Gender differences in the relationship of lung function and response times during verbal performance in healthy adolescents

Abstract The association between lung function and cognition has been examined in adulthood and in old age, but few studies have investigated the relationship in early life periods such as in adolescence. Because development in adolescence involves remarkable physiological and psychological changes, it is important to explore closely the relationship between bodily functions and cognition. This study evaluated the lung-cognition association in 49 healthy teenagers between the ages of 16-18 years, and gender differences were also investigated. We measured Vital Capacity (VC) and cognitive functioning. As part of the cognitive evaluation, verbal abilities were assessed through three different tasks: phonemic verbal fluency, semantic verbal fluency and reading of short text. On each of the verbal tasks inspiratory measures were acquired during execution of the tasks. To evaluate the lung-cognition association, we used two approaches: First, we correlated the separate performances of cognitive abilities and lung function. Secondly, we correlated performance on verbal tasks with inspiratory airflow parameters (duration, peak and volume) measured during the response time of each of the verbal tests. Results showed restricted gender differences in neuropsychological tasks, while more evident gender differences were found in VC. Correlational results showed that inspiratory airflow measures were especially associated with phonemic fluency tasks, which measures executive functions. These findings suggest that abilities associated with performance in phonemic fluency may require more oxygen usage for an optimal performance. Keywords: Adolescence, gender differences, inspiratory airflow, lung function, cognitive abilities, executive function, verbal abilities, verbal fluency, response time, processing speedAbstrakt Assosiasjonen mellom lungefunksjon og kognisjon har blitt undersøkt hos voksne og eldre, men få studier har undersøkt forholdet tidligere i livet, slik som i ungdomstid. Utvikling i ungdomstid involverer betydelige fysiologiske og psykologiske endringer, og dermed er det viktig å undersøke forholdet mellom kroppslige funksjoner og kognisjon nærmere. Denne studien evaluerte lunge-kognisjon assosiasjonen hos 49 friske tenåringer i alderen 16-18 år, i tillegg ble kjønnsforskjeller undersøkt. Vi målte Vital Kapasitet (VC) og kognitiv funksjon. Som en del av den kognitive evalueringen, ble verbale evner målt ved tre ulike oppgaver: fonemisk verbal flyt, semantisk verbal flyt og lesing av en kort tekst. Inspiratoriske parametere (inn-pust) ble målt i hver av de verbale oppgavene, samtidig som gjennomføringen av oppgavene pågikk. To tilnærminger ble benyttet i evalueringen av lunge-kognisjon assosiasjonen: Først, ved å korrelere separate prestasjoner i kognitive evner og lungefunksjon. I den andre tilnærmingen, ved å korrelere utførelse på verbale oppgaver med inspiratoriske luftflyt parametere (duration, peak og volume) målt i responstid for hver verbal oppgave. Resultatene viste få kjønnsforskjeller i de nevropsykologiske oppgavene, imens det var større kjønnsforskjeller i VC. Korrelasjonsanalysene viste at inspiratoriske luftflyt parametere var spesielt assosiert med den fonemiske flyt oppgaven, som måler eksekutive funksjoner. Disse funnene foreslår at evner som er assosiert med prestasjon på fonemisk flyt antagelig krever mer oksygenbruk for å oppnå en optimal gjennomføring. Nøkkelord: Ungdomstid, kjønnsforskjeller, inspiratorisk luftflyt, lungefunksjon, kognitive evner, eksekutiv funksjon, verbale evner, verbal flyt, responstid, prosesseringshastighe

Koronapandemien gjorde babyforskning ved UiT lettere

Source https://www.itromso.no/. Da Norge stengte ned 12. mars trodde psykologistipendiat Solveig Flatebø at det ble kroken på lab-døra. Der tok hun feil

Korona-situasjonen forbedret baby-forskning

Published version available at https://uit.no/nyheter/artikkel?p_document_id=716435Da Norge stengte ned i mars, måtte også lab’en der forskerne studerer barns utvikling stenge. Det førte til at forskerne fikk en lys idé – som gjorde prosjektet mye bedre

Da laben hun tilhører stengte dørene, flyttet Solveig babyforskningen sin til Zoom

Publisert artikkel tilgjengelig her: https://psykologisk.no/2021/02/da-laben-hun-tilhorer-stengte-dorene-flyttet-solveig-babyforskningen-sin-til-zoom/Det så mørkt ut for Solveig Flatebøs doktorgradsarbeid da Norge erklærte unntakstilstand i mars i fjor. Så fikk hun en idé som gjorde forskningen mye lettere å gjennomføre

Gender differences in the relationship of lung function and response times during verbal performance in healthy adolescents

Abstract The association between lung function and cognition has been examined in adulthood and in old age, but few studies have investigated the relationship in early life periods such as in adolescence. Because development in adolescence involves remarkable physiological and psychological changes, it is important to explore closely the relationship between bodily functions and cognition. This study evaluated the lung-cognition association in 49 healthy teenagers between the ages of 16-18 years, and gender differences were also investigated. We measured Vital Capacity (VC) and cognitive functioning. As part of the cognitive evaluation, verbal abilities were assessed through three different tasks: phonemic verbal fluency, semantic verbal fluency and reading of short text. On each of the verbal tasks inspiratory measures were acquired during execution of the tasks. To evaluate the lung-cognition association, we used two approaches: First, we correlated the separate performances of cognitive abilities and lung function. Secondly, we correlated performance on verbal tasks with inspiratory airflow parameters (duration, peak and volume) measured during the response time of each of the verbal tests. Results showed restricted gender differences in neuropsychological tasks, while more evident gender differences were found in VC. Correlational results showed that inspiratory airflow measures were especially associated with phonemic fluency tasks, which measures executive functions. These findings suggest that abilities associated with performance in phonemic fluency may require more oxygen usage for an optimal performance. Keywords: Adolescence, gender differences, inspiratory airflow, lung function, cognitive abilities, executive function, verbal abilities, verbal fluency, response time, processing spee

Data_Smartphone use and toddler communicative intention attribution

Data generated in the study from both experiment 1 and experiment 2

Korona-situasjonen forbedret baby-forskning

Da Norge stengte ned i mars, måtte også lab’en der forskerne studerer barns utvikling stenge. Det førte til at forskerne fikk en lys idé – som gjorde prosjektet mye bedre

No evidence for adult smartphone use affecting attribution of communicative intention in toddlers: Online imitation study using the Sock Ball Task

Adults infer others’ communicative intentions, or lack thereof, from various types of information. Young children may be initially limited to attributions based on a small set of ostensive signals. It is unknown when richer pragmatic inferences about communicative intentions emerge in development. We sought novel type of evidence for such inferences in 17-to-19-month-olds. We hypothesized that toddlers recognize adults’ smartphone use in face-to-face interactions as incongruous with ostension and would rely on this interpretation when inferring the communicative intention of a model in a new imitation task conducted entirely online, dubbed the Sock Ball Task. In Experiment 1 with a between-subject design, we tested the hypothesis by assessing toddlers’ (N = 48) imitation of sub-efficient means and the goal-outcome presented by a model, who interrupted her ostensive demonstration either by using a smartphone or by fiddling with her wristwatch, depending on the condition. We expected toddlers to imitate the sub-efficient means more faithfully in the wristwatch condition than in the smartphone condition. But there was no significant effect of condition on imitation of neither means nor goal. Thus, our hypothesis was not borne out by the results. In Experiment 2, using a within-subject design, we first assessed toddlers’ (N = 24) performance in a no-demonstration baseline and then again after a no-disruption ostensive demonstration. In all three conditions with ostensive demonstration (Experiment 1: smartphone, wristwatch; Experiment 2: no-disruption), toddlers produced the demonstrated sub-efficient means significantly above the baseline level. In the no-disruption condition, goals were also imitated significantly above the baseline level. We conclude that the Sock Ball Task is a valid research tool for studying toddler imitation of novel means actions with objects. We end by discussing suggestions for improving the task in future studies

No evidence for adult smartphone use affecting attribution of communicative intention in toddlers: online imitation study using the Sock Ball Task.

Adults infer others’ communicative intentions, or lack thereof, from various types of information. Young children may be initially limited to attributions based on a small set of ostensive signals. It is unknown when richer pragmatic inferences about communicative intentions emerge in development. We sought novel type of evidence for such inferences in 17-to-19-month-olds. We hypothesized that toddlers recognize adults’ smartphone use in face-to-face interactions as incongruous with ostension and would rely on this interpretation when inferring the communicative intention of a model in a new imitation task conducted entirely online, dubbed the Sock Ball Task. In Experiment 1 with a between-subject design, we tested the hypothesis by assessing toddlers’ (N = 48) imitation of sub-efficient means and the goal-outcome presented by a model, who interrupted her ostensive demonstration either by using a smartphone or by fiddling with her wristwatch, depending on the condition. We expected toddlers to imitate the sub-efficient means more faithfully in the wristwatch condition than in the smartphone condition. But there was no significant effect of condition on imitation of neither means nor goal. Thus, our hypothesis was not borne out by the results. In Experiment 2, using a within-subject design, we first assessed toddlers’ (N = 24) performance in a no-demonstration baseline and then again after a no-disruption ostensive demonstration. In all three conditions with ostensive demonstration (Experiment 1: smartphone, wristwatch; Experiment 2: no-disruption), toddlers produced the demonstrated sub-efficient means significantly above the baseline level. In the no-disruption condition, goals were also imitated significantly above the baseline level. We conclude that the Sock Ball Task is a valid research tool for studying toddler imitation of novel means actions with objects. We end by discussing suggestions for improving the task in future studies