Based on attention restoration theory we proposed that micro-breaks spent viewing a city scene with a flowering meadow green roof would boost sustained attention. Sustained attention is crucial in ...daily life and underlies successful cognitive functioning. We compared the effects of 40-s views of two different city scenes on 150 university students' sustained attention. Participants completed the task at baseline, were randomly assigned to view a flowering meadow green roof or a bare concrete roof, and completed the task again at post-treatment. Participants who briefly viewed the green roof made significantly lower omission errors, and showed more consistent responding to the task compared to participants who viewed the concrete roof. We argue that this reflects boosts to sub-cortical arousal and cortical attention control. Our results extend attention restoration theory by providing direct experimental evidence for the benefits of micro-breaks and for city green roofs.
•Neuroscience techniques provide direct empirical support for attention restoration theory.•A micro-break viewing a green, but not concrete roof city scene, sustains attention.•The green roof city scene perceived as more restorative than concrete roof city scene.•Results suggest city nature is valuable for healthy cities and workplaces.
Although multiple cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have established that sleep problems and behavioral difficulties are associated in children, the directionality of this association and ...whether sleep problems are differentially associated with different types of childhood behavioral difficulties are unclear. Understanding these associations will inform the focus and timing of interventions.
To determine whether longitudinal and reciprocal associations exist between child sleep problems and externalizing, internalizing, or both behavioral difficulties.
Prospective cohort study using nationally representative data from the first 5 waves (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012) of the kindergarten cohort (4983 children aged 4-5 years in 2004) collected for the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Associations were evaluated using cross-lagged structural equation model analyses performed from May 25, 2016, to September 20, 2017.
Child sleep problems and internalizing and externalizing behavioral difficulties. Sleep problems were defined using parent-reported child sleep problem severity and specific difficulties (ie, difficulty getting to sleep at night, not happy sleeping alone, waking during the night, and restless sleep) on 4 or more nights of the week. Child behavioral difficulties were defined using the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for externalizing difficulties (conduct problems and hyperactivity/inattention subscales) and internalizing difficulties (emotional problems subscale).
The 4983 children enrolled in 2004 had a mean (SD) age of 4.7 (0.2) years and comprised a similar percentage of boys (2536 50.9%) and girls. In 2012, 3956 children (79.4%) aged 12 to 13 years were retained. Significant bidirectional associations were detected between sleep problems and externalizing difficulties during the elementary school transition period, with greater sleep problems associated with later externalizing behavior and vice versa (cross-lagged path coefficient, 0.04 95% CI, 0.01-0.08 to 0.09 95% CI, 0.06-0.13). Although sleep was a significant driver of later internalizing difficulties (coefficient, 0.10 95% CI, 0.07-0.14 to 0.16 95% CI, 0.12-0.19), the reverse association was not significant. In the final model that included all 3 constructs, the associations were attenuated but remained significant over time.
These results suggest that future studies should investigate whether implementing sleep problem intervention decreases the occurrence of both externalizing and internalizing difficulties. Interventions targeting externalizing, but not internalizing, difficulties may benefit childhood sleep.
There is substantial evidence confirming that children who begin school with strong developmental skills tend to maintain positive academic trajectories across the elementary school years. Much less ...is known about children who begin school with poorer developmental competencies yet go on to achieve academically on par with, or above, their initially more competent peers, demonstrating academic resilience. This study used a large population dataset, the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n = 2,118) to identify children who demonstrated academic resilience between school entry and third grade, and the child, parenting, and school characteristics associated with this resilience. Findings show that two in five children who were initially identified as academically vulnerable on a school entry measure of language and cognitive skills were classified as academically resilient by Grade 3. In multivariate analysis, higher attentional regulation and receptive vocabulary skills were key factors associated with academic resilience in reading and numeracy, along with paternal consistency (for reading resilience) and fewer sleep problems (for numeracy resilience). Bivariate relations (ANOVAs) showed that resilient children, when compared to children who remained vulnerable, also showed fewer peer problems, fewer behavioral sleep problems, higher levels of parenting consistency and lower levels of parenting anger by mothers and fathers, higher levels of parental engagement in children's school, and higher levels of teacher self-efficacy. Supporting resilient pathways for children who are identified as vulnerable at school entry should include a particular focus on vocabulary development and attentional regulation, along with social skills and peer relationships, school-based parental engagement, and positive parenting support.
This study examined bidirectional relationships between maternal feeding practices and child food responsiveness and satiety responsiveness from 2 to 5 years.
Mothers (N = 207) reported their own ...feeding practices and child eating behaviours using validated questionnaires at child ages 2, 3.7, and 5 years. Cross-lagged analyses were conducted to test for bidirectional effects, adjusting for child BMI z-score (based on measured weight and height) at 14 months.
Eating behaviours and feeding practices showed strong continuity across the three time points. Maternal feeding practices (higher reward for behaviour β = 0.12, p = 0.025 and lower covert restriction β = -0.14, p = 0.008) were prospectively associated with higher food responsiveness. Conversely, increased child satiety responsiveness was primarily prospectively associated with mothers' feeding practices (increased structured meal timing β = 0.11, p = 0.038, overt β = 0.14, p = 0.010 and covert restriction β = 0.11, p = 0.022). The only exception was family meal setting, which was prospectively negatively associated with satiety responsiveness (β = -0.11, p = 0.035).
While maternal feeding practices and child satiety and food responsiveness show strong continuity between child age 2 and 5 years, maternal feeding practices appear to be associated with child food responsiveness over time. Conversely, child satiety responsiveness, but not food responsiveness, may also be associated with maternal feeding practices over time. These results are consistent with interventions that provide feeding advice to parents on how to respond appropriately to individual child eating behaviour phenotype.
ACTRN12608000056392 . Registered 29 January 2008.
Differences in early self-regulation skills contribute to disparities in success in early learning and school transition, as well as in childhood well-being. Self-regulation refers to managing ...emotional, cognitive, and behavioral processes that are conducive to positive adjustment and social relationships. Researchers have identified that various domains of learning and development are enhanced by musical training, and understanding about the neurological processes responsible for such effects is increasing. This paper argues that coordinated rhythmic movement activities in preschool are an effective approach to support the neurological bases of self-regulation. Evidence and theory related to beat synchronization, cognitive benefits of formal music training, and music therapy for clinical populations are discussed to argue that musical activities could be better leveraged in early childhood education. The paper concludes that preschool activities designed to stimulate beat synchronization and motor coordination skills and embedded in group activities can enhance young children’s motor, auditory, and self-regulatory functioning.
This article documents the longitudinal and reciprocal relations among behavioral sleep problems and emotional and attentional self-regulation in a population sample of 4,109 children participating ...in Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC)-Infant Cohort. Maternal reports of children's sleep problems and self-regulation were collected at five time-points from infancy to 8-9 years of age. Longitudinal structural equation modeling supported a developmental cascade model in which sleep problems have a persistent negative effect on emotional regulation, which in turn contributes to ongoing sleep problems and poorer attentional regulation in children over time. Findings suggest that sleep behaviors are a key target for interventions that aim to improve children's self-regulatory capacities.
•First to examine early shared home music activities and later outcomes.•Greater shared book reading at 2–3 years associated with a range of skills at 4–5 years.•Greater shared home music activities ...at 2–3 associated with a range of skills at 4–5 years.•Music particularly linked with prosocial skills, numeracy, and attentional regulation.
The benefits of early shared book reading between parents and children have long been established, yet the same cannot be said for early shared music activities in the home. This study investigated the parent–child home music activities in a sample of 3031 Australian children participating in Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) study. Frequency of shared home music activities was reported by parents when children were 2–3 years and a range of social, emotional, and cognitive outcomes were measured by parent and teacher report and direct testing two years later when children were 4–5 years old. A series of regression analyses (controlling for a set of important socio-demographic variables) found frequency of shared home music activities to have a small significant partial association with measures of children's vocabulary, numeracy, attentional and emotional regulation, and prosocial skills. We then included both book reading and shared home music activities in the same models and found that frequency of shared home music activities maintained small partial associations with measures of prosocial skills, attentional regulation, and numeracy. Our findings suggest there may be a role for parent-child home music activities in supporting children's development.
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•The performance of acoustic indices (AI) in the urban environment is assessed.•The ADI did not positively correlate with biotic acoustic activity or diversity.•All AIs were biased by ...common non-biotic sounds in the urban environment.•Biasing sounds must be removed before using AIs on urban audio data.
Urban green infrastructure, GI (e.g., parks, gardens, green roofs) are potentially important biodiversity habitats, however their full ecological capacity is poorly understood, in part due to the difficulties of monitoring urban wildlife populations. Ecoacoustic surveying is a useful way of monitoring habitats, where acoustic indices (AIs) are used to measure biodiversity by summarising the activity or diversity of biotic sounds. However, the biases introduced to AIs in acoustically complex urban habitats dominated by anthropogenic noise are not well understood. Here we measure the level of activity and diversity of the low (0–12 kHz, l) and high (12–96 kHz, h) frequency biotic, anthropogenic, and geophonic components of 2452 h of acoustic recordings from 15 sites across Greater London, UK from June to October 2013 based on acoustic and visual analysis of recordings. We used mixed-effects models to compare these measures to those from four commonly used AIs: Acoustic Complexity Index (ACI), Acoustic Diversity Index (ADI), Bioacoustic Index (BI), and Normalised Difference Soundscape Index (NDSI). We found that three AIs (ACIl, BIl, NDSIl) were significantly positively correlated with our measures of bioticl activity and diversity. However, all three were also correlated with anthropogenicl activity, and BIl and NDSIl were correlated with anthropogenicl diversity. All low frequency AIs were correlated with the presence of geophonicl sound. Regarding the high frequency recordings, only one AI (ACIh) was positively correlated with measured biotich activity, but was also positively correlated with anthropogenich activity, and no index was correlated with biotich diversity. The AIs tested here are therefore not suitable for monitoring biodiversity acoustically in anthropogenically dominated habitats without the prior removal of biasing sounds from recordings. However, with further methodological research to overcome some of the limitations identified here, ecoacoustics has enormous potential to facilitate urban biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring at the scales necessary to manage cities in the future.
To examine mean level differences and longitudinal and reciprocal relations among behavioral sleep problems, emotional dysregulation, and attentional regulation across early childhood for children ...with and without attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at 8 to 9 years.
This study used data from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC)-Infant Cohort (n = 4,109 analyzed). Children with and without ADHD were identified at age 8 to 9 years via parent report of ADHD diagnosis and the 5-item Inattention-Hyperactivity subscale from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Maternal report of child sleep problems and self-regulation was collected at 0 to 1, 2 to 3, 4 to 5, and 6 to 7 years of age. Analysis of variance was used to compare mean level differences in sleep problems and emotional and attentional regulation by ADHD group. Longitudinal structural equation modeling examined the relations among sleep and self-regulation across time in children with and without ADHD.
Children with ADHD had persistently elevated levels of sleep problems (from infancy) and emotional and attentional dysregulation compared to controls (from 2 to 3 years of age). Sleep problems, emotional dysregulation, and attentional regulation were stable over time for both groups. Sleep problems were associated with greater emotional dysregulation 2 years later from 2 to 3 years of age for both groups, which in turn was associated with poorer attentional regulation. There was no direct relationship between sleep problems and later attentional regulation.
Sleep problems in children with and without ADHD are associated with emotional dysregulation, which in turn contributes to poorer attentional functioning. This study highlights the importance of assessing and managing sleep problems in young children.
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