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This paper reports on a framework of thinking, memory and learning that emerged from a qualitative research study into the nature of learning for individuals with autism. The framework is useful for professional development of teachers regarding the learning characteristics of neurodiverse students with autism spectrum disorder. The paper provides a review of the neuroscience and memory-in-autism literature and introduces the "Learning Ladder," a new evidence-based model that facilitates explanation of the learning characteristics of neurodiverse learners and serves as a guide for pedagogical decision-making. The application of the framework for teaching and learning within the context of Christian education is considered.

Most of our current university student cohort, known as GenZ, have grown-up in a digitally connected world with access to various technological devices and social-media platforms. While technology can assist to engage students, in the learning environment many students spend a significant amount of time switching between devices engaging in non-learning activities. This results in decreased engagement which can adversely affect their academic performance. Conversely, students who can self-regulate their technology usage are more likely to be engaged in the learning process. Mindfulness is a strategy that can encourage students to self-regulate their thoughts and behaviours to stay on task. Previous research has focused on student's in-class technology usage, self-regulation and mindfulness to enhance engagement. This study adds to current research by investigating short mindfulness practices in a higher education first year business degree. The paper examines the usefulness of two mindfulness interventions to encourage students to self-regulate their in-class technology use and enhance engagement. Using a critical realist lens, the paper incorporates quantitative and qualitative data analyses through student surveys and focus groups. Twenty-nine first year undergraduate students were exposed to the mindfulness interventions. Results indicate the mindfulness interventions improved students' ability to self-regulate, contributing to student engagement and feeling connected at university.

Based on a three-year project conducted in Australian secondary schools, this paper captures a developing disenchantment with reading in and for subject English. As part of an extended professional learning experience for teachers, students and their English teachers were interviewed and students were asked to draw reading. Paying attention to the sensitivities both students and teachers express about classroom reading experiences and to the impact institutional culture has on what they do and feel, this paper identifies a developing culture of disenchantment that is veiled by recurring busy and technically oriented activity. We suggest that in a pervading culture of valuing what we measure, students regard reading at school as 'work', find it difficult to keep their minds on task and experience a loss of independence in thinking. Teachers, loath to take risks in a culture of compliance, also describe their disenchantment with current practices.

Digital video technology has been increasingly employed to investigate teacher professional noticing. While extensive research has been undertaken to explore the specialised knowledge base underlying teacher professional noticing, there is a need to more closely examine the methodological consequences of video-based approaches for understanding the nature of professional noticing. This paper draws upon a recent study that investigated primary school teachers' professional noticing of mathematics and science classrooms to discuss issues, challenges, and opportunities that emerge with a video-based research approach. In this study, the latest video technology was employed to allow primary school teachers to take active roles in capturing, selecting and reflecting on significant classroom events on their own and with colleagues. Drawing upon examples from this study, this paper highlights the methodological potential and challenges of video-based approaches to investigating teacher noticing in classrooms, and discusses how this noticing relates to reflection stimulated by classroom videos. It further reveals the tension between the dual priorities of empowering the teacher participants in research and enabling valid interpretations by the researchers in an attempt to gain insight into the complexity of teachers' professional noticing.

Teacher noticing can be an important element in improving teaching and students' mathematical success. While the focus of the international project "Learning from Lessons" was on teacher learning, in this paper we report what mathematics teachers noticed and claimed to learn through the process of planning, teaching, and reflecting on their lessons. The study involved teachers and research teams from three countries (Australia, China and Germany) with different cultures, contexts and pedagogies. The explicit goal of the current study was to identify commonalities and differences with respect to those aspects that teachers noticed during their teaching. A multiple case study with three teachers, one from each of the three participating countries, was conducted using prompting questions to facilitate teacher reflection. The process of defining and refining categories for teacher noticing was implemented in the methodology. The findings suggest that there were many commonalities across the cases despite the different cultural and individual backgrounds of the teachers. The specific topic and individual lessons as well as the teachers' expectations based on their lesson planning seemed to influence what the teachers noticed in their teaching process. The study highlights the importance of attending to the situational aspects of teacher noticing and learning.

Self-report is seen as important in assessments of psychopathology but individuals with intellectual disability may have difficulty with standard questionnaires. This paper reports on the administration and subsequent modifications to several established self-report measures of mental health. Methods: The participants were 57 children with intellectual disability aged 10 to 13 years. They completed the Children's Depression Inventory, Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Intellectual Disability Mood Scale, and Moods and Feelings Questionnaire. Results: Difficulties with the instruments were identified, including complex wording and item structure, ambiguity and working memory demands. Adaptations were made to the instruments and administration procedures. In a second administration there were improvements in children's ability to respond. The modified questionnaires demonstrated acceptable to good internal consistency and were strongly correlated. Conclusions: Self-report measures of mental health can be completed by children with intellectual disability but may need pilot testing and modifications to make them more appropriate for this population.

Addressing a research gap on the relationship between mindfulness and morality, this paper draws insights from Confucius' notion of "jing." I explain how "jing" essentially refers to maintaining a full, respectful and humanity-centred attention towards others. To illustrate the application of Confucius' conception of mindfulness, I use the current coronavirus pandemic as an example. On the one hand, mindfulness is useful as a coping mechanism to reduce stress for individuals during the crisis. But an amoral and atomistic approach to mindfulness is inadequate in addressing social problems such as selfishness that stems from panic buying and community infection caused by inconsiderate behaviours. In this regard, Confucius' concept of respectful attention has the potential to motivate everyone to go beyond self-interest to demonstrate deference, empathy and love towards others. A Confucian orientation of mindfulness extends the existing literature on the ethical foundations and dimensions of mindfulness for educational institutions.

This study investigated the effects of multimedia and modality design principles using a learning intervention about Australia with a sample of college students and employing measures of learning outcomes, visual attention, satisfaction, and mental effort. Seventy-five college students were systematically assigned to one of four conditions: a) text with pictures, b) text without pictures, c) narration with pictures, or d) narration without pictures. No significant differences were found among the four groups in learning performance, satisfaction, or self-reported mental effort, and participants rarely focused their visual attention on the representational pictures provided in the intervention. Neither the multimedia nor the modality principles held true in this study. However, participants in narration environments focused significantly more visual attention on the "Next" button, a navigational aid included on all slides. This study contributes to the research on visual attention and navigational aids in multimedia learning, and it suggests such features may cause distractions, particularly when spoken text is provided without on-screen text. The paper also offers implications for the design of multimedia learning resources so as to improve learning for all students.

This theoretical paper aims to contribute to the debate about a perceived activity-environment tension in outdoor education. Tim Ingold's extensive writings on enskilment are used to explore what it means to be skilful in outdoor activities and how this can contribute to dwelling in outdoor places. Four 'threads' of enskilment--taskscape, guided attention, storytelling and wayfinding--are each discussed in terms of how they contribute to the way that leaners learn to become enskiled. Discussions of Ingold's ideas are coupled with van Manen's insights into the pedagogic moment to describe what is required of the educator to teach for enskilment. The authors' draw examples from their teaching experiences on coastal outdoor education programmes and conclude by suggesting some practices that favour an enskilment approach.

This paper presents the findings from a case study which explores how students engage with learning materials mediated through 360-degree panoramic videos. The case study extends findings from a project which developed an online platform for viewing and annotating 360-degree videos, and for providing data analytics (heatmaps, viewpoint tracking and area of interest displays) to map student engagement with video content. In this case, information obtained from the data analytics forms the basis for the analysis which, taking a social semiotic perspective, explores (a) what multimodal resources in the video-recorded classroom activity function to attract and hold students' attention, and (b) what multimodal resources students employ when interacting with the 360-degree videos and for which purpose, taking the context into account. The findings indicate that for students to engage meaningfully with educational content requires familiarity with the demands of 360 video technology, which for some users can prove distracting, or even disabling.

This paper investigates whether there is a correlation between a poor Visual Attention Span (VAS) and the child's optometric status. Convergence excess impacts most upon a male achieving a VAS-3 more than 75 per cent of the time. Fifty per cent of females with eye-teaming problems are unlikely to achieve a VAS-3 more than 25 per cent of the time. Overall children with an optometric diagnosis were unlikely to achieve a VAS-3 more than 75 per cent of the time. This indicates that children with optometric conditions are more likely to have a poor VAS ability. (Contains 3 tables, 4 figures, and 1 footnote.)

While the Internet has been described as fundamental to higher education students, social and leisure internet tools are also increasingly being used by these students to generate and maintain their social and professional networks and interactions. Rapid technological advancements have enabled greater and faster access to information for learning and education. As such, we sought to integrate interactive, online social media into the assessment profile of a Public Health undergraduate cohort at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The aim of this exercise was to engage students to both develop and showcase their research on a range of complex, contemporary health issues within the online forum of Wikispaces (http://www.wikispaces.com/) for review and critique by their peers. We applied Bandura's social learning theory (SLT) to analyse the interactive processes from which students developed deeper and more sustained learning, and via which their overall academic writing standards were raised. This paper outlines the assessment task and the students' feedback on their learning outcomes in relation to the attentional, retentional, motor reproduction, and motivational processes outlined by Bandura in SLT. We conceptualise the findings in a theoretical model, and discuss the implications for this approach within the broader tertiary environment.

It is widely held that context is important in teaching mathematics and statistics. Consideration of context is central to statistical thinking, and any teaching of statistics must incorporate this aspect. Indeed, it has been advocated that real-world data sets can motivate the learning of statistical principles. It is not, however, a straightforward task to take a real-world example and incorporate it into a lesson that will teach important statistical principles. This paper considers issues involved in using real data to exemplify statistical ideas and examines pre-service teachers' attempts to design teaching activities using such data. Pre-service teachers were supplied with a topical data set and asked to plan lessons that would teach some key statistical idea to year 6 students. The lessons were analysed using a hierarchy for teaching statistical literacy, and great variation was found in the level of statistical thinking demanded in the planned lessons. Teachers who had completed a preliminary activity helping them to think carefully about what might be taught from real data in general produced lessons with stronger statistical content. A key requirement for having lessons with deep consideration of statistical ideas is to identify the actual affordances for teaching contained within a data set; the planning process then benefits from explicit attention to making that content evident in the teaching activities.

Overlap in conversation is a well-established area of conversation analysis research (e.g. Jefferson 1983; Schegloff 2000) which can reveal how participants orient to transition relevance places. This paper presents an analysis of overlap in the mixed (Garrwa, Kriol and English) language conversations of two indigenous Australian women as part of a larger study of turn-taking practices in indigenous conversations. Walsh (Walsh 1995) made some observations about Aboriginal conversational style, for example that they may enter a conversation without attending to the talk of others. His observational claims are empirically examined here in the context of our data. We find that the overlapping talk in our data follows many patterns similar to English speakers' talk, including transition space overlap (cf. Jefferson 1983) and simultaneous starts. The most important difference we found was overlap onset occurring shortly after the closure of the transition space, reflecting disattendance by speakers to the content, but not the timing, of each other's talk. Overall, however, we find that the turn-taking of these two women is overwhelmingly orderly, and deviations from orderliness can mostly be accounted for by their orientation to points of possible completion and rules of turn-taking as described by Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson (1974). (Contains 2 endnotes.)

Road transport is experiencing disruptive change from new first-of-a-kind technologies. While such technologies offer safety and operational benefits, they also pose new risks. It is critical to proactively identify risks during the design, development and testing of new technologies. The Systems Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP) method analyses the dynamic structure in place to manage safety risks. This study applied STAMP to develop a control structure model for emerging technologies in the Australian road transport system and identified control gaps. The control structure shows the actors responsible for managing risks associated with first-of-a-kind technologies and the existing control and feedback mechanisms. Gaps identified related to controls (e.g. legislation) and feedback mechanisms (e.g. monitoring for behavioural adaptation). The study provides an example of how STAMP can be used to identify control structure gaps requiring attention to support the safe introduction of new technologies. This paper considers emerging risks associated with new technologies in the road transport system. It demonstrates a novel approach using STAMP to identify gaps in control and feedback mechanisms within the existing control structure which should be addressed to mitigate risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism) has garnered intense attention over the past 15 years. We examined the structure of these traits' measure—the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen (DTDD)—in a sample of 11,488 participants from three W.E.I.R.D. (i.e., North America, Oceania, Western Europe) and five non-W.E.I.R.D. (i.e., Asia, Middle East, non-Western Europe, South America, sub-Saharan Africa) world regions. The results confirmed the measurement invariance of the DTDD across participants' sex in all world regions, with men scoring higher than women on all traits (except for psychopathy in Asia, where the difference was not significant). We found evidence for metric (and partial scalar) measurement invariance within and between W.E.I.R.D. and non-W.E.I.R.D. world regions. The results generally support the structure of the DTDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Indigenous women experience high rates of family violence‐related head injuries. At present, lived experience accounts from Indigenous women are absent, which results in incomplete understandings and inadequate responses that have detrimental impacts on them and their families. The aim of this study was to gain insight into Indigenous women's personal and family perspectives regarding violence‐related traumatic brain injury (TBI), including impacts on life, as well as decision‐making processes about healthcare access and engagement. Methods: Purposeful sampling was used to complete semi‐structured interviews with 18 Indigenous women living in regional and remote Australia who had experienced TBI from family violence. The data from these interviews were augmented by data from interviews and focus groups with 28 community members, including family members or carers of Indigenous women living with TBI from family violence. Results: Three themes were conceptualised based on the data and research aims: interweaving of the past and the present—ways women experience brain injury; factors that inform decision‐making to access healthcare; and managing everyday changes that result from TBI from family violence. Indigenous women described living with a range of symptoms following repeated head injuries including problems with memory, cognition and concentration. A range of strategies to manage long‐term symptoms of TBI were used by Indigenous women and when they did seek healthcare, Indigenous women were required to navigate a range of barriers. Conclusions: The findings identify a range of gaps in healthcare and housing supports for Indigenous women with TBI from violence, highlighting the significant investment needed to develop responsive and appropriate pathways of care in regional and remote areas. A range of suggestions are discussed including development of a specialised workforce who can provide apppropriate follow‐up support, co‐designed concussion clinics and educational resources. TBI must also be a key aspect of policy and practice for services working with Indigenous women who have experienced violence to ensure appropriate responses are provided. Public or Patient Contribution: Indigenous women shared their views and experiences of TBI from family violence as well as decision‐making about accessing healthcare and managing TBI symptoms. As such, study participants provided public contributions to the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public debate about reconciliation in Australia has been polarized by a distinction between the symbolic and the practical. Challenging this false dichotomy, this paper explores courageous listening as a practice that entails both responsiveness and creative action. Although listening can function as a way of responding to the other and expanding the possibility for shared action; it is nonetheless not inherently open or transformative. Indeed, public debate about the Australian federal government's Northern Territory Intervention is examined as a case study that manifests communicative practices which preserve, rather than transform, established hierarchies of attention. The terms of this debate also, however, contain listening practices grounded in the ideal of responsiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social difficulties of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are typically explained as a disruption in the Shared Attention Mechanism (SAM) sub-component of the theory of mind (ToM) system. In the current paper, we explore the hypothesis that SAM's capacity to construct the self-other-object relations necessary for shared-attention arises from a self-categorization process, which is weaker among those with more autistic-like traits. We present participants with self-categorization and shared-attention tasks, and measure their autism-spectrum quotient (AQ). Results reveal a negative relationship between AQ and shared-attention, via self-categorization, suggesting a role for self-categorization in the disruption in SAM seen in ASD. Implications for intervention, and for a ToM model in which weak central coherence plays a role are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various countermeasures are used to mitigate signal passed at danger (SPAD) events on railways, yet they continue. While risk factors that destabilise cognitive processes have been identified, less has been published on the relationship between these factors and the informal strategies that drivers themselves adopt to reduce individual SPAD risk. This study aimed to address this gap and used a participative approach to collect and thematically analyse data from 28 drivers across eight rail organisations in Australia and New Zealand. The results showed not all formal countermeasures were considered effective, and identified several informal strategies. These aimed to reduce task disruption, service distortion and maintain connectedness to signals. While some evidenced redundancies in the task and cab, others did not reduce baseline risk. This paper explores the relationship between the established risks and identified strategies towards evaluating the utility of formal and informal mitigations. The research has application to the investigation of collision risk in all transport domains. Practitioner Summary:A participative approach was used to investigate SPAD mitigation techniques in train driving, and to explore risk-strategy relationship dynamics. Several informal strategies designed to reduce task disruption, service distortion and maintain signal connectedness were identified. While some evidenced redundancies in the task and cab, others did not reduce baseline risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of multimedia and modality design principles using a learning intervention about Australia with a sample of college students and employing measures of learning outcomes, visual attention, satisfaction, and mental effort. Seventy-five college students were systematically assigned to one of four conditions: a) text with pictures, b) text without pictures, c) narration with pictures, or d) narration without pictures. No significant differences were found among the four groups in learning performance, satisfaction, or self-reported mental effort, and participants rarely focused their visual attention on the representational pictures provided in the intervention. Neither the multimedia nor the modality principles held true in this study. However, participants in narration environments focused significantly more visual attention on the "Next" button, a navigational aid included on all slides. This study contributes to the research on visual attention and navigational aids in multimedia learning, and it suggests such features may cause distractions, particularly when spoken text is provided without on-screen text. The paper also offers implications for the design of multimedia learning resources so as to improve learning for all students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In Australia, as in other global contexts, Indigenous student education outcomes are well below those of their non-Indigenous counterparts. A more robust understanding of, and responsiveness to, Indigenous temporary mobilities is a critical step to redressing such educational inequalities. This paper draws together learnings from the papers in this special issue about the scale, volume, rationale and structural drivers of Indigenous mobilities in northern Australia. It then examines how such knowledge can influence educational policy and practice and points to key issues that require further scholarly attention. The paper grapples with some of the methodological complexities of engaging in Indigenous student mobility research and concludes with a call for an expanded interdisciplinary research agenda around Indigenous student mobilities internationally. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Psychosocial deficits, such as emotional, behavioral and social problems, reflect the most common and disabling consequences of pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). Their causes and recovery likely differ from physical and cognitive skills, due to disruption to developing brain networks and the influence of the child's environment. Despite increasing recognition of post-injury behavioral and social problems, there exists a paucity of research regarding the incidence of social impairment, and factors predicting risk and resilience in the social domain over time since injury. Methods: Using a prospective, longitudinal design, and a bio-psychosocial framework, we studied children with TBI (n = 107) at baseline (pre-injury function), 6 months, 1 and 2-years post-injury. We assessed intellectual ability, attention/executive function, social cognition, social communication and socio-emotional function. Children underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 2–8 weeks post-injury. Parents rated their child's socio-emotional function and their own mental health, family function and perceived burden. Results: We distinguished five social recovery profiles, characterized by a complex interplay between environment and pre- and post-TBI factors, with injury factors playing a lesser role. Resilience in social competence was linked to intact family and parent function, intact pre-injury adaptive abilities, post-TBI cognition and social participation. Vulnerability in the social domain was related to poor pre- and post-injury adaptive abilities, greater behavioral concerns, and poorer pre- and post-injury parent health and family function. Conclusions: We identified five distinct social recovery trajectories post-child-TBI, each characterized by a unique biopsychosocial profile, highlighting the importance of comprehensive social assessment and understanding of factors contributing to social impairment, to target resources and interventions to children at highest risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has suggested that culture influences perception and attention. These studies have typically involved comparisons of Westerners with East Asians, motivated by assumed differences in the cultures' self-concept or position on the individualism-collectivism spectrum. However, other potentially important sources of cultural variance have been neglected, such as differences in traffic directionality shaped by the urban spatial environment (i.e., left-hand vs. right-hand traffic). Thus, existing research may potentially place too much emphasis on self-concepts or the individualism-collectivism dimension in explaining observed cultural differences in cognition. The present study investigated spatial cognition using a Simon task and tested participants from four nations (Australia, China, Germany, and Malaysia) that differ in both cultural orientation (collectivistic vs. individualistic) and traffic directionality (left-hand vs. right-hand traffic). The task used two possible reference frames underlying the Simon effect: a body-centered one based on global stimulus position relative to the screen's center versus an object-centered one based on local stimulus position relative to a context object. As expected, all groups showed a reliable Simon effect for both spatial reference frames. However, the global Simon effect was larger in participants from countries with left-hand traffic. In contrast, the local Simon effect was modulated by differences in cultural orientation, with larger effects in participants from collectivistic cultures. This pattern suggests that both sources of cultural variation, viz. cultural orientation and traffic directionality, contribute to differences in spatial cognition in distinct ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Given the concerns that physician-researchers are 'at risk', and ≈50% of Australian medical students are female, the evaluation of female physician-researchers is important. Aims To compare over time (i) research-related metrics of male and female physician-researchers from Sydney Medical School; and (ii) National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Project grant leadership by gender. Methods The Sydney Medical School (SMS) PhD award lists from 1989 to 2012 were cross-referenced with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency database, and registered medical practitioners were searched for in the Scopus database for publications and H-indexes. The gender of medical-practitioner Chief Investigator A ( CIA) in Australia on funded NHMRC Project grants in 1990 to 2014 was also compared. Results Of the medical practitioners awarded University of Sydney PhD, females increased from 14 to 55% in 1989-1990 and 2009-2010 and decreased to 38% in 2011-2012 (overall increase, P = 0.047). PhD award timings relative to MBBS and clinical fellowship completions were similar for both genders ( P > 0.05). Post- PhD, as many women as men publish and have similar H-indexes, but women publish fewer papers (0.7 vs 1.0 publications per year, P = 0.028). On medical practitioner-led, funded NHMRC project grants between 1999 and 2014, female CIA increased from 7.5 to 19.5%, P < 0.0001. For the 17% of project grant applications funded to commence in 2014, 21% were medical practitioner-led, of whom 19.5% were female. Conclusions Since 1989, more female medical practitioners are completing SMS PhD at similar times in their careers to males. However, relative to their male peers, they publish less. Fewer female than male medical practitioner-researchers hold NHMRC Project Grant CIA status nationally, although the rates are increasing. In addressing physician-researcher workforce issues, including retention, attention should be given to factors impacting females [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on subjective memory concerns (SMC) as a predictor for future cognitive decline is varied. Furthermore, recent research has pointed to additional complexity arising from variability in the experience of SMC themselves (i.e. whether they are remitting or sustained over time). We investigated the associations between SMC and objectively measured cognition in an Australian population-based cohort. Four waves (4-year intervals between waves) of data from 1236 participants (aged 62.4 ± 1.5 years, 53% male) were used. We categorized participants as experiencing SMC, when they indicated that their memory problems might interfere with their day-to-day life and/or they had seen a doctor about their memory. SMC was categorized as "no" reported SMC, "remitting", "new-onset" or "sustained" SMC. Cognitive assessment of immediate and delayed recall, working memory, psychomotor speed, attention and processing speed were assessed using a neuropsychological battery. Eighteen percent of participants were characterised as having SMC: 6% (77) "remitting", 6% (77) "new-onset" and 6% (69) "sustained" SMC. There was no consistent evidence for an association between SMC and subsequent decline in cognition. However, SMC was associated with poorer performance on contemporaneous tasks of attention and processing speed compared to "no" SMC. Asking about SMC may indicate a current decline in cognitive function but, in this sample at least, did not indicate an increased risk of future decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Graphic health warnings (GHWs) on tobacco product packaging constitute one component within a multifaceted set of tobacco control measures. This study aims to understand whether consumers' attention to GHWs will be associated with recall and quit intentions, using Australia as the case for this study. Design/methodology/approach: Using the 14 GHWs currently in market as visual stimuli, non-probability intercept sampling was conducted, eye tracking and post-survey datasets were collected from a total of 419 respondents across three Australian cities. Findings: Results show the front graphic image areas draw initial attention and the Quitline message area holds the longest attention duration. Attention is highly correlated with better quality of recall of health warning information, emotive responses, believability ratings among smokers and smokers' perception of health risks and quit intentions. Associations are also noted with perceived health risk and quitting intentions. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that has objectively tested the effectiveness of in-market tobacco GHWs in Australia and highlights eye tracking as a valid measurement approach that can enhance and drive new insights to evaluate consumer behaviour towards visual stimuli. This study extends new knowledge around the physiological relationships between viewing behaviours, health vulnerability perceptions and intentions to quit smoking, which has theoretical implications for the extended parallel process model which underpins this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives This study examined whether larger sized Australian cigarette health warning labels (HWLs) with plain packaging (PP) were associated with increased desirable reactions towards the HWLs postimplementation. Methods Data were from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) longitudinal cohort survey assessing Australian smokers one wave prior to the policy change in 2011 (n=1104) and another wave after the policy change in 2013 (n=1093). We assessed initial attentional orientation (AO) to or away from warnings, plus other reactions, including cognitive reactions towards the HWLs and quit intentions. Results As expected, AO towards the HWLs and reported frequency of noticing warnings increased significantly after the policy change, but not more reading. Smokers also thought more about the harms of smoking and avoided the HWLs more after the policy change, but frequency of forgoing cigarettes did not change. The subgroup that switched from initially focusing away to focusing on the HWLs following the policy change noticed and read the HWLs more, and also thought more about the harmful effects of smoking, whereas the subgroup (5.4%) that changed to focusing away from the HWLs showed opposite effects. We tested the mediational model of Yong et al and confirmed it for predicting quit intentions, with larger effects post-policy. Conclusions Increasing the size of HWLs and introducing them on PP in Australia appears to have led to an overall increase in desired levels and strength of some reactions, but evidence of reactance was among a small minority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental mobile device use during parent–child interactions has become increasingly common and has been linked to a reduction in parental sensitivity. This study extends previous research in two ways: first it explores the relationship between independent and joint caregiver device use and a wide range of attachment behaviors; second, it acknowledges the bidirectional nature of attachment relationships by evaluating how young children behave throughout individual and joint use. Sixty-six naturalistic, nonparticipant observations were conducted with caregiver–child dyads in Australian malls in 2018. Children aged 12-years-old and under were eligible for observation. Fifty-four caregivers utilized a mobile device independently, and three caregivers jointly used a device with children. Caregivers who used devices joined in play, initiated conversations, and responded to attentional bids less often than non-device using caregivers. During device use, four caregivers were inattentive when children engaged in risky situations which may have caused injury and four caregivers spoke to or interacted harshly with children. When caregivers used devices, children either continued their activity, sought caregiver interaction, or demonstrated escalated bids for attention. In response to joint device use, children remained engaged with the device and failed to interact with the caregiver. This research may be useful for parents, or healthcare providers working with parents, to assist them in making conscious decisions about device use. This research also suggests that parental device use guidelines may be valuable. Highlights: Fifty-four of 66 caregivers used mobile devices in Australian playgrounds and food malls. Device using caregivers joined play, began conversations and responded to children less often than non-device using caregivers. Four device using caregivers were unresponsive when their children were in risky situations. During caregiver device use, children either continued their activities, sought attention or escalated their attentional bids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Shift work has been proposed to disturb alertness and decrease cognitive efficiency. However, studies so far have had varied findings. The aim of the present study was to compare cognitive function following shifts at different times of the day in an Australian ED context. Methods: A prospective, self‐controlled observational study was conducted on medical and nursing staff at a tertiary referral centre and regional hospital ED. Participants were required to complete the Trail Making Test (TMT), a neurocognitive test consisting of two parts (TMT‐A and TMT‐B), at baseline (at the start of the day) and at the end of their shift (day, evening or night). Related samples Wilcoxon signed‐rank tests were used to compare post‐shift TMT performance to baseline in medical and nursing staff. Results: Over a 5‐month period, 140 ED staff were recruited including 109 doctors and 31 nurses. After a night shift, medical staff (n = 85) and nursing staff (n = 29) took longer to complete the TMT‐B by 3.4 s (P < 0.001) and 7.1 s (P = 0.01), respectively, compared to baseline. Post‐evening shift, medical staff (n = 59) took longer to complete the TMT‐A by 0.3 s (P = 0.02). Conclusions: Night shift work was associated with a longer TMT time. This may indicate a decrease in cognitive performance, in particular, visual attention, processing speed, task switching and executive function and may implicate the quality of care for patients and worker safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to examine and compare the diagnostic accuracy of the Conners 3–Parent Short Form (C 3-P(S)), and the Conners 3–Teacher Short Form (C 3-T(S)) inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity scales, and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teacher's Report Form (TRF) attention problems scales, to distinguish those with and without attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It also examined and compared the diagnostic accuracy of the C 3-P(S) and C 3-T(S) Aggression (AG) scales, and the CBCL and TRF Aggressive Behavior (AB) scales, to distinguish those with and without oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). The study used archival data (N = 150-261) involving a large group of clinic-referred children aged between 6 and 11 years who had been interviewed for clinical diagnosis of ADHD and ODD using the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children (ADISC-IV) as the reference standard, and then administered one or more of the screening measures. The findings provided empirical support for the use of the C 3-P(S) and CBCL for identifying ADHD and ODD, with the CBCL aggressive behavior scale having better ability to detect ODD. The implications of the findings for using the screening scales for diagnoses of ADHD and ODD are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The academy should be a welcoming environment for people with disability. Across Australia, however, there is a current shortage of programmes supporting people with disability to develop their careers as researchers. This article critically investigates current practice and experiences concerning universities and the employment and career development of people with disability as advised by the literature, and how this practice aligns with the lived experiences of several of our authors. Our review of the literature utilising Scopus, PsycINFO and ProQuest databases found a deficiency of research attention on this topic, with only 16 relevant articles identified. This paucity of literary evidence has been augmented in the article by personal stories shared by four of its authors. By focusing on evidence-based measures with potential to support disability employment and career pathways throughout universities in Australia and elsewhere, this article challenges leaders to address ableism and to advance a more inclusive academy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary Objective: Financial Capacity (FC) is known to be impaired in the acute and subacute stages of brain injury. The current study sought to examine FC in the context of chronic, moderate to severe acquired brain injury (CABI). Research Design: The Financial Competence Assessment Inventory (FCAI), developed in Australia, was adapted to examine the integrity of FC in an American sample. Methods and Procedures: Healthy comparison (HC) participants were recruited from the community, whereas participants with CABI were recruited from a community-based rehabilitation center. Participants completed the FCAI and a neuropsychological battery. FCAI performance in the current study was compared against previously published Australian data. Multiple regression analyses examined group (CABI vs. HC) as a predictor of FC. Bivariate correlations examined the cognitive correlates of FCAI in the CABI group. Main Outcomes and Results: The HC group in the current study obtained similar mean scores as those in the Australian sample. CABI group membership predicted lower performance on each FCAI dimension. In the CABI group, attention, working memory, delayed verbal memory, abstract reasoning and impulsivity were uniquely associated with FCAI dimensions. Conclusions: Findings underscore the importance of continued monitoring of FC even after the subacute stage of injury, and identify cognitive impairments that may be particularly detrimental for specific dimensions of FC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several women who undergo treatment for breast cancer experience cancer-related cognitive impairment [CRCI] commonly known as ‘Chemobrain’ or ‘Chemofog’. However, many oncologists and other cancer clinicians are unaware of the high prevalence and severity of these symptoms. Few qualitative studies on the topic provide a comprehensive description of this phenomenon. This study provides a detailed description of women’s experiences of CRCI, its impact on daily life and care received for it following treatment for breast cancer in Australia. Experiences of CRCI included difficulty in remembering things and recalling previously known tasks, inability to stay focussed on a task and other symptoms. The impact on daily life included economic, psychosocial and minimal impacts. Participants described both good care received as well as the clinical team’s lack of understanding of CRCI. We conclude that CRCI in women treated for breast cancer affects memory and attention and has a significant impact on women’s lives. Care provided for CRCI is inadequate in Australia. The economic and psychosocial impacts on women’s daily lives coupled with increasing rates of survivorship highlight the need for more resources to be allocated for the management of these symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Communication partners (CPs) find it challenging to communicate with people with communication disorders post‐stroke. Stroke communication partner training (CPT) can enhance CPs' ability to support the communication and participation of people post‐stroke. While evidence for the efficacy of aphasia‐based CPT is strong, implementation in healthcare settings is unclear. Aims: To investigate Australian speech pathologists' current stroke CPT practices, factors influencing the implementation of CPT and how reported practice compares with the research evidence. Methods & Procedures: Speech pathologists in Australia who had worked with people post‐stroke were invited to complete a 99‐item online survey. The survey was informed by a comprehensive review of the literature review, the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) intervention taxonomy, and the theoretical domains framework. data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. Outcomes & Results: A total of 122 clinicians were surveyed. Most participants reported providing CPT to treat a range of post‐stroke communication disorders. While 98.3% reported training familiar CPs, only 66.1% reported training unfamiliar CPs. Current stroke CPT practice is characterized by one to two < 1 h sessions of informal face‐to‐face education and skills training. Only 13.3% and 10.0% of participants used evidence‐based published programmes with unfamiliar and familiar CPs respectively. The main barriers included the perceived lack of behavioural regulation, skills, reinforcement, beliefs about consequences, positive social influences and resources. The main facilitators included clinicians' intentions to provide CPT, perception of CPT as part of their role and perceived compatibility of CPT with clinical practice. Conclusion & Implications: A significant evidence–practice gap exists. Research exploring the implementation of stroke CPT in healthcare settings, expanding evidence to support CPT for the range of post‐stroke communication disorders, developing freely accessible step‐by‐step CPT programmes that consider restrictions in current practice and providing explicit instructions of CPT best practice are warranted. A supportive workplace culture and freely accessible formal training opportunities are also needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of women’s consumption of alcohol during pregnancy has gained increasing public attention in Australia in recent years. This article examines the framing of the issue in news media and pregnancy and parenting websites during 2013-2014, with particular attention to the two most prominent frames of ‘contested evidence and advice’ and ‘women’s rights’. Public health guidelines in Australia, as elsewhere, advise women that not drinking during pregnancy is the safest option, but debate continues to surround the evidence to support this advice and its impact. This article considers these guidelines in the context of critical public health scholarship highlighting the intensification of discourses of health, risk, and responsibility in relation to pregnancy and maternal practices. Newly published scientific research provided a key source of news about the risks associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy, with stories reporting on studies that variously identified evidence of harm, or no harm, to the fetus. In the context of the ‘women’s rights’ frame, consuming alcohol during pregnancy was not constructed primarily as a matter of scientific research or expert opinion but as one of many social practices women negotiate during pregnancy. It foregrounded the rights of women to make their own decisions about alcohol consumption. The deployment of these two frames in mediated public discussion of the issue reflects the inconclusiveness of evidence about the risks of low to moderate consumption and shows women critically engaging with public health advice in the context of the numerous directives they are inundated with during pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Evaluation of alcohol warning labels requires careful consideration ensuring that research captures more than awareness given that labels may not be prominent enough to attract attention. This study investigates attention of current in market alcohol warning labels and examines whether attention can be enhanced through theoretically informed design. Attention scores obtained through self-report methods are compared to objective measures (eye-tracking). Methods: A multi-method experimental design was used delivering four conditions, namely control, colour, size and colour and size. The first study (n = 559) involved a self-report survey to measure attention. The second study (n = 87) utilized eye-tracking to measure fixation count and duration and time to first fixation. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was utilized. Results: Eye-tracking identified that 60% of participants looked at the current in market alcohol warning label while 81% looked at the optimized design (larger and red). In line with observed attention self-reported attention increased for the optimized design. Conclusions: The current study casts doubt on dominant practices (largely self-report), which have been used to evaluate alcohol warning labels. Awareness cannot be used to assess warning label effectiveness in isolation in cases where attention does not occur 100% of the time. Mixed methods permit objective data collection methodologies to be triangulated with surveys to assess warning label effectiveness. Short summary: Attention should be incorporated as a measure in warning label effectiveness evaluations. Colour and size changes to the existing Australian warning labels aided by theoretically informed design increased attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Levels of sitting among adolescents are high, especially during the school day. The acute cognitive and health consequences associated with prolonged sitting are poorly understood in adolescents. This randomized crossover design study examined the acute effects of a simulated school day with reduced sitting or usual sitting on adolescents' cognitive function and cardiometabolic biomarkers.Methods: Eighteen healthy school aged adolescents were recruited from the community to the study (11 males; 7 females; mean age [SD] = 13.5 ± 0.9 years). Two protocols were developed to simulate an adolescent school day, the amount of time spent sitting was manipulated reflecting: a 'typical' day (65% of the time spent sitting with two sitting bouts sitting >20 min) and a 'reduced sitting' day (adolescents sat for 50% less time with no bouts of sitting >20 mins). The order that participants were exposed to each condition was randomized (via random number generator). Participants were not fully blinded as they could observe the difference between conditions. Energy intake and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were standardized for both conditions and monitored for 48 h post-condition for compensatory effects. Cognitive (working memory) and cardiometabolic outcomes (lipids, glucose, insulin, IL-6, apo-A1, apo-B, blood pressure,) were assessed pre and post for both conditions, BMI and body fat were assessed on the morning of the intervention. Data were analyzed using linear mixed models. Standardised effect sizes were calculated.Results: Compared with the typical school day, the reduced sitting day demonstrated significant positive effects for apoB/apoA-1 ratio (adjusted difference ± SD) -0.02 ± 0.03; P = 0.03; effect size [Cohen's d] = -0.67. Findings for total cholesterol -0.19 ± 0.27; P = 0.28; d = -0.71; HDL cholesterol -0.23 ± 0.50; P = 0.12 d = -0.66; and total cholesterol/HDL ratio 0.25 ± 0.53; P = 0.25; d = 0.51 and for cognition 0.64 ± 0.15; P = 0.15; d = 0.54 were non-significant. There were no compensatory changes in participant energy expenditure or energy intake for 48 h post intervention.Conclusion: Reducing school day sitting time in adolescents' resulted in significant improvements in apoB/apoA-1 ratio with medium effect sizes for total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and total cholesterol/HDL ratio. Cognitive function results showed the equivalent of a 6 month improvement in effective mental-attentional capacity.Trial Registration: The trial was registered as a clinical trial with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ( ACTRN12614001064695 ) on the 3rd of October 2014 - registered retrospectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Handwriting is commonly identified as an area of weakness in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but precise deficits have not been fully characterised. Boys with ASD ( n = 23) and matched controls ( n = 20) aged 8-12 years completed a simple, digitised task to objectively assess handwriting performance using advanced descriptive measures. Moderate to large associations were identified between handwriting performance and attention, ASD symptoms and motor proficiency. The ASD group demonstrated significantly less smooth movements and significantly greater sizing variability and peak velocity relative to controls. These findings provide a clearer indication of the specific nature of handwriting impairments in children with ASD, and suggest a relationship with core clinical symptom severity, attention and motor behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction:There has been little qualitative research examining how physical examination skills are learned, particularly the sensory and subjective aspects of learning. The authors set out to study how medical students are taught and learn the skills of listening to sound. Methods:As part of an ethnographic study in Melbourne, 15 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with students and teachers as a way to reflect explicitly on their learning and teaching. Results:From these interviews, we found that learning the skills of listening to lung sounds was frequently difficult for students, with many experiencing awkwardness, uncertainty, pressure, and intimidation. However not everyone found this process difficult. Often those who had studied music reported finding it easier to be attentive to the frequency and rhythm of body sounds and find ways to describe them. Conclusions:By incorporating, distinctively in medical education, theoretical insights into “attentiveness” from anthropology and science and technology studies, the article suggests that musical education provides medical students with skills in sensory awareness. Training the senses is a critical aspect of diagnosis that needs to be better addressed in medical education. Practical approaches for improving students’ education of attention are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

BACKGROUND: There is controversy about whether central nervous system stimulant (CNS) medication is an effective method of treating acquired attention deficits in children with acquired brain injury (ABI). OBJECTIVE: The primary objective was to determine the effectiveness of stimulants on attention, concentration and executive function in children with ABI. METHODS: Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-centre n-of-1 trials of stimulants assessing effect on attention, concentration and executive function in 53 children and adolescents with ABI who were outpatients of three tertiary hospitals in Australia. Trials consisted of 3 two-week cycles, each cycle consisting of stimulant medication at doses titrated by physician (1 week) and placebo (1 week) in random order. The effect on parent and teacher Conners' 3 and Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) was analysed using hierarchical Bayesian methods. RESULTS: Overall, Teacher Conners' Hyperactivity/Impulsivity and Teacher BRIEF Global Executive scales showed important improvement (T-score mean change 2.6; 95% credible interval (CI): 0.4, 4.9; posterior probability of mean change > 0 : 0.99; T-score mean change 3.1; 95% CI: -0.1, 6.4; posterior probability of mean change > 0 : 0.97). There were no important improvements in parent/guardian-reported primary outcomes. There was heterogeneity in response identified through individual results of the N-of-1 trials. CONCLUSIONS: N-of-1 trials have a clear role in identifying those children/adolescents with ABI and secondary Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) who have important improvements, or worsening on stimulants. The results can only be generalized to children/adolescents who have an apparent pre-trial clinical effect from stimulants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Relapse is common in alcohol-dependent individuals and can be triggered by alcohol-related cues in the environment. It has been suggested that these individuals develop cognitive biases, in which cues automatically capture attention and elicit an approach action tendency that promotes alcohol seeking. The study aim was to examine whether cognitive bias modification ( CBM) training targeting approach bias could be delivered during residential alcohol detoxification and improve treatment outcomes. Methods Using a 2-group parallel-block (ratio 1:1) randomized controlled trial with allocation concealed to the outcome assessor, 83 alcohol-dependent inpatients received either 4 sessions of CBM training where participants were implicitly trained to make avoidance movements in response to pictures of alcoholic beverages and approach movements in response to pictures of nonalcoholic beverages, or 4 sessions of sham training (controls) delivered over 4 consecutive days during the 7-day detoxification program. The primary outcome measure was continuous abstinence at 2 weeks postdischarge. Secondary outcomes included time to relapse, frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption, and craving. Outcomes were assessed in a telephonic follow-up interview. Results Seventy-one (85%) participants were successfully followed up, of whom 61 completed all 4 training sessions. With an intention-to-treat approach, there was a trend for higher abstinence rates in the CBM group relative to controls (69 vs. 47%, p = 0.07); however, a per-protocol analysis revealed significantly higher abstinence rates among participants completing 4 sessions of CBM relative to controls (75 vs. 45%, p = 0.02). Craving score, time to relapse, mean drinking days, and mean standard drinks per drinking day did not differ significantly between the groups. Conclusions This is the first trial demonstrating the feasibility of CBM delivered during alcohol detoxification and supports earlier research suggesting it may be a useful, low-cost adjunctive treatment to improve treatment outcomes for alcohol-dependent patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Some researchers have raised concerns that pictorial health warning labels (HWLs) on cigarette packages may lead to message rejection and reduced effectiveness of HWL messages. This study aimed to determine how state reactance (i.e., negative affect due to perceived manipulation) in response to both pictorial and text-only HWLs is associated with other types of HWL responses and with subsequent cessation attempts. Methods: Survey data were collected every 4 months between September 2013 and 2014 from online panels of adult smokers in Australia, Canada, Mexico, and the US were analyzed. Participants with at least one wave of follow-up were included in the analysis (n = 4,072 smokers; 7,459 observations). Surveys assessed psychological and behavioral responses to HWLs (i.e., attention to HWLs, cognitive elaboration of risks due to HWLs, avoiding HWLs, and forgoing cigarettes because of HWLs) and cessation attempts. Participants then viewed specific HWLs from their countries and were queried about affective state reactance. Logistic and linear Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) models regressed each of the psychological and behavioral HWL responses on reactance, while controlling for socio-demographic and smoking-related variables. Logistic GEE models also regressed having attempted to quit by the subsequent survey on reactance, each of the psychological and behavioral HWL responses (analyzed separately), adjustment variables. Data from all countries were initially pooled, with interactions between country and reactance assessed; when interactions were statistically significant, country-stratified models were estimated. Results: Interactions between country and reactance were found in all models that regressed psychological and behavioral HWL responses on study variables. In the US, stronger reactance was associated with more frequent reading of HWLs and thinking about health risks. Smokers from all four countries with stronger reactance reported greater likelihood of avoiding warnings and forgoing cigarettes due to warnings, although the association appeared stronger in the US. Both stronger HWLs responses and reactance were positively associated with subsequent cessation attempts, with no significant interaction between country and reactance. Conclusions: Reactance towards HWLs does not appear to interfere with quitting, which is consistent with its being an indicator of concern, not a systematic effort to avoid HWL message engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Use of mobile (MP) and cordless phones (CP) is common among young children, but whether the resulting radiofrequency exposure affects development of cognitive skills is not known. Small changes have been found in older children. This study focused on children's exposures to MP and CP and cognitive development. The hypothesis was that children who used these phones would display differences in cognitive function compared to those who did not.Methods: We recruited 619 fourth-grade students (8-11 years) from 37 schools around Melbourne and Wollongong, Australia. Participants completed a short questionnaire, a computerised cognitive test battery, and the Stroop colour-word test. Parents completed exposure questionnaires on their child's behalf. Analysis used multiple linear regression. The principal exposure-metrics were the total number of reported MP and CP calls weekly categorised into no use ('None'); use less than or equal to the median amount ('Some'); and use more than the median ('More'). The median number of calls/week was 2.5 for MP and 2.0 for CP.Results: MP and CP use for calls was low; and only 5 of 78 comparisons of phone use with cognitive measures were statistically significant. The reaction time to the response-inhibition task was slower in those who used an MP 'More' compared to the 'Some' use group and non-users. For CP use, the response time to the Stroop interference task was slower in the 'More' group versus the 'Some' group, and accuracy was worse in visual recognition and episodic memory tasks and the identification task. In an additional exploratory analysis, there was some evidence of a gender effect on mean reaction times. The highest users for both phone types were girls.Conclusions: Overall, there was little evidence cognitive function was associated with CP and MP use in this age group. Although there was some evidence that effects of MP and CP use on cognition may differ by gender, this needs further exploration. CP results may be more reliable as parents estimated children's phone use and the CPs were at home; results for CP use were broadly consistent with our earlier study of older children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The aim of this study was to estimate the association between two key aspects of self-regulation, 'task attentiveness' and 'emotional regulation' assessed from ages 2-3 to 6-7 years, and academic achievement when children were aged 6-7 years. Methods Participants ( n = 3410) were children in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Parents rated children's task attentiveness and emotional regulation abilities when children were aged 2-3, 4-5 and 6-7. Academic achievement was assessed using the Academic Rating Scale completed by teachers. Linear regression models were used to estimate the association between developmental trajectories (i.e. rate of change per year) of task attentiveness and emotional regulation, and academic achievement at 6-7 years. Results Improvements in task attentiveness between 2-3 and 6-7 years, adjusted for baseline levels of task attentiveness, child and family confounders, and children's receptive vocabulary and non-verbal reasoning skills at age 6-7 were associated with greater teacher-rated literacy [ B = 0.05, 95% confidence interval ( CI) = 0.04-0.06] and maths achievement ( B = 0.04, 95% CI = 0.03-0.06) at 6-7 years. Improvements in emotional regulation, adjusting for baseline levels and covariates, were also associated with better teacher-rated literacy ( B = 0.02, 95% CI = 0.01-0.04) but not with maths achievement ( B = 0.01, 95% CI = −0.01-0.02) at 6-7 years. For literacy, improvements in task attentiveness had a stronger association with achievement at 6-7 years than improvements in emotional regulation. Conclusions Our study shows that improved trajectories of task attentiveness from ages 2-3 to 6-7 years are associated with improved literacy and maths achievement during the early school years. Trajectories of improving emotional regulation showed smaller effects on academic outcomes. Results suggest that interventions that improve task attentiveness when children are aged 2-3 to 6-7 years have the potential to improve literacy and maths achievement during the early school years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why does China, geographically the third largest country in the world, have only one time zone, while Australia, nearly as big, has six? Concentrating on the Chinese case, we argue that control over time zones represents an example of "symbolic centralization," the degree to which the central state concentrates intangible or symbolic resources that reinforce and assert state control, often invisibly, over people's everyday lives. Few state actions shape citizens' quotidian experience as fundamentally as symbolic action like setting the boundaries of time, yet political scientists have generally elided the implications of temporal authority. And those few scholars who discuss symbolic power in a systematic way have not considered how its degree of concentration varies crossnationally. Symbolic centralization provides insights into how a distant political center may continue to shape fundamental aspects of daily life even while scoring low on resource-oriented quantitative measures of centralism. Using qualitative data and introducing a new quantitative "symbolic centralization" index, this article disaggregates the concept from the more commonly studied fiscal and political centralization through evidence from both conventional and anomalous cases [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]