SI Correction

Reports an error in "COVID-19 and mental health of individuals with different personalities" by Eugenio Proto and Anwen Zhang (PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021[Sep][14], Vol 118[37][e2109282118]). In the original article, the authors note that the numbers of observations were reported incorrectly for Table 1 in the main text and Tables S11, S17, S20, and S21 in the SI Appendix. The online version and the SI Appendix have been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2021-87295-001). Several studies have been devoted to establishing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health across gender, age, and ethnicity. However, much less attention has been paid to the differential effect of COVID-19 according to different personalities. We do this using the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS), a large-scale panel survey representative of the UK population. The UKHLS allows us to assess the mental health of the same respondent before and during the COVID-19 period based on their "Big Five" personality traits and cognitive skills. We find that during the COVID-19 period, individuals who have more extravert and open personality traits report a higher mental health deterioration, while those scoring higher in agreeableness are less affected. The effect of openness is particularly strong: One more SD predicts up to 0.23 more symptoms of mental health deterioration in the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) test during the COVID-19 period. In particular, for females, cognitive skills and openness are strong predictors of mental health deterioration, while for non-British White respondents, these predictors are extraversion and openness. Neuroticism strongly predicts worse mental health cross-sectionally, but it does not lead to significantly stronger deterioration during the pandemic. The study's results are robust to the inclusion of potential confounding variables such as changes in physical health, household income, and job status (like unemployed or furloughed). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Mobeybou for Computational Thinking: Fostering Expression Through Embodied Computing Interactions

The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on education has opened new doors and accelerated change, and a learning opportunity has emerged towards the digital transformation of teaching models. Computing acquires a new relevance and fits into the plan to strengthen digital skills as a driver of digital knowledge, particularly relevant for children and young people. In parallel, both the close contact with computers allows the development of skills such as logical reasoning, critical thinking, creativity, communication and teamwork, and the very coexistence of citizens with digital technologies requires the prior acquisition of this knowledge, in order to be prepared to meet the new demands of modern society. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to introduce an ongoing research project that aims at developing young children's expression through embodied computing in order to enhance their digital knowledge, by adapting the digital manipulative (DM) Mobeybou for storytelling and narrative creation as a tool for promoting computational thinking (CT) and inherent competences through a bodily expression experience. The educational toolkit and base literature review are discussed, and the early prototypes of the programming language proposed are presented, as well as the ongoing and future work. With this initial work it was possible to conclude that computer programming has many benefits in fostering CT in children, alongside other cognitive skills, as well as the importance of stimulating children's expression and communication that are transversal to all areas of life. Therefore, computer programming will be used and incorporated in Mobeybou in order to achieve the research aims proposed in this paper and promote children's expression through CT development. © 2022 Association for Computing Machinery.

SI Correction

Reports an error in "COVID-19 and mental health of individuals with different personalities" by Eugenio Proto and Anwen Zhang (PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021[Sep][14], Vol 118[37][e2109282118]). In the original article, the authors note that the numbers of observations were reported incorrectly for Table 1 in the main text and Tables S11, S17, S20, and S21 in the SI Appendix. The online version and the SI Appendix have been corrected. (The following of the original article appeared in record 2021-87295-001). Several studies have been devoted to establishing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health across gender, age, and ethnicity. However, much less attention has been paid to the differential effect of COVID-19 according to different personalities. We do this using the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS), a large-scale panel survey representative of the UK population. The UKHLS allows us to assess the mental health of the same respondent before and during the COVID-19 period based on their "Big Five" personality traits and cognitive skills. We find that during the COVID-19 period, individuals who have more extravert and open personality traits report a higher mental health deterioration, while those scoring higher in agreeableness are less affected. The effect of openness is particularly strong: One more SD predicts up to 0.23 more symptoms of mental health deterioration in the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) test during the COVID-19 period. In particular, for females, cognitive skills and openness are strong predictors of mental health deterioration, while for non-British White respondents, these predictors are extraversion and openness. Neuroticism strongly predicts worse mental health cross-sectionally, but it does not lead to significantly stronger deterioration during the pandemic. The study's results are robust to the inclusion of potential confounding variables such as changes in physical health, household income, and job status (like unemployed or furloughed). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Childhood maltreatment and social functioning in psychotic disorders: a systematic review protocol.

Background: Childhood maltreatment (CM) is thought to play a key role in the etiology and course of psychotic disorders (PD). In addition, CM is related to neurobiological and clinical characteristics that can lead to poor social functioning. However, the extent to which CM and social functioning are directly associated in individuals with PD, is unclear. Therefore, we aim to systematically review the literature to provide an estimate on the strength of the association between CM and different domains of social functioning in PD and to summarize potential moderators and mediators of this association.Methods and analysis: To identify relevant studies, we will systematically search the following databases: Pubmed (Medline), PsycInfo, Embase, Web of Science (Core Collection), and Pilots (trauma), manually search reference lists and contact experts in the field. Studies will be included if they investigate and report on the association between CM (exposure) and social functioning (outcome) in adults with PD. Two independent reviewers will screen titles, abstracts and full texts according to eligibility criteria, perform data extraction and assess study quality according to a modified version of the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.Analysis: Effect estimates will be pooled in a meta-analysis. Heterogeneity and publication bias will be assessed and the effects of potential moderators (genetic factors, type of diagnosis, duration of illness, type of CM and age at the time of CM exposure) will be analyzed using meta-regressions. Candidate moderators and mediators (neurocognition, cognitive schemas, comorbidities, stress sensitivity, attachment) will be also examined qualitatively.Ethics and dissemination: Because this review will make use of already published data, ethical approval will not be sought. This work has the potential to inform upcoming investigations on the association between the exposure to CM in PD and social functioning. PROSPERO registration number CRD42020175244.

The first systematic review (and meta-analysis) of the association between CM and different domains of social functioning in individuals with PD.Evidence on both moderators and mediators of the association is summarized.

Virtual-Reality Training of Elite Boxers Preparing for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study

The COVID-19 pandemic struck right during the Olympic preparation, leading to significant training restrictions such as noncontact practices for combat sports. This case study research describes the application of a complementary virtual-reality (VR) intervention to train elite boxers preparing for Tokyo 2020 during the pandemic. It also addresses the evaluation of broader visuocognitive functions in elite boxers. Six boxers were allocated to two groups: one experimental group trained on a 360° VR (360VR) temporal video-occlusion program, and one active control group trained on a VR game simulation during 11 sessions. Pre- and postevaluations of specific decision-making performance were performed on a 360VR evaluation test. Fundamental visual and visuocognitive functions were assessed at baseline. Greater on-test decision-making improvements were observed in the 360VR-trained group compared with VR game, and 360VR offered self-reported satisfactory, representative, and safe individual training opportunities for the boxers. More research is warranted to explore the applications of 360VR and VR simulation for psycho-perceptual-motor-skill evaluation and training. Superior visuocognitive performance was observed in elite boxers and should also be a topic of further investigation. The methodological approach, implementation, and reflections are provided in detail to guide practitioners toward the applied use of VR in the sporting environment.

How UK HE STEM Students Were Motivated to Switch Their Cameras on: A Study of the Development of Compassionate Communications in Task-focused Online Group Meetings

HE’s pandemic-driven shift to online platforms has increased social and learning disconnection amongst students. In online group work/teamwork, many are reluctant to switch on their cameras to be more present to others. Compassion in group work/teamwork is defined as noticing, not normalizing, one’s own and/or others’ distress or disadvantaging and taking wise action to prevent or reduce this. This notion of compassion is being assessed in the HE sector using filmed task-focused in-class group work meetings to identify levels of both inclusivity and criticality around the team. This study investigates the use and outcomes of using the compassionate communications strategies (that were developed in and for the offline classroom) in online team meetings. In this mixed-methods study, two groups of four international STEM students, each from a sample of five UK universities, were video-recorded in task-focused group work meetings (TGMs) before and after an online interactive 90-min training session (‘the intervention’) on the Cognitive Skills of Compassionate Communications (CSCC) in teams. A comparison of the (pre and post CSCC intervention) quantitative and qualitative data results indicated, post-intervention, a significant increase in students’ screen gaze attentiveness to each other, and reasons why students’ motivation to switch on their cameras had changed.

Narrative techniques and digital storytelling laboratory for the development of emotional and cognitive skills in school

Strengthened by Lambert, Atchley and Holler's international models of the construction of digital narratives, this article focuses attention on the contemporary evolution of the storytelling methodology in a digital key. The innovative teaching methodologies (for example IBL, PBL, etc.) have been experiencing digital evolution and experimentation, especially during the covid-19 pandemic in which schools have engaged in periods of distance-teaching. The use of stories on social media is now a very widespread communication practice among internet users. This narrative methodology is used in educational practice in various sectors of training not only to electrify disciplinary content but also to encourage emotional sharing and participation in the educational process. The purpose of the article is the design of an educational intervention aimed at teachers in the initial stages of a training path that aims to develop digital skills and a group atmosphere that will accompany the use of those skills in their subsequent training activities. The proposed experimental model not only collects the content to be followed during the educational intervention but also focuses attention on the use of digital technology (apps and software) to be integrated with the virtual platform for the concrete realization of digital storytelling 2.0. From a psychological point of view, it is interesting to monitor the processes of motivation, attention and participation in the didactic intervention. © 2021 Copyright for this paper by its authors.

Non-cognitive Support for Postgraduate Studies: A Systematic Review.

Retention of postgraduate students is a complex problem at higher education institutions. To address this concern, various forms of academic support are offered by higher education institutions to nurture and develop the pipeline of postgraduate students. The support provided to postgraduate students tends to emphasize academic support at times at the expense of psychosocial or non-academic support. Non-cognitive skills were underscored as integral to determining academic and employment outcomes and thus, may need to be investigated more. This manuscript reports on an attempt to filter and consolidate the literature reporting on interventions for postgraduate students that include the development of non-cognitive skills. A systematic review was conducted, because it enabled rigorous and replicable process of consolidating literature. Covidence software was used as a digital platform for the systematic review. The review was conducted at four levels as per the PRISMA guideline namely, identification, screening, eligibility and final summation. The filtration process attempted to answer the following research questions: (1) How are non-cognitive factors or skills defined? (2) Which non-cognitive skills were included in support for postgraduate (Masters and Doctoral) students in the higher education setting?, and (3) How have non-cognitive skills been included in support interventions provided to retain postgraduate students? Descriptive and theory explicative metasynthesis was used for the summation and data extraction. The primary finding was that the term non-cognitive was not used explicitly in the included studies to describe skills or factors supporting student retention. The discourse centered around support and social support as non-academic factors and skills. This suggested that non-cognitive skills were constructed as co-curricular and not integrated into the postgraduate academic project or core learning outcomes. The findings highlighted the distinction between non-cognitive skills and factors and illustrated how skills and factors operate at different levels with different spheres of influence. The formats of support provide an intersectional space where skills and factors are combined.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ICELAND'S EDUCATION SYSTEM

This paper describes and compares the performance of boys and girls in the Icelandic education system. The study of gender differences in schools has a long history. An extensive and interesting survey edited by William Hadow in the U.K. in 1923 examined existing evidence from the perspective of medicine, psychology and education studies. The authors found that intra-gender variation in abilities was greater than gender differences. Nevertheless, notable gender differences had to do with girls being more obedient, industrious and respectful while boys were more independent and harder to manage. Recent research in the field of education studies has confirmed many of these differences. In recent decades, the apparent educational underperformance of boys in the Western world has received increased attention. Several books, some of which are controversial, have been written on this topic (such as Kindlon & Thompson, 2000;Palmer, 2009;Sax, 2016;Sommers, 2001). This paper surveys research on gender imbalance in education, which covers the effect of boys having lower non-cognitive skills;boys having a different set of values and attitudes and not valuing educational performance as much as girls;the importance of family background in shaping boys' attitudes towards education;and teachers viewing boys as being lazier and girls more conscientious. We then use data on comprehensive examinations in 4th, 7th and 10th grade for two cohorts in Iceland. We find that there is no statistically significant difference between the mean grade of boys and girls in mathematics but a significant and sizeable difference in the mean grade in Icelandic, which exists in 4th grade and then becomes larger in 7th grade and in 10th grade. However, the intra-gender variation is much greater than the differences in mean grade. We then look at the tails of the distribution and find that a large majority of those with the 10% lowest grades in Icelandic were boys and a minority of those with the 10% highest grades. The gender differences are also pronounced in the PISA tests and they are larger than the OECD average in reading, mathematics and the natural sciences. Moreover, the gender difference in these examinations has grown since year 2000. Next we describe data on high school graduation rates where 60% are female and the dropout rate is 50% higher for males before moving on to the university level where two thirds of graduates are women. A large majority of students in the health sciences, humanities and social sciences are female but men remain a majority in engineering, mathematics and physics. Within the social sciences, there is gender balance in economics and also to some extent in business studies. Within the humanities, only history and philosophy have a higher proportion of men. Finally, we compare average grades for men and women in the first year of study at the University of Iceland for the school year 2018-2019 and the fall of 2019 (COVID-19 making it impractical to use the spring of 2020 or the following school year) and find that women outperform men by around 0.5 on the 0-10 scale. The gap survives correcting for the high-school GPA. We show that the gap is mainly due to a higher dropout rate of male students. We then draw on the education literature in Iceland to explain the gender gap. Some studies find that girls are more interested in reading and that the choice of reading material suits girls better than boys. Other studies have found that girls place a much greater emphasis on educational performance than boys and this affects their self-image to a larger extent. Girls tend to become more anxious about examinations and this can contribute to anxiety problems that affect their performance. There are studies of the high dropout rate in Iceland, which find that many students who drop out of high school return to school, which explains the high average age of high-school graduates. The overall conclusion is that the underrepresentation of boys among high-school and university graduates is not a consequence of choice but of greater academic failure among the weaker students. Our findings are a call for action in addressing the gender gap.

The personality profile of the civil defense volunteer in the footsteps of a patron saint. Research on the Apostle Barnabas

The author, former director of the social and health service of the Sondrio ASL (Local Health Authority) and first president of the association Psicologi per i Popoli - Lombardia, returned some time ago to his native village of Bondo in the prov-ince of Trento. During the long months of lockdown for Covid-19, he became inter-ested in researching the patron saint of his native village. We are talking about St Barnabas, Apostle, who is celebrated every year in the 11th June village festival, but whose historical and biographical features have been lost over time. Through painstaking research into the apostle Barnabas, the author captured the personal-ity traits that should characterise volunteers, including psychologists, in their com-plex and delicate role in emergency situations. Who, if not Barnabas the Apostle, the author wonders, could be the patron saint of Civil Protection volunteers? The work presented here has the merit of focusing attention also on the necessary processes of selection, training and employment of professional personnel called upon to work as volunteers in emergency situations.

Online Learning and Students' Fear of COVID-19: Study in Malaysia and Pakistan

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of students to stay indoors and adapt to the new normal, namely distance learning at home, placing online learning in the spotlight. However, students' motivation for online learning and its effectiveness in skill development during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been widely studied. This study examined the relationship between students' fear of COVID-19 and students' social presence in online learning while investigating the parallel mediating role of student psychological motivation and cognitive problem-solving skills related to online learning. The participants were 472 university students in Malaysia and Pakistan. An online data collection technique using Google Forms was employed. Faculty members of the universities were asked to share the survey with their students. Moreover, using a snowball sampling technique, students were requested to share the survey with their friends. SPSS Statistics (Version 21) was employed to do preliminary data analysis, AMOS (Version 21) software was used to conduct confirmatory factor analysis using a maximum likelihood estimation, and Hayes' PROCESS model was used to examine proposed hypotheses. The results show that only cognitive problem solving mediates the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and students' social presence in online learning in Malaysian samples. In Pakistan, cognitive problem solving and psychological motivation mediate the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and students' social presence in online learning. The study found that developing cognitive problem-solving skills and providing psychological motivation could enhance their engagement with online learning.

The Playing Brain. The Impact of Video Games on Cognition and Behavior in Pediatric Age at the Time of Lockdown: A Systematic Review.

A growing number of children and adolescents play video games (VGs) for long amounts of time. The current outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic has significantly reduced outdoor activities and direct interpersonal relationships. Therefore, a higher use of VGs can become the response to stress and fear of illness. VGs and their practical, academic, vocational and educational implications have become an issue of increasing interest for scholars, parents, teachers, pediatricians and youth public policy makers. The current systematic review aims to identify, in recent literature, the most relevant problems of the complex issue of playing VGs in children and adolescents in order to provide suggestions for the correct management of VG practice. The method used searches through standardized search operators using keywords related to video games and the link with cognition, cognitive control and behaviors adopted during the pandemic. Ninety-nine studies were reviewed and included, whereas twelve studies were excluded because they were educationally irrelevant. Any debate on the effectiveness of VGs cannot refer to a dichotomous approach, according to which VGs are rigidly 'good' or 'bad'. VGs should be approached in terms of complexity and differentiated by multiple dimensions interacting with each other.

COVID-19 compliance behaviors of older people: The role of cognitive and non-cognitive skills.

This paper examines the empirical relationship between individuals' cognitive and non-cognitive abilities and COVID-19 compliance behaviors using cross-country data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We find that both cognitive and non-cognitive skills predict responsible health behaviors during the COVID-19 crisis. Episodic memory is the most important cognitive skill, while conscientiousness and neuroticism are the most significant personality traits. There is also some evidence of a role for an internal locus of control in compliance.

The Potential Benefits of Non-skills Training (Mental Toughness) for Elite Athletes: Coping With the Negative Psychological Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on global sport. This is especially true at the elite level, where it has disrupted training and competition. Concomitantly, restrictions have disrupted long-term event planning. Many elite athletes remain unsure when major events will occur and worry about further interruptions. Although some athletes have successfully adapted to the demands of the COVID-19 crisis, many have experienced difficulties adjusting. This has resulted in psychological complications including increased stress, anxiety, and depression. This article critically examines the extent to which non-cognitive skills training, in the form of increased awareness of Mental Toughness, can help elite athletes inoculate against and cope with negative psychological effects arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Non-cognitive skills encompass intrapersonal (motivations, learning strategies, and self-regulation) and interpersonal (interactions with others) domains not directly affected by intellectual capacity. Previous research indicates that enhancement of these spheres can assist performance and enhance mental well-being. Moreover, it suggests that training in the form of increased awareness of Mental Toughness, can improve the ability to cope with COVID-19 related challenges. In this context, Mental Toughness encompasses a broad set of enabling attributes (i.e., inherent and evolved values, attitudes, emotions, and cognitions). Indeed, academics commonly regard Mental Toughness as a resistance resource that protects against stress. Accordingly, this article advocates the use of the 4/6Cs model of Mental Toughness (i.e., Challenge, Commitment, Control, and Confidence) to counter negative psychological effects arising from COVID-19.

COVID-19 and mental health of individuals with different personalities.

Several studies have been devoted to establishing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health across gender, age, and ethnicity. However, much less attention has been paid to the differential effect of COVID-19 according to different personalities. We do this using the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS), a large-scale panel survey representative of the UK population. The UKHLS allows us to assess the mental health of the same respondent before and during the COVID-19 period based on their "Big Five" personality traits and cognitive skills. We find that during the COVID-19 period, individuals who have more extravert and open personality traits report a higher mental health deterioration, while those scoring higher in agreeableness are less affected. The effect of openness is particularly strong: One more SD predicts up to 0.23 more symptoms of mental health deterioration in the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) test during the COVID-19 period. In particular, for females, cognitive skills and openness are strong predictors of mental health deterioration, while for non-British White respondents, these predictors are extraversion and openness. Neuroticism strongly predicts worse mental health cross-sectionally, but it does not lead to significantly stronger deterioration during the pandemic. The study's results are robust to the inclusion of potential confounding variables such as changes in physical health, household income, and job status (like unemployed or furloughed).

Pedagogical Proposal of Tele-Exercise Based on "Square Stepping Exercise" in Preschoolers: Study Protocol.

Early childhood education aims to achieve the motor, cognitive, emotional, and social development of preschoolers by providing them with a variety of learning opportunities. The square-stepping exercise (SSE) is a balance and lower limb strength training programme used to prevent falls and stimulate cognitive function in older adults. This project aims to propose an SSE tele-exercise (Tele-SSE) protocol to evaluate its effects on the motor and cognitive development of children aged between 3 and 6 years. A randomized controlled trial with experimental (Tele-SSE) and control (general education) groups will be carried out. The application of Tele-SSE will be performed for 9 months (three times per week) and one additional follow-up after the intervention at the beginning of the next academic year. One-hundred and two preschoolers will be recruited and randomly distributed into the two groups: experimental (n = 51) and control (n = 51). Although the main outcome will be balance due to the nature of the SSE, outcomes will include physical and motor (body mass index, waist circumference, handgrip and lower-limb strength, speed-agility, and cardiorespiratory fitness) and cognitive (executive functions and attention, episodic memory, and language assessment, using the Fitness Assessment in the Preschool Battery (PREFIT) and The National Institutes of Health Toolbox-Early Childhood Cognition Battery. This project aims to improve cognitive and motor skills in preschoolers aged between 3 and 6 years old, based on a 9-month Tele-SSE intervention. If this intervention proves to be effective, it could be implemented in those centres, entities and associations specializing in early childhood education.

A bio-environmental perspective on Emirati female college students' experiences in virtual learning communities of inquiry.

During the coronavirus pandemic, educational institutions were forced to shift to virtual learning. Drawing on the Community of Inquiry framework and bioecological perspective, this research explores the virtual learning experiences of female college students at one higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates using an interpretive phenomenological paradigm. A convergent parallel mixed method design was implemented with participants (N = 350) who completed a questionnaire about the challenges of virtual learning followed by semi-structured interviews (N = 10). Observations, journals, and peer-reviewed literature was also used to explore the influence of cognitive, social, and teaching presence on students' perceptions. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The researcher found students had a high perception of the three influences of Community of Inquiry framework and were aware of its importance. Furthermore, there were clear relationships between cognitive and teaching presence and cognitive and social presence. The importance of online teaching and learning strategies supports the interactivity of these presences.

Mock grant application roleplay as an alternative to lab-based activities in molecular biology.

Many universities resort to online teaching due to COVID-19 pandemic. It is a challenging endeavor, especially in Molecular Biology courses that require lab access. Mock grant application roleplay is one alternative to lab-based activities. Students are engaged in three aspects: (i) targeted literature review, (ii) research proposal writing and (iii) 5-min project pitching. The design of this module is flexible and, other lab-based courses can adopt it. This module encourages undergraduate students to explore the lab techniques they learnt and concisely present their research proposal.