PASS认知成分和语音意识在中英文阅读中的作用

该研究旨在了解PASS理论包含的基本认知过程(计划、注意、同时加工和序列加工)与中英文阅读的关系.对三、四、五年级共102名被试施测了中英文阅读测验,中英文语音意识测验以及CAS认知评估测试.相关分析发现,中文识字量和阅读流畅性均与计划显著相关,英文真词辨认与计划和序列加工的相关显著,英文假词辨认则与计划和同时加工显著相关.回归分析发现,英文中,语音意识对阅读的解释力大于PASS认知过程,但计划、同时加工和序列加工的解释亦达到显著,中文中,PASS认知过程对阅读的解释力大于语音意识,且计划的解释力最高.结果既验证了PASS认知过程在英文阅读中的作用,也发现中文阅读有不同于英文阅读的认知特点.     

Reference Interval Determination of Total Plasma Homocysteine in an Indian Population

Hyperhomocysteinemia has been shown to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease as well as retinal vascular occlusion. Because of the epidemiological, dietary, genetic and environmental diversity among the different countries, each country should establish the reference interval of homocysteine of their own population for recommending appropriate medical decision limits. Hence a total of 1,288 apparently healthy subjects including 636 male and 652 female were enrolled in the present study to determine the reference intervals of homocysteine in an Indian population. Results of the study were presented as mean, standard deviation, median and 2.5th and 97.5th percentile with the 0.90 confidence interval of each percentile values of homocysteine along with decade-wise changes.     

Cognitive processing skills and developmental dyslexia in Chinese

The purpose of the present study was twofold: (a) to examine the extent to which Chinese dyslexic children experience deficits in phonological and orthographic processing skills and (b) to examine if Chinese dyslexia is associated with deficits in Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) processing. A total of 27 Grade 4 children with dyslexia (DYS), 27 Grade 4 chronological age (CA) controls, and 27 Grade 2 reading age (RA) controls were tested on measures of phonological awareness, rapid naming, phonological memory, PASS, reading accuracy, and reading fluency. The results indicated that the DYS group performed significantly poorer than the CA and RA groups on both measures of phonological awareness and on a measure of orthographic processing but comparably to the RA group on a measure of rapid naming and both measures of phonological memory. In regard to the PASS processing skills, the DYS group performed worse than the CA controls on Successive and Simultaneous processing but comparably to the RA group on all PASS processing skills. Implications of these findings for early identification and intervention of reading difficulties are discussed.     

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on caregiver mental health and the child caregiving environment in a low-resource,rural context

Early child development has been influenced directly and indirectly by the COVID-19 pandemic, and these effects are exacerbated in contexts of poverty. This study estimates effects of the pandemic and subsequent population lockdowns on mental health, caregiving practices, and freedom of movement among female caregivers of children 6–27 months (50% female), in rural Bangladesh. A cohort (N = 517) was assessed before and during the pandemic (May–June, 2019 and July–September, 2020). Caregivers who experienced more food insecurity and financial loss during the pandemic reported larger increases in depressive symptoms (0.26 SD, 95% CI 0.08–0.44; 0.21 SD, 0.04–0.40) compared to less affected caregivers. Stimulating caregiving and freedom of movement results were inconsistent. Increases in depressive symptoms during the pandemic may have consequences for child development.     

Comparing the contribution of two tests of working memory to reading in relation to phonological awareness and rapid naming speed

The purpose of this study was to compare the contribution of two different versions of working memory to word reading and reading comprehension in relation to phonological awareness and rapid naming speed. Fifty children were administered two measures of working memory, namely an adaptation of the Daneman and Carpenter sentence span task and Sentence Question, tests of phonological awareness, rapid naming speed, word reading and reading comprehension. The results indicated that Sentence Question accounted for unique variance over and beyond the effects of Daneman and Carpenter's sentence span task, whereas the latter did not when the effects of Sentence Question were partialled out. In addition, both phonological awareness and rapid naming were accounting for unique variance beyond the effects of working memory in predicting reading. The role of working memory on reading is discussed, and future directions for research are suggested.