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Exploratory behaviors can serve an adaptive role within novel or changing environments. Namely, they facilitate information gain, allowing an organism to maintain accurate beliefs about the environment and select actions that better maximize reward. However, finding the optimal balance between exploration and reward-seeking behavior – the so-called explore-exploit dilemma – can be challenging, as it requires sensitivity to one's own uncertainty and to the predictability of one's surroundings. Given the close relationship between uncertainty and anxiety, a body of work has now also emerged identifying associated effects on exploration. In particular, the field of computational psychiatry has begun to use cognitive computational models to characterize how anxiety may modulate underlying information processing mechanisms, such as estimation of uncertainty and the value of information, and how this might contribute to psychopathology. Here, we review computational modeling studies investigating how exploration is influenced by anxiety. While some apparent inconsistencies remain to be resolved, studies using reinforcement learning tasks suggest that directed (but not random) forms of exploration may be elevated by trait and/or cognitive anxiety, but reduced by state and/or somatic anxiety. Anxiety is also consistently associated with less exploration in foraging tasks. Some differences in exploration may further stem from how anxiety modulates changes in uncertainty over time (learning rates). Jointly, these results highlight important directions for future work in refining choice of tasks and anxiety measures and maintaining consistent methodology across studies. • We review current studies testing how anxiety influences exploratory behavior. • Some results appear inconsistent, likely due to methodological differences. • Trait and/or cognitive anxiety may amplify exploration. • State and/or somatic anxiety may instead reduce exploration. • Some apparent differences in exploration may be due to differences in learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers often encounter, and claim to care about, ethical information concerning the products they purchase. Across three studies, we investigate how the accessibility of this information impacts choice. When consumers must seek out product attribute information, the impact of ethical certifications (Fairtrade and Organic) is diminished relative to other attributes. Both positive and negative framing of certifications increase their impact on choice relative to neutral frames, with negative frames having the strongest effect. However, in contrast to theories of information demand that would predict more willful ignorance of negatively framed content, negative framing has the same impact regardless of information accessibility. Together, our findings suggest that having to seek ethical certification information leads to a small reduction in the use of certifications to guide choice, but that affective framing has a larger impact on the weight placed on certifications in consumer choices regardless of the accessibility of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The worldwide patent database remains one of the least utilized resources in engineering design practice. Analyzing individual patent documents may be particularly challenging. Emerging computational approaches may soon enable us to automatically remodel the information content of patent documents to make them easier to read. For these approaches to be effective in practice, there is an urgent need to understand how design engineers process multimedia documents and how best to present information to them. To this end, we model the cognitive processes involved in patent analysis in terms of two models: the TRACE model of goal-directed document processing, and the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia learning (CTML). These models provide a cognitive basis for understanding the difficulties that designers may face during patent analysis. It also facilitates the identification and testing of information design principles that can be used to remodel patent documents to make them easier to search and comprehend. By testing these principles, our goal is to establish requirements for a new generation of patent analytics tools that are consistent with the ways that engineering designers think. This work introduces a new interdisciplinary research agenda, bringing together research about engineering design, patent analytics, multimedia learning, document search, and information design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internet is frequently the first point of contact for people seeking support for their mental health symptoms. Digital interventions designed to be deployed through the internet have significant promise to reach diverse populations who may not have access to, or are not yet engaged in, treatment and deliver evidence-based resources to address symptoms. The liminal nature of online interactions requires designing to prioritize needs detection, intervention potency, and efficiency. Real-world implementation, data privacy and safety are equally important and can involve transparent partnerships with stakeholders in industry and non-profit organizations. This commentary highlights challenges and opportunities for research in this space, grounded in learnings from multiple research projects and teams aligned with this effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) is implicated in psychiatric disorders that feature impaired sensitivity to reward amount, impulsivity when facing reward delays, and risk-seeking when confronting reward uncertainty. However, it has been unclear whether and how DRN neurons signal reward amount, reward delay, and reward uncertainty during multi-attribute value-based decision-making, where subjects consider these attributes to make a choice. We recorded DRN neurons as monkeys chose between offers whose attributes, namely expected reward amount, reward delay, and reward uncertainty, varied independently. Many DRN neurons signaled offer attributes, and this population tended to integrate the attributes in a manner that reflected monkeys' preferences for amount, delay, and uncertainty. After decision-making, in response to post-decision feedback, these same neurons signaled signed reward prediction errors, suggesting a broader role in tracking value across task epochs and behavioral contexts. Our data illustrate how the DRN participates in value computations, guiding theories about the role of the DRN in decision-making and psychiatric disease. [Display omitted] • Little is known about the value computations DRN neurons signal during decisions • Monkeys trade off reward amount, delay, and uncertainty to make decisions • DRN neurons signal the subjective values of reward amount, delay, and uncertainty • These neurons also signal reward prediction errors from post-decision feedback Feng et al. record DRN neurons while monkeys make multi-attribute decisions involving trade-offs between expected amount, delay, and uncertainty of reward. Many DRN neurons signal the values of expected amount, delay, and uncertainty of offers during decisions and reward prediction errors in response to post-decision feedback about reward outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study surveyed 359 online undergraduate and graduate students regarding their information-seeking self-efficacy, online learning self-efficacy, and performance proficiency. A mediation model was conducted to examine the direct effect of students' online learning self-efficacy on their performance proficiency and the mediation effect of information-seeking self-efficacy. Multivariate correlational analysis showed that all three variables significantly correlated. Of the three variables, online learning self-efficacy has the strongest correlation to performance proficiency, while the variable with the least amount of correlation is between online-learning and information-seeking efficacies. Moreover, a significant regression equation showed that students' average performance proficiency increased by 0.359 for each point of online learning self-efficacy and 0.323 for each point of information-seeking self-efficacy. Furthermore, mediation analysis revealed that information-seeking self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between online learning self-efficacy and performance proficiency. In conclusion, information-seeking self-efficacy is a partial mediator and plays a buffering role between online learning self-efficacy and performance proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animals and humans evolved sophisticated nervous systems that endowed them with the ability to form internal-models or beliefs and make predictions about the future to survive and flourish in a world in which future outcomes are often uncertain. Crucial to this capacity is the ability to adjust behavioral and learning policies in response to the level of uncertainty. Until recently, the neuronal mechanisms that could underlie such uncertainty-guided control have been largely unknown. In this review, I discuss newly discovered neuronal circuits in primates that represent uncertainty about future rewards and propose how they guide information-seeking, attention, decision-making, and learning to help us survive in an uncertain world. Lastly, I discuss the possible relevance of these findings to learning in artificial systems. Uncertainty about future outcomes mediates attention, learning, memory, and decision-making. The basal forebrain broadcasts information about uncertainty and surprise to guide learning, memory, and attention. A cortico-basal ganglia loop originating in the anterior cingulate controls information seeking about uncertain rewards. Ongoing work is assessing how neural circuits generate, support, and implement the mental algorithms that govern uncertainty-related behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On political questions, many people prefer to consult and learn from those whose political views are similar to their own, thus creating a risk of echo chambers or information cocoons. We test whether the tendency to prefer knowledge from the politically like-minded generalizes to domains that have nothing to do with politics, even when evidence indicates that politically like-minded people are less skilled in those domains than people with dissimilar political views. Participants had multiple opportunities to learn about others' (1) political opinions and (2) ability to categorize geometric shapes. They then decided to whom to turn for advice when solving an incentivized shape categorization task. We find that participants falsely concluded that politically like-minded others were better at categorizing shapes and thus chose to hear from them. Participants were also more influenced by politically like-minded others, even when they had good reason not to be. These results replicate in two independent samples. The findings demonstrate that knowing about others' political views interferes with the ability to learn about their competency in unrelated tasks, leading to suboptimal information-seeking decisions and errors in judgement. Our findings have implications for political polarization and social learning in the midst of political divisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to investigate information seeking behaviour of people involved in slow and flash flood disasters, specifically how they received the first alert, where they then turned for more information, and what their main sources and forms were. An online and mailed survey based on models of problem-specific information seeking and risk information for natural hazards secured responses from Australians who had experienced flash flood (n = 91) and slow flood (n = 41). It found that information pathways taken by individuals are different for slow and flash floods, but the set of information forms and sources used are similar. 'Other people', television and news and weather websites were predominant sources and forms in flash flood, and online sources, television and radio predominant in slow flood. The importance of other people and mainstream media (including their online sites) in information behaviour means that mainstream media should remain an important component of information efforts by agencies. This study builds further evidence that disaster type and the media landscape should be taken into account when developing warning and response communication strategies, and allows public information officers to prioritise communication forms during response. Highlights • Other people and environmental cues were the main alert sources and forms in flash flood. • Slow flood information seekers tended to use formal sources and forms such as television, radio and news and weather websites. • Mainstream media is still a major source of information and was the most predominant alert source for slow flood. • The most important source/form for flash flood was television. • Social media was not a significant source of information in the overall information environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This research examined (1) smokeless tobacco users' comparative optimism in assessing the health and addiction risks of their own product in comparison with cigarettes, and (2) the effects of comparative optimism on cessation information-seeking.Methods: A nationally-representative sample from the 2015 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS)-FDA was employed.Results: The analyses revealed the presence of comparative optimism in assessing both health and addiction risks among smokeless tobacco users. Comparative optimism was negatively correlated with most cessation information-seeking variables. Health bias (the health risk rating gap between the subject's own tobacco product and cigarettes) was associated with decreased intent to use cessation support. However, the health bias and addiction bias (the addiction risk rating gap between the subject's own tobacco product and cigarettes) were not consistent predictors of all cessation information-seeking variables, when covariates of socio-demographics and tobacco use status were included. In addition, positive correlations between health bias and past/recent cessation-information searches were observed.Conclusions: Optimisic biases may negatively influence cessation behaviors not only directly but also indirectly by influencing an important moderator, cessation information-seeking. Future interventions should prioritize dispelling the comparative optimism in perceiving risks of smokeless tobacco use, as well as provide more reliable cessation information specific to smokeless tobacco users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two surveys of equine owners/managers and professionals using convenience sampling via multimodal distribution were conducted on perceptions of equid health and well-being (n = 142) and equine nutrition and feeding practices (n = 151). Surveys were distributed in 2014–2015 (health and well-being) and 2016 (nutrition and feeding) to similar email lists and social media sites; both included questions regarding information-seeking preferences. Respondents were mostly female (62% health and well-being, 84% nutrition and feeding) and had over 20 years of equine ownership/management experience (47% and 61%, respectively). Participants in the Nutrition and Feeding survey reported seeking information from veterinarians (77%), books/magazines (42%), horse enthusiasts (38%), friends/family (35%), Internet/social media (28%), feed company representative (28%), farrier (25%), scientific publications (25%), trainer/instructor (21%), equine nutritionist (19%), equine dentist (7%), extension specialist (7%), and radio (1%). The Health and Well-Being survey requested information regarding participants' likeliness (5-point Likert scale) of trusting various sources for animal well-being information. Respondents from the Health and Well-Being survey indicated veterinarians/nutritionists (average = 4.5) and extension specialists/university personnel (average = 4.0) as their top two trusted sources of information, and local (average = 2.9) and national humane societies/rescues (average = 2.8) their least-trusted sources of information. These results elucidated the information-seeking preferences of horse owners from the Upper Midwest regarding two equine topics. Veterinarians are sought as a source of equine information in the Upper Midwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doubt and decision-making difficulties are very common in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In the present study, we focused on a particular feature of decision-making in OCD – increased information-seeking. Based on the Seeking Proxies for Internal States and the Intolerance for Uncertainty theoretical frameworks, we hypothesized that OCD symptoms will be positively associated with information-seeking, even for neutral perceptual decisions. Fifty-eight UK participants were recruited via Prolific. They performed a perceptual decision-making task and completed questionnaires assessing OCD and associated variables. The perceptual task entailed locating the exact mid-point of a brightness continuum of a specific hue. Upon request, participants could obtain objective hints (purported responses of other participants), although hints incurred time-out penalties. Consistent with our hypothesis, OCD symptom levels predicted how many hints participants requested, even after controlling for anxiety and depression symptoms. Additionally, OCD symptoms were partially related to indecisiveness in the task. Our findings suggest that obsessive-compulsive tendencies are related to indecisiveness and to seeking external information even in a neutral context. Moreover, OCD tendencies were related to finding external information desirable enough to justify mildly aversive penalties. This need for clarity and objectivity might account for the development of compulsions despite personal costs. • Participants had to find the mid-point between two colors in a computerized task. • They could request hints based on alleged responses of a large sample. • Receiving hints incurred a penalty in the form of delay of the next trial. • The number of hints requested was related to obsessive-compulsive symptoms. • The results support the Seeking Proxies for Internal States model of OCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: to examine health information-seeking behaviours among pregnant teenagers. Design: qualitative design using semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The study followed the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Studies (COREQ). Settings/Participants: antenatal clinic at Ejisu Government hospital, Ghana. Twenty eight pregnant teenagers aged 15-19 and one midwife participated in the study. Method: the participants were interviewed in person at the antenatal clinic. The individual interviews and focus groups were digitally recorded, transcribed, and then analysed using thematic framework analysis. Findings: three themes emerged from the analysis of the transcripts: information needs, sources of information and barriers to information seeking. Findings indicate unmet information needs among pregnant teenagers including proper understanding of pregnancy stages, infant feeding practices, nutrition, labour and birth and postnatal care. Pregnant teenagers largely relied on traditional sources for information on pregnancy as compared to official sources such as midwives, nurses or doctors. Conclusion/Implications for practice: given that traditional sources, such as family and neighbours were the predominant sources of information, to effectively and comprehensively address the information needs of pregnant teenagers, interventions should target both the expecting teenagers and the family and/or the community at large. The findings further point to a need for a shift in maternal health care policy through the establishment of adolescent only antenatal care day to effectively meet the heath information needs of pregnant teenagers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To be able to reproduce, animals need to survive and interact with an ever changing environment. Therefore, they create a cognitive representation of that environment, from which they derive expectancies regarding current and future events. These expected events are compared continuously with information gathered through exploration, to guide behaviour and update the existing representation. When a moderate discrepancy between perceived and expected events is detected, exploration is employed to update the internal representation so as to alter the expectancy and make it match the perceived event. When the discrepancy is relatively large, exploration is inhibited, and animals will try to alter the perceived event utilizing aggression or fear. The largest discrepancies are associated with a tendency to flee. When an exploratory, fear, or aggressive behaviour pattern proofs to be the optimal solution for a particular discrepancy, the response will become conditioned to events that previously preceded the occurrence of that discrepancy. When primary needs are relatively low, animals will actively look for or create moderately violated expectancies in order to learn about objects, behaviour patterns, and the environment. In those situations, exploratory tendencies will summate with ongoing behaviour and, when all primary needs are satiated, may even be performed exclusively. This results in behavioural variability, play, and active information-seeking. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: In Honor of Jerry Hogan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information can strongly impact people's affect, their level of uncertainty and their decisions. It is assumed that people seek information with the goal of improving all three. But are they successful at achieving this goal? Answering this question is important for assessing the impact of self-driven information consumption on people's well-being. Here, over five experiments (total N = 727) we show that participants accurately predict the impact of information on their internal states (e.g., affect and cognition) and external outcomes (e.g., material rewards), and use these predictions to guide information-seeking choices. A model incorporating participants' subjective expectations regarding the impact of information on their affective, cognitive, and material outcomes accounted for information-seeking choices better than a model that included only objective proxies of those measures. This model also accounted for individual differences in information-seeking choices. By balancing considerations of the impact of information on affective, cognitive and material outcomes when seeking knowledge, participants became happier, more certain and made better decisions when they sought information relative to when they did not, suggesting that the actual consequences of receiving information aligned with their subjective expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives We describe the medication information-seeking behaviors of arthritis patients’ partners and explore whether partner medication information-seeking and information-sharing are associated with patient medication adherence. Methods Arthritis patients and their partners ( n = 87 dyads) completed an on-line questionnaire. Partners indicated how often they obtained medication information from 14 sources, how much they trusted these sources, and whether they shared medication information with the patient. Patients reported their medication adherence. Bivariate associations were calculated to explore the relationships between partner information-seeking, information-sharing, and patient medication adherence. Results Partners sought little information about the patient's medications. Partners sought more information if the patient's medication regimen was more complex ( r = 0.33, p = 0.002). Most partners (∼98%) shared medication information with the patient; older partners shared more information with the patient ( r = 0.25, p = 0.03). Neither partner information-seeking ( r = 0.21, p = 0.06) nor partner information-sharing ( r = 0.12, p = 0.31) were significantly associated with patient medication adherence. Conclusions Although partners of arthritis patients do not seek large amounts of medication information, the vast majority share this information with the patient. Practice implications Involving partners in medical consultations can help them better understand the patient's medications, have questions answered by providers, and engage in more informed discussions with patients about their medications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate – for the first time in Greece – patients’ attitudes toward patient-centered care, by identifying the impact of socio-demographic factors, health condition, social support and religious beliefs. Methods 454 Hospitalized patients were interviewed on the first day of their scheduled admission, answering demographic questions and the following questionnaires: Patient–Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS), Autonomy Preference Index (API), Short Form SF-12v2 Health Survey, God Locus of Health Control (GLHC) and Perceived Available Support (PAS). Results Mean PPOS and API scores were: PPOS Sharing 3.4 (sd = 0.69), Caring 3.99 (sd = 0.76), API Information-Seeking 88.32 (sd = 9.35) and Decision-Making 51.19 (sd = 9.27). Higher desire for information was associated with younger age, more years of education, weaker spiritual faith in healing and worse subjective health status. Higher expectations for caring physicians were correlated with older age, more years of education, higher perceived social support and weaker spiritual faith in healing. Conclusion Age, years of education, health status, social support and religious beliefs are determinants of patient-centered attitudes. Practice implications Patients expect to be informed, although they do not equally want to be involved in decision-making. Religious faith and perceived social support should be taken into consideration to further understand patients’ needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract:: Background: Contraceptives are among the most commonly prescribed medications used by women of reproductive age, but little is known about women's information-seeking behavior after receiving prescriptions for medication. Study Design: All reproductive-age women who visited one of four primary care clinics in Western Pennsylvania between October 2008 and April 2010 were invited to complete a follow-up survey after their visit which included questions regarding medications prescribed, information-seeking after their visit and their perceptions of the quality of the information they found. Results: Of the 218 women prescribed contraceptives, 49% sought additional information after their visit. In models adjusted for sociodemographic and reproductive characteristics of the respondents, women who received a contraceptive prescription were twice as likely to seek additional information about their medication as women who received noncontraceptive prescriptions [odds ratio (OR)=2.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.47–2.90]. Women who received a contraceptive prescription were more likely to seek information from the Internet (OR=1.84, 95% CI 1.26–2.70) and from the package insert (OR=1.55, 95% CI 1.02–2.36) than women who received noncontraceptive prescriptions. Conclusions: Women frequently sought additional information on contraceptive prescriptions. Efforts are needed to increase the quantity and improve the quality of contraceptive counseling provided by primary care providers and the quality of the information provided by package inserts and the Internet. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The multiple information sources available may pose a challenge to physicians in providing accurate human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine information to patients. The purpose of this study was to describe physicians’ HPV vaccine information-seeking behaviors and assess if these behaviors differ by physician specialty and sociodemographic characteristics. In 2009, 1008 Family Physicians (FPs), Pediatricians (Peds), and Obstetricians/Gynecologists (OBGYNs) completed a survey to assess their HPV vaccine information-seeking behaviors and vaccination practices. The largest proportion obtained HPV vaccine information from professional organizations (50.0%), followed by the Advisory Council on Immunization Practices (ACIP) (36.0%), and medical conferences (33.1%). Peds and FPs were more likely to obtain vaccine information from the ACIP (p-values<0.05). OBGYNs, non-White/Caucasian physicians, and those aged 40–49 were more likely to obtain vaccine information from internet websites (p-values<0.05). There is a need for targeted HPV vaccine communication approaches based on sociodemographic and physician specialty characteristics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The type of information used and its application in clinical practice has generated interest due to its relationship to evidence-based medicine (EBM). However, it is also acknowledged that the principles of EBM place less value on practitioners’ experience and intuitive insights when making clinical decisions. Research in this area has been conducted with conventional health professionals, meanwhile complementary and alternative medicine practitioners such as naturopaths have received little attention. In response interviews were undertaken with naturopaths to explore their approach to information-seeking and application in clinical settings. Thematic analysis identified how naturopaths incorporate deductive reasoning alongside intuition and clinical experience to overcome difficulties in applying information to relevant clinical situations. This research provides an understanding of the approach taken by naturopaths to improve the relevance of available data when making clinical decisions and is of significance for health policy and health service delivery in this area. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The presence of metacognition in animals has been suggested by the observation that non-human primates will seek out information about the location of a hidden reward before responding. In experiment 1, dogs failed to make an information-seeking response that involved re-positioning themselves in space so that they could view a cue that indicated the location of food. In experiments 2 and 3, dogs were allowed to choose between two people, an informant that pointed to the location of food and a non-informant that provided no information. Dogs showed a clear preference for the informant, even when choice of the informant led to no greater chance of reward than choice of the non-informant. In a procedure that involves human communication, dogs show information-seeking behavior. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The study reported here examined perceptions of health website credibility during the process of acquiring health information using the World Wide Web. The relationships between perceptions of website credibility and both message characteristics (e.g., statistics, testimonials) and structural features of health websites (e.g., privacy policy statement, third-party endorsements) were assessed. Additionally, one’s Web-use orientation (i.e., searching or surfing) was evaluated as a moderator of the preceding relationships. The results showed a positive relationship between the presence of structural features and perceptions of website credibility as well as a positive relationship between the presence of message characteristics and attitudes about the health topic. Although Web-use orientation moderated the relationship between message characteristics and perceptions of website credibility, the nature of this relationship was inconsistent with study predictions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: Evaluate satisfaction with visit preparation at three rural resource center sites. Methods: The resource centers sent eight employees and two volunteers for training at UCSF in Consultation Planning (CP). CP is a service to help patients make a list of questions before seeing their doctors. Researchers used multivariate ordered logistic regression analysis to investigate the variation in satisfaction among 99 CP Clients served by the resource centers in 2003. Results: Sixty-seven CP Clients who completed surveys were highly satisfied (mean=8.67, standard deviation (S.D.)=1.85, range=5–10). Variation in satisfaction was associated only with whether or not the CP Provider was a breast cancer survivor serving a breast patient (p =0.005). Satisfaction was not associated with CP Client demographics; type of upcoming medical visit; or CP Provider age, remuneration status, nursing background, and volume of CP Clients. Conclusion: Community-based resource centers have implemented CP to the satisfaction of their clients. Further research should expand the delivery of CP to more underserved members of the community and evaluate its acceptability and impact. There may be a therapeutic alliance formed when survivors provide CP to newly diagnosed patients. Practice implications: CP should be considered by patient support programs wishing to expand their client services to include visit preparation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Previous research has investigated patient question asking in clinical settings as a strategy of information seeking and as an indicator of the level of active patient participation in the interaction. This study investigates questions asked by patients and their companions during stressful encounters in the oncology setting in the USA. We transcribed all questions patients and companions asked the oncologist during 28 outpatient interactions in which “bad news” was discussed () and analyzed them for frequency and topic. Additionally, we analyzed the extent to which personal and demographic characteristics and independently obtained ratings of the oncologist-patient/companion relationships were related to question asking. Findings demonstrated that at least one companion was present in 24 (86%) of the 28 interactions and companions asked significantly more questions than patients. The most frequently occurring topics for both patients and companions were treatment, diagnostic testing, diagnosis, and prognosis. In general, personal and demographic characteristics were unrelated to question asking, but older patients asked fewer questions, while more educated patients asked more questions. With regard to ratings of the quality of the dyadic relationships, results showed that “trust” between the physician and companions was positively correlated and “conversational dominance by physician” was negatively correlated with the frequency of companion questions. Additionally, positive ratings of the relationship between physicians and companions were correlated with fewer patient questions. This study demonstrates that companions are active participants in stressful oncology interactions. Future research and physician training in communication would benefit from expanding the focus beyond the patient–physician dyad to the roles and influence of multiple participants in medical interactions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background and Aims: Numbers of drug-overdose deaths, both intentionally and unintentionally, have been increasing in the United States. Of interest, Google spotlights counselling services as helpful resources when users query for suicide-related search terms. However, the search engine does so at varying display rates, depending on terms used. Display rates in the drug-overdose deaths domain are unknown.Methods: We emulated suicide-related potentially harmful searches at large scale across the U.S. to explore Google's response to search queries including or excluding additional drug-related terms. Employing agent-based testing we conducted 215,999 search requests with varying combinations of search terms.Results: Counseling services such as helpline telephone numbers were displayed at high rates after suicide-related potentially harmful search queries (e.g., "how to commit suicide"). While this is a desirable outcome, display rates were substantially lower when drug-related terms, indicative of users' suicidal overdosing tendencies, were added (e.g., "how to commit suicide fentanyl"). Importantly, the addition of any drug-related search term to the suicide-related queries decreased the display frequency of helpful prevention-related resources substantially.Conclusions: Search queries such as "easy way to commit suicide fentanyl" may indicate acute suicidal crises. Helpful resources should be displayed right in such search moments. Search engines should adjust their algorithms to increase these display rates to direct users to such resources. By doing this, search engines may contribute to the prevention of drug-related suicides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Older children were more efficient at seeking information than younger children. • Information-seeking following mistakes was correlated with academic achievement. • Information-seeking and achievement relation replicated in second diverse sample. Information-seeking after making mistakes or when experiencing uncertainty, including bids for help, is an important aspect of self-regulated learning. We compared information-seeking during a puzzle-solving task in 8- and 9-year-olds, 11- and 12-year-olds, and 16- and 17-year-olds (N = 197). We found that 8- and 9-year-olds were less efficient in their information-seeking, in that they were more likely than other age groups to seek help following a correct response. Additionally, the rate of information-seeking following an error was positively related to academic achievement, measured as Grade Point Average (GPA), above and beyond general task performance. This result was replicated in a larger and more diverse sample of 13- to 20-year-olds (N = 2,922). Overall, this research shows that information-seeking improves throughout childhood and this behaviour predicts academic success, highlighting the practical importance of this self-regulated behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twitter is a popular source of health information. This study reports a content analysis of posts about vaccinations, documenting sources, tone, and medical accuracy. Results can help explain patient knowledge and directions for educational campaigns. A set of 6,827 tweets indicates professional sources were shared most and treated positively. Two-thirds of shared medical content were substantiated. One- third of messages were positive, counter to other research and suggesting that users apply critical thinking when evaluating content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to learn how perceptions of accuracy and availability of sources affect how members of the Colorado equine industry seek both everyday information and information during an equine disease outbreak. A survey was distributed by email and social media to members of Colorado-based equine organizations. A total of 256 survey responses were obtained from individuals representing a spectrum of ages and roles in the Colorado equine industry. Survey participants predominantly identified as female (95.3%) and their industry role as a horse owner (41%) or a competitive (25.8%) or pleasure (13.3%) rider. Younger survey participants reported greater (P <.0001) use of social media, and both participant age (P <.015) and information source (P <.0001) affected the perception of resource accuracy. In the event of an equine disease outbreak, industry role was an important factor (P =.003) in the selection of news sources, whereas age was not (P =.19). Many participants (56%) identified disease symptoms/signs to be the most important information to be sought during a disease outbreak and most (69.9%) preferred state or veterinary resources for this information. The identification of why Colorado equine industry members access information from specific sources may guide animal health and extension professionals to tailor their online presence to best meet the communication needs of the Colorado equine industry. • Age and industry role influenced participants' choice for everyday news sources. • Perceptions of everyday news source accuracy were negatively associated with age. • Perceptions of accuracy, not availability, affect information-seeking in an outbreak. • State or veterinary resources are preferred (69.9%) during a disease outbreak. • Many participants (56%) primarily seek information regarding disease symptoms/signs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]