The Biologizing of Cognition, Development, and Education: Approach with Cautious Enthusiasm

In our commentary, we propose the current research from the field of developmental neuroscience can be incorporated within the theoretical perspectives advocated by evolutionary psychologists and advocates of the developmental systems approach. We then describe research on memory and the relationship between spatial-temporal reasoning and mathematical abilities as examples of literatures that have benefitted from the neuroscience approach. We conclude by expressing enthusiasm for the recent neuroscience findings, but caution that developmental neuroscience's focus on infancy and preschool children should not result in an overemphasis on early development and education at the expense of later development and education.     

Multidimensional Forced-Choice CAT With Dominance Items: An Empirical Comparison With Optimal Static Testing Under Different Desirability Matching

Several forced-choice (FC) computerized adaptive tests (CATs) have emerged in the field of organizational psychology, all of them employing ideal-point items. However, despite most items developed historically follow dominance response models, research on FC CAT using dominance items is limited. Existing research is heavily dominated by simulations and lacking in empirical deployment. This empirical study trialed a FC CAT with dominance items described by the Thurstonian Item Response Theory model with research participants. This study investigated important practical issues such as the implications of adaptive item selection and social desirability balancing criteria on score distributions, measurement accuracy and participant perceptions. Moreover, nonadaptive but optimal tests of similar design were trialed alongside the CATs to provide a baseline for comparison, helping to quantify the return on investment when converting an otherwise-optimized static assessment into an adaptive one. Although the benefit of adaptive item selection in improving measurement precision was confirmed, results also indicated that at shorter test lengths CAT had no notable advantage compared with optimal static tests. Taking a holistic view incorporating both psychometric and operational considerations, implications for the design and deployment of FC assessments in research and practice are discussed.     

Indirect evidence of human skeletal muscle damage and collagen breakdown after eccentric muscle actions.

Indirect markers of muscle damage and collagen breakdown were recorded for up to 9 days after a bout of concentric, followed by a bout of eccentric, muscle actions. Nine untrained participants performed two bouts of 50 maximum effort repetitions on an isokinetic dynamometer (angular velocity 1.05 rad x s(-1), range of motion 1.75 rad). An initial concentric bout of muscle actions was followed by an eccentric bout 21 days later, using the same knee extensors. Concentric actions induced no changes in maximum voluntary isometric contraction force (MVC), nor induced any changes in the serum enzyme activities of creatine kinase, a lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme (LDH-1), or alkaline phosphatase. Similarly, concentric actions induced no change in markers of collagen breakdown, namely plasma hydroxyproline and serum type 1 collagen concentration. In contrast, eccentric actions induced a 23.5+/-19.0% (mean+/-s) decrease in MVC immediately post-exercise (P < 0.05), and increased the serum enzyme activities of creatine kinase and LDH-1 to 486+/-792 and 90+/-11 IU.l(-1) respectively on day 3 post-exercise, and to 189+/-159 and 96+/-13 IU x l(-1) respectively on day 7 post-exercise (all P< 0.05). Eccentric actions induced no significant changes in plasma hydroxyproline, but increased collagen concentration on days 1 and 9 post-exercise (48.6% and 44.3% increases above pre-exercise on days 1 and 9 respectively; both P < 0.05). We conclude that eccentric but not concentric actions may result in temporary muscle damage, and that collagen breakdown may also be affected by eccentric actions. With caution, indices of collagen breakdown may be used to identify exercise-induced damage to connective tissue.