Directive interactions and early vocabulary development: the role of joint attentional focus

1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nameera Akhtar ◽  
Frances Dunham ◽  
Philip J. Dunham
Keyword(s):  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
Beneficial Effects

ABSTRACTMaternal directiveness, assessed by the mother's use of prescriptives, is correlated with slow vocabulary development. As prescriptives are most often used to redirect a child's attention to a different object or activity, it is hypothesized that attentional regulation underlies this negative relationship. In the present study, twelve mothers were videotaped interacting with their children aged 1;1, and 100 maternal utterances were coded for pragmatic intent. Prescriptives were coded as either changing (LEADING) or FOLLOWING the child's focus of attention. Only the frequency of mothers' FOLLOW-prescriptives correlated significantly with a productive vocabulary measure taken at 1;10. This correlation was high and positive, indicating that, given joint focus, directing a 13-month-old's behaviour can have beneficial effects on subsequent vocabulary development.

scholarly journals The Effect of Different Attentional Focus Instructions during Finger Movement Tasks in Healthy Subjects: An Exploratory Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacomo Rossettini ◽  
Marco Testa ◽  
Marco Vicentini ◽  
Paolo Manganotti
Keyword(s):  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Motor Performance ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Finger Movement ◽  
External Focus ◽  
Internal Focus ◽  
And Control

External focus of attention (EFA) and internal focus of attention (IFA) represent commonly used strategies to instruct subjects during exercise. Several studies showed EFA to be more effective than IFA to improve motor performance and learning. To date the role of these strategies on motor performance during finger movement was less studied. The objective of the study was to investigate motor performance, patient’s preference induced by IFA and EFA, and the focus during control condition. Ten healthy right-handed participants performed a finger movement task in control, EFA, and IFA conditions (counterbalanced). Errors, patient’s preference, and type of attentional focus spontaneously adopted during the control condition were recorded. EFA determined less error (p<0.01) compared to control and IFA. Participants preferred EFA against IFA and control condition. In the control group 10% of subjects adopted a purely EFA, 70% of subjects adopted a purely IFA, and 20% of subjects adopted a mixture of the two foci. Our results confirm that EFA is more effective than IFA and control in finger movement task. Due its clinical relevance, the interaction between attention and finger movement should be further investigated.

On the Interaction of Attentional Focus and Gaze: The Quiet Eye Inhibits Focus-Related Performance Decrements

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 392-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Klostermann ◽  
Ralf Kredel ◽  
Ernst-Joachim Hossner
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
Gaze Behavior ◽  
Golf Putting ◽  
Quiet Eye

To date, despite a large body of evidence in favor of the advantage of an effect-related focus of attention compared with a movement-related focus of attention in motor control and learning, the role of vision in this context remains unclear. Therefore, in a golf-putting study, the relation between attentional focus and gaze behavior (in particular, quiet eye, or QE) was investigated. First, the advantage of an effect-related focus, as well as of a long QE duration, could be replicated. Furthermore, in the online-demanding task of golf putting, high performance was associated with later QE offsets. Most decisively, an interaction between attentional focus and gaze behavior was revealed in such a way that the efficiency of the QE selectively manifested under movement-related focus instructions. As these findings suggest neither additive effects nor a causal chain, an alternative hypothesis is introduced explaining positive QE effects by the inhibition of not-to-be parameterized movement variants.

Review of Constipation Treatment Methods with Emphasis on Laxative Foods

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 675-688
Author(s):  
Shamsi Abbasalizadeh ◽  
Behzad Ebrahimi ◽  
Aslan Azizi ◽  
Rogaye Dargahi ◽  
Maryam Tayebali ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Lifestyle Factor ◽  
Flax Seed ◽  
Lifestyle Modifications ◽  
Food Ingredients ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Daily Exercise

Constipation is a common public health concern experienced by all individuals during their life affecting the quality of life. In this paper, we aimed to provide an overview of the existing evidence regarding the role of food ingredients, including bran, prune, fig, kiwifruit, and flax-seed in constipation treatment. We searched Scopus, Pub Med, and Science Direct by using the keywords, “laxative foods” and “constipation”, for searching studies assessing laxative food ingredients and their beneficial effects on constipation treatment and/or control. Lifestyle modifications such as increasing dietary fiber and fluid intake and daily exercise are the proposed first line treatments for constipation. Optimizing ‘diet’ as an efficient lifestyle factor may contribute to the well-being of patients. The use of laxative food ingredients including bran, prune, fig, kiwifruit, flax-seed, probiotics, and prebiotics is a convenient alternative to cope with constipation. According to previous findings, laxative food ingredients could be considered as effective treatments for subjects suffering from constipation. Many studies have assessed the pharmacological and non-pharmacological roles of these ingredients in treating constipation, however, their importance has not been thoroughly investigated.

Dietary Carotenoids in Managing Metabolic Syndrome and Role of PPARs in the Process

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 846-853
Author(s):  
Raghunandan Purohith ◽  
Nagendra P.M. Nagalingaswamy ◽  
Nanjunda S. Shivananju
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Syndrome ◽  
Dietary Intervention ◽  
Bioactive Constituents ◽  
Dietary Antioxidants ◽  
Predisposing Factor ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Pathological Conditions ◽  
Established Relationship ◽  
Comprehensive Study

Metabolic syndrome is a collective term that denotes disorder in metabolism, symptoms of which include hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and endothelial dysfunction. Diet is a major predisposing factor in the development of metabolic syndrome, and dietary intervention is necessary for both prevention and management. The bioactive constituents of food play a key role in this process. Micronutrients such as vitamins, carotenoids, amino acids, flavonoids, minerals, and aromatic pigment molecules found in fruits, vegetables, spices, and condiments are known to have beneficial effects in preventing and managing metabolic syndrome. There exists a well-established relationship between oxidative stress and major pathological conditions such as inflammation, metabolic syndrome, and cancer. Consequently, dietary antioxidants are implicated in the remediation of these complications. The mechanism of action and targets of dietary antioxidants as well as their effects on related pathways are being extensively studied and elucidated in recent times. This review attempts a comprehensive study of the role of dietary carotenoids in alleviating metabolic syndromewith an emphasis on molecular mechanism-in the light of recent advances.

Short-Term Ultramicronized Palmitoylethanolamide Therapy in Patients with Myasthenia Gravis: a Pilot Study to Possible Future Implications of Treatment

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 232-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuela Onesti ◽  
Vittorio Frasca ◽  
Marco Ceccanti ◽  
Giorgio Tartaglia ◽  
Maria Cristina Gori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Myasthenia Gravis ◽  
Repetitive Nerve Stimulation ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Antibody Titers ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Ultramicronized Palmitoylethanolamide ◽  
Open Pilot

Background: The cannabinoid system may be involved in the humoral mechanisms at the neuromuscular junction. Ultramicronized-palmitoylethanolamide (μm-PEA) has recently been shown to reduce the desensitization of Acetylcholine (ACh)-evoked currents in denervated patients modifying the stability of ACh receptor (AChR) function. <p> Objective: To analyze the possible beneficial effects of μm-PEA in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) on muscular fatigue and neurophysiological changes. <p> Method: The duration of this open pilot study, which included an intra-individual control, was three weeks. Each patient was assigned to a 1-week treatment period with μm-PEA 600 mg twice a day. A neurophysiological examination based on repetitive nerve stimulation (RNS) of the masseteric and the axillary nerves was performed, and the quantitative MG (QMG) score was calculated in 22 MG patients every week in a three-week follow-up period. AChR antibody titer was investigated to analyze a possible immunomodulatory effect of PEA in MG patients. <p> Results: PEA had a significant effect on the QMG score (p=0.03418) and on RNS of the masseteric nerve (p=0.01763), thus indicating that PEA reduces the level of disability and decremental muscle response. Antibody titers did not change significantly after treatment. <p> Conclusion: According to our observations, μm-PEA as an add-on therapy could improve muscular response to fatigue in MG. The possible modulation of AChR currents as a means of eliciting a direct effect from PEA on the conformation of ACh receptors should be investigated. The co-role of cytokines also warrants an analysis. Given the rapidity and reversibility of the response, we suppose that PEA acts directly on AChR, though further studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.

The Role of Personal Control in Adaptive Functioning

2009 ◽  
pp. 270-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne C. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Differences ◽  
Perceived Control ◽  
Adaptive Functioning ◽  
Coping Skills ◽  
Personal Control ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sense Of Control ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Controllable Factors

A sense of personal control is an important resource that helps people maintain emotional stability and successfully negotiate their way through life. People foster their perceived control by focusing on reachable goals, creating new avenues for control, and accepting difficult-to-change circumstances. In general, perceived control need not be realistic in order to have beneficial effects, although in the area of health promotion, overestimating one's control can reduce the motivation to engage in protection. Research on ethnic differences in the benefits of a sense of personal control suggests that those from more collectivistic cultures or subcultures may be less benefited by a sense of personal control, relying instead on a socially derived sense of control. Successful interventions to enhance personal control include programs that bolster coping skills, give options and decisions to participants, and provide training that encourages attributions to controllable factors. Future research should further explore ethnic differences in the effects of personal control, the consequences of unrealistic control perceptions, and interventions to enhance the sense of control.

scholarly journals Physical Exercise and Cardiac Repair: The Potential Role of Nitric Oxide in Boosting Stem Cell Regenerative Biology

Antioxidants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1002
Author(s):  
Fabiola Marino ◽  
Mariangela Scalise ◽  
Eleonora Cianflone ◽  
Luca Salerno ◽  
Donato Cappetta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nitric Oxide ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
Physical Exercise ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Heart Function ◽  
Stem Cell Biology ◽  
Myocardial Repair ◽  
Beneficial Effects

Over the years strong evidence has been accumulated showing that aerobic physical exercise exerts beneficial effects on the prevention and reduction of cardiovascular risk. Exercise in healthy subjects fosters physiological remodeling of the adult heart. Concurrently, physical training can significantly slow-down or even reverse the maladaptive pathologic cardiac remodeling in cardiac diseases, improving heart function. The underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of the beneficial effects of physical exercise on the heart are still a subject of intensive study. Aerobic activity increases cardiovascular nitric oxide (NO) released mainly through nitric oxidase synthase 3 activity, promoting endothelium-dependent vasodilation, reducing vascular resistance, and lowering blood pressure. On the reverse, an imbalance between increasing free radical production and decreased NO generation characterizes pathologic remodeling, which has been termed the “nitroso-redox imbalance”. Besides these classical evidence on the role of NO in cardiac physiology and pathology, accumulating data show that NO regulate different aspects of stem cell biology, including survival, proliferation, migration, differentiation, and secretion of pro-regenerative factors. Concurrently, it has been shown that physical exercise generates physiological remodeling while antagonizes pathologic remodeling also by fostering cardiac regeneration, including new cardiomyocyte formation. This review is therefore focused on the possible link between physical exercise, NO, and stem cell biology in the cardiac regenerative/reparative response to physiological or pathological load. Cellular and molecular mechanisms that generate an exercise-induced cardioprotective phenotype are discussed in regards with myocardial repair and regeneration. Aerobic training can benefit cells implicated in cardiovascular homeostasis and response to damage by NO-mediated pathways that protect stem cells in the hostile environment, enhance their activation and differentiation and, in turn, translate to more efficient myocardial tissue regeneration. Moreover, stem cell preconditioning by and/or local potentiation of NO signaling can be envisioned as promising approaches to improve the post-transplantation stem cell survival and the efficacy of cardiac stem cell therapy.

scholarly journals Event-Based Prospective Memory Deficit in Children with ADHD: Underlying Cognitive Factors and Association with Symptoms

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 5849
Author(s):  
Floriana Costanzo ◽  
Elisa Fucà ◽  
Deny Menghini ◽  
Antonella Rita Circelli ◽  
Giovanni Augusto Carlesimo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prospective Memory ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Adhd Group ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Children With Adhd ◽  
The Road ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Event Based

Event-based prospective memory (PM) was investigated in children with Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), using a novel experimental procedure to evaluate the role of working memory (WM) load, attentional focus, and reward sensitivity. The study included 24 children with ADHD and 23 typically-developing controls. The experimental paradigm comprised one baseline condition (BC), only including an ongoing task, and four PM conditions, varying for targets: 1 Target (1T), 4 Targets (4T), Unfocal (UN), and Reward (RE). Children with ADHD were slower than controls on all PM tasks and less accurate on both ongoing and PM tasks on the 4T and UN conditions. Within the ADHD group, the accuracy in the RE condition did not differ from BC. A significant relationship between ADHD-related symptoms and reduced accuracy/higher speed in PM conditions (PM and ongoing trials), but not in BC, was detected. Our data provide insight on the adverse role of WM load and attentional focus and the positive influence of reward in the PM performance of children with ADHD. Moreover, the relation between PM and ADHD symptoms paves the road for PM as a promising neuropsychological marker for ADHD diagnosis and intervention.

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