28 research outputs found
A Research Agenda on the Family for the European Union
Information brochure No. 2 on the main outcomes of FAMILYPLATFOR
Families - A Summary of the Situation in Europe Today
Information brochure No. 1 on the state of knowledge on contemporary family life in Europe and key issues for policy and researc
Civil Society Perspective
Three case studies, taken from within the FAMILYPLATFORM consortium, of family organisations operating at the local, national, European, and global levels
Whodunnit? Electrophysiological correlates of agency judgements.
Sense of agency refers to the feeling that "I" am responsible for those external events that are directly produced by one's own voluntary actions. Recent theories distinguish between a non-conceptual "feeling" of agency linked to changes in the processing of self-generated sensory events, and a higher-order judgement of agency, which attributes sensory events to the self. In the current study we explore the neural correlates of the judgement of agency by means of electrophysiology. We measured event-related potentials to tones that were either perceived or not perceived as triggered by participants' voluntary actions and related these potentials to later judgements of agency over the tones. Replicating earlier findings on predictive sensory attenuation, we found that the N1 component was attenuated for congruent tones that corresponded to the learned action-effect mapping as opposed to incongruent tones that did not correspond to the previously acquired associations between actions and tones. The P3a component, but not the N1, directly reflected the judgement of agency: deflections in this component were greater for tones judged as self-generated than for tones judged as externally produced. The fact that the outcome of the later agency judgement was predictable based on the P3a component demonstrates that agency judgements incorporate early information processing components and are not purely reconstructive, post-hoc evaluations generated at time of judgement
Spotlights on Contemporary Family Life
Spotlights on Contemporary Family Life covers four issues of
cross-cutting importance to families
Structures and forms of families: issues relating to a diversification of families
away from the âtraditional nuclear family formâ are relatively uncontroversial
from an academic perspective, but much more so for policy makers and family
associations. Chapter 1 provides a thorough overview of the state of contemporary
European families.
Solidarities in families: too often the issue of an âageing societyâ is simply
reduced to the problem of over-burdening social care systems, but longevity
also represents opportunities for new kinds of solidarities inside families and
family networks, and new relations between family members â not to mention
the satisfaction felt by people who can continue to live fulfilling and rewarding
lives long after theyâre considered âelderlyâ. Chapter 2 gives voice to authors who
identify these new opportunities and challenges.
Demographic change: women are having fewer children and having them
later in life. Having children is now a conscious decision and fertility rates have
declined below the level required to sustain our current populations. At the
same time we witness the âgreyingâ of Europe, which brings with it a whole host
of opportunities and challenges. Chapter 3 raises important issues for policy
makers today.
Volunteering: inspired by family associations who could not survive without
the support of volunteers, this chapter gives an overview of whatâs known -
and what isnât - about volunteering. Coinciding with the European Year of
Volunteering 2011, this chapter takes a timely look at the efforts that families
put into volunteering across Europe and the important benefits that Europe gains
from all of this combined voluntary effort.
Linden Farrer and William Lay work for the Confederation of Family Organisations
in the European Union (COFACE). This publication was produced by FAMILYPLATFORM,
a project funded by the European Commission
New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias
Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE Δ4 allele
Are Babies Making a Comeback? Interview with Professor Herwig Birg
Birg H. Are Babies Making a Comeback? Interview with Professor Herwig Birg. In: Farrer L, Lay W, eds. Spotlights on contemporary family life. Familyplatform. Vol 2. [S.l.]; 2011: 125-132