University students are typically highly sedentary, which is associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes. Attempts to understand university students' sedentary behaviour have typically focused on on-campus teaching and learning activities. While such research has documented that students perceive studying as one of the main barriers to reducing sedentary behaviour, there is little understanding of how and why studying incurs sitting, especially during home-based studying.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLittle is known about how adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience exercise, resulting in a lack of recommendations for supporting this population. We aimed to explore how adults with ADHD experience exercise as a management tool before and after diagnosis and how and why individuals experience issues related to exercise dependence. Fifteen active adults with a diagnosis of ADHD participated in semistructured interviews.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt is widely accepted that cognitive load plays a crucial role in online learning. However, despite neurodevelopmental conditions being the largest category of qualifying disabilities in education, and the rise of online learning, there is little understanding of the factors impacting cognitive load in online learning for neurodivergent students and how these factors differ from those affecting neurotypical students. This study used qualitative comparison groups with neurotypical and neurodivergent students to examine their experiences of cognitive load in online learning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this paper, we developed an experimental checklist for laboratory experiments including neurodiverse participants, particularly those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and dyslexia. The checklist suggests additions to the basic requirements for ethical laboratory-based studies with human participants. The suggestions emphasize physical comfort, the agency of participants concerning environmental adjustments, clarity of communication, and a focus on participants' overall well-being.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAttention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common condition, but current medications have limitations, pushing a drive for alternative approaches. Different exercise-focused approaches have shown promise, but concern has also been raised about individuals with ADHD showing greater risk of addiction, including exercise dependency. Using an online survey, we examined current exercise practices, including exercise dependency and the presence of overuse injury, which could result from overexercising, in 114 adults with ADHD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In Pavlovian conditioning, learned behaviour varies according to the perceived value of environmental cues. For goal-trackers (GT), the cue merely predicts a reward, whilst for sign-trackers (ST), the cue holds incentive value. The sign-tracking/goal-tracking model is well-validated in animals, but translational work is lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWorking memory is integral to a range of critical cognitive functions such as reasoning and decision-making. Although alterations in working memory have been observed in neurodivergent populations, there has been no review mapping how cognitive load is measured in common neurodevelopmental conditions such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and dyslexia. This scoping review explores the neurophysiological measures used to study cognitive load in these specific populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Despite the impact and prevalence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), current treatment options remain limited and there is a drive for alternative approaches, including those building on evidence of a role for tryptophan (TRP) and serotonin (5-HT). This study aimed to evaluate the effect of acute TRP loading on attention and impulsivity in adults with ADHD.
Trial Design And Methods: We conducted a remote double blind randomised controlled trial (RCT) using TRP loading to examine the effects of a balanced amino acid load in comparison to low and high TRP loading in individuals with ADHD (medicated, N = 48, and unmedicated, N = 46) and controls (N = 50).
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) results in significant functional impairment. Current treatments, particularly for adults, are limited. Previous research indicates that exercise may offer an alternative approach to managing ADHD, but research into different types of exercise and adult populations is limited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Educ Technol High Educ
April 2022
Unlabelled: Lecture capture is popular within Higher Education, but previous research suggests that students do not always optimally select content to review, nor do they make the most of specific functions. In the current study conducted in the 2019/20 academic year, we used a repeated-measures crossover design to establish the effects of transcripts with closed captioning, and email reminders, on use (self-reported and system analytics), perceptions of lecture capture and student performance, as measured by multiple-choice question (MCQ) tests designed to assess the module learning outcomes. System analytics (N = 129) and survey data (N = 42) were collected from students alongside qualitative data from semi-structured interviews (N = 8).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn 2020, King's College London introduced HyFlex teaching as a means to supplement online and face-to-face teaching and to respond to Covid-19 restrictions. This enabled teaching to a mixed cohort of students (both online and on campus). This article provides an outline of how such an approach was conceptualized and implemented in a higher-education institution during an intense three-month period over that summer and prior to the limited re-opening of the university campus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe serotonergic system is implicated in ADHD, but the impact of serotonin's precursor molecule, tryptophan, on ADHD symptomology remains unclear. Systematic searches of randomised controlled trials with an experimental tryptophan intervention in children and adults with ADHD identified 14 studies measuring core and related symptoms of the condition. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe emerging discipline of educational neuroscience stands at a crossroads between those who see great promise in integrating neuroscience and education and those who see the disciplinary divide as insurmountable. However, such tension is at least partly due to the hitherto predominance of philosophy and theory over the establishment of concrete mechanisms and agents of change. If educational neuroscience is to move forward and emerge as a distinct discipline in its own right, the traditional boundaries and methods must be bridged, and an infrastructure must be in place that allows for collaborative and productive exchange.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cognitive enhancers (CE) are prescription drugs taken, either without a prescription or at a dose exceeding that which is prescribed, to improve cognitive functions such as concentration, vigilance or memory. Previous research suggests that users believe the drugs to be safer than non-users and that they have sufficient knowledge to judge safety. However, to date no research has compared the information sources used and safety knowledge of users and non-users.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of cognitive enhancers is gaining attention. Studies indicate that the theory of planned behavior (TPB) can model their use, with attitudes a key variable. However, the factors affecting attitude have been largely neglected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPreeclampsia (PE) is a dangerous complication of pregnancy, especially when it presents at <34 wk of gestation (PE < 34 wk). It is a major cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality and also increases the risk of cardiometabolic diseases in later life for both mother and offspring. Placental oxidative stress induced by defective placentation sits at the epicenter of the pathophysiology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrends Neurosci Educ
March 2019
Background: Smart drug use is increasing but we have little insight into their use. We hypothesized that use is predicted by attitudes and various factors including incremental morality and entity intelligence beliefs would be associated with positive attitudes, whilst perception of unfairness would be associated with negative attitudes.
Methods: UK undergraduates completed an online survey to establish attitudes towards smart drugs, previous use and likely future use as well as measures of several factors hypothesized to predict attitudes.
J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci
March 2020
Objective: Response inhibition has been frequently studied in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with mixed results. The inconsistent findings may stem in part from failure to consider the heterogeneity of the disorder.
Methods: The authors examined behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) components (N2 and P3) during a simple response inhibition go/nogo task in a sample of patients with OCD (N=48) and control subjects (N=53).
Heightened distractibility is a core symptom of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Effective treatment is normally with chronic orally administered psychostimulants including amphetamine. Treatment prevents worsening of symptoms but the site of therapeutic processes, and their nature, is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The phenomenon of locomotor sensitization to injected amphetamine is well-characterised. The increased locomotor activity found acutely is enhanced with repeated intermittent treatment. This effect arises due to hypersensitization of the dopaminergic system and is linked to drug addiction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDistractibility can be defined as an attention deficit where orientation toward irrelevant targets cannot be inhibited. There is now mounting evidence that the superior colliculus is a key neural correlate of distractibility, with increased collicular-activity resulting in heightened distractibility. Heightened distractibility is reduced by amphetamine, which acutely suppresses collicular responsiveness.
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