Mindsets

The concept of mindsets was developed by Carol Dweck, a Stanford University psychologist. Her vision was to help children and adults understand that they do not have a fixed amount of intelligence or a fixed amount of talent. Dweck implies that we are not born with a gene that says this is the only amount of talent and intelligence that we will ever have in our lifetime. Our talents and intelligence can be manipulated through hard work and practice. Dweck has devised two terms that are central to her mindsets concept. The first is a fixed mindset which is the belief that your qualities are set in stone. The second term is growth mindset which is the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. The purpose of mindsets is to empower people to believe that they can accomplish anything they want with hard work and dedication. This does not end with just a belief that you can do it but also the actual act of doing it. When people are set on a goal and they take the proper steps to achieve that goal and never give up they will in the end accomplish that goal. However, it all starts with a growth mindset

Potential interactions among linguistic, autonomic, and motor factors in speech

ABSTRACT: Though anecdotal reports link certain speech disorders to increases in autonomic arousal, few studies have described the relationship between arousal and speech processes. Additionally, it is unclear how increases in arousal may interact with other cognitive-linguistic processes to affect speech motor control. In this experiment we examine potential interactions between autonomic arousal, linguistic processing, and speech motor coordination in adults and children. Autonomic responses (heart rate, finger pulse volume, tonic skin conductance, and phasic skin conductance) were recorded simultaneously with upper and lower lip movements during speech. The lip aperture variability (LA variability index) across multiple repetitions of sentences that varied in length and syntactic complexity was calculated under low-and high-arousal conditions. High arousal conditions were elicited by performance of the Stroop color word task. Children had significantly higher lip aperture variability index values across all speaking tasks, indicating more variable speech motor coordination. Increases in syntactic complexity and utterance length were associated with increases in speech motor coordination variability in both speaker groups. There was a significant effect of Stroop task, which produced increases in autonomic arousal and increased speech motor variability in both adults and children. These results provide novel evidence that high arousal levels can influence speech motor control in both adults and children

The effects of linguistic loading and autonomic arousal on speech motor coordination in adults and children

Though anecdotal reports link certain speech disorders to increases in autonomic arousal, little research has described the relationship between arousal and speech processes in typical speakers. Additionally, it is unclear how increases in arousal may interact with other cognitive-linguistic processes to affect speech motor control. The primary goal of this experiment was to examine the interactions between autonomic arousal, linguistic processing, and speech motor coordination in adults and children. Autonomic responses (heart rate, finger pulse volume, tonic skin conductance, and phasic skin conductance) were recorded simultaneously with upper and lower lip kinematic data during speech. The lip aperture variability (LA Coordination Index) across multiple repetitions of sentences that varied in length and syntactic complexity was calculated under low- and high-arousal conditions. High arousal conditions were elicited by performance of the Stroop color word task. Results indicated that children had significantly higher coordination indices across all speaking tasks, indicating more variable speech motor coordination. Increases in syntactic complexity and utterance length were associated with increases in the speech motor coordination variability in both speaker groups. There was a significant effect of Stroop task (associated with increases in arousal) on the speech motor coordination of both adults and children, indicating that high arousal levels can influence speech motor control in both adults and children

Preverbal error-monitoring in stutterers and fluent speakers

This study was designed to characterize the brain system that monitors speech in people who stutter and matched controls. We measured two electrophysiological peaks associated with action-monitoring: the error-related negativity (ERN) and the error positivity (Pe). Both the ERN and Pe were reliably observed after errors in a rhyming task and a nonverbal flanker task, replicating previous reports of a language-monitoring ERN and demonstrating that the Pe can also be elicited by phonological errors. In the rhyming task, stutterers showed a heightened ERN peak regardless of whether they actually committed an error. Similar results, though only marginally significant, were obtained from the flanker task. These results support the vicious cycle hypothesis, which posits that stuttering results from over-monitoring the speech plan. The elevation of the ERN in stutterers and the similarity of the results between the flanker and rhyming tasks implies that speech-monitoring may rely on the same neural substrate as action-monitoring. (Contains 6 figures and 3 tables.

The Effect of Pooling on the Detection of the Nucleocapsid Protein of SARS-CoV-2 with Rapid Antigen Tests

The COVID-19 pandemic puts significant stress on the viral testing capabilities of many countries. Rapid point-of-care (PoC) antigen tests are valuable tools but implementing frequent large scale testing is costly. We have developed an inexpensive device for pooling swabs, extracting specimens, and detecting viral antigens with a commercial lateral flow test for the nucleocapsid protein of SARS-CoV-2 as antigen. The holder of the device can be produced locally through 3D printing. The extraction and the elution can be performed with the entire set-up encapsulated in a transparent bag, minimizing the risk of infection for the operator. With 0.35 mL extraction buffer and six swabs, including a positive control swab, 43 ± 6% (n = 8) of the signal for an individual extraction of a positive control standard was obtained. Image analysis still showed a signal-to-noise ratio of approximately 2:1 at 32-fold dilution of the extract from a single positive control swab. The relative signal from the test line versus the control line was found to scale linearly upon dilution (R2 = 0.98), indicating that other pooling regimes are conceivable. A pilot project involving 14 participants and 18 pooled tests in a laboratory course at our university did not give any false positives, and an individual case study confirmed the ability to detect a SARS-CoV-2 infection with five-fold or six-fold pooling, including one swab from a PCR-confirmed COVID patient. These findings suggest that pooling can make frequent testing more affordable for schools, universities, and similar institutions, without decreasing sensitivity to an unacceptable level

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