The Cultural Adaptation of a Transition Program for Latino Families of Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder

During the transition to adulthood, effective and culturally relevant supports are critical for families of youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is a dearth of documented program development and research on supports for Spanish-speaking Latino families during this life stage. The present work describes the cultural adaptation process of an evidence-based transition program for Latino families of youth with ASD. A model of the actions necessary to meaningfully conduct a cultural adaptation in this context is described. After implementing the culturally adapted program titled Juntos en la Transición with five Spanish-speaking families, parents reported high social validity of the program through surveys and interviews. The cultural adaptation process followed in this work is important for the further development of programs that address the transition needs of Latino youth with ASD and their families. Our impressions may also be useful to those who aim to develop culturally sensitive and ecologically valid multifamily group intervention programs for families from cultural and linguistic minority groups.     

Cognitive consequences of playing brain-training games in immersive virtual reality

The goal of the present study was to examine the effects of playing an immersive virtual reality game that included a collection of gamified cognitive tasks, Cerevrum, on specific components of cognition, including perceptual attention, mental rotation, working memory, visualization, visual field of view, and visual processing speed. Participants completed a pretest of cognitive assessments, played one of the two mini-games within Cerevrum (Stardust or Heroes) for 1.5 hr over three 30-min sessions and then completed a posttest of cognitive assessments and a questionnaire about interest and engagement during the game. An inactive control group completed only the pretest and posttest. Results showed no significant differences among the Heroes group, Stardust group, and control group on the posttest scores, even when controlled for pretest scores. These findings do not support the claim that playing brain-training games for a short period results in transfer of cognitive training to nongame venues.     

Concurrent and lasting effects of emotion regulation on amygdala response in adolescence and young adulthood

This study used functional MRI (fMRI) to examine a novel aspect of emotion regulation in adolescent development: whether age predicts differences in both the concurrent and lasting effects of emotion regulation on amygdala response. In the first, active regulation, phase of the testing session, fMRI data were collected while 56 healthy individuals (age range: 10.50–22.92 years) reappraised aversive stimuli so as to diminish negative responses to them. After a short delay, the second, re‐presentation, phase involved passively viewing the aversive images from the reappraisal task. During active regulation, older individuals showed greater drops in negative affect and inverse rostrolateral prefrontal‐amygdala connectivity. During re‐presentation, older individuals continued to show lasting reductions in the amygdala response to aversive stimuli they had previously reappraised, an effect mediated by rostrolateral PFC. These data suggest that one source of heightened emotionality in adolescence is a diminished ability to cognitively down‐regulate aversive reactions.     

Assessing changes in brain electrical activity and functional connectivity while overtaking a vehicle

ABSTRACT

Driving is a daily requirement and an indispensable activity for many people. However, still little is known about how driving is supported by the brain. We used electroencephalography to study the changes in brain activity and its functional connectivity in a simulated driving task. We focused on overtaking and studied this activity in three phases: before overtake, during overtake, and after overtake. Our results showed that mu power in motor and sensorimotor areas decreased during overtake and again increased after overtake. On the other hand, beta oscillations in frontal areas were at their highest level in the “before overtake” phase. It can be interpreted that the “before overtake” was the most attention-demanding phase. In addition, we found that the connectivity between right and left prefrontal regions and right and left occipital regions in alpha (and mu) band power was significantly stronger in the “during overtake” compared to the other two conditions.