Anterior cingulate cortex activation is related to learning potential on the WCST in schizophrenia patients

The remediation of executive function in patients with schizophrenia is important in rehabilitation because these skills affect the patient's capacity to function in the community. There is evidence that instructional techniques can improve deficits in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in some schizophrenia patients. We used a standard test/training phase/standard test format of the WCST to classify 36 schizophrenia patients as high-achievers, learners or non-retainers. All healthy controls performed as high-achievers. An event-related fMRI design assessed neural activation patterns during post-training WCST performance. Patients showed a linear trend between set-shifting related activation in the anterior cingulate cortex and learning potential, i.e. increased activation in high-achievers, a trend for increased activation in learners, and no activation in non-retainers compared to controls. In addition, activation in the temporoparietal cortex was highest in patients classified as learners, whereas in non-retainers activation was increased in the inferior frontal gyrus compared to controls and high-achieving patients. These results emphasize the relevance of the ACC's neural integrity in learning set-shifting strategies for patients with schizophrenia. Also, our results support the hypothesis that compensatory neural activation in patients with schizophrenia helps them to catch up with healthy controls on cognitive tasks.     

Evidence for mental ability related individual differences in the attentional blink obtained by an analysis of the P300 component

Attentional blink (AB) refers to impaired identification of a target (T2) when this target follows a preceding target (T1) after about 150-450 ms within a stream of rapidly presented stimuli. Previous research on a possible relation between AB and mental ability (MA) turned out to be highly ambiguous. The present study investigated MA-related individual differences in consolidation of T2 in working memory during the AB as indicated by the P300 component of the event-related potential. Thirty high (HA) and 30 low MA (LA) female participants performed an AB task while their brain activity was recorded. The AB did not differ between the two groups. HA individuals exhibited a larger P300 amplitude and longer P300 latencies during the AB suggesting higher mental effort. This higher mental effort, however, did not result in better performance presumably because of more competition between target and distractor stimuli in HA than LA individuals.     

Emerging effortful control in toddlerhood: the role of infant orienting/regulation, maternal effortful control, and maternal time spent in caregiving activities

Latent growth modeling (LGM) was used to examine the contribution of changes in infant orienting/regulation (O/R) to the emergence of toddler effortful control (EC), the contributions of maternal EC to the development of infant O/R and the emergence of toddler EC, the influence of maternal time spent in caregiving activities on toddler EC and the slope of infant O/R, and the contribution of maternal EC to subsequent maternal time spent in caregiving activities. Mothers from 158 families completed a self-report measure of EC when their infants were 4 months of age, a measure of infant O/R when their infants were 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 months of age, and a measure of toddler EC when their children reached 18 months of age. Information concerning maternal time spent in various interactive caregiving activities was collected when infants were 6 months old. Results indicated higher maternal EC predicted interindividual differences in the intercept (i.e., higher intercepts), but not slope, of infant O/R and that higher maternal EC, higher infant O/R intercept, and higher infant O/R slope contributed to higher toddler EC. Furthermore, higher maternal EC predicted greater maternal time spent in interactive caregiving activities with their infants and greater maternal time in interactive caregiving with infants also contributed to higher toddler EC after controlling for maternal EC. These findings contribute to the understanding of the influence of maternal EC, directly and through caregiving, on toddler EC. Additional implications as they are related to early developing regulatory aspects of temperament are discussed.     

Age-related differences in working memory: ERPs reveal age-related delays in selection- and inhibition-related processes

Faulty inhibition is implicated in age-related working memory decline. ERP signs of selection and inhibition of items in working memory (WM) are, respectively, a cue-locked parietal positivity (～350 ms) and a probe-locked frontal negativity (～520 ms). To determine when in the older age range differences in selective and inhibitory processes might occur, ERPs were recorded in a WM task from 20 young (20–28), 20 young–old (60–70), and 20 old–old (71–82) adults. A 4-digit display was followed by a cue indicating which 2 of 4 digits were relevant. Proactive interference (PI), the reaction time difference between a matching and non-matching to-be-ignored digit was larger, relative to the young, in both older groups. Compared to the young, both the cue- and probe-locked activities were prolonged in the older groups. Although there were no topographic differences among the age groups, the prolonged PI and associated ERPs suggest a relative age-related deficit in inhibition.     

Pastoral power in nurturing the spiritual life of the child

In this article, I will investigate the link between – what the French philosopher Michel Foucault calls – ‘pastoral power’ and the concept of ‘nurturing children’s spirituality.’ In the first step, I will explain the concept of pastoral power. In a second step, I will look to some literature about nurturing the spirituality of the child and the tips and tricks they give to nurturing the spirituality of the child. I will develop how power is present and how it can be abused easily. By nurturing the spirituality of their child, parents can control the life of the child. I will argue that it is important that everyone who works with children is aware of the hidden forms of power in nurturing the spirituality of the child in order to not misuse their power.     

教养方式的母子感知差异与儿童抑郁的关系：母子依恋的中介作用

本研究以300个三至六年级双亲家庭中的儿童和母亲为研究对象,采用儿童版和家长版教养方式问卷、父母与同伴依恋问卷、流调中心抑郁量表,通过响应面分析法探讨了母子感知到的教养方式差异与儿童抑郁的关系,并使用标准分差法计算感知差异,通过结构方程模型分析了母子依恋是否在其中起到中介作用。研究发现:(1)母亲感知到的权威型、独裁型教养方式显著高于儿童感知,而纵容型教养方式则显著低于儿童;(2)权威型教养方式的母子感知差异正向线性预测儿童抑郁,独裁型教养方式的母子感知差异负向线性预测儿童抑郁,纵容型教养方式的感知差异对儿童抑郁没有显著预测作用;(3)母子依恋质量在权威型教养方式的母子感知差异和儿童抑郁之间起完全中介作用,但在独裁型教养方式的母子感知差异对儿童抑郁的预测中没有起到中介作用。     

Digital Mental Health Interventions for Child and Adolescent Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health conditions in children, with approximately 13% of kids struggling with excessive anxiety. The vast majority do not have access to effective treatments and there continues to be a disjunction between treatments that are empirically supported and those that are available in the community. Digital mental health interventions (DMHI) can increase efficiency, reach, and standardization as well as reduce costs of providing of mental health care. Here we review the extant research on DMHI, including web- or cloud-based programs, mobile applications (apps), virtual reality (VR), and digital assessment methods such as ecological momentary assessment (EMA) for the delivery and/or support of evidence-based care in child anxiety. Preliminary research is promising for these tools to improve access and efficiency of evidence-based practice. However, ethics and practice guidelines are needed and questions remain regarding what level and quality of therapeutic involvement is needed to maximize treatment completion and outcomes in youth and whether DMHIs are contraindicated for certain populations or whether they are similarly effective with those with comorbid conditions is unclear.     

来自屏幕的纽带：视频聊天与儿童发展

随着近几年视频聊天的兴起, 越来越多的研究者开始探索视频聊天对儿童发展的影响。相较于传统通讯技术, 视频聊天具备了视听结合与即时互动的特征; 但同时, 作为数字媒体, 视频聊天仍然保持了传统屏幕媒体二维性的特征。汇总以往视频聊天与儿童学习的实证研究发现, 与录制视频教学比较, 视频聊天在婴幼儿词汇学习(d = 0.33)和动作学习(d = 0.90)上的教学效果更佳; 同时, 视频聊天也能够使婴幼儿在教学过程中保持较高的注意水平(d = 0.90)。视频聊天对儿童远距离亲子关系和同伴关系上均有一定的促进作用。视频聊天也可以作为一种辅助治疗手段应用于特殊儿童的干预中。未来研究仍需关注扩大视频聊天学习中儿童被试的年龄范围、共同观看者的不同支持行为对儿童视频聊天学习的效果产生的影响。     

Prosecutors' Perspectives on Clarifying Terms for Genitalia in Child Sexual Abuse Interviews

In investigative interviews with alleged victims of child sexual abuse, professionals must establish the nature of the alleged abuse by determining what body parts were involved in the offending. This can be difficult, however, because children often use colloquial (non‐anatomical) terms to describe genitalia, and there has been little direction for interviewers about clarifying these terms sufficiently to establish the charge. The aim of this study was to address the need for guidance from prosecutors about the level of clarity in terms required from a legal perspective, and how this clarity can be achieved. A focus group of nine prosecutors (representing all but one Australian State and Territory) were asked to consider what degree of clarity in terminology for genitalia was adequate and how such clarity could be achieved. Thematic analysis revealed that a reduction in specific questioning around genitalia would improve the usefulness of investigative interviews with children from a legal perspective. Recommendations for improving interviews about abuse with child witnesses are discussed.