Bidirectional relations between parents' discipline strategies and children's inhibitory control from early to middle childhood.

Parents' use of harsh discipline and inductive discipline are theorized to change normatively across the transition from early to middle childhood (ages 5-7 years), with harsh discipline decreasing and inductive discipline increasing. Importantly, within-person support for these changes is lacking. Additionally, these changes are argued to be driven by improvements in children's cognitive and social abilities, including inhibitory control.

Differential associations of maternal behavior to preschool boys' and girls' executive function.

Boys are more sensitive to environmental factors like parental behavior, an important predictor of executive function. This study examined whether the interaction between child sex and maternal behavior was associated with children's executive function in a manner consistent with the vulnerability or differential susceptibility model. Participants were 146 36-month-old children and their mothers.

Long-term Memory Testing in Children With Typical Development and Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Remote Web-based Image Task Feasibility Study.

Background: Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) cause individuals to have difficulty in learning facts, procedures, or social skills. NDD has been linked to several genes, and several animal models have been used to identify potential therapeutic candidates based on specific learning paradigms for long-term and associative memory. In individuals with NDD, however, such testing has not been used so far, resulting in a gap in translating preclinical results to clinical practice.

Patterns of preschool children's screen time, parent-child interactions, and cognitive development in early childhood: a pilot study.

Background: The primary objective of this study was to explore the feasibility of a virtual study protocol for a future longitudinal study, including recruitment, study measures, and procedures. The secondary objective was to examine preliminary hypotheses of associations, including 1) the correlations between total duration and patterns of screen time and cognitive development, and 2) the differences in quality of parent-child interactions for two screen-based tasks and a storybook reading task.

Methods: Participants included 44 children aged 3 years and their parents from Edmonton, Alberta and surrounding areas.

Differential Relations of Parental Behavior to Children's Early Executive Function as a Function of Child Genotype: A Systematic Review.

Child genotype is an important biologically based indicator of sensitivity to the effects of parental behavior on children's executive function (EF) in early childhood, birth to age 5. While evidence for gene × parental behavior interactions on children's early EF is growing, researchers have called the quality of evidence provided by gene × environment interaction studies into question. For this reason, this review comprehensively examined the literature and evaluated the evidence for gene × parental behavior interactions on children's early EF abilities.

Exploring the interplay of dopaminergic genotype and parental behavior in relation to executive function in early childhood.

Child genotype is an important biologically based individual difference conferring differential sensitivity to the effect of parental behavior. This study explored dopaminergic polygenic composite parental behavior interactions in relation to young children's executive function. Participants were 135 36-month-old children and their mothers drawn from a prospective cohort followed longitudinally from pregnancy.

Using a robotic teleoperation system for haptic exploration.

Introduction: When children with physical impairments cannot perform hand movements for haptic exploration, they miss opportunities to learn about object properties. Robotics systems with haptic feedback may better enable object exploration.

Methods: Twenty-four adults and ten children without physical impairments, and one adult with physical impairments, explored tools to mix substances or transport different sized objects.

Integrating Three Characteristics of Executive Function in Non-Demented Aging: Trajectories, Classification, and Biomarker Predictors.

Objective: With longitudinal executive function (EF) data from the Victoria Longitudinal Study, we investigated three research goals pertaining to key characteristics of EF in non-demented aging: (a) examining variability in EF longitudinal trajectories, (b) establishing trajectory classes, and (c) identifying biomarker predictors discriminating these classes.

Method: We used a trajectory analyses sample (n = 781; M age = 71.42) for the first and second goals and a prediction analyses sample (n = 570; M age = 70.

Effect of feedback and target size on eye gaze accuracy in an off-screen task.

Purpose: Eye gaze interfaces have been used by people with severe physical impairment to interact with various assistive technologies. If used to control robots, it would be beneficial if individuals could gaze directly at targets in the physical environment rather than have to switch their gaze between a screen with representations of robot commands and the physical environment to see the response of their selection. By using a homogeneous transformation technique, eye gaze coordinates can be mapped between the reference coordinate frame of eye tracker and the coordinate frame of objects in the physical environment.

Body mass index predicts cognitive aging trajectories selectively for females: Evidence from the Victoria Longitudinal Study.

Objective: Elevated body weight in midlife is an established risk factor for accelerated cognitive decline, impairment, and dementia. Research examining the impact of later-life body mass index (BMI) on normal cognitive aging has produced mixed results. There is a need for longitudinal designs, replication across multiple cognitive domains, and consideration of BMI effects in the context of important moderators.

Socioeconomic status and executive function in early childhood: Exploring proximal mechanisms.

Although there is substantial evidence that socioeconomic status (SES) predicts children's executive function (EF), the mechanisms underlying this association are poorly understood. This study tested the utility of two theories proposed to link SES to children's EF: the family stress model and the family investment model. Data came from the Midwestern Infant Development Study (N = 151).

Valence matters: An electrophysiological study on how emotions influence cognitive performance in children.

Emotional stimuli have been found to influence cognitive performance in children, but it is not clear whether this effect varies with the cognitive demands of the task. In this study, we examined how emotional expressions influenced cognitive performance and event-related potentials (ERPs) in early and middle childhood under varying cognitive control demands. Two groups of children (4.

Does early maternal responsiveness buffer prenatal tobacco exposure effects on young children's behavioral disinhibition?

Children with prenatal tobacco exposure (PTE) exhibit early self-regulatory impairments, reflecting a life-course persistent propensity toward behavioral disinhibition. Previously, we demonstrated the protective role of parental responsiveness for reducing the risk of exposure-related disruptive behavior in adolescence. Here, we expanded this line of inquiry, examining whether responsiveness moderates the relation of PTE to a broader set of behavioral disinhibition features in early childhood and testing alternative diathesis-stress versus differential susceptibility explanatory models.

Language Dominance and Cognitive Flexibility in French-English Bilingual Children.

Some studies have reported a cognitive advantage for bilingual children over monolinguals and other studies have not. One possible reason for these conflicting results is that the degree of cognitive flexibility is related to individual differences in language dominance and use. More balanced bilinguals who separate their languages by context might have to learn to reduce inter-language interference and therefore show greater cognitive flexibility.

Neural Correlates of Response Inhibition in Early Childhood: Evidence From a Go/No-Go Task.

We examined the neural correlates underlying response inhibition in early childhood. Five-year-old children completed a Go/No-go task with or without time pressure (Fast vs. Slow condition) while scalp EEG was recorded.

Proactive control in early and middle childhood: An ERP study.

Children experience important cognitive control improvements in the transition to school. This study examined 4-5-year-olds' (n=17) and 7-8-year-olds' (n=22) ability to proactively deploy cognitive control. Children performed a cued task-switching paradigm presenting them with a cue indicating which attribute, color or shape, they should use to sort the upcoming stimulus.

Genetic factors moderate everyday physical activity effects on executive functions in aging: Evidence from the Victoria Longitudinal Study.

Objective: Everyday physical activity (EPA) is an important modifiable contributor to age-related variability in executive functioning (EF). However, its role may be moderated by nonmodifiable genetic factors. We tested independent and interactive effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF rs6265) and insulin degrading enzyme (IDE rs6583817) on EF and EPA-EF relationships.

Alzheimer's Genetic Risk Intensifies Neurocognitive Slowing Associated with Diabetes in Non-Demented Older Adults.

Introduction: We examine interactive and intensification effects of type 2 diabetes (T2D) with and an Alzheimer's disease Genetic Risk Score (GRS) on neurocognitive speed performance and change in non-demented older adults.

Methods: In an accelerated longitudinal design, we used latent growth modeling to test moderators of level and change in a neurocognitive speed latent variable for 628 adults (baseline age=69.0) followed over 9 years.

Apolipoprotein E and Clusterin can magnify effects of personality vulnerability on declarative memory performance in non-demented older adults.

Objectives: Recent research has linked psychological (personality) factors and specific genetic risk polymorphisms to performance on neurocognitive phenotypes. We examined whether episodic or semantic memory performance is associated with (a) three personality traits (i.e.

Systematic review of sedentary behavior and cognitive development in early childhood.

Objective: To comprehensively review observational and experimental studies examining the relationship between sedentary behavior and cognitive development during early childhood (birth to 5years).

Method: Electronic databases were searched in July, 2014 and no limits were imposed on the search. Included studies had to be peer-reviewed, published, and meet the a priori determined population (apparently healthy children aged birth to 5years), intervention (duration, types, and patterns of sedentary behavior), comparator (various durations, types, or patterns of sedentary behavior), and outcome (cognitive development) study criteria.

Systematic review of physical activity and cognitive development in early childhood.

Objectives: To comprehensively review all observational and experimental studies examining the relationship between physical activity and cognitive development during early childhood (birth to 5 years).

Design: Systematic review.

Methods: Electronic databases were searched in July, 2014.

Prenatal tobacco exposure and self-regulation in early childhood: Implications for developmental psychopathology.

Prenatal tobacco exposure (PTE) has a well-documented association with disruptive behavior in childhood, but the neurocognitive effects of exposure that underlie this link are not sufficiently understood. The present study was designed to address this gap, through longitudinal follow-up in early childhood of a prospectively enrolled cohort with well-characterized prenatal exposure. Three-year-old children (n = 151) were assessed using a developmentally sensitive battery capturing both cognitive and motivational aspects of self-regulation.

The temporal dynamic of response inhibition in early childhood: an ERP study of partial and successful inhibition.

Event-related potentials were recorded while five-year-old children completed a Go/No-Go task that distinguished between partial inhibition (i.e., response is initiated but cancelled before completion) and successful inhibition (i.

ApoE and pulse pressure interactively influence level and change in the aging of episodic memory: Protective effects among ε2 carriers.

Objective: We tested independent and interactive effects of Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) and pulse pressure (PP) concurrently and longitudinally across 9 years (3 waves) of episodic (EM) and semantic memory (SM) data from the Victoria Longitudinal Study.

Method: We assembled a sample of older adults (n = 570, baseline M age = 71, age range = 53-95) and used latent growth modeling to test 4 research goals.

Results: First, the best fitting memory model was 2 single latent variables for EM and SM, each exhibiting configural, metric, and partial scalar invariance.