1,720,970 research outputs found
Assessing the three attentional networks and vigilance in the adolescence stages
Full text linkAttention involves three functionally and neuroanatomically distinct neural networks: alerting, orienting, and executive control. This study aimed to assess the attentional networks and vigilance in adolescents aged between 10 and 19 years using the attentional network test for interaction and vigilance (ANTI-V). One hundred and eighty-two adolescents divided into three groups (early adolescents, middle adolescents, late adolescents) participated in the study. The results indicate that after age 15, adolescents adopt a more conservative response strategy and increase the monitoring of self-errors. All the attentional networks seem to continue to develop during the age range considered in this study (10–19 y). Performance improved from early adolescence to middle adolescence and began to stabilize in late adolescence. Moreover, a low level of vigilance seems to harm alerting and orienting abilities
Development of attentional networks from childhood to adolescence and adulthood
No full textThe Attentional Network Test for Interaction and Vigilance is an experimental task which allows assessing the three attentional components (alerting, orienting, executive control) and their interactions simultaneously. This study aimed to evaluate the development of the attentional networks comparing children (N: 17; age 6-10 years), pre-adolescents (N: 53; 11-14 years), adolescents (N: 104; 15-18
years) and young adults (N: 57; 19-24 years). The results showed that reaction times became faster with increasing age. No significant effects for age group were observed for alerting and orienting effects while the Conflict effect significantly changed. Specifically, the attentional conflict resolution improves from children to pre-adolescents after which it remains stable in adolescents and adults. These
findings highlight that the tonic alertness (i.e., global reaction times) and the ability to solve conflictual information develops later respect to phasic alerting and orienting systems
The impact of bilingualism on executive functions in healthy adults
Full text linkApproximately half of the world’s population is bilingual or multilingual. The bilingual advantage theory claims that the constant need to control known languages that are always active in the brain to use the one suitable for each specific context improves cognitive functions, specifically executive functions. However, some authors do not agree on the bilingual effect, given the controversial results of studies on this topic. This doctoral thesis aims to analyze the impact of bilingualism on executive functions.
Two systematic reviews are presented in Chapters 1 and 3. The first is focused on investigating the effect of bilingualism on cognitive and motor inhibition; the second summarizes the results of studies that assessed language ability and executive functions using verbal fluency tasks.
Subsequently, three experimental chapters are presented. The first study investigated cognitive and motor inhibition in the bilingual population and the effect of the task on performance. The second study analyzed verbal fluency performance using various variables such as qualitative, quantitative, and time-course indices. The last study explored the impact of the language used to perform the verbal fluency task by comparing the performance of a bilingual group who completed the test using both the dominant language and the L2.
All chapters of the thesis are designed to investigate the effects that contribute to a bilingual advantage in executive functions. In general, the results of the two systematic reviews and the experimental data presented in this dissertation did not sustain the bilingual effect on the executive functions. The systematic review evidenced that the differences between language groups rarely emerge. The experimental studies failed to show differences in cognitive and motor inhibition ability, and no advantages in executive functioning emerge when considering the performance on the verbal fluency task. Moreover, bilinguals performed better when they completed the task in their dominant language
Executive functions in the elderly with Mild Cognitive Impairment: a systematic review on motor and cognitive inhibition, conflict control and cognitive flexibility
Full text linkBackground: Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a syndrome characterised by mild cognitive decline, on one or more domains, but which does not compromise daily functions. Several studies have investigated the relationship between MCI and deficit in executive functions (EFs) but, unlike robust evidence in the mnestic domain, the nature of executive deficits in the MCI population remains uncertain. Objectives: This systematic review aims to evaluate EFs in patients with MCI, considering inhibition (motor and cognitive), conflict control and cognitive flexibility. Method: The databases used for the search were PUBMED, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES and MEDLINE. Eligibility criteria: use of specific paradigms for EFs assessment ("Wisconsin Card Sorting Test", "Stroop Task", "Go/No-Go Task", "Flanker Task"); age over 65, studies published in English. Exclusion criteria: presence of dementia; psychiatric disorders; stroke; cranial trauma; inclusion of participants with MCI in groups with healthy elderly or those with dementia. Results: Fifty-five studies were selected, namely: Stroop Task (N=30), WCST (N=14), Go/No-Go (N=9), Flanker Task (N=2). Results have shown in people with MCI deficits in all the EFs considered. Conclusions: The results of this review support the applicability of the four experimental tasks examined for the study of EFs in people with MCI. These paradigms are useful in research, diagnosis and therapeutic purposes, allowing obtaining an articulated EFs profile that can compromise the daily life in elderly. These EFs are not generally evaluated by standard assessment of MCI, but their evaluation can lead to a better knowledge of MCI and help in the diagnosis and treatment
Attentional systems in Italians and Chileans children with ADHD: effects of two different education systems
No full textThe Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in childhood. This study aims to assess whether two different school integration strategies, Italian special education teacher and Chilean School Integration Program (PIE), can differently affect the efficiency and interactions of attentional systems in children with and without ADHD. Thirty-four Chilean
children/adolescents (17 ADHD, 17 Control) and 34 Italian children/adolescents (17 ADHD, 17 Control) aged between 6 and 15 completed the Attentional Network Test for Interaction and Vigilance, which allows evaluating the three attentional components (orienting, alerting, executive) simultaneously. The results showed that ADHD children were slower and less accurate respect to typically developing
children. Furthermore, ADHD groups, specifically the Chilean children showed a higher impairment in executive functioning. These finding could be explained by the different education systems that can influence differently executive performance
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
Age-Related Changes in Hemispherical Specialization for Attentional Networks
Full text linkMany cognitive functions face a decline in the healthy elderly. Within the cognitive domains,
both attentional processes and executive functions are impaired with aging. Attention includes three
attentional networks, i.e., alerting, orienting, and executive control, showing a hemispheric lateralized
pattern in adults. This lateralized pattern could play a role in modulating the efficiency of attentional
networks. For these reasons, it could be relevant to analyze the age-related change of the hemispheric
specialization of attentional networks. This study aims to clarify this aspect with a lateralized version
of the Attentional Network Test for Interaction (ANTI)-Fruit. One hundred seventy-one participants
took part in this study. They were divided in three age groups: youth (N = 57; range: 20–30); adults
(N = 57; range 31–64), and elderly/older people (N = 57; range: 65–87). The results confirmed the
previous outcomes on the efficiency and interactions among attentional networks. Moreover, an
age-related generalized slowness was evidenced. These findings also support the hypothesis of a
hemispheric asymmetry reduction in elderly/older adults.FONDECYT 1181472 of the National Commission for Scientific
and Technological Research of Chil
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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