Search results for "AWARENESS"
showing 10 items of 531 documents
Counting and RAN: Predictors of arithmetic calculation and reading fluency.
2013
This study examined whether counting and rapid automatized naming (RAN) could operate as significant predictors of both later arithmetic calculation and reading fluency. The authors also took an important step to clarify the cognitive mechanisms underlying these predictive relationships by controlling for the effect of phonological awareness and verbal short-term memory. Due to rather strong covariance between verbal short-term memory and phonological awareness, short-term memory could be controlled only partially. Participants, 200 children from a longitudinal study, were followed from age 5 to 10 years. Structural equation modeling showed counting to be a strong predictor, not only of lat…
Assessing Metacomprehension and Metacognitive Reading Strategies
2019
The aim of the study was to establish the similarities and differences among existing instruments for measuring metacognition, in particular the awareness of reading comprehension and further to construct an original instrument for measuring features of metacognition, henceforth referred to as the Metacomprehension and Metacognitive Reading Strategies (M&MRS) Inventory. The M&MRS Inventory was distributed to 115 students at University of Palermo. The results revealed a good reliability
Editorial: Consciousness in Humanoid Robots
2019
Building a conscious robot is a grand scientific and technological challenge. Debates about the possibility of conscious robots and the related positive outcomes and hazards for human beings are today no longer confined to philosophical circles.
Unwanted effects: Is there a negative side of meditation? A multicentre survey
2017
Objectives Despite the long-term use and evidence-based efficacy of meditation and mindfulness-based interventions, there is still a lack of data about the possible unwanted effects (UEs) of these practices. The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of UEs among meditation practitioners, considering moderating factors such as the type, frequency, and lifetime duration of the meditation practices. Methods An online survey was developed and disseminated through several websites, such as Spanish-, English- and Portuguese-language scientific research portals related to mindfulness and meditation. After excluding people who did not answer the survey correctly or completely and those w…
Effects of age and soccer expertise on general tests of perceptual and motor performance among adolescent soccer players.
2010
This study of perceptual and motor skills in soccer players was conducted on adolescent males. The goals were to monitor the development of general perceptual motor skills in nonsoccer-playing and soccer-playing groups ( n = 245), to examine the relationship between physical maturity and general perceptual motor skills ( n = 41), and to compare the differences in general perceptual motor skills between groups with different soccer expertise ( n = 142). The measured variables were simple reaction time, peripheral awareness, eye–hand–foot coordination, and testosterone blood level. The results suggested that general perceptual motor skills improved with age, the development of these skills w…
Executive Functions Profile in Extreme Eating/Weight Conditions : From Anorexia Nervosa to Obesity
2012
Background: Extreme weight conditions (EWC) groups along a continuum may share some biological risk factors and intermediate neurocognitive phenotypes. A core cognitive trait in EWC appears to be executive dysfunction, with a focus on decision making, response inhibition and cognitive flexibility. Differences between individuals in these areas are likely to contribute to the differences in vulnerability to EWC. The aim of the study was to investigate whether there is a common pattern of executive dysfunction in EWC while comparing anorexia nervosa patients (AN), obese subjects (OB) and healthy eating/weight controls (HC). Methods: Thirty five AN patients, fifty two OB and one hundred thirty…
More aware, more protected: a cross-sectional study on road safety skills predicting the use of passive safety elements among Spanish teenagers
2019
ObjectiveThis study had two objectives: first, to test the effects of sociodemographic variables, and the effects of three key road safety skills (knowledge–risk perception–attitudes) on the use of passive safety elements (PSEs) among teenagers; and second, to assess the differential impact of the study variables on PSEs use from a gender-based perspective.Setting and participantsThis cross-sectional study was framed in the paradigm of primary care, and it involved students from several educational centres in Spain. A sample of 827 Spanish teenagers (52.4% females and 47.6% males) with a mean age of M=14.41–7 (12–19) years was used.ResultsThrough SEM modelling, we found that the use of PSEs…
Error Detection and Response Adjustment in Youth With Mild Spastic Cerebral Palsy
2013
This study evaluated the brain activation state during error making in youth with mild spastic cerebral palsy and a peer control group while carrying out a stimulus recognition task. The key question was whether patients were detecting their own errors and subsequently improving their performance in a future trial. Findings indicated that error responses of the group with cerebral palsy were associated with weak motor preparation, as indexed by the amplitude of the late contingent negative variation. However, patients were detecting their errors as indexed by the amplitude of the response-locked negativity and thus improved their performance in a future trial. Findings suggest that the con…
Reading skill and neural processing accuracy improvement after a 3-hour intervention in preschoolers with difficulties in reading-related skills
2012
This study aimed at determining whether an intervention game developed for strengthening phonological awareness has a remediating effect on reading skills and central auditory processing in 6-year-old preschool children with difficulties in reading-related skills. After a 3-hour training only, these children made a greater progress in reading-related skills than did their matched controls who did mathematical exercises following comparable training format. Furthermore, the results suggest that this brief intervention might be beneficial in modulating the neural basis of phonetic discrimination as an enhanced speech-elicited mismatch negativity (MMN) was seen in the intervention group, indic…
May Measurement Month 2018: a pragmatic global screening campaign to raise awareness of blood pressure by the International Society of Hypertension.
2019
Abstract Aims Raised blood pressure (BP) is the biggest contributor to mortality and disease burden worldwide and fewer than half of those with hypertension are aware of it. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global campaign set up in 2017, to raise awareness of high BP and as a pragmatic solution to a lack of formal screening worldwide. The 2018 campaign was expanded, aiming to include more participants and countries. Methods and results Eighty-nine countries participated in MMM 2018. Volunteers (≥18 years) were recruited through opportunistic sampling at a variety of screening sites. Each participant had three BP measurements and completed a questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, and envi…