Father and mother contributions to family functioning when the child has a mental delay

Less is known about the father's than the mother's role in family adaptation to children with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships of both father and mother use of coping strategies and perceptions of the child with measures of family functioning style. Subjects were 26 families of 30-month-old children with a mental delay and a comparison group of 26 families of same-aged children with no delay. Functioning style for study families showed a balance of cohesion and adaptability; comparison families were more chaotically flexible on the adaptability scale. Mothers and fathers agreed on family functioning style. Study parents made the greatest use of external coping strategies, while in both groups mothers used more external and fathers more internal coping strategies. Relationships between coping and family functioning varied by parent and by group. Results suggest the need for further exploration of the separate needs of fathers and mothers in maintaining balanced family functioning.     

Coding infant engagement in the Face-to-Face Still-Face paradigm using deep neural networks

BackgroundThe Face-to-Face Still-Face (FFSF) task is a validated and commonly used observational measure of mother-infant socio-emotional interactions. With the ascendence of deep learning-based facial emotion recognition, it is possible that common complex tasks, such as the coding of FFSF videos, could be coded with a high degree of accuracy by deep neural networks (DNNs). The primary objective of this study was to test the accuracy of four DNN image classification models against the coding of infant engagement conducted by two trained independent manual raters.Methods68 mother-infant dyads completed the FFSF task at three timepoints. Two trained independent raters undertook second-by-second manual coding of infant engagement into one of four classes: 1) positive affect, 2) neutral affect, 3) object/environment engagement, and 4) negative affect.ResultsTraining four different DNN models on 40,000 images, we achieved a maximum accuracy of 99.5% on image classification of infant frames taken from recordings of the FFSF task with a maximum inter-rater reliability (Cohen's κ-value) of 0.993.LimitationsThis study inherits all sampling and experimental limitations of the original study from which the data was taken, namely a relatively small and primarily White sample.ConclusionsBased on the extremely high classification accuracy, these findings suggest that DNNs could be used to code infant engagement in FFSF recordings. DNN image classification models may also have the potential to improve the efficiency of coding all observational tasks with applications across multiple fields of human behavior research.     

绩效评价的若干问题

通过对绩效的内涵、绩效评价标准的确定、评量指标体系的构建以及多样性评量指标的整合意义与方法等四个绩效评价的最基本问题进行反思 ,提出如下观点 :(1 )对绩效进行考量时必须同时考虑时间、方式和结果三个维度。 (2 )绩效评价标准的确定应先于具体评量指标的选择 ,且应保持一定的稳定性 ,不可随意增删 ;(3 )评量指标体系的构建应本着贵精不贵多、贵明确不贵模糊、贵敏感不贵迟钝 ,贵关键不贵空泛的原则进行 ;(4)多样性评量指标是否整合需根据具体的需要而定 ,整合时要考虑评量指标本身的权重差异以及不同评价者由于对标准尺度掌握的松紧不一和评判角度不同所带来的对最终评价结果的影响。     

Tangled webs: tracing the connections between genes and cognition

The rise of molecular genetics is having a pervasive influence in a wide variety of fields, including research into neurodevelopmental disorders like dyslexia, speech and language impairments, and autism. There are many studies underway which are attempting to determine the roles of genetic factors in the aetiology of these disorders. Beyond the obvious implications for diagnosis, treatment and understanding, success in these efforts promises to shed light on the links between genes and aspects of cognition and behaviour. However, the deceptive simplicity of finding correlations between genetic and phenotypic variation has led to a common misconception that there exist straightforward linear relationships between specific genes and particular behavioural and/or cognitive outputs. The problem is exacerbated by the adoption of an abstract view of the nature of the gene, without consideration of molecular, developmental or ontogenetic frameworks. To illustrate the limitations of this perspective, I select two cases from recent research into the genetic underpinnings of neurodevelopmental disorders. First, I discuss the proposal that dyslexia can be dissected into distinct components specified by different genes. Second, I review the story of the FOXP2 gene and its role in human speech and language. In both cases, adoption of an abstract concept of the gene can lead to erroneous conclusions, which are incompatible with current knowledge of molecular and developmental systems. Genes do not specify behaviours or cognitive processes; they make regulatory factors, signalling molecules, receptors, enzymes, and so on, that interact in highly complex networks, modulated by environmental influences, in order to build and maintain the brain. I propose that it is necessary for us to fully embrace the complexity of biological systems, if we are ever to untangle the webs that link genes to cognition.     

Differences in postural control and movement performance during goal directed reaching in children with developmental coordination disorder

Poor upper-limb coordination is a common difficulty for children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). One hypothesis is that deviant muscle timing in proximal muscle groups results in poor postural and movement control. The relationship between muscle timing, arm motion and children's upper-limb coordination deficits has not previously been studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between functional difficulties with upper-limb motor skills and neuromuscular components of postural stability and coordination. Sixty-four children aged 8-10 years, 32 with DCD and 32 without DCD, participated in the study. The study investigated timing of muscle activity and resultant arm movement during a rapid, voluntary, goal-directed arm movement. Results showed that compared to children without DCD, children with DCD took significantly longer to respond to visual signals and longer to complete the goal-directed movement. Children with DCD also demonstrated altered activity in postural muscles. In particular, shoulder muscles, except for serratus anterior, and posterior trunk muscles demonstrated early activation. Further, anterior trunk muscles demonstrated delayed activation. In children with DCD, anticipatory function was not present in three of the four anterior trunk muscles. These differences support the hypothesis that in children with DCD, altered postural muscle activity may contribute to poor proximal stability and consequently poor arm movement control when performing goal-directed movement. These results have educational and functional implications for children at school and during activities of daily living and leisure activities and for clinicians assessing and treating children with DCD.     

中国医科大学附属盛京医院312项科研课题中标情况统计分析

对我院2001年~2005年中标的312项科研课题级别与数量,获经费资助情况,中标科研课题的学科(专业)分布,课题负责人的年龄结构进行系统地统计分析,表明我院承担科研课题的能力在逐年提高,取得了很好的科研成绩。中青年科研人员已成为我院科研发展的主力军,促进了学科的发展。     

School social climate and teachers’ perceptions of classroom behavior problems: a 10 year longitudinal and multilevel study

Using longitudinal and cross-sectional data, the present research sought to identify school social climate predictors of teachers’ perceptions of classroom behavior problems. The social climate and classroom behavior in 107 public and private French speaking Canadian high schools was evaluated by 1399 teachers. The present analysis is unique in its ability to control for school differences in the enrollment of students with a history of problem behavior. As hypothesized, between-school variation in the proportion of students with histories of disruptive problems predicted high school classroom behavior problems. Moreover, when controlling for these between-school differences, concurrently measured school-level variables (type of school, location of school, and academic emphasis) are found to be significant predictors of classroom behavior problems. The theoretical and practical implications of the present findings are examined and recommendations are made for future research.     

Standing balance of children with developmental coordination disorder under altered sensory conditions

Maintenance of standing balance requires that sensory inputs be organized with the motor system. Current data regarding the influence of sensory inputs on standing balance in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are limited. This study compared the influence of sensory organization and each sensory input on the standing stability between a group of 20 children, 4-6 years old, with DCD and an age- and gender-matched control group of 20 children. Three types of visual inputs (eyes open, eyes closed, or unreliable vision) and two types of somatosensory inputs (fixed or compliant foot support) were varied factorially to yield six sensory conditions. Standing stability was measured with a Kistler force plate for 30s and expressed as the center of pressure sway area. The results showed that the standing stability of the children with DCD was significantly poorer than that of the control children under all sensory conditions, especially when the somatosensory input was unreliable (compliant foot support) compared to when it was reliable (fixed foot support). The effectiveness of an individual sensory system, when it was the dominant source of sensory input, did not significantly differ between the groups. The results suggest that children with DCD experience more difficulty coping with altered sensory inputs, and that such difficulty is more likely due to a deficit in sensory organization rather than compromised effectiveness of individual sensory systems.     

Infant–mother attachment security and children's anxiety and aggression at first grade

With a large and diverse sample of children from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the role of infant–mother attachment security as a protective factor against the development of children's anxious and aggressive behaviors at first grade was examined. When child's sex, family income, maternal sensitivity, and prior levels of anxiety and aggression were controlled for, attachment security at 15 months of age was found to moderate the effects of negative life events families experienced, thereby protecting children from experiencing symptoms of anxiety, but not aggression, at 4.5 years of age. Children classified as insecurely attached at 15 months of age who experienced many stressful life events exhibited more anxiety symptoms in first grade than children classified as securely attached who similarly experienced many negative life events. These findings are interpreted within attachment theory, which predicts that early attachment security has a unique role in children's anxiety experiences later in childhood.