Neurophysiological Correlates of Reading Difficulties in Elementary School Children.

The present study examined the event-related potentials (ERPs) and reading-language skills of elementary school children with and without reading difficulties. Typically developing children showed an N400 effect characterized by significantly larger N400 amplitudes elicited by nonwords than real words. Their meaning processing shown by the N400 systematically differed by lexicality.

Working Memory Precision and Associative Binding in Mild Cognitive Impairment.

To better understand working memory (WM) deficits in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), we examined information precision and associative binding in WM in 21 participants with MCI, compared to 16 healthy controls, using an item-location delayed reproduction task. WM, along with other executive functions (i.e.

Cell Phone Social Media Use and Psychological Well-Being in Young Adults: Implications for Internet-Related Disorders.

Internet-related disorders are on the rise and increasing cell phone social media use may be one of the reasons for these disorders. To better understand internet-related disorders, we aim to explore the psychological and social aspects of cell phone social media behaviors. We hypothesized that, according to humanistic theories of positive functioning, cell phone social media connectedness to self (engagement, interest, pleasure, sense of enjoyment, meaningfulness, purposefulness, optimism, acceptance, and feeling accomplished) would relate positively to psychological well-being of undergraduate students.

Cell phone use distracts young adults from academic work with limited benefit to self-regulatory behavior.

We aim to uncover theoretical mechanisms associated with potential negative (i.e., multitasking) and positive (i.

Electroencephalography complexity in resting and task states in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Analysing EEG complexity could provide insight into neural connectivity underlying attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms. EEG complexity was calculated through multiscale entropy and compared between adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and their peers during resting and go/nogo task states. Multiscale entropy change from the resting state to the task state was also examined as an index of the brain's ability to change from a resting to an active state.

Nighttime cell phone use and sleep quality in young adults.

Young adults are particularly vulnerable to sleep disturbances related to their cell phone use (CPU). The purpose of this study was to test Sleep Displacement and Psychological Arousal theories of CPU-led sleep disruption in relation in a sample of university students. CPU for unstructured leisure activities before sleep (CPU_BeforeBed), as well as CPU for accessing explicit or emotionally charged media content before sleep (CPU_Arousal), were both measured.

Childhood Resilient Personality Trajectories and Associations with Developmental Trajectories of Behavioral, Social-emotional, and Academic Outcomes across Childhood and Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study Across 12 Years.

This study examined the continuity and change of childhood resilient personality (first three years in grade school), and how differential trajectories in resilient personality were dynamically associated with behavioral problems, social-emotional functioning and academic performance across the primary and secondary school years (Grade 1-12). Participants were 784 academically at-risk students predominantly from low SES families (47% girls, 37.4% Latino or Hispanic, 34.

Feasibility of using a biofeedback device in mindfulness training - a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Background: Stress can negatively impact an individual's health and well-being and high levels of stress are noted to exist among college students today. While traditional treatment methods are plagued with stigma and transfer problems, newly developed wearable biofeedback devices may offer unexplored possibilities. Although these products are becoming commonplace and inexpensive, scientific evidence of the effectiveness of these products is scarce and their feasibility within research contexts are relatively unexplored.

Neural Correlates of Attentional Bias to Food Stimuli in Obese Adolescents.

Adolescent obesity is an increasingly prevalent problem in several societies. Researchers have begun to focus on neurocognitive processes that may help explain how unhealthy food habits form and are maintained. The present study compared attentional bias to food stimuli in a sample of obese (n = 22) and Normal-weight (n = 18) adolescents utilizing an Attention Blink (AB) paradigm while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded.

Toward standardizing the clinical testing protocols of point-of-care devices for obstructive sleep apnea diagnosis.

Purpose: In recent years, point-of-care (POC) devices, especially smart wearables, have been introduced to provide a cost-effective, comfortable, and accessible alternative to polysomnography (PSG)-the current gold standard-for the monitoring, screening, and diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Thorough validation and human subject testing are essential steps in the translation of these device technologies to the market. However, every device development group tests their device in their own way.

Trajectories of pure and co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems from early childhood to adolescence: Associations with early childhood individual and contextual antecedents.

As internalizing and externalizing problems often co-occur, the current study utilized a longitudinal dataset of 784 at-risk children (predominantly from low-income families and academically at-risk; 52.6% male) followed yearly from Grade 1 to Grade 12 to: (a) explore the heterogeneity in the codevelopment patterns of internalizing and externalizing problems by using a person-centered approach, and (b) investigate early childhood antecedents that might explain differentiated codevelopmental patterns. The antecedents consisted of individual (i.

Developmental dynamics between reading and math in elementary school.

Reading and math attainment develop during elementary grades. Questions remain, though, about the co-developmental nature of the relation between reading and math. This study examined dynamic, longitudinal pathways between reading and math in first through fourth grades.

Conducting Event-Related Potential (ERP) Research with Young Children: A Review of Components, Special Considerations and Recommendations for Research on Cognition and Emotion.

There has been an unprecedented increase in the number of research studies employing event-related potential (ERP) techniques to examine dynamic and rapidly-occurring neural processes with children during the preschool and early childhood years. Despite this, there has been little discussion of the methodological and procedural differences that exist for studies of young children versus older children and adults. That is, reviewers, editors, and consumers of this work often expect developmental studies to simply apply adult techniques and procedures to younger samples.

Visuospatial Working Memory Capacity in the Brain After Working Memory Training in College Students With ADHD: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

ADHD has been associated with persistent problems of working memory. This study investigated the efficacy of an intensive and adaptive computerized working memory treatment (CWMT) at behavioral and neural levels. College students ( = 89; 40 females) with ADHD were randomized into a standard-length CWMT (45 min/session, 25 sessions, = 29), shortened-length CWMT (15 min/session, 25 sessions, = 32), and a waitlist group ( = 28).

Underlying Psychophysiology of Dysregulation: Resting Heart Rate and Heart Rate Reactivity in Relation to Childhood Dysregulation.

Objective: High co-occurrence of externalizing and internalizing problems could underlie inconsistent findings regarding the relation between heart rate (HR) and psychopathology. In this study, HR measures were examined in relation to a general dysregulation profile studied from variable- and person-centered approaches.

Method: The sample (N = 182) consisted of 8- to 12-year-old children referred for externalizing behaviors and typically developing children (mean age 9.

Neural processing of working memory in adults with ADHD in a visuospatial change detection task with distractors.

Individuals with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are often characterized by deficits in working memory (WM), which manifest in academic, professional, and mental health difficulties. To better understand the underlying mechanisms of these presumed WM deficits, we compared adults with ADHD to their peers on behavioral and neural indices of WM. We used a visuospatial change detection task with distractors which was designed to assess the brain's ability to effectively filter out distractors from WM, in addition to testing for effects of WM load.

Neural differences of inhibitory control between adolescents with obesity and their peers.

Background/objective: Inhibitory control, the ability to suppress prepotent responses and resist irrelevant stimuli, is thought to play a critical role in the manifestation and maintenance of obesity in adolescents. Adolescence is a unique developmental stage characterized by significant maturational changes in cortical structures (i.e.

Evaluation of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-Dysregulation Profile (SDQ-DP).

The Dysregulation Profile (DP) has emerged as a measure of concurrent affective, behavioral and cognitive dysregulation, associated with severe psychopathology, and poor adjustment. While originally developed with the Child Behavior Checklist, more recently the DP has also been defined on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), mostly with a 5-item, but also a 15-item, SDQ-DP measure. This study evaluated the SDQ-DP by examining its factor structure, measurement invariance, and construct validity.

Effects of working memory training on neural correlates of Go/Nogo response control in adults with ADHD: A randomized controlled trial.

Working memory and response control are conceptualized as functions that are part of a closely connected and integrated executive function system mediated by the prefrontal cortex and other related brain structures. In the present paper, we asked whether effects of intensive and adaptive computerized working memory training (CWMT) would generalize to enhancements in response control at behavioral and neural levels. A total of 135 postsecondary students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a condition associated with executive function impairments, were randomized into a Standard-length CWMT (45-min /session, 25 sessions), Shortened-length CWMT (15min/session, 25 sessions), and a waitlist group.

EEG alpha power during maintenance of information in working memory in adults with ADHD and its plasticity due to working memory training: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: The present study examined whether neural indices of working memory maintenance differ between young adults with ADHD and their healthy peers (Study 1), and whether this neural index would change after working memory training (Study 2).

Methods: Study 1 involved 136 college students with ADHD and 41 healthy peers (aged 18-35 years) and measured their posterior alpha activity during a visual delayed-match-to-sample task using electroencephalography (EEG). Study 2 involved 99 of the participants with ADHD who were randomized into a standard-length or shortened-length Cogmed working memory training program or a waitlist control group.

Working Memory Training in Post-Secondary Students with ADHD: A Randomized Controlled Study.

Objectives: To determine whether standard-length computerized training enhances working memory (WM), transfers to other cognitive domains and shows sustained effects, when controlling for motivation, engagement, and expectancy.

Methods: 97 post-secondary students (59.8% female) aged 18-35 years with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, were randomized into standard-length adaptive Cogmed WM training (CWMT; 45-min/session), a shortened-length adaptive version of CWMT (15 min/session) that controlled for motivation, engagement and expectancy of change, or into a no training group (waitlist-control group).

Neural Rhythms of Change: Long-Term Improvement after Successful Treatment in Children with Disruptive Behavior Problems.

Neural changes were investigated for children with disruptive behavior problems one year after a treatment program ended. Thirty-nine children and their parents visited the research lab before, after, and a year after treatment ended. During those lab visits, electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded during a challenging Go/No-go task.

Executive function in children with externalizing and comorbid internalizing behavior problems.

Background: The goal of this study is to investigate differences in executive function (EF) in children with different levels of disruptive behavior problems (DBP).

Methods: Ninety-three children between 7 and 12 years old with DBP were compared to 63 normally developing peers on a battery of EF tasks that varied in the amount of required emotion regulation ('hot' EF).

Results: Differences in EF were found between DBP and comparison groups as indexed by hot EF tasks.

Symptom Manifestation and Impairments in College Students With ADHD.

To better understand the nature of impairment resulting from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for students in a post-secondary education (PSE) setting, the authors analyzed the symptoms and associated impairment of 135 students with a diagnosis of ADHD who were recruited via Student Disability Services in Canadian post-secondary institutions. The authors (a) developed a novel semistructured telephone interview based on the 6-item Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale Screener-Telephone Interview With Probes (ASRS-TIPS) to elicit students' descriptions of their behavior for each symptom they endorsed, (b) administered standardized tests of executive functioning (EF) and academic fluency, and (c) obtained self-reports of grade point averages (GPAs), EF, cognitive failures, psychopathology, distress, and resilience. Qualitative analysis of the ASRS-TIPS revealed significant impairment relating to symptoms of ADHD in the PSE setting.

Working Memory Training in ADHD: Controlling for Engagement, Motivation, and Expectancy of Improvement (Pilot Study).

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a shortened-length session of CogMed Working Memory Training (CWMT) would be a suitable active control group and evaluate study protocol to aid in design refinements for a larger randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Method: Thirty-eight post-secondary students diagnosed with ADHD were randomized into 25 sessions of standard (45 min/session) or shortened (15 min/session) CWMT, or into a waitlist control group.

Results: There was no significant difference in completion rate or training index score between the standard- and shortened-length groups indicating that both groups showed improvement and put forth good effort during training.