Nutrients for executive function development and related brain connectivity in school-aged children

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E Costello ◽  
Eveline Geiser ◽  
Nora Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Brain Maturation ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Nutrition And Diet

Abstract Executive functions refer to a set of higher-order cognitive processes involved in the control and organization of information to serve goal-directed behaviors. Skills in executive functioning are developed throughout childhood and adolescence and have been shown to be predictive of academic achievement. The coordination of these complex processes is critically dependent on brain maturation and connectivity, including key neurodevelopmental processes like myelination and synaptogenesis. Among other factors, research highlights the influential effect of nutrition and diet on these neurodevelopmental processes, which may impact executive function performance in healthy and deficient populations. This review considers the research to date on the role of key nutrients that have been identified for executive function development and their underlying neurophysiological processes in school-aged children.

scholarly journals Development of structure–function coupling in human brain networks during youth

2019 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 771-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham L. Baum ◽  
Zaixu Cui ◽  
David R. Roalf ◽  
Rastko Ciric ◽  
Richard F. Betzel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Structure Function ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Critical Dimension ◽  
Functional Specialization ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Executive Performance ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Adolescent Brain Development

The protracted development of structural and functional brain connectivity within distributed association networks coincides with improvements in higher-order cognitive processes such as executive function. However, it remains unclear how white-matter architecture develops during youth to directly support coordinated neural activity. Here, we characterize the development of structure–function coupling using diffusion-weighted imaging andn-back functional MRI data in a sample of 727 individuals (ages 8 to 23 y). We found that spatial variability in structure–function coupling aligned with cortical hierarchies of functional specialization and evolutionary expansion. Furthermore, hierarchy-dependent age effects on structure–function coupling localized to transmodal cortex in both cross-sectional data and a subset of participants with longitudinal data (n= 294). Moreover, structure–function coupling in rostrolateral prefrontal cortex was associated with executive performance and partially mediated age-related improvements in executive function. Together, these findings delineate a critical dimension of adolescent brain development, whereby the coupling between structural and functional connectivity remodels to support functional specialization and cognition.

scholarly journals Developmental Computational Psychiatry

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias U. Hauser ◽  
Geert-Jan Will ◽  
Magda Dubois ◽  
Raymond J Dolan
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Brain Maturation ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Social Evaluation ◽  
Computational Psychiatry ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
The Brain

Most psychiatric disorders emerge during childhood and adolescence. This is also a period when the brain undergoes substantial growth and reorganisation. However, it remains unclear how a heightened vulnerability to psychiatric disorder relates to brain maturation, and what the underlying mechanisms might be. Here, we propose ‘developmental computational psychiatry’ as a framework for linking brain maturation to cognitive development. We propose that through modelling some of the brain’s fundamental cognitive computations and relating them to brain development, we can bridge the gap between brain and cognitive development. This in turn can lead to a richer understanding of the ontogeny of psychiatric disorders. We illustrate this perspective by taking examples from reinforcement learning (RL) and dopamine function, showing how computational modelling deepens an understanding of how cognitive processes, such as reward learning, effort learning, and social evaluation might go awry in psychiatric disorders. Finally, we formulate testable hypotheses and sketch the potential and limitations of developmental computational psychiatry.

scholarly journals The role of internet addiction and mastery motivation on academic achievement among school‐aged children

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-56
Author(s):  
Nafiza Ferdowshi ◽  
Ummee Habiba Shithee
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Internet Addiction ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Mastery Motivation ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Grade Levels ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
One Way Anova ◽  
Academic Results

The purposes of the present study were to investigate association of internet addiction and mastery motivation with academic achievement of school-aged children and to investigate whether there is any significant difference of internet addiction and mastery motivation according to grade of school-aged children. Three hundred participants were selected from different grade levels (VIII, IX, X). The collected data were analyzed by using Pearson product moment correlation and one-way ANOVA. Results showed that mastery motivation was positively correlated with academic results that was significant. On the other hand, negative relationship between the academic results of children with internet addiction which was not significant. The findings also revealed that both internet addiction and mastery motivation had significant difference with different grade levels of children. Study limitations and further implications were also discussed. Dhaka Univ. J. Biol. Sci. 27(1): 49-56, 2018 (January)

The Role of Childhood Executive Function in Explaining Income Disparities in Long‐Term Academic Achievement

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
LillyBelle K. Deer ◽  
Paul D. Hastings ◽  
Camelia E. Hostinar
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Income Disparities

scholarly journals Maternal perinatal mental health and offspring academic achievement at age 16: the mediating role of childhood executive function

2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Pearson ◽  
Marc H. Bornstein ◽  
Miguel Cordero ◽  
Gaia Scerif ◽  
Liam Mahedy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Perinatal Mental Health ◽  
Mediating Role

scholarly journals The Role of Executive Function in Developmental Stuttering

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (04) ◽  
pp. 305-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie D. Anderson ◽  
Levi C. Ofoe
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Heterogeneous Group ◽  
Complex Disorder ◽  
Multiple Factors ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
Explanatory Account ◽  
Developmental Stuttering

AbstractDevelopmental stuttering is a complex disorder and children who stutter form a heterogeneous group. Most contemporary researchers would agree that multiple factors, including those associated with linguistic, motor, sensory, and emotional processes, are likely involved in its development and/or maintenance. There is growing evidence, however, that cognitive processes also play a role. In this article, we briefly review behavioral and parent-report studies of executive function in children who stutter, the findings of which have generally suggested that these skills may be challenging for at least some children who stutter. We then consider how deficits in executive function could provide an explanatory account for not only the multifactorial nature of developmental stuttering but also the considerable amount of variability that exists among individuals who stutter.

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