A lack of background knowledge can hinder reading comprehension

August 26, 2019

Science Daily/Association for Psychological Science

The purpose of going to school is to learn, but students may find certain topics difficult to understand if they don't have the necessary background knowledge. This is one of the conclusions of a research article published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

"Background knowledge plays a key role in students' reading comprehension -- our findings show that if students don't have sufficient related knowledge, they'll probably have difficulties understanding text," says lead researcher Tenaha O'Reilly of Educational Testing Service (ETS)'s Center for Research on Human Capital in Education. "We also found that it's possible to measure students' knowledge quickly by using natural language processing techniques. If a student scores below the knowledge threshold, they'll probably have trouble comprehending the text."

Previous research has shown that students who lack sufficient reading skills, including decoding and vocabulary, fare poorly relative to their peers. But the research of O'Reilly and ETS colleagues Zuowei Wang and John Sabatini suggests that a knowledge threshold may also be an essential component of reading comprehension.

The researchers examined data from 3,534 high-school students at 37 schools in the United States. The students completed a test that measured their background knowledge on ecosystems. For the topical vocabulary section of the test, the students saw a list of 44 words and had to decide which were related to the topic of ecosystems. They also completed a multiple-choice section that was designed to measure their factual knowledge.

Then, after reading a series of texts on the topic of ecosystems, the students completed 34 items designed to measure how well they understood the texts. These comprehension items tapped into their ability to summarize what they had read, recognize opinions and incorrect information, and apply what they had read to reason more broadly about the content.

The researchers used a statistical technique called broken-line regression -- often used to identify an inflection point in a data set -- to analyze the students' performance.

The results revealed that a background-knowledge score of about 33.5, or about 59% correct, functioned as a performance threshold. Below this score, background knowledge and comprehension were not noticeably correlated; above the threshold score, students' comprehension appeared to increase as their background knowledge increased.

Additional results indicated that the pattern could not be fully explained by the level of students' knowledge on a different topic -- what mattered was their background knowledge of ecosystems.

The researchers found that students' ability to identify specific keywords was a fairly strong predictor whether they would perform above or below the threshold. That is, correctly identifying ecosystems, habitat, and species as topically relevant was more strongly linked with students' comprehension than was identifying bioremediation, densities, and fauna.

The findings underscore the importance of having reached a basic knowledge level to be able to read and comprehend texts across different subjects:

"Reading isn't just relevant to English Language Arts classes but also to reading in the content areas," says O'Reilly. "The Common Core State Standards highlight the increasing role of content area and disciplinary reading. We believe that the role of background knowledge in students' comprehension and learning might be more pronounced when reading texts in the subject areas."

The researchers plan to explore whether a similar kind of knowledge threshold emerges in other topic areas and domains; they note that it will be important to extend the research by focusing on diverse measures and populations.

If the pattern holds, the findings could have important applications for classroom teaching, given the availability of knowledge assessments that can be administered without taking valuable time away from instruction.

"If we can identify whether a given student does not have sufficient knowledge to comprehend a text, then teachers can provide background material -- for example, knowledge maps -- so that students have a context for the texts they are about to read," O'Reilly concludes.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190826092303.htm

Children of incarcerated parents have more substance abuse, anxiety

August 23, 2019

Science Daily/Duke University

Children of incarcerated parents are six times more likely than other children to develop a substance use disorder as adults and nearly twice as likely to have diagnosable anxiety, according to new research from the Center for Child and Family Policy at the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy.

In addition, children whose parents were incarcerated are more likely to encounter significant hurdles transitioning into adulthood, including being charged with a felony (35% vs. 11.5%), dropping out of high school (25.5% vs. 5.0%), becoming a teenage parent (14.3% vs. 2.8%), experiencing financial strain (37.2% vs. 17.5%), and being socially isolated (24.5% vs. 9.4%), the study found.

"The increased risk for adverse adult outcomes remained after accounting for childhood psychiatric status and other adversities, suggesting that parental incarceration is associated with profound and long-lasting effects for children," said co-author William E. Copeland of the University of Vermont, who conducted the research while at Duke. "This increased risk persisted whether the incarcerated parent was biologically related to the child or not. Risk for adverse adult outcomes increased further with each additional incarcerated parent figure."

The United States has among the highest incarceration rates in the world. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that over half of those who are incarcerated are parents of children under age 18.

With more than 2.7 million children experiencing a parent being sent to jail or prison, understanding the long-term health and social implications of incarceration for children is critical, the researchers say.

The study was published Friday in JAMA Network Open. Lead author Beth Gifford of Duke University and Copeland, principal investigator for the Great Smoky Mountains Study, along with colleagues from Duke, the University of Vermont and the University of Zurich, analyzed data gathered between 1993 and 2015 on the life experiences of children from the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina from age nine until age 30.

Researchers considered all adults who had significant responsibility for the child's discipline or care to be "parental figures." They also interviewed families as many as eight times during childhood. Using those methods, researchers identified a higher prevalence of incarceration by parental figures (23.9 percent) than the 8 to 11 percent previously documented in other population-based studies.

Incarceration rates for parental figures were higher among racial and ethnic minorities: 47.9 percent among American Indians and 42.7 percent among African-Americans, compared with 21.4 percent among whites. Parental incarceration cases overwhelmingly involved fathers (87.9 percent).

"Our findings point to the potentially high societal costs of incarcerating children's caregivers -- potentially for generations to come," said Gifford. "From a public health perspective, preventing parental incarceration could improve the well-being of children and young adults, as could aiding children and families once a parent figure has been incarcerated."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190823140734.htm

Can pomegranate juice protect the infant brain?

August 21, 2019

Science Daily/Brigham and Women's Hospital

In ongoing investigations, clinical researchers are exploring whether pomegranate juice intake during pregnancy can have a protective effect.

When it comes to protecting the newborn brain, taking steps to mitigate risk before birth may be critical. Some newborns, such as those with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), are at heightened risk. Being able to intervene before birth to aid in protecting the newborn brain may prevent the often-devastating effects of brain injury. In ongoing investigations, clinical researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital are exploring whether pomegranate juice intake during pregnancy can have a protective effect. In a paper appearing in PLOS One, the team presents its preliminary findings from a clinical trial of expectant mothers whose babies were diagnosed with IUGR. The exploratory study, supported by National Institute of Health Grants, The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital and an unrestricted gift from POM Wonderful, shows promise, with evidence of better brain development and brain connectivity in infants born to mothers who consumed pomegranate juice daily. A second, larger clinical trial is currently underway at the Brigham to validate these findings.

"Our study provides preliminary evidence suggesting potential protective effects for newborns exposed to pomegranate juice while in utero," said senior author Terrie Inder, MBCHB, chair of the Department of Pediatric Newborn Medicine at the Brigham. "These findings warrant continued investigation into the potential neuroprotective effects of polyphenols in at-risk newborns, such as those with hypoxic-ischemic injury."

In cases of IUGR, a baby in the womb is measuring small for its gestational age, often because of issues with the placenta, which brings oxygen and nutrients to the growing fetus. One out of every 10 babies is considered to have IUGR. The process of birth itself can further decrease blood flow or oxygen to the baby, including to the baby's brain. If this is very severe, it can result in a condition known as hypoxic-ischemic injury, which contributes to almost one-quarter of newborn deaths worldwide.

Polyphenols, which include tannic acid and ellagitannins, are part of a class of antioxidants found in many foods and beverages, including nuts, berries, red wine and teas. Pomegranate juice is a particularly rich source of these molecules. Polyphenols are known to cross the blood-brain barrier, and studies in animal models have demonstrated protective effects against neurodegenerative diseases. To date, no clinical studies had evaluated the potential effects of giving pregnant women pomegranate juice to protect the brains of at-risk newborns.

The current randomized, controlled, double-blinded study enrolled 78 mothers from Barnes-Jewish Hospital obstetric clinic in St. Louis with IUGR diagnosed at 24-43 weeks' gestation. Women were randomized to receive 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily or a taste/calorie matched placebo that was polyphenol free. Women drank the juice daily from enrollment until delivery. The team measured several aspects of brain development and injury, including infant brain macrostructure, microstructural organization and functional connectivity.

While the team did not observe differences in brain macrostructure, they did find regional differences in white matter microstructure and functional connectivity.

"These measures tell us about how the brain is developing functionally," said Inder. "We saw no difference in brain growth and baby growth, but we did see improvement in cabling network and brain development measured by synchronous blood flow and visual development of the brain."

The authors note that the findings warrant the need for a larger, rigorously designed clinical trial to allow continued investigation into the potential neuroprotective effects of polyphenols. Such a study is now underway at the Brigham.

"We plan to continue investigating these exciting findings," said Inder. "While the preliminary evidence shows promise, additional study and replication is needed."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190821142719.htm

Babbling babies' behavior changes parents' speech

August 21, 2019

Science Daily/Cornell University

New research shows baby babbling changes the way parents speak to their infants, suggesting that infants are shaping their own learning environments.

Researchers from Cornell University's Behavioral Analysis of Beginning Years (B.A.B.Y) Laboratory found that adults unconsciously modify their speech to include fewer unique words, shorter sentences, and more one-word replies when they are responding to a baby's babbling, but not when they are simply speaking to a baby.

"Infants are actually shaping their own learning environments in ways that make learning easier to do," said Steven Elmlinger, lead author of "The Ecology of Prelinguistic Vocal Learning: Parents Simplify the Structure of Their Speech in Response to Babbling." "We know that parents' speech influences how infants learn -- that makes sense -- and that infants' own motivations also change how they learn. But what hasn't been studied is the link between how infants can change the parents, or just change the learning environment as a whole. That's what we're trying to do."

In the study, 30 mother-infant pairs went to the lab's play space for 30-minute sessions on two consecutive days. The 9- and 10-month-old babies could roam freely around the environment, which was filled with toys, a toy box and animal posters. The babies wore overalls with hidden wireless microphones to record their speech, and were also videotaped by three remote-controlled digital video cameras.

Researchers measured parents' vocabulary and syntax, and calculated the change in babies' vocal maturity from the first to the second day. They found that babies whose mothers provided more learning opportunities -- by using simplified speech with fewer unique words and shorter utterances -- were faster learners of new speech sounds on the second day.

The research contributes to a growing body of work that demonstrates the important role infants play in shaping their own language learning environment. Interventions to improve at-risk children's learning should encourage people to be responsive to their baby's babbling, said senior author Michael Goldstein, associate professor of psychology.

"It's not meaningless," he said. "Babbling is a social catalyst for babies to get information from the adults around them."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190821125522.htm

A serious mental disorder in one's youth can have a lasting impact on employment prospects

August 21, 2019

Science Daily/University of Helsinki

Mental disorders experienced in adolescence and early adulthood that require hospital care are connected with low income, poor education and unemployment over the life span of individuals.

A recently completed Finnish study indicates that those who have been hospitalised due to a mental disorder before turning 25 have considerably poorer prospects on the labour market compared to the rest of the population. The risk of being absent from the labour market and not completing an upper secondary-level qualification or a higher degree is great.

The employment rate was the lowest among individuals who were hospitalised for schizophrenia. Of them, less than 10% were employed during the follow-up period of the study.

Less than half of the individuals hospitalised for mood disorders worked after the age of 25.

The earnings of people with serious mental disorders in their youth were quite low and did not improve later. More than half had no earnings over the follow-up period.

The extensive register-based study involved more than 2 million individuals living in Finland between 1988 and 2015, who were monitored between 25 and 52 years of age.

"People suffering from mental disorders drop out from the labour market for a wide range of reasons. However, opportunities for contributing to professional life and acquiring an education should already be taken into consideration at the early stages of treating serious mental disorders, provided the patient's condition allows it," states Christian Hakulinen, a postdoctoral researcher from the University of Helsinki.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190821105501.htm

A lack of self control during adolescence is not uniquely human

August 20, 2019

Science Daily/Cell Press

Impulsiveness in adolescence isn't just a phase, it's biology. And despite all the social factors that define our teen years, the human brain and the brains of other primates go through very similar changes, particularly in the areas that affect self-control. Two researchers review the adolescent brain across species on August 20 in the journal Trends in Neurosciences.

"As is widely known, adolescence is a time of heightened impulsivity and sensation seeking, leading to questionable choices. However, this behavioral tendency is based on an adaptive neurobiological process that is crucial for molding the brain based on gaining new experiences," says Beatriz Luna of the University of Pittsburgh, who co-authored the review with Christos Constantinidis of Wake Forest School of Medicine.

Structural, functional, and neurophysiological comparisons between us and macaque monkeys show that this difficulty in stopping reactive responses is similar in our primate counterparts -- who during puberty, also show limitations in tests where they have to stop a reactive response. "The monkey is really the most powerful animal model that comes closest to the human condition," says Constantinidis. "They have a developed prefrontal cortex and follow a similar trajectory with the same patterns of maturation between adolescence and adulthood."

Taking risks and having thrilling adventures during this period isn't necessarily a bad thing. "You don't have this perfect inhibitory control system in adolescence, but that's happening for a reason. It has survived evolution because it's actually allowing for new experiences to provide information about the environment that is critical form optimal specialization of the brain to occur," Luna says. "Understanding the neural mechanisms that underlie this transitional period in our primate counterparts is critical to informing us about this period of brain and cognitive maturation."

Human neurological development during this time is characterized by changes in structural anatomy -- there is an active pruning of redundant and un-used neural connections and a strengthening of white matter tracts throughout the brain that will determine the template for how the adult brain will operate. Specifically, by adolescence all foundational aspects of brain organization are in place and during this time they undergo refinements that will enable the most optimal way to operate to deal with the demands of their specific environment.

In particular, the development of neural activity patterns that allow for the preparation of a response seems to be a key element of this phase of development -- and essential to successful performance on self-control tasks.

This all suggests that self-control isn't just about the ability, in the moment, to inhibit a behavior. "Executive function involves not only reflexive responses but actually being prepared ahead of time to create an appropriate plan. This is the change between the adolescent and adult brain and it is strikingly clear both in the human data and in the animal data," says Constantinidis.

Ultimately, the authors believe that this phase of development is essential to shaping the adult brain. "It is important for there to be a period where the animal or the human is actively encouraged to explore because gaining these new experiences will help mold what the adult trajectories are going to be," says Luna. "It's important to have this conversation and comparison between human and animal models so that we can understand the neural mechanisms that underlie vulnerability during this time for impaired development such as in mental illness, which often emerges in adolescence, but importantly to inform us in how to find ways to correct those trajectories."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190820172110.htm

Low levels of vitamin D in elementary school could spell trouble in adolescence

August 20, 2019

Science Daily/University of Michigan

Vitamin D deficiency in middle childhood could result in aggressive behavior as well as anxious and depressive moods during adolescence, according to a new University of Michigan study of school children in Bogotá, Colombia.

Children with blood vitamin D levels suggestive of deficiency were almost twice as likely to develop externalizing behavior problems -- aggressive and rule breaking behaviors -- as reported by their parents, compared with children who had higher levels of the vitamin.

Also, low levels of the protein that transports vitamin D in blood were related to more self-reported aggressive behavior and anxious/depressed symptoms. The associations were independent of child, parental and household characteristics.

"Children who have vitamin D deficiency during their elementary school years appear to have higher scores on tests that measure behavior problems when they reach adolescence," said Eduardo Villamor, professor of epidemiology at the U-M School of Public Health and senior author of the study appearing in the Journal of Nutrition.

Villamor said vitamin D deficiency has been associated with other mental health problems in adulthood, including depression and schizophrenia, and some studies have focused on the effect of vitamin D status during pregnancy and childhood. However, few studies have extended into adolescence, the stage when behavior problems may first appear and become serious conditions.

In 2006, Villamor's team recruited 3,202 children aged 5-12 years into a cohort study in Bogotá, Colombia, through a random selection from primary public schools. The investigators obtained information on the children's daily habits, maternal education level, weight and height, as well as the household's food insecurity and socioeconomic status. Researchers also took blood samples.

After about six years, when the children were 11-18 years old, the investigators conducted in-person follow-up interviews in a random group of one-third of the participants, assessing the children's behavior through questionnaires that were administered to the children themselves and their parents. The vitamin D analyses included 273 of those participants.

While the authors acknowledge the study's limitations, including a lack of baseline behavior measures, their results indicate the need for additional studies involving neurobehavioral outcomes in other populations where vitamin D deficiency may be a public health problem.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190820130917.htm

Trauma begets trauma: Bullying associated with increased suicide attempts among 12-to-15-year-olds

International study finds bullying victimization is associated with suicide attempts across 48 countries

August 15, 2019

Science Daily/Elsevier

A new study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP), published by Elsevier, reports that bullying victimization may increase the risk of suicide attempts among young adolescents by approximately three-times worldwide.

"Globally, approximately 67,000 adolescents die of suicide each year and identifying modifiable risk factors for adolescent suicide is a public health priority," said lead author Ai Koyanagi, MD, and Research Professor at Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Deu, Barcelona, Spain.

The findings are based on nationally representative data collected through the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global School-based Student Health Survey, which is a school-based survey conducted in multiple countries across the globe.

The study included 134,229 school-going adolescents aged between 12 and 15 years from 48 countries across five WHO regions, including Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia, and the Western Pacific. The sample was comprised of nine high-income-, 33 middle-income-, and 6 low-income-countries.

The researchers found that more than 30 percent of the adolescents experienced bullying in the past 30 days. Adolescents who were bullied were approximately three-times more likely to report having attempted suicide than those who were not bullied regardless of region.

Dr. Koyanagi and her team also found that the greater number of days adolescents reported being bullied, the more likely they were to report a suicide attempt. When compared to participants who were not bullied, being bullied on more than 20 days in the past 30 was associated with a 5.51 times increased likelihood of reporting suicide attempts.

"The high prevalence of bullying victimization and the substantially heightened dose-dependent risk for suicide attempts among adolescent bullying victims, across multiple continents found in our study, point to the urgent need to implement effective and evidence-based interventions to address bullying for the prevention of adolescent suicides and suicide attempts worldwide," concluded Dr. Koyanagi.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190815160434.htm

Predictability of parent interaction positively influences child's development

August 15, 2019

Science Daily/University of Turku

Scientists have investigated the impact of the predictability of parent interaction on a child's development. The study showed that a higher predictability of the parent's interaction signals in infancy was associated with the child's ability to better control and regulate their own actions and emotions.

It has been recognised for a long time that a child's attachment and ability to regulate emotions are built on a reasonably good interaction with their parents. The importance of the quality of interaction is emphasised during the first few years, when the child's brain is still particularly sensitive to the effects of the environment. Sufficient predictability of the environment and interaction is thought to be an important factor in an infant's brain development.

The newly published joint study of the University of Turku, Finland, and the University of California-Irvine, US, used a novel method for analysing interaction between a parent and child. Professor Elysia Poggi Davis from the University of Denver, Professor Tallie Z. Baram from the University of California-Irvine, and their research groups have developed a completely new tool for studying the predictability of parents' interaction signals on a micro level called Estimation of Behavioral Entropy Rate.

"The method is used to objectively calculate how predictable interaction patterns are formed from a parent's single interaction signals. Its development was based on animal studies which showed that the predictability of interaction signals are connected to the development of the offspring's brain," says Professor Poggi Davis.

Predictable interaction has a positive effect on child's self-regulation

The study showed that a higher predictability of the parent's interaction signals in infancy was associated with the child's ability to better control and regulate their own actions and emotions.

"In other words, poorly predictable or intermittent interactions were associated with a poorer self-regulation in the child. The same result was found in both Finnish and Californian data, despite their socio-economic and cultural differences," explains Associate Professor Riikka Korja from the University of Turku.

The study supports the idea that it is important to have peaceful and uninterrupted moments of interaction with infants every day.

"Parents of young children should be provided with all the support they need to reduce stress. The parent's own self-regulation and ability of settling into their infant's early months is tied to their situation in life," adds Korja.

At present, it is especially important to study the unpredictability of the environment and its significance as interaction between the parent and infant is threatened by surprising interruptions, such as pressure of being online all the time and stress factors related to a hectic lifestyle.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190815113732.htm

Wiggling it beats a path for a better performance at school

August 15, 2019

Science Daily/Queensland University of Technology

Early childhood researchers have developed a fun rhythm and movement program to support young children's brains.

Marching, wiggling and tapping a beat aids young children to develop their self-regulation skills and improve school readiness, as shown in newly-published QUT early childhood research.

Associate Professor Kate Williams designed a low-cost preschool program focussing exclusively on rhythm and movement activities linked to pathways in the brain to support attentional and emotional development.

"Think heads, shoulders, knees and toes but do the actions backwards while you sing forwards. It tricks the brain into gear," Assoc Prof Williams said.

The Queensland study, involving 113 children from lower socioeconomic communities, measured the effectiveness of the program to boost self-regulation skills.

"Being able to control your own emotions, cognition and behaviours is an important predictor of school readiness and early school achievement," Assoc Prof Williams said.

"The aim is for regular sessions to be introduced into daily activities of young children to help support their attentional and emotional regulation skills, inhibition and working memory. We want all early childhood teachers to feel confident to run these fun and important activities."

The findings have been published in the international peer-reviewed journal Psychology of Music.

The study is a unique investigation about preschool children and the application of a rhythm and movement program to address socioeconomic-related school readiness and achievement gaps.

Assoc Prof Williams said differences in neurological processes can produce educational inequalities for young children who experience disadvantage. It's been identified by UNICEF as an international priority.

The study recognises what Assoc Prof Williams describes as the 'musician advantage' -- enhanced neural plasticity and executive functioning -- particularly among children given formal musical instruction.

"The children who have music lessons from a young age are often from families who can afford them," she said.

"The problem is that the children who most need the musician advantage miss out because it isn't affordable for all families to access highly quality music programs."

She said the benefits of early shared book reading between parents and children have long been established.

Another recent Australian study, led by Assoc Prof Williams, was the first to show that early shared music activities in the home also contributed to positive development.

The preschool program involved group sessions for 30 minutes twice a week across eight weeks, with stages becoming more challenging to stimulate change and development in self-regulation skills.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190815101544.htm

Guidelines for treatment of migraine in children and teens

August 14, 2019

Science Daily/American Academy of Neurology

For children and teens with migraine, the pain and symptoms that accompany migraine attacks can be debilitating, resulting in missed school days, absence from social or sporting events, and affected home activities. Now the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and the American Headache Society have developed two guidelines that include recommendations for preventing and treating migraine in children and teens. The guidelines are published in the August 14, 2019, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the AAN, and are endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Child Neurology Society as well as the American Headache Society. The guidelines update the 2004 AAN guideline on drug treatment of migraine in children and teens.

Migraine is a common neurologic disease marked by irregular attacks of moderate to severe headaches and related symptoms, including nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light and sound.

The guidelines looked at two areas: acute treatments to stop or lessen the pain and other symptoms during an attack and also treatments to prevent or reduce how often the migraine attacks occur and lower the impact of the disease on school, home and social functioning.

"We reviewed all of the available evidence, and the good news is that there are evidence-based treatments for children and teens that are effective for treating migraine attacks when they occur," said guideline lead author Maryam Oskoui, MD, MSc, of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. "However, most medications that are designed to prevent recurrent migraine attacks are only as good as placebo when used in children and there is little evidence to guide treatment of related symptoms such as nausea and sensitivity to light. It should be noted that these medications, as well as placebo, were effective in more than 50 percent of the patients."

The guidelines recommend that children and teens have a detailed history and physical examination, including a neurological examination that may need to be conducted by a neurologist or headache medicine specialist. The guidelines also recommend that children and teens, along with their parents, be educated about migraine, including potential identification of factors associated with migraine, such as lack of physical activity, being overweight, excessive caffeine intake, poor sleep habits and dehydration.

Additionally, migraine may occur alongside mood disorders such as depression and anxiety that can worsen the disability and delay recovery. Development of healthy lifestyle habits to include healthy eating, regular exercise, adequate hydration and getting enough regular sleep can address many of these issues.

Doctors should discuss the risks and benefits of preventive medication and appropriate acute treatment. The combination of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and amitriptyline was more beneficial than amitriptyline and headache education in reducing migraine attack frequency and migraine-related disability, however, it is important to note that amitriptyline may increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior.

CBT uses a combination of coping skills, positive thinking strategies, adherence management, barrier reduction and biofeedback-assisted relaxation, which is computer-aided feedback of relaxation techniques, to empower the children and teens to counter the effects of migraine.

Oskoui said, "The benefit of CBT alone or in combination with other treatments in migraine prevention warrants further study."

The guidelines recommend treating attacks as soon as the child or teen becomes aware of an attack starting. Medications such as ibuprofen, triptans and combination sumatriptan/naproxen can help relieve pain during an attack.

Another treatment outlined in the guidelines was botulinum toxin for prevention of migraine. While the drug is effective in preventing migraine in adults, it has not shown the same effectiveness in children and teens.

Finally, the guidelines did not address some of the newest treatments, including calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) antibodies, other similar drugs, and devices for migraine in children and teens, because while there has been research showing these treatments may work well for preventing migraine in adults, the study of these treatments in children and teens is only beginning.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190814161812.htm

Early education setback for summer premature births

August 13, 2019

Science Daily/University of Leeds

Children born as little as three weeks premature, who consequently fall into an earlier school year are more likely to experience significant setbacks in their education after their first year of school, according to new research published today in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Previous research has already shown that children born severely prematurely, more than ten weeks early, are more likely to suffer educational problems. But the new findings highlight the disadvantage children born moderate-to-late premature may face, who were thought to be at a lower risk.

New research, from the University of Leeds and Born in Bradford, looked at the complex interplay between the educational disadvantage of being born moderately premature, and when during the year a child was born, to understand whether extra support might be necessary for some children.

This was in response to conversations with schools participating in the Bradford Opportunity Area programme, a Department for Education initiative aimed at improving outcomes for children and young people in areas that face significantly higher barriers to social mobility compared to their peers in other parts of the country. They indicated this was a specific area they would value further research into, to help inform their decision making.

Co-author Dr Liam Hill, from the University of Leeds' School of Psychology, said: "Some children born prematurely not only have to contend with having spent less time developing in the womb but also have to start school a year earlier than they would have, had they been born on their due date. This amounts to having less time also developing outside of the womb at the point they start school.

"This can pose additional challenges right from the start of their education, and we found this can have an immediate impact on their performance, after just one year of school."

The researchers looked at more than 10,000 school children from the Born in Bradford birth cohort study and found that the odds of a child not achieving a 'Good Level of Development' at the end of reception, if they were born prematurely, were approximately twice as high as those for children born at full term.

The children found to be most at risk were those born prematurely in the summer months (June to August), who consequently started school a year earlier than expected. These children were three times less likely to reach a good level of development compared to other children born prematurely during the summer, whose early arrival didn't change the year they started school in.

The researchers also analysed data that suggested that holding premature children back from starting school by a year may not compensate for being born prematurely, although they did not test that directly.

Co-author Dr Katherine Pettinger, a neonatal doctor from Born in Bradford and the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Whilst it seems like an obvious solution, delayed entry for premature children is not likely to compensate for being born early, as we found that within a given school year, the risks to development faced by children born premature did not vary depending on when within that school year they were born.

"To try to better support this at risk group we instead suggest that schools should be informed which of their pupils were born prematurely so they can be given extra support, particularly early on in their schooling."

According to national guidelines, once discharged from hospital severely premature children are given follow up medical support, and it is recommended that their schools are informed of their circumstances. But for moderately premature children, born between three to eight weeks early, there is no routine follow up support offered, so schools are unlikely to be informed.

To try to tackle the problem the researchers suggest:

·      Tailored advice is provided to families of premature children

·      Learning resources are provided for teachers to support children born prematurely in the classroom

·      Routine sharing of data between health and education services

As well as highlighting the risk for premature children who start school earlier than expected, the findings also show evidence for differences in development of children born prematurely at an earlier age than any previous studies. The researchers therefore argue that from an early age there is a complex interplay between health and education, which should help encourage education providers to move away from arbitrary decision making, towards a more targeted, personalised approach.

Mark Douglas, Head of Children's Services at Bradford City Council, added: "As a City of Research, Bradford City Council is committed to supporting the translation of research into policy and practice.

"This research is a great example of how we have used the latest evidence from Born in Bradford to improve the life chances for the children of Bradford, by introducing a smarter system to share information between our health and education services."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190813180830.htm

Food insecurity common across US higher education campuses

Lack of access to reliable supply of nutritious food may affect student's ability to succeed

August 8, 2019

Science Daily/American Psychological Association

Many university and college students across the U.S. report lacking access to a reliable supply of nutritious food, a concept known as food insecurity, which can affect their ability to learn, according to research presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association.

"Food insecure students were more likely to fail assignments and exams, withdraw from classes or the university, and had lower grade point averages than their counterparts," said Yu-Wei Wang, PhD, of the University of Maryland-College Park, who presented at the meeting. "Additionally, they reported missing out on professional development opportunities, such as internships, which may affect their future career ambitions."

A study by the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice of nearly 86,000 students from 123 U.S. educational institutions found that 41% of university and 48% of two-year college students reported food insecurity, according to Wang.

"With increasing wealth inequality and student loan debt in the United States, we need to address the food insecurity problem on college campuses and make sure it does not restrict a student's ability to succeed," she said.

Wang also presented data from a study in which she and her colleagues surveyed 4,901 students at the University of Maryland-College Park during the fall 2017 semester and found nearly 20% of students said they were concerned about their ability to access nutritious food when asked about their experiences with food insecurity in the previous year (e.g., "Do you worry whether food would run out before you got money to buy more?" and "In the last 12 months, did you lose weight because there was not enough money for food?").

Approximately 13% of students reported experiencing low food security (e.g., they could not afford to eat balanced meals or relied on a few kinds of low-cost food because they ran out of money to buy food), while 7% reported experiencing very low food security (e.g., they were hungry but did not eat, or cut the size of or skipped meals because there was not enough money for food). Of those students, 23 were chosen for in-depth interviews to better understand the issue, and were asked additional questions (e.g., "Could you tell us about the last time you did not have enough money for food?" and "Which specific issues with food access do you feel that you face as a student with children?").

Another study presented at the meeting, involving 91 students at the University of California-Santa Cruz, also found access to nutritious food to be a problem, according to Heather Bullock, PhD, of the University of California-Santa Cruz. Focus groups were organized with food insecure students to learn about their experiences of food insecurity on campus, barriers to food access, consequences for academic performance and recommendations for improving support services.

"Three core themes emerged from the focus groups," said Bullock. "Students confront multiple barriers to food security, including difficulty accessing benefits and stigma, they engage in complex, time consuming strategies to secure food and they suffer negative academic consequences, including reduced focus on class work."

Bullock also referenced findings from other researchers that among almost 9,000 University of California system students surveyed across 10 campuses, 23% said they lacked reliable access to a quality, varied, nutritious diet and 19% had experienced reduced food intake due to limited resources at some point.

In both studies, food insecurity disproportionately affected certain groups of students: first-generation college students, racial/ethnic minority students, international students, those from immigrant backgrounds, those who identified as transgender/gender non-conforming and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

To cope, students reported cutting down on portion sizes, finding lower cost or free food, skipping class to attend free food events, sharing food with other students in need and participating in other activities, such as smoking or napping, to distract them from feeling hungry, said Wang.

The stigma of food insecurity negatively affected students' sense of self-worth and deterred them from accessing programs and services, said Bullock.

"Students reported poorer general health and experienced higher levels of depression, anxiety, distress, anger and loneliness than their peers who were not food insecure," said Wang. "Some students did not use resources they are eligible for because they felt embarrassed, ashamed or believed that other students were in greater need."

In the follow-up interviews, Maryland students suggested increasing access to healthy food on campus, enhancing awareness of food insecurity to reduce stigma, and providing financial support for those lacking access to food, according to Wang.

"Programs such as Campus Pantry, which provides emergency food to university students, faculty and staff in need are crucial to help curb food insecurity," said Wang. "It is critical to increase awareness of food insecurity on campus to let students know they are not alone."

Last fall, the University of California-Santa Cruz opened a welcoming "basic needs" café where students can enjoy meals free of charge and connect with resources, according to Bullock. A pantry is also conveniently on site.

While college food pantries help address student food insecurity, it is not a long-term solution to the problem, according to Harmony A. Reppond, PhD, of the University of Michigan, Dearborn who also presented.

Reppond and her co-researchers organized focus groups among 20 food pantry directors across Michigan universities and found the most effective ways to connect food insecure students with food were campus partnerships among faculty, staff and student food gatherers (e.g., students donating leftover meals from meal plans, sports teams or student organizations).

"Campus food pantries are often spearheaded by faculty and staff because students are skipping meals and making difficult choices between whether to buy books or food," said Reppond. "Pantries are addressing immediate needs. To sustain food security, campus food pantry directors cite the need to expand funding of existing policies at the state and federal levels, such as Pell Grants."

The research has sparked a federal response, including the College Student Hunger Act of 2017 and a 2018 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, according to Reppond.

"Our research helped Congress understand the plight of food insecurity among college students in Michigan and also guided legislative policies, such as the GAO report," said Reppond.

Reppond suggested that schools create an advisory committee with representation across campus to discuss food policy and advertise food pantry open houses for faculty, staff and students.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190808152545.htm

Teens who have loving bond with mother less likely to enter abusive relationships

A strong positive relationship with their mother protected teens even when the mother's marriage is full of conflict

October 30, 2019

Science Daily/University at Buffalo

A mother's warmth and acceptance toward her teenagers may help prevent those children from being in an abusive relationship later in life, even if her own marriage is contentious, according to a new University at Buffalo study.

Previous research shows that adolescents who are exposed to marital conflict at a young age are at an increased risk to experience abuse in their romantic relations. However, the new study discovered that the child's relationship with their mother serves as a buffer by potentially promoting the teen's feelings of self-worth, says Jennifer Livingston, PhD, lead investigator and associate professor in the UB School of Nursing.

"Children form internal working models about themselves and others based on the quality of their relationship with their parents," said Livingston. "If the primary caretaker is abusive or inconsistent, children learn to view themselves as unlovable and others as hostile and untrustworthy. But positive parenting behaviors characterized by acceptance and warmth help children form positive internal working models of themselves as lovable and worthy of respect."

The results could help in the development of interventions that prevent teens from experiencing physical, emotional or sexual relationship abuse. More than 30% of adolescents are the victim of some type of abuse by a romantic partner, says Livingston, who is also a faculty member in the UB Clinical and Research Institute on Addictions (CRIA).

 The protective effects of a mother's love

 The research, published this month in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, surveyed more than 140 adolescents whose parents were married or cohabitating at the time of their birth.

The families are part of an ongoing study on the development of children of alcoholic parents. Half of the participants had at least one parent, most often the father, with an alcohol problem. The researchers examined the group due to the connection between alcoholism in fathers and family dysfunction.

"Although parental alcoholism has not been directly linked to teen dating violence, children growing up in alcoholic families experience greater exposure to marital conflict and harsh parenting in comparison to children from non-alcoholic families," said Livingston. "Clearly not all children from alcoholic families are involved in dating violence, suggesting that there are protective factors at play as well. These protective factors need to be identified to advance prevention efforts."

The participants completed surveys in eighth grade and during their junior or senior year of high school, reporting on their exposure to conflict between their parents, perception of their relationship with their mother, and any involvement in dating violence.

The study discovered that children who experienced above average levels of positive parenting behaviors from their mother in eighth grade were less likely to be involved in dating violence as a teenager, even when there were high levels of conflict in their parents' marriage.

Lower levels of warmth, responsiveness and support by the mother did not weaken the harmful effects of marital conflict on her children.

"The joint influence of parent-to-parent conflict and maternal-child interactions suggests the need for a multipronged approach to intervention that promotes communication and conflict resolution in the marriage and positive parenting behavior with the children," says Livingston. "Parents who are better able to communicate and resolve disagreements will have less conflict in the household and can model appropriate conflict resolution skills to their children. The ability to successfully resolve conflicts should also reduce stress and enable parents to be more responsive to their child's needs."

Future studies may examine the difference in the effects of marital conflict on male and female children, or if the protective effects of positive parenting persist if the mother is the alcoholic parent.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191030100043.htm

Teens feel pressured to get pregnant

August 8, 2019

Science Daily/Michigan State University

Female adolescents are experiencing relationship abuse at alarming rates, according to a new Michigan State University study that specifically researched reproductive coercion -- a form of abuse in which a woman is pressured to become pregnant against her wishes.

Heather McCauley, assistant professor in the School of Social Work, and co-researchers found nearly one in eight females between ages 14 and 19 experienced reproductive coercion within the last three months. Forms of such abuse included tampering with condoms and a partner threatening to leave.

The study, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology this month, is the largest adolescent study on the issue. It uses data from a previously conducted randomized trial at eight school-based health centers in California during the 2012-13 school year and assessed 550 sexually active female teens.

To date, most research has focused on young adult women. But because adolescent relationships differ so much from adult relationships, clinicians need to know how to spot reproductive coercion in their younger patients and tailor clinical assessment and intervention for this population, McCauley said.

"We looked at whether adolescents who experience reproductive coercion displayed the 'red flags' we typically teach clinicians to look for -- like coming into the clinic multiple times for emergency contraception or pregnancy testing," McCauley said. "We found no difference in care-seeking behaviors between girls who experienced reproductive coercion and girls who didn't, so those red flags may not be present. Therefore, clinicians should have conversations with all their adolescent patients about how relationships can impact their health."

Previous research has also identified disparities in reproductive coercion by race/ethnicity, with black women more likely than white women to experience such abuse, she said. But, again, that wasn't the case in this study, highlighting the need for researchers and clinicians to understand how to talk about relationship abuse with female teens.

Other takeaways from the study:

·      17% of teens reported physical or sexual abuse.

·      Females who experienced reproductive coercion had four times the odds of also experiencing other forms of relationship abuse.

·      Females exposed to both relationship abuse and reproductive coercion were more likely to have a sexual partner who is five or more years older.

"These findings highlight how common reproductive coercion and other forms of abuse are in adolescent relationships, yet the signs of a teen's unhealthy relationship may be tricky for clinicians, parents and other adults to spot," McCauley said. "So, parents could open the door for their teen to disclose abuse by having a conversation with them about healthy and unhealthy relationship behaviors, including those that interfere with their decision making about their own reproductive health."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190808115115.htm

'Lentils will help you run faster:' Communicating food benefits gets kids to eat healthier

May 8, 2019

Science Daily/Washington State University

Communicating food benefits to children that they can relate to may get them to eat healthier.

That's according to a study published today in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior by Washington State University and Florida State University scientists.

The researchers found affirming statements like 'eat your lentils if you want to grow bigger and run faster' were more effective at getting kids to make healthy food choices than presenting the food repeatedly without conversation.

In fact, kids ate twice as much healthy food when they were told how it would benefit them in terms they could understand as opposed to when they were given the food with no contextual information.

"Every child wants to be bigger, faster, able to jump higher," said Jane Lanigan, associate professor in the WSU Department of Human Development and lead author of the study. "Using these types of examples made the food more attractive to eat."

Previous research shows that offering foods repeatedly increases the likelihood that kids will try something new. But that research didn't look at the context of those offerings, Lanigan said.

In their study, Lanigan and her colleagues wanted to see if child-centered nutrition phrases (CCNPs), affirmative statements that simply convey the benefits of healthy food, influenced young children to make healthier food choices. The phrases focus on goals children have and are based on accurate nutrition information.

The WSU and FSU research team ran an experiment where they offered healthy foods to a group of three-to-five-year old children for six weeks.

Before beginning, the 87 children in the experiment ranked how much they liked four foods chosen from different food groups including, green peppers (vegetable), tomatoes (vegetables), quinoa (grain), and lentils (protein).

The kids were then offered two of the foods they liked the least twice a week. Over the six-week experiment, the researchers presented the children one of their low-rated foods with pre-selected age-appropriate facts about the benefits of the food. The other food was merely given to them to taste. A coin flip determined which food would be paired with the CCNP. The experiment was built into the kids' normal class routine, Lanigan said.

The researchers then measured how much the kids ate at three times: pre-test, post-test, and one month after the study ended. The immediate post-test showed no result, likely because the kids "got sick of eating the same foods," Lanigan said.

Results and impact

The month-after measurement told a different story.

"We found that a month later, the kids ate twice as much of their CCNP food with the repeated exposure compared to the food without the positive words," Lanigan said. "For example, when we presented lentils we would say, 'This will help you grow bigger and run faster."

Over time, Lanigan and colleagues' study shows that using CCNPs is likely to increase the amount of healthy food that children eat.

"I have two kids and I probably could have done things differently when trying to get them to eat healthier," Lanigan said. "We wanted to fill a gap, where parents are often told what their kids should be eating but not how to get them to eat it. And that's really important."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190508093734.htm

Bigger portions lead to preschoolers eating more over time

April 12, 2019

Science Daily/Penn State

Preschoolers may not be as good at resisting large portions of everyday foods as was previously thought, according to Penn State researchers.

In a study, the researchers examined whether children between the ages of three and five were susceptible to the portion size effect -- the tendency of people to eat more when larger portions are served.

They found that when served larger portions of typical meals or snacks, the children consumed more food, both by weight and calories.

Alissa Smethers, a doctoral student in nutritional sciences, said the findings -- recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition -- suggest that caregivers should pay close attention to not just the amount of food they serve but also the variety of food.

"It's hard to define portions that are appropriate for all preschoolers, since their calorie requirements vary due to differences in height, weight and activity level," Smethers said. "But it's a good idea to look at the proportions of different foods you're serving, with fruits and vegetables filling up half the plate and with smaller portions of more calorie-dense foods, as recommended in the USDA MyPlate nutrition guide."

Barbara Rolls, Helen A. Guthrie Chair and director of the Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior at Penn State, added that the results also suggest that the portion-size effect can be used strategically by caregivers to help children eat more fruits and vegetables.

"The positive side is that you can use the portion size effect strategically, for example by serving larger portions of fruits and vegetables to increase their consumption," Rolls said. "You can also serve them at the start of the meal or on their own as snacks. When there are no other foods competing with them, kids may be more likely to eat them."

Smethers said that while it was known that adults are likely to eat more when served larger portions of food over time, it was thought by some researchers that young children can sense how many calories from food they need and adjust their eating habits accordingly, a process called "self-regulation."

Previous studies have tested this theory by looking at children's eating habits at one meal or over a single day. But Smethers said it may take longer -- up to three to four days -- for self-regulation to kick in, and so she and the other researchers wanted to study the portion size effect in children across a full five days.

The researchers recruited 46 children between the ages of three and five from childcare centers at the University Park campus for the five-day study. All meals and snacks were provided for the children, who during one five-day period received baseline-sized portions -- based on Child and Adult Care Food Program requirements -- and during another period had portions that were increased in size by 50 percent.

"In the larger portion meals, we wanted to serve portion sizes that the children might encounter in their everyday lives," Smethers said. "For example, instead of getting four pieces of chicken nuggets, they would get six, for a 50 percent increase."

During both five-day periods, the children were allowed to eat as much or as little of their meals or snacks as they wanted. After the children were done eating, the leftover foods were weighed to measure how much each child consumed.

Additionally, each child wore an accelerometer throughout each five-day period to measure their activity levels, and the researchers measured their height and weight.

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that serving larger portions led to the children eating 16 percent more food than when served the smaller portions, leading to an extra 18 percent of calories.

"If preschoolers did have the ability to self-regulate their calorie intake, they should have sensed that they were getting extra over the five days and started eating less," Rolls said. "But we didn't see any evidence of that."

The researchers also found that children with higher BMI percentiles for their age were more likely to be influenced by larger portions. Additionally, the portion size effect seemed stronger in children with overweight or obesity than for children without.

"We found that while the portion size effect is powerful overall, some children seemed to be more susceptible to the effect than others," Smethers said. "Children who were rated by their parents as more responsive to food when it's in front of them were also affected more by portion size, while children who were rated as paying attention to whether or not they were actually hungry were less affected by portion size."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190412110333.htm

Meditation goes digital in new clinical trial

Individualized program improves attention and memory in healthy young adults

June 3, 2019

Science Daily/University of California - San Francisco

Scientists at UC San Francisco have developed a personalized digital meditation training program that significantly improved attention and memory in healthy young adults -- a group already at the peak of brain health -- in just six weeks.

The intervention, called MediTrain, utilizes a closed-loop algorithm that tailors the length of the meditation sessions to the abilities of the participants, so they are not discouraged by their initial attempts to focus attention on their breath, a time-honored meditation technique.

Scientists tested the program in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial at UCSF with 59 participants between 18 and 35 years old. The results were published Monday, June 3, 2019, in Nature Human Behaviour.

The magnitude of the effects on attention and memory, which were unexpected for healthy young adults, were similar to what has been seen in previous studies of middle-aged adults after months of in-person training or intensive meditation retreats.

The app-based program, however, required just 20 to 30 minutes of cumulative practice each day, composed of many very short meditation periods. In the beginning, participants were prompted to pay attention to their breath for just 10 to 15 seconds at a time. As they improved over the six weeks, the application challenged them to increase the amount of time they could maintain focus, which averaged several minutes after six weeks.

"This is not like any meditation practice that exists, as far as we are aware," said senior author Adam Gazzaley, MD, PhD, professor of neurology, physiology and psychiatry and executive director of Neuroscape at UCSF. "We took an ancient experiential treatment of focused meditation, reformulated it and delivered it through a digital technology, and improved attention span in millennials, an age group that is intimately familiar with the digital world, but also faces multiple challenges to sustained attention."

MediTrain made some concessions to tradition. Before they began, participants listened to recorded meditation instructions from Jack Kornfield, PhD, a meditation teacher who co-founded Spirit Rock Meditation Center north of San Francisco, and an author on the study. Then, they used the techniques on their own, without spoken instruction and with their eyes closed.

But MediTrain had other digital features that aren't present in the traditional practice of breath meditation and that may have been the reason why it achieved such strong results over such a short period and with such a healthy population.

For one thing, it underscored the need to pay attention by requiring participants to regularly check in on how they were doing.

At the end of each brief meditation segment, participants were asked to indicate whether they had been able to pay continuous attention for the allotted time, pressing a button on the left side of an iPad screen if the answer was no, and a button on the right if the answer was yes. For those who said yes, the application adapted to a slightly longer meditation period; for those who said no, the period was shortened.

The researchers believe the participatory nature of the design was important.

"Not only do you learn how to maintain focus on your breath, but you are also required to introspect on how well you're able to do that," Gazzaley said, "We believe that's part of the active ingredient of this treatment."

MediTrain also gave everyone regular feedback, with progress reports during the training sessions, at the end of each day of training and at the end of each week.

The results were impressive. On their first day, participants could stay focused on their breath for an average of only 20 seconds. After 30 days of training, that rose to an average of six minutes.

This improvement, in turn, conferred better performance on other, much more complicated tasks that scientists use to assess sustained attention and working memory. Not only did the MediTrain participants perform more consistently on attention tests than the placebo group, the scientists also found a correlation between how long participants were able to focus on their breath and how consistently they performed on these tests. The MediTrain group also performed better than the placebo group on a test of working memory, measured after the intervention.

"We thought it was a long shot to see these types of improvements in a group this young and healthy," said David Ziegler, PhD, director of multimodal biosensing in the technology division at UCSF's Neuroscape, and the first author of the paper. "But it speaks to the power of the method."

Using electroencephalography (EEG) to record brain activity in a subset of the participants in each group, the researchers identified parts of the brain, particularly in the front, that altered their activity as participants learned to stabilize their attention with meditation training.

According to Ziegler, "These frontal brain areas, which are important for controlling attention, showed greater moment-to-moment consistency in their activity after the meditation training." They are also known to strengthen their activity when other areas of the brain called the "default mode network," that are associated with distracted thinking and self-preoccupation, get weaker. Deactivation in the default mode network is also associated with better performance on tasks that require focused attention.

The researchers said that MediTrain, which has been patented by the University of California, holds promise for a younger generation that is accustomed to digital devices but faces multiple challenges to sustained attention from heavy use of media and technology.

The breath meditation -- a seemingly simple, yet quite demanding task -- worked as well in cultivating sustained attention as other more intellectually and physically challenging training programs that have been developed at Neuroscape, a translational neuroscience center at UCSF engaged in technology creation and scientific research to better assess and optimize brain function for all people.

Its very simplicity may fill a particular need created by the frenetic pace of today's world.

"Many of us struggle with challenges to our attention, which seem to be exacerbated by modern technology," Gazzaley said. "What we've done here is flip this story around by creating and studying a digital delivery system that makes cognitive benefits of traditional focused attention meditation more personalized, accessible and deliverable."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190603124705.htm

A growth mindset intervention can change students' grades if school culture is supportive

August 7, 2019

Science Daily/University of Texas at Austin

Boosting academic success does not have to derive from new teachers or curriculum; it can also come from changing students' attitudes about their abilities through a short online intervention, according to the latest findings from the National Study of Learning Mindsets published in Nature on Aug. 7.

The experimental study involved more than 12,000 ninth graders in a national, representative sample of 76 public high schools across the United States. It showed that an intervention emphasizing a growth mindset -- the belief that intellectual abilities are not fixed but can be developed -- can improve key predictors of high school graduation and college success, especially when a school's culture supports the treatment message.

"The research cemented a striking finding from multiple earlier studies: A short intervention can change the unlikely outcome of adolescents' grades many months later," said David Yeager, the study's lead author and an associate professor of psychology at The University of Texas at Austin. "It also showed us something new: Higher-achieving students don't get higher grades after the program, but they are more likely to take harder classes that set them up for long-term success."

According to U.S. federal government statistics, nearly 20% of students in the U.S. do not finish high school on time. These students are also at an increased risk of poverty, poor health and early mortality. The transition to high school represents an important transition point in adolescents' paths toward high school completion.

Building on prior research, researchers found that two 25-minute online sessions, administered at the beginning of high school, can help students develop a growth mindset by reshaping their attitudes about their abilities. Researchers found that both lower- and higher-achieving students benefited academically from the program, even into their sophomore year.

On average, lower-achieving students who took the program earned 0.10 higher grade points in core academic subjects such as math, English, science and social studies. Additionally, the intervention reduced the proportion of these students with a D or F average in these courses by more than 5 percentage points.

The intervention also increased the likelihood students took Algebra II or higher in 10th grade by 3 percentage points among both higher- and lower-achieving students.

"These effects are substantial when compared to the most successful large-scale, lengthy and rigorously evaluated interventions with adolescents in the educational research literature," Yeager said. "They are particularly notable given the low cost and high fidelity of the online program. But the growth mindset program isn't a magic bullet. Its effectiveness depends a lot on the school context."

In medium- to low-performing schools with norms that encouraged students to take on more challenging coursework, lower-achieving students who received the intervention improved 0.15 grade points in core courses and 0.17 grade points in STEM courses.

"Motivation and learning don't just happen in a student's head; they depend on the resources and learning opportunities present in the school's environment, including the extent to which challenging coursework is available to students," Yeager said. "A mindset intervention is like planting a seed; it grows to fruition in fertile soil. Now that we have shown this in a national study, it will propel us into a new era of mindset research. That era will focus on both the mindset of the student and the culture and climate of the classroom. We have our eyes set on preparing teachers to support students' beliefs that they can grow and learn."

The Growth Mindset intervention tested in the study is freely available to schools in the U.S. and Canada at https://www.perts.net/orientation/hg.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190807131918.htm

Warning to adults: Children notice everything

Kids have learning advantage in some situations, study finds

August 5, 2019

Science Daily/Ohio State University

Adults are really good at paying attention only to what you tell them to -- but children don't ignore anything.

That difference can actually help children do better than adults in some learning situations, a new study suggests.

Researchers surprised adults and 4- and 5-year-old children participating in the study by making information that was irrelevant at the beginning of the experiment suddenly important for a task they had to complete.

"Adults had a hard time readjusting because they didn't learn the information they thought wouldn't be important," said Vladimir Sloutsky, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at The Ohio State University.

"Children, on the other hand, recovered quickly to the new circumstances because they weren't ignoring anything. I'm sure a lot of parents will recognize that tendency of children to notice everything, even when you wish they wouldn't."

Sloutsky conducted the study with Nathaniel Blanco, a postdoctoral researcher in psychology at Ohio State. Their research was published online in the journal Developmental Psychology and will appear in a future print edition.

The results show that children tend to distribute their attention broadly, while adults use selective attention to focus on information they believe is most important, Sloutsky said.

"Distributing attention may be adaptive for young children. By being attentive to everything, they gather more information which helps them learn more," Blanco said.

In one study, the researchers had 34 adults and 36 4-year-old children take part in a learning task.

They were presented with colorful images of "alien" creatures on a computer that had seven identifiable features, including antennae, head and tail.

Participants were told there were two types of creatures, called Flurps and Jalets, and that they had to figure out which ones were which.

One feature was always different on Flurps and Jalets -- for example, the Jalets may have a blue tail and the Flurps an orange tail. In addition, the children and adults were told that most (but not all) of the Flurps had a certain type of feature, such as pink antennae.

One of the features was never mentioned in the instructions and it did not differ between the types of creatures. This was what the researchers called the "irrelevant feature."

After training, participants were shown a series of images of the creatures on the computer screen and indicated whether each one was a Flurp or a Jalet.

But halfway through the experiment, the researchers made an unannounced switch: The irrelevant feature became the feature that would determine whether the creature was a Flurp or a Jalet. This feature, which had been the same for both creatures before the switch, was now different.

After the shift, the adults were more confused than the children were -- they were less likely to learn the importance of the new feature.

In contrast, children were quick to realize that the formerly irrelevant feature was now the feature that would always reveal the difference between Flurps and Jalets.

Adults tried to use the probabilistic rules (such as "most of the Flurps have pink antennae") to guide their choices after the shift.

In this study, adults suffered from "learned inattention," Blanco said. They didn't pay attention to the formerly irrelevant feature because they believed it wouldn't be important.

Children as young as those in this study often have difficulty focusing attention in the way that the adults did, Sloutsky said.

"The immediate reason is the immaturity of their pre-frontal cortex," he said. "But we believe that distributing attention broadly also helps them learn more."

Sloutsky emphasized that adults have no problem distributing attention broadly if necessary. But in many tasks that adults do every day, selective attention is helpful.

"It is clear that for optimal performance at most jobs, selective attention is necessary. But distributed attention might be useful when you're learning something new and need to see everything that is going on."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190805101125.htm