Effects of antiparasitic treatment on dynamically and statically tested cognitive skills over time

Abstract Background Development of cognitive skills for competent medical practice is a goal of residency education. Cognitive skills must be developed for many different clinical situations. Innovation We developed the Resident Cognitive Skills Documentation (CogDoc) as a method for capturing faculty members' real-time assessment of residents' cognitive performance while they precepted them in a family medicine office. The tool captures 3 dimensions of cognitive skills: medical knowledge, understanding, and its application. This article describes CogDoc development, our experience with its use, and its reliability and feasibility. Methods After development and pilot-testing, we introduced the CogDoc at a single training site, collecting all completed forms for 14 months to determine completion rate, competence development over time, consistency among preceptors, and resident use of the data. Results Thirty-eight faculty members completed 5021 CogDoc forms, documenting 29% of all patient visits by 33 residents. Competency was documented in all entrustable professional activities. Competence was statistically different among residents of different years of training for all 3 dimensions and progressively increased within all residency classes over time. Reliability scores were high: 0.9204 for the medical knowledge domain, 0.9405 for understanding, and 0.9414 for application. Almost every resident reported accessing the individual forms or summaries documenting their performance. Conclusions The CogDoc approach allows for ongoing assessment and documentation of resident competence, and, when compiled over time, depicts a comprehensive assessment of residents' cognitive development and ability to make decisions in ambulatory medicine. This approach meets criteria for an acceptable tool for assessing cognitive skills.

Download Full-text

Executive Functions and Attention in Childhood Epilepsies: A Neuropsychological Hallmark of Dysfunction?

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617720001125 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-13

Author(s):

Elisa Cainelli ◽

Jacopo Favaro ◽

Pietro De Carli ◽

Concetta Luisi ◽

Alessandra Simonelli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Executive Functions ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Multilevel Models ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Illness Duration ◽

Neuropsychological Profile ◽

Ameliorative Effect ◽

Neuropsychological Functions ◽

Patients With Epilepsy ◽

Over Time

Abstract Objective: Patients with epilepsy are at risk for several lifetime problems, in which neuropsychological impairments may represent an impacting factor. We evaluated the neuropsychological functions in children suffering from three main epilepsy categories. Further, we analyzed the longitudinal evolution of the neuropsychological profile over time. Methods: Patients undergoing neuropsychological evaluation at our Department from 2012 to 2018 were identified retrospectively. We selected patients aged 6–16 years and with at least two evaluations. Three epilepsy categories were considered: focal/structural, focal self-limited, and idiopathic generalized. Each evaluation included the same structured assessment of main neuropsychological domains. The effect of the epilepsy category, illness duration, seizure status, and medication was computed in multilevel models. Results: We identified 103 patients (focal self-limited = 27; focal/structural = 51; and idiopathic generalized = 25), for 233 evaluations. The majority of deficits were reported in attention and executive functions (>30% of patients); the results were dichotomized to obtain global indexes. Multilevel models showed a trend toward statistical significance of category of epilepsy on the global executive index and of illness duration on global attention index. Illness duration predicted the scores of executive and attention tasks, while category and medication predicted executive task performance. Focal/structural epilepsies mostly affected the executive domain, with deficits persisting over time. By contrast, an ameliorative effect of illness duration for attention was documented in all epilepsies. Conclusions: This study offers lacking information about the evolution of deficits in time, the role of epilepsy category, and possible psychological implications for high-order cognitive skills, central in several social and academic problems.

Download Full-text

The History of Intelligence

The Oxford Handbook of Developmental Psychology, Vol. 1 ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199958450.013.0027 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 764-790

Author(s):

James R. Flynn ◽

Clancy Blair

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Skills ◽

Developmental Psychology ◽

Group Differences ◽

Habits Of Mind ◽

Theoretical Construct ◽

Genes And Environment ◽

History Of ◽

The Mind ◽

Common Understanding ◽

Over Time

The psychometric and developmental traditions obscure what they have in common: understanding human intelligence in all of its manifestations. Each tradition tends to take its theoretical construct as universally relevant. The cognitive history of the twentieth century shows huge IQ gains from one generation to another. Those who follow Spearman discount IQ gains unless they are factor invariant across generations—for example, manifest the enhancement of g. The developmental tradition can accommodate altered cognition over time because it emphasizes mutual interaction between characteristics of persons and the environments in which they are situated. We use IQ gains to reconstruct the history of cognitive skills; and introduce concepts like “habits of mind” and “the mind as a muscle” and “cognitive priorities” to unify history, developmental psychology, and psychometrics. We draw implications for education and interventions, maximizing cognitive ability throughout life, genes and environment, and group differences.

Download Full-text

A Cognitive-Ecological Approach to Serving Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Application to Aggressive Behavior

Behavioral Disorders ◽

10.1177/019874290503000303 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 277-288 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Nancy G. Guerra ◽

Paul Boxer ◽

Tia E. Kim

Keyword(s):

Behavioral Change ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Ecological Model ◽

Intervention Programs ◽

Behavioral Difficulties ◽

Ecological Framework ◽

Contextual Influences ◽

School Based ◽

Aggressive Children ◽

Over Time

In this article we present a cognitive-ecological model for understanding and preventing emotional and behavioral difficulties and propose directions for school-based intervention programs, particularly with aggressive children. In the cognitive-ecological framework, intervention efforts should target certain cognitive skills (e.g., skills that encourage attention to multiple cues in a setting) and knowledge structures (e.g., normative beliefs about appropriate responses to conflict) across multiple contexts that change over time (e.g., classroom, peer, school, family). We also emphasize the importance of coordination among contextual influences so that children learn consistent, cross-context standards that encourage prosocial and socially competent behavior. Practitioners working with students who exhibit emotional and behavioral difficulties should strive to integrate efforts at modifying cognition as well as context in the service of promoting behavioral change that maintains over time and across situations.

Download Full-text

Morphosyntactic Development in First Generation Arabic—English Children: The Effect of Cognitive, Age, and Input Factors over Time and across Languages

Languages ◽

10.3390/languages6010051 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 51

Author(s):

Johanne Paradis ◽

Adriana Soto-Corominas ◽

Evangelia Daskalaki ◽

Xi Chen ◽

Alexandra Gottardo

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Skills ◽

First Generation ◽

Refugee Children ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

Parent Questionnaire ◽

Morphosyntactic Development ◽

Negative Effect ◽

Input Variables ◽

Direct Measures ◽

Over Time

This longitudinal study examined morphosyntactic development in the heritage Arabic-L1 and English-L2 of first-generation Syrian refugee children (mean age = 9.5; range = 6–13) within their first three years in Canada. Morphosyntactic abilities were measured using sentence repetition tasks (SRT) in English and Syrian Arabic that included diverse morphosyntactic structures. Direct measures of verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills were obtained, and a parent questionnaire provided the age at L2 acquisition onset (AOA) and input variables. We found the following: Dominance in the L1 was evident at both time periods, regardless of AOA, and growth in bilingual abilities was found over time. Cognitive skills accounted for substantial variance in SRT scores in both languages and at both times. An older AOA was associated with superior SRT scores at Time−1 for both languages, but at Time-2, older AOA only contributed to superior SRT scores in Arabic. Using the L2 with siblings gave a boost to English at Time−1 but had a negative effect on Arabic at Time-2. We conclude that first-generation children show strong heritage-L1 maintenance early on, and individual differences in cognitive skills have stable effects on morphosyntax in both languages over time, but age and input factors have differential effects on each language and over time.

Download Full-text

Motor, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Skills Among Children With Disabilities Over Time

The Journal of Special Education ◽

10.1177/0022466920940800 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 002246692094080

Author(s):

W. Catherine Cheung ◽

Hedda Meadan ◽

Sa Shen

Keyword(s):

Motor Skills ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Children With Disabilities ◽

Fine Motor ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Gross Motor ◽

Gross Motor Skills ◽

Socioemotional Skills ◽

Over Time

Preschoolers demonstrate rapid growth in motor, cognitive, and socioemotional (SE) skills. The Early Childhood Longitude Study–Birth Cohort was used to investigate the discrepancy in fine motor, gross motor, cognitive, and SE skills between children with and without disabilities. Findings indicated that, compared with typically developing children (TDC), children with disabilities (CWD) have (a) significant discrepancies in preschool and kindergarten among these skills, (b) an increased discrepancy in fine motor and cognitive skills from preschool to kindergarten, (c) the largest gaps in gross motor skills at preschool and kindergarten, and (d) no significant change in SE gaps from preschool to kindergarten. The findings provide evidence to support the discrepancies in motor, cognitive, and SE skills between CWD and TDC that occur as early as preschool, and that these discrepancies are not getting smaller as children enter kindergarten.

Download Full-text

Toward an Understanding of the Development of Skilled Remembering: The Role of Teachers’ Instructional Language

Current Directions in Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0963721420925543 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (5) ◽

pp. 445-452

Author(s):

Peter A. Ornstein ◽

Jennifer L. Coffman

Keyword(s):

Elementary School ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Developmental Change ◽

Language Of Instruction ◽

School Classroom ◽

Children's Memory ◽

Role Of Teachers ◽

Over Time ◽

Children's Strategies

Although there is a rich literature on children’s strategies for remembering, little attention has been paid to characterizing developmental change within individual children and to examining mediators that may bring about such change. To address these issues, we assess children’s memory skills over time while simultaneously examining communicative interactions in the classroom. Children are not taught memory strategies in an explicit manner, but these skills emerge in the context of the elementary school classroom. Accordingly, we use longitudinal and experimental methodologies to examine the ways in which the language of instruction contributes to the development of children’s memory and cognitive skills. The basic findings are discussed here in terms of possible applications in the classroom that may impact teachers’ instruction and students’ learning.

Download Full-text

If you could read my mind–an experimental beauty-contest game with children

Experimental Economics ◽

10.1007/s10683-021-09713-y ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Henning Hermes ◽

Daniel Schunk

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Skills ◽

Strategic Interaction ◽

School Age ◽

Successful Performance ◽

Dominated Strategies ◽

Beauty Contest ◽

Over Time ◽

Interaction Skills

AbstractWe develop a new design for the experimental beauty-contest game (BCG) that is suitable for children in school age and test it with 114 schoolchildren aged 9–11 years as well as with adults. In addition, we collect a measure for cognitive skills to link these abilities with successful performance in the game. Results demonstrate that children can successfully understand and play a BCG. Choices start at a slightly higher level than those of adults but learning over time and depth of reasoning are largely comparable with the results of studies run with adults. Cognitive skills, measured as fluid IQ, are predictive only of whether children choose weakly dominated strategies but are neither associated with lower choices in the first round nor with successful performance in the BCG. In the implementation of our new design of the BCG with adults we find results largely in line with behavior in the classical BCG. Our new design for the experimental BCG allows to study the development of strategic interaction skills starting already in school age.

Download Full-text

Intergenerationele sociale daling in Nederland

Tijdschrift voor Arbeidsvraagstukken ◽

10.5117/2014.030.003.260 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Lex Thijssen ◽

Maarten H.J. Wolbers

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Social Stratification ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Birth Cohorts ◽

Downward Mobility ◽

Male Birth ◽

Theoretical Perspectives ◽

The Family ◽

Over Time

Intergenerational downward mobility in the Netherlands Intergenerational downward mobility in the Netherlands Several studies have shown that Dutch society has become more open in the last few decades as a result of increasing opportunities for upward social mobility. However, recently it has been observed that the likelihood of downward mobility has increased for the youngest (male) birth cohorts in the Netherlands. Despite this recent finding, social stratification research has paid little attention to testing explanations of downward mobility. This article tries to fill this knowledge gap by testing several theoretical perspectives that aim at explaining intergenerational downward mobility of individuals. In addition, we examine historical trends to study whether the role of these explanations has changed over time. To test the predictive validity of these perspectives, we use data from the Family Survey Dutch Population 2009 (N = 1,423). The empirical results, first of all, indicate that individuals who were born in younger birth cohorts are more likely to experience downward mobility than individuals who were born in older cohorts. We thus replicate earlier findings for the Netherlands. Secondly, we find that cognitive skills and educational attainment in particular provide individuals with significant protection against downward mobility. These findings are mainly in line with the meritocratic perspective. Thirdly, the results reveal that the role of the presumed explanations of downward mobility has not changed over time.

Download Full-text

User-centric cognitive assessment. Evaluation of attention in special working centres: from paper to Kinect

ADCAIJ ADVANCES IN DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE JOURNAL ◽

10.14201/2013171922 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 19-22

Author(s):

Anna Vilaro ◽

Pilar Orero

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Cognitive Assessment ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Cognitive Impairments ◽

Mentally Disabled ◽

Attentional Performance ◽

Working People ◽

User Centric ◽

Special Working ◽

Over Time

PROLOG project aims to provide a complementary ICT tool for the assessment of cognitive skills of mentally disabled working people. The project is developed by Centre d’Accessibilitat i Intel·ligència Ambiental de Catalunya (CAiAC), Indra, Fundación Adecco and PRODIS, and is part of Cátedra INDRA de Tecnologías Accesibles. The project provides a platform to evaluate, in a quick and personalized way, the attentional performance of users through specific tasks grounded in existing psychological tests. Interaction with the tests is done by Kinect technology. Also a platform execution logs users in different tests over time in order to detect possible cognitive impairments. The platform records the worker’s performance on various tasks and presents the evolution over time in order to detect possible cognitive impairment. This paper details the first phase of the project corresponding to the design of the tests.

Download Full-text