationship between pain and mood amongst a sample of patients with migraine. For this purpose, 60 patients with migraine were recruited from a headache clinic in Tehran-Iran and were randomly assigned into one of three groups: negative mood induced group, positive mood induced group and control group. The following instruments and measures were used in this study: mood induction by presenting different types of films (positive, negative), a computerized cognitive task to elicit pain, Beck Depression Inventory and Pain Catastrophizing Scale. The results showed that while the induction of depressed mood increased the pain intensity, the induction of positive mood reduced it significantly ( p < 0.05). Further analyses revealed that catastrophizing is as a confounding factor in the relationship between pain and mood. Once catastrophizing scores were entered into the analyses as a covariate, the significant effect of mood on the pain intensity reduced. In conclusion, both mood and catastrophizing are important factors in understanding the migraine pain. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed in the paper. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message Pain-related catastrophizing and mood induction are important factors in understanding pain intensity amongst patients with migraine pain., Catastrophizing as a confounding factor in the relationship between pain and mood may partially mediate the relationship between mood and pain., Therapeutic interventions should focus on the reduction of depression and catastrophizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims This study examines the preliminary outcomes of an intervention targeting service providers in methadone maintenance therapy ( MMT) clinics in China. The intervention effects on both service providers and clients are reported. Design The MMT CARE intervention pilot was developed and implemented collaboratively with local health educators. After three group intervention sessions, trained providers in intervention clinics delivered two individual motivational interviewing sessions with their clients. Settings Six clinics in Sichuan, China, were randomized to either the MMT CARE intervention condition or a standard care condition. Participants A total of 41 providers and 179 clients were sampled from the six clinics. Measurements At baseline and three-, six-, and nine-month assessments, providers completed self-administrated paper/pencil questionnaires regarding provider-client interaction, MMT knowledge, perceived job-related stigma and clinic support. Clients completed a face-to-face survey about their concurrent drug use and drug avoidance self-efficacy. Mixed-effects regression models with clinic-level random effect were used to assess the intervention effects. Findings Significant intervention effects for providers were found in improved MMT knowledge, provider-client interaction and perceived clinic support. For clients, better improvements in drug avoidance self-efficacy and reduced concurrent drug use were observed for the intervention compared with the standard care group. Conclusions The MMT CARE intervention targeting providers in methadone maintenance clinics can improve providers' treatment knowledge and their interaction with clients. The intervention can also reduce clients' drug-using behavior through motivational interviewing sessions conducted by trained providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]