The timing of educational investment: a neuroscientific perspective

App-based support for parental self-efficacy in the first 1,000 days: A randomized control trial

Parental self-efficacy is key for guiding parents' interactions with their child and is an important target for early intervention. This study reports a pilot randomized control trial (RCT) of a parenting application (app) with 79 parents of children aged 0-6 months in the United Kingdom. The app includes 1,026 daily age-appropriate activities across eight areas of child development, using resources accessible at home. While controlling for pre-test scores, parents who used the parenting app (Treatment Group) had significantly higher parental self-efficacy, after the 4-week intervention period, compared to the Active Control Group. Partial correlation analyses indicated that higher frequency of self-reported use of the parenting app was associated with greater parental self-efficacy outcomes. This evidence establishes proof of concept that parenting apps can have significant benefits on parental self-efficacy in early childhood. Limitations to the interpretation and generalization of the findings, as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Child mental health problems as a risk factor for academic underachievement: A multi-informant, population-based study

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether child mental health problems prospectively associate with IQ-achievement discrepancy (i.e., academic under- and over-achievement) in emerging adolescence. The secondary aims were to test whether these associations are specific to certain mental health problems, to assess potential sex differences, and to examine whether associations are robustly observed across multiple informants (i.e., maternal and teacher-reports).

METHODS

This study included 1,577 children from the population-based birth cohort the Generation R Study. Child mental health problems at age 6 were assessed by mothers and teachers using the Child Behavior Checklist and the Teacher's Report Form. The IQ-achievement discrepancy was quantified as the standardized residuals of academic achievement regressed on IQ, where IQ was measured with four tasks from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fifth Edition around age 13 and academic attainment was measured with the Cito test, a national Dutch academic test, at the end of elementary school (12 years of age).

RESULTS

Mental health problems at age 6 were associated with IQ-achievement discrepancy at age 12, with more problems associating with greater academic underachievement. When examining specific mental health problems, we found that attention problems was the only mental health problem to independently associate with the IQ-achievement discrepancy (adjusted standardized difference per 1-standard deviation, mother: -0.11, p < 0.001, 95% CI [-0.16, -0.06]; teacher: -0.13, p < 0.001, 95% CI [-0.18, -0.08]). These associations remained after adjusting for co-occurring mental health problems. The overall pattern of associations was consistent across boys and girls and across informants.

CONCLUSION

Mental health problems during the transition from kindergarten to elementary school associate with academic underachievement at the end of elementary school. These associations were primarily driven by attention problems, as rated by both mothers and teachers-suggesting that strategies targeting attention problems may be a particularly promising avenue for improving educational performance irrespective of IQ, although this should be established more thoroughly through further research.

Brain knowledge and predictors of neuromyths among teachers in Morocco

The objective of this study was to evaluate brain knowledge and the prevalence of neuromyths among teachers in Morocco. We aimed also predicting factors that may improve teachers' brain knowledge and widespread of neuromyths. An online questionnaire was sent to a large population of Moroccan teachers. The questionnaire contains 32 questions, 20 of them are designed to assess teachers' knowledge about the brain and the remaining 12 questions are neuromyths. The mean score of brain knowledge was (64.34% (SD = 27.9%)) and the mean score of neuromyths was (66.56% (SD= 25.73%)). Besides, 50% of teachers were unable to correctly answer seven out of the 20 brain knowledge questions. Moreover, half of the teachers believed in 9 out of the 12 neuromyths. Knowledge about the brain was the foremost predictor of neuromyths. The study disclosed a real lack of brain knowledge with a widespread of neuromyths among teachers in Morocco.

Stability and Variability in Aesthetic Experience: A Review

Based on psychophysics’ pragmatic dualism, we trace the cognitive neuroscience of stability and variability in aesthetic experience. With regard to different domains of aesthetic processing, we touch upon the relevance of cognitive schemata for aesthetic preference. Attitudes and preferences are explored in detail. Evolutionary constraints on attitude formation or schema generation are elucidated, just as the often seemingly arbitrary influences of social, societal, and cultural nature are. A particular focus is put on the concept of critical periods during an individual’s ontogenesis. The latter contrasting with changes of high frequency, such as fashion influences. Taken together, these analyses document the state of the art in the field and, potentially, highlight avenues for future research.

Secondary education as a predictor of aptitude: Implications for selection in the automotive sector

Orientation: Details of applicants’ secondary education (incorporating subject choice) could be a useful screening tool when processing large applicant pools. Here, the relationships between secondary education (incorporating subject choice) and the reasoning and visual perceptual speed components of the Differential Aptitude Test are explored.Research purpose: The objective of the study was to determine whether type of secondary education (incorporating subject choice) could be used as a substitute for reasoning (verbal and non-verbal) and/or visual perceptual speed aptitudes in the selection of operators for an automotive plant in South Africa.Motivation for the study: The motivation for this study arose from the evident gap in academic literature as well as the selection needs of the automotive industry.Research design, approach and method: This research adopted a quantitative approach. It involved a non-probability convenience quota sample of 2463 work-seeking applicants for an automotive operator position in South Africa. Participants completed a biographical questionnaire and three subtests from the Differential Aptitude Test battery. The Chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between type of secondary education (incorporating subject choice) and selected cognitive aptitudes.Main findings: The study’s findings revealed statistically and practically significant relationships between type of secondary education (incorporating subject choice), verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and visual perceptual speed. Broad performance levels in the three aptitude subtests employed in this study were significantly associated with the type of matriculation certificate held by applicants. The findings specifically indicated that the secondary education types that included the subjects mathematics or both mathematics and science were associated with higher levels of performance in the three aptitudes. This had consequences for these applicants’ success in the screening process which could lead to enhanced chances of employability.Practical and managerial implications: Applicants’ type of secondary education (incorporating subject choice) could be regarded as a key criterion in human resource selection and be instructive in the screening process. This could reduce the candidate pool prior to more costly psychometric assessments.Contribution or value-add: The findings are specifically relevant to the South African automotive industry in terms of their human resource selection practices. The insights gained from the findings may also be used as a guide to human resource practitioners in the selection of similar level employees in other working contexts. The study makes a case for a multiple-hurdle approach to selection.

Promoting our understanding of neural plasticity by exploring developmental plasticity in early and adult life

Developmental plasticity (DP) is widely considered to be a property of early life stages, but evidence suggests it can be reactivated in mature brains. For example, recent developments on animal models suggest that experience in enriched environments (EE) can induce DP and enable adult recovery from amblyopia; even when the typical critical period for that recovery has closed. An interesting body of evidence suggests that extrapolation of the rejuvenatory power of that paradigm in mature human brains is feasible. These studies show that exposure to EE throughout life is associated with a delay, or even prevention, of age-related cognitive deficits. Consequently, it can be concluded that DP might underlie the neuroprotective effects against a neurocognitive breakdown that have been observed, and that EE exposure later in life might induce DP in a similar way to early EE exposure. Thus, the DP might exert its influence beyond the typical developing age ranges: childhood and adolescence. Although further research is still required, the observation of EE related neuroprotective effects are a breakthrough in the study of DP in humans and new advances in our understanding of neural plasticity have thus been reached.

Cognitive activities and cognitive performance in middle-aged adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease

Cognitive activity is thought to provide some protection against dementia, but the mechanism and timing of these effects are unknown. Data for this study were drawn from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention (WRAP), an at-risk middle-aged sample (mean age = 54 years) enriched for parental family history of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We had two main aims: (a) to determine the relative contribution of three facets of cognitive activity-education, occupational complexity with data, and cognitive leisure activities-to WRAP participants' cognitive performance; and (b) to assess for interactions between genetic risk factors and cognitive activity in explaining cognitive performance. Results from mixed effects models indicate that some of the variance usually attributed to education may be more closely accounted for by cognitive activities later in life. Overall, our analyses suggest cautious optimism for cognitive activities, especially game playing, as a strategy for preserving cognitive strengths in midlife.