Psychophysiological Correlates of Writing and Reading Difficulties in Children of Elementary School Age

A psychophysiological study of the mechanisms underlying writing and reading difficulties at elementary school included assessment of the actual level of speech development, language abilities, intellectual functions, visual memory, visuomotor coordination, and neuropsychological parameters of first- and third- or fourth-grade students. The leading mechanisms of writing and reading difficulties were identified for different stages of skill formation. The role of factors determining the efficiency of learning changed accordingly. From the first to the third (fourth) grade, a decrease was observed in the role of the factors of speech development, formation of motor skills, visual perception, and visual memory, while the voluntary organization of activity, working capacity, and fatigability became the most significant factors. At all stages of teaching writing and reading, the rate of teaching activity must correspond to the functional and adaptive capabilities of schoolchildren.     

Physical Development and Condition of Psychophysiological Functions in Junior Schoolchildren

The authors studied the correlation between the physical development level and condition of psychophysiological functions in junior schoolchildren. They 104 examined pupils (53 girls and 51 boys) of the fourth form of a secondary school between the ages of nine and ten over the school year. To evaluate the children's physical development, the authors measured the subjects' anthropometric and functional indices. Their results show that the physical development level correlates with the condition of psychophysiological functions.     

Psychophysiological Mechanisms of the Initial Stage of Learning to Read. Part I

Human Physiology - The study of reading mechanisms is an urgent multidisciplinary fundamental scientific problem. Several reviews on the psychophysiology of reading have been published in Russian...     

Comprehensive Longitudinal Study of the Physical and Psychophysiological Development of Schoolchildren at the Preadolescent, Early Adolescent, and Late Adolescent Ontogenetic Stages

Results are presented of a 10-year comprehensive study of the changes in somatic, psychophysiological, and autonomic parameters of 132 students of an innovative school (a linguistics-oriented gymnasium) by using computer-aided psychophysiological and functional diagnostics. Certain changes were found in the development of the structural and functional psychosomatic complexes of students at different stages of their ontogenesis.     

The Development of Artistic Perception in Schoolchildren

The elements of the material of a work of art (in literature these are the individual words or individual facts used by the author) make no aesthetic sense outside of a context. In themselves they are understandable in the particular cultural-historical environment and cause no difficulties in perception during the course of reading.¹     

Climate and Chest Disorders in Schoolchildren

A survey of the respiratory disorders in schoolchildren from rural areas showed no significant differences between the United Kingdom and Australia and New Zealand in loss of time from school owing to chest illness. Contrary to expectations the warmer the region the greater the prevalence of bronchitis, asthma, and hay fever. These results should encourage a critical appraisal of the respiratory benefits of warmer climates, and also suggest that the English climate should prove to be no more than a minor barrier to any future reduction of respiratory mortality in the U.K.     

Characteristics of Authorial Thinking in Young Schoolchildren

One of the relevant problems of educational psychology is the study of conditions ensuring the development of independent thinking in schoolchildren in the course of formal learning. On the one hand, this means that it is necessary to encourage studies in an area traditional to educational psychology, namely, cultivation of techniques of independent problem-solving in schoolchildren. On the other hand, I think it follows from this that new studies are necessary, particularly in the area of teaching children the techniques of independently formulating problems on various topics in their school subjects, i.e., cultivation of techniques of an author's mode of thought.     

Psychophysiological components of imagery

McGuigan's neuromuscular model of information processing (1978a, 1978b, and 1989) was investigated by electrically recording eye movements (electro-oculograms), covert lip and preferred arm responses (electromyograms), and electroencephalograms. This model predicts that codes are generated as the lips are uniquely activated when processing words beginning with bilabial sounds like "p" or "b," as is the right arm to words like "pencil" that refer to its use. Twelve adult female participants selected for their high imagery ratings were asked to form images to three orally presented linguistic stimuli: the letter "p," the words "pencil" and "pasture," and to a control stimulus, the words "go blank." The following findings were significant beyond the 0.05 level: an increased covert lip response only to the letter "p," increased vertical eye activity to "p" and to the word "pencil," right arm response only to the word "pencil," and a decreased percentage of alpha waves from the right 02 lead only to the word "pasture." Since these covert responses uniquely occurred during specific imagery processes, it is inferred that they are components of neuromuscular circuits that function in accord with the model of information processing tested.     

Neural Mechanisms Underlying Stop-and-Restart Difficulties: Involvement of the Motor and Perceptual Systems

The ability to suddenly stop a planned movement or a movement being performed and restart it after a short interval is an important mechanism that allows appropriate behavior in response to contextual or environmental changes. However, performing such stop-and-restart movements smoothly is difficult at times. We investigated performance (response time) of stop-and-restart movements using a go/stop/re-go task and found consistent stop-and-restart difficulties after short (∼100 ms) stop-to-restart intervals (SRSI), and an increased probability of difficulties after longer (>200 ms) SRSIs, suggesting that two different mechanisms underlie stop-and-restart difficulties. Next, we investigated motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in a moving muscle induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation during a go/stop/re-go task. In re-go trials with a short SRSI (100 ms), the MEP amplitude continued to decrease after the re-go-signal onset, indicating that stop-and-restart difficulties with short SRSIs might be associated with a neural mechanism in the human motor system, namely, stop-related suppression of corticomotor (CM) excitability. Finally, we recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) activity during a go/stop/re-go task and performed a single-trial-based EEG power and phase time-frequency analysis. Alpha-band EEG phase locking to re-go-signal, which was only observed in re-go trials with long SRSI (250 ms), weakened in the delayed re-go response trials. These EEG phase dynamics indicate an association between stop-and-restart difficulties with long SRSIs and a neural mechanism in the human perception system, namely, decreased probability of EEG phase locking to visual stimuli. In contrast, smooth stop-and-restart human movement can be achieved in re-go trials with sufficient SRSI (150–200 ms), because release of stop-related suppression and simultaneous counter-activation of CM excitability may occur as a single task without second re-go-signal perception. These results suggest that skilled motor behavior is subject to various constraints in not only motor, but also perceptual (and attentional), systems.