scholarly journals A Case Study: Using a Neuro-Physiological Measure to Monitor Students’ Interest and Learning during a Micro:Bit Activity

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 379
Author(s):  
Aik Lim Tan ◽  
Robyn Gillies ◽  
Azilawati Jamaludin
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Objective Measure ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Alternative Measure ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Future Goals ◽  
Interest Development ◽  
Physiological Markers

Interest plays a critical role in learning and development. It is able to compel students toward short term exploration, motivating them toward the pursuit of future goals, as well as leading to the development of knowledge and cognitive abilities. Interest also enables students to rise above perceived restrictions and limitations to achieve their goals. Interest therefore plays a significant role in learning and development. Currently, most of the extant research on interest has been typically done using self-report surveys or by observations, which may be somewhat subjective in nature. This study therefore aims to further deepen our understanding of the value of interest on learning, and more importantly, suggests a novel method of tracing interest development over time. An alternative measure of interest through the use of neuro-physiological markers is suggested, with examples based on two case studies out of a class of 22 students. The Empatica E4 wristband was used to collect electrodermal activity (EDA) data to capture instances of triggered interest during a 10-week curriculum, which were triangulated with behavioral observations. The study found that EDA is a possible measure for recording and tracing interest development in students, providing a more nuanced and objective measure of interest development.

scholarly journals Development of “My Experiences Scale” for Children and Adolescents in India

2020 ◽  
pp. 025371762093926
Author(s):  
Snigdhasree Bhattacharyya ◽  
Uma Hirisave ◽  
Mariamma Philip ◽  
N. Janardhana
Keyword(s):  
Psychometric Properties ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Objective Measure ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Self Worth ◽  
Good Internal Consistency ◽  
Test Retest Reliability ◽  
Age Range

Background: Experiences that a child or adolescent goes through play a critical role in their development as an individual. To understand the world of adolescents and their mental health and well-being, it would be important to be able to access their experiences. Therefore, an objective measure to assess experiences is necessary. The study aimed to develop a scale to assess experiences and establish their psychometric properties. Materials and methods: My Experiences Scale (MES) is a newly developed 50-item, multiple-choice, self-report measure. Various steps involved in developing the MES and establishing its psychometric properties have been elaborated. The study was carried out across four phases, and the sample consisted of 1,260 school-going children and adolescents. The participants were representative of both genders, a wide age range, and diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Results: MES was found to have good internal consistency (Alpha 0.85) and test–retest reliability (0.96). MES was found to have significant correlations with Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and global self-worth. Conclusions: The newly developed experiences scale shows promising psychometric properties and a wide scope for application.

scholarly journals Induced Negative Arousal Speeds Up Visual Working Memory Consolidation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weizhen Xie ◽  
JC Lynne Lu Sing ◽  
Ana Martinez-Flores ◽  
Weiwei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Early Life Stress ◽  
Objective Measure ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Random Pattern ◽  
Negative Arousal

This study examines how induced negative arousal influences the consolidation of fragile sensory inputs into durable working memory (WM) representations. Participants performed a visual WM change detection task with different amounts of encoding time manipulated by random pattern masks inserted at different levels of memory-and-mask Stimulus-Onset-Asynchrony (SOA). Prior to the WM task, negative or neutral emotion was induced using audio clips from the International Affective Digital Sounds (IADS). Pupillometry was simultaneously recorded to provide an objective measure of induced arousal. Self-report measures of early-life stress (i.e., adverse childhood experiences) and current mood states (i.e., depressed mood and anxious feeling) were also collected as covariates. We find that participants encode more items into WM at a longer memory-and-mask SOA under induced negative arousal, while their performance at a shorter memory-and-mask SOA or no mask conditions is highly comparable between negative and neutral conditions. These findings suggest that induced negative arousal can speed up WM consolidation. Furthermore, this emotional effect on WM consolidation speed is moderated by key affect-related individual differences. Participants who have greater pupil responses to negative IADS sounds or have more early-life stress show faster WM consolidation under induced negative arousal. Collectively, our findings reveal a critical role of phasic adrenergic responses in the rapid consolidation of visual WM content and the potential moderators of this association.

Attachment Organization in Suicide Prevention Research

Crisis ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Venta ◽  
Carla Sharp
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Suicide Attempt ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Suicide Ideation ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Self Harm

Background: Identifying risk factors for suicide-related thoughts and behaviors (SRTB) is essential among adolescents in whom SRTB remain a leading cause of death. Although many risk factors have already been identified, influential theories now suggest that the domain of interpersonal relationships may play a critical role in the emergence of SRTB. Because attachment has long been seen as the foundation of interpersonal functioning, we suggest that attachment insecurity warrants attention as a risk factor for SRTB. Aims: This study sought to explore relations between attachment organization and suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and self-harm in an inpatient adolescent sample, controlling for demographic and psychopathological covariates. Method: We recruited 194 adolescents from an inpatient unit and assigned them to one of four attachment groups (secure, preoccupied, dismissing, or disorganized attachment). Interview and self-report measures were used to create four variables reflecting the presence or absence of suicidal ideation in the last year, single lifetime suicide attempt, multiple lifetime suicide attempts, and lifetime self-harm. Results: Chi-square and regression analyses did not reveal significant relations between attachment organization and SRTB, although findings did confirm previously established relations between psychopathology and SRTB, such that internalizing disorder was associated with increased self-harm, suicide ideation, and suicide attempt and externalizing disorder was associated with increased self-harm. Conclusion: The severity of this sample and methodological differences from previous studies may explain the nonsignificant findings. Nonsignificant findings may indicate that the relation between attachment organization and SRTB is moderated by other factors that should be explored in future research.

scholarly journals Extended parenting and the evolution of cognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1803) ◽  
pp. 20190495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Uomini ◽  
Joanna Fairlie ◽  
Russell D. Gray ◽  
Michael Griesser
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cultural Learning

Traditional attempts to understand the evolution of human cognition compare humans with other primates. This research showed that relative brain size covaries with cognitive skills, while adaptations that buffer the developmental and energetic costs of large brains (e.g. allomaternal care), and ecological or social benefits of cognitive abilities, are critical for their evolution. To understand the drivers of cognitive adaptations, it is profitable to consider distant lineages with convergently evolved cognitions. Here, we examine the facilitators of cognitive evolution in corvid birds, where some species display cultural learning, with an emphasis on family life. We propose that extended parenting (protracted parent–offspring association) is pivotal in the evolution of cognition: it combines critical life-history, social and ecological conditions allowing for the development and maintenance of cognitive skillsets that confer fitness benefits to individuals. This novel hypothesis complements the extended childhood idea by considering the parents' role in juvenile development. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses, we show that corvids have larger body sizes, longer development times, extended parenting and larger relative brain sizes than other passerines. Case studies from two corvid species with different ecologies and social systems highlight the critical role of life-history features on juveniles’ cognitive development: extended parenting provides a safe haven, access to tolerant role models, reliable learning opportunities and food, resulting in higher survival. The benefits of extended juvenile learning periods, over evolutionary time, lead to selection for expanded cognitive skillsets. Similarly, in our ancestors, cooperative breeding and increased group sizes facilitated learning and teaching. Our analyses highlight the critical role of life-history, ecological and social factors that underlie both extended parenting and expanded cognitive skillsets. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals’.

scholarly journals NCOG-70. RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF A NEW SELF-REPORT INDEX OF COGNITIVE CONCERNS IN BRAIN TUMOR PATIENTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. ii145-ii145
Author(s):  
Giuliana Zarrella ◽  
Alice Perez ◽  
Jorg Dietrich ◽  
Michael Parsons
Keyword(s):  
Brain Tumor ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Convergent Validity ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Cognitive Testing ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Measurement Information ◽  
Patient Reported

Abstract INTRODUCTION Subjective cognitive dysfunction is an important outcome measure in neuro-oncology and may provide additional information beyond performance-based neuropsychological testing. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Brain (FACT-Br) is a frequently used quality of life (QoL) measure that includes indices of physical, emotional, social, and neurologic aspects of disease, but does not measure cognitive concerns. This study seeks to develop and validate an index of self-reported cognition derived from existing items on the FACT-Br. METHODS 145 patients (Mage=51.08, Medu=15.63) with heterogeneous brain tumor diagnoses completed neuropsychological evaluation including cognitive testing and self-report measures. Nine FACT-Br items regarding cognition were combined to form the Cognitive Index (CI). Reliability of the CI was measured with Cronbach’s alpha. Concurrent validity was assessed by correlating the CI with the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Cognitive Abilities-8 or PROMIS Cognitive Concerns-8. Discriminant validity was assessed by correlation of the CI with other FACT-Br indices and the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories (BDI, BAI). RESULTS Internal consistency within the CI was high (Cronbach’s a 0.864). The CI correlated strongly with the PROMIS-Abilities (r =.680; p< 0.001) and PROMIS-Concerns (r=.780; p< 0.001) indicating high convergent validity. Moderate correlations were observed between the CI and the physical and functional subscales of the FACT (r=.453 and .555), whereas correlations with the social and emotional functioning subscales were weaker (r=.381 and .325). The FACT-Br-CI correlated strongly with BDI (r=-.622) and more weakly with the BAI (r=-.344). Consistent with prior literature, the CI showed modest correlations with neuropsychological measures, including verbal memory encoding (r=.300), verbal fluency (r=.252) and a composite measure of cognition (r=.249; all p’s< .01). CONCLUSIONS The FACT-Br-CI is a reliable and valid measure of self-reported cognition. Studies that include the FACT-Br could be retrospectively analyzed to assess self-reported cognitive outcomes, enriching the information gained from prior research.

scholarly journals Self-reported and cotinine-verified smoking and increased risk of incident hearing loss

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Woncheol Lee ◽  
Yoosoo Chang ◽  
Hocheol Shin ◽  
Seungho Ryu
Keyword(s):  
Smoking Status ◽  
Objective Measure ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Urinary Cotinine ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Former Smokers ◽  
Never Smokers ◽  
Time Varying Covariates ◽  
New Onset

AbstractWe examined the associations of smoking status and urinary cotinine levels, an objective measure of smoking, with the development of new-onset HL. This cohort study was performed in 293,991 Korean adults free of HL who underwent a comprehensive screening examination and were followed for up to 8.8 years. HL was defined as a pure-tone average of thresholds at 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 kHz ≥ 25 dB in both ears. During a median follow-up of 4.9 years, 2286 participants developed new-onset bilateral HL. Self-reported smoking status was associated with an increased risk of new-onset bilateral HL. Multivariable-adjusted HRs (95% CIs) for incident HL comparing former smokers and current smokers to never-smokers were 1.14 (1.004–1.30) and 1.40 (1.21–1.61), respectively. Number of cigarettes, pack-years, and urinary cotinine levels were consistently associated with incident HL. These associations were similarly observed when introducing changes in smoking status, urinary cotinine, and other confounders during follow-up as time-varying covariates. In this large cohort of young and middle-aged men and women, smoking status based on both self-report and urinary cotinine level were independently associated with an increased incidence of bilateral HL. Our findings indicate smoking is an independent risk factor for HL.

scholarly journals Principal’s Practices and School’s Collective Efficacy to Preventing Bullying: The Mediating Role of School Climate

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824402110525
Author(s):  
Ana Carolina Reyes-Rodríguez ◽  
Angel Alberto Valdés-Cuervo ◽  
José Angel Vera-Noriega ◽  
Lizeth Guadalupe Parra-Pérez
Keyword(s):  
School Climate ◽  
Collective Efficacy ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Bullying Prevention ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Perceptions Of School

Differences in bullying rates between schools could be explained by school efficacy. This study examined the relationships among teachers’ perceptions of principals’ practices, school climate, and school collective efficacy to prevent bullying. The sample comprises 403 Mexican elementary-school teachers; 35% were male, and 65% were female. The teaching experience ranged from 2 to 35 years ( M = 13.2 years, SD = 9.1). Teachers answered self-report measures. A latent variable structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used. SEM model indicated that principal’s bullying prevention was directly related to a positive school climate, but they did not influence teachers’ perceptions of school collective efficacy. Also, principals’ support for teachers’ antibullying practices positively affected school climate and school collective efficacy. Both principal involvement and support had an indirect relationship with school collective efficacy. Overall, findings suggest that the principal has a critical role in promoting teachers’ perceptions of school collective efficacy in bullying prevention.

scholarly journals Hand preference and Mathematical Learning Difficulties: New data from Greece, the United Kingdom, and Germany and two meta-analyses of the literature

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marietta Papadatou-Pastou ◽  
Despoina A. Panagiotidou ◽  
Filippo Abbondanza ◽  
Ursula Fischer ◽  
Silvia Paracchini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Learning Difficulties ◽  
Hand Preference ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Special Educational Needs ◽  
Mathematical Learning ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Combining Data ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Mathematical Learning Difficulties

Increased rates of atypical handedness are observed in neurotypical individuals who are low-performing in mathematical tasks as well as in individuals with special educational needs, such as dyslexia. This is the first investigation of handedness in individuals with Mathematical Learning Difficulties (MLD). We report three new studies (N = 134; N = 1,893; N = 153) and two sets of meta-analyses (22 studies; N = 3,667). No difference in atypical hand preference between MLD and Typically Achieving (TA) individuals was found when handedness was assessed with self-report questionnaires, but weak evidence of a difference was found when writing hand was the handedness criterion in Study 1 (p = .049). Similarly, when combining data meta-analytically, no hand preference differences were detected. We suggest that: (i) potential handedness effects require larger samples, (ii) direction of hand preference is not a sensitive enough measure of handedness in this context, or that (iii) increased rates of atypical hand preference are not associated with MLD. The latter scenario would suggest that handedness is specifically linked to language-related conditions rather than conditions related to cognitive abilities at large. Future studies need to consider hand skill and degree of hand preference in MLD.

Take my advice: Intrinsic emotion regulation is more effective under external guidance.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Ngombe ◽  
Klaus Kessler ◽  
Daniel J Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Affective Reactions ◽  
Subjective Ratings ◽  
Potential Therapeutic Application ◽  
Within Subjects

Traditionally, research into emotion regulation (ER) has focused primarily on the intra-personal processes through which we regulate our own emotions intrinsically. More recently, however, studies have begun to explore the inter-personal nature of intrinsic ER – that is, how we regulate our emotions under the guidance of others. Preliminary evidence suggests that the ER is more effective when implemented inter- rather than intra-personally, but these findings are based exclusively on subjective ratings that capture only the experience of emotions. The current study therefore investigated whether this apparent superiority of inter-personal intrinsic ER could be replicated and extended to physiological measures of affective reactions – namely, metrics of electrodermal activity. In addition, we administered several self-report instruments to measure behavioural phenotypes associated with individual differences in intrinsic ER to identify groups that might benefit maximally from inter-personal guidance. In a within-subjects design, a large sample (N=146) were required to down-regulate their emotional reactions to negatively valenced images using an ER strategy they had chosen themselves intra-personally or one that had been recommended to them inter-personally. Subjective ratings and physiological responses converged to demonstrate the greater effectiveness of inter- over intra-personal ER in decreasing negative affective reactions, illustrating its potential therapeutic application for conditions characterised by emotion dysregulation. Interestingly, though, data from the self-report instruments did not reveal patterns of behaviour associated with its efficacy, and so it remains to be seen if and how the benefits of inter-personal ER extend to clinical populations.

scholarly journals Speech Auditory Brainstem Responses in Adult Hearing Aid Users: Effects of Aiding and Background Noise, and Prediction of Behavioral Measures

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 233121651984829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghada BinKhamis ◽  
Antonio Elia Forte ◽  
Tobias Reichenbach ◽  
Martin O’Driscoll ◽  
Karolina Kluk
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Objective Measure ◽  
Auditory Brainstem ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽  
Speech Understanding ◽  
Reported Speech ◽  
Speech Detection ◽  
Speech In Noise

Evaluation of patients who are unable to provide behavioral responses on standard clinical measures is challenging due to the lack of standard objective (non-behavioral) clinical audiological measures that assess the outcome of an intervention (e.g., hearing aids). Brainstem responses to short consonant-vowel stimuli (speech-auditory brainstem responses [speech-ABRs]) have been proposed as a measure of subcortical encoding of speech, speech detection, and speech-in-noise performance in individuals with normal hearing. Here, we investigated the potential application of speech-ABRs as an objective clinical outcome measure of speech detection, speech-in-noise detection and recognition, and self-reported speech understanding in 98 adults with sensorineural hearing loss. We compared aided and unaided speech-ABRs, and speech-ABRs in quiet and in noise. In addition, we evaluated whether speech-ABR F0 encoding (obtained from the complex cross-correlation with the 40 ms [da] fundamental waveform) predicted aided behavioral speech recognition in noise or aided self-reported speech understanding. Results showed that (a) aided speech-ABRs had earlier peak latencies, larger peak amplitudes, and larger F0 encoding amplitudes compared to unaided speech-ABRs; (b) the addition of background noise resulted in later F0 encoding latencies but did not have an effect on peak latencies and amplitudes or on F0 encoding amplitudes; and (c) speech-ABRs were not a significant predictor of any of the behavioral or self-report measures. These results show that speech-ABR F0 encoding is not a good predictor of speech-in-noise recognition or self-reported speech understanding with hearing aids. However, our results suggest that speech-ABRs may have potential for clinical application as an objective measure of speech detection with hearing aids.

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