Joint attention and object learning in 5‐ and 7‐month‐old infants

We examined the effects of joint attention for object learning in 5‐ and 7‐month‐old infants. Infants interacted with an adult social partner who taught them about a novel toy in two conditions. In the Joint Attention condition, the adult spoke about the toy while alternating gaze between the infant and the toy, while in the Object Only condition, the adult looked to the toy and to a spot on the ceiling, but never at the infant. In the test trials following each social interaction, we presented infants with the ‘familiarization’ toy and a novel toy, and monitored looking times to each object. We found that 7‐month‐olds looked significantly longer to the novel toy following the Joint Attention relative to the Object Only condition, while 5‐month‐old infants did not show a significant difference across conditions. We interpret these results to suggest that joint attention facilitated 7‐month‐old infants' encoding of information about the familiarization object. Implications for the ontogeny of infant learning in joint attention contexts are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attention and memory in children with brain tumors.

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test was utilized to examine attention, learning, and memory abilities in 42 children with cerebellar (N = 18) and third ventricle tumors (N = 24). Children with cerebellar tumors exhibited significant auditory attentional impairments and displayed adequate encoding and retrieval across subsequent learning and memory trials. In contrast, children with third ventricle tumors exhibited average auditory attentional abilities, but they displayed mild encoding deficits across trials 2-5. Furthermore, the third ventricle group's compromised performance on the delayed recall trial and average performance on the delayed recognition trial is suggestive of underlying retrieval deficits.     

Risk for injury in preschoolers: relationship to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Parental ratings of preschoolers' risk for injury, direct assessment of preschoolers' behavior thought related to risk for injury (e.g., Inattention, impulsivity) and number of documented injuries were examined in preschoolers with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and their non-ADHD peers (Control). Of preschoolers with ADHD, 58.3% exhibited behavior which placed them at-risk for physical injury (0% Control), and their performance was significantly poorer on clinic-based tests. Nonetheless, preschoolers with ADHD did not actually sustain significantly more injuries which warranted medical treatment in an emergency department. Although preschoolers with ADHD may be at increased risk for minor injuries, further research is needed to determine whether they more frequently sustain more serious injuries.     

The efficacy of a pilot pediatric cognitive remediation summer program to prepare for transition of care

This study assessed the efficacy of a time-sensitive cognitive remediation summer program (CRSP) that provided patients and their families with tools to help mitigate neurocognitive deficits and promote independence to foster precursor transition of medical care skills. A total of 38 participants (aged 9–15) were included in one of the CRSPs offered yearly from 2013 to 2016. A longitudinal design was employed and at each evaluation time point, one week before start of the CRSP (pre-testing) and within three weeks after the end of the program (post-testing)), participants were administered measures of executive functioning in addition to parent ratings of behavior, executive functioning, and adaptive skills (Year 1–Year 4). In Year 4, additional measures were collected, including parenting style and parent engagement and involvement in the program. Results from Year 1 to Year 4 (n = 35) demonstrated that participants in the CRSP showed significant improvement on neuropsychological testing in sustained and selective attention, planning, and cognitive flexibility. Robust changes in parent ratings of adaptive functioning from pre- to post-treatment were also found. Specific to Year 4 (n = 13), results revealed that participants showed improvement in levels of independence with at least one of the individualized goals focused on during the program. This study provided a systematic method to gauge the levels of instruction necessary to reach goals, a crucial tool in skill-teaching. Overall, our study provides evidence for the efficacy of the CRSP and validates a feasible intervention that can be integrated into standard of care for pediatric medical populations.     

Caregiver- and Clinician-Reported Adaptive Functioning in Rett Syndrome: a Systematic Review and Evaluation of Measurement Strategies

Neuropsychology Review - Rett syndrome is the second most common cause of intellectual disability in females worldwide. The severity of many individuals’ impairment limits the effectiveness...     

Chiasm and hyperdialectic: re-conceptualizing sensory deprivation in infancy

The literature on sensory processing disorders in institutionalized infants highlights the impact of early deprivation on infant perception. Through a Merleau-Pontian, hyperdialectic analysis of the extraordinary development of infant perception under circumstances of severe deprivation the intimate link between environmental affordances and perceptual systems becomes apparent. This paper offers an updated reading of Merleau-Ponty’s late work as a philosophy of systems (“structures”, “forms”, “gestalts”, as he called them) and outlines some fertile philosophical concepts and methods developed by Merleau-Ponty in The visible and the Invisible. Merleau-Ponty’s concept of the chiasm, understood from a systems perspective, and his method of the hyperdialectic are applied in a child case study of an infant who suffered severe neglect in a Romanian orphanage.     

Televised social interaction and object learning in 14- and 18-month-old infants

We examined object learning in infants who viewed a televised adult speaking about a novel toy in videos that varied in the social cues provided. Novelty preference in following test trials differed as a function of televised social cues in 18-month-old, but not 14-month-old infants.     

A Cognitive-Behavioral Mindfulness Group Therapy Intervention for the Treatment of Binge Eating in Bariatric Surgery Patients

Binge eating is a negative indicator of post-surgical weight loss and health outcome in bariatric surgery patients (Hsu, Bentancourt, Sullivan, 1996). Cognitive-behavioral techniques and mindfulness-based practices have been shown to successfully treat binge eating (Agras, Telch, Arnow, Eldredge, & Marnell, 1997; Kristeller & Hallett, 1999). This report describes the development and implementation of a 10-week cognitive-behavioral mindfulness-based group intervention designed to reduce binge eating and address the specific needs of bariatric surgery patients. Posttreatment data showed improvement in binge eating symptoms, depressive symptomatology, and emotion regulation skills and increased motivation to change maladaptive eating behavior.     

Generating Relations Elicits a Relational Mindset in Children

Relational reasoning is a hallmark of human higher cognition and creativity, yet it is notoriously difficult to encourage in abstract tasks, even in adults. Generally, young children initially focus more on objects, but with age become more focused on relations. While prerequisite knowledge and cognitive resource maturation partially explains this pattern, here we propose a new facet important for children's relational reasoning development: a general orientation to relational information, or a relational mindset. We demonstrate that a relational mindset can be elicited, even in 4‐year‐old children, yielding greater than expected spontaneous attention to relations. Children either generated or listened to an experimenter state the relationships between objects in a set of formal analogy problems, and then in a second task, selected object or relational matches according to their preference. Children tended to make object mappings, but those who generated relations on the first task selected relational matches more often on the second task, signaling that relational attention is malleable even in young children.     

Research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A call to action for psychological science

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) that has caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represents the greatest international biopsychosocial emergency the world has faced for a century, and psychological science has an integral role to offer in helping societies recover. The aim of this paper is to set out the shorter- and longer-term priorities for research in psychological science that will (a) frame the breadth and scope of potential contributions from across the discipline; (b) enable researchers to focus their resources on gaps in knowledge; and (c) help funders and policymakers make informed decisions about future research priorities in order to best meet the needs of societies as they emerge from the acute phase of the pandemic. The research priorities were informed by an expert panel convened by the British Psychological Society that reflects the breadth of the discipline; a wider advisory panel with international input; and a survey of 539 psychological scientists conducted early in May 2020. The most pressing need is to research the negative biopsychosocial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate immediate and longer-term recovery, not only in relation to mental health, but also in relation to behaviour change and adherence, work, education, children and families, physical health and the brain, and social cohesion and connectedness. We call on psychological scientists to work collaboratively with other scientists and stakeholders, establish consortia, and develop innovative research methods while maintaining high-quality, open, and rigorous research standards.