Children with SCT have an increased vulnerability for adverse neurobehavioral outcomes and an increased risk for neurocognitive difficulties in the language and communication domain. This... Show moreChildren with SCT have an increased vulnerability for adverse neurobehavioral outcomes and an increased risk for neurocognitive difficulties in the language and communication domain. This vulnerability starts from a young age and may increase when children get older. Neurocognitive functions within the language and communication domain serve as early markers of at-risk pathways with unfavorable neurobehavioral outcomes. These findings come with important clinical implications for the SCT population andwill ideally fuel the implementation of early monitoring, and implementation and development of preventive support and intervention. Show less
Becker, J.M.; Holle, H.; Ryckeghem, D.M.L. van; Damme, S. van; Crombez, G.; Veldhuijzen, D.S.; ... ; Laarhoven, A.I.M. van 2022
Background: About 1:650–1000 children are born with an extra X or Y chromosome (47,XXX; 47,XXY; 47,XYY), which results in a sex chromosome trisomy (SCT). This international cross-sectional study... Show moreBackground: About 1:650–1000 children are born with an extra X or Y chromosome (47,XXX; 47,XXY; 47,XYY), which results in a sex chromosome trisomy (SCT). This international cross-sectional study was designed to investigate gaze towards faces and afect recognition during early life of children with SCT, with the aim to fnd indicators for support and treatment. Methods: A group of 101 children with SCT (aged 1–7 years old; Mage= 3.7 years) was included in this study, as well as a population-based sample of 98 children without SCT (Mage= 3.7). Eye gaze patterns to faces were measured using an eye tracking method that quantifes frst fxations and fxation durations on eyes of static faces and fxation durations on eyes and faces in a dynamic paradigm (with two conditions: single face and multiple faces). Affect recognition was measured using the subtest Affect Recognition of the NEPSY-II neuropsychological test battery. Recruitment and assessment took place in the Netherlands and the USA. Results: Eye tracking results reveal that children with SCT show lower proportion fxation duration on faces already from the age of 3 years, compared to children without SCT. Also, impairments in the clinical range for afect recognition were found (32.2% of the SCT group scored in the well below average range). Conclusions: These results highlight the importance to further explore the development of social cognitive skills of children with SCT in a longitudinal design, the monitoring of afect recognition skills, and the implementation of (preventive) interventions aiming to support the development of attention to social important information and afect recognition. Show less
This study tested whether Bookstart – a program promoting book reading in infancy – continues to have animpact well into Kindergarten. We distinguished between children who were more or less... Show moreThis study tested whether Bookstart – a program promoting book reading in infancy – continues to have animpact well into Kindergarten. We distinguished between children who were more or less challenging to read to in infancy (more or less temperamentally reactive). Eighty percent (n = 471) of a sample participating in a study when the children were one year old – about half involved in Bookstart – agreed to complete a home literacy survey when the children were, on average, 72.1 months. A smaller group (n = 318) also consented to collect tests concerning language and math at children's Kindergarten. The findings show that language development when they are about to start learning to read still profits from Bookstart. Especially the temperamentally most reactive 50 % shows benefits (d = 0.21). Bookstart also improved children's home literacy environment (longer book reading sessions), but this effect did not explain Bookstart's impact in Kindergarten. Show less
Roos, A.; Goetz, T.; Krannich, M.; Donker, M.; Bieleke, M.; Caltabiano, A.; Mainhard, T. 2022
Oratie uitgesproken door Prof.dr. Anne-Laura van Harmelen bij de aanvaarding van het ambt van hoogleraarHoogleraar Brein, Veiligheid en Veerkracht aan de Universiteit Leiden op maandag 27 juni 2022
Immel, A.-S.; Altgassen, M; Meyer, M.; Endedijk, H.M.; Hunnius, S. 2022
Buckner and Carroll [Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2007), Vol. 11, pp. 49–57] argued that episodic memory (EM), episodic future think- ing (EFT), theory of mind (ToM), and spatial navigation all... Show moreBuckner and Carroll [Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2007), Vol. 11, pp. 49–57] argued that episodic memory (EM), episodic future think- ing (EFT), theory of mind (ToM), and spatial navigation all build on the same mental mechanism—self-projection, that is, the ability to disengage from the immediate present and shift perspective to alternative temporal, mental, or spatial situations. Developmental studies indeed show that all four abilities undergo profound developmental changes around 4 years of age, and there are first indications of developmental interrelations between some of the abilities. However, strong evidence for the self-projection account, namely that all four abilities are interrelated in their emergence during early childhood, is still lacking. To thoroughly investigate the self-projection hypothesis, we tested 151 4-year-old children on 12 different tasks assessing their EM, EFT, ToM, and spatial navigation skills (3 tasks per ability). Structural equation modeling under maximum likelihood estimation was conducted on a final sample of 144 children to evaluate a model with the 12 tasks as indicators and self-projection as the latent factor. The model showed a very good fit to the data. However, the factor loadings, indicating the strength of association between the latent factor and the indicators, were very low—which speaks against the validity of the measurement model. In summary, the results do not support the assumption of a common latent factor underlying the various abilities EM, EFT, ToM, and spatial navigation. Implications of our results for the self-projection account and possible related theoretical and methodological challenges are discussed. Show less
Rohrbach, P.J.; Dingemans, A.E.; Furth, E.F. van; Spinhoven, P.; Ginkel, J.R. van; Bauer, S.; Van den Akker‐Van Marle, M.E. 2022
Objective: The primary aim was assessing the cost-effectiveness of an internet-based self-help program, expert-patient support, and the combination of both compared to a care-as-usual condition.... Show moreObjective: The primary aim was assessing the cost-effectiveness of an internet-based self-help program, expert-patient support, and the combination of both compared to a care-as-usual condition. Method: An economic evaluation from a societal perspective was conducted alongside a randomized controlled trial. Participants aged 16 or older with at least mild eating disorder symptoms were randomly assigned to four conditions: (1) Featback, an online unguided self-help program, (2) chat or e-mail support from a recovered expert patient, (3) Featback with expert-patient support, and (4) care-as-usual. After a baseline assessment and intervention period of 8 weeks, five online assessments were conducted over 12 months of follow-up. The main result constituted cost-utility acceptability curves with quality-of-life adjusted life years (QALYs) and societal costs over the entire study duration. Results: No significant differences between the conditions were found regarding QALYs, health care costs and societal costs. Nonsignificant differences in QALYs were in favor of the Featback conditions and the lowest societal costs per participant were observed in the Featback only condition (euro16,741) while the highest costs were seen in the care-as-usual condition (euro 28,479). The Featback only condition had the highest probability of being efficient compared to the alternatives for all acceptable willingness-to-pay values. Discussion: Featback, an internet-based unguided self-help intervention, was likely to be efficient compared to Featback with guidance from an expert patient, guidance alone and a care-as-usual condition. Results suggest that scalable interventions such as Featback may reduce health care costs and help individuals with eating disorders that are currently not reached by other forms of treatment. Public significance statement Internet-based interventions for eating disorders might reach individuals in society who currently do not receive appropriate treatment at low costs. Featback, an online automated self-help program for eating disorders, was found to improve quality of life slightly while reducing costs for society, compared to a do-nothing approach. Consequently, implementing internet-based interventions such as Featback likely benefits both individuals suffering from an eating disorder and society as a whole. Show less
