Gestational age and gender influence on executive control and its related neural structures in preterm-born children at 6 years of age

Learning Objectives:

  1. Explain how gestational age and gender influence attentional abilities in children born preterm.
  2. Link prefrontal structures to attentional task performances in children born preterm.

Urben, S., Van Hanswijck De Jonge, L., Barisnikov, K., Pizzo, R., Monnier, M., Lazeyras, F., … & Hüppi, P. S. (2017). Gestational age and gender influence on executive control and its related neural structures in preterm-born children at 6 years of age. Child Neuropsychology23(2), 188-207.

Assessing social cognition: Age-related changes in moral reasoning in childhood and adolescence

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss the challenges of assessing MR in youth and how the So-Moral differs from previous MR tools.
2. Discuss the key concepts behind MR development in children and adolescents and its link with brain maturation.

Chiasson, V., Vera-Estay, E., Lalonde, G., Dooley, J. J., & Beauchamp, M. H. (2017). Assessing social cognition: age-related changes in moral reasoning in childhood and adolescence. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 1-16.

Executive functions and social information processing in adolescents with severe behavior problems

Learning Objectives:

  1. Discuss how executive functions (EFs) are related to social information processing (SIP).
  2. Discuss how executive functions (EFs) operate together in affecting other cognitive functions.

Van Nieuwenhuijzen, M., Van Rest, M. M., Embregts, P. J. C. M., Vriens, A., Oostermeijer, S., Van Bokhoven, I., & Matthys, W. (2017). Executive functions and social information processing in adolescents with severe behavior problems. Child Neuropsychology23(2), 228-241.

Introducing a forced-choice recognition task to the California Verbal Learning Test – Children’s Version

Learning Objectives:

1. Analyze stand-alone performance validity tests (PVTs) and embedded validity indicators (EVIs) relative to each other in terms of their classification accuracy.
2. Describe factors in performance validity assessment that are different in children as compared to adults.

Lichtenstein, J. D., Erdodi, L. A., & Linnea, K. S. (2017). Introducing a forced-choice recognition task to the California Verbal Learning Test–Children’s Version. Child Neuropsychology, 23(3), 284-299.

Children’s sense of reality: The development of orbitofrontal reality filtering

Learning Objectives:

1. Explain the existence of a thought control mechanism critical for maintaining thought and behavior in phase with ongoing reality.
2. Describe the development of this mechanism in children in relation to explicit memory.

Liverani, M. C., Manuel, A. L., Nahum, L., Guardabassi, V., Tomasetto, C., & Schnider, A. (2017). Children’s sense of reality: The development of orbitofrontal reality filtering. Child Neuropsychology, 23(4), 408-421.

Working memory and behavioral inhibition in boys with ADHD: An experimental examination of competing models

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe how Barkley’s (1997) and Rapport et al.’s (2008) competing models differ in their predictions of underlying neurocognitive/executive function deficits and the presentation of the ADHD phenotype.
2. Explain the complex relationship between ADHD-related working memory and behavioral inhibition deficits.

Alderson, R. M., Patros, C. H., Tarle, S. J., Hudec, K. L., Kasper, L. J., & Lea, S. E. (2017). Working memory and behavioral inhibition in boys with ADHD: An experimental examination of competing models. Child Neuropsychology23(3), 255-272.

Cognitive and behavioral rating measures of executive function as predictors of academic outcomes in children

Learning Objectives:

1. Explain the relation between measures of executive function assessed in different ways (cognitively, behaviorally) and their relative predictive utility for reading comprehension and mathematical calculations in 4th and 5th grade students.
2. Describe the role of different processes of executive function (working memory, inhibition, shifting, and planning) for reading comprehension and mathematical calculations in 4th and 5th grade students.

Gerst, E. H., Cirino, P. T., Fletcher, J. M., & Yoshida, H. (2017). Cognitive and behavioral rating measures of executive function as predictors of academic outcomes in children. Child Neuropsychology, 23(4), 381-407.

Parent rating of executive function in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: A review of the literature and new data on Aboriginal Canadian children

Learning Objectives:
1. Identify factors related to the higher prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) among children in Aboriginal versus non-Aboriginal communities.
2. Describe salient research findings regarding the executive functioning abilities of children with FASD in general and Aboriginal children with FASD more specifically.

Rai, J. K., Abecassis, M., Casey, J. E., Flaro, L., Erdodi, L. A., & Roth, R. M. (2017). Parent rating of executive function in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: A review of the literature and new data on Aboriginal Canadian children. Child Neuropsychology, 23(6), 713-732.

Dorsal and ventral visual streams: Typical and atypical development

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the differences in developmental trajectory of the dorsal and ventral streams of visual processing.
2. Explain the impact of congenital hypothyroidism on both stream functions.

Simic, N., & Rovet, J. (2017). Dorsal and ventral visual streams: Typical and atypical development. Child Neuropsychology, 23(6), 678-691.

The effect of stereotype threat on older people’s clinical cognitive outcomes: investigating the moderating role of dementia worry

Learning Objectives:
1. Explain the possible influence of stereotype threat (ST) on neuropsychological assessment of older people.
2. Describe the purpose and the implications of moderation analyses.

Fresson, M., Dardenne, B., Geurten, M., & Meulemans, T. (2017). The effect of stereotype threat on older people’s clinical cognitive outcomes: investigating the moderating role of dementia worry. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 1-23.