Efectos de la edad sobre la valoración emocional durante la etapa preescolar / Effects of age on the emotional appraisal during preschool

La valoración emocional es el proceso por el cual se generan distintas respuestas emocionales a partir de las evaluaciones subjetivas del individuo sobre diferentes aspectos de los estímulos, tales como la relevancia personal de la situación y las opciones de afrontamiento, entre otras. Es decir, una misma situación percibida por dos personas distintas puede provocar reacciones emocionales diferentes. Estas variaciones pueden deberse a la existencia de diferencias individuales, sociales y culturales en la valoración de los estímulos. El estudio de la valoración emocional en las/os niñas/os añade dificultades relacionadas con el desarrollo de las emociones y con la categorización de las mismas durante la etapa preescolar. Una forma de explorar estas cuestiones es utilizar tareas con distintas valencias para evaluar el procesamiento de la información con diferente contenido emocional en niñas/os. Diversas investigaciones abordaron este tema, pero son escasos los trabajos que profundizaron el estudio en esta etapa del desarrollo cognitivo. El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar la valoración de una muestra de niñas/os de 4 y 5 años en una tarea con estímulos visuales de diferente contenido emocional (negativo, neutro y positivo). En los resultados se consideró la cantidad de acuerdos entre las respuestas dadas por las/os niñas/os y la valencia relativa inherente a la tarea. Se observó un efecto de la edad sobre la valoración emocional, evidenciado a través de mayor acuerdo en las/os niñas/os de 5 años, en comparación con las/os de 4. Asimismo, las/os niñas/os de 5 años mostraron una tendencia a asociar con mayor acuerdo los estímulos emocionales (positivos y negativos), en comparación con los neutros. Estos resultados señalan la importancia de considerar la atribución de emociones como un proceso en desarrollo durante esta etapa infantil.

The emotional appraisal is the process through which different emotional responses are generated based on individual subjective evaluations of different aspects of stimuli, such as personal relevance of the situation and coping options, among others. Thus, a same situation perceived by two different persons can generate two different emotional appraisals. This difference would be due to cognitive, social and cultural variations in the assessment of the stimuli. The study of emotional appraisal in children adds difficulties related to the development of emotions and emotional categorization. One way to explore these issues is to use tasks with different valences to assess in-formation processing with different emotional content. Different studies addressed this but few approach the preschool period. The aim of this study was to analyze the assessment of different visual stimuli with negative, neutral and positive emotional contents in a sample of children aged 4 and 5 years. Results showed and effect of age in the number of agreements between the answers given by children and the relative valence inherent to the task. Specifically, 5-year-old children evidenced more agreements than 4-year-old. In addition, 5-year-old children were more likely to congruently associate the emotional images (valences positive and negative) in comparison to neutral ones. These results highlight the importance of considering the attribution of emotions as a developing process during the preschool period.

Childhood Poverty and Cognitive Development in Latin America in the 21st Century.

For at least eight decades, researchers have analyzed the association between childhood poverty and cognitive development in different societies worldwide, but few of such studies have been carried out in Latin America. The aim of the present paper is to systematically review the empirical studies that have analyzed the associations between poverty and cognitive development in children under 18 years of age from Latin American and Caribbean countries between 2000 and 2015. This analysis takes into consideration the country where the work was conducted, the experimental and analytical design, sample size and composition, cognitive and poverty paradigms implemented, levels of analysis, and the inclusion of mediation analyses. Through these, we identify common patterns in the negative impact of poverty that have been repeatedly verified in the literature in other continents; we also call attention to a set of issues regarding sample, design, paradigms, impact, and mediation analyses that should be considered in future studies in the region.

Strengths and weakness of neuroscientific investigations of childhood poverty: future directions.

The neuroscientific study of child poverty is a topic that has only recently emerged. In comparison with previous reviews (e.g., Hackman and Farah, 2009; Lipina and Colombo, 2009; Hackman et al., 2010; Raizada and Kishiyama, 2010; Lipina and Posner, 2012), our perspective synthesizes findings, and summarizes both conceptual and methodological contributions, as well as challenges that face current neuroscientific approaches to the study of childhood poverty. The aim of this effort is to identify target areas of study that could potentially help build a basic and applied research agenda for the coming years.

Predictors of cognitive enhancement after training in preschoolers from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.

The association between socioeconomic status and child cognitive development, and the positive impact of interventions aimed at optimizing cognitive performance, are well-documented. However, few studies have examined how specific socio-environmental factors may moderate the impact of cognitive interventions among poor children. In the present study, we examined how such factors predicted cognitive trajectories during the preschool years, in two samples of children from Argentina, who participated in two cognitive training programs (CTPs) between the years 2002 and 2005: the School Intervention Program (SIP; N = 745) and the Cognitive Training Program (CTP; N = 333). In both programs children were trained weekly for 16 weeks and tested before and after the intervention using a battery of tasks assessing several cognitive control processes (attention, inhibitory control, working memory, flexibility and planning). After applying mixed model analyses, we identified sets of socio-environmental predictors that were associated with higher levels of pre-intervention cognitive control performance and with increased improvement in cognitive control from pre- to post-intervention. Child age, housing conditions, social resources, parental occupation and family composition were associated with performance in specific cognitive domains at baseline. Housing conditions, social resources, parental occupation, family composition, maternal physical health, age, group (intervention/control) and the number of training sessions were related to improvements in specific cognitive skills from pre- to post-training.

[Neuroscience and education: towards the construction of interactive bridges]. / Neurociencia y educación: hacia la construcción de puentes interactivos.

INTRODUCTION: The debates on the potential interdisciplinary association between neuroscience and education began approximately three decades ago. In order for the integration of neuroscientific and educational knowledge to impact on learning and teaching it would imply the consideration of the emergence of several cognitive and emotional processes during development, and the possibility to influence them through specific interventions. AIM. To examine epistemological and methodological implications and bridging requirements in the interaction between neuroscience, cognitive psychology and education. DEVELOPMENT: A dynamic interdisciplinary bridging consists in the identification and reduction of different epistemological, methodological, technological and practical gaps between those disciplines. Furthermore, the consideration of complex phenomena, such as human development and learning processes in terms of multiple levels of analysis, may contribute to the enrichment of a critical dialogue, but also to generate genuine integrated interventions. Historical and current conceptual perspectives attempting to bridge neuroscience and education are described. CONCLUSIONS: At present, interdisciplinary efforts between neuroscience and education are at a preliminary stage. In this context, bridging requires conceptual and methodological approaches that consider the complexity of developmental and learning phenomena and the participation of actors from different fields, instead of unique bridges. This paper intends to consider several basic principles aimed at developing a dynamic integration that assesses the complexity of development, learning and teaching processes.

Neurociencia y educación: hacia la construcción de puentes interactivos / Neuroscience and education: towards the construction of interactive bridges

Introducción. El debate sobre las relaciones potenciales entre neurociencia y educación comenzó hace aproximadamente unas tres décadas. La articulación de conocimientos neurocientíficos y educativos implica contemplar que la emergencia de procesos cognitivos y emocionales durante el desarrollo, así como la posibilidad de influenciarlos a través de intervenciones específicas, podrían integrarse a los procesos de aprendizaje y enseñanza. Objetivo. Examinar las implicaciones emergentes de los vínculos entre neurociencia, psicología cognitiva y educación, y los requisitos para la construcción de puentes interactivos entre diferentes campos de conocimiento. Desarrollo. Dicha construcción implica la reducción de brechas epistemológicas, metodológicas, tecnológicas y prácticas. La consideración del desarrollo humano y los procesos de aprendizaje en términos de multiplicidad de niveles de análisis podría contribuir al enriquecimiento de un diálogo crítico y a producciones conjuntas genuinas. Se plantean consideraciones epistemológicas y metodológicas, y se presentan diversas propuestas acerca de cómo establecer los puentes entre las disciplinas. Conclusiones. Dado el estado incipiente de los esfuerzos interdisciplinarios, sería conveniente abordar la construcción de puentes desde diversos ángulos, en lugar de establecer un puente único. Se proponen elementos constitutivos básicos para la generación de puentes dinámicos orientados a integrar las relaciones complejas involucradas en los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje (AU)

Introduction. The debates on the potential interdisciplinary association between neuroscience and education began approximately three decades ago. In order for the integration of neuroscientific and educational knowledge to impact on learning and teaching it would imply the consideration of the emergence of several cognitive and emotional processes during development, and the possibility to influence them through specific interventions. Aim. To examine epistemological and methodological implications and bridging requirements in the interaction between neuroscience, cognitive psychology and education. Development. A dynamic interdisciplinary bridging consists in the identification and reduction of different epistemological, methodological, technological and practical gaps between those disciplines. Furthermore, the consideration of complex phenomena, such as human development and learning processes in terms of multiple levels of analysis, may contribute to the enrichment of a critical dialogue, but also to generate genuine integrated interventions. Historical and current conceptual perspectives attempting to bridge neuroscience and education are described. Conclusions. At present, interdisciplinary efforts between neuroscience and education are at a preliminary stage. In this context, bridging requires conceptual and methodological approaches that consider the complexity of developmental and learning phenomena and the participation of actors from different fields, instead of unique bridges. This paper intends to consider several basic principles aimed at developing a dynamic integration that assesses the complexity of development, learning and teaching processes (AU)