View clinical trials related to Executive Function.
Filter by:Executive function play a key role in boosting human behavioural performance. Based on scientific literature, it is still controversial whether electroencephalography-based neurofeedback (EEG-NFB) represents an effective technique for enhancing healthy adults' executive function. This study evaluates generalized effects of 3-week EEG-NFB training, using self-regulation of the theta to beta wave ratio (TBR), on executive function in healthy adults. The subjects are an uniform group of healthy young right-handed males divided into two equal groups. The trained group (TR) performs 3-week EEG-NFB training (three sessions per week) focused on a cognitive self-regulation of TBR (to achieve the lower TBR values as beneficial cognitive effect), while the control group (CO) does not participate in the EEG-NFB training. Cognitive function are rated before and after 3-week EEG-NFB training by psychological tests: Trail Making Test (TMT, parts A and B) and the Stroop Test (ST, parts I and II). This project is important for the future development of effective EEG-NFB protocols to be used by healthy people to improve their behavioural performance.
Background: Early childhood is the most critical and rapid period of complete and healthy physical and cognitive development in human life. Executive function appears in early childhood and develops rapidly through complex coaction between environment and developmental processes. The preschool period is also characterized by a rapid growth in fundamental movement skills, physical activity and physical fitness. The scientific research on the relationship between fundamental movement skills, physical activity, physical fitness and executive function in preschoolers remains to be explored. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the cross-sectional relationship between fundamental movement skills, physical activity, physical fitness and executive function in preschool children while controlling for potential confounding variables, examine the prospective influence (independent and interactive role) of preschooler's fundamental movement skills, physical activity and physical fitness on executive function, observe the preschoolers' fundamental movement skills, physical activity, physical fitness and executive function changes with age, and investigate gender and age differences in preschoolers' fundamental movement skills, physical activity, physical fitness and executive function. Method: The proposed study consists of two phases, phase 1 is a cross-sectional study. Five hundred and five children aged 3-5 years will be recruited. The Test of Gross Motor Development Third Edition (TGMD-3) was used to assess children's fundamental movement skills. Preschool children's physical activity was monitored by accelerometer ActiGraph GT3X-BT. Physical fitness was tested using handgrip, 4*10m shuttle run, 20m shuttle run, 30s sit-ups, sit and reach, and balance beam. Executive function was tested by computer-based tasks including animal stroop, safari training and stop signal task. Phase 2 is a 12-month follow-up study. In the phase 2, all children enrolled in the baseline study will be followed up, the measurements and contents of the follow-up are the same as the baseline instrument.
Opioid use is rising at unprecedented levels and has reached epidemic proportions in some areas of the country, particularly rural areas. Although research on the detrimental effects of opioid use on parenting and children is relatively new, it is clear that parents with opioid use struggle with a variety of parenting skills, especially contingent responsivity and warmth. As such, to have long-term sustained effects on preventing Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) in parents and to help prevent substance use and related problem behaviors in the next generation, it is critical to prevent opioid use, opioid misuse, and OUD in new parents, in tandem with providing support for parenting skills. The Family Check-Up Online (FCU Online) focuses on supporting parents by increasing parenting self-efficacy, stress management skills, self-regulation skills, and sleep routines, which are hypothesized to lead to the prevention of opioid misuse and OUD as well as improve mental health and increase responsive parenting. The FCU Online is based on the Family Check-Up, which has been tested in more than 25 years of research, across multiple settings, and is an evidence-based program for reducing high-risk behavior, enhancing parenting skills, and preventing substance use through emerging adulthood. It is named in NIDA's "Principles of Substance Use Prevention for Early Childhood" as one of only three effective selective prevention programs for substance abuse among families with young children. The FCU has also been endorsed as an evidence-based practice by the Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV), and has been listed as a promising program by the Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development since 2013. The current project aims to address barriers of access to prevention services by delivering the FCU in a telehealth model using the FCU Online. In this research study the investigators will: 1. Work with community stakeholders in rural Oregon to expand the FCU Online to target early childhood (ages 18 months-5 years) and mothers with opioid misuse and addiction. Guided by focus group feedback, the FCU Online will be adapted to target parenting skills relevant to mothers with opioid misuse, including positive parenting, parent-child relationship building, executive functioning to help manage stress and depression, and negative parenting. A 2-month feasibility study (n=10) will test the adapted version of the FCU Online and help investigators refine intervention procedures and usability, recruitment steps, and assessment delivery. 2. Examine the efficacy of the FCU Online for rural families with opioid or other substance misuse. 400 parents with preschool children ages 18 months to 5 years and who have been identified with substance misuse, opioid misuse, or addiction will be randomly assigned to receive the FCU Online or services as usual and followed for one year. A telehealth model will be used for intervention delivery that includes targeted coaching and support. The investigators predicted that parents assigned to the FCU Online intervention will (a) show improvements in parenting skills linked to improvements in child behavior and long-term risk for subsequent substance abuse, and (b) show improvements in self-regulation and executive functioning (inhibitory control, attention shifting), which will mediate intervention effects. The investigators will also examine moderators, including neonatal abstinence syndrome/neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome, and model intervention effects over time. 3. Examine factors related to successful uptake and implementation. To facilitate dissemination on a national scale, investigators will assess the feasibility of the FCU as an Internet-delivered intervention in rural communities with high levels of opioid use, including the extent to which participants engaged in the intervention, completed the program, and were satisfied with the program. Investigators will also assess feasibility, usage, fidelity, and uptake through engagement data collected via the online web portal. The investigators will develop materials and briefings for community agencies that will increase knowledge dissemination and, ultimately, reach a greater number of families throughout the United States who need information and services for parenting support in the context of opioid misuse.
The purpose of this study is to determine the long term effects of early intervention (placement into foster care) on physical, cognitive, social and brain development and psychiatric symptomatology in previously institutionalized children.