The role of midfrontal theta oscillations across the development of cognitive control in preschoolers and school‐age children

The development of cognitive control enables children to better resist acting based on distracting information that interferes with the current action. Cognitive control improvement serves different functions that differ in part by the type of interference to resolve. Indeed, resisting to interference at the task‐set level or at the response‐preparation level is, respectively, associated with cognitive flexibility and inhibition. It is, however, unknown whether the same neural mechanism underlies these two functions across development. Studies in adults have revealed the contribution of midfrontal theta (MFT) oscillations in interference resolution. This study investigated whether MFT is involved in the resolution of different types of interference in two age groups identified as corresponding to different latent structures of executive functions. Preschool (4–6 years) and school children (6–8 years) were tested with a task involving interference at the response level and/or the task‐set level while (electroencephalogram) EEG was recorded. Behaviorally, response time and accuracy were affected by task‐set. Both age groups were less accurate when the interference occurred at the task‐set level and only the younger group showed decreased accuracy when interference was presented at the response‐preparation level. Furthermore, MFT power was increased, relative to the baseline, during the resolution of both types of interference and in both age groups. These findings suggest that MFT is involved in immature cognitive control (i.e., preschool and school‐ages), by orchestrating its different cognitive processes, irrespective of the interference to resolve and of the level of cognitive control development (i.e., the degree of differentiation of executive functions).     

Does cognitive reflection mediate the math gender gap at university admission in Chile?

Social Psychology of Education - In Chile, a vast and persistent gender gap in math performance at university admission has negative consequences for women’s opportunities. International...     

Why leave the teaching profession? A longitudinal approach to the prevalence and persistence of teacher turnover intentions

Social Psychology of Education - Teacher turnover has been recognized as a significant problem in the education worldwide. This study focuses on exploring reasons behind the turnover intentions,...     

Effect of social organisation on interspecific differences in overmarking behaviour of foals in African equids

Animal Cognition - Overmarking remains an unstudied topic in juvenile mammals. We have previously documented a very high rate of overmarking by foals in four captive African equid species: mountain...     

互联网企业玩兴氛围对创新行为的跨层次作用机制

互联网企业通过营造快乐愉悦的玩兴氛围, 推动员工持续创新, 以期组织目标的实现。然而, 现有玩兴氛围与员工创新行为关系的研究以理论分析为主, 缺乏实证研究, 进展相对缓慢。在回顾组织管理领域玩兴研究成果的基础上, 开展三个方面的研究：研究一基于组织氛围理论和玩兴活动特征, 开发中国情境下互联网企业的团队玩兴氛围量表。研究二立足于团队层次, 依据资源保存理论重点探讨了玩兴氛围对员工创新行为的跨层次作用机制。研究三从创造力成分模型出发, 引入个体思维方式和多重认同, 探讨激发员工创新行为的边界条件。研究结果发展了中国互联网企业团队玩兴氛围的概念, 促进了玩兴氛围理论的发展, 为互联网类企业营造玩兴氛围以激发创新行为提供理论支持和实践启示。