a b s t r a c tBy providing users with hands-free access to contextually relevant knowledge, wearable technologies are poised to inspire a new generation of mobile learning design. However, in order for educators to harness the pedagogical opportunities of wearable technologies it is crucial for them to develop an understanding of their potentials, or 'affordances'. This paper analysed the perceptions of 66 educators from around the world who self-rated as having a 'good' or 'very good' understanding of wearable technologies to determine the key educational affordances and issues at stake. Qualitative thematic analysis of participant perceptions, as well as relevant literature, revealed fourteen affordances of wearable technologies and thirteen issues relating to their use. These clustered together into three emergent themes; 'pedagogical uses', 'educational quality' and 'logistical'. Utilising the insights of knowledgeable practitioners resulted in nine affordances and issues not identified in the literature, and within the literature there were three issues not identified by the knowledgeable practitioners. The implications of findings for the future of wearable technology learning design are also discussed.

Although research addressing body size misperception has focused on socio-cognitive processes, such as internalization of the “ideal” images of bodies in the media, the perceptual basis of this phenomenon remains largely unknown. Further, most studies focus on body size per se even though this depends on both fat and muscle mass – variables that have very different relationships with health. We tested visual adaptation as a mechanism for inducing body fat and muscle mass misperception, and assessed whether these two dimensions of body space are processed independently. Observers manipulated the apparent fat and muscle mass of bodies to make them appear “normal” before and after inspecting images from one of four adaptation conditions (increased fat/decreased fat/increased muscle/decreased muscle). Exposure resulted in a shift in the point of subjective normality in the direction of the adapting images along the relevant (fat or muscle) axis, suggesting that the neural mechanisms involved in body fat and muscle perception are independent. This supports the viability of adaptation as a model of real-world body size misperception, and extends its applicability to clinical manifestations of body image disturbance that entail not only preoccupation with thinness (e.g., anorexia nervosa) but also with muscularity (e.g., muscle dysmorphia).

Body size misperception–the belief that one is larger or smaller than reality–affects a large and growing segment of the population. Recently, studies have shown that exposure to extreme body stimuli results in a shift in the point of subjective normality, suggesting that visual adaptation may be a mechanism by which body size misperception occurs. Yet, despite being exposed to a similar set of bodies, some individuals within a given geographical area will develop body size misperception and others will not. The reason for these individual difference is currently unknown. One possible explanation stems from the observation that women with lower levels of body satisfaction have been found to pay more attention to images of thin bodies. However, while attention has been shown to enhance visual adaptation effects in low (e.g. rotational and linear motion) and high level stimuli (e.g., facial gender), it is not known whether this effect exists in visual adaptation to body size. Here, we test the hypothesis that there is an indirect effect of body satisfaction on the direction and magnitude of the body fat adaptation effect, mediated via visual attention (i.e., selectively attending to images of thin over fat bodies or vice versa). Significant mediation effects were found in both men and women, suggesting that observers’ level of body satisfaction may influence selective visual attention to thin or fat bodies, which in turn influences the magnitude and direction of visual adaptation to body size. This may provide a potential mechanism by which some individuals develop body size misperception–a risk factor for eating disorders, compulsive exercise behaviour and steroid abuse–while others do not.

Objective: Prolonged exposure to large/small bodies causes aftereffects in perceived body size.Outside the laboratory, individuals repeatedly exposed to small (large) bodies tend to over-(under-) estimate their size and exhibit increased (decreased) body dissatisfaction. Why, among individuals exposed to approximately equivalent distributions of body sizes, only some develop body size and shape misperception and/or body dissatisfaction is not yet fully understood.Method: We exposed 61 women to high and low adiposity bodies simultaneously, instructing half to attend to high, and half to low adiposity bodies.Results: Participants in the high adiposity attention condition's perception of "normal" body size significantly increased in adiposity, and vice versa. Discussion: This suggests that visual attention moderates body size aftereffects. Interventions encouraging visual attention to more realistic ranges of bodies may therefore reduce body misperception. No change in body dissatisfaction was found, suggesting that changes in the perceptual component (misperception) may not necessarily affect the attitudinal component (dissatisfaction) of body image distortion. K E Y W O R D S body size misperception, visual adaptation

Issue addressed With no efficacious treatments or vaccines available, social distancing measures remain the most effective approach for reducing the transmission of the COVID‐19 virus. However, adherence to social distance measures presumably requires knowledge and understanding of the current social distancing restrictions. Methods A modified version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour examined the role of knowledge and understanding of current social distancing measures in predicting intentions to adhere to social distancing restrictions. An online survey was administered to respondents (N = 374) in Melbourne, Australia during a period of heightened social distancing restrictions. In addition to measuring respondents’ general intentions to adhere to restrictions, vignettes were used to assess intended behaviour in specific situations. Results Knowledge of social distancing restrictions predicted intentions to adhere in specific situations, but not general intentions to adhere. Knowledge of restrictions also predicted positive attitudes towards current restrictions and a greater perceived ability to adhere to the restrictions, while positive attitudes was a good predictor of both general and specific intentions to adhere. Conclusions The findings suggest that attitudes towards restrictions may influence whether individuals attempt to adhere to restrictions, but knowledge of the restrictions influences whether the intended behaviour actually adheres to current restrictions. So what? These outcomes indicate that members of the public should be educated regarding the negative consequences associated with the COVID‐19 virus and the capacity of social distancing to reduce transmission of the virus, and a need for social distancing restrictions to be uncomplicated and clearly communicated.