Learning benefits of self-controlled knowledge of results in 10-year-old children

PIBIC-CNPq-Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Technologico

Number of options in a movement sequence affects learners' behavior in a self-controlled practice condition

Self controlling practice implies a process of decision making which suggests that the options in a self controlled practice condition could affect learners The number of task components with no fixed position in a movement sequence may affect the (Nay learners self control their practice A 200 cm coincident timing track with 90 light emitting diodes (LEDs)-the first and the last LEDs being the warning and the target lights respectively was set so that the apparent speed of the light along the track was 1 33 m/sec Participants were required to touch six sensors sequentially the last one coincidently with the lighting of the tar get light (timing task) Group 1 (n=55) had only one constraint and were instructed to touch the sensors in any order except for the last sensor which had to be the one positioned close to the target light Group 2 (n=53) had three constraints the first two and the last sensor to be touched Both groups practiced the task until timing error was less than 30 msec on three consecutive trials There were no statistically significant differences between groups in the number of trials needed to reach the performance criterion but (a) participants in Group 2 created fewer sequences corn pared to Group 1 and (b) were more likely to use the same sequence throughout the learning process The number of options for a movement sequence affected the way learners self-controlled their practice but had no effect on the amount of practice to reach criterion performance.

Training in flexible intensive insulin therapy improves quality of life, decreases the risk of hypoglycaemia and ameliorates poor metabolic control in patients with type 1 diabetes.

AIM: Intensified insulin therapy has evolved to be the standard treatment of type 1 diabetes. However, it has been reported to increase significantly the risk of hypoglycaemia. We studied the effect of structured group teaching courses in flexible insulin therapy (FIT) on psychological and metabolic parameters in patients with type 1 diabetes. METHODS: We prospectively followed 45 type 1 diabetic patients of our outpatient clinic participating in 5 consecutive FIT teaching courses at the University Hospital of Basel. These courses consist of 7 weekly ambulatory evening group sessions. Patients were studied before and 1, 6, and 18 months after the course. Main outcome measures were glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), severe hypoglycaemic events, quality of life (DQoL), diabetes self-control (IPC-9) and diabetes knowledge (DWT). RESULTS: Quality of life, self-control and diabetes knowledge improved after the FIT courses (all p<0.001). The frequency of severe hypoglycaemic events decreased ten-fold from 0.33 episodes/6 months at baseline to 0.03 episodes/6 months after 18 months (p<0.05). Baseline HbA1c was 7.2+/-1.1% and decreased in the subgroup with HbA1c > or = 8% from 8.4% to 7.8% (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In an unselected, but relatively well-controlled population of type 1 diabetes, a structured, but not very time consuming FIT teaching programme in the outpatient setting improves psychological well-being and metabolic parameters.

Eating and weight related cognitions in people with Schizophrenia: a case control study

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Patients with antipsychotic-induced weight gain (WG) regularly report on unsuccessful dietary trials, which suggests strong biological weight gain drive that is extremely hard to overcome with thoughts, such that behaviour doesn't change despite some intent to change. The purpose of the present study was to assess cognitions specifically related to restrained eating in severely overweight patients with schizophrenia treated with antipsychotic drugs. METHODS: Forty outpatients with schizophrenia and 40 controls without psychiatric disability were included. Both groups were composed of one subgroup severely overweight (defined as a BMI > 28), and a comparison sample (BMI<28). The revised version of the Mizes Anorectic cognitive questionnaire (MAC-R) was used in this cross-sectional case-control study. RESULTS: Gender was significantly related to eating disorders cognition, women scoring higher than men. Patients with schizophrenia in general scored higher on the MAC-R total scale and on the MAC-R subscale 2, the latter score representing rigid weight regulation and fear of weight gain. When comparing the two groups of subjects with BMI < 28, it appeared that patients with schizophrenia also scored higher on MAC-R total scale, the subscales 2 and 3, the latter subscale 3, indicating altered self control and self-esteem. CONCLUSION: As is the case in weight gain of subjects without schizophrenia, the present results suggest that the cognitive distortions, as assessed by the MAC-R, may play an important role in weight gain also in patients with schizophrenia, and in weight gain associated with antipsychotic pharmacotherapy. Particular attention to these processes may help to improve the management of antipsychotic drugs induced weight gain

Transferring control demands across incidental learning tasks - Stronger sequence usage in serial reaction task after shortcut option in letter string checking

After incidentally learning about a hidden regularity, participants can either continue to solve the task as instructed or, alternatively, apply a shortcut. Past research suggests that the amount of conflict implied by adopting a shortcut seems to bias the decision for vs. against continuing instruction-coherent task processing. We explored whether this decision might transfer from one incidental learning task to the next. Theories that conceptualize strategy change in incidental learning as a learning-plus-decision phenomenon suggest that high demands to adhere to instruction-coherent task processing in Task 1 will impede shortcut usage in Task 2, whereas low control demands will foster it. We sequentially applied two established incidental learning tasks differing in stimuli, responses and hidden regularity (the alphabet verification task followed by the serial reaction task, SRT). While some participants experienced a complete redundancy in the task material of the alphabet verification task (low demands to adhere to instructions), for others the redundancy was only partial. Thus, shortcut application would have led to errors (high demands to follow instructions). The low control demand condition showed the strongest usage of the fixed and repeating sequence of responses in the SRT. The transfer results are in line with the learning-plus-decision view of strategy change in incidental learning, rather than with resource theories of self-control.

An examination of the role of personality and self-regulation in the gambling behaviours of late adolescents and emerging adults

The purposes of this study were: a) to examine the role of personality and selfregulation in the gambling behaviour participation of late adolescents and emerging adults. In particular, the present study examined i f certain personality traits were more prevalent in high-risk gamblers than in young people considered low or at-risk gamblers; and, b) to examine i f the ability to self-regulate helped distinguish differences among the three groups of gamblers (low-risk, at-risk, and high-risk gamblers). A sample of late adolescents and emerging adults (N = 100) attending Brock University, completed a survey that assessed current gambling behaviour (both frequency and consequence experience), personality, self-esteem, and self-regulation. It was found that high-risk gamblers had lower scores on the personality dimensions Emotionality, Conscientiousness (especially on its Prudence facet), and Honesty-Humility (especially on its Fairness, Greed Avoidance, and Modesty facets) than at-risk or low-risk gamblers and higher scores on impulsive sensation seeking and impulsivity than at-risk or low-risk gamblers. Similarly, high-risk gamblers reported lower levels of self-regulation than both at-risk and low-risk gamblers. The findings from this study support past research which suggests that young people who gamble at problematic levels differ on many personality traits and often have more difficulty self-regulating than young people who do not participate at problematic levels. Findings may aid in the development of intervention and prevention programs that utilize specific self-regulation techniques with a young gambling population.

Supporting social-cognitive development in the elementary years: The role of executive function and self-regulation

Every day we make decisions that have repercussions. Sometimes the effects are immediate and intended; other times the effects might be unintended or might not be apparent for years. As parents or educators, part of our role is to support the development of children’s decision-making skills, helping them to develop patterns of adaptive decision-making that will serve them well in their current lives and into the future. Part of successful decision-making involves self-control, a system served by the brain’s executive functions (EF). This involves the ability to put aside immediate reactions and base decisions on a variety of important considerations. Social-cognitive development, the ongoing improvement of the ability to get along with others and to understand others’ emotions, expressions, motivations, and intents, relies, to a large degree, on the same EF systems. The current paper explores the interaction of these two factors (the role of EF in social-cognitive development), explores the research to determine the most effective approaches to improving both factors, and develops a handbook providing activities for educators to use while supporting the growth of both EF and social-cognitive skills. Results of a needs assessment reveal that the majority (59%) of educators surveyed had never used a social skills improvement program in their classrooms, while a full 95% believed that social skills are important or very important for a student’s academic success.

The control dilemma in eating behavior : Influence of temptation cues in restrained versus unrestrained eaters

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APPLICATION of THE HAZARD ANALYSIS and CRITICAL CONTROL POINT (HACCP) SYSTEM on THE MUSHROOM PROCESSING LINE FOR FRESH CONSUMPTION

The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a preventive system that intends to guarantee the safety and harmlessness of food. It improves the quality of products as it eliminates possible defects during the process, and saves costs by practically eliminating final product inspection. This work describes the typical hazards encountered on the mushroom processing line for fresh consumption. Throughout the process, only the reception stage of mushrooms has been considered a critical control point (CCP). The main hazards at this stage were: the presence of unauthorised phytosanitary products; larger doses of such products than those permitted; the presence of pathogenic bacteria or thermo-stable enterotoxins. Putting into practice such knowledge would provide any industry that processes mushrooms for fresh consumption with a self-control HACCP-based system for its own productions.

Mobile phone technologies and advanced data analysis towards the enhancement of diabetes self-management

Advances in the area of mobile and wireless communication for healthcare (m-Health) along with the improvements in information science allow the design and development of new patient-centric models for the provision of personalised healthcare services, increase of patient independence and improvement of patient's self-control and self-management capabilities. This paper comprises a brief overview of the m-Health applications towards the self-management of individuals with diabetes mellitus and the enhancement of their quality of life. Furthermore, the design and development of a mobile phone application for Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) self-management is presented. The technical evaluation of the application, which permits the management of blood glucose measurements, blood pressure measurements, insulin dosage, food/drink intake and physical activity, has shown that the use of the mobile phone technologies along with data analysis methods might improve the self-management of T1DM.

IMPULSE CONTROL AND COOPERATION IN CAPUCHIN MONKEYS (Cebus apella)

The benefits animals derive from living in social groups have produced the evolution of many forms of cooperative behavior. To cooperate, two or more individuals coordinate their actions to accomplish a common goal. One cognitive process that has the potential to influence cooperation is self control. Individuals delaying their impulsive choice for an immediate reward may potentially receive a larger reward later by cooperating with others. In this study, I measured whether brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) were capable of impulse control and whether impulse control was related to cooperation. Impulse control and cooperation were measured using a lazy susan-like apparatus, on which animals could turn a wheel to receive food rewards. The capuchins went through two training phases that taught them how to turn the wheel efficiently to obtain rewards and how to turn the wheel to obtain the larger of two rewards. After training, I tested impulse control by giving the capuchins a choice between a smaller and a larger reward placed at shorter or more distant locations on the wheel. The capuchins demonstrated impulse control in that they tended to inhibit the impulse to select the smaller reward when it was closer and easier to reach and instead selected the larger reward when it was farther away. Cooperation was tested in all possible dyads of seven individuals, a total of 21 dyads, by allowing each dyad 10 trials to work together with effort on the lazy-susan so that each would obtain a reward. Seventeen out of 21 dyads cooperated by simultaneously moving the wheel in the same direction. The correlation between how often a particular dyad cooperated and their average impulse control score was not statistically significant, r(21) = -.125, p = .591. Capuchins demonstrated impulse control and cooperation using this novel apparatus but the two abilities were not related. Other factors such as the unique social relationship between two individuals may play a more prominent role in the motivation to cooperate rather than the cognitive capacity to inhibit behavior.

Self-esteem, coping styles, and quality of life in polish adolescents and young adults with unilateral cleft lip and palate.

Objectives : To evaluate self-esteem, coping styles, and health-related quality of life and their relationships in Polish adolescents and young adults with unilateral complete cleft lip and palate and related sex differences. Design and Participants : Self-report questionnaires measuring self-esteem (Multidimensional Self-Esteem Inventory), coping styles (Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations), and health-related quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) were completed by 48 participants with cleft lip and palate (age, 16 to 23 years; 31 males, 17 females) and 48 controls without cleft lip and palate (age, 16 to 23 years; 28 males, 20 females) matched for age, place of residence, and socioeconomic status. Results : Regarding self-esteem, individuals with cleft lip and palate scored higher on body functioning (P < .01) and defensive self-enhancement (P < .05). Self-control showed an interaction effect: Females with cleft lip and palate scored higher than controls, but males did not differ between groups (P < .05). Males with cleft lip and palate scored lower than controls in personal power but higher in body functioning (P < .05); females showed no differences between groups. The groups did not differ with regard to coping styles or quality of life, but several correlations were found between self-esteem and coping styles, and quality of life (P < .01). Conclusions : Late adolescents and young adults with and without cleft lip and palate differed little in terms of psychological adjustment measures. The higher scores in defensive self-enhancement of individuals with cleft lip and palate suggest the need for instruments measuring social approval in psychosocial adjustment research involving this group.

Ego depletion, attentional control, and decision making in sport

Objectives: Athletes differ at staying focused on performance and avoiding distraction. Drawing on the strength model of self-control we investigated whether athletes do not only differ inter-individually in their disposition of staying focused and avoiding distraction but also intra-individually in their situational availability of focused attention. Design/method: In the present experiment we hypothesized that basketball players (N = 40) who have sufficient self-control resources will perform relatively better on a computer based decision making task under distraction conditions compared to a group who's self-control resources have been depleted in a prior task requiring self-control. Results: The results are in line with the strength model of self-control by demonstrating that an athlete's capability to focus attention relies on the situational availability of self-control strength. Conclusions: The current results indicate that having sufficient self-control strength in interference rich sport settings is likely to be beneficial for decision making.

Self-discipline : six addresses /

Cover title.

Equitação e volteio com crianças carentes : uma proposta educacional

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Educação Física