The importance of migration-related beliefs of preschool teachers for the quality of educational practice

Migrationsbezogene Überzeugungen von frühpädagogischen Fachkräften werden insbesondere in kulturell diversen Kindertageseinrichtungen eine handlungsleitende Bedeutung zugesprochen, obwohl es für diese Annahme kaum empirische Belege gibt. Die vorliegende Studie setzt hier an und untersucht, ob die migrationsbezogenen Überzeugungen von N = 206 frühpädagogischen Fachkräften im Zusammenhang mit der in ihren N = 107 Kindertageseinrichtungen beobachteten sprachspezifischen Prozess- und Strukturqualität stehen. Als migrationsbezogene Überzeugungsfacetten wurden die multikulturellen und assmiliativen Überzeugungen berücksichtigt, die anhand von Selbsteinschätzungen erfragt wurden. Die sprachspezifische Prozess- und Strukturqualität wurde mithilfe verschiedener Subskalen der Skala zum Sustained Shared Thinking und zum emotionalen Wohlbefinden (SSTEW), der Kindergarten-Skala-Erweiterung (KES-E) sowie einer selbst entwickelten Skala „Sprach- und kultursensible Raumgestaltung“ (SKR) in Beobachtungen eingeschätzt. Die multikulturellen und assimilativen Überzeugungen der frühpädagogischen Fachkräfte gingen neben ausgewählten Struktur- und Fachkraftmerkmalen getrennt in Strukturgleichungsmodelle ein. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass die multikulturellen Überzeugungen der frühpädagogischen Fachkräfte signifikant positiv mit der Subskala „Sprache“ der KES‑E und der Skala „Sprach- und kultursensible Raumgestaltung“ zusammenhingen. Die assimilativen Überzeugungen waren hingegen mit keiner der drei sprachspezifischen Qualitätsmaße assoziiert.Especially in culturally diverse preschools, migration-related beliefs of preschool teachers are assigned a major importance for pedagogical practice, although so far there has been hardly any research on this relation. The present study explored whether the migration-related beliefs of 206 preschool teachers are related to the language-related process and structural quality observed in their 107 preschools. As facets of migration-related belief, the multicultural and assimilative beliefs based on self-assessments were taken into account. The language-related process and structural quality was rated on the basis of the subscale “Supporting and extending language and communication” of the Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Well-being Scale (SSTEW), the subscale “Literacy” of the Early Childhood Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) as well as the scale “Language and Cultural Sensitive Room Formation” (SKR). The multicultural and assimilative beliefs of the preschool teachers were included separately alongside selected structural and teacher characteristics in structural equation models. The results showed that the multicultural beliefs of the preschool teachers were significantly positively related to the subscale “Literacy” of the ECERS‑R and the scale “Language and Cultural Sensitive Room Formation”. In contrast, the assimilative beliefs were not associated with any of the three language-related quality measures

Kurztest für allgemeine Intelligenz (KAI)

Der KAI gehört zu den psychometrischen Leistungsverfahren und misst die aktuelle geistige Leistungsfähigkeit, auch als fluide Intelligenz bezeichnet. Der KAI erfasst die Grundgrößen Informationsverarbeitungsgeschwindigkeit (IVG) und die Merkspanne. Aus den beiden Basiskomponenten lässt sich als Kerngröße des KAI die Arbeitsspeicherkapazität berechnen. Die Arbeitsspeicherkapazität gilt als wichtigstes Maß der gegenwärtigen kognitiven Leistungsfähigkeit einer Person. Der KAI ist ursprünglich zur Testung einzelner Personen als Papier-Bleistift-Version konzipiert worden. Um auch als Gruppentest eingesetzt werden zu können, wurde der KAI durch Lehrl et al. erneut modifiziert und eine PowerPoint-Version entwickelt. Somit eignet sich das Testverfahren beispielsweise für eine gleichzeitige Testung einer gesamten Schulklasse. Für den mehrfachen Einsatz der KAI-ppt in kurzen Zeitabständen wurden Parallelformen erstellt. Um die Auswertung ökonomisch zu gestalten, wurden Excel-Dateien entwickelt, die durch hinterlegte Algorithmen die Dokumentation und Auswertung durchführen. Diese Vorgehensweise wird in dem Arbeitsbericht Nr. 24 ebenfalls beschrieben. Die Excel-Dateien sind beim Herausgeber erhältlich

Visual processing speed is linked to functional connectivity between right frontoparietal and visual networks

Visual information processing requires an efficient visual attention system. The neural theory of visual attention (TVA) proposes that visual processing speed depends on the coordinated activity between frontoparietal and occipital brain areas. Previous research has shown that the coordinated activity between (i.e., functional connectivity and “inter-FC”) cingulo-opercular (COn) and right-frontoparietal (RFPn) networks is linked to visual processing speed. However, how inter-FC of COn and RFPn with visual networks links to visual processing speed has not been directly addressed yet. Forty-eight healthy adult participants (27 females) underwent resting-state (rs-)fMRI and performed a whole-report psychophysical task. To obtain inter-FC, we analyzed the entire frequency range available in our rs-fMRI data (i.e., 0.01–0.4 Hz) to avoid discarding neural information. Following previous approaches, we analyzed the data across frequency bins (Hz): Slow-5 (0.01–0.027), Slow-4 (0.027–0.073), Slow-3 (0.073–0.198), and Slow-2 (0.198–0.4). We used the mathematical TVA framework to estimate an individual, latent-level visual processing speed parameter. We found that visual processing speed was negatively associated with inter-FC between RFPn and visual networks in Slow-5 and Slow-2, with no corresponding significant association for inter-FC between COn and visual networks. These results provide the first empirical evidence that links inter-FC between RFPn and visual networks with the visual processing speed parameter. These findings suggest that direct connectivity between occipital and right frontoparietal, but not frontoinsular, regions support visual processing speed

Home and preschool learning environments and their relations to the development of early numeracy skills

This study examined the influence of the quality of home and preschool learning environments on the development of early numeracy skills in Germany, drawing on a sample of 532 children in 97 preschools. Latent growth curve models were used to investigate early numeracy skills and their development from the first (average age: 3 years) to the third year (average age: 5 years) of preschool. Several child and family background factors (e.g., gender, maternal education, socioeconomic status), measures of the home learning environment (e.g., literacy- and numeracy-related activities), and measures of preschool structural and process quality (e.g., ECERS-E, ECERS-R) were tested as predictors of numeracy skills and their development. The analyses identified child and family background factors that predicted numeracy skills in the first year of preschool and their development over the three points of measurement — particularly gender, parental native language status (German/other), socioeconomic status, and mother’s educational level. The quality of the home learning environment was strongly associated with numeracy skills in the first year of preschool, and this advantage was maintained at later ages. In contrast, the process quality of the preschool was not related to numeracy skills at the first measurement, but was significantly related to development over the period observed. The results underline the differential impact of the two learning environments on the development of numeracy skills. Interaction effects are explored and discussed

Memory integration in humans with hippocampal lesions

Adaptive behavior frequently depends on inference from past experience. Recent studies suggest that the underlying process of integrating related memories may depend on interaction between hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Here, we investigated how hippocampal damage affects memory integration. Subjects with mediotemporal lesions and healthy controls learned a set of overlapping AB- and BC-associations (object-face- and face-object pairs) and were then tested for memory of these associations (“direct” trials) and of inferential AC-associations (“indirect” trials). The experiment consisted of four encoding/retrieval cycles. In direct trials, performance of patients and controls was similar and stable across cycles. By contrast, in indirect trials, patients and controls showed distinct patterns of behavior. Whereas patients and controls initially showed only minor differences, controls increased performance across subsequent cycles, while patient performance decreased to chance level. Further analysis suggested that this deficit was not merely a consequence of impaired associative memory but rather resulted from an additional hippocampal contribution to memory integration. Our findings further suggest that contextual factors modulate this contribution. Patient deficits in more complex memory-guided behavior may depend on the flexible interaction of hippocampus-dependent and -independent mechanisms of memory integration

Interleukin-6 gene (IL-6): a possible role in brain morphology in the healthy adult brain

Background: Cytokines such as interleukin 6 (IL-6) have been implicated in dual functions in neuropsychiatric disorders. Little is known about the genetic predisposition to neurodegenerative and neuroproliferative properties of cytokine genes. In this study the potential dual role of several IL-6 polymorphisms in brain morphology is investigated. Methodology: In a large sample of healthy individuals (N = 303), associations between genetic variants of IL-6 (rs1800795; rs1800796, rs2069833, rs2069840) and brain volume (gray matter volume) were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Selection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) followed a tagging SNP approach (e.g., Stampa algorigthm), yielding a capture 97.08% of the variation in the IL-6 gene using four tagging SNPs. Principal findings/results: In a whole-brain analysis, the polymorphism rs1800795 (−174 C/G) showed a strong main effect of genotype (43 CC vs. 150 CG vs. 100 GG; x = 24, y = −10, z = −15; F(2,286) = 8.54, puncorrected = 0.0002; pAlphaSim-corrected = 0.002; cluster size k = 577) within the right hippocampus head. Homozygous carriers of the G-allele had significantly larger hippocampus gray matter volumes compared to heterozygous subjects. None of the other investigated SNPs showed a significant association with grey matter volume in whole-brain analyses. Conclusions/significance: These findings suggest a possible neuroprotective role of the G-allele of the SNP rs1800795 on hippocampal volumes. Studies on the role of this SNP in psychiatric populations and especially in those with an affected hippocampus (e.g., by maltreatment, stress) are warranted.Bernhard T Baune, Carsten Konrad, Dominik Grotegerd, Thomas Suslow, Eva Birosova, Patricia Ohrmann, Jochen Bauer, Volker Arolt, Walter Heindel, Katharina Domschke, Sonja Schöning, Astrid V Rauch, Christina Uhlmann, Harald Kugel and Udo Dannlowsk