Teachers' Beliefs and Practices Regarding the Role of Executive Functions in Reading and Arithmetic.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Rapoport S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5065981 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:The modal view in the cognitive and neural sciences holds that consciousness is necessary for abstract, symbolic, and rule-following computations. Hence, semantic processing of multiple-word expressions, and performing of abstract mathematical computations, are widely believed to require consciousness. We report a series of experiments in which we show that multiple-word verbal expressions can be processed outside conscious awareness and that multistep, effortful arithmetic equations can be solved unconsciously. All experiments used Continuous Flash Suppression to render stimuli invisible for relatively long durations (up to 2,000 ms). Where appropriate, unawareness was verified using both objective and subjective measures. The results show that novel word combinations, in the form of expressions that contain semantic violations, become conscious before expressions that do not contain semantic violations, that the more negative a verbal expression is, the more quickly it becomes conscious, and that subliminal arithmetic equations prime their results. These findings call for a significant update of our view of conscious and unconscious processes.
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Project description:Reading fluency undoubtedly underlies reading competence; yet, the role of executive functions (EF) is less well understood. Here, we investigated the relationship between children's reading fluency and EF. Children's (n = 82) reading and language performance was determined by standardized assessments and EF by parental questionnaire. Results revealed that production of more miscues was explained by poorer reading and language performance and EF. Yet, self-correcting a miscue was predicted by better EF, beyond reading and language abilities. Intriguingly, EF partially mediated the relationship between reading and self-correction, suggesting that self-correction reflects parallel recruitment and coordination of domain-specific and domain-general processes.
| S-EPMC7954224 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background and objectives: Fever in children is one of the most common reasons for seeking medical attention. Parents often have misconceptions about the effects to fever, which leads to inappropriate use of medication and nonurgent visits to emergency departments (ED). The aim of this study was to clarify the beliefs on the effects and management of fever and to identify healthcare seeking patterns among parents of febrile children in Latvia. Materials and Methods: Parents and legal guardians of children attending ED with febrile illness were included in the study. Participants were recruited in Children's Clinical University Hospital (CCUH) in Riga, and in six regional hospitals in Latvia. Data on beliefs about fever, administration of antipyretics, healthcare-seeking behavior, and experience in communication with health care workers were collected via questionnaire. Results: In total, 355 participants were enrolled: 199 in CCUH and 156 in regional hospitals; 59.2% of participants considered fever itself as indicative of serious illness and 92.8% believed it could raise the child's body temperature up to a dangerous level. Antipyretics were usually administered at median temperature of 38.0 °C, and the median temperature believed to be dangerous was 39.7 °C; 56.7% of parents usually contacted a doctor within the first 24 h of the illness. Parents who believed that lower temperatures are dangerous to a child were more likely to contact a doctor earlier and out-of-hours; 60.1% of participants had contacted their family doctor prior their visit to ED. Parental evaluation of satisfaction with the information and reassurance provided by the doctors at the hospital was higher than of that provided by their family doctor; 68.2% of participants felt safer when their febrile children were treated at the hospital. Conclusions: Fever itself was regarded as indicative of serious illness and potentially dangerous to the child's life. These misconceptions lead to inappropriate administration of antipyretics and early-seeking of medical attention, even out-of-hours. Hospital environment was viewed as safer and more reassuring when dealing with febrile illness in children. More emphasis must be placed on parental education on proper management of fever, especially in primary care.
| S-EPMC6681325 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The relationship between mental exercise and mental aging is a controversial issue. People generally believe the so-called mental-exercise hypothesis, that is, the age-related decline in cognitive function is less pronounced for people who are mentally active, yet there is insufficient scientific evidence supporting this hypothesis. Previous randomized controlled trial studies showed convincing beneficial effects of cognitive training on directly targeted cognitive functions. In this study, we performed a single-blind, randomized controlled trial on cognitive intervention in 124 community-dwelling seniors (age range, 70 to 86) and estimated the beneficial effects of non-targeted cognitive functions. As for cognitive intervention, the subjects were asked to solve systematized basic problems in reading and arithmetic every day for 6 months. Neuropsychological measures were determined prior to and 6 months after the intervention (post-test) by mini-mental state examination (MMSE), frontal assessment battery at bed side (FAB), and digit-symbol substitution test (DST) of WAIS-R. The FAB and DST scores showed a statistically significant (p<0.001 and p<0.01, respectively) improvement in the post-test compared with the pre-test, such improvement was maintained up to 6 months of follow-up tests in only the experimental group. The transfer effect of cognitive intervention by reading and solving arithmetic problems on non-targeted cognitive functions was demonstrated in this study. This study shows that daily mental training can improve cognitive functions in normal adults. Although general interests in brain training have been increasing in the public, evidence for its beneficial effects, particularly the positive transfer effect on non-targeted cognitive function still remains insufficient. Here, we introduce a new cognitive intervention program for normal aged people, the concept of which is derived from the knowledge of both brain science and clinical studies. We performed a carefully designed single-blind, randomized controlled study, and the results of this study showed convincing evidence that cognitive training provides the beneficial transfer effect.
| S-EPMC2276592 | biostudies-other
Project description:This study examined executive functioning and reading achievement in 106 6- to 8-year-old Brazilian children from a range of social backgrounds of whom approximately half lived below the poverty line. A particular focus was to explore the executive function profile of children whose classroom reading performance was judged below standard by their teachers and who were matched to controls on chronological age, sex, school type (private or public), domicile (Salvador/BA or São Paulo/SP) and socioeconomic status. Children completed a battery of 12 executive function tasks that were conceptual tapping cognitive flexibility, working memory, inhibition and selective attention. Each executive function domain was assessed by several tasks. Principal component analysis extracted four factors that were labeled "Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility," "Interference Suppression," "Selective Attention," and "Response Inhibition." Individual differences in executive functioning components made differential contributions to early reading achievement. The Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility factor emerged as the best predictor of reading. Group comparisons on computed factor scores showed that struggling readers displayed limitations in Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility, but not in other executive function components, compared to more skilled readers. These results validate the account that working memory capacity provides a crucial building block for the development of early literacy skills and extends it to a population of early readers of Portuguese from Brazil. The study suggests that deficits in working memory/cognitive flexibility might represent one contributing factor to reading difficulties in early readers. This might have important implications for how educators might intervene with children at risk of academic under achievement.
| S-EPMC4050967 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundOsteoporosis is an emerging geriatric condition with high morbidity and healthcare cost in developing nations experiencing rapid population ageing. Thus, identifying strategies to prevent osteoporosis is critical in safeguarding skeletal health. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a bone health screening and education programme on knowledge, beliefs, and practice regarding osteoporosis among Malaysians aged 40 years and above.MethodsA longitudinal study was conducted from April 2018 to August 2019. During the first phase of the study, 400 Malaysians (190 men, 210 women) aged ≥ 40 years were recruited in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Information on subjects' demography, medical history, knowledge, and beliefs regarding osteoporosis, physical activity status, and dietary and lifestyle practices were obtained. Subjects also underwent body anthropometry measurement and bone mineral density scan (hip and lumbar spine) using a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry device. Six months after the first screening, similar investigations were carried out on the subjects.ResultsDuring the follow-up session, 72 subjects were lost to follow up. Most of them were younger subjects with a lower awareness of healthy practices. A significant increase in knowledge, beliefs (p < 0.05), calcium supplement intake (p < 0.001), and dietary calcium intake (p = 0.036) and a reduction in coffee intake (p < 0.001) were found among subjects who attended the follow-up. In this study, the percentage of successful referrals was 41.86%. Subjects with osteoporosis were mostly prescribed alendronate plus vitamin D3 by medical doctors, and they followed the prescribed treatment accordingly.ConclusionsThe bone health screening and education programmes in this study are effective in changing knowledge, beliefs, and practice regarding osteoporosis. The information is pertinent to policymakers in planning strategies to prevent osteoporosis and its associated problems among the middle-aged and elderly population in Malaysia. Nevertheless, a more comprehensive bone health education program that includes long-term monitoring and consultation is needed to halt the progression of bone loss.
| S-EPMC9141639 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background: Palliative care teams face complex medical situations on a daily basis. These situations require joint reflection and decision making to propose appropriate patient care. Sometimes, sedation is one of the options to be considered. In addition to medical and technical criteria justifying the use of sedation, multiple psychosocial criteria impact the decision making of palliative care teams and guide, give sense to, and legitimize professional practices. Objective: The main goal of this study was to explore perceptions, experiences, and beliefs of palliative care teams about sedation practices in a legislative context (Claeys-Leonetti law, 2016; France), which authorizes continuous deep sedation (CDS) until death. Methods: This is a qualitative study using 28 semistructured interviews with physicians and nurses working in a palliative care team in France (PACA region). All verbal productions produced during interviews were fully transcribed and the contents analyzed. Findings: Content analysis revealed four themes: (1) sedation as a "good death," (2) emotional experiences of sedations, (3) the practice of CDS, and (4) the ambiguous relationship with the Claeys-Leonetti law. Conclusions: This qualitative study provides evidence of a form of "naturalization" of the practice of sedation. However, the Claeys-Leonetti law exacerbates differences of opinion between palliative caregivers on sedation and questions the interest of this law for society and palliative care practices. clinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04016038.
| S-EPMC8241398 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Recent cancer care delivery models and clinical practice guidelines have expanded the role of primary care providers (PCPs) in routine follow-up of cancer survivors. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of PCPs affiliated with a large healthcare system to (1) examine practices, attitudes, and beliefs regarding preparedness to provide survivorship care and (2) explore predictors of confidence managing cancer survivors. We distributed a self-administered online survey to 1069 clinical affiliates providing primary care services within the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center system. Associations between PCPs' professional characteristics and attitudes and preparedness were evaluated. Multiple logistic regression explored predictors of confidence monitoring common cancer treatment-related symptoms. One hundred twenty-seven eligible PCPs responded. The sample was split between academic and community practice (48.0% vs. 52.0%, respectively), predominantly comprised of physicians (81.8%), and 64.6% had > 15 years direct patient care experience. The majority agreed that PCPs play a valuable role in surveillance and adverse event monitoring in survivors, though less than 25% felt their professional training prepared them to perform each of these domains. Physicians were significantly more likely than advanced practice providers to be among the 65% of PCPs who were confident monitoring ≥ 1 symptom in each of the 5 evaluated symptom clusters (OR 3.6, 95% CI 1.2-10.8). PCPs appear willing to assume an enhanced role in cancer survivorship care but feel unprepared to do so. Enhanced training and dissemination of clinical practice guidelines are needed to facilitate effective implementation of PCP-delivered survivorship care.
| S-EPMC8266289 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The purpose of the present study was to replicate and extend previous findings that depict a link between preschoolers' home experience and EFs. It also examined Hungarian parents' views about the purpose of preschool education and its relationship with their play beliefs. A total of 87 Hungarian preschoolers participated in neuropsychological testing of executive functioning (44 boys, 42 girls, one not reported; mean age = 62.37 months; SD = 8.33 months; age range = 47-80 months) and their parents (8male and 79 females; mean age = 37.73 years; SD = 5.64 years; age range = 22-63 years) filled in questionnaires. The finding from hierarchical regression analyses depicted that the frequency of pretend play the preschoolers engage in and parental play support beliefs were small to medium-sized predictors of children's inhibitory control, after accounting for age and SES. Children's frequency of participation in fine motor activities at home was a small but significant predictor of their visual-spatial working memory, after controlling for age and SES. Furthermore, results indicated that parents hold the belief that the development of social-emotional competence and children enjoying themselves instead of academic skills is the primary purpose of preschool education. To sum up, parental play support and preschoolers' activities at home are important predictors for children's EF skills.
| S-EPMC7326145 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionDyslexia is a reading disorder characterized by significant difficulty in reading, as well as reports of altered executive functions (EF). Children with reading difficulties (RD) experience a broad range of social and emotional problems. Recently it was suggested that children with RD have altered functional connections within the amygdala, which is related to emotional processing. Altered brain laterality related to reading was previously reported in children with RD. Hence, we sought to determine the differences in functional connectivity between the right and left emotional network as related to emotional challenges and the other reported difficulties in reading and EF in children with RD compared to typical readers.MethodsSixty-four 8 to 12 year old children, 27 children with RD and 37 age-matched typical readers, participated in the study. Reading, emotional, and EF abilities were assessed. Global efficiency of the emotional network was calculated and compared between the groups, and left vs. right functional connectivity of the amygdala was tested using the CONN toolbox. Functional connectivity measures were then associated with measures of reading, emotional, and EF abilities.ResultsChildren with RD showed significantly decreased emotional and EF abilities compared to typical readers. A negative correlation between reading, emotional, and EF abilities was determined in both groups. Neuroimaging results showed decreased global efficiency measures within the emotional network in children with RD, who also showed lower functional connectivity between the amygdala and the left and right frontal pole regions. Results also indicated increased functional connectivity of the right vs. left amygdala with left and right pre-central and post-central gyri regions, which were related to decreased reading, emotional, and EF abilities in both typical readers and children with RD.ConclusionThe positive relationship between EF and emotional abilities in children with RD strengthens the relationship between EF difficulties and emotional stress, which in turn may lower EF abilities (monitoring, inhibition, and attention) as well as decreased reading abilities. The emotional challenges in children with RD were associated with decreased functional connectivity of the left amygdala with pre/post central gyrus and cognitive-control regions. These findings suggest that although the right hemisphere is thought to be related to emotional stress, it was the decreased control of the left hemisphere that was related to emotional disturbance in children with RD.
| S-EPMC7198704 | biostudies-literature