Maternal Docosahexaenoic Acid Intake Levels During Pregnancy and Infant Performance on a Novel Object Search Task at 22 Months

This study investigated maternal prenatal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) intake and infant cognitive development at 22 months. Estimates for second‐ and third‐trimester maternal DHA intake levels were obtained using a comprehensive Food Frequency Questionnaire. Infants (n = 67) were assessed at 22 months on a novel object search task. Mothers' DHA intake levels were divided into high or low groups, with analyses revealing a significant positive effect of third‐trimester DHA on object search task performance. The third trimester appears to be a critical time for ensuring adequate maternal DHA levels to facilitate optimum cognitive development in late infancy.     

When the chips are down: effects of attributional feedback on self-efficacy and task performance following initial and repeated failure

In two experiments, we manipulated the controllability and stability of causes of failure and explored the impact of these factors on self-efficacy and performance. In Experiment 1, participants (N=80; mean age 20.0 years, s=1.0) were provided with false negative feedback following performance on a blindfolded dart-throwing task. Consistent with theory and recent research, an induced belief that failure was beyond control and unlikely to change led to lower self-efficacy and poorer performance (all F1,754>5.49, all P<0.05, all η2=0.01). A second experiment (N=80; mean age 22.0 years, s=2.1) demonstrated that following an induced belief that failure was beyond control and unlikely to change, only new perceptions that a repeated failure was within one's control and likely to change resulted in higher self-efficacy and improved performance (all F1,75>4.53, all P<0.05, all η2>0.004). All effects were mediated by self-efficacy: Sobel's (1982) test, all z>1.97 (in absolute magnitude), all P<0.05, all r>0.22 (in absolute magnitude). These findings suggest that in novel circumstances individuals believe in the best for themselves unless possibilities to self-enhance are explicitly precluded, and only reinvest efforts when opportunities for self-enhancement become clearly admissible.     

Practising empathy: enacting alternative perspectives through imaginative play

This article reports on a collaborative study using an innovative methodology, based on ‘insiders’ who are Steiner practitioners knowledgeable and practised in Steiner philosophy and ‘outsiders’ from UK mainstream early years and primary perspectives. Although the study as a whole focused on assessment and observation used in Steiner kindergartens, it yielded a rich data source on imaginative play that offers practice in empathy. We contextualise the data presented from a Steiner perspective in the wider literature on the imagination and affect in order to theorise how such play develops empathy through its links to feelings and prosocial behaviour. We critically examine how empathy and the imagination are nurtured in the context of eight kindergarten classes in five Steiner schools in England in order to illustrate how these conditions might also help other early years and primary schooling to foster long-term benefits for ethical and fulfilling lives through encouraging empathic understanding.