Curious minds: stimulating parent-child interaction to foster neurocognitive functioning in four- to eight-year-olds

Children become more active participants in parent-child interaction by the time they reach primary school age, during the transition from dependence to greater autonomy. Parent-child interaction can shape children’s neurocognitive development, yet little is known about the nature of this relation in school-aged children. In this dissertation the associations between parent-child interaction and four- to eight-year-old children’s attentional control, executive functioning , social cognition and reasoning skills were investigated. Furthermore, it was investigated whether parents can be educated to improve interactions with their child through a compact psycho-educational program. It can be concluded that parental supportive presence, intrusiveness and questioning style adaptive to both the age and needs of school-aged children were associated with children’s neurocognitive functioning. Educating parents to adaptively modify their parent-child interactions can positively influence their supportive presence, intrusiveness and questioning style, which in turn may benefit their child’s neurocognitive functioning. These findings suggest that educating parents can benefit children’s neurocognitive development and the aspects of parenting strategies investigated in this dissertation could be useful objectives. A compact school-based group program for parents may already have a meaningful impact in promoting aspects of parent-child interaction that have been shown to be associated with children’s neurocognitive development.This work was funded by the Curious Minds Program, which is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science and the National Platform Science & Technology.Development Psychopathology in context: famil

Attentional control and executive functioning in school-aged children: Linking self-regulation and parenting strategies

Good parenting strategies can shape children’s neurocognitive development, yet little is known about the nature of this relation in school-aged children and whether this association shifts with age. We aimed to investigate the relation between parenting strategies observed during a home visit and children’s performance-based attentional control and executive functioning (N = 98, aged 4–8 years). Linear and curvilinear regression analyses showed that children of parents who were more supportive, were less intrusive, and asked more open-ended questions displayed better inhibitory control. In addition, children of parents who asked relatively more open-ended than closed-ended questions showed better performance on inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility tasks. Curvilinear relations indicated the presence of an optimal amount of closed-ended and elaborative questions by parents—that is, not too few and not too many—which is linked to increased performance on attentional and inhibitory control in children. Higher parental intrusiveness and more frequent elaborative questioning were associated with decreased inhibitory control in younger children, whereas no such negative associations were present in older children. These results suggest that susceptibility to certain parenting strategies may shift with age. Our findings underscore the importance of adaptive parenting strategies to both the age and needs of school-aged children, which may positively affect their self-regulation skills.Development Psychopathology in context: clinical setting

Bedrijfstoeslagen en maatschappelijke waarden in Nederland : een verkenning van opties

In deze studie zijn vier opties doorberekend over de mogelijkheden om bedrijfstoeslagen te verbinden met maatschappelijke waarden, in dit geval natuur, milieu en landschap. De onderzochte effecten betreffen naast natuur, landschap en milieu ook de inkomens, toegevoegde waarde en werkgelegenheid van betrokken agrarische bedrijven, sectoren, regio's en agroketens en de uitvoerbaarheid van de onderzochte maatregelen (zoals genoemd in de houtskoolschets van LNV). Bij de uitvoering van deze studie zijn modellen van diverse instituten meegenome

Crystal and molecular structure of diiodo-N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylthiuramdisulphidemercury(II)

Contains fulltext : 143103.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Cognitive, Parent and Teacher Rating Measures of Executive Functioning: Shared and Unique Influences on School Achievement

Development Psychopathology in context: clinical setting

Educating parents to enhance children's reasoning abilities: A focus on questioning style

This study investigated whether parents can be educated to alter parent-child interactions and whether this can improve children's reasoning abilities. Parents of four- to eight-year-olds were randomly assigned to a compact psycho-educational program (N = 34) or control condition (N = 36). Parental questioning style was observed during problem-solving interactions at home and children's scientific and social reasoning were assessed using performance-based tasks. Parents in the educational condition asked significantly more open-ended, observational and explanatory questions at post-test than controls did. Asking relatively more open-ended questions at post-test was associated with improved aspects of scientific reasoning in their children. Asking more observational or explanatory questions was not associated with improved reasoning abilities. Educating parents to adaptively modify their parent-child interactions can positively influence their questioning style, which in turn may benefit their child's reasoning abilities

Delayed effect of the vasopressin metabolite VP4-8 on the social memory of sexually naive male rats

Rationale: Endogenous vasopressin is involved in the social memory of the male rat and administration of exogenous vasopressin improves social memory. These findings are mainly based on studies using sexually experienced males that were tested in the social recognition test. Objective: The present study was aimed to establish whether the modulation of social memory by vasopressin fragments depends on the sexual experience of the male rat. For this purpose, the social discrimination test was used, since this test is more suitable than the social recognition test for measuring social memory in sexually naive males. Methods: Male rats were tested in the social discrimination test and treated subcutaneously with the vasopressin metabolite [pGlu4,Cyt6]vasopressin-(4-8) (VP4-8). VP4-8 shares with vasopressin the effects on memory processes but lacks the peripheral effects of vasopressin. Results: VP4-8 (1 μg/kg) acutely improved the social memory of sexually experienced male rats, confirming previous reports. However, in sexually naive males VP4-8 failed to improve social memory in doses ranging from 0.1 μg/kg to 1 μg/kg. Instead, 1 μg/kg VP4-8 or 6 μg/kg desglycinamide-vasopressin were found to exert a delayed effect in sexually naive rats. This delayed effect resulted in an improved social memory 2 days after administration. Conclusions: Vasopressin sensitisation is discussed as a possible underlying mechanism of the observed delayed effect of vasopressin fragments. It is concluded that in male rats sexual experience can influence the modulation of social memory by vasopressin

Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) understand what conspecifics can see in a competitive situation

Visual perspective taking (VPT), an understanding of what others can see, is a prerequisite for theory of mind (ToM). While VPT in apes is proven, its presence in monkeys is much-debated. Several different paradigms have been developed to test its existence, but all face interpretational problems since results can be explained by simpler cognitive mechanisms than VPT. Therefore, we adjusted one method where two individuals compete for access to food, visible or invisible for the dominant competitor, to preclude cognitively simpler mechanisms. The subordinate long-tailed macaques tested, selected significantly more often the food item invisible than the item visible to the dominant. In most trials, subjects retrieved only one food item and preferred the invisible food item. Surprisingly, they occasionally adopted an alternative strategy to obtain both food items, by first choosing the visible, most at risk food item. Faster animals adopted this strategy proportionally more often than slower ones. Contrary to previous research, our results cannot be explained by simpler cognitive mechanisms, since behavioural reading was prevented by a one-way mirror between the competitor and the food, and accessibility was equal to both food items. This is the first unequivocal evidence of VPT in a monkey species, suggesting that this precursor to ToM is an evolutionarily conserved capacity present in monkeys, apes and humans