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Schemas capture patterns across multiple experiences, accumulating information about common event structures that guide decision making in new contexts. Schemas are an important principle of leading theories of cognitive development; yet, we know little about how children and adolescents form schemas and use schematic knowledge to guide decisions. Here, we show that the ability to acquire schematic knowledge based on the temporal regularities of events increases during childhood and adolescence. Furthermore, we show that temporally mediated schematic knowledge biases reasoning decisions in an age-dependent manner. Participants with greater temporal schematic knowledge were more likely to infer that temporally related items shared other, non-temporal properties, with adults showing the greatest relationship between schema knowledge and reasoning choices. These data indicate that the mechanisms underlying schema formation and expression are not fully developed until adulthood and may reflect the ongoing maturation of hippocampus and prefrontal cortex through adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Episodic prospection is the mental simulation of a personal future event in rich contextual detail. This study examined age-related differences in episodic prospection in 5- to 11-year-olds and adults (N = 157), as well as factors that may contribute to developmental improvements. Participants' narratives of past, future, and make-believe events were coded for episodic content, and self-concept coherence (i.e., how coherently an individual sees himself or herself) and narrative ability were tested as predictors of episodic prospection. Although all ages provided less episodic content for future event narratives, age-related improvements were observed across childhood, suggesting future event generation is particularly difficult for children. Self-concept coherence and narrative ability each independently predicted the episodic content of 5- and 7-year-olds' future event narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Episodic memory improves during childhood and this improvement has been associated with age differences in hippocampal function, but previous research has not manipulated the possible underlying mechanisms. We tested the hypothesis that age-related differences in hippocampal activation may reflect changes in retrieval flexibility. We expected these activation differences to be observed most prominently in the anterior hippocampus. Functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI) data were collected from children ages 8 and 10, and adults ( N = 63) during an associative recognition task that required participants to recognize pairs of pictures which either appeared in the same location as during encoding (Same location), or in a flipped location, such that each picture switched their location with the other member of the pair (Flipped location). Recognition of same-location pairs placed lower demands on flexible retrieval compared to recognition of flipped-location pairs. Behaviorally, 8-year-olds exhibited the strongest correct recognition gains for same-location compared to flipped-location pairs, and females unexpectedly outperformed males across all ages. When we examined correct recognition, adults recruited the hippocampal head more strongly for flipped- versus same-location pairs compared to both groups of children; in contrast both adults and 10-year-olds recruited the hippocampal tail more strongly for flipped- versus same-location pairs compared to 8-year-olds. This pattern was stronger in the left hippocampus and for females. Moreover hippocampal discrimination between recognized and forgotten items in the same-location condition was stronger in 8-year-olds compared to adults, and was stronger in the flipped-location condition in adults compared to 8-year-olds; this pattern was stronger in the left hippocampus. Individual differences in this discrimination contrast for flipped-location trials in the head and body predicted performance on an index of creative thinking. Overall, these results lend new support to the idea that hippocampal development may reflect change in retrieval flexibility with implications for additional forms of flexible cognition. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the legal and ethical aspects of the use of electronic informed-consent (e-consent) in America's hospitals and medical care industry as of 2015, and it mentions the author's claim that e-consent could negatively impact the patient-physician relationship by increasing paternalism, replacing face-to-face interaction, and failing to address the individual needs of a patient. State laws in America are assessed, along with patient autonomy and self-determination.

This article describes a program that encourages the formation of mentoring relationships between nursing staff and management. According to the article, the program ensures that succession planning remains active amid competing priorities such as staffing, quality care, patient safety and financial constraints. It notes that the program not only encourages nurses to advance their career, but also assures them that they all have the needed support at the institution. It adds that the program fosters collegial relationships between aspiring nurse leaders and leaders promoting an atmosphere of mentoring and learning.

An editorial is presented which argues that U.S. President Donald Trump's isolationist policies are a threat to public health in places such as America, and it mentions Trump's views about the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, the construction of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and restrictions on the entry of immigrants and refugees into America. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's strategies are examined, along with quarantines and an Ebola virus crisis.