From Neurons to Neighborhoods

From Neurons to Neighborhoods

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2000-11-13

Total Pages: 610

ISBN-13: 0309069882

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How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.


Working Memory Capacity

Working Memory Capacity

Author: Nelson Cowan

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2016-04-14

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 1317232380

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The idea of one's memory "filling up" is a humorous misconception of how memory in general is thought to work; it actually has no capacity limit. However, the idea of a "full brain" makes more sense with reference to working memory, which is the limited amount of information a person can hold temporarily in an especially accessible form for use in the completion of almost any challenging cognitive task. This groundbreaking book explains the evidence supporting Cowan's theoretical proposal about working memory capacity, and compares it to competing perspectives. Cognitive psychologists profoundly disagree on how working memory is limited: whether by the number of units that can be retained (and, if so, what kind of units and how many), the types of interfering material, the time that has elapsed, some combination of these mechanisms, or none of them. The book assesses these hypotheses and examines explanations of why capacity limits occur, including vivid biological, cognitive, and evolutionary accounts. The book concludes with a discussion of the practical importance of capacity limits in daily life. This 10th anniversary Classic Edition will continue to be accessible to a wide range of readers and serve as an invaluable reference for all memory researchers.


Assessment and Intervention for Executive Function Difficulties

Assessment and Intervention for Executive Function Difficulties

Author: George McCloskey

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2008-12-05

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 1135906106

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In Assessment and Intervention for Executive Function Difficulties, McCloskey, Perkins, and Diviner provide a unique blend of theory, research, and practice that offers clinicians an overarching framework for the concept of executive functions (EFs) in educational settings. The conceptual model of executive functions is detailed, including their role in behavior, learning, and production across all settings. The heart of the book focus on the practical issues involved in the use of assessment tools, tests, report writing, and the implementation and follow-up of targeted interventions using the EF model. Six case studies are introduced in Chapter 1 and followed throughout the book, building understanding of the executive function difficulties of each child, assessment for identifying the difficulties, and interventions for dealing with the difficulties. An additional case study is discussed in detail in one of the concluding chapters, and a companion CD will provide the practitioner with a wealth of assessment forms, parent and teacher handouts, behavior tracking charts, and report/documentation forms.


Executive Functions

Executive Functions

Author: Russell A. Barkley

Publisher: Guilford Press

Published: 2012-05-09

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1462505376

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This groundbreaking book offers a comprehensive theory of executive functioning (EF) with important clinical implications. Synthesizing cutting-edge neuropsychological and evolutionary research, Russell A. Barkley presents a model of EF that is rooted in meaningful activities of daily life. He describes how abilities such as emotion regulation, self-motivation, planning, and working memory enable people to pursue both personal and collective goals that are critical to survival. Key stages of EF development are identified and the far-reaching individual and social costs of EF deficits detailed. Barkley explains specific ways that his model may support much-needed advances in assessment and treatment. See also Barkley's empirically based, ecologically valid assessment tools: Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale (BDEFS for Adults) and Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale--Children and Adolescents (BDEFS-CA).


Executive Function in Preschool-age Children

Executive Function in Preschool-age Children

Author: James Alan Griffin

Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781433818264

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In this book, top scientists from a variety of fields investigate the development of executive function (EF), a term that encompasses a range of mental processes that together regulate our social behavior and our cognitive and emotional well-being.


Handbook of Life Course Health Development

Handbook of Life Course Health Development

Author: Neal Halfon

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-11-20

Total Pages: 667

ISBN-13: 3319471430

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This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. ​This handbook synthesizes and analyzes the growing knowledge base on life course health development (LCHD) from the prenatal period through emerging adulthood, with implications for clinical practice and public health. It presents LCHD as an innovative field with a sound theoretical framework for understanding wellness and disease from a lifespan perspective, replacing previous medical, biopsychosocial, and early genomic models of health. Interdisciplinary chapters discuss major health concerns (diabetes, obesity), important less-studied conditions (hearing, kidney health), and large-scale issues (nutrition, adversity) from a lifespan viewpoint. In addition, chapters address methodological approaches and challenges by analyzing existing measures, studies, and surveys. The book concludes with the editors’ research agenda that proposes priorities for future LCHD research and its application to health care practice and health policy. Topics featured in the Handbook include: The prenatal period and its effect on child obesity and metabolic outcomes. Pregnancy complications and their effect on women’s cardiovascular health. A multi-level approach for obesity prevention in children. Application of the LCHD framework to autism spectrum disorder. Socioeconomic disadvantage and its influence on health development across the lifespan. The importance of nutrition to optimal health development across the lifespan. The Handbook of Life Course Health Development is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians/professionals, and graduate students in developmental psychology/science; maternal and child health; social work; health economics; educational policy and politics; and medical law as well as many interrelated subdisciplines in psychology, medicine, public health, mental health, education, social welfare, economics, sociology, and law.


Motivation and Cognitive Control

Motivation and Cognitive Control

Author: Todd S. Braver

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-12-22

Total Pages: 468

ISBN-13: 1317326350

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Individuals do not always perform to their full capability on cognitive tasks. When this occurs, the usual explanation is that the individual was not properly motivated. But this begs the important question: How and why does motivation interact with and influence cognitive processing and the control processes that regulate it? What are the underlying mechanisms that govern such interactions? Motivation has been an important component of psychology and neuroscience throughout the history of the field, but has recently been rejuvenated by rapidly accelerating research interest in the nature of motivation-cognition interactions, particularly as they impact control processes and goal-directed behavior. This volume provides an up-to-date snapshot of the state of research in this exciting, expanding area. The contributors to the volume are internationally-renowned researchers that lead the field in conducting groundbreaking studies. Moreover, they represent a variety of research perspectives and traditions: cognitive psychology and neuroscience, animal learning, social, affective, and personality psychology, and development, lifespan, and aging studies. This book summarizes our current state of understanding of the relationship between motivation and cognitive control, and serves as an essential reference for both students and researchers.


Self-Regulation and Autonomy

Self-Regulation and Autonomy

Author: Bryan W. Sokol

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-11-18

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 1107023696

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This book presents current research on self-regulation and autonomy, which have emerged as key predictors of health and well-being in several areas of psychology.


The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Imagination

The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Imagination

Author: Marjorie Taylor

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-04-02

Total Pages: 608

ISBN-13: 0199909199

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Children are widely celebrated for their imaginations, but developmental research on this topic has often been fragmented or narrowly focused on fantasy. However, there is growing appreciation for the role that imagination plays in cognitive and emotional development, as well as its link with children's understanding of the real world. With their imaginations, children mentally transcend time, place, and/or circumstance to think about what might have been, plan and anticipate the future, create fictional relationships and worlds, and consider alternatives to the actual experiences of their lives. The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Imagination provides a comprehensive overview of this broad new perspective by bringing together leading researchers whose findings are moving the study of imagination from the margins of mainstream psychology to a central role in current efforts to understand human thought. The topics covered include fantasy-reality distinctions, pretend play, magical thinking, narrative, anthropomorphism, counterfactual reasoning, mental time travel, creativity, paracosms, imaginary companions, imagination in non-human animals, the evolution of imagination, autism, dissociation, and the capacity to derive real life resilience from imaginative experiences. Many of the chapters include discussions of the educational, clinical, and legal implications of the research findings and special attention is given to suggestions for future research.