Convergent evaluation of Working Memory and arithmetic ability in a child with autism spectrum disorder without intellectual impairment

Studies focusing on a joint evaluation of both Working Memory (WM) and Math Ability (MA) in autism are far from abundant in literature, possibly due to inadequate methodological approaches and reported inconsistencies between results obtained in each separate field of research, resulting in contradictory conclusions. The specific aim of this case report is therefore evaluating and integrating results on these two cognitive abilities in a child with autism spectrum disorder without intellectual impairment. Our data on an autistic 10-year-old child (M.N.) show that the levels of functional (active vs. passive), rather than structural (phonological vs. visual), data manipulation are quite relevant in the way the child scored differently in the various tasks. Furthermore, M.N. generally displayed average to good ability levels in math calculation, except for oral multiplication, and division activities. By way of conclusion, data are discussed in terms of strengths and weaknesses in relation to special learning trajectories in education and the relevant achievements

Continuity and discontinuity in moral reasoning: The "side effect" effect and utilitarianism in young children and adults.

2006/2007The thesis is an investigation of moral abilities in preschoolers and adults. The general aim is evaluating the continuity hypothesis in moral development (Turiel, 2006). The work is divided into two main parts: the first part deals with the relation between intentionality judgments and moral evaluation as revealed by the ‘Side Effect’ Effect (SEE), the second part deals with utilitarian judgments elicited using variations of the Trolley and Footbridge dilemmas. The SEE was first documented in adults (Knobe, 2003) asked to consider scenarios in which agents dismiss information about the harming or helping side effects of their actions. Harmful side effects of these actions are judged as having been produced intentionally whereas the helpful side effects are not. Leslie, Knobe and Cohen (2006) reported a similar asymmetry in 4- and 5-years-olds. The present research, based on previous studies (Knobe, 2003a; Leslie, Knobe, & Cohen, 2006), it is intended to shed light on the computational processes that result in the SEE. Our experiments confirm that the effect is clearly present in young children. Further, data show that the crucial aspect on which both adults and children base their intentionality judgments is the agent’s foreknowledge of the effect of the action. In situations where the agent had a false belief (Experiments 5 and 8) or did not have foreknowledge of the valence of the outcome (Experiments 4 and 7), participants often formulated negative intentionality judgments. For this reason, we stress the importance of computing of intentionality derived from information on the epistemic mental states of the agent (Nuñez & Harris, 1998; Siegal & Peterson, 1998). Our results suggest that young children, like adults, understand and give meaning to an agent’s behavior on the base of his/her epistemic mental states. In research on adults (Experiment 3), the SEE persists when sentences such as “I do not care if the environment will be harmed, but we must increase profits. Let’s start the new program” is substituted with the sentence “I am sorry if the environment will be harmed, but we must increase profits”. Similarly, children continued to produce the SEE when the sentence “Andy does not care if Janine will get upset” is omitted (Experiment 7). The surprising, counterintuitive aspect of the SEE lies in participants’ asymmetrical attribution of intentionality when a disavowed side effect is negative but not when it is positive (Knobe, 2003a). From our results, it emerges that, if the agent foreknew the negative side effects of his actions, participants were likely to make an intentionality attribution. In other words, the effect emerges if the participants are informed about the agent’s epistemic mental state, more than the careless attitude, of the agent. However, when participants are presented with ambiguous situations, in which the agent could not have foreknown the outcome (Experiment 4) or the agent makes declarations of uncaring (Experiment 6), about half of the participants attributed intentionality to the agent. As for adults, when children are unaware about the agent’s foreknowledge of the outcome the sentence “I do not care” has a strong impact on the attribution of intentionality. The second part of the work investigated the extent to which young children and adults base judgments of actions aimed to protect others on moral utilitarianism. We based our research in this instance on Cushman, Young, and Hauser (2006) and Greene, Sommerville, Nystrom, Darley and Cohen (2001) findings. As shown in previous investigations, the majority of Italian adult participants (90%) in our research (Experiments 9 and 10) stated that it is permissible to change the direction of the trolley but it is not permissible to show a man from a footbridge (20%). Short moral dilemmas were given to 207 children illustrated with the help of wooden models. For example, the models for a child version of the so-called ‘footbridge consisted of a 45° inclined plane with a straight track and a footbridge above. At the end of the track were five Lego play-people. Standing on the footbridge were two other play-people: a small one (the main story character, John) and a big one (the potential victim). When asked to consider the rightness of intervening to sacrifice one person in order to save five others, the majority of children aged 3 to 5 years did not advocated intervention when the action required the agent to have physical contact with the victim, as in the ‘footbridge dilemma’, while the majority of children did advocate intervention when physical contact was not required, the ‘trolley dilemma’. Overall, the children’s responses were remarkably similar to those of adults in previous studies. No significant differences were found among age groups. The findings provide support for a continuity account of moral judgment during the course of human development. Although from our data it is not possible to choose among the models that try to give explanation to the asymmetry, it appears that children and adults show the same pattern of answers on the footbridge and the trolley scenarios. Further evidence for continuity awaits longitudinal and training studies. In line with some recent studies on the similarity of moral judgments in children and adults our data show that children seem to process moral stimuli early in life producing asymmetrical moral evaluations on the trolley and footbridge scenarios. Moreover, children seem to analyze the agents’ actions in term of mental state and frame these in terms of knowledge, caring attitude and outcome. These data seem to confirm the findings that point to an early capacity to compute intentionality based on moral information about potentially positive and negative outcomes and are consistent with the proposal that human minds are endow with an innate moral faculty, as recently argued by Dwyer (2007) and Hauser, (2006).XX Cicl

The relation between cognitive and emotional factors and arithmetic problem-solving

Literature that investigates the factors underlying arithmetic problem-solving achievement extensively evaluates the cognitive components, such as Working Memory (WM) and Processing Speed, at the basis of this acquisition. Recently, studies have shown that also the emotional factors, such as Math Anxiety (MA), could play a crucial role in the resolution of arithmetic problem-solving even during the first years of formal education. In this study, we tested 145 fourth-grade students to evaluate the possible combined effect of cognitive (i.e., WM, Processing Speed) and emotional (i.e., Math Anxiety) factors in untimed arithmetical problem-solving achievement. Regression analysis showed that MA contributed significantly to explain arithmetic problem-solving achievement even after having accounted for the cognitive abilities (WM and Processing Speed). In addition, the comparison between high-MA and low-MA children showed that the former had decreased performance in arithmetical problem-solving and WM tasks. On the whole, data seemed to corroborate the findings concerning the crucial role of math anxiety on math achievement even in untimed math tasks. Findings are discussed in terms of math educational context and they underline the need to take into consideration also emotional factors\u2012 apart from the cognitive skills\u2012 when developing interventions on math achievement

Math self-efficacy or anxiety? The role of emotional and motivational contribution in math performance

Various studies have highlighted the important influence of math ability in a numerate society. In this study, we investigated the influence of emotional (math anxiety and math enjoyment) and cognitive-motivational (math self-efficacy) factors on math performance. Participants were 145 fifth-grade students (84 boys and 61 girls). The results showed that math performance was negatively correlated with math anxiety and positively correlated with math enjoyment and math self-efficacy. Moreover, math anxiety was negatively associated with enjoyment in math and math self-efficacy, whereas math enjoyment was positively correlated with math self-efficacy. Hierarchical regression analysis showed a significant influence of math anxiety and math self-efficacy on math performance in fifth-grade students. Results are discussed in terms of a new perspective in emotional and motivational factors to train in school contexts

The use of Lausanne Trilogue Play in three cases of gastroschisis diagnosed during pregnancy

From pregnancy to the 1st years of a child\u2019s life, families develop and increase representations and interactive competences toward the child. Prenatal diagnosis of a severe fetus\u2019 defect could profoundly alter the parental perception and development of these representations. The aim of the study was to evaluate triadic interactions in families, whose baby was prenatally diagnosed with severe gastroschisis. Three families took part in the preliminary case study, which was carried out when the babies were 6 months old. The Lausanne Trilogue Play shows that prenatal diagnosis of fetal malformation may affect family triadic interactions as follows: (a) parents, especially mothers, tend to be intrusive during the play; (b) parents presents maladjustments in the child stimulations, especially during the third part, when both parents have to simultaneously interact with the baby; (c) parents experience difficulties in creating a space that allows them to communicate directly with each other, leaving the child in a peripheral position. Observational data and clinical implications are discussed

Intranasal adminsitration of oxytocin in postnatal depression: Implications for psychodynamic psychotherapy from a randomized double-blind pilot study

Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that is active in the central nervous system and is generally considered to be involved in prosocial behaviors and feelings. In light of its documented positive effect on maternal behavior, we designed a study to ascertain whether oxytocin exerts any therapeutic effects on depressive symptoms in women affected by maternal postnatal depression. A group of 16 mothers were recruited in a randomized double-blind study: the women agreed to take part in a brief course of psychoanalytic psychotherapy (12 sessions, once a week) while also being administered, during the 12-weeks period, a daily dose of intranasal oxytocin (or a placebo). The pre-treatment evaluation also included a personality assessment of the major primary-process emotional command systems described by Panksepp (1998) and a semi-quantitative assessment by the therapist of the mother\u2019s depressive symptoms and of her personality. No significant effect on depressive symptomatology was found following the administration of oxytocin (as compared to a placebo) during the period of psychotherapy. Nevertheless, a personality trait evaluation of the mothers, conducted in our overall sample group, showed a decrease in the narcissistic trait only within the group who took oxytocin. The depressive (dysphoric) trait was in fact significantly affected by psychotherapy (this effect was only present in the placebo group so it may reflect a positive placebo effect enhancing the favorable influence of psychotherapy on depressive symptoms) but not in the presence of oxytocin. Therefore, the neuropeptide would appear to play some role in the modulation of cerebral functions involved in the self-centered (narcissistic) dimension of the suffering that can occur with postnatal depression. Based on these results, there was support for our hypothesis that what is generally defined as postnatal depression may include disturbances of narcissistic affective balance, and oxytocin supplementation can counteract that type of affective disturbance. The resulting improvements in well-being, reflected in better self-centering in post-partuent mothers, may in turn facilitate better interpersonal acceptance of (and interactions with) the child and thereby, improved recognition of the child\u2019s needs

Enhancing math learning with the new digital device “MagiCal”: a pilot study

The present pilot study aims to develop and evaluate the effects of a new digital device – the calculator MagiCal – in enhancing children’s math learning. MagiCal is designed to integrate the symbolic and non-symbolic representation of numbers, as well as motor activity Twenty-nine children from second grade were randomly assigned to a training group with MagiCal or to an active control group (literacy training). Children’s math abilities (math fluency, written computation, and number comparison), math anxiety and test anxiety were measured before and after the training. Compared to the active control group, the children of the MagiCal group demonstrated a significant improvement in math fluency and written computation. However, no differences were observed in comparing numbers, math anxiety and text anxiety in the two groups.Nel presente studio pilota si è sviluppato un nuovo dispositivo digitale – la calcolatrice MagiCal – volto a promuovere l’apprendimento matematico. MagiCal integra la rappresentazione numerica simbolica e non simbolica, nonché l’esperienza motoria. Ventinove bambini frequentanti la seconda classe della Scuola primaria sono stati divisi in gruppo training con MagiCal o gruppo di controllo attivo (training sulla lettura). Prima e dopo il training, si sono misurate le abilità matematiche dei bambini (fluenza del calcolo, calcolo scritto e confronto numerico), l’ansia per la matematica e l’ansia da test. Rispetto al gruppo di controllo attivo, i bambini del gruppo training hanno dimostrato un miglioramento significativo nelle prove di fluenza del calcolo e del calcolo scritto. Non si sono osservate differenze per il confronto numerico, l’ansia per la matematica e da test

The Role of Emotional Aspects on Arithmetic Word Problem-Solving in Primary School Children

Previous studies found emotional factors, such as math anxiety, to be consistently related to students’ poor math performance. However, less is known about the link between math anxiety and children’s arithmetic word problem-solving achievement. A construct that seems to be associated with anxiety is the perceived task difficulty: judgments of difficulty may arouse feelings of worry which negatively impact students’ performance. In this presentation, data on the contributions of math anxiety and perceived task difficulty to arithmetic word problem-solving performance among primary school students will be reported. Fifth graders were administered a math anxiety scale, an arithmetic word problem task and a task evaluating the perception of problems’ difficulty. In particular, the arithmetic problem-solving task included compare problems which contain a relational term (e.g., more than and less than) that compares the value of two variables. Results revealed that math anxiety significantly predicted students’ problem-solving achievement and it completely mediated the relationship between perceived task difficulty and problem-solving performance. Moreover, a gender difference in math anxiety was found. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings will be discussed