368 research outputs found
Cross-frequency phase-amplitude coupling as a mechanism for temporal orienting of attention in childhood
No full text Temporal orienting of attention operates by biasing the allocation of cognitive and motor resources in specific moments in time, resulting in the improved processing of information from expected compared with unexpected targets. Recent findings have shown that temporal orienting operates relatively early across development, suggesting that this attentional mechanism plays a core role for human cognition. However, the exact neurophysiological mechanisms allowing children to attune their attention over time are not well understood. In this study, we presented 8- to 12-year-old children with a temporal cueing task designed to test (1) whether anticipatory oscillatory dynamics predict children's behavioral performance on a trial-by-trial basis and (2) whether anticipatory oscillatory neural activity may be supported by cross-frequency phase–amplitude coupling as previously shown in adults. Crucially, we found that, similar to what has been reported in adults, children's ongoing beta rhythm was strongly coupled with their theta rhythm and that the strength of this coupling distinguished validly cued temporal intervals, relative to neutral cued trials. In addition, in long trials, there was an inverse correlation between oscillatory beta power and children's trial-by-trial reaction, consistent with oscillatory beta power reflecting better response preparation. These findings provide the first experimental evidence that temporal attention in children operates by exploiting oscillatory mechanism. </jats:p
Coherent motion evoked potentials in children
No full textIn this project we investigate coherent motion evoked potentials in children aged 6 to 12 years and adults.
Related manuscript:
'Neural dynamics underlying coherent motion perception in children and adults'
Catherine Manning, Blair Kaneshiro, Peter J. Kohler,
Mihaela Duta, Gaia Scerif, and Anthony M. Norci
sj-docx-1-ndy-10.1177_27546330241229004 - Supplemental material for ‘A storm of post-it notes’: Experiences of perceptual capacity in autism and ADHD
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-1-ndy-10.1177_27546330241229004 for ‘A storm of post-it notes’: Experiences of perceptual capacity in autism and ADHD by Brian Irvine, Freya Elise, Jana Brinkert, Daniel Poole, Emily K. Farran, Elizabeth Milne, Gaia Scerif, Laura Crane and Anna Remington in Neurodiversity</p
Executive function and pre-academic skills in preschoolers from South Africa
No full textBackground: While there is now considerable evidence in support of a relationship between executive function (EF) and academic success, these findings almost uniformly derive from Western and high-income countries. Yet, recent findings from low- to -middle-income countries have suggested that patterns of EF and academic skills differ in these contexts, but there is little clarity on the extent, direction and nature of their association.Aim: This study aimed to investigate the contribution of EF to pre-academic skills in a sample of preschool children (N = 124; Mage = 50.91 months; 45% female).Setting: Two preschools were recruited from an urban setting in a community with both formal and informal housing, overcrowding, high levels of crime and violence, and poor service delivery. Three preschools were recruited from rural communities with household plots, a slow rate of infrastructure development, reliance on open fires for cooking, limited access to running water and rudimentary sanitation.Methods: Pre-academic skills were assessed using the Herbst Early Childhood Development Criteria test, and EF was assessed using the Early Years Toolbox.Results: Although EF scores appeared high and pre-academic skills were low (in norm comparisons), EF inhibition (ß = 0.23, p = 0.001) and working memory (ß = 0.25, p < 0.001) nevertheless showed strong prediction of pre-academic skills while shifting was not significant.Conclusion: While EF is an important predictor of pre-academic skills even in this low- and middle-income country context, factors in addition to EF may be equally important targets to foster school readiness in these settings.Contribution: The current study represents a first step towards an understanding of the current strengths that can be leveraged, and opportunities for additional development, in the service of preparing all children for the demands of school
Children with sex chromosome trisomies: parental disclosure of genetic status
No full textSex chromosome trisomies (SCTs) are frequently diagnosed, both prenatally and postnatally, but the highly variable childhood outcomes can leave parents at a loss on whether, when and how to disclose genetic status. In two complementary studies, we detail current parental practices, with a view to informing parents and their clinicians. Study 1 surveyed detailed qualitative data from focus groups of parents and affected young people with either Trisomy X or XYY (N=34 families). These data suggested that decisions to disclose were principally affected by the child’s level of cognitive, social and emotional functioning. Parents reported that they were more likely to disclose when a child was experiencing difficulties. In Study 2, standardised data on cognitive, social and emotional outcomes in 126 children with an SCT and 63 sibling controls highlighted results that converged with Study 1: logistic regression analyses revealed that children with the lowest levels of functioning were more likely to know about their SCT than those children functioning at a higher level. These effects were also reflected in the likelihood of parents to disclose to unaffected siblings, schools and general practitioners. In contrast, specific trisomy type and the professional category of the clinician providing the original diagnosis did not affect likelihood of disclosure. Our study emphasises the complex weighing up of costs and benefits that parents engage in when deciding whether to disclose a diagnosis
Things that make me special: A booklet for boys with XYY
No full text<p><em>You are welcome to download this free document. We are evaluating these materials and would love to have feedback from you - please tell us what you liked and what we could do better. Feedback can be sent via email to: Sarah Wynn [[email protected]].</em></p>
<p>This picture book is designed to accompany the booklet: "Information for parents who are considering whether to talk about an extra Y chromosome with their son and family members". It provides a simple explanation of how an extra chromosome can affect a child's development, but does not attempt to explain genetic mechanisms. </p>
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<p>If you would like a hard copy of either or both of these booklets, please contact Sarah Wynn at the email address above.</p>
<p>This work would not have been possible without the generous support of the Nuffield Foundation, and Unique. The research supporting this booklet was conducted at the University of Oxford and directed by Professor Dorothy Bishop and Professor Gaia Scerif.</p
What do Diana monkeys know about the focus of attention of a conspecific?
No full textConverging experimental and observational evidence suggests that some non-human primates are able to co-orient with shifts in visual attention, both of conspecifics and humans. However, the underlying cognitive mechanisms involved are unclear. To investigate attention-following in Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana diana), we used photographs of familiar conspecifics orienting towards one of two locations. A subject monkey was shown a photograph, and shortly afterwards a toy appeared at one location or the other. The toy’s position therefore either matched the location signalled by the head and body orientation of the photographed monkey (compatible), or was opposite to that location (incompatible). Overall, monkeys’ first inspections, total duration of looking, and number of looks were more likely to be directed to the compatible location, i.e. towards the direction of attention shown in the photograph. Furthermore, when a photograph of an adult monkey signalled attention to one location, but the toy appeared at the opposite (incompatible) location, subjects re-inspected the monkey photographs more often than when the toy appeared at the compatible location, suggesting a violation of expectancy. This effect was not the case if the photograph was of an immature animal. Our results show that attention-following was not limited to simple reflexive orienting by the monkeys, and that monkeys perceived a relationship existing between agent and object of attention.Postprin
Information for parents who are considering whether to talk about an extra Y chromosome with their son and family members
No full text<p><em>You are welcome to download this free document. We are evaluating these materials and would love to have feedback from you - please tell us what you liked and what we could do better. Feedback can be sent via email to: Sarah Wynn [[email protected]].</em></p>
<p>XYY may be discovered when a mother undergoes prenatal screening (amniocentesis or CVS), or after birth if a child has their chromosomes tested as part of a medical investigation. When an extra Y chromosome is discovered, parents have to decide whether to tell their son about this, and if so how to go about this. We found that this was an issue that concerned many parents but very little was known about how parents decide to tell their child or the process through which they do this.</p>
<p><br>On the basis of interviews with members of affected families, we developed a booklet for parents to help them consider these issues, as well as a companion picture book for children. If you would like a hard copy of either or both of these booklets, please contact Sarah Wynn at the email address above.</p>
<p><br>This work would not have been possible without the generous support of the Nuffield Foundation, and Unique. The research supporting this booklet was conducted at the University of Oxford and directed by Professor Dorothy Bishop and Professor Gaia Scerif.</p>
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Information for parents who are considering whether to talk about an extra X chromosome with their daughter and family members
No full text<p><em>You are welcome to download this free document. We are evaluating these materials and would love to have feedback from you - please tell us what you liked and what we could do better. Feedback can be sent via email to: Sarah Wynn [[email protected]].</em></p>
<p>Trisomy X (also known as Triple X syndrome) may be discovered when a mother undergoes prenatal screening (amniocentesis or CVS), or after birth if a child has their chromosomes tested as part of a medical investigation. When an extra X chromosome is discovered, parents have to decide whether to tell their daughter about this, and if so how to go about this. We found that this was an issue that concerned many parents but very little was known about how parents decide to tell their child or the process through which they do this.</p>
<p>On the basis of interviews with members of affected families, we developed a booklet for parents to help them consider these issues, as well as a companion picture book for children. If you would like a hard copy of either or both of these booklets, please contact Sarah Wynn at the email address above.</p>
<p>This work would not have been possible without the generous support of the Nuffield Foundation, and Unique. The research supporting this booklet was conducted at the University of Oxford and directed by Professor Dorothy Bishop and Professor Gaia Scerif.</p
Developing novel approaches in understanding anxiety-related attentional biases to threat
No full textAttention is guided by both endogenous cues, such as expectations stemming from memories, and by exogenous salience, such as stimuli conveying threat. The relative contribution of these cues in directing attention is in part determined by the dispositions of the observer. In particular, trait anxiety is proposed to be marked by excessive attention to, paired with subsequent difficulty in disengaging from, threatening material.
In this thesis, I explore the relationship between endogenous and exogenous sources of bias and how their relative weighting in guiding attention is modulated by trait anxiety. In particular, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 present studies that assessed how contextual memories and long-term spatial memories, respectively, interact with threat salience to guide attention in trait anxious individuals. Results of the study in Chapter 2 showed an inability in extracting spatial regularities from contexts containing faces, independent of emotion. Instead, the first study presented in Chapter 3 revealed that anxiety interfered with the recruitment of long-term memories when specifically threatening distracting information was presented. A follow-up study suggested that this interference was contingent on the duration between memory cue and target, with an elimination of anxiety-related impairments at short durations. In Chapter 4, I present a study that explored how age affects the relative input of memory cues and biases to threat in guiding attention, with findings revealing impaired recruitment of long-term memories in anxious older adults when threatening distractors were presented during memory retrieval. However, results also showed a puzzling deficit in memory recruitment, across distractor emotion, for non-anxious older adults. Chapter 5 presents the final study, the aim of which was to develop an experimental task capable of measuring the temporal dynamics of orienting attention toward and away from relevant and irrelevant threatening stimuli. The N2pc electrophysiological marker was used in order to obtain a precise measure of attentional selection. While anxiety was not included, the study was intended as a basis for future research regarding the chronometry of threat biases in trait anxiety. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses the findings from the various studies so as to form a cohesive understanding of the contributions that this research has made toward explaining anxiety-related attentional biases to threat. The chapter also discusses limitations of the studies and interesting avenues for future research that builds on the body of research presented in this thesis. </p
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