Describe the tone the news story uses to present the findings and claims.

New study sheds light on how age and cognitive factors influence listening-related fatigue.
Sensory and Cognitive changes associated with aging can both increase listening-related fatigue and protect against such fatigue. People who experience listening-related fatigue feel worn out from everyday communications and feel the need to expend a lot of energy to listen and understand others.

New study sheds light on how age and cognitive factors influence listening-related fatigue

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09567976211016410

********************For this short paper, you will identify a relevant, recently reported result that interests you,
track down the original paper that the result appears to be based on, and critically comment on the
way the result is being presented to the public. Remember to also be clear in your essay about which cognition topics (like the topics we covered in class) is relevant. I will attach a document with the class topics.***********************
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Introduce your topic: What is the headline of the story? When and where (what source –
TV show, radio program, web site, blog, advertising claim) did you first find or notice the story and
when did it hit the news? Why did it catch your interest? Do you normally trust that news source
(why or why not)? What topic in cognition or perception is it related to? (Hint: Look up the topic in
the text.) Write a few lines answering these 5 questions, briefly summarize the story’s claims,
Compare the public story and the scientific research article. In your paper, add the
following information to your (approved) topic description:
A. First impression: Describe the tone the news story uses to present the findings and claims.
That is, does the story seem straightforward and reasonable, or perhaps ground-breaking and novel,
or else counter-intuitive, sensational, or even shocking? (Give examples of how the story is reported
to back this up). Is the story missing any information that could make the claims or conclusions
more convincing (such as a control group, comparison condition, details, or evidence)? When you
first found the story, were you convinced that it was accurate, or were you skeptical? Why?
B. Next, track down the original scientific article behind the story. The news story may not
completely cite the article, so you may need to do some detective work here. Use the Internet to find
the name of the journal or conference, the name of the authors, and the title of the article. You can
probably just google the last names of the scientist/authors and date associated with the finding, get
the full citation and then look it up in the library’s electronic journal collection (or it may work to
google the article’s title). If you need help tracking down the scientific report from a journal, see the
handout “how to find your peer-reviewed article.” If all else fails, ask a TA for help.
C. Then, read the scientific article. You may be unfamiliar with some of the jargon or statistics, but
do the best you can (you don’t need to read every word). Summarize what was varied within the
Psy 260: Survey in Cognition & Perception / Brennan Revised 1/27/22
experiment and what things were compared. Try to find the part of the article that the news story seems
to be based on, then say how the scientist reported the finding, then identify and describe any differences
between that and how the news story reported the finding.
In your opinion, does the news story simplify the scientific article appropriately, without being
misleading? Or do the claims in the story go beyond those in the article, and if so, how? Are there
important limitations discussed in the scientific article that didn’t make it into the news story?
D. Briefly comment on how much you trust the scientific article (how good the original study is).
1. Is the scientific journal or conference where it was presented a good one? Journals are rated by
how much impact their articles have within a scientific field. This is called an “impact factor.” If
your source is a journal, report the journal’s impact factor (just google the journal’s name and
“impact factor”). If it’s a scientific conference, try to estimate whether it’s selective (= uses peer
review) or else has loose or no standards (some conferences allow anyone to publish who can
pay a fee; others allow members of a society to publish without going through peer-review).
2. Does the research finding seem to be completely novel—is this the only study that found this
result—or is it consistent with other studies? (We’re not asking you to do a lit search here, but to
use your best judgment of based on how the article is presented.)
3. Yes or no: Can you identify any missing controls or weaknesses, or do you see any confounds in
the scientific study? A confound as something unintended that the experimenter failed to take
account of, that may actually be causing the result. For some examples of confounds, see
https://www.psychologyinaction.org/psychology-in-action-1/2011/10/30/what-is-a-confounding-variable
4. Optional: Just for fun, see if the paper (or one on a similar topic) is listed on the website
Psychological File Drawer (http://psychfiledrawer.org/), a web site that psychologists use to discuss
results that don’t replicate (this website and its links are interesting reading!!).
E. Finally, provide a brief conclusion about what you’ve learned from this assignment.
Format: You will do very well on the paper if you address all of these questions and points in an
organized fashion (Hint: Before turning in your paper, check off each part on this handout to make sure
you’ve covered it, or else structure your paper like points A-D, above). Try to do all this in 2 well-written
pages (we suggest using 1.5-spacing and 11-12 point font). Beware if your paper goes to 3 pages
(we will take off points for padding). Be sure to cite your sources using APA style (there are many
online guides for this, or you can follow the examples in https://library.flcc.edu/APA_FLCC.pdf).
Do not count the references in your page limit. Make sure you’ve proofread your paper for typos.
If you’re a non-native speaker of English and you want us to take that into account, add a note about
your first language next to your name

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