The mental developmental level of 5- to 7-year-old children and the reflection of their emotional status in speech

In 22 children aged 5-7 during the play "make up a square" negative (1st step) and positive (2nd and 3rd steps) emotions were formed. General behaviour and speech expressions of children were recorded during the play. Before beginning of the play, intellectual development of children was tested, and two groups were singled out: with low (A) and high (B) levels of tasks solution. Changes of verbal values Fot and n(0) in children from two groups were compared during the play. Fot was most sensitive to the appearance of the emotional state. Emotional states were more expressed in children from group A: percentage of significant changes in Fot and n(0) values in comparison with the background was higher in the group A than in the group B. In children of the group A the negative emotion formed at the 1st step of the experiment caused a decrease of level of motivation to fulfillment of the task to make up a "difficult" square. In children of the group B the negative emotion did not cause any distinct decrease of motivation level. Fot reflects the change of motivational attitude to task) and n(0)--of informational (actualization of knowledge, reasoning etc.) components of the emotional reaction connected with the process of task solution.     

The influence of the emotional state of the child on the parameters of its verbal response

The method of determination of human emotional state by speech was applied to the analysis of verbal expressions of 22 children during the play "make-up the square". Parameters of the verbal response--F0 (fundamental frequency) and n(0) (evaluation of the frequency of the first formant) changed to the greatest extent under the influence of emotional reactions which appeared in children during the play. Depending on the terms of the play different changes of these parameters took place in different children: in some cases significant increase of values was observed as compared with the background ones, in other cases--their significant decrease.     

Geomagnetic Field Effect on Affective and Cognitive Competence in Preschool

The goal of our research was to study the effect of geomagnetic field (GMF) disturbances, in terms of K, K_p, A_k, A_p, and SK indices, on children's affective (emotional) and cognitive competence during different forms of organization of pretend play. We studied two forms of management of the playing process: 1) teacher‐directed frontal play with simultaneous involvement of all children in the classroom and 2) child‐directed play in various small groups. Twenty‐six observations were performed on 51 children in two mixed‐age classrooms. The mean age of the children was 4.6 years, with age span from 3 to 6 years. We found a significant increase in cognitive behavior during child‐directed play in groups compared with frontal, teacher‐directed management of the lesson. During child‐directed play children's behavior was negatively correlated with geomagnetic disturbance in both affective and cognitive domains (R = ? 0.47, p < 0.029, n = 21) as compared with teacher‐directed play where there was no significant interaction. We believe the dependence of the GMF effect on the type of the organization of the educational process is explained by the less‐stressful environment of the child‐directed playing conditions compared with teacher‐directed in which the directive role of the teacher can mask a possible GMF effect.     

OPERATIONS FOR HARELIP AND CLEFT PALATE—The Emotional Complications in Children

Mothers of children who need reconstructive operations for defects present at birth are likely to feel guilty, particularly if the pregnancy was unwanted. The physician treating the child is in a position to reassure the mother and assuage her guilt.To the child, the meaning of a surgical experience depends not on the type or seriousness of the actual operation, but on the type and depth of imaginings which it stimulates. For children between two and four, the anxiety of separation from the mother is greater than that aroused by the anesthetic. A good relationship with the mother will insulate the child against many traumatic events.A surgical operation is an important and stressful experience for a child, activating the great childhood fears of abandonment, of mutilation, and of death. Very frequently, children with harelip and cleft palate, by the time definitive restorative surgery is contemplated, have had emotional experiences that make them more than usually vulnerable to the harmful effects of operation. If the child can discuss the products of his imagination about the operation and have them corrected by someone he trusts, the total response will be more adequate. Talking out and playing out help prevent the development of excessive and harmful emotional reactions.     

Effect of music on motor reaction time and interhemispheric relations

Influence of music on motor reaction time (RT) was studied. Warning and triggering stimuli were presented either in the left or in the right visual fields. RT was recorded when playing classical or variety music; control sessions were not accompanied by music. Music shortened RT, and its stimulating effect was the stronger the longer were the initial RTs without music. The influence of variety music was more effective than of the classic one. RT was shortened more when the triggering stimulus was presented in the left visual field. This phenomenon is considered to be an evidence of predominant influence of music on the right cerebral hemisphere due to greater activation from emotional structures.     

Dependence of the perception of emotional information of speech on the acoustic parameters of the stimulus in children of various ages

The effect on the perception of the emotional prosody of a vocal signal of the acoustic parameters of the stimulus in children of various ages (7–10, 11–13, and 14–17 years) was studied. Considerable differences in recognition of positive and negative valences of the vocal signal against the background of noise and in its absence were demonstrated. The ontogenetic specific features of the dependence of recognition of the emotional valence on the acoustic parameters of a vocal signal were determined. The most important acoustic characters (the fundamental frequency F0 and the frequency of the first formant F1) that ensure the perception of the emotional prosody of a vocal signal against the background of noise at different age stages were found.     

Features of cerebral support of verbal processes in children with dysgraphia and dyslexia

Comprehensive neuropsychological and electroencephalographic examination of children with dysgraphia and dyslexia demonstrated local EEG anomalies in various zones of the cortex in both hemispheres, mainly in the posterotemporal and/or anterior regions of the left and the posterotemporal regions of the right hemisphere. The character of speech disturbances depended considerably on the localization of the baseline EEG anomalies: disturbances of motor components of writing prevailed when these anomalies were localized in the anterior parts of the left hemisphere, while phonological and morphological speech disturbances were noted in children with local anomalies in the temporal regions of both hemispheres and in posterior association regions, mainly in the right hemisphere. Spectral and correlation analyses of the EEG demonstrated the features of the cerebral organization of verbal activity in children with dysgraphia and dyslexia, namely, weakened intra- and interhemispheric integration of electrical activity of different regions of the brain cortex, particularly temporal and posterior association regions, and predominance of integration based on low-frequency EEG components ( and ₁), unlike children without learning disabilities, in whom functional integration of cortical zones involved high-frequency rhythms (₂ and ). On the whole, the results of the study testify to an important role of systemic interactions between the regions of the cortex of both hemispheres in the formation of verbal activity.Translated from Fiziologiya Cheloveka, Vol. 31, No. 2, 2005, pp. 5–12.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Dmitrova, Dubrovinskaya, Lukashevich, Machinskaya, Shklovskii.     

Operations for harelip and cleft palate; the emotional complications in children

Mothers of children who need reconstructive operations for defects present at birth are likely to feel guilty, particularly if the pregnancy was unwanted. The physician treating the child is in a position to reassure the mother and assuage her guilt. To the child, the meaning of a surgical experience depends not on the type or seriousness of the actual operation, but on the type and depth of imaginings which it stimulates. For children between two and four, the anxiety of separation from the mother is greater than that aroused by the anesthetic. A good relationship with the mother will insulate the child against many traumatic events.A surgical operation is an important and stressful experience for a child, activating the great childhood fears of abandonment, of mutilation, and of death. Very frequently, children with harelip and cleft palate, by the time definitive restorative surgery is contemplated, have had emotional experiences that make them more than usually vulnerable to the harmful effects of operation. If the child can discuss the products of his imagination about the operation and have them corrected by someone he trusts, the total response will be more adequate. Talking out and playing out help prevent the development of excessive and harmful emotional reactions.     

Motivational Salience Signal in the Basal Forebrain Is Coupled with Faster and More Precise Decision Speed

The survival of animals depends critically on prioritizing responses to motivationally salient stimuli. While it is generally believed that motivational salience increases decision speed, the quantitative relationship between motivational salience and decision speed, measured by reaction time (RT), remains unclear. Here we show that the neural correlate of motivational salience in the basal forebrain (BF), defined independently of RT, is coupled with faster and also more precise decision speed. In rats performing a reward-biased simple RT task, motivational salience was encoded by BF bursting response that occurred before RT. We found that faster RTs were tightly coupled with stronger BF motivational salience signals. Furthermore, the fraction of RT variability reflecting the contribution of intrinsic noise in the decision-making process was actively suppressed in faster RT distributions with stronger BF motivational salience signals. Artificially augmenting the BF motivational salience signal via electrical stimulation led to faster and more precise RTs and supports a causal relationship. Together, these results not only describe for the first time, to our knowledge, the quantitative relationship between motivational salience and faster decision speed, they also reveal the quantitative coupling relationship between motivational salience and more precise RT. Our results further establish the existence of an early and previously unrecognized step in the decision-making process that determines both the RT speed and variability of the entire decision-making process and suggest that this novel decision step is dictated largely by the BF motivational salience signal. Finally, our study raises the hypothesis that the dysregulation of decision speed in conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, and cognitive aging may result from the functional impairment of the motivational salience signal encoded by the poorly understood noncholinergic BF neurons.     

A New Neurocognitive Theory of Dreams

Discoveries in three distinct areas of dream research make it possible to suggest the outlines of a new neurocognitive theory of dreaming. The first relevant findings come from assessments of patients with brain injuries, which show that lesions in different areas have differential effects on dreaming and thereby imply the contours of the neural network necessary for dreaming. The second set of results comes from work with children ages 3–15 in the sleep laboratory, which reveals that only 20–30% of REM period awakenings lead to dream reports up to age 9 and that the dreams of children under age 5 are bland and static in content. The third set of findings comes from a rigorous system of content analysis, which demonstrates the repetitive nature of much dream content and that dream content in general is continuous with waking conceptions and emotional preoccupations. Based on these findings, dreaming is best understood as a developmental cognitive achievement that depends upon the maturation and maintenance of a specific network of forebrain structures. The output of this neural network for dreaming is guided by a continuity principle linked to current personal concerns on the one hand and a repetition principle rooted in past emotional preoccupations on the other.     

The function of friends in preschoolers' lives: at the entrance to the classroom

The function of friendships and peer attachment in preschoolers' everyday lives is examined from the ethological view point. It is postulated that a child invests time and energy in friends or play partners chosen by him/herself: the child collects information about the friends and attempts to influence their special behavioural tendencies to his/her own advantage. As a result of this long-term investment, the friends are more predictable, controllable, and cooperative. It is hypothesized that a child uses and benefits from the friends in attempts to reach his/her personal goals. This study examines whether a child benefits from friends in attempts to join in play. Seventeen German preschool children (10 boys and 7 girls) ranging in age from 36 to 79 months were observed on arrival at school on 18 preschool days. When friends were present in the classroom, children first approached peers more often than when friends were not present; otherwise they approached the teacher. Friends often actively initiated interaction with arriving children, for example by calling the child's name. Success in joining in play was highest when friends were chosen as the target of the approach. During approaches to friends, tactics were more frequently used which require specific information about the target. However, when friends were playing with nonfriends of the children, benefits such as initiation by the target and the larger range of alternatives in strategies were not observed. The results support the hypothesis that a child uses and benefits from friends. The results further suggest that the relationships of friends with other peers disturb the beneficial effects of friends and that such relationships even increases the costs in interactions with friends.     

Eleven fetal echocardiographic planes using 4-dimensional ultrasound with spatio-temporal image correlation (STIC): a logical approach to fetal heart volume analysis

Background

Real time three dimensional (RT3D) echocardiography is an accurate and reproducible method for assessing left ventricular shape and function.

Aim

assess the feasibility and reproducibility of RT3D stress echocardiography (SE) (exercise and pharmacological) in the evaluation of left ventricular function compared to 2D.

Methods and results

One hundred eleven patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease underwent 2D and RT3DSE. The agreement in WMSI, EDV, ESV measurements was made off-line. The feasibility of RT-3DSE was 67%. The inter-observer variability for WMSI by RT3D echo was higher during exercise and with suboptimal quality images (good: k = 0.88; bad: k = 0.69); and with high heart rate both for pharmacological (HR < 100 bpm, k = 0.83; HR ≥ 100 bpm, k = 0.49) and exercise SE (HR < 120 bpm, k = 0.88; HR ≥ 120 bpm, k = 0.78). The RT3D reproducibility was high for ESV volumes (0.3 ± 14 ml; CI 95%: -27 to 27 ml; p = n.s.).

Conclusions

RT3DSE is more vulnerable than 2D due to tachycardia, signal quality, patient decubitus and suboptimal resting image quality, making exercise RT3DSE less attractive than pharmacological stress.     

Fractal scaling properties of heart rate dynamics following resistance exercise training.

With aging and disease, there is a breakdown of the natural fractal-like organization of heart rate (HR). Fractal-like correlation properties of HR can be assessed with detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). A short-time scaling exponent (alpha(s)) value of 1 is associated with healthy HR dynamics, whereas values that deviate away from 1, in either direction, indicate fractal collapse. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of resistance exercise training (RT) on fractal correlation properties of HR dynamics. Resting ECG was collected at baseline, following a 4-wk time control period and 6 wk of RT (3 days per wk) in 34 men (23 +/- 1 years of age). Fractal properties of HR were assessed with DFA. There was no change in alpha(s) following either the time control period or RT (1.01 +/- 0.06 to 0.98 +/- 0.06 to 0.93 +/- 0.04, P > 0.05). Given the potential bidirectional nature of fractal collapse, subjects were retrospectively separated into two groups (higher alpha(s) and lower alpha(s)) on the basis of the initial alpha(s) by using cluster analysis. An interaction was detected for alpha(s) following RT (P < 0.05). There was no change in alpha(s) in either group following the time control, but alpha(s) increased following RT in the lower alpha(s) group (n = 18; 0.73 +/- 0.04 to 0.69 +/- 0.04 to 0.88 +/- 0.04) and alpha(s) decreased following RT in the higher alpha(s) group (n = 16; 1.20 +/- 0.04 to 1.24 +/- 0.04 to 0.98 +/- 0.04). In conclusion, RT improves fractal properties of HR dynamics.     

Compete to Play: Trade-Off with Social Contact in Long-Tailed Macaques (Macaca fascicularis)

Many animal species engage in various forms of solitary object play, but this activity seems to be of particular importance in primates. If playing objects constitute a valuable resource, and access to such objects is limited, a competitive context may arise. We inserted a unique toy within a mini-colony of long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) and compared their behaviors to sessions without playing object. An automatic color-based 3D video device was used to track the positions of each animal and the toy, and this data was categorized into 5 exclusive behaviors (resting, locomotion, foraging, social contact and object play). As expected, the delay to first access to the object reflected the hierarchy of the colony, indicating that a competition took place to own this unique resource of entertainment. In addition, we found that the amount of object play was not correlated with social or foraging behavior, suggesting independent motivational mechanisms. Conversely, object playing time was negatively correlated with idling time, thus indicating its relation to pastime activities. Interestingly, the amount of social contacts in the group was significantly reduced by the heightened competitive context, suggesting that competitors are more likely to be perceived as potential threat requiring caution, as shown in humans. Experimental manipulation of competitive contexts in primates reveals common mental processes involved in social judgment, and shows that access to valuable resources can be a sufficient cause for variations in group cohesion.     

'Eloquent Chaos' in the Oral Discourse of Killing Fields Survivors: An Exploration of Atrocity and Narrativization

If narrative implies a form of discourse in which sequencedevents are meaningfully connected, an anti-narrative is achaotic discourse form of time without sequence, telling withoutmediation, and speaking about oneself without being fully able toreflect on oneself (Frank 1995: 98). This paper examinesnarratives and anti-narratives in the oral discourses ofsurvivors of the Cambodian killing fields. Through an extendedanalysis of two cases, we demonstrate the internal logic and eloquence of anti-narratives – i.e., the ways in whichanti-narrative patterns vividly express and reveal a survivor'scomplex and continuing experience of atrocity.     

Body Weight and ADHD: Examining the Role of Self-Regulation

Objective

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a complex and heterogeneous childhood disorder that often coexists with other psychiatric and somatic disorders. Recently, a link between ADHD and body weight dysregulation has been reported and often interpreted as impaired self-regulation that is shared between the two conditions. The objective of this study is to investigate the relation between body weight/BMI and cognitive, emotional and motor characteristics in children with ADHD.

Methods

284 ADHD children were stratified by weight status/BMI according to WHO classification and compared with regard to their neurocognitive characteristics, motivational style, and motor profile as assessed by a comprehensive battery of tests. All comparisons were adjusted for demographic characteristics of relevance including, socioeconomic status (SES).

Results

Both Obese and overweight ADHD children exhibited significantly lower SES compared to normal weight ADHD children. No significant differences were observed between the three groups with regards to their neurocognitive, emotional and motor profile.

Conclusions

Our findings provide evidence that differences in weight/BMI are not accounted for by cognitive, motivational and motor profiles. Socio-economic characteristics are strongly associated with overweight and obesity in ADHD children and may inform strategies aimed at promoting healthier weight.     

Autism as a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting communication and learning in early childhood: prenatal origins, post-natal course and effective educational support

Colwyn Trevarthen, working on autism, discussed the importance of time, rhythm and temporal processing in brain function. The brains of new born infants show highly coherent and coordinated patterns of activity over time, and their rhythms are remarkably similar to those of adults. Since the cortex has not yet developed, this coordination must be subcortical in origin. The likely source is the emotional motor system. He noted that the cerebellum might regulate the intricate timing of the development and expression of emotional communication. He also pointed out that emotional and motivational factors have often been seriously neglected in psychology (largely owing to a misplaced focus on 'cognition' as some isolated entity) and emphasized the potential importance of empathetic support and music therapy in helping autistic children.     

The reflection of the motivational status in the spectral characteristics of the species-specific acoustic signals of the domestic cat

Spectral characteristics of species-specific acoustic signals were analyzed in cats under various unfavourable conditions: hunger, isolation, pain stimulation, agony. The increase in the need to get rid of the discomfort accompanied by the development of emotional excitation was reflected in spectral characteristics of produced signals. The frequency and duration of signals increased, their spectrum widened accompanied by spectral maxima shifted towards the high-frequency area similar to the range of formant frequencies in the signals of newborn kittens. The similarity between spectral characteristics of the above signals in adult and newborn cats might indicate the appearance of infantile features in adult cats under conditions of a marked desire to change the existing situation. The fact that motivational state was reflected in spectral characteristics of acoustic signals along with stable responses to the signals, spoke in favour of a considerable contribution made by communication to the organization of intraspecific relations.     

Alexithymia impact on EEG activity of anterior and posterior regions of the right hemisphere while experiencing positive and negative emotions

The present study was aimed to assess the influence of alexithymia (an emotional disorder associated with difficulties in identification and describing personal feelings) on regional activity while experiencing positive or negative emotional activation. The 62-channels EEG was recorded in non-alexithymic (n = 27) and alexithymic (n = 17) subjects viewing emotional film clips. Effects of alexithymia were found in the upper theta, low and upper alpha frequency bands; for all the bands the alexithymics exhibited greater reactivity of the right hemisphere, suggesting enhanced avoidance motivational tendencies, negative effect and autonomic arousal. The present phenomenon suggests engagement of additional cognitive resources in identification of emotional feelings. Such a 'cognitive effort' can be a result of impaired referential links and deficit of symbolic processing of emotions.