Brain bases of morphological awareness and longitudinal word reading outcomes

Children's spoken language skills are essential to the development of the "reading brain," or the neurocognitive systems that underlie successful literacy. Morphological awareness, or sensitivity to the smallest units of meaning, is a language skill that facilitates fluent recognition of meaning in print. Yet despite the growing evidence that morphology is integral to literacy success, associations among morphological awareness, literacy acquisition, and brain development remain largely unexplored. To address this gap, we conducted a longitudinal investigation with 75 elementary school children (5-11 years of age) who completed an auditory morphological awareness neuroimaging task at Time 1 as well as literacy assessments at both Time 1 and Time 2 (1.5 years later). Findings reveal longitudinal brain-behavior associations between morphological processing at Time 1 and reading outcomes at Time 2. First, activation in superior temporal brain regions involved in word segmentation was associated with both future reading skill and steeper reading gains over time. Second, a wider array of brain regions across the language network were associated with polymorphemic word reading as compared with broader word reading skill (reading both simple and complex words). Together, these findings reinforce the importance of word segmentation skills in learning to read and highlight the importance of considering complex word reading skills in building comprehensive neurocognitive models of literacy. This study fills a gap in our knowledge of how processing meaningful units in speech may help to explain differences in children's reading development over time and informs ongoing theoretical questions about the role of morphology in learning to read.

Unskilled, underperforming, or unaware? Testing three accounts of individual differences in metacognitive monitoring

Many studies show that competence (e.g., skill, expertise, natural ability) influences individuals' capabilities of monitoring their item-level performance. However, debate persists about how best to explain these individual differences in metacognition. The competence-based account ascribes differences in monitoring to individuals' objective ability level, arguing that the same skills necessary to perform a task are required to effectively monitor performance. The performance-based account attributes differences in monitoring to changes in overall task performance - no individual differences in competence required. Finally, the metacognitive awareness account proposes that alignment between an individuals' self-assessed and objective ability leads to differences in monitoring. In this study, 603 participants completed a self-assessment of face recognition ability, a lineup identification task, and an objective assessment of face recognition ability. We manipulated the number of encoding repetitions and delay between encoding and test to produce varying levels of task performance across objective face recognition ability. Following each lineup decision, participants provided both a numeric confidence rating and a written expression of verbal confidence. We transformed verbal confidence into a quantitative value using machine learning techniques. When matched on overall identification accuracy, objectively stronger face recognizers used numeric and verbal confidence that a) better discriminates between correct and filler lineup identifications than weaker recognizers, and b) shows better calibration to accuracy. Participants with greater self-assessed ability used higher levels of confidence, irrespective of trial accuracy. These results support the competence-based account.

Rumors in Retweet: Ideological Asymmetry in the Failure to Correct Misinformation

We used supervised machine-learning techniques to examine ideological asymmetries in online rumor transmission. Although liberals were more likely than conservatives to communicate in general about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings (Study 1, N = 26,422) and 2020 death of the sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein (Study 2, N = 141,670), conservatives were more likely to share rumors. Rumor-spreading decreased among liberals following official correction, but it increased among conservatives. Marathon rumors were spread twice as often by conservatives pre-correction, and nearly 10 times more often post-correction. Epstein rumors were spread twice as often by conservatives pre-correction, and nearly, eight times more often post-correction. With respect to ideologically congenial rumors, conservatives circulated the rumor that the Clinton family was involved in Epstein's death 18.6 times more often than liberals circulated the rumor that the Trump family was involved. More than 96% of all fake news domains were shared by conservative Twitter users.

The Equality Paradox: Gender Equality Intensifies Male Advantages in Adolescent Subjective Well-Being

Individuals' subjective well-being (SWB) is an important marker of development and social progress. As psychological health issues often begin during adolescence, understanding the factors that enhance SWB among adolescents is critical to devising preventive interventions. However, little is known about how institutional contexts contribute to adolescent SWB. Using Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 and 2018 data from 78 countries (N = 941,475), we find that gender gaps in adolescents' SWB (life satisfaction, positive and negative affect) are larger in more gender-equal countries. Results paradoxically indicated that gender equality enhances boys' but not girls' SWB, suggesting that greater gender equality may facilitate social comparisons across genders. This may lead to an increased awareness of discrimination against females and consequently lower girls' SWB, diluting the overall benefits of gender equality. These findings underscore the need for researchers and policy-makers to better understand macro-level factors, beyond objective gender equality, that support girls' SWB.

Framing of national HPV vaccine recommendations and willingness to recommend at ages 9-10

Proactive HPV vaccination at age 9 better prevents infection and improves vaccine series completion. Because national organizations recommend starting the vaccine at different ages, we sought to understand the impact of these recommendation frames. In 2022, we surveyed 2,527 US clinical staff (45% physicians) who provide HPV vaccine for children. We randomized respondents to one of three frames based on HPV vaccine recommendations of national organizations or a no-recommendation control, and assessed willingness to recommend HPV vaccine for children ages 9-10. Respondents also reported perceived benefits of HPV vaccination at ages 9 or 12. Recommending HPV vaccination "at ages 11-12" led to lower willingness to vaccinate at ages 9-10 than control (37% vs. 54%, p < .05). Recommending vaccination "at ages 9-12" led to similar willingness as control. However, "starting at age 9" led to higher willingness than control (63% vs. 54%, p < .05). Results were similar across respondents' training, specialty, or years in practice, or their clinic's rurality or healthcare system membership. More common benefits of recommending at age 9 than 12 were avoiding the topic of sex (24% vs. 10%, OR = 2.78, 95%CI: 2.23, 3.48) and completing the vaccine series before age 13 (56% vs. 47%, OR = 1.44, 95%CI: 1.23, 1.68). Less common benefits for age 9 were having parents ready to talk about HPV vaccine and agreeing to vaccination (both p < .05). An effective way to encourage proactive HPV vaccination is to say that it starts at age 9. Aligning national recommendations to start at age 9 can promote timely vaccination.

Are parents' willing to vaccinate their children against COVID-19? A qualitative study based on the Health Belief Model

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries have started implementing voluntary or involuntary mass vaccination programs. Although vaccine acceptance is high among adults, uncertainty about whether to vaccinate children against COVID-19 remains a controversial theme. To date, few qualitative studies have explored parents' views on this topic. A qualitative descriptive study design was used to collect data and individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 50 parents in the Makkah region of Saudi Arabia. The Health Belief Model (HBM) was used as a guide in developing the interview guide. Each question was related to a construct of the HBM. The data were then analyzed using thematic content analysis and interpreted using NVivo software. Two major themes emerged: motivation to vaccinate children, which was influenced by perceived benefits, perceived severity, perceived suitability, collective responsibilities, confidence, and cues to action; and barriers to vaccination in children, which included complacency, rapid vaccine development, and uncertainty about the long-term side effects of the vaccine. The findings of this study revealed that the public is not sufficiently informed about the efficacy or side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, increasing the awareness of which will help parents make informed decisions regarding vaccinating their children and potentially increase vaccine acceptance.

Improving patient understanding of prenatal screening tests: Using naturally sampled frequencies, pictures, and accounting for individual differences

Objective

Health professionals must communicate prenatal screening test results effectively to patients, but these tests involve very low prevalence and high false positive risks; a situation known to be difficult for people to understand.

Methods

The present experiments evaluated the effectiveness of presenting prenatal screening test results for Trisomy 21, Trisomy 13, or DiGeorge Syndrome, using either naturally sampled frequencies or standard percentages. Participants were given a task of interpreting the posterior probability of an embryo having the condition.

Results

People were significantly better with naturally sampled frequencies. Numerical literacy and visuospatial ability significantly accounted for individual differences in performance within conditions. Participants nevertheless did not differ in ratings of how useful the different presentation formats were, suggesting a lack of awareness of how format influenced understanding. These results held regardless of whether the respondents were undergraduates (Experiment 1) or members of the general population recruited online (Experiment 2).

Conclusion

Using naturally sampled frequencies improves patient understanding of prenatal screening tests results, with low cost of implementation.

Innovation

Using realistic prenatal screening test results, these results show how to improve patient counseling via the use of naturally sampled frequencies.

Spouses of individuals living with mild cognitive impairment or dementia in the United States: A descriptive, population-based study

BACKGROUND

Little is known about the population of individuals who live with a spouse with cognitive impairment (CI) or dementia.

METHODS

Using the US Health and Retirement Study, 2000 to 2018, we estimated the population of adults ≥ 50 years old co-residing with a spouse with probable CI/dementia. We described their socio-demographic and health characteristics and quantified socio-demographic inequities.

RESULTS

Among community-dwelling adults ≥ 50 years old, 6% of women and 4% of men co-resided with a spouse with probable CI/dementia. Among those who were married/partnered, the prevalence of spousal dementia was greater for Black and Hispanic adults compared to their White counterparts, and for those with lower versus higher educational attainment. Among spouses, activities of daily living disability, depression, and past 2-year hospitalization was common.

DISCUSSION

Millions of older adults, disproportionately Black and Hispanic people and people with lower levels of educational attainment, live with a spouse with CI while also facing their own major health challenges.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviours Concerning the Mediterranean Diet Among Older Adults in Australia

Despite the growing body of evidence demonstrating the positive health effects of the Mediterranean diet, it is not routinely recommended in practice and adherence is low in the general population in Australia. The knowledge-attitude-behaviour model explains how health behaviours are supported through a process of acquiring knowledge, developing attitudes, and forming behaviours. Evidence has suggested that having a high level of nutrition-related knowledge is associated with more positive attitudes, which is directly linked to positive dietary behaviours. However, reports of knowledge and attitudes towards the Mediterranean diet, and how these directly relate to behaviours in older adults, are lacking. This study explored Mediterranean diet-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours among community-dwelling older adults in Australia. Participants were adults aged 55 years and older who completed an online survey that contained three parts: (a) knowledge - Mediterranean Diet Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire (Med-NKQ); (b) nutrition-related attitudes and behaviours, and barriers and enablers to dietary change; (c) demographics. The sample included 61 adults who ranged in age from 55 to 89 years. The overall knowledge score was 30.5 out of a possible 40 points, with 60.7% classified as having a high level of knowledge. Knowledge was lowest for nutrient content and label reading. Attitudes and behaviours were generally positive and were not associated with level of knowledge. The most common barriers to dietary change were perceived cost and lack of knowledge, and motivational factors. There are a number of key gaps in knowledge that should be addressed through targeted educational programs. Strategies and tools to overcome perceived barriers and improve self-efficacy are needed to facilitate positive dietary behaviours.

Differential effects of aging on hippocampal ultrastructure in male vs. female rats

Age-related decline in physical and cognitive functions are facts of life that do not affect everyone to the same extent. We had reported earlier that such cognitive decline is both sex- and context-dependent. Moreover, age-associated ultrastructural changes were observed in the hippocampus of male rats. In this study, we sought to determine potential differences in ultrastructural changes between male and female rats at various stages of life. We performed quantitative electron microscopic evaluation of hippocampal CA1 region, an area intimately involved in cognitive behavior, in both male and female adolescent, adult and old Wistar rats. Specifically, we measured the number of docking synaptic vesicles in axo-dendritic synapses, the length of active zone as well as the total number of synaptic vesicles. Distinct age- and sex-dependent effects were observed in several parameters. Thus, adult female rats had the lowest synaptic active zone compared to both adolescent and old female rats. Moreover, the same parameter was significantly lower in adult and old female rats compared to their male counterparts. On the other hand, old male rats had significantly lower number of total synaptic vesicles compared to both adolescent and adult male rats as well as compared to their female counterparts. Taken together, it may be suggested that age- and sex-dependent ultrastructural changes in the hippocampus may underlie at least some of the differences in cognitive functions among these groups.

The Relation of Parental Expressed Emotion, Parental Affiliate Stigma, and Typically-developing Sibling Internalizing Behavior in Families with a Child with ASD

Caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience greater stress, expressed emotion (EE), and affiliate stigma than caregivers of children without ASD. Siblings of children with ASD often experience greater negative functioning than siblings of individuals without ASD. The current study found significant interrelations among symptom severity and externalizing behavior in children with ASD; parental stress, affiliate stigma, and EE; and TD sibling internalizing behavior. In addition, certain subcomponents of affiliate stigma predicted unique variance in EE and TD sibling internalizing behavior. Findings may increase understanding of psychosocial functioning in families with children with ASD and allow clinicians to improve outcomes for all family members. Limitations of the study included self-report data, limited sample diversity, and a cross-sectional design.

COVID-19 vaccination telephone outreach: an analysis of the medical student experience

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic diminished opportunities for medical students to gain clinical confidence and the ability to contribute to patient care. Our study sought out to understand the value of telephone outreach to schedule COVID-19 vaccines on medical student education.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Forty students engaged in telephone outreach targeting patients aged 65+ without active patient portals to schedule COVID-19 vaccines. Data consisted of a single administration retrospective pre/post survey inquiring about what students learned, expectations, other health-care processes that would benefit from outreach, and interest in a population health elective. Likert items were analyzed and open response analysis involved inductive coding and generation of thematic summaries by condensing codes into broader themes. Demographic data of patients called and subsequently received the vaccine were also collected.

RESULTS

There were 33 survery respondents. There was a statistically significant increase in net comfortability for pre-clerkship students for documenting in Epic, providing telehealth care, counseling on common health-care myths, having challenging conversations, cold-calling patients, and developing an initial trusting relationship with patients. The majority called and who received the vaccine were non-Hispanic Black, within the high SVI category, and had Medicare and/or Medicaid. Qualitative data showed that students emphasized communication, the role of trusted messengers, the need to be open minded, and meeting patients where they are.

DISCUSSION

Engaging students in telephone outreach early in the COVID-19 pandemic provided students the opportunity to develop their skills as physicians-in-training, contribute to combating the ongoing pandemic, and add value to the primary care team. This experience allowed students to practice patience, empathy, and vulnerability to understand why patients had not received the COVID-19 vaccine; this was an invaluable experience that helped students develop the skills to become empathetic and caring physicians, and supports the continued role of telehealth in future medical school curriculum.

Geographic variability in limited English proficiency: A cross-cultural study of cognitive profiles

OBJECTIVE

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of limited English proficiency (LEP) on neurocognitive profiles.

METHOD

Romanian (LEP-RO; n = 59) and Arabic (LEP-AR; n = 30) native speakers were compared to Canadian native speakers of English (NSE; n = 24) on a strategically selected battery of neuropsychological tests.

RESULTS

As predicted, participants with LEP demonstrated significantly lower performance on tests with high verbal mediation relative to US norms and the NSE sample (large effects). In contrast, several tests with low verbal mediation were robust to LEP. However, clinically relevant deviations from this general pattern were observed. The level of English proficiency varied significantly within the LEP-RO and was associated with a predictable performance pattern on tests with high verbal mediation.

CONCLUSIONS

The heterogeneity in cognitive profiles among individuals with LEP challenges the notion that LEP status is a unitary construct. The level of verbal mediation is an imperfect predictor of the performance of LEP examinees during neuropsychological testing. Several commonly used measures were identified that are robust to the deleterious effects of LEP. Administering tests in the examinee's native language may not be the optimal solution to contain the confounding effect of LEP in cognitive evaluations.

"I Think This News Is Accurate": Endorsing Accuracy Decreases the Sharing of Fake News and Increases the Sharing of Real News

Accuracy prompts, nudges that make accuracy salient, typically decrease the sharing of fake news, while having little effect on real news. Here, we introduce a new accuracy prompt that is more effective than previous prompts, because it does not only reduce fake news sharing, but it also increases real news sharing. We report four preregistered studies showing that an "endorsing accuracy" prompt ("I think this news is accurate"), placed into the sharing button, decreases fake news sharing, increases real news sharing, and keeps overall engagement constant. We also explore the mechanism through which the intervention works. The key results are specific to endorsing accuracy, rather than accuracy salience, and endorsing accuracy does not simply make participants apply a "source heuristic." Finally, we use Pennycook et al.'s limited-attention model to argue that endorsing accuracy may work by making people more carefully consider their sharing decisions.

The assessment of cognitive function in the German National Cohort (NAKO) - Associations of demographics and psychiatric symptoms with cognitive test performance

OBJECTIVES

To describe the cognitive test battery of the German National Cohort (NAKO), a population-based mega cohort of 205,000 randomly selected participants, and to examine associations with demographic variables and selected psychiatric and neurological conditions.

METHODS

Initial data from 96,401 participants providing data on the cognitive performance measured by a brief cognitive test battery (12-word list recall task, semantic fluency, Stroop test, digit span backwards) was examined. Test results were summarised in cognitive domain scores using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Associations with sociodemographic and psychiatric factors were analysed using linear regression and generalised additive models.

RESULTS

Cognitive test results were best represented by two domain scores reflecting memory and executive functions. Lower cognitive functions were associated with increasing age and male sex. Higher education and absence of childhood trauma were associated with better cognitive function. Moderate to severe levels of anxiety and depression, and a history of stroke, were related to lower cognitive function with a stronger effect on executive function as compared to memory. Some associations with cognition differed by German language proficiency.

CONCLUSIONS

The NAKO cognitive test battery and the derived cognitive domain scores for memory and executive function are sensitive measures of cognition.

General cognitive ability assessment in the German National Cohort (NAKO) - The block-adaptive number series task

Objectives. Evaluate the block-adaptive number series task of reasoning, as a time-efficient proxy of general cognitive ability in the Level-2 sample of the German National Cohort (NAKO), a population-based mega cohort.Methods. The number series task consisted of two blocks of three items each, administered as part of the touchscreen-based assessment. Based on performance on the first three items, a second block of appropriate difficulty was automatically administered. Scoring of performance was based on the Rasch model. Relations of performance scores to age, sex, education, study centre, language proficiency, and scores on other cognitive tasks were examined.Results. Except for one very difficult item, the data of the remaining 14 items showed sufficient fit to the Rasch model (Infit: 0.89-1.04; Outfit: 0.80-1.08). The resulting performance scores (N = 21,056) had a distribution that was truncated at very high levels of ability. The reliability of the performance estimates was satisfactory. Relations to age, sex, education, and the executive function factor of the other cognitive tasks in the NAKO supported the validity.Conclusions. The number series task provides a valid proxy of general cognitive ability for the Level-2 sample of the NAKO, based on a highly time-efficient assessment procedure.

Parent-implemented intervention for children in third to fifth grade with dyslexia

BACKGROUND

Few studies have investigated the acceptability and efficacy of intensive parent-implemented interventions for children with dyslexia.

METHODS

We carried out a randomized controlled trial on 22 dyslexic children from 3rd to 5th grade. Reading performance was measured before (T1) and after (T2) summer by a selection of tests from the BALE and EDA batteries. One group received a specific parent-implemented repeated reading training (RR group) and the other group received a general training based on a summer vacation workbook (SVW group), adapted for children with reading impairment. The training lasted 6 weeks during the summer vacation.

RESULTS

In both groups, the reading performances of the dyslexic children were stable before and after the summer. No group difference was found on our primary outcome corresponding to an aggregate score of the z-scores of the BALE reading lists of regular, irregular and pseudo-words. However, secondary analyses revealed that the score of the EDA subtest "number of words read in one minute" (tapping reading fluency) differed significantly between the two groups (T2-T1=0.17 SD for the RR group and T2-T1=-0.24 SD for the SVW group; P=0.015). Acceptability was generally good (dropout rate of 9% in the RR group).

CONCLUSIONS

A repeated reading intervention applied by parents may improve reading fluency of dyslexic children during summer vacation, with a good acceptability. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Oral language interventions can improve language outcomes in children with neurodevelopmental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Young people who fail to develop language as expected face significant challenges in all aspects of life. Unfortunately, language disorders are common, either as a distinct condition (e.g., Developmental Language Disorder) or as a part of another neurodevelopmental condition (e.g., autism). Finding ways to attenuate language problems through intervention has the potential to yield great benefits not only for the individual but also for society as a whole.

Objectives

This meta-analytic review examined the effect of oral language interventions for children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Search Methods

The last electronic search was conducted in April 2022.

Selection Criteria

Intervention studies had to target language skills for children from 2 to 18 years of age with Developmental Language Disorder, autism, intellectual disability, Down syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, and Williams syndrome in randomised controlled trials or quasi-experimental designs. Control groups had to include business-as-usual, waiting list, passive or active conditions. However, we excluded studies in which the active control group received a different type, delivery, or dosage of another language intervention. Eligible interventions implemented explicit and structured activities (i.e., explicit instruction of vocabulary, narrative structure or grammatical rules) and/or implicit and broad activities (i.e., shared book reading, general language stimulation). The intervention studies had to assess language skills in receptive and/or expressive modalities.

Data Collection and Analysis

The search provided 8195 records after deduplication. Records were screened by title and abstract, leading to full-text examinations of 448 records. We performed Correlated and Hierarchical Effects models and ran a retrospective power analysis via simulation. Publication bias was assessed via p-curve and precision-effect estimate.

Main Results

We examined 38 studies, with 46 group comparisons and 108 effects comparing pre-/post-tests and eight studies, with 12 group comparisons and 21 effects at follow-up. The results showed a mean effect size of d = 0.27 at the post-test and d = 0.18 at follow-up. However, there was evidence of publication bias and overestimation of the mean effects. Effects from the meta-analysis were significantly related to these elements: (1) receptive vocabulary and omnibus receptive measures showed smaller effect sizes relative to expressive vocabulary, grammar, expressive and receptive discourse, and omnibus expressive tests; and (2) the length of the intervention, where longer sessions conducted over a longer period of time were more beneficial than brief sessions and short-term interventions. Neither moderators concerning participants' characteristics (children's diagnosis, diagnostic status, age, sex, and non-verbal cognitive ability and severity of language impairment), nor those regarding of the treatment components and implementation of the language interventions (intervention content, setting, delivery agent, session structure of the intervention or total number of sessions) reached significance. The same occurred to indicators of study quality. The risk of bias assessment showed that reporting quality for the studies examined in the review was poor.

Authors’ Conclusions

In sum, the current evidence base is promising but inconclusive. Pre-registration and replication of more robust and adequately powered trials, which include a wider range of diagnostic conditions, together with more long-term follow-up comparisons, are needed to drive evidence-based practice and policy.

Physical strength levels and short-term memory efficiency in primary school children: a possible match?

BACKGROUND

Physical strength stimulation and, in general, physical activity induces brain plasticity (functional and structural adaptations) in different cerebral areas, benefiting executive function, cognition, attention and academic performance, which is usually estimated by measuring the Intelligent Quotient (IQ), and IQ is related to short-term memory, generally during school age. However, very little is known about the role of physical strength on short-term memory efficiency. Therefore, the primary aim of this study is to examine whether the level of physical strength can positively impact short-term memory efficiency in primary school children. Additionally, if this effect is observed, the secondary goal of this study is to determine whether the age of the participants plays a role in mediating and moderating this influence.

METHODS

Seventy-five children from a primary school in the metropolitan area of Turin were recruited for this study. Each subject performed the overhead medicine ball toss (backwards) test to assess physical strength and the Digit Span test from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) to evaluate short-term memory efficiency. Firstly, a simple mediation model was used to identify the possible impact of physical strength levels on short-term memory efficiency and the potential role of participants' chronological age. Secondly, a moderation model was carried out to observe if age could moderate the impact of physical training on short-term memory efficiency and the different significance levels of the moderator. Significance was assumed at P<0.05.

RESULTS

The results showed a statistically significant direct effect of physical strength on short-term memory (Β=0.429, t(72)=3.247, P<0.01). On the contrary, age was not statistically significant (Β=0.167, t(72)=3.247, P=0.211). Furthermore, a significant interaction between strength and age was identified by the moderation model (β=-0.270, P<0.01). Specifically, the impact of physical strength levels on short-term memory increased for individuals who were above the mean age (β=0.755, P<0.001). but not for those under the mean age (β=0.215, P=0.153). This model explains 37.2% of the variance in memory (R2=0.372, F(3, 71)=14.031, P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that physical strength can positively influence short-term memory. In addition, this impact is enhanced in older-age children. Thus, primary school programs should stimulate physical strength to help children develop cognitive abilities.