A multiple levels of analysis examination of the performance goal model of depression vulnerability in preadolescent children.

If performance goals (i.e., motivation to prove ability) increase children's vulnerability to depression (Dykman, 1998), why are they overlooked in the psychopathology literature? Evidence has relied on self-report or observational methods and has yet to articulate how this vulnerability unfolds across levels of analysis implicated in stress-depression linkages; for example, hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal axis (HPA), sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Utilizing a multiple-levels-of-analysis approach (Cicchetti, 2010), this experimental study tested Dykman's goal orientation model of depression vulnerability in a community sample of preadolescents (N = 121, Mage = 10.60 years, Range = 9.08-12.00 years, 51.6% male). Self-reports of performance goals, attachment security, and subjective experience of internalizing difficulties were obtained in addition to objective behavioral (i.e., task persistence) and physiologic arousal (i.e., salivary cortisol, skin conductance level) responses to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and two randomly assigned coping conditions: avoidance, distraction. Children with performance goals reported greater internalizing difficulties and exhibited more dysregulated TSST physiologic responses (i.e., HPA hyperreactivity, SNS protracted recovery), yet unexpectedly displayed greater TSST task persistence and more efficient physiologic recovery during avoidance relative to distraction. These associations were stronger and nonsignificant in the context of insecure and secure attachment, respectively. Findings illustrate a complex matrix of in-the-moment, integrative psychobiological relationships linking performance goals to depression vulnerability.

The privileging of 'Support-From-Below' in early spatial language acquisition.

Spatial terms that encode support (e.g., "on", in English) are among the first to be understood by children across languages (e.g., Bloom, 1973; Johnston & Slobin, 1979). Such terms apply to a wide variety of support configurations, including Support-From-Below (SFB; cup on table) and Mechanical Support, such as stamps on envelopes, coats on hooks, etc. Research has yet to delineate infants' semantic space for the term "on" when considering its full range of usage. Do infants initially map "on" to a very broad, highly abstract category - one including cups on tables, stamps on envelopes, etc.? Or do infants begin with a much more restricted interpretation - mapping "on" to certain configurations over others? Much infant cognition research suggests that SFB is an event category that infants learn about early - by five months of age (Baillargeon & DeJong, 2017) - raising the possibility that they may also begin by interpreting the word "on" as referring to configurations like cups on tables, rather than stamps on envelopes. Further, studies examining language production suggests that children and adults map the basic locative expression (BE on, in English) to SFB over Mechanical Support (Landau et al., 2016). We tested the hypothesis that this 'privileging' of SFB in early infant cognition and child and adult language also characterizes infants' language comprehension. Using the Intermodal-Preferential-Looking-Paradigm in combination with infant eye-tracking, 20-month-olds were presented with two support configurations: SFB and Mechanical, Support-Via-Adhesion (henceforth, SVA). Infants preferentially mapped "is on" to SFB (rather than SVA) suggesting that infants differentiate between two quite different kinds of support configurations when mapping spatial language to these two configurations and more so, that SFB is privileged in early language understanding of the English spatial term "on".

Racing dragons and remembering aliens: Benefits of playing number and working memory games on kindergartners' numerical knowledge.

Sources that contribute to variation in mathematical achievement include both numerical knowledge and general underlying cognitive processing abilities. The current study tested the benefits of tablet-based training games that targeted each of these areas for improving the mathematical knowledge of kindergarten-age children. We hypothesized that playing a number-based game targeting numerical magnitude knowledge would improve children's broader numerical skills. We also hypothesized that the benefits of playing a working memory (WM) game would transfer to children's numerical knowledge given its important underlying role in mathematics achievement. Kindergarteners from diverse backgrounds (n = 148; 52% girls; Mage  = 71.87 months) were randomly assigned to either play a number-based game, a WM game, or a control game on a tablet for 10 sessions. Structural equation modeling was used to model children's learning gains in mathematics and WM across time. Overall, our results suggest that playing the number game improved kindergarten children's numerical knowledge at the latent level, and these improvements remained stable as assessed 1 month later. However, children in the WM group did not improve their numerical knowledge compared to children in the control condition. Playing both the number game and WM game improved children's WM at the latent level. Importantly, the WM group continued to improve their WM for at least a month after playing the games. The results demonstrate that computerized games that target both domain-specific and domain-general skills can benefit a broad range of kindergarten-aged children.

Temperament, coping, and involuntary stress responses in preadolescent children: the moderating role of achievement goal orientation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Developmental theorists posit that temperament contributes to preadolescent's stress response styles. Findings from empirical studies, however, have yielded mixed results, thus indicating a need to consider moderators of this relation. Utilizing an analytic framework guided by resiliency theory [Zimmerman, M. A. (2013). Resiliency theory: A strengths-based approach to research and practice for adolescent health. Health Education & Behavior, 40, 381-383], this study examined achievement goal orientation as a moderator of the relation between temperament and stress response styles. METHODS: 96 preadolescent-parent dyads (Mage = 10.30 years, range = 9-12 years) participated in the study. Preadolescents reported on their achievement goal orientation, coping and involuntary stress responses (ISRs) styles and a parent reported on children's temperament. RESULTS: Multiple regressions revealed that effortful control positively predicted preadolescent's predominant use of engagement coping and negatively predicted predominance of ISRs, but only for children with a predominant mastery goal orientation. For preadolescents with a predominant performance goal orientation, effortful control negatively predicted the predominant use of engagement coping and positively predicted predominance of ISRs. Negative affectivity and its interaction with goal orientation did not predict coping or ISR styles. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that a predominant mastery goal orientation may function as a promotive factor by enhancing the contribution of effortful control to engagement coping styles and buffering against unmanaged reactivity.

Impairment of regulatory T-cell function in autoimmune thyroid disease.

BACKGROUND: Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) pathogenesis may result from a loss of immune tolerance to thyroid antigens. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) control immune responses, prevent excessive inflammation, and may be dysfunctional in AITD. We investigated the role of Tregs in Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) and Graves' disease (GD), complicated by Down syndrome (DS). Our goal was to identify differences in CD4(+)CD25(high) Treg function or number in patients with GD and HT, compared to healthy controls (HC). METHODS: Treg number was assessed by flow cytometric analysis in samples from 20 AITD patients (seven GD, 13 HT), nine HC, and seven individuals with DS, a genetic disorder associated with multiple autoimmune disorders including AITD. Treg function was assessed by the inhibition of proliferation (radioactive thymidine incorporation into DNA) of blood-derived T effector (Teff) cells by Tregs in a coculture. Various methods of stimulation were contrasted. Cytokine levels were determined in conditioned media from the co-cultures. RESULTS: No differences were found in the frequency of Tregs as a percentage of CD4(+) cells between AITD and HC. AITD Tregs were less capable of inhibiting the proliferation of Teff cells when compared to HC; however, the impairment was dependent on the type of stimulation used. DS patients without AITD exhibited normal Treg function. We observed few differences in cytokine production between HC and AITD patients. CONCLUSIONS: Tregs from AITD patients are partly dysfunctional, possibly explaining their autoimmunity. Future work will elucidate the diagnostic potential and pathophysiology of Tregs in AITD.