Metacognitive scaffolding boosts cognitive and neural benefits following executive attention training in children

Interventions including social scaffolding and metacognitive strategies have been used in educational settings to promote cognition. In addition, increasing evidence shows that computerized process‐based training enhances cognitive skills. However, no prior studies have examined the effect of combining these two training strategies. The goal of this study was to test the combined effect of metacognitive scaffolding and computer‐based training of executive attention in a sample of typically developing preschoolers at the cognitive and brain levels. Compared to children in the regular training protocol and an untrained active control group, children in the metacognitive group showed larger gains on intelligence and significant increases on an electrophysiological index associated with conflict processing. Moreover, changes in the conflict‐related brain activity predicted gains in intelligence in the metacognitive scaffolding group. These results suggest that metacognitive scaffolding boosts the influence of process‐based training on cognitive efficiency and brain plasticity related to executive attention.     

Varieties of Three-Valued Heyting Algebras with a Quantifier

This paper is devoted to the study of some subvarieties of the variety Qof Q-Heyting algebras, that is, Heyting algebras with a quantifier. In particular, a deeper investigation is carried out in the variety Q ₃ of three-valued Q-Heyting algebras to show that the structure of the lattice of subvarieties of Qis far more complicated that the lattice of subvarieties of Heyting algebras. We determine the simple and subdirectly irreducible algebras in Q ₃ and we construct the lattice of subvarieties (Q ₃ ) of the variety Q ₃ .     

Personality,Parental, and Media Influences on Aggressive Personality and Violent Crime in Young Adults

Debate remains regarding the interaction between predictor variables for aggression, including family environment, media violence, and personality. The current study examined the contributions of gender and personality, exposure to physical abuse and violence in the family, and exposure to media violence in both television and in video games on violent criminal activity. Data from young adults (n = 355) indicated that personality characteristics and direct physical abuse significantly predicted violent crime. Exposure to television and video game violence were not significant predictors of violent crime. These results elucidate the complex interplay between multiple factors related to the etiology of violent crime. These results also call into question the belief that media violence is involved in the etiology of violent crime.     

Cardiovascular health in women: the role of anger and its expression

The relationships between anger expression (in, out, and control) and cardiovascular health (emotional distress, cardiovascular symptoms reported, and preventive health behaviors) were analyzed in 327 women (range 17-60 years). The same criteria (N= 218), as well as blood pressure (BP) registered in medical checkups (N= 90) were recorded one year later. Four groups according to anger-in and anger-control scores, going from the most hostile (high anger-in and low anger-control) to the least hostile (low anger-in and high anger-control) were considered. The results indicated that the most hostile group, with the least adaptive anger expression, presented worst cardiovascular health than the other three groups, at both temporal moments. Furthermore, the presence of women with pathological BP levels was higher in the groups of high anger-in. These data ratify the role of anger expression, especially its repression (anger-in) and the lack of adequate canalization or control in women's cardiovascular health from a prospective design. Appropriate management of anger feelings and the practice of preventive health behaviors can protect women from cardiovascular problems.     

Coping strategies,depressive symptoms and quality of life in hypertensive patients: Mediational and prospective relations

This study examined whether depressive symptoms mediated the association between coping strategies and quality of life (QoL) in a sample of hypertensive patients, and the prospective contribution of depressive symptoms and coping strategies in the prediction of their QoL. One hundred and fifty patients (50% males and 50% females) with a diagnosis of essential hypertension were recruited from a general hospital. Symptoms of depression, coping and QoL measures (global score and dimensions) were collected at baseline. Sixty-three participants completed the QoL questionnaire again one year later (T2). The results indicated that the relations between emotion coping and QoL (global score, satisfaction and social support) were totally mediated by depressive symptoms. The association between emotion coping and well-being was, however, partially mediated by depressive symptoms. Furthermore, only baseline instrumental coping strategies predicted higher levels of QoL (global score, well-being and social support) at T2. Neither emotion coping nor depressive symptoms were significantly associated with prospective QoL. These findings suggest that depressive symptoms may be a mechanism linking the manner in which patients cope with their hypertension and their QoL. They also emphasise the adaptive role played by instrumental coping responses in the management of hypertension in the long term.     

Relations between life satisfaction, adjustment to illness, and emotional distress in a sample of men with ischemic cardiopathy

Fifty-two men who had suffered a first episode ischemic heart disease reported their degree of life satisfaction, the strategies they used to adjust to the illness, and the symptoms of anxiety and depression they felt. The multiple regression analyses carried out indicated that emotional distress was associated with a lower level of life satisfaction. In the analyses of anxiety symptoms, the use of negative adjustment strategies was also a significant predictor. Lastly, a significant Life Satisfaction x Type of Adjustment interaction was obtained. According to this, the patients who felt more satisfaction with their lives used more positive strategies to adjust to the illness and fewer negative ones, than the group of patients who were less satisfied. In conclusion, life satisfaction predicts emotional wellbeing of patients with ischemic heart disease and it enhances the implementation of appropriate strategies to cope with the disease. Moreover, although life satisfaction has been considered a stable measure, we suggest it may change as the experience of illness limits individuals' important goals.     

Developing mechanisms of temperamental effortful control

Studies of temperament from early childhood to adulthood have demonstrated inverse relationships between negative affectivity and effortful control. Effortful control is also positively related to the development of conscience and appears as a protective factor in the development of behavior disorders. In this study, the development of attentional mechanisms underlying effortful control was investigated in 2- to 3-year-old children, as indexed by their performance in a) making anticipatory eye movements to ambiguous locations and b) resolving conflict between location and identity in a spatial conflict task. The ability to make anticipatory eye movements to ambiguous locations within a sequence was clearly present at 24 months. By 30 months, children could also successfully perform a spatial conflict task that introduced conflict between identity and location, and at that age, children's success on ambiguous anticipatory eye movements was related to lower interference from conflict in the spatial conflict task. Children's performance on the eye-movement task was correlated with performance and reaction time on spatial tasks, and both were related to aspects of effortful control and negative affect as measured in children's parent-reported temperament.     

Frontal theta activation associated with error detection in toddlers: influence of familial socioeconomic status

Error detection is one of the functions of the executive attention network, a brain system involved in executive control that includes the anterior cingulate cortex and other prefrontal regions. Despite the key role of this function in a wide range of life outcomes, very limited research has examined the early development of the network and whether its functional efficacy is related to environmental factors. Electrophysiological studies with adults have shown oscillatory activity in theta (4–7 Hz) range arising from medial frontal cortex that follows the detection of self‐committed or observed errors. In the current study, we designed a novel experimental procedure that involved a familiarization phase with simple three‐pieces puzzles followed by an experimental phase in which toddlers observed the puzzles being formed either correctly or incorrectly. Observation of incorrect configurations produced increased potentials in midline channels and greater power theta activity for both toddlers (n = 56) and adults (n = 14). In addition, socioeconomic status of the family in general, and parental education in particular, contributed to individual differences in the amplitude of the error‐related signal and associated theta power in toddlers, indicating that children raised in lower SES families show poorer activation of the executive attention network. These data demonstrate the influence of environmental factors at the earliest stages of development of the executive attention network. Importantly, the results show that error‐detection EEG signals can be used as neural markers of the initial development of executive attention, which can be of great help for the early detection of risk for developmental disorders involving deficits in this function.