Executive Functioning and Emotion Regulation in Children with and without ADHD

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Difficulties with emotion regulation affect the majority of youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and predict greater...     

Enhancing spatial skills of preschoolers from under-resourced backgrounds: A comparison of digital app vs. concrete materials

Spatial skills support STEM learning and achievement. However, children from low-socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds typically lag behind their middle- and high-SES peers. We asked whether a digital educational app—designed to mirror an already successful, spatial assembly training program using concrete materials—would be as effective for facilitating spatial skills in under-resourced preschoolers as the concrete materials. Three-year-olds (N = 61) from under-resourced backgrounds were randomly assigned to a business-as-usual control group or to receive 5 weeks of spatial training using either concrete, tangible materials or a digital app on a tablet. The spatial puzzles used were an extension of items from the Test of Spatial Assembly (TOSA). Preschoolers were pretested and posttested on new two-dimensional (2D) TOSA trials. Results indicate that both concrete and digital spatial training increased performance on the 2D-TOSA compared to the control group. The two trainings did not statistically differ from one another suggesting that educational spatial apps may be one route to providing early foundational skills to children from under-resourced backgrounds.     

Age- and education-adjusted normative data for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in older adults age 70–99

The original validation study for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) suggests a cutoff score of 26; however, this may be too stringent for older adults, particularly for those with less education. Given the rapidly increasing number of older adults and associated risk of dementia, this study aims to provide appropriate age- and education-adjusted norms for the MoCA. Data from 205 participants in an ongoing longevity study were used to derive normative data. Individuals were grouped based on age (70–79, 80–89, 90–99) and education level (≤12 Years, 13–15, ≥16 Years). There were significant differences between age and education groups with younger and more educated participants outperforming their counterparts. Forty-six percent of our sample scored below the suggested cutoff of 26. These normative data may provide a more accurate representation of MoCA performance in older adults for specific age and education stratifications.     

Effects of practice on the matching familiar figures test: A comparison of young,middle-aged and elderly adults

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of practice on a modified version of the Matching Familiar Figures test in young, middle-aged and elderly adults. Forty-eight young, 48 middle-aged and 48 elderly adults were each presented with 48 match-to-standard items. the dependent variables were the number of errors committed and the latency to first response. the performance of both young and middle-aged adults reflected rather stable speed/accuracy trade-off decisions that did not change as a function of practice. the young adults responded more quickly and made more errors than the middle-aged adults across all 48 trials. the performance of elderly adults, on the other hand, did change as a result of practice; their latencies increased and their error rate decreased across trials. Elderly adults started out making more errors than young adults but by the end of the 48 trials, their error rate was lower than that of young adults. In the final trials, the error rate of elderly adults was midway between the rates of young and middle-aged adults. Thus, practice facilitated the performance of elderly adults but had no effect on the performance of young and middle-aged adults.     

Assessing Parenting Behaviors in Euro–Canadian and East Asian Immigrant Mothers: Limitations to Observations of Responsiveness

The use of parenting measures that are developed for use with Western families without testing their validity among families from non-Western cultural backgrounds may not be appropriate. Similar parenting behaviors may affect child outcomes in different ways across different cultures. This study examined the cross-cultural validity of an observational Maternal Responsiveness coding system and of self-reports of lax/inconsistent parenting in Euro–Canadian (n = 23) and East Asian immigrant mothers (n = 23) of 4- to 7-year-old sons. In Euro–Canadian mothers, observed parenting responsiveness was associated with less lax/inconsistent parenting and fewer child behavior problems. In East Asian immigrant mothers, however, observations of greater responsiveness were not related to reports of lax/inconsistent parenting, and were associated with greater child behavior problems. Implications for the use of these parenting measures across culture groups are discussed.     

Target-related autobiographical memories affect dietary intake intentions*

ABSTRACT

Although there is evidence that autobiographical memory (AM) recall impacts behaviour in multiple domains, the mechanisms for this effect are unclear. Two experiments examined how AM Frame and Relatedness to target behaviour affect intention to control future dietary intake. Participants completed an AM task where they recalled success or fail-framed memories of behaviour in the target domain (dietary intake), a related domain (exercise), and an unrelated domain (work). Next they completed questionnaires about attitudes, self-efficacy, and behavioural intention for controlling dietary intake. In Experiment 1, Frame and Relatedness of AMs recalled did not affect attitudes or self-efficacy ratings of controlling dietary intake. However, Related AMs resulted in higher intention ratings to control future dietary intake compared to Unrelated AMs. Experiment 2 replicated these results for attitude and self-efficacy, but showed no effect on behavioural intention. A mini-meta analysis was conducted to clarify the effect of AM recall on intention. This analysis confirmed a significant effect of AM Relatedness on intention ratings (meta-analysis Cohen’s d?=?.25, Z?=?2.54, p?=?.011). These results provide evidence that recalling related AM can affect dietary behaviour intentions directly, without changes attitudes or ratings of personal control regarding dietary intake.