The Effect of Emotion on Visual Attention to Information and Decision Making in the Context of Informed Consent Process for Clinical Trials

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of emotion on visual information processing and decision making in the context of informed consent. Researchers are ethically obligated to ensure informed consent in clinical trials; however, many volunteers have unrealistic expectations about the value of an experimental therapy. Moreover, suboptimal participation rates for clinical trials may be partially attributable to perceptions that ethical obligations to volunteers are not met. This study examines whether discrete negative emotions (fear, anger, and sadness) differentially influence information processing, visual attention, and decisions in the context of clinical trial informed consent. Community participants completed a standard emotion induction (or control) and then read an actual consent form from a clinical trial while eye movements were tracked. Fear and anger produced the most prominently different patterns of systematic processing and visual attention, such that fear induced longer fixations to information presented, whereas anger induced shorter fixations. Moreover, among women only, fear increased decisions to participate, compared with anger and neutral emotion. Examinations of associations between eye‐tracking variables and self‐reported outcomes indicated that for angry participants only, less systematic processing was associated with greater decisions to participate. Negative emotions of any kind decreased accurate perceptions of trial benefit. These patterns suggest a complex interplay among emotion, processing style, and decision making. Future research is necessary to further probe these effects among potential clinical trial volunteers. Published 2016. This article is a U.S Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

Exploring the dynamics of design fluency in children with and without ADHD using artificial neural networks

The neuropsychology of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been extensively studied, with a general focus on global performance measures of executive function. In this study, we compared how global (i.e., endpoint) versus process (i.e., dynamic) measures of performance may help characterize children with and without ADHD using a design fluency task as a case study. The secondary goal was to compare the sensitivity of standard versus connectionist statistical models to group differences in cognitive data. Thirty-four children diagnosed with ADHD and 37 children without ADHD aged 8–11 years old were tested on the Five-Point Test. The continuous process measure of performance, indexed as the number of produced designs at each consecutive 1 minute interval during 5 minutes, was analyzed against the discrete process measure, that is, the number of designs between first and last intervals and the standard global performance measure of total number of produced designs. Results show that the continuous process measure distinguished the two groups better than the two other measures. The detailed observation of production patterns revealed a decreasing linear trajectory in children without ADHD that contrasts with the flat, but fluctuating productivity pattern of children with ADHD. With regards to the second goal, results show that the connectionist and standard methods are equally sensitive to group differences for the three types of measures. This illustrates the utility of quantitative process measures together with the connectionist method in neuropsychological research and suggests great potential for a dynamical approach to cognition.     

Executive function and psychosocial adjustment in healthy children and adolescents: A latent variable modelling investigation

The objective of this study was to establish latent executive function (EF) and psychosocial adjustment factor structure, to examine associations between EF and psychosocial adjustment, and to explore potential development differences in EF-psychosocial adjustment associations in healthy children and adolescents. Using data from the multisite National Institutes of Health (NIH) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Study of Normal Brain Development, the current investigation examined latent associations between theoretically and empirically derived EF factors and emotional and behavioral adjustment measures in a large, nationally representative sample of children and adolescents (7–18 years old; N = 352). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was the primary method of data analysis. CFA results revealed that, in the whole sample, the proposed five-factor model (Working Memory, Shifting, Verbal Fluency, Externalizing, and Internalizing) provided a close fit to the data, χ²(66) = 114.48, p < .001; RMSEA = .046; NNFI = .973; CFI = .980. Significant negative associations were demonstrated between Externalizing and both Working Memory and Verbal Fluency (p < .01) factors. A series of increasingly restrictive tests led to the rejection of the hypothesis of invariance, thereby precluding formal statistical examination of age-related differences in latent EF-psychosocial adjustment associations. Findings indicate that childhood EF skills are best conceptualized as a constellation of interconnected yet distinguishable cognitive self-regulatory skills. Individual differences in certain domains of EF track meaningfully and in expected directions with emotional and behavioral adjustment indices. Externalizing behaviors, in particular, are associated with latent Working Memory and Verbal Fluency factors.     

5～6岁不同数学能力水平儿童的执行功能差异研究

为了考察不同数学能力水平儿童的执行功能差异,根据331名学前儿童的数学能力得分选取了潜在数学学习困难儿童组、低分组、典型发展儿童组和数学优秀组等4个实验组。首先分析了各组儿童的执行功能差异特点,之后使用判别分析进一步探索了各执行功能子结构对儿童早期数学能力差异分组的贡献。结果表明:相对于典型发展儿童组,潜在数学学习困难儿童在执行功能的更新、抑制和转换方面普遍缺损;低分组儿童则仅表现出数字更新能力不足;数学优秀组在数字更新和有时间要求的认知转换方面比典型发展组有明显优势。进一步判别分析表明,对早期数学能力差异分组贡献最大的并非独立执行功能子结构,而是更新和转换的共同因素结构。     

Mindfulness meditation practice and executive functioning: Breaking down the benefit

This paper focuses on evidence for mindfulness meditation-related benefits to executive functioning, processes important for much of human volitional behaviour. Miyake et al. (2000) have shown that executive functions can be fractionated into three distinct domains including inhibition, working memory updating, and mental set shifting. Considering these separable domains, it is important to determine whether the effects of mindfulness can generalize to all three sub-functions or are specific to certain domains. To address this, the current review applied Miyake et al.’s (2000) fractionated model of executive functioning to the mindfulness literature. Empirical studies assessing the benefits of mindfulness to measures tapping the inhibition, updating, and shifting components of executive functioning were examined. Results suggest a relatively specific as opposed to general benefit resulting from mindfulness, with consistent inhibitory improvement, but more variable advantages to the updating and shifting domains. Recommendations surrounding application of mindfulness practice and future research are discussed.     

Global cognitive function before,surrounding, and after ischemic stroke: the role of risk and protective factors varies with time among ischemic stroke survivors

An estimated 65% of individuals demonstrate multidomain cognitive impairment poststroke, although little is known about the varying role of cognitive risk and protective factors in preischemic, peri-ischemic, and postischemic stroke phases. Longitudinal changes in global cognitive function after ischemic stroke are not well characterized, especially in older adults over age 80. We examined global cognitive function trajectories in these three phases across a mean follow-up of 8.12 (2.30) years in 159 female stroke survivors aged 65–79 at baseline using linear mixed models with change points. In separate models controlling for demographic variables, we tested the interaction of baseline risk and protective factors with stroke phase on global cognitive function. None of the prestroke global cognitive function means or trajectories differed significantly. At the time of ischemic stroke, higher body mass index (BMI), the presence of hypertension (HTN), low optimism, and higher physical function were all associated with significantly greater mean decreases in global cognition (all p’s <.0.0001), but were not significantly different from the contrasting level (all p’s >0.05). Higher BMI, the presence of HTN, low optimism, and higher physical function were in turn protective of global cognitive decline postischemic stroke (all contrasting p values <.01). Baseline factors may play either a risk or a protective role in global cognitive function depending on the phase of ischemic stroke.     

Item Calibration Samples and the Stability of Achievement Estimates and System Rankings: Another Look at the PISA Model

Using an empirically-based simulation study, we show that typically used methods of choosing an item calibration sample have significant impacts on achievement bias and system rankings. We examine whether recent PISA accommodations, especially for lower performing participants, can mitigate some of this bias. Our findings indicate that standard operational methods, while not ideal, recover underlying proficiency reasonably well and generally outperform methods that more completely include all participants. Translating results onto the PISA scale, the calibration sample can induce bias of up to 12.49 points, which is important given that standard errors are around three points. Although ranking correlations are at least.95, we note the policy implications of slight ranking changes. Our findings indicate that limited accommodations targeted at low achieving educational systems do not outperform either of the other methods considered. Research that further explores accommodations for heterogeneous populations is recommended.