Handedness, Health and Cognitive Development: Evidence from Children in the NLSY

Using data from the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, and fitting family fixed-effects models of child health and cognitive development, we test if left-handed children do significantly worse than their right-handed counterparts. The health measures cover both physical and mental health, and the cognitive development test scores span (1) Memory, (2) Vocabulary, (3) Mathematics, (4) Reading and (5) Comprehension. We find that while left-handed children have a significantly higher probability of suffering an injury needing medical attention, there is no difference in their experience of illness or poor mental health. We also find that left-handed children have significantly lower cognitive development test scores than right-handed children for all areas of development with the exception of reading. Moreover, the left-handedness disadvantage is larger for boys than girls, and remains roughly constant as children grow older for most outcomes. We also find that the probability of a child being left-handed is not related to the socioeconomic characteristics of the family, such as income or maternal education. All these results tend to support a difference in brain functioning or neurological explanation for handedness differentials rather than one based on left-handed children living in a right-handed world.handedness, children, health, cognitive development, family fixed-effects

Citizen science as a new tool in dog cognition research

The work of Á.M. was supported by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA 01 031).Family dogs and dog owners offer a potentially powerful way to conduct citizen science to answer questions about animal behavior that are difficult to answer with more conventional approaches. Here we evaluate the quality of the first data on dog cognition collected by citizen scientists using the Dognition. com website. We conducted analyses to understand if data generated by over 500 citizen scientists replicates internally and in comparison to previously published findings. Half of participants participated for free while the other half paid for access. The website provided each participant a temperament questionnaire and instructions on how to conduct a series of ten cognitive tests. Participation required internet access, a dog and some common household items. Participants could record their responses on any PC, tablet or smartphone from anywhere in the world and data were retained on servers. Results from citizen scientists and their dogs replicated a number of previously described phenomena from conventional lab-based research. There was little evidence that citizen scientists manipulated their results. To illustrate the potential uses of relatively large samples of citizen science data, we then used factor analysis to examine individual differences across the cognitive tasks. The data were best explained by multiple factors in support of the hypothesis that nonhumans, including dogs, can evolve multiple cognitive domains that vary independently. This analysis suggests that in the future, citizen scientists will generate useful datasets that test hypotheses and answer questions as a complement to conventional laboratory techniques used to study dog psychology.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Links between the personalities, styles and performance in computer programming

There are repetitive patterns in strategies of manipulating source code. For example, modifying source code before acquiring knowledge of how a code works is a depth-first style and reading and understanding before modifying source code is a breadth-first style. To the extent we know there is no study on the influence of personality on them. The objective of this study is to understand the influence of personality on programming styles. We did a correlational study with 65 programmers at the University of Stuttgart. Academic achievement, programming experience, attitude towards programming and five personality factors were measured via self-assessed survey. The programming styles were asked in the survey or mined from the software repositories. Performance in programming was composed of bug-proneness of programmers which was mined from software repositories, the grades they got in a software project course and their estimate of their own programming ability. We did statistical analysis and found that Openness to Experience has a positive association with breadth-first style and Conscientiousness has a positive association with depth-first style. We also found that in addition to having more programming experience and better academic achievement, the styles of working depth-first and saving coarse-grained revisions improve performance in programming.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figure

MORE THAN FINGER COUNTING: SHARED RESOURCES BETWEEN FINGER TAPPING AND ARITHMETIC

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Cognitive Science, 2011Arithmetic is a branch of mathematics upon which many other mathematical content areas are built. The study of the mechanisms underlying arithmetic is crucial for understanding cognition in other domains of mathematics, as well as higher-level cognition. Recent advances in the study of embodied cognition have yielded to a new interest in how mathematical thinking relates to our body and the sensorimotor system. Abundant behavioral, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological evidence have accumulated over the last two decades showing a relationship between number processing and sensorimotor processes. In addition, considerable evidence has been presented that suggest precursors of arithmetic skills in animals. This shows that arithmetic is not uniquely human and some of the relevant mechanisms may exist independent of language. In this dissertation a combination of behavioral and neuroimaging methods were used to explore the embodiment of arithmetic processing, with particular focus on the relation between finger movements and addition. In addition, how bodily measures (e.g. handedness, finger counting habits, finger tapping ability) interact with cognitive measures (e.g. math ability, digit span, spatial ability) was investigated. The results provide evidence for a finger-based representation of numbers, and show that bodily measures can predict elementary numerical skills

Longitudinal Loneliness and Cognitive Aging in Mid and Late Life: Patterns of Associations and Epigenetic Pathways

The aims of this dissertation were to compare associations between baseline and longitudinal loneliness and performance and change in four specific cognitive abilities and to explore whether DNA methylation at specific locations in blood leukocytes may play a role in the association between loneliness and cognition. In Study 1, we assessed effects of baseline loneliness and two measures of longitudinal loneliness (time-varying loneliness and geometric means for loneliness across waves) on cognitive performance and change across up to 28 years of follow-up in a large pooled sample from the Consortium on Interplay of Genes and Environment Across Multiple Studies (IGEMS). Results showed small effects of loneliness on cognition that varied across cognitive domains, with faster processing speed at age 65 and faster decline in processing speed and spatial ability. In Study 2, we evaluated loneliness and longitudinal methylation and cognitive data in a subsample from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA) to evaluate associations between loneliness and methylation at 1,586 CpG sites within genes linked with the conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA) using both phenotypic and co-twin control approaches. For sites with associations between loneliness and methylation, regression models were used to explore relations between loneliness, methylation, and cognition. Results showed associations between loneliness and methylation level at age 70 at cg00403457 in PTPN12 and change in methylation with age at cg00619097 in CPT1B and cg26661481 in IL10RA, with partial confounding of these relations by genetic or common environmental factors indicated by co-twin control results. Although direct effects of loneliness on cognition were not significant, indirect associations of perceived loneliness to methylation of cg00403457 in PTPN12 to change in processing speed were observed, indicative of a potential role of methylation at this site in the loneliness—cognition relation. Overall, across study1 and study 2, results indicate that feelings of loneliness predict faster cognitive decline with small albeit meaningful effects that play out across age with hints of indirect mediation via methylation pathways that may be partly genetically moderated. Additional work is needed to further clarify how loneliness relates to cognition change

Sociological and Human Developmental Explanations of Crime: Conflict or Consensus

This paper examines multidisciplinary correlates of delinquency in an attempt to integrate sociological and environmental theories of crime with human developmental and biological explanations of crime. Structural equation models are applied to assess links among biological, psychological, and environmental variables collected prospectively from birth through age 17 on a sample of 800 black children at high risk for learning and behavioral disorders. Results show that for both males and females, aggression and disciplinary problems in school during adolescence are the strongest predictors of repeat offense behavior. Whereas school achievement and family income and stability are also significant predictors of delinquency for males, early physical development is the next strongest predictor for females. Results indicate that some effects on delinquency also vary during different ages. It is suggested that behavioral and learning disorders have both sociological and developmental correlates and that adequate educational resources are necessary to ensure channels of legitimate opportunities for high-risk youths

Spatial Encoding Strategy Theory: The Relationship between Spatial Skill and STEM Achievement

Learners’ spatial skill is a reliable and significant predictor of achievement in STEM, including computing, education. Spatial skill is also malleable, meaning it can be improved through training. Most cognitive skill training improves performance on only a narrow set of similar tasks, but researchers have found ample evidence that spatial training can broadly improve STEM achievement. We do not yet know the cognitive mechanisms that make spatial skill training broadly transferable when other cognitive training is not, but understanding these mechanisms is important for developing training and instruction that consistently benefits learners, especially those starting with low spatial skill. This paper proposes the spatial encoding strategy (SpES) theory to explain the cognitive mechanisms connecting spatial skill and STEM achievement. To motivate SpES theory, the paper reviews research from STEM education, learning sciences, and psychology. SpES theory provides compelling post hoc explanations for the findings from this literature and aligns with neuroscience models about the functions of brain structures. The paper concludes with a plan for testing the theory’s validity and using it to inform future research and instruction. The paper focuses on implications for computing education, but the transferability of spatial skill to STEM performance makes the proposed theory relevant to many education communities

Role of diet and genetics on aging brain and cognition

Cognitive decline in old age is normative, but decline can be exacerbated in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk factors. Recent studies suggest that certain dietary regimens may slow or exacerbate this decline. However, it is uncertain how changes in whole food consumption affects fluid intelligence (FI) performance, an index of reasoning ability, in adults with or without AD genetic risk over time. Genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is mostly found on Chromosome 19 in the APOE-TOMM40-APOC1 region. Specifically, the Apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOE4) haplotype confers the greatest genetic risk for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Food Frequency Questionnaire and Fluid Intelligence Test scores, assessed three times across 6 years, were obtained from UK Biobank to cross-sectionally and longitudinally examine which whole foods were most related to FI. Results indicated that both non-carriers (APOE4-) and especially carriers (APOE4+) showed increased FI with daily cheese and alcohol consumption at baseline. Conversely, decreased FI was seen among APOE4- with daily vegetable consumption over time. Among APOE4+, regular salt use showed worse FI scores over time. Our findings broadly suggest that reducing FI-related cognitive decline may be related to limiting meat, salt, and vegetable consumption, while increasing intake of wheat products, cheese, as well as the consumption of alcohol in moderation. Food recommendations, with AD genetic and family history factors in consideration, may minimize cognitive decline. Translocase of Outer Mitochondrial Membrane-40 (TOMM40) is the only nuclear-encoded gene that controls mitochondrial protein transport, which is critical for maintaining cellular bioenergetics and is progressively disrupted in AD. TOMM40 rs2075650 (‘650) is one of the most consistent loci to show associations with several neural and cognitive outcomes relevant to AD. For example, TOMM40 ‘650 genotypes might affect neural network strength, an early brain marker that is disrupted along the AD continuum. Therefore, 21 orthogonally derived neural networks were examined among 8,222 participants in the UK Biobank cohort. Results indicated that TOMM40 ‘650 G allele may be related to functional connectivity in auditory and language comprehension areas. This relationship may be modified by sex interactions. Differences were observed between G carriers and non-carriers among males, but not females. Not surprisingly, APOE4 was associated with several neural networks that share brain topology generally affected by AD pathology