Mind Your Errors

The role of implicit theories of intelligence and personality in older adults' resilience: cognitive functioning and social participation as two mediators

OBJECTIVES

Resilience during old age reflects the capacity to adapt to changes and challenges associated with normative aging and is an important component of successful aging. Belief in the incremental theory of intelligence and personality could help older adults maintain cognitive functioning and social engagement, which may further contribute to their resilience. The current study investigated how implicit theories of intelligence and personality affected older adults' resilience and examined cognitive functioning and social participation as two mediators.

METHOD

A total of 108 older adults aged 60-92 were recruited and completed relevant scales and cognitive tasks. Path analyses were conducted to estimate the expected mediation model.

RESULTS

The incremental theory of intelligence, but not personality, was positively related to older adults' resilience. Both cognitive functioning and social participation mediated the effect of the implicit theory of intelligence in the model without covariates. When background variables were controlled, the mediation effect of cognitive functioning remained significant, while the link between the implicit theory of intelligence and social participation was weakened.

CONCLUSION

Older adults' implicit theory of intelligence plays a significant role in fostering resilience in late adulthood, especially through maintaining older adults' cognitive functioning.

Creating a resilient pedagogy: Character strengths intervention for aspiring educators

Teachers play a crucial role in guiding learners through life's challenges. They face educational and socio-economic shifts while striving to teach for a better future. Our study focuses on equipping future teachers, called pre-service teachers, with resilience-building resources during their teacher training program. A potential antecedent to resilience, which facilitates cognitive strategies and attentional processes, is cognitive flexibility. We first tested whether cognitive flexibility predicts resilience. Next, relying on the tenets of positive psychology, which studies resilience, we developed and tested the effectiveness of character strengths intervention in enhancing pre-service teachers' resilience and cognitive flexibility. An individual's belief in their ability to change personal resources could influence how an intervention manifests. Hence, we studied how mindset impacts the intervention's effect on cognitive flexibility and, thus, resilience. We adopted a multi-method approach, guided by Polk's theory of resilience, to test out objectives. Using a cross-sectional design, study one (n = 273) found that cognitive flexibility significantly predicted resilience. Study two (N = 193; nexp = 133, ncont = 60) was a multi-site field experiment. We found that intervention significantly enhanced resilience (experimental group M = 29.62, control group M = 28.33) and cognitive flexibility (experimental group M = 54.42, control group M = 52.01). Further, a growth mindset, was found to moderate the indirect effect of character strengths intervention on resilience via cognitive flexibility. The study contributes to theoretical and practical advancements in resilience. Taken together, the findings highlight the cognitive-affective-behavioural makeup of resilience and, importantly, the role of cognitive flexibility. The intervention can be seamlessly integrated into teacher training curricula for a resilient future.

Achievement Goal Theory and Mindsets: Keys for Competency Development in Nursing

BACKGROUND

Many nursing schools are transitioning to a competency-based model due to the increasing complexity of medical information, skills, task acuities, and cognitive overload.

PROBLEM

Nursing faculty may not be familiar with the synergy between achievement goal theory and the growth mindset (GM) model to prepare nursing students within a competency-based model effectively.

APPROACH

This article presents a persuasive argument for how integrating achievement goal theory and the GM model could effectively foster mastery goals essential for competency development.

CONCLUSIONS

Mastery goals, a component of the GM model, can be used as tangible indicators for assessing and evaluating competency development.

The relationship between growth mindset and cognitive fusion in college students is mediated by bias towards negative information

This study aimed to investigate the relationships among growth mindset, cognitive fusion, bias towards negative information, and bias towards positive information. The Growth Mindset Scale, the Attention to Positive and Negative Information Scale, and the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire were employed. A total of 470 college students in China participated in the study. The findings showed a negative correlation between a growth mindset and cognitive fusion. In addition, a parallel mediation analysis demonstrated that bias towards negative information mediated the relationship between a growth mindset and cognitive fusion and that the indirect effect was significant. However, the mediation of bias towards positive information in this model was not significant. These results suggest that possessing a growth mindset is advantageous for mental health.

Response monitoring in math-anxious individuals in an arithmetic task

We examine whether math anxiety is related to altered response monitoring in an arithmetic task. Response-locked event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were evaluated in 23 highly (HMA) and 23 low math-anxious (LMA) individuals while they performed an arithmetic verification task. We focused on two widely studied ERPs elicited during error processing: error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe). Correct-related negativity (CRN), an ERP elicited after a correct response, was also studied. The expected ERN following errors was found, but groups did not differ in its amplitude. Importantly, LMA individuals showed less negative CRN and more positive Pe amplitudes than their more anxious peers, suggesting more certainty regarding response accuracy and better adaptive behavioral adjustment after committing errors in an arithmetic task in the LMA group. The worse control over response performance and less awareness of correct responses in the HMA group might reduce their ability to 'learn from errors'.

Limited impacts of biogenetic messaging on neural correlates of cognitive control and beliefs about depression

During the past 60 years, perceptions about the origins of mental illness have shifted toward a biomedical model, depicting depression as a biological disorder caused by genetic abnormalities and/or chemical imbalances. Despite benevolent intentions to reduce stigma, biogenetic messages promote prognostic pessimism, reduce feelings of agency, and alter treatment preferences, motivations, and expectations. However, no research has examined how these messages influence neural markers of ruminative activity or decision-making, a gap this study sought to fill. In this pre-registered, clinical trial (NCT03998748), 49 participants with current or past depressive experiences completed a sham saliva test and were randomly assigned to receive feedback that they either have (gene-present; n = 24) or do not have (gene-absent; n = 25) a genetic predisposition to depression. Before and after receiving the feedback, resting-state activity and neural correlates of cognitive control (error-related negativity [ERN] and error positivity [Pe]) were measured using high-density electroencephalogram (EEG). Participants also completed self-report measures of beliefs about the malleability and prognosis of depression and treatment motivation. Contrary to hypotheses, biogenetic feedback did not alter perceptions or beliefs about depression, nor did it alter EEG markers of self-directed rumination nor neurophysiological correlates of cognitive control. Explanations of these null findings are discussed in the context of prior studies.

Development of associations between elementary school students’ mindsets and attentional neural processing of feedback in an arithmetic task

The aim of this study was to examine the development of the associations between elementary school students’ mindsets and the attentional neural processing of positive and negative feedback in math. For this, we analyzed data collected twice from 100 Finnish elementary school students. During the autumn semesters of their 3rd and 4th grade, the participants’ general intelligence mindset and math ability mindset were measured with a questionnaire, and their brain responses elicited by performance-relevant feedback were recorded during an arithmetic task. We found that students’ fixed mindsets about general intelligence and math ability were associated with greater attention allocated to positive feedback as indicated by a larger P300. These associations were driven by the effects of mindsets on attention allocation to positive feedback in grade 4. Additionally, 4th graders’ more fixed general intelligence mindset was marginally associated with greater attention allocated to negative feedback. In addition, the effects of both mindsets on attention allocation to feedback were marginally stronger when the children were older. The present results, although marginal in the case of negative feedback and mainly driven by effects in grade 4, are possibly a reflection of the greater self-relevance of feedback stimuli for students with a more fixed mindset. It is also possible that these findings reflect the fact that, in evaluative situations, mindset could influence stimulus processing in general. The marginal increase in the effects of mindsets as children mature may reflect the development of coherent mindset meaning systems during elementary school years.

Regional Gray Matter Volume Is Associated with Growth Mindset: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

A growth mindset refers to an individual's beliefs about the malleable nature of intelligence. It plays an important role in motivation and achievement. However, few studies have examined the brain mechanisms involved in the growth mindset. In this study, voxel-based morphometry was used to investigate the relationship between growth mindset and gray matter volume (GMV) in healthy adults' sample from 114 men and 275 women who completed the Growth Mindset Inventory and intelligence test and underwent an anatomical magnetic resonance imaging scan. Whole-brain correlation analyses showed a positive relationship between growth mindset scores and regional GMV of the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) after controlling for age, sex, and total intracranial volume. This result was robust after controlling for intelligence quotient. The mOFC was primarily related to reward processing, supporting the social-cognitive theory of motivation on growth mindset.

Cognitive training enhances growth mindset in children through plasticity of cortico-striatal circuits

Growth mindset, the belief that one's abilities can improve through cognitive effort, is an important psychological construct with broad implications for enabling children to reach their highest potential. However, surprisingly little is known about malleability of growth mindset in response to cognitive interventions in children and its neurobiological underpinnings. Here we address critical gaps in our knowledge by investigating behavioral and brain changes in growth mindset associated with a four-week training program designed to enhance foundational, academically relevant, cognitive skills in 7-10-year-old children. Cognitive training significantly enhanced children's growth mindset. Cross-lagged panel analysis of longitudinal pre- and post-training data revealed that growth mindset prior to training predicted cognitive abilities after training, providing support for the positive role of growth mindset in fostering academic achievement. We then examined training-induced changes in brain response and connectivity associated with problem solving in relation to changes in growth mindset. Children's gains in growth mindset were associated with increased neural response and functional connectivity of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, striatum, and hippocampus, brain regions crucial for cognitive control, motivation, and memory. Plasticity of cortico-striatal circuitry emerged as the strongest predictor of growth mindset gains. Taken together, our study demonstrates that children's growth mindset can be enhanced by cognitive training, and elucidates the potential neurobiological mechanisms underlying its malleability. Findings provide important insights into effective interventions that simultaneously promote growth mindset and learning during the early stages of cognitive development.

Rethinking the Multidimensionality of Growth Mindset Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Framework Proposal

Students, staff, and faculty in higher education are facing unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent data revealed that a good number of academic activities and opportunities were disrupted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants. While much uncertainty remains for the next academic year, how higher education institutions and their students might improve responses to the rapidly changing situation matters. This systematic review and framework proposal aim to update previous empirical work and examine the current evidence for the effectiveness of growth mindset interventions in young adults. To this end, a systematic search identified 20 empirical studies involving 5, 805 young adults. These studies examined growth mindset within ecologically valid educational contexts and various content areas. Generally, these findings showed that brief messages of growth mindset can improve underrepresented students' academic performance and facilitate other relevant psychological constructs. In addition, we argue, although growth mindset has been identified as a unitary concept, it is comprised of multiple interdependent skills, such as self-control, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Understanding the nature of growth mindset may contribute to successful mindset implementation. Therefore, this article presents a practical framework to help educators in higher education rethink the multidimensionality of growth mindset and to provide their students with alternative routes to achieve their goals. Finally, additional articles were discussed to help evaluate growth mindset interventions in higher education.

Growth Mindset Predicts Cognitive Gains in an Older Adult Multi-Skill Learning Intervention

Growth mindset (belief in the malleability of intelligence) is a unique predictor of young learners' increased motivation and learning, and may have broader implications for cognitive functioning. Its role in learning in older adulthood is unclear. As part of a larger longitudinal study, we examined growth mindset and cognitive functioning in older adults engaged in a 3-month multi-skill learning intervention that included growth mindset discussions. Before, during, and after the intervention, participants reported on their growth mindset beliefs and completed a cognitive battery. Study 1 indicated that intervention participants, but not control participants, increased their growth mindset during the intervention. Study 2 replicated these results and found that older adults with higher preexisting growth mindsets showed larger cognitive gains at posttest compared to those with lower preexisting growth mindsets. Our findings highlight the potential role of growth mindset in supporting positive learning cycles for cognitive gains in older adulthood.

Overcoming Technical and Market Barriers to Enable Sustainable Large-Scale Production and Consumption of Insect Proteins in Europe: A SUSINCHAIN Perspective

The expected global population growth to 9.7 billion people in 2050 and the significant change in global dietary patterns require an increase in global food production by about 60%. The protein supply for feed and food is most critical and requires an extension in protein sources. Edible insects can upgrade low-grade side streams of food production into high-quality protein, amino acids and vitamins in a very efficient way. Insects are considered to be the "missing link" in the food chain of a circular and sustainable economy. Insects and insect-derived products have entered the European market since first being acknowledged as a valuable protein source for feed and food production in around 2010. However, today, scaling up the insect value chain in Europe is progressing at a relatively slow pace. The mission of SUSINCHAIN (SUStainable INsect CHAIN)-a four-year project which has received funding from the European Commission-is to contribute to novel protein provision for feed and food in Europe by overcoming the remaining barriers for increasing the economic viability of the insect value chain and opening markets by combining forces in a comprehensive multi-actor consortium. The overall project objective is to test, pilot and demonstrate recently developed technologies, products and processes, to realize a shift up to Technology Readiness Level 6 or higher. In addition to these crucial activities, the project engages with stakeholders in the insect protein supply chain for feed and food by living labs and workshops. These actions provide the necessary knowledge and data for actors in the insect value chain to decrease the cost price of insect products, process insects more efficiently and market insect protein applications in animal feed and regular human diets that are safe and sustainable. This paves the way for further upscaling and commercialization of the European insect sector.

Maternal Stress and Early Neurodevelopment: Exploring the Protective Role of Maternal Growth Mindset

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to test associations between maternal stress, maternal mindset, and infant neurodevelopment at 12 months of age. Specifically, we sought to examine the extent to which maternal growth mindsets may serve to attenuate the negative associations between maternal stress and infants' neurodevelopment.

METHODS

The current exploratory study leverages data from a longitudinal cohort study following mother-infant dyads. Maternal-perceived stress, maternal mindset, and infant electroencephalography (EEG) recordings were collected when infants were 12 months of age. The final analytic sample included 33 dyads.

RESULTS

Results revealed no statistically significant main effects of maternal stress or maternal mindset for any of the infant EEG frequency band outcomes. After including interactions between maternal stress and mindset, statistically significant positive interactions were detected for all EEG frequency bands. Simple slope tests revealed significant negative associations between maternal stress and each of the 6 EEG frequency bands for mothers with more fixed-oriented mindsets. Associations between maternal stress and infant EEG outcomes for mothers with more growth-oriented mindsets did not differ from 0.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that infants raised by mothers with growth mindsets may be protected against the neurodevelopmental consequences of higher maternal stress.

Educational Neuroscience Training for Teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Construction

The attention to the laws of the brain and the mechanism of learning in the smart education era becomes the starting point for the convergence and development of education and neuroscience, which also inspired educational neuroscience (EN) affecting the teacher’s development. Although teachers always have a general curiosity about EN and its applications, the limited knowledge hinders their general practice, neuromyths begin to emerge, and there is no evidence to directly show the connection between EN and teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) knowledge. Based on an EN teacher training program for 216 teachers, this study verifies that EN training programs can promote teachers’ understanding of EN-related knowledge, and EN is also correlated to teachers’ TPACK. However, the EN training program does not promote high well-being and satisfaction. The research also analyzes the process of teachers’ EN knowledge dissemination based on interviews, and the research conclusion can further reveal the necessity of EN training for teachers in the future.

Incremental intelligence mindset, fear of failure, and academic coping

Guided by the implicit theories of intelligence (ITI) and the cognitive–motivational–relational theory of emotion and coping, the current cross-sectional study aimed to test the effects of students’ incremental view of intelligence (i.e., growth mindset) in coping with academic underachievement and the potential mediating role of the fear of failure (FOF). A total of 444 Chinese undergraduate students, aged 18 to 25 years old ( M = 19.76, SD = 1.48, 53.4% were female), voluntarily completed the paper-and-pencil questionnaire. A partial mediational model showed good fit with the survey data. Growth mindset had a positive direct effect on problem-focused coping (PFC) and a negative effect on FOF. FOF had a positive effect on emotion-focused coping (EFC) but not PFC. The bootstrapping results showed that growth mindset had an indirect negative effect on EFC via FOF. Our findings provide further evidence that ITI can affect different coping styles, specifically in the domain of academic failure. Growth mindset directly promoted remedial coping and prevented disengagement-oriented coping in the context of negative academic outcomes through lessening the fear of subsequent aversive consequences of failure.

Mindset and team communication in pharmacists: Examination of pharmacist's self-views

OBJECTIVES

Pharmacists provide care in a complex adaptive system, which requires action and teamwork to address unexpected outcomes. We assessed practicing pharmacists' self-views of growth mindset and team communication across multiple practice settings.

DESIGN

The validated Growth Mindset and Team Communication (GMTC) tool, a multicomponent quantitative and qualitative survey instrument was used to conduct a descriptive study of pharmacist self views.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Survey instrument was distributed electronically to all licensed North Carolina pharmacists.

OUTCOME MEASURES

The survey consisted of 4 sections: (1) growth mindset self-evaluation (14 questions), (2) team communication self-evaluation (13 questions), (3) description of previous teamwork experience (1 question), and (4) demographics (8 questions). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and responses to the open-ended question were assessed using qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 507 pharmacists participated in the survey. Participants reported primary practice settings, 42.1% in community, 38.9% in health system, and 17.3% in other settings, and 52.1% reported more than 20 years' total pharmacy experience. The total GMTC scale average score was 81.9 ± 7.9 out of 108 possible points. The growth mindset subscale indicated an overall average score of 43.5 ± 4.4 out of 56 possible points The team communication subscale indicated an overall average score of 38.3 ± 5.2 out of 52 possible points. The self-view of a growth mindset was not affected by years of pharmacy experience or primary practice site, but additional teamwork credentials were positively correlated with the overall GMTC score driven by the team communication subscale.

CONCLUSIONS

A growth mindset is prevalent among experienced pharmacists from multiple practice settings. Pharmacists recognize teamwork as an essential work element and rate their team communication skills highly.

Post-error slowing: Large scale study in an online learning environment for practising mathematics and language

The ability to monitor and adjust our performance is crucial for adaptive behaviour, a key component of human cognitive control. One widely studied metric of this behaviour is post-error slowing (PES), the finding that humans tend to slow down their performance after making an error. This study is a first attempt at generalizing the effect of PES to an online adaptive learning environment where children practise mathematics and language skills. This population was of particular interest since the major development of error processing occurs during childhood. Eight million response patterns were collected from 150,000 users aged 5 to 13 years old for 6 months, across 23 different learning activities. PES could be observed in most learning activities and greater PES was associated with greater post-error accuracy. PES also varied as a function of several variables. At the task level, PES was greater when there was less time pressure, when errors were slower, and in learning activities focusing on mathematical rather than language skills. At the individual level, students who chose the most difficult level to practise and had higher skill ability also showed greater PES. Finally, non-linear developmental differences in error processing were found, where the PES magnitude increased from 6 to 9-years-old and decreased from 9 to 13. This study shows that PES underlies adaptive behaviour in an educational context for primary school students.

Mindsets and Neural Mechanisms of Automatic Reactions to Negative Feedback in Mathematics in Elementary School Students

Neuroscientific research regarding mindsets is so far scarce, especially among children. Moreover, even though research indicates the importance of domain specificity of mindsets, this has not yet been investigated in neuroscientific studies regarding implicit beliefs. The purpose of this study was to examine general intelligence and math ability mindsets and their relations to automatic reactions to negative feedback in mathematics in the Finnish elementary school context. For this, event-related potentials of 97 elementary school students were measured during the completion of an age-appropriate math task, where the participants received performance-relevant feedback throughout the task. Higher growth mindset was marginally associated with a larger P300 response and significantly associated with a smaller later peaking negative-going waveform. Moreover, with the domain-specific experimental setting, we found a higher growth mindset regarding math ability, but not general intelligence, to be associated with these brain responses elicited by negative feedback regarding errors in math. This suggests that it might be important to address domain-specific and even academic-domain-specific beliefs in addition to general mindsets in research and practice.

Neural correlates of error-monitoring and mindset: Back to the drawing board?

The different ways students deal with mistakes is an integral part of mindset theory. While previous error-monitoring studies found supporting neural evidence for mindset-related differences, they may have been confounded by overlapping stimulus processing. We therefore investigated the relationship between mindset and event-related potentials (ERPs) of error-monitoring (response-locked Ne, Pe), with and without overlap correction. In addition, besides behavioral measures of remedial action after errors (post-error slowing and accuracy), we investigated their neural correlates (stimulus-locked N2). Results indicated comparable Ne, but larger Pe amplitudes in fixed-minded students; however, after overlap correction, the Pe results were rendered non-significant. A likely explanation for this overlap was a near-significant effect of mindset on the preceding stimulus P3. Finally, although N2 was larger for trials following errors, mindset was unrelated. The current study shows that the relationship between error-monitoring and mindset is more complex and should be reconsidered. Future studies are advised to explore stimulus processing as well, and if needed, to correct for stimulus overlap. In addition, contextual influences on and individual variation in error-monitoring need more scrutiny, which may contribute to refining mindset theory.

Comparing Biofeedback Types for Children With Residual /ɹ/ Errors in American English: A Single-Case Randomization Design

Purpose Research comparing different biofeedback types could lead to individualized treatments for those with residual speech errors. This study examines within-treatment response to ultrasound and visual-acoustic biofeedback, as well as generalization to untrained words, for errors affecting the American English rhotic /ɹ/. We investigated whether some children demonstrated greater improvement in /ɹ/ during ultrasound or visual-acoustic biofeedback. Each participant received both biofeedback types. Individual predictors of treatment response (i.e., age, auditory-perceptual skill, oral somatosensory skill, and growth mindset) were also explored. Method Seven children ages 9-16 years with residual rhotic errors participated in 10 treatment visits. Each visit consisted of two conditions: 45 min of ultrasound biofeedback and 45 min of visual-acoustic biofeedback. The order of biofeedback conditions was randomized within a single-case experimental design. Acquisition of /ɹ/ was evaluated through acoustic measurements (normalized F3-F2 difference) of selected nonbiofeedback productions during practice. Generalization of /ɹ/ was evaluated through acoustic measurements and perceptual ratings of pretreatment/posttreatment probes. Results Five participants demonstrated acquisition of practiced words during the combined treatment package. Three participants demonstrated a clinically significant degree of generalization to untreated words on posttreatment probes. Randomization tests indicated one participant demonstrated a significant advantage for visual-acoustic over ultrasound biofeedback. Participants' auditory-perceptual acuity on an /ɹ/-/w/ identification task was identified as a possible correlate of generalization following treatment. Conclusions Most participants did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference in acoustic productions between the ultrasound and visual-acoustic conditions, but one participant showed greater improvement in /ɹ/ during visual-acoustic biofeedback. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14881101.

How can we inspire nations of learners? An investigation of growth mindset and challenge-seeking in two countries

Here we evaluate the potential for growth mindset interventions (that teach students that intellectual abilities can be developed) to inspire adolescents to be "learners"-that is, to seek out challenging learning experiences. In a previous analysis, the U.S. National Study of Learning Mindsets (NSLM) showed that a growth mindset could improve the grades of lower-achieving adolescents, and, in an exploratory analysis, increase enrollment in advanced math courses across achievement levels. Yet, the importance of being a "learner" in today's global economy requires clarification and replication of potential challenge-seeking effects, as well as an investigation of the school affordances that make intervention effects on challenge-seeking possible. To this end, the present article presents new analyses of the U.S. NSLM (N = 14,472) to (a) validate a standardized, behavioral measure of challenge-seeking (the "make-a-math worksheet" task), and (b) show that the growth mindset treatment increased challenge-seeking on this task. Second, a new experiment conducted with nearly all schools in 2 counties in Norway, the U-say experiment (N = 6,541), replicated the effects of the growth mindset intervention on the behavioral challenge-seeking task and on increased advanced math course-enrollment rates. Treated students took (and subsequently passed) advanced math at a higher rate. Critically, the U-say experiment provided the first direct evidence that a structural factor-school policies governing when and how students opt in to advanced math-can afford students the possibility of profiting from a growth mindset intervention or not. These results highlight the importance of motivational research that goes beyond grades or performance alone and focuses on challenge-seeking. The findings also call attention to the affordances of school contexts that interact with student motivation to promote better achievement and economic trajectories. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The effect of acute exercise for reducing cognitive alterations associated with individuals high in anxiety

Single bouts of exercise have been observed to exhibit therapeutic benefits for reducing affective responses associated with anxiety. However, anxiety has also been found to relate to less efficient cognitive processing as well as a greater reliance on action monitoring processes. Given the extant body of evidence demonstrating that single bouts of exercise result in cognitive enhancements; the present investigation sought to determine the extent to which exercise might be effective at reducing these anxiety-related impairments in cognition. Using a randomized within-subjects crossover design in a sample of high-anxious and low-anxious college-aged adults, measures of inhibition, attention, and action monitoring were assessed before and after 20-min of either aerobic exercise or a cognitively engaging control condition during two separate, counterbalanced sessions. Findings from this investigation revealed that both high anxious and low anxious individuals exhibited enhancements in behavioral indices of performance on an inhibitory control task with faster and more accurate responses following 20 min of moderate intensity aerobic exercise. Additionally, both high anxious and low anxious individuals demonstrated exercise induced enhancements in the allocation of attentional resources (as indexed by P3 amplitude) as well as action monitoring (as indexed by ERN amplitude). Accordingly, these findings provide evidence consistent with broad-base claims regarding the benefits of exercise, suggesting that both high and low anxious individuals appear to incur cognitive benefits.

Nursing Students' Mindsets and Choice of Learning Strategies

BACKGROUND

Nursing students may not use the most effective learning strategies. Offering students an academic success model such as Dweck's mindset model may improve student learning. The influence of nursing students' mindsets on study strategies has not been explored.

PURPOSE

This study examined nursing students' mindset proclivity and choice of learning strategies.

METHODS

This descriptive, cross-sectional quantitative pilot study used a web-based survey to examine a national sample of 151 nursing students' mindsets and learning habits.

RESULTS

Students with a growth mindset demonstrated the use of more effective learning strategies than their fixed mindset peers.

CONCLUSIONS

Nurse educators need to assess student learning because half of the students in this study had never had anyone teach them how to learn effectively. Early evidence is emerging that the growth mindset model may hold promise as an academic success model for nursing education.

Emerging neurodevelopmental perspectives on mathematical learning

Strong foundational skills in mathematical problem solving, acquired in early childhood, are critical not only for success in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) fields but also for quantitative reasoning in everyday life. The acquisition of mathematical skills relies on protracted interactive specialization of functional brain networks across development. Using a systems neuroscience approach, this review synthesizes emerging perspectives on neurodevelopmental pathways of mathematical learning, highlighting the functional brain architecture that supports these processes and sources of heterogeneity in mathematical skill acquisition. We identify the core neural building blocks of numerical cognition, anchored in the posterior parietal and ventral temporal-occipital cortices, and describe how memory and cognitive control systems, anchored in the medial temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex, help scaffold mathematical skill development. We highlight how interactive specialization of functional circuits influences mathematical learning across different stages of development. Functional and structural brain integrity and plasticity associated with math learning can be examined using an individual differences approach to better understand sources of heterogeneity in learning, including cognitive, affective, motivational, and sociocultural factors. Our review emphasizes the dynamic role of neurodevelopmental processes in mathematical learning and cognitive development more generally.

Adaptive rescheduling of error monitoring in multitasking

The concurrent execution of temporally overlapping tasks leads to considerable interference between the subtasks. This also impairs control processes associated with the detection of performance errors. In the present study, we investigated how the human brain adapts to this interference between task representations in such multitasking scenarios. In Experiment 1, participants worked on a dual-tasking paradigm with partially overlapping execution of two tasks (T1 and T2), while we recorded error-related scalp potentials. The error positivity (Pe), a correlate of higher-level error evaluation, was reduced after T1 errors but occurred after a correct T2-response instead. MVPA-based and regression-based single-trial analysis revealed that the immediate Pe and deferred Pe are negatively correlated, suggesting a trial-wise trade-off between immediate and postponed error processing. Experiment 2 confirmed this finding and additionally showed that this result is not due to credit-assignment errors in which a T1 error is falsely attributed to T2. For the first time reporting a Pe that is temporally detached from its eliciting error event by a considerable amount of time, this study illustrates how reliable error detection in dual-tasking is maintained by a mechanism that adaptively schedules error processing, thus demonstrating a remarkable flexibility of the human brain when adapting to multitasking situations.

Mindsets in the clinic: Applying mindset theory to clinical psychology

Beliefs about the malleability of attributes, also known as mindsets, have been studied for decades in social-personality psychology and education. Here, I review the many applications of mindset theory to clinical psychology and psychotherapy. First, I review social psychological and cognitive neuroscience evidence that mindsets and mindset-related messages are, to a large extent, focused on emotional tolerance. Specifically, the growth mindset, or the belief that attributes are malleable, encourages confronting and tolerating anxiety, frustration, and disappointment in healthy and adaptive ways that promote resilience, whereas the fixed mindset and related messages discourage the experience of these emotions and often leads to helplessness. Second, I review the emerging research on the anxiety mindset and discuss its relevance to clinical work. A model is proposed illustrating connections between mindsets, emotion regulation strategies, treatment preferences, and outcomes. Case examples are used to illustrate practical applications. I conclude that mindsets can inform psychotherapy, research, and public policy.

Are post-error adjustments influenced by beliefs in free will? A failure to replicate Rigoni, Wilquin, Brass and Burle, 2013

In this pre-registered study, we tried to replicate the study by Rigoni et al. 2013 Cognition 127, 264-269. In the original study, the authors manipulated the participants' belief in free will in a between-subject design and subsequently measured post-error slowing (i.e. slower responses after an incorrect trial compared with a correct trial) as a marker of cognitive control. They found less post-error slowing in the group with reduced belief in free will (anti-free will group) compared with a control group in which belief in free will was not manipulated. In the present study, we used the same task procedure and the same free will manipulation (Crick text) in an attempt to replicate these findings. However, we used an online procedure and a larger sample size in order to address concerns about statistical power. Similar to the original study, we also used a questionnaire to measure beliefs in free will as an independent manipulation check. We found a difference in the scores on the questionnaire, thus a reduced belief in free will, after reading the Crick text. However, we did not find any difference in post-error slowing between the anti-free will and control groups. Our findings are in line with several other recent findings suggesting that the Crick text manipulation affects the participants' self-reported belief in free will but not their behaviour. The present study can be considered a high-powered failed replication attempt.

Cognitive Persistence and Executive Function in the Multilingual Brain During Aging

Researchers have debated the extent to which the experience of speaking more than two languages induces long-term neuroplasticity that protects multilinguals from the adverse cognitive effects of aging. In this review, I propose a novel theory that multilingualism affects cognitive persistence, the application of effort to improve performance on challenging tasks. I review recent evidence demonstrating that the cingulo-opercular network, consisting of the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), supports cognitive persistence. I then show that this same network is involved in multilingual language control and changes with multilingual language experience. While both early and late multilinguals exhibit differences in the cingulo-opercular network compared to monolinguals, I find that early multilinguals have a pattern of decreased dACC activity and increased left IFG activity that may enable more efficient cognitive control, whereas late multilinguals show larger dACC responses to conflict that may be associated with higher cognitive persistence. I further demonstrate that multilingual effects on the cingulo-opercular network are present in older adults and have been implicated in the mitigation of cognitive symptoms in age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Finally, I argue that mixed results in the literature are due, in part, to the confound between cognitive persistence and ability in most executive function tasks, and I provide guidance for separating these processes in future research.

M-LoCUS: A Scalable Intervention Enhances Growth Mindset and Internal Locus of Control in Undergraduate Students in STEM

Student self-beliefs regarding intelligence and ability have been shown to correspond to achievement and persistence in an academic domain. Specifically, previous research has suggested that a growth mindset-or the belief that intelligence is malleable and can increase with effort-is associated with student success. Locus of control is a related but distinct self-belief regarding personal agency over various academic and nonacademic outcomes and has also been associated with study skills and academic persistence. However, academic interventions targeting student mindsets and loci of control have remained relatively underexplored, specifically in the context of undergraduate STEM education. Here, we describe the development and assessment of an intervention encouraging students to adopt a growth mindset and internal locus of control. This five-part intervention is administered entirely online and is therefore independent of individual instructor variability. We administered the intervention in five introductory biology courses and show that the intervention was successful in impacting student mindsets and loci of control across various demographics.

Psychometric validation of a growth Mindset and Team Communication Tool to measure self-views of growth mindset and team communication skills

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to develop and conduct psychometric validation of a tool to assess self-views of a growth mindset and team communication skills among pharmacists.

DESIGN

The Mindset and Team Communication Tool was developed to assess self-views of growth mindset and team communication. The survey consisted of 2 parts: (1) 14 items on growth mindset and (2) 13 items on team communication; a 4-point Likert scale of agreement was used as an option to answer all items.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

The survey was administered to first-year student pharmacists from 2017 to 2019. The participants completed a presurvey at the beginning of the semester and a postsurvey at the end of the semester (3-month follow-up period).

OUTCOME MEASURES

Psychometric validation was performed by assessing the following properties: face and content validity, internal consistency reliability, construct validity, test-retest reliability, responsiveness validity, and convergent validity.

RESULTS

A total of 174 participants completed both the pre- and postsurvey (response rate = 92.7%). Internal consistency reliability demonstrated a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.827. Construct validity showed that all measures, except for 6 items, loaded highly onto 2 components. Test-retest reliability revealed a statistically significantly positive relationship between the pre- and postsurvey scores. Responsiveness validity demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in the score when an intervention was provided. Convergent validity showed no correlation between the tool score and course grades.

CONCLUSION

The Mindset and Team Communication Tool demonstrated validity and reliability across a robust set of psychometric values and provides a foundation to describe pharmacists' self-views and explore associations of these views with behavior in teamwork-based environments.

Cultural Variation in the Effectiveness of Feedback on Students' Mistakes

One of the many things teachers do is to give feedback on their students’ work. Feedback pointing out mistakes may be a key to learning, but it may also backfire. We hypothesized that feedback based on students’ mistakes may have more positive effects in cultures where teachers have greater authority over students, which we assume to be cultures that are high on power distance and religiosity. To test this hypothesis we analyzed data from 49 countries taking part in the 2015 wave of the TIMSS assessment, in which students in the 4th and 8th grades were asked whether their teachers in mathematics and science told them how to do better when they had made a mistake. For each country we could then estimate the association between the reported use of mistake-based feedback and student achievement. Consistent with our hypothesis, the estimated effect of mistake-based feedback was positive only in certain countries, and these countries tended to be high on power distance and religiosity. These results highlight the importance of cultural values in educational practice.

Towards trauma-informed legal practice: a review

Vicarious or secondary trauma experience has always been part of legal practice although many do not acknowledge the risk it can have on the mental health, well-being and performance of legal professionals. The listening to, observing and then detailing of traumatic events for the purposes of legal process in some cases may harm lawyers who need to work closely with clients, victims and witnesses. This article reviews the research on trauma in many areas of professional human services that could inform and improve our understanding of legal practice. It examines the discursive history of trauma and recent studies on lawyer well-being, before discussing the controversies about recognising vicarious trauma and the stigma against mental health concerns in the legal profession. The article concludes by reviewing options to assist law firms in considering trauma-informed policy, practices and supervision strategies and to help individual lawyers recognise the value of self-care.

Effectiveness of a Digital Lifestyle Change Program in Obese and Type 2 Diabetes Populations: Service Evaluation of Real-World Data

Background

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity is increasing, and the way people interact with health care is evolving. People traditionally access advice and support to improve their lifestyle and learn more about the self-management of T2DM in a face-to-face setting. Although these services have a strong evidence base, they have limitations for reaching specific groups of people. Digital programs could provide a new delivery model to help more people access health education and behavior change support, but long-term data supporting these programs are limited.

Objective

The purpose of this service evaluation was to analyze the weight change of people who participated in OurPath (also known as Second Nature), a UK-based digital lifestyle change program, for either weight management or diabetes-related weight management and structured education at 6 and 12 months.

Methods

Participants either paid to access the program privately (self-funded clients) or were referred by their general practitioner to participate in the program free of charge (funded by the National Health Service). Additional follow-up support was provided to help people to maintain lifestyle changes. To retrospectively assess potential weight loss, the analysis included data from participants who submitted weight readings at baseline and 6 and 12 months after starting the program. Changes in weight after 6 and 12 months were primary outcome measures.

Results

For the 896 participants who submitted baseline and 6- and 12-month data, a significant change in mean weight of −7.12 kg (−7.50%; SD 6.37; P<.001) was observed at 6 months. Data from the same participants at 12 months showed a change in mean weight when compared with a baseline of −6.14 kg (−6.48%; SD 6.97; P<.001).

Conclusions

The data presented here had several limitations, and there were too many uncertainties to make any reliable conclusions. However, these results suggest that digital lifestyle change programs could provide a new way to help people to access nutritional advice and support to achieve weight loss. Further research into digital education and coaching platforms is needed to establish their effectiveness.

On Variation in Mindfulness Training: A Multimodal Study of Brief Open Monitoring Meditation on Error Monitoring

A nascent line of research aimed at elucidating the neurocognitive mechanisms of mindfulness has consistently identified a relationship between mindfulness and error monitoring. However, the exact nature of this relationship is unclear, with studies reporting divergent outcomes. The current study sought to clarify the ambiguity by addressing issues related to construct heterogeneity and technical variation in mindfulness training. Specifically, we examined the effects of a brief open monitoring (OM) meditation on neural (error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe)) and behavioral indices of error monitoring in one of the largest novice non-meditating samples to date (N = 212). Results revealed that the OM meditation enhanced Pe amplitude relative to active controls but did not modulate the ERN or behavioral performance. Moreover, exploratory analyses yielded no relationships between trait mindfulness and the ERN or Pe across either group. Broadly, our findings suggest that technical variation in scope and object of awareness during mindfulness training may differentially modulate the ERN and Pe. Conceptual and methodological implications pertaining to the operationalization of mindfulness and its training are discussed.

Feedback Valence Agency Moderates the Effect of Pre-service Teachers' Growth Mindset on the Relation Between Revising and Performance

It is often assumed that having a choice in the learning process may benefit performance and learning. Concomitantly, it is believed that learning choices (e.g., seeking critical or confirmatory feedback) are due to mindset. However, the relation between choices and mindset is still a matter of debate: it is not known whether mindset interferes with the decision to seek critical feedback, the response to critical feedback, or both. This experiment investigates for the first time whether feedback valence agency moderates the effect of mindset on the relation between learning behaviors and learning outcomes. Participants were n = 120 pre-service teachers who were randomly assigned to one of two conditions, Choose (n = 68) and Assign (n = 52), and designed three posters in Posterlet, a game that assessed their learning behaviors (critical feedback and revising) and poster performance. Then, they completed a learning post-test that also included a mindset survey. Results reveal similar non-significant correlation patterns of mindset with learning behaviors and learning outcomes in both conditions. Feedback valence agency (i.e., condition) moderates the effect of growth mindset on the relation between revision and performance: students who choose to revise their posters more often (i.e., at least twice) perform significantly better when they endorse higher rather than lower levels of growth mindset but only when feedback valence is chosen rather than assigned. Theoretical implications indicate that feedback valence agency moderates the effect of growth mindset in driving how students respond to their own learning choices to improve their performance.

Error monitoring and daily life executive functioning

Error monitoring during task execution is reflected in post-error slowing (PES), which refers to the tendency to slow down performance after making an error in order to prevent future mistakes. The key question of the present study is whether poor error monitoring (reduced magnitude of PES) has negative consequences for daily life executive function skills, as well as functioning in different life settings such as work, family, social, and academic settings. Eighty-five university students performed a lexical decision task and completed The Executive Function Index Scale (EFI), and the Weiss Functional Impairments Rating Scale (WFIRS). Individual academic achievement was measured using the Grade Point Average. Statistical analysis revealed that a decreased magnitude of PES was weakly associated with less efficient planning (one of the executive functions). Results suggest that error monitoring, as measured by PES, was not associated with functioning in a naturalistic environment, but could be interpreted to some extent as an experimental marker of planning in daily life executive functioning.

"A" for Effort: Rewarding Effortful Retrieval Attempts Improves Learning From General Knowledge Errors in Women

Previous research has shown that the prospect of attaining a reward can promote task-engagement, up-regulate attention toward reward-relevant information, and facilitate enhanced encoding of new information into declarative memory. However, past research on reward-based enhancement of declarative memory has focused primarily on paradigms in which rewards are contingent upon accurate responses. Yet, findings from test-enhanced learning show that making errors can also be useful for learning if those errors represent effortful retrieval attempts and are followed by corrective feedback. Here, we used a challenging general knowledge task to examine the effects of explicitly rewarding retrieval effort, defined as a semantically plausible answer to a question (referenced to a semantic knowledge database www.mangelslab.org/bknorms), regardless of response accuracy. In particular, we asked whether intermittent rewards following effortful incorrect responses facilitated learning from corrective feedback as measured by incidental learning outcomes on a 24-48 h delayed retest. Given that effort-contingent extrinsic rewards represent the intersection between an internal locus of control and competency, we compared participants in this "Effort" group to three other groups in a between-subjects design: a Luck group that framed rewards as related to participant-chosen lottery numbers (reward with internal control, not competence-based), a random Award group that framed rewards as computer generated (no control, not competence-based), and a Control group with no reward, but matched on all other task features. Both men and women in the Effort group showed increased self-reports of concentration and positive feelings following the receipt of rewards, as well as subjective effort on the retest, compared to the Control group. However, only women additionally exhibited performance benefits of effort framing on error correction. These benefits were found for both rewarded and non-rewarded trials, but only for correction of low confidence errors, suggesting that effort-contingent rewards produced task-level changes in motivation to learn less familiar information in women, rather than trial-level influences in encoding or consolidation. The Luck and Award groups did not demonstrate significant motivational or behavioral benefits for either gender. These results suggest that both reward context and gender are important factors contributing to the effectiveness of rewards as tools to enhance learning from errors.

Intelligence mindset shapes neural learning signals and memory

Intelligence mindset, which denotes individual beliefs about whether intelligence is fixed versus malleable, shapes academic success, but the neural mechanisms underlying mindset-related differences in learning are unknown. Here, we probe the effects of individual differences in mindset on neural responses to negative feedback after a competence threat manipulation. We hypothesized that when their competence was threatened, participants with fixed mindsets would interpret further negative feedback as punishing. After receiving either no score or a competence-threatening IQ score, participants performed a learning task with feedback that emphasized either the evaluative or informational weight of negative feedback. Participants who experienced the competence threat had the strongest predictive relationships between mindset, performance, and caudate activation. The competence threat may have compounded the subjective punishment of negative feedback for fixed mindsets relative to growth mindsets, causing poorer learning from negative feedback in the evaluative context and inflexible striatal responses to negative feedback across feedback contexts.

Mathematical mindsets increase student motivation: Evidence from the EEG

Mathematical mindset theory suggests learner motivation in mathematics may be increased by opening problems using a set of recommended ideas. However, very little evidence supports this theory. We explore motivation through self-reports while learners attempt problems formulated according to mindset theory and standard problems. We also explore neural correlates of motivation and felt-affect while participants attempt the problems. Notably, we do not tell participants what mindset theory is and instead simply investigate whether mindset problems affect reported motivation levels and neural correlates of motivation in learners. We find significant increases in motivation for mindset problems compared to standard problems. We also find significant differences in brain activity in prefrontal EEG asymmetry between problems. This provides some of the first evidence that mathematical mindset theory increases motivation (even when participants are not aware of mindset theory), and that this change is reflected in brain activity of learners attempting mathematical problems.

Expectations about the source of a speaker's accent affect accent adaptation

When encountering speakers whose accents differ from the listener's own, listeners initially show a processing cost, but that cost can be attenuated after short term exposure. The extent to which processing foreign accents (L2-accents) and within-language accents (L1-accents) is similar is still an open question. This study considers whether listeners' expectations about the source of a speaker's accent-whether the speaker is purported to be an L1 or an L2 speaker-affect intelligibility. Prior work has indirectly manipulated expectations about a speaker's accent through photographs, but the present study primes listeners with a description of the speaker's accent itself. In experiment 1, native English listeners transcribed Spanish-accented English sentences in noise under three different conditions (speaker's accent: monolingual L1 Latinx English, L1-Spanish/L2-English, no information given). Results indicate that, by the end of the experiment, listeners given some information about the accent outperformed listeners given no information, and listeners told the speaker was L1-accented outperformed listeners told to expect L2-accented speech. Findings are interpreted in terms of listeners' expectations about task difficulty, and a follow-up experiment (experiment 2) found that priming listeners to expect that their ability to understand L2-accented speech can improve does in fact improve intelligibility.

Mindsets: A View From Two Eras

A growth mindset is the belief that human capacities are not fixed but can be developed over time, and mindset research examines the power of such beliefs to influence human behavior. This article offers two personal perspectives on mindset research across two eras. Given recent changes in the field, the authors represent different generations of researchers, each focusing on different issues and challenges, but both committed to "era-bridging" research. The first author traces mindset research from its systematic examination of how mindsets affect challenge seeking and resilience, through the ways in which mindsets influence the formation of judgments and stereotypes. The second author then describes how mindset research entered the era of field experiments and replication science, and how researchers worked to create reliable interventions to address underachievement-including a national experiment in the United States. The authors conclude that there is much more to learn but that the studies to date illustrate how an era-bridging program of research can continue to be generative and relevant to new generations of scholars.