1,720,991 research outputs found
Biotransformation of unsaturated aldehydes by microorganisms with pyruvate decarboxylase activity
No full textConsidering transmission impairments in configuring wavelength routed optical networks
Full text linkA comparison of local-global visuospatial processing in autism spectrum disorder, nonverbal learning disability, ADHD and typical development
No full textBackground: Research on visuospatial functioning has revealed cognitive challenges for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), nonverbal learning disability (NLD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These disorders are characterized by some overlapping symptoms, making their diagnosis a challenge. Aims: The study aims to clarify the role of visuospatial abilities in their neuropsychological profiles by investigating different visuospatial domains and their interplay with the local-global processing. Method and procedures: Participants (N = 150) with ASD, NLD, or ADHD were compared with typically-developing (TD) children on visuospatial processing speed, visuo-perceptual abilities, visuo-constructive abilities, and visuospatial working memory. Generalized mixed-effects models were performed and receiver operating characteristic curves were estimated to express the usefulness of a local-global processing index in discriminating groups. Outcomes and results: The NLD group was impaired in all domains; children with ADHD revealed a heterogeneous profile, with greater impairments in visuospatial processing speed; ASD and TD groups were comparable. The local-global processing index had predictive power in discriminating among groups in visuo-constructive task. Conclusions and implications: The study of visuospatial abilities of children with ASD, NLD and ADHD might help to understand strengths and weaknesses in their neuropsychological profile and to differentiate between them. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed
Let’s face it! The role of social anxiety and executive functions in recognizing others’ emotions from faces: Evidence from autism and specific learning disorders
Full text linkYouth with different developmental disorders might experience challenges when dealing with facial emotion recognition (FER). By comparing FER and related emotional and cognitive factors across developmental disorders, researchers can gain a better understanding of challenges and strengths associated with each condition. The aim of the present study was to investigate how social anxiety and executive functioning might underlie FER in youth with and without autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and specific learning disorders (SLD). The study involved 263 children and adolescents between 8 and 16 years old divided into three groups matched for age, sex, and IQ: 60 (52 M) with ASD without intellectual disability, 63 (44 M) with SLD, and 140 (105 M) non-diagnosed. Participants completed an FER test, three executive functions’ tasks (inhibition, updating, and set-shifting), and parents filled in a questionnaire reporting their children’s social anxiety. Our results suggest that better FER was consistent with higher social anxiety and better updating skills in ASD, while with lower social anxiety in SLD. Clinical practice should focus on coping strategies in autistic youth who could feel anxiety when facing social cues, and on self-efficacy and social worries in SLD. Executive functioning should also be addressed to support social learning in autism
The Processes Underlying Positive Illusory Bias in ADHD: The Role of Executive Functions and Pragmatic Language Skills
No full textObjective: Children with ADHD often show a positive illusory bias (PIB), reporting an extremely positive idea of their own competence, despite their difficulties. The mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are still poorly understood. In the present study, we examined social PIB and investigated the role of executive functions (EFs) and pragmatic language (PL). Method: Forty-one children with ADHD and 42 typically-developing children matched on age, IQ, and receptive language were administered measures of social competence, EFs and PL. The parents were also asked to estimate their child’s social competence. Results: There was evidence of social difficulties and PIB in children with ADHD. Only PL, not EFs, seemed to mediate the association between ADHD and PIB. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that PL abilities should be considered in efforts to improve self-perception in children with ADHD
Spatial Perspective-Taking in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Predictive Role of Visuospatial and Motor Abilities
Full text linkDespite its impact on everyday functioning, spatial perspective-taking has rarely been investigated in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and previous findings are surprisingly sparse and inconsistent. In the present study, we aimed to investigate spatial perspective-taking abilities in children and adolescents with ASD without intellectual disabilities, comparing them with a group of typically developing (TD) peers. Our objectives were: (i) to test similarities and differences between these groups in a spatial perspective-taking task; and (ii) to see whether similar or different underlying processes (i.e., fine and gross motor skills, and visuospatial abilities) might account for the groups’ performance in the spatial perspective-taking task. A group of children with ASD (N = 36) was compared with a TD group (N = 39), aged from 8 to 16 years. Participants were administered tasks assessing spatial perspective-taking, fine and gross motor skills, visuo-constructive abilities, visuospatial working memory, visual imagery, and mental rotation. Our results revealed that the ASD group had more difficulty with the spatial perspective-taking task than the TD group. The two groups also had some shared and some different processes that predicted their perspective-taking performance: a significant predictive effect of fine motor skills and visuospatial working memory emerged for both groups, while gross motor skills (i.e., walking heel-to-toe) and visuospatial imagery only revealed a role in the TD group. These findings suggest that different abilities might account for the two groups’ performance in the spatial perspective-taking task. Gross motor skills and complex visuospatial abilities seem to be more important in sustaining spatial perspective-taking ability in typical development than in the event of ASD. Some of the clinical and educational implications of these findings are discussed
A cross-task comparison on visuospatial processing in autism spectrum disorders
No full textThis study aimed to draw a cross-task comparison on visuospatial processing in autism spectrum disorder without intellectual disability. Participants with autism spectrum disorder were matched with typically developing individuals on general intelligence and perceptual reasoning index. The two groups were subsequently compared on visuospatial processing speed, visuo-perceptual, visuo-constructive, and visuospatial working memory tasks. Our results revealed similar performances between autism spectrum disorder and typically developing individuals on measures of visuospatial processing speed and visuospatial working memory. The autism spectrum disorder group showed slower reaction times than the typically developing group in the visuo-perceptual task, when stimuli were characterized by a minimum level of perceptual cohesiveness, revealing weaker spatial integration abilities. Concerning the visuo-constructive domain, no differences between the autism spectrum disorder and the typically developing group emerged for the unsegmented condition, revealing that our participants with autism spectrum disorder were similar to the typically developing group in the local analysis of the stimuli. The discussion takes into account the role of individual differences on visuospatial intelligence, task requirements, and cognitive domains to clarify the visuospatial processing skills of individuals with autism spectrum disorder
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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