The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Second Grade Reading Levels

The purpose of this study is to examine if low SES students respond differently to Tier I and Tier II interventions than Non-Low SES students. The study also seeks to determine the effect Tier I and Tier II interventions have on a group of second grade students. Forty-four Tier I and Tier II Caucasian second grade students from a rural Ohio elementary school were included in this study. No significant differences were found between the reading levels of low-SES and Non-Low-SES students prior to or afterimplementation of RTI. Significant differences were found between the AIMSweb fall and winter benchmarks as a result of Tier I and Tier II interventions

Altering attentional control settings causes persistent biases of visual attention

Attentional control settings have an important role in guiding visual behaviour. Previous work within cognitive psychology has found the deployment of general attentional control settings can be modulated by training. However, research has not yet established whether long-term modifications of one particular type of attentional control setting can be induced. To address this, we investigated persistent alterations to Feature Search Mode, also known as an attentional bias, towards an arbitrary stimulus in healthy participants. Subjects were biased towards the colour green by an information sheet. Attentional bias was assessed using a change detection task. After an interval of either 1 or 2 weeks participants were then either re-tested on the same change detection task, tested on a different change detection task where colour was irrelevant, or were biased towards an alternative colour. One experiment included trials in which the distracter stimuli (but never the target stimuli) were green. The key finding was that green stimuli in the second task attracted attention, despite this impairing task performance. Furthermore, inducing a second attentional bias did not override the initial bias toward green objects. The attentional bias also persisted for at least two weeks. It is argued that this persistent attentional bias is mediated by a chronic change to participants attentional control settings, which is aided by long-term representations involving contextual cuing. We speculate that similar changes to attentional control settings and continuous cuing may relate to attentional biases observed in psychopathologies. Targeting these biases may be a productive approach to treatment

Increasing Resiliency in Students Using Coaching Skills

Before you can begin building resiliency with your students, they need to have trust and buy in with the relationship. The Coaching strategies involving Conversational Intelligence and Motivational Interviewing are proven methods in developing strong partnerships. These strategies decrease the anxiety that occurs when faced with new information and open the brain to engagement which can lead into increased motivation towards developing the skills needed to build resiliency

Light social drinkers are more distracted by irrelevant information from an induced attentional bias than heavy social drinkers

It is well established that alcoholics and heavy social drinkers show a bias of attention towards alcohol-related items. Previous research suggests that there is a shared foundation of attentional bias, which is linked to attentional control settings. Specifically, attentional bias relates to a persistent selection of a Feature Search Mode which prioritises attentional bias-related information for selection and processing. However, no research has yet examined the effect of pre-existing biases on the development of an additional attentional bias. This paper seeks to discover how pre-existing biases affect the formation of a new, additional attentional bias. Twenty-five heavy and 25 light social drinkers, with and without a pre-existing bias to alcohol-related items, respectively, had an attentional bias towards the colour green induced via an information sheet. They then completed a series of one-shot change detection tasks. In the critical task, green items were present but task-irrelevant. Irrelevant green items caused significantly more interference for light than heavy social drinkers. This somewhat counter intuitive result is likely due to heavy drinkers having more experience in exerting cognitive control over attentional biases, something not previously observed in investigations of the effects of holding an attentional bias. Our findings demonstrate for the first time that an established attentional bias significantly modulates future behaviour

Atmospheric Monitoring Strategy for Ground Testing of Closed Ecological Life Support Systems

This paper reviews the evolution and current state of atmospheric monitoring on the International Space Station to provide context from which we can imagine a more advanced and integrated system. The unique environmental hazards of human space flight are identified and categorized into groups, taking into consideration the time required for the hazard to become a threat to human health or performance. The key functions of a comprehensive monitoring strategy for a closed ecological life support system are derived from past experience and a survey of currently available technologies for monitoring air quality. Finally, a system architecture is developed incorporating the lessons learned from ISS and other analogous closed life support systems. The paper concludes by presenting recommendations on how to proceed with requirements definition and conceptual design of an air monitoring system for exploration missions

The Role of the Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Attentional Bias

The DLPFC is thought to be critically involved in maintaining attention away from behaviourally irrelevant information, and in the establishment of attentional control settings. These play an important role in the phenomenon of top-down bias to features in the visual field – also known as attentional bias. This paper probes the involvement of the left DLPFC in attentional bias by manipulating its cortical excitability via tDCS and then analysing these effects following an induced attentional bias towards the colour green. Although both anodal and cathodal tDCS over the left DLPFC decrease distractibility caused by biased but irrelevant objects, further interrogation of our data reveals theoretically differential mechanisms for each type of stimulation. Anodal tDCS appears to increase cognitive control over attentional bias-related items that are behaviourally irrelevant, allowing for their efficient disregard. In contrast, cathodal tDCS appears to lessen the overall effect of the induced attentional bias, potentially by reducing the influence of top-down modulated attentional control settings thus preventing the implementation of the control setting favouring green items. These results suggest a potential causal role of the left DLPFC in the cognitive mechanism underlying attentional bias

The relationship between work design and retirement: implications for organizational policy

In most developed countries the population is ageing. A combination of factors is responsible, although increasing life expectancy and declining birth rates are the primary drivers. National-level initiatives, such as increasing the age at which people can access their pensions, are encouraging later retirement. The upshot of this is that many people, largely for financial reasons, currently find themselves needing to extend their working lives, and to postpone their previously planned retirement. For many people, continuing to work will be an economic necessity; others may wish to continue to work even if not financially compelled to do so. For some, work contributes to a sense of purpose, self-esteem and provides opportunities for engagement; for others it can be tedious, unpleasant and stressful. Some may choose to continue to work not because in itself it provides meaningful activity, but because it funds other activities that hold purpose and enjoyment. Yet others may prefer to work part time in a job that does not hold much excitement, because it affords time to engage in more interesting activities outside work. But the general result will be that over the next few decades, many organizations will see changes in the profile of their workforces, with more workers approaching the transitional phase leading toward retirement