Working Memory and Language Associations in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social communication and interaction, with repetitive behaviors or specialized interests. A range of language abilities is seen in ASD, with some having typical abilities and others severe impairments. Working memory (WM) deficits have also been found in some children with ASD. In typically developing, as well as non-ASD children with language deficits a strong relationship has been found between WM and language abilities. Although both language and WM deficits are often seen in ASD, the relationship between these deficits has been underexplored. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between WM and language in children with ASD. Aim 1 looks at associations between WM and language abilities in a sample of children with ASD. It was hypothesized that there would be a relationship between these abilities, such that children with WM deficits would also show impairments in language and stronger WM would be associated with better language abilities. Results indicated that children with WM deficits showed impairments in language, and there was a relationship between WM and better communication skills. In Aim 2, neuroanatomical correlates of WM and connectivity with language regions in a sample of children with ASD with and without language deficits were examined. It was hypothesized that children with language impairments would have smaller volume of a WM region and that this region would have reduced connections with language-related cortical regions compared to children without language impairments. Results indicated a relationship between language and brain volume of these regions. However, reduced connections between the language and WM regions were identified in a severe language group. Additionally, we found evidence of associations between language scores and these connections

Parental Stress, Anxiety, and Depression and Child Emotional Intelligence in Children with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

Children with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) have serious medical, psychological, and behavioral symptoms that are stressful to their parents. Higher general intelligence quotients (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EI) in children could allay parental stress. Self-reported stress, anxiety, and depression were measured in parents of children with 22q11.2DS (n=42) and a healthy control group (n=20) in relation to children’s IQ and EI. Children with 22q1.2DS had lower IQ and EI scores. Parental groups did not differ in their reported stress, anxiety, or depression. Children’s IQ and EI levels did not relate to parental measures of affect even in the 22q11.2DS group. Based on these families at this measurement point, it appears that parents are coping well with the challenges of raising a child with a complex neurodevelopmental disorder and that IQ and EI do not play a significant role in parental affect. Further interpretation and future directions are discussed

Appropriability and the timing of innovation: Evidence from MIT inventions

At least since Arrow (1962), the effects of appropriability on invention have been well studied, but there has been little analysis of the effect of appropriability on the commercialization of existing inventions. Exploiting a database of 805 attempts by private firms to commercialize inventions licensed from MIT between 1980 and 1996, we explore the influence of several appropriability mechanisms on the commercialization and termination of projects to develop products based on university inventions. Our central hypothesis is that the relationship between a licensee's decision to either terminate or commercialize the invention is driven by the current market value of the invention, as well as the option value of delaying its commercialization. We use a competing risks framework that allows for non- parametric heterogeneity and correlated risks. We find that better appropriability in the sense of more effective patent strength and secrecy has a strong negative effect on the hazard of license termination. The effectiveness of learning has a strong positive effect on the hazard of technology commercialization, while lead time has a negative effect.