Cognitive Abilities In Adolescents Research Articles

МОНИТОРИНГ ФОНОВОГО СОДЕРЖАНИЯ РТУТИ В БИОСИСТЕМЕ И ОРГАНИЗМЕ ДЕТСКОГО НАСЕЛЕНИЯ НИЖНЕГО ТЕЧЕНИЯ РЕКИ АМУР

Study Objective: to determine the mercury content in the body of children as well as in soil and river fish to assess the level of risk of adverse effects on a human body. Study Design: analytical observational, cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods. A quantitative analysis of mercury in hair of conditionally healthy children (n=62), the upper layer of soil (n=15) taken on the territory of the former cellulose and cardboard manufacturing plant (CCMP) located in one of the cities of the Khabarovsk region and in fish (n=27) living in the Amur river downstream was performed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The relationship between the level of mercury and cognitive abilities of adolescents was studied. Study Results. An average content of mercury in the upper layer of the soil was 0.85 mg/kg; with the maximum value of the mass fraction of mercury 1.25 mg/kg, the mercury concentration was 8.5-12.5 times higher than the Russian background value. When determining the concentration of mercury in the fish muscle tissue – the main source of organic mercury for children, it was revealed that the content of mercury in the tissues of predatory fish ranged from 0.47-0.52 mg/kg, while the mercury level in non-predatory fish was 0.24 mg/kg. The average mercury content in hair of adolescence was 0.47±0.05 mg/kg and 0.19±0.02 mg/kg in 6-7-year-old children, and it did not exceed the critical level. Conclusion. It was found out that the content of mercury in the soil had significantly decreased compared to 2009, but the level remains above the Russian background value. Mercury content in part of the fish muscle living in the Amur River downstream was higher in predatory species. The concentration of mercury in the children organism permanently living on the territory of anthropogenic pollution did not exceed the threshold level, but the detected background values may have contributed to concentration decrease.

Can Physical Exercise Promote the Development of Teenagers' Non-Cognitive Ability?-Evidence from China Education Panel Survey (2014-2015).

Background: With the development of educational philosophy, physical exercise is considered to be an important factor in the development of individual cognitive abilities in adolescents. However, the effects of physical exercise on non-cognitive abilities in adolescents remain inadequate. Objective: This study examined the effect of physical exercise on non-cognitive ability and further examined the differences in this effect in different groups. Methods: Survey data on non-cognitive ability, physical exercise and covariates were collected in the China Education Panel Survey (2014–2015) from a nationally representative sample of adolescents (n = 7904) in the eighth (follow-up) grade. Results: The results show that, after controlling for the influence of other factors, physical exercise has a promoting effect on six non-cognitive abilities—social behavior (p < 0.001), communication ability (p < 0.01), perseverance (p < 0.05), school adaptation (p < 0.001), educational expectation (p < 0.01) and creative thinking (p < 0.01)—and there is no significant effect on emotional control (p > 0.05). Furthermore, the development of non-cognitive ability in physical exercise shows certain group differences. Conclusions: There are gender differences in the performance of non-cognitive ability. Girls perform better than boys in non-cognitive ability. Physical exercise is an important means to develop non-cognitive ability, which indicates that non-cognitive ability has plasticity in adolescence. Future intervention may improve the non-cognitive ability of Chinese adolescents by increasing physical exercise.

Socioeconomic and cognitive roots of trait anxiety in young adults.

In 54 participants (41% women) from the Czech arm of the European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood, a national birth cohort with prospectively collected data from their birth until young adulthood, we aimed to study the association between early-life socioeconomic deprivation (ELSD), cognitive ability in adolescence, trait anxiety and resting state functional connectivity of the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) in young adulthood. We found that ELSD was associated with lower cognitive ability in adolescence (at age 13) as well as higher trait anxiety in young adulthood (at age 23/24). Higher cognitive ability in adolescence predicted lower trait anxiety in young adulthood. Resting state functional connectivity between the right LPFC and a cluster of voxels including left precentral gyrus, left postcentral gyrus and superior frontal gyrus mediated the relationship between lower cognitive ability in adolescence and higher trait anxiety in young adulthood. These findings indicate that lower cognitive ability and higher trait anxiety may be both consequences of socioeconomic deprivation in early life. The recruitment of the right LPFC may be the underlying mechanism, through which higher cognitive ability may ameliorate trait anxiety.

Assessing IQ in adolescents with mild to moderate cerebral palsy using the WISC-V

Objective: To examine the influence of subtests that require fine motor responses on measures of intellectual ability, and compare three approaches to minimizing motor demands while assessing cognitive abilities in adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) to the traditional method of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fifth edition (WISC-V). Method: Seventy adolescents with CP (M = 14 years 6 months, SD = 10 months) who were able to provide either a verbal or point response were assessed using the WISC-V administered via Q-interactive. The pencil-to-paper version of Coding was also administered. Performance on Block Design and pencil-to-paper Coding was compared to Visual Puzzles and Coding on Q-interactive, respectively. Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) scores derived according to the Traditional method of the WISC-V were compared to alternative estimates of FSIQ derived according to the Q-interactive, Nonmotor, and Motor-free methods, which minimized motor demands. Results: An additional 7–12% of participants were able to respond to Visual puzzles and Coding on Q-interactive compared to Block Design and pencil-to-paper Coding, respectively, and performance was marginally but significantly better. For 54 adolescents (Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) Level I-III) who were able to obtain FSIQ scores, the Traditional method underestimated FSIQ by 3–6 points compared to the alternative methods and the difference was most pronounced for those with more severe CP as measured by the GMFCS. Conclusion: Adolescents with CP are at an inherent disadvantage when cognitive ability is assessed using the Traditional method of the WISC-V. Findings suggest clinicians should employ the Nonmotor or Motor-free methods when assessing IQ in adolescents with CP.

Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoint Stimulation in Early Life Changes Synaptic Plasticity and Improves Symptoms in a Valproic Acid-Induced Rat Model of Autism.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder characterized by social behavior deficit in childhood without satisfactory medical intervention. Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) is a noninvasive technique derived from acupuncture and has been shown to have similar therapeutic effects in many diseases. Valproic acid- (VPA-) induced ASD is a known model of ASD in rats. The therapeutic efficacy of TEAS was evaluated in the VPA model of ASD in the present study. The offspring of a VPA-treated rat received TEAS in the early life stage followed by a series of examinations conducted in their adolescence. The results show that following TEAS treatment in early life, the social and cognitive ability in adolescence of the offspring of a VPA rat were significantly improved. In addition, the abnormal pain threshold was significantly corrected. Additional studies demonstrated that the dendritic spine density of the primary sensory cortex was decreased with Golgi staining. Results of the transcriptomic study showed that expression of some transcription factors such as the neurotrophic factor were downregulated in the hypothalamus of the VPA model of ASD. The reduced gene expression was reversed following TEAS. These results suggest that TEAS in the early life stage may mitigate disorders of social and recognition ability and normalize the pain threshold of the ASD rat model. The mechanism involved may be related to improvement of synaptic plasticity.

The relationships between video game experience and cognitive abilities in adolescents.

Objectives: Video games are especially popular among adolescents and young adults as a form of entertainment and the amount of time spent playing video games has increased rapidly. The main objective of this study is to assess the effect of video games on cognitive functions in adolescents.Methods: An exploratory, cross-sectional study was employed to investigate cognitive function in adolescent video game players. Cognitive functions, including memory, attention, and executive functions, were evaluated in 46 adolescents who had been playing video games regularly for at least 1 h per day, 5 days per week, for at least a year, and 31 adolescents (who played video games <5 h per week) using cognitive function assessment tests. Other data, such as demographics, medical information, video game types, and time spent playing video games were collected by questionnaires.Results: No significant difference was detected between the groups in terms of age, gender, IQ levels, and sociodemographic variables. Our findings show that visual memory results were slightly better in the playing group. Moreover, in the group that plays video games regularly, the increase in daily time spent playing games significantly increased the total error value in the Stroop Test and total interference value in California Verbal Learning Test-Children’s Version test. We also found that more time is spent on online games compared with traditional games.Conclusions: In this study, we emphasize the pathological and uncontrolled consumption of video games and the possible consequences of time spent playing games. Our findings indicate the need for more extensive research. Future research should address the various implications of video game play, especially between the potentially positive and negative effects of video games.

School Achievement, IQ, and Risk of Alcohol Use Disorder: A Prospective, Co-Relative Analysis in a Swedish National Cohort.

Most studies suggest that poor cognitive functioning in adolescence increases risk of alcohol use disorders (AUDs). We seek to clarify the causes of this association. In Swedish individuals born from 1972 to 1990 in whom cognitive functioning was assessed by school achievement at age 16 years (males and females, N = 1,796,048) and by IQ at ages 18-20 (males, N = 554,644), we examined the hazard ratio (HR) for AUD ascertained from public registries. We examined and modeled risk of AUD in cousins, full siblings, and monozygotic twin pairs discordant for school achievement and IQ scores. In males and females, HRs for AUD per standard deviation of increasing school achievement equaled 0.47 (95% CI [0.46, 0.47]) and 0.52 (95% CI [0.51, 0.53]), respectively. In males, the HR for AUD per standard deviation of increasing IQ was 0.54 (95% CI [0.53, 0.55]). Excluding onsets of AUD within 5 years of the cognitive evaluation did not weaken the association, nor did controlling for alcohol intake and problems at IQ assessment. The HRs for AUD in relative pairs were higher than those observed in the population but significantly less than unity. We predicted the following HRs for AUD in discordant monozygotic twins for school achievement in males and females and for IQ in males: 0.66 (95% CI [0.62, 0.70]), 0.67 (95% CI [0.62, 0.73]), and 0.72 (95% CI [0.65, 0.79]), respectively. Cognitive ability in adolescence, assessed by two different measures, strongly predicts risk of AUD. This association cannot be explained by early symptoms of AUD impairing performance. Co-relative analyses suggest that this association arises partly from familial confounding and partly from a causal impact of low cognitive ability on AUD risk.

Cognitive ability in adolescents born small for gestational age: Associations with fetal growth velocity, head circumference and postnatal growth

BackgroundSmall size at birth may be associated with impaired cognitive ability later in life.The aim of this study was to examine the effect of being born small for gestational age (SGA), with or without intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) on cognitive ability in late adolescence. Study designA follow-up study of a former cohort included 123 participants (52 males); 47 born SGA and 76 born appropriate for gestational age (AGA). Fetal growth velocity (FGV) was determined by serial ultrasound measurements during the third trimester. A control group matched for age and birthplace was included. The original Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) was administered, and verbal, performance and full-scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scores were calculated. ResultsThere was no difference in IQ between adolescents born SGA and AGA. FGV or IUGR during the third trimester did not influence cognitive ability in late adolescence. Full-scale IQ was positively related to head circumference (HC) in adolescence (B: 1.30, 95% CI: 0.32–2.28, p=0.01). HC at birth and three months was positively associated with full-scale IQ. Catch-up growth in the group of SGA children was associated with a significantly increased height, larger HC, increased levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and increased full-scale IQ compared to those born SGA without catch-up growth. ConclusionSGA and IUGR may not be harmful for adult cognitive ability, at least not in individuals born at near-term. However, known risk factors of impaired fetal growth may explain the link between early growth and cognitive ability in adulthood.

Cognitive debt is associated with cognitive ability in adolescence: Findings from the imagen cohort

Cognitive debt is associated with cognitive ability in adolescence: Findings from the imagen cohort

Cognitive gains from gist reasoning training in adolescents with chronic-stage traumatic brain injury.

Adolescents with traumatic brain injury (TBI) typically demonstrate good recovery of previously acquired skills. However, higher-order and later emergent cognitive functions are often impaired and linked to poor outcomes in academic and social/behavioral domains. Few control trials exist that test cognitive treatment effectiveness at chronic recovery stages. The current pilot study compared the effects of two forms of cognitive training, gist reasoning (top-down) versus rote memory learning (bottom-up), on ability to abstract meanings, recall facts, and utilize core executive functions (i.e., working memory, inhibition) in 20 adolescents (ages 12–20) who were 6 months or longer post-TBI. Participants completed eight 45-min sessions over 1 month. After training, the gist reasoning group (n = 10) exhibited significant improvement in ability to abstract meanings and increased fact recall. This group also showed significant generalizations to untrained executive functions of working memory and inhibition. The memory training group (n = 10) failed to show significant gains in ability to abstract meaning or on other untrained specialized executive functions, although improved fact recall approached significance. These preliminary results suggest that relatively short-term training (6 h) utilizing a top-down reasoning approach is more effective than a bottom-up rote learning approach in achieving gains in higher-order cognitive abilities in adolescents at chronic stages of TBI. These findings need to be replicated in a larger study; nonetheless, the preliminary data suggest that traditional cognitive intervention schedules need to extend to later-stage training opportunities. Chronic-stage, higher-order cognitive trainings may serve to elevate levels of cognitive performance in adolescents with TBI.

Fuzzy Trace Theory and Medical Decisions by Minors: Differences in Reasoning between Adolescents and Adults

Standard models of adolescent risk taking posit that the cognitive abilities of adolescents and adults are equivalent, and that increases in risk taking that occur during adolescence are the result of socio emotional differences in impulsivity, sensation seeking, and lack of self-control. Fuzzy-trace theory incorporates these socio emotional differences. However, it predicts that there are also cognitive differences between adolescents and adults, specifically that there are developmental increases in gist-based intuition that reflects understanding. Gist understanding, as opposed to verbatim-based analysis, generally has been hypothesized to have a protective effect on risk taking in adolescence. Gist understanding is also an essential element of informed consent regarding risks in medical decision- making. Evidence thus supports the argument that adolescents' status as mature minors should be treated as an exception rather than a presumption, because accuracy in verbatim analysis is not mature gist understanding. Use of the exception should be accompanied by medical experts' input on the bottom-line gist of risks involved in treatment.

The challenges of teaching and learning about science in the twenty-first century: exploring the abilities and constraints of adolescent learners

In this article, we critically examine skills that are necessary for the effective learning of science in adolescent populations. We argue that a focus on twenty-first-century skills among adolescents within the context of science instruction must be considered in light of research on cognitive and social development. We first review adolescents’ emerging abilities in terms of five domains identified by the National Research Council Board on Science Education: adaptability, complex communication/social skills, non-routine problem-solving skills, self-management/self-development and systems thinking. We next describe practices that science teachers can use to enhance the development and use of emerging cognitive abilities in adolescents. We conclude by providing seven research-based recommendations for adolescent science instruction.

Gender differences in personality characteristics and cognitive abilities in adolescents admitted in correctional institutes in Egypt

Objectives To ascertain differences between male and female adolescents admitted to correctional institutes in Egypt with respect to their personality characteristics and cognitive abilities. Methods This cross-sectional study was carried out in two correctional institutes in Cairo. Fifty adolescents admitted after being convicted by court (25 male, 25 female) were randomly selected, assessed, and compared with an age-matched control group ( N =25). Data on personal, sociodemographic, and criminal history were collected. They were subjected to the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, The Hostility Questionnaire, and the Psychiatric Symptomatology Scale for adolescents. Results Of the students, 28% were male and 16% were female; 72% of male and 36% of female adolescents were working as unskilled manual workers. Male adolescents were more violent in their acts compared with female adolescents (48 vs. 8%); 12% of male adolescents were engaged in the use and sale of drugs compared with 8% of female adolescents; 44% of female adolescents were homeless compared with 4% of male adolescents; stress factors were mostly financial in male adolescents (88%), whereas in females sexual abuse was present in 24% in addition. Substance abuse was a dominant feature in both: 80% in male adolescents (nicotine smoking in 24% and polysubstance in 56%) and 64% in female adolescents (nicotine smoking in 44% and polysubstance in 20%). Adolescent girls had significantly higher scores in the adjustment disorder, identity disorder, and depression, bulimia, and sleep disorders on the symptomatology scale. They also had lower IQ in the total, verbal, performance, vocabulary, arithmetic, digit span, digit symbol, and block design scales of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. No significant difference was seen in the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.

A 35-year follow-up study on burnout among Finnish employees.

This three-wave 35-year prospective study used the Job Demands-Resources model and life course epidemiology to examine how life conditions in adolescence (1961-1963) through achieved educational level and working conditions in early adulthood (1985) may be indirectly related to job burnout 35 years later (1998). We used data (N = 511) from the Finnish Healthy Child study (1961-1963) to investigate the hypothesized relationships by employing structural equation modeling analyses. The results supported the hypothesized model in which both socioeconomic status and cognitive ability in adolescence (1961-1963) were positively associated with educational level (measured in 1985), which in turn was related to working conditions in early adulthood (1985). Furthermore, working conditions (1985) were associated with job burnout (1998) 13 years later. Moreover, adult education (1985) and skill variety (1985) mediated the associations between original socioeconomic status and cognitive ability, and burnout over a 35-year time period. The results suggest that socioeconomic, individual, and work-related resources may accumulate over the life course and may protect employees from job burnout.

Continuation of linear growth failure and its association with cognitive ability are not dependent on initial length‐for‐age: a longitudinal study from 6 months to 11 years of age

To examine linear growth and its association with cognitive ability at age 11 years among full-term singletons with varying degree of stunting or without stunting at age 6 months. A total of 1516 Filipino term-born singletons were followed bimonthly from age 6 to 24 months and took cognitive and academic achievement tests at 11 years. The tests were factor-analysed to give a summary cognitive ability score. Linear regression was used to examine associations and adjust for covariates. Mean height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) was -1.0 at age 6 months and -2.4 at 24 months. HAZ at 6 months, change in HAZ from 6 to 24 months and change in HAZ from 24 months to 11 years were positively associated with cognitive ability at 11 years (each p < 0.001). The association was seen in all categories of HAZ at 6 months. In this setting where linear growth retardation was common, association between linear growth after age 6 months and cognitive ability in adolescence was not dependent on initial HAZ. Prevention of growth stunting may benefit all children regardless of their initial HAZ.

Cognitive ability in adolescence and mortality in middle age: a prospective life course study

Background:An association between childhood cognitive ability measured by IQ tests and mortality has been reported recently. It is not clear from those studies to what extent the increased relative risk...

Spatiotemporal organization of brain dynamics and intelligence: an EEG study in adolescents

This study investigated relationships between global dynamics of brain electric activity and intelligence. EEG was recorded monopolarly from 10 symmetric leads (10–20 system) in 37 (17 males) healthy subjects (mean age 13.7 years) at rest and during performance of two visually presented cognitive tasks, verbal (semantic grouping) and spatial (mental rotation). On another occasion, the subjects were administered the Intelligence Structure Test (IST). Both total IST score and some individual subtests of specific abilities showed significant positive correlations with EEG coherence in the theta band and significant negative relationships with EEG dimension, a measure of complexity and unpredictability of neural oscillatory dynamics underlying the EEG time series. Furthermore, EEG coherence and dimensional complexity were inversely related. Taken together, these EEG metrics accounted for over 30% of the variability of the total IST score in this sample. No significant effects of the task type (spatial vs. verbal) or specific abilities were observed. Long-distance theta coherence between frontal and parieto-occipital areas showed the most consistent relationship with cognitive abilities. The results suggest that order to chaos ratio in task-related brain dynamics may be one of the biological factors underlying individual differences in cognitive abilities in adolescents.

Effects of depression on performance on neuropsychological tests in adolescents

To determine the effects of depression on cognitive abilities in adolescents, we administered a battery of neuropsychological tests, including Wechsler Intelligence and Memory scales, Category Test, and Buschke Selective Reminding Test to 22 inpatients, ages 13-17. Patients were diagnosed with SADS-RDC criteria. Severity of depression was measured with the clinician-rated Children’s Depression Rating Scale and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the self-rated Children’s Depression Inventory and Reynold’s Adolescent Depression Scale. Subjects were classified into high and low depression groups based on a median split of scores from each depression scale. Using the Children’s Depression Rating Scale, patients in the high depression score group were significantly more impaired on select tests of verbal expression, attention, learning, memory, and concept formation (p < .03 or lower on all comparisons). Several visualspatial/motor measures, including Block Design, Object Assembly, and Performance IQ, did not reveal group differences. Measurement methods of depression were found to be important in the analysis, though patients’ age and sex were not. These preliminary findings are consistent with previous studies with depressed adults in that effortful learning and concept formation tests appear to be particularly sensitive to the effects of depression. In contrast to studies of depressed adults, however, we did not find an association between severity of depression and several timed, visual-motor tests.

Specific cognitive abilities in 5- to 12-year-old twins.

Eleven tests of specific cognitive abilities were administered to 108 pairs of young twins (average age of 7.6 years). Internal consistencies are high for all measures except Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices and Delayed Picture Memory. Two-month, test-retest reliabilities are also reported. The twin sample is representative in terms of both means and variances when compared to normative data from standardization samples, and twin correlations for height and weight are similar to those obtained in six other twin studies. Because all measures were highly correlated with age (average correlation with age was 0.64), scores were aged adjusted. Previous twin studies of specific cognitive abilities in adolescents and adults found genetic variance for nearly all tests. In contrast, our study of young twins yielded significant genetic influence for only 1 of the 11 measures, PIAT Reading Recognition, and suggested the possibility of genetic influence on 2 others (vocabulary and WISC-R mazes). Environmental influences seem to dominate, particularly for nonverbal measures, as children begin their education. In accord with other studies, we found that between-family environmental factors have an important influence on the development of nearly all of the measures of specific cognitive abilities. However, we found that our tests of perceptual speed and memory were substantially influenced by within-family environmental factors independent of error.