scholarly journals Mutualistic Coupling Between Vocabulary and Reasoning Supports Cognitive Development During Late Adolescence and Early Adulthood

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1419-1431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rogier A. Kievit ◽  
Ulman Lindenberger ◽  
Ian M. Goodyer ◽  
Peter B. Jones ◽  
Peter Fonagy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Change Score ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Investment Theory ◽  
Mutualism Model ◽  
Matrix Reasoning ◽  
Age Range

One of the most replicable findings in psychology is the positive manifold: the observation that individual differences in cognitive abilities are universally positively correlated. Investigating the developmental origin of the positive manifold is crucial to understanding it. In a large longitudinal cohort of adolescents and young adults ( N = 784; n = 563 across two waves, mean interval between waves = 1.48 years; age range = 14–25 years), we examined developmental changes in two core cognitive domains, fluid reasoning and vocabulary. We used bivariate latent change score models to compare three leading accounts of cognitive development: g-factor theory, investment theory, and mutualism. We showed that a mutualism model, which proposes that basic cognitive abilities directly and positively interact during development, provides the best account of developmental changes. We found that individuals with higher scores in vocabulary showed greater gains in matrix reasoning and vice versa. These dynamic coupling pathways are not predicted by other accounts and provide a novel mechanistic window into cognitive development.

scholarly journals Mouse Age Matters: How Age Affects the Murine Plasma Metabolome

Metabolites ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 472
Author(s):  
Patrick Pann ◽  
Martin Hrabě de Angelis ◽  
Cornelia Prehn ◽  
Jerzy Adamski
Keyword(s):  
Age Differences ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
High Variability ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Mouse Strains ◽  
Targeted Metabolomics ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Plasma Metabolome ◽  
Metabolite Profiles ◽  
Age Range

A large part of metabolomics research relies on experiments involving mouse models, which are usually 6 to 20 weeks of age. However, in this age range mice undergo dramatic developmental changes. Even small age differences may lead to different metabolomes, which in turn could increase inter-sample variability and impair the reproducibility and comparability of metabolomics results. In order to learn more about the variability of the murine plasma metabolome, we analyzed male and female C57BL/6J, C57BL/6NTac, 129S1/SvImJ, and C3HeB/FeJ mice at 6, 10, 14, and 20 weeks of age, using targeted metabolomics (BIOCRATES AbsoluteIDQ™ p150 Kit). Our analysis revealed high variability of the murine plasma metabolome during adolescence and early adulthood. A general age range with minimal variability, and thus a stable metabolome, could not be identified. Age-related metabolomic changes as well as the metabolite profiles at specific ages differed markedly between mouse strains. This observation illustrates the fact that the developmental timing in mice is strain specific. We therefore stress the importance of deliberate strain choice, as well as consistency and precise documentation of animal age, in metabolomics studies.

scholarly journals Sensitive periods in cognitive development: A mutualistic perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rogier Kievit
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Developmental Time ◽  
General Cognitive Ability ◽  
Small Individual ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Sensitive Periods ◽  
Developmental Time Point ◽  
Time Point ◽  
Do So

The theory of mutualism posits that general cognitive ability emerges, at least in part, due to positive reciprocal interaction between distinct cognitive abilities during development. In other words, cognitive abilities at a given developmental time point govern the rate of growth in other cognitive abilities. Moreover, this emerging field of work finds that the strength as well as the nature of these interactions differs during developmental time: In other words, there are sensitive periods when small individual differences may have especially pronounced, long-lasting consequences for cognitive development. Here I review the literature on mutualistic effects, and show how it can shed new light on sensitive periods. I do so by considering sensitive periods as periods where interactions between (cognitive) domains differ in strength and/or in kind.

Psychosocial Risks and Management for Children and Adolescents With 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 633-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Canice E. Crerand ◽  
Ari N. Rabkin
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Psychotic Disorders ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
22Q11.2 Deletion Syndrome ◽  
Deletion Syndrome ◽  
22Q11.2 Deletion ◽  
Psychosocial Risks ◽  
Empirically Supported ◽  
Specific Education

Purpose This article reviews the psychosocial risks associated with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, a relatively common genetic condition associated with a range of physical and psychiatric problems. Risks associated with developmental stages from infancy through adolescence and early adulthood are described, including developmental, learning, and intellectual disabilities as well as psychiatric disorders including anxiety, mood, and psychotic disorders. Other risks related to coping with health problems and related treatments are also detailed for both affected individuals and their families. Conclusion The article ends with strategies for addressing psychosocial risks including provision of condition-specific education, enhancement of social support, routine assessment of cognitive abilities, regular mental health screening, and referrals for empirically supported psychiatric and psychological treatments.

Introduction to the cognitive abilities account for the reminiscence bump in the temporal distribution of autobiographical memory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve M. J. Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Alternative Account ◽  
Reminiscence Bump ◽  
Significant Events ◽  
Cue Words

People tend to recall more specific personal events from adolescence and early adulthood than from other lifetime periods, a finding known as the reminiscence bump. Several explanations have suggested that events from the reminiscence bump are especially emotional, important, or positive, but studies using cue words have not found support for these claims. An alternative account postulates that cognitive abilities function optimally in adolescence and early adulthood, which may cause more memories to be stored in those lifetime periods. Although other studies have previously discussed the cognitive abilities account as a possible explanation for the reminiscence bump, it was only recently shown that cognitive abilities are indeed related to autobiographical memory performance. When this recent finding is combined with previous findings that cognitive abilities as well as autobiographical memory function optimally in adolescence and early adulthood, they suggest that the cognitive abilities account is a promising explanation for the reminiscence bump in the temporal distribution of word-cued memories. However, because the account does not aim to explain the reminiscence bump in the distribution of highly significant events, it should be regarded as complementary to the existing accounts.

scholarly journals The dynamic association between body mass index and cognition from midlife through late-life, and the effect of sex and genetic influences

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ida K. Karlsson ◽  
Margaret Gatz ◽  
Thalida Em Arpawong ◽  
Anna K. Dahl Aslan ◽  
Chandra A. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Genetic Predisposition ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Change Score ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Dynamic Relationship

AbstractBody mass index (BMI) is associated with cognitive abilities, but the nature of the relationship remains largely unexplored. We aimed to investigate the bidirectional relationship from midlife through late-life, while considering sex differences and genetic predisposition to higher BMI. We used data from 23,892 individuals of European ancestry from the Health and Retirement Study, with longitudinal data on BMI and three established cognitive indices: mental status, episodic memory, and their sum, called total cognition. To investigate the dynamic relationship between BMI and cognitive abilities, we applied dual change score models of change from age 50 through 89, with a breakpoint at age 65 or 70. Models were further stratified by sex and genetic predisposition to higher BMI using tertiles of a polygenic score for BMI (PGSBMI). We demonstrated bidirectional effects between BMI and all three cognitive indices, with higher BMI contributing to steeper decline in cognitive abilities in both midlife and late-life, and higher cognitive abilities contributing to less decline in BMI in late-life. The effects of BMI on change in cognitive abilities were more evident in men compared to women, and among those in the lowest tertile of the PGSBMI compared to those in the highest tertile, while the effects of cognition on BMI were similar across groups. In conclusion, these findings highlight a reciprocal relationship between BMI and cognitive abilities, indicating that the negative effects of a higher BMI persist from midlife through late-life, and that weight-loss in late-life may be driven by cognitive decline.

Secret Shame—Male Infertility and Donor Conception in the Wake of Retrospective Legislative Change

2021 ◽  
pp. 1097184X2110383
Author(s):  
Barbara Cosson ◽  
Deborah Dempsey ◽  
Fiona Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Friendship Networks ◽  
Male Factor ◽  
Perceived Vulnerability ◽  
Donor Conception ◽  
Infertile Men ◽  
Secret Keeping ◽  
Age Range ◽  
The Impact

Historically, sperm donation was shrouded in secrecy to protect the normative family and the perceived vulnerability of infertile men. However, openness about donor conception is increasingly encouraged, in acknowledging that donor-conceived people may benefit from having access to information about their biogenetic origins. Since 2017 in the state of Victoria, Australia, donor-conceived people have been able to access previously anonymous donor records. Drawing on interviews with 17 donor-conceived adults who have come to know their donor through the new laws, this article explores the impact of finding out about the donor on relationships with mothers and fathers, and points to the persistent effects of stigma and shame about donor conception within families. Most of the donor-conceived participants were told about their donor conception in early adulthood. The age range for time of disclosure was mid-teens to early 40s. Most reported that their fathers did not want them to know. In some cases, mothers had disclosed, but sworn them to secrecy. Sensitivity to fathers’ feelings fostered a desire among participants to maintain secrecy about his infertility, especially in relation to wider family and friendship networks. Our findings revealed that secrecy about men’s infertility is heavily reliant on women’s emotional labor to protect ageing infertile fathers’ sense of manhood. Coupled with fathers’ overt resistance to openness, intergenerational secret keeping is perpetuated in families. Laws supporting openness potentially exacerbate the historical stigma associated with male factor infertility in a culture that continues to conflate virility, fertility, and masculinity.

Object Concept and Object Relations in Childhood Psychosis: A Pilot Study

1971 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 347-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Gratton
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Mental Retardation ◽  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Motor Development ◽  
Day School ◽  
Child Relationship ◽  
Two Systems ◽  
Early Infantile Autism ◽  
Age Range

The two master theories of human development, the Freudian and Piagetan, have evolved in parallel fashion without ever meeting. The advent of ‘ego metapsychology’ brought the two systems closer together, to be finally correlated by Anthony, Wolff, et al. The role of the mother is primordial in both cognitive and psychoanalytic systems. As already shown experimentally by Gouin-Décarie the two systems are interconnected in that a failure or fixation in the libidinal development is accompanied by an ‘adherence’ in the cognitive sphere. The aim of this pilot study was to verify the hypothesis that any condition accompanied or caused by a severe disturbance in the mother-child relationship will result in severe mental retardation or arrest in cognitive development within the sensorio-motor stage. The sample was composed of twenty randomly selected children (age range: 3 to 9 years), divided into a psychotic sub-group and a non-psychotic one, the latter serving as control. These children were attending the Pride of Judea Day School in New York City. All had a complete psychiatric and psychological evaluation, plus a detailed developmental history, carried out independently of this research. The Piagetan Test of Sensorio-Motor development elaborated by Gouin-Décarie was administered to both groups. The results showed that an ‘adherence’ of cognitive development to the sensorio motor stage was positively correlated with Early Infantile Autism and Mental Retardation. In order to further clarify this correlation the subjects' early development in their first two years of life was scrutinized using a check list of autistic signs. A statistically highly significant correlation could then be established between the arrest of cognitive development in the sensorio motor stage and an autistic type of development within the first two years of life, irrespective of diagnosis. In view of these findings it seems pointless to apply interpretative psychotherapies to these children or to submit them to standard kindergarten techniques when they lack the very rudiments for abstract thinking.

scholarly journals Detecting the significance of changes in performance on the Stroop Color-Word Test, Rey's Verbal Learning Test, and the Letter Digit Substitution Test: The regression-based change approach

2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
WIM VAN DER ELST ◽  
MARTIN P.J. VAN BOXTEL ◽  
GERARD J.P. VAN BREUKELEN ◽  
JELLE JOLLES
Keyword(s):  
Test Performance ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Color Word ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Change Score ◽  
Total Recall ◽  
Word Test ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Stroop Color Word Test ◽  
Learning Test

Serial neuropsychological assessment is often conducted to monitor changes in the cognitive abilities of individuals over time. Because practice effects occur and the reliability of test scores is less than perfect, it is difficult to judge whether varying test results should be attributed to chance trends or to real changes in underlying cognitive abilities. In a large sample of adults (age range, 49–81 years), we evaluated the influence of age, gender, and education on test–retest changes in performance after 3 years on Rey's Verbal Learning Test (VLT), the Stroop Color-Word Test (SCWT), and the Letter Digit Substitution Test (LDST). A new statistical method was applied to assess the significance of changes in test performance (i.e., the regression-based change method). The results showed that test–retest changes differed as a function of age for the VLT Total recall 1–3, VLT Total recall 1–5, VLT Delayed recall, and LDST measures. An age × gender interaction was found for the SCWT Interference change score, suggesting that the age-related decline in executive functioning after 3 years was more pronounced for males than for females. A normative change table with appropriate corrections for the relevant independent variables was established. (JINS, 2008,14, 71–80.)

Emotion regulation from early adolescence to emerging adulthood and middle adulthood

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Zimmermann ◽  
Alexandra Iwanski
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Early Adolescence ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Middle Adulthood ◽  
Emotion Regulation Strategies ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Emotion Regulation Strategy ◽  
Regulation Strategies ◽  
Age Range

Despite the growing research on emotion regulation, the empirical evidence for normative age-related emotion regulation patterns is rather divergent. From a life-span perspective, normative age changes in emotion regulation may be more salient applying the same methodological approach on a broad age range examining both growth and decline during development. In addition, emotion-specific developmental patterns might show differential developmental trends. The present study examined age differences in seven emotion regulation strategies from early adolescence (age 11) to middle adulthood (age 50) for the three emotions of sadness, fear, and anger. The results showed specific developmental changes in the use of emotion regulation strategies for each of the three emotions. In addition, results suggest age-specific increases and decreases in many emotion regulation strategies, with a general trend to increasing adaptive emotion regulation. Specifically, middle adolescence shows the smallest emotion regulation strategy repertoire. Gender differences appeared for most emotion regulation strategies. The findings suggest that the development of emotion regulation should be studied in an emotion-specific manner, as a perspective solely on general emotion regulation either under- or overestimates existing emotion-specific developmental changes.

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