Review: Digital experiences and their impact on the lives of adolescents with pre-existing anxiety, depression, eating and nonsuicidal self-injury conditions - a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Published systematic reviews provide evidence linking positive and negative digital experiences to adolescent mental health. However, these reviews focus on the general public rather than the digital experiences of adolescents with different pre-existing mental health conditions and so may be limited in their clinical relevance. We review publications relating to anxiety, depression, eating disorders and nonsuicidal self-injury to identify common and condition-specific digital experiences and how these may be implicated in the origins and maintenance of these mental health conditions. METHODS: A systematic literature search using a combination of mental health, digital experience (including social media use), and age of the target population terms was conducted on four databases. Detailed findings from the included studies were summarised using a combination of thematic and narrative methods. RESULTS: Five qualitative and 21 quantitative studies met the eligibility criteria for inclusion (n = 5021). Nine studies included adolescents with depression, one with eating problems, two with nonsuicidal self-injury and 14 with multiple emotional health conditions. The review identified six themes related to the target populations' digital experiences: (a) social connectivity and peer support; (b) escape and/or distraction; (c) social validation and social comparison; (d) accessing/creation of potentially harmful content; (e) cyberbullying; and (f) difficulties with self-regulation during engagement with digital media. CONCLUSIONS: Digital practices of adolescents with pre-existing clinical vulnerabilities are complex and encompass a range of positive and negative experiences, which appear to have common elements across different clinical populations. The literature is currently too limited to identify disorder-specific practices, with too few direct or indirect comparisons between conditions.

Similarities between the irrelevant sound effect and the suffix effect.

Although articulatory suppression abolishes the effect of irrelevant sound (ISE) on serial recall when sequences are presented visually, the effect persists with auditory presentation of list items. Two experiments were designed to test the claim that, when articulation is suppressed, the effect of irrelevant sound on the retention of auditory lists resembles a suffix effect. A suffix is a spoken word that immediately follows the final item in a list. Even though participants are told to ignore it, the suffix impairs serial recall of auditory lists. In Experiment 1, the irrelevant sound consisted of instrumental music. The music generated a significant ISE that was abolished by articulatory suppression. It therefore appears that, when articulation is suppressed, irrelevant sound must contain speech for it to have any effect on recall. This is consistent with what is known about the suffix effect. In Experiment 2, the effect of irrelevant sound under articulatory suppression was greater when the irrelevant sound was spoken by the same voice that presented the list items. This outcome is again consistent with the known characteristics of the suffix effect. It therefore appears that, when rehearsal is suppressed, irrelevant sound disrupts the acoustic-perceptual encoding of auditorily presented list items. There is no evidence that the persistence of the ISE under suppression is a result of interference to the representation of list items in a postcategorical phonological store.

Dynamic Interplay of Online Risk and Resilience in Adolescence (DIORA): a protocol for a 12-month prospective observational study testing the associations among digital activity, affective and cognitive reactions and depression symptoms in a community sample of UK adolescents.

INTRODUCTION: The impact of digital activity on adolescent mental health has been difficult to assess because of methodological limitations and a lack of strong theory. Dynamic Interplay of Online Risk and Resilience in Adolescence (DIORA) is a longitudinal study designed to address these core limitations and tease apart the reciprocal influences linking digital activity and depression symptoms (hereafter 'depression') over 12 months in middle adolescence. This study will examine whether negative affective and cognitive reactions evoked by risky digital activities increase depression. It will additionally examine whether protective characteristics (eg, self-efficacy) moderate the associations between digital activity and depression. DIORA will also explore the reverse pathways between digital activity and depression, namely whether depression exacerbates negative affective and cognitive reactions and, in turn, increase risky digital activities or, further, whether risks can be mitigated through active management of digital activity and/or reactions that it evokes. Finally, the study will examine whether the effects of digital activity observed for depression contrast with those observed for well-being. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a prospective observational study with three assessment points: baseline (T1), 6 months (T2) and 12 months (T3). We aim to recruit a minimum of 276 adolescents aged between 13 and 14 years from secondary schools in the UK and 1 parent/caregiver/guardian (hereafter, 'parent') for each adolescent. Study questionnaires will be completed online.We will fit a range of models to examine the direct and indirect associations among digital activity, the reactions it evokes, depression and wellbeing, and individual and contextual mediators and moderators drawing on the structural equation modelling framework. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study was approved by the London School of Economics and Political Science Research Ethics Committee, reference number 249287. The results will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and disseminated through presentations, posters and blogs.

Mathematical mindsets increase student motivation: Evidence from the EEG.

Mathematical mindset theory suggests learner motivation in mathematics may be increased by opening problems using a set of recommended ideas. However, very little evidence supports this theory. We explore motivation through self-reports while learners attempt problems formulated according to mindset theory and standard problems. We also explore neural correlates of motivation and felt-affect while participants attempt the problems. Notably, we do not tell participants what mindset theory is and instead simply investigate whether mindset problems affect reported motivation levels and neural correlates of motivation in learners. We find significant increases in motivation for mindset problems compared to standard problems. We also find significant differences in brain activity in prefrontal EEG asymmetry between problems. This provides some of the first evidence that mathematical mindset theory increases motivation (even when participants are not aware of mindset theory), and that this change is reflected in brain activity of learners attempting mathematical problems.