TEACHING STATISTICS ONLINE: COMPARING COMPETENCY-BASED AND TRADITIONAL LEARNING.

Background: Interdisciplinary undergraduate students are expected to develop statistical competence to interpret research findings as they advance in their healthcare studies and careers. However, students often report anxiety related to learning statistical course content.This descriptive study examined differences in statistical knowledge and self-efficacy scores of undergraduate students enrolled in online competency-based and traditional learning statistics courses.A sample of 20 nursing and interdisciplinary, undergraduate students from a Midwestern University who were enrolled in introductory statistics courses were recruited for this study. Methods: Significant differences between pre-test and post-test statistical knowledge and self-efficacy scores were compared for students receiving online competency-based learning and traditional learning statistical course content. The Current Statistics Self-Efficacy (CSSE) and the Self-Efficacy to Learn Statistics (SELS) measures determined the statistics self-efficacy scores. Results: There was a significant difference in knowledge scores from pre- to post-test in the areas of hypothesis testing (p =.02), measures of central tendency (p =.001), and research design (p =.001), but there was not a significant difference in overall mean scores between competency-based learning and the traditional learning groups (p =.10). The pre-test to post-test Current Statistics Self-Efficacy student scores improved significantly in both the competency-based learning (p <.001) and traditional learning (p <.001) statistics course sections; and the Self Efficacy to Learn Statistics pre-test to post-test scores were also significantly improved in the competency-based (p <.001) and traditional (p =.02) learning groups. Conclusions: Both online competency-based and traditional learning methods improved interdisciplinary undergraduate students' statistical knowledge and self-efficacy scores. Online competency-based learning was described by the students as at least as beneficial as traditional learning for studying statistics while allowing more flexibility to repeat content until it was mastered. Purpose: This study compared pre- and post-test differences in statistical knowledge and self-efficacy scores of students enrolled in online competency-based learning and traditional learning statistics class sections.

Confirmatory factor analysis of Beck Depression Inventory-II with two American Indian samples.

The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) is used to assess depression with people from many cultures and ethnicities; however, the scale has been validated with very few populations other than the majority (Gray et al., 2016). Secondary analysis of data included two-factor confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of the BDI-II with two independent American Indian samples, which were compared with the results in the BDI-II Manual (Beck et al., 1996). Sample 1 included 527 adult American Indians recruited from seven tribal communities, and Sample 2 included a community sample of 440 American Indian adults. The results of both CFA matched the original factor structure reported in Beck et al. (1996) supporting the construct validity of the BDI-II in Northern Plains American Indians. The internal consistency of the BDI-II was very high in Sample 1 (r = .94) but somewhat lower in Sample 2 (r = .72). Measures of convergent validity and discriminant validity were below acceptability for both Sample 1 and Sample 2. The results of this study support the construct validity of the BDI-II in Northern Plains American Indians. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Using machine learning methods and EEG to discriminate aircraft pilot cognitive workload during flight.

Pilots of aircraft face varying degrees of cognitive workload even during normal flight operations. Periods of low cognitive workload may be followed by periods of high cognitive workload and vice versa. During such changing demands, there exists potential for increased error on behalf of the pilots due to periods of boredom or excessive cognitive task demand. To further understand cognitive workload in aviation, the present study involved collection of electroencephalogram (EEG) data from ten (10) collegiate aviation students in a live-flight environment in a single-engine aircraft. Each pilot possessed a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) commercial pilot certificate and either FAA class I or class II medical certificate. Each pilot flew a standardized flight profile representing an average instrument flight training sequence. For data analysis, we used four main sub-bands of the recorded EEG signals: delta, theta, alpha, and beta. Power spectral density (PSD) and log energy entropy of each sub-band across 20 electrodes were computed and subjected to two feature selection algorithms (recursive feature elimination (RFE) and lasso cross-validation (LassoCV), and a stacking ensemble machine learning algorithm composed of support vector machine, random forest, and logistic regression. Also, hyperparameter optimization and tenfold cross-validation were used to improve the model performance, reliability, and generalization. The feature selection step resulted in 15 features that can be considered an indicator of pilots' cognitive workload states. Then these features were applied to the stacking ensemble algorithm, and the highest results were achieved using the selected features by the RFE algorithm with an accuracy of 91.67% (± 0.11), a precision of 93.89% (± 0.09), recall of 91.67% (± 0.11), F-score of 91.22% (± 0.12), and the mean ROC-AUC of 0.93 (± 0.06). The achieved results indicated that the combination of PSD and log energy entropy, along with well-designed machine learning algorithms, suggest the potential for the use of EEG to discriminate periods of the low, medium, and high workload to augment aircraft system design, including flight automation features to improve aviation safety.

Intermittent fasting implementation and association with eating disorder symptomatology.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is an emerging dietary trend that remains understudied. This study aimed to describe the implementation and eating disorder (ED) symptomatology, relevant to engagement in IF among both men and women. Intermittent fasters (N = 44 women, N = 20 men) recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, Reddit, and a Midwestern University were administered a demographic questionnaire, an assessment of ED symptomatology (Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire; EDE-Q), and asked about their IF use. To assess the level of ED symptomatology among individuals using IF community and clinical norms were used for comparison. We hypothesized a) men and women engaging IF would score higher on the EDE-Q and b) more individuals engaging in IF would endorse ED behaviors (e.g., self-induced vomiting) than community norms. Intermittent fasters reported fasting for approximately 16 hours daily and for weight loss purposes. Men and women engaging in IF scored significantly higher than community norms on all subscales of the EDE-Q, with 31.25% of participants' EDE-Q scores being at or above the clinical EDE-Q cut-off. Men and women engaging in IF reported engaging in ED behaviors. Results suggest that IF is associated with ED symptomatology. Further research on psychological characteristics and temporal order of the association between IF and ED symptomatology is warranted.

Psychometric evaluation of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory-3 with Northern Plains American Indians.

The efficacy of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory-3 (SASSI-3) was assessed among northern plains American Indians (AIs). The current study examined the efficacy of the SASSI-3 for identification of substance abuse in AIs. Northern plains AIs from 7 reservations participated in the study. The participants were either a clinical sample receiving substance abuse (SA) or mental health diagnoses from behavioral health clinicians and receiving outpatient treatment services or a community sample that had no substance abuse or mental health diagnoses and were not currently in treatment (no diagnosis). The internal consistency for Face Valid Alcohol (FVA), Face Valid Other Drugs, and Symptoms (SYM) subscales were excellent, and the consistency for the other subscales was moderate, ranging from .21 to 73. The results of the study suggest that the SASSI-3 has good positive predictive power (PPP) and negative predictive power (NPP), particularly when the criterion group substance abuse is larger in the sample. Additionally, the PPP and NPP varied depending on the decision rules. For the analysis that included individuals with just SA, the clinical group scored significantly higher than the no diagnosis group on all measures of the SASSI-3, except for Defensiveness. When the SA group included all individuals with the diagnosis (regardless of the comorbid diagnosis), the clinical group scored significantly higher than the no diagnosis group for all the SASSI-3 subscales. A discriminant examination of the standardized function coefficients indicated that the FVA and SYM subtests contributed the most to the function. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining Positivity Effect and Working Memory in Young-Old and Very Old Adults Using EEG-Derived Cognitive State Metrics.

The positivity effect among older adults is a tendency to process more positive and/or less negative emotional stimuli compared to younger adults, with unknown upper age boundaries. Cognitive and emotional working memory were assessed in young-old adults (60-75) and very old adults (VOAs; 80+) to determine whether emotional working memory declines similar to the age-related decline of cognitive working memory. The moderating role of valence on the link between age and emotional working memory was examined to identify change in positivity effect with advanced age. Electroencephalography (EEG) markers of cognitive workload and engagement were obtained to test the theory of cognitive resource allocation in older adults' emotional stimuli processing. EEG recordings were collected during cognitive memory task and emotional working memory tasks that required rating emotional intensity of images pairs. Results indicate a positivity effect among VOAs that does not require additional cognitive effort and is not likely to diminish with age.

Postpartum Weight Retention in Primiparous Women and Weight Outcomes in Their Offspring.

INTRODUCTION: To explore the effect of prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain on postpartum weight retention in nulliparous women and weight-for-length percentiles of offspring to 2 years following birth. METHODS: A retrospective secondary analysis of a large, prospective longitudinal study of women conducted during pregnancy and after their first birth was completed to examine outcomes associated with postpartum weight retention. A chart review of the offspring of these women was completed to explore the relationship between maternal prepregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain on offspring weight-for-length percentiles. RESULTS: Data from 652 woman-infant dyads were available for analysis. Average postpartum weight retention was 4.0 kg at one year for all groups. At 6 weeks postpartum, women who were obese prior to pregnancy retained significantly less weight than did women who were normal weight prior to pregnancy (P < .05). Women who were normal weight or overweight at the onset of pregnancy and had gestational weight gain within Institute of Medicine recommendations retained significantly less weight at 6 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year postpartum (P < .01) when compared with women in those same weight groups who had a gestational weight gain in excess of the recommended guideline. Women who entered pregnancy obese and who had a gestational weight gain within the recommended weight range during pregnancy retained significantly less weight compared with women who were obese and who gained in excess of the guideline at 6 weeks postpartum only (P < .05). No statistically significant differences were seen in offspring weight-for-length percentiles at any time point based on maternal prepregnancy BMI or weight gain within guidelines. DISCUSSION: Many women retained weight up to one year postpartum. In this study, we saw no statistically significant differences between the prepregnant BMI groups or between gestational weight gain within guidelines or in excess of guidelines on offspring weight-for-length percentiles.

The effects of dynamic workload and experience on commercially available EEG cognitive state metrics in a high-fidelity air traffic control environment.

The current study evaluated the validity of commercially available electroencephalography (EEG) cognitive state metrics of workload and engagement in differentially experienced air traffic control (ATC) students. EEG and pupil diameter recordings were collected from 47 ATC students (27 more experienced and 20 less experienced) during a high-fidelity, variable workload approach-control scenario. Scenario workload was manipulated by increasing the number of aircraft released and the presence of a divided attention task. Results showed that scenario performance significantly degraded with increased aircraft and the presence of the divided attention task. No scenario performance differences were found between experience groups. The EEG engagement metric significantly differed between experience groups, with less experienced controllers exhibiting higher engagement than more experienced controllers. The EEG workload metric and pupil diameter were sensitive to workload manipulations but did not differentiate experience groups. Commercially available EEG cognitive state metrics may be a viable tool for enhancing ATC training.

Psychometric evaluation of depression measures with Northern Plains Indians.

Numerous psychometric measurements are used to assess for mental health problems in Native American and Alaskan Native (AI/AN) populations; however, few studies have been carried out to assess their validity and reliability within these populations. This study was designed to assess the validity and reliability of numerous measures among the Northern Plains Indians. This article is a partial report, focused on the psychometric measures directed at detecting depression, namely the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) II, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale, the Tri-Ethnic Depression Scale (TEDS), the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). Results revealed moderate to strong correlation across all measures, alpha coefficients that exceeded published alphas for the general population, and overall indicated their validity and reliability of these measures, and a 2-factor solution for the BDI-II. While there were limitations to the study, analysis of the results supports the use of each measure with the Northern Plains Indians (NPI) subpopulation, that the NPI subpopulation scored similar to the general population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Differential executive functioning in young adulthood as a function of experienced child abuse.

INTRODUCTION: Previous research has shown cognitive dysfunction in adults with a history of child abuse. The purpose of the present study was to measure differences that exist in executive functioning skills between individuals who have been abused as children versus those without the history of childhood abuse. METHODS: The present study recruited 43 students from the University of North Dakota (33 women) between ages 18 and 23 years of age. The participants were administered several prescreening measures, including a measure of physical child abuse, emotional child abuse, and sexual child abuse. Based on responses to these measures, participants were grouped into a no-child-abuse group, a mild-child-abuse group, or a moderate-to-severe child abuse group. All participants were administered measures of executive functioning that included the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, the Operation Span Task, and the Connors Continuous Performance Task with a simultaneous recording of electroencephalographic activity using a wireless 9 channel EEG system. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant main effect of child abuse group (no child abuse vs. moderate-to-high child abuse) for the EEG-derived probability of cognitive workload during the OSPAN. Beta bandwidths for individuals in the drug abuse group, which served as a covariate, were also found to be significantly attenuated during the Connors CPT. CONCLUSION: Individuals that have been abused as children must use significantly more mental effort to complete executive functioning tasks as compared to their non-abused counterparts. Increased neurological effort could be used to explain poor decision-making skills that are common within the population.

Neurobehavioral Effects of Consuming Dietary Fatty Acids.

BACKGROUND: Research results on the neurobehavioral effects of consuming dietary fatty acids are mixed. Therefore, this study examined the effects of consuming dietary fatty acids on depression, mood, and anxiety. METHODS: In this randomized crossover-design study, 37 university students served as their own controls, consuming each of the following diets for a 4-day period with a 2-week washout period between diets: (1) low fatty acid, (2) high saturated fatty acid (SFA), (3) high polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), and (4) control. The order of sessions was counterbalanced across dietary groups. Following consumption of each diet, participants were examined for within-subject differences in depression, mood, and anxiety. Measures included weighed dietary fat intakes, Zung's Self-Rating Anxiety and Depression Scales, and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. RESULTS: Participants had significantly higher positive affect scores (p < .007) and were significantly less irritable (p < .04) when they consumed diets rich in SFAs and PUFAs than when they consumed a low fatty acid or control diet. However, depression, anxiety, and negative affect scores did not differ significantly among diets. Analysis of participants' serum lipid levels following their intake of the fatty acid and control diets indicated significantly higher levels of total cholesterol (p = .006) and serum triglycerides (p = .003) with the control diet. CONCLUSIONS: These results highlight the neurobehavioral benefits of consuming dietary fatty acids among healthy individuals. By concentrating on the positive effects of diet on affective processes, health professionals can also provide support for at-risk individuals.

Assessment of anxiety among Northern Plains Indians.

This study is an examination of the reliability and validity of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988) in a sample of NPIs (N = 529). Validity was assessed by comparing BAI scores among 3 different diagnostic categories in a clinical sample (anxiety disorder, mood disorder, and comorbid anxiety/mood disorder diagnostic groups) and a community sample of participants with no self-reported mental health diagnoses. The BAI was also compared with depression, quality of life, and anxiety measures to assess validity. Support toward the validity of the BAI was demonstrated through high correlations with similar measures of anxiety, as well as higher scores among the clinical samples compared to the control sample. The BAI also demonstrated strong internal consistency (α = .95). An exploratory factor analysis indicated the presence of 3 factors: (a) fear, (b) cardiorespiratory, and (c) body instability symptoms. The BAI was unable to accurately differentiate between mood disorder and anxiety disorder groups. Results of this study indicate that the BAI may be a useful instrument in the assessment of anxiety with NPIs; however, the BAI is potentially unsuited to differentiating between mood disorders and anxiety disorders with this population. (PsycINFO Database Record

Neurobehavioral effects of aspartame consumption.

Despite its widespread use, the artificial sweetener aspartame remains one of the most controversial food additives, due to mixed evidence on its neurobehavioral effects. Healthy adults who consumed a study-prepared high-aspartame diet (25 mg/kg body weight/day) for 8 days and a low-aspartame diet (10 mg/kg body weight/day) for 8 days, with a 2-week washout between the diets, were examined for within-subject differences in cognition, depression, mood, and headache. Measures included weight of foods consumed containing aspartame, mood and depression scales, and cognitive tests for working memory and spatial orientation. When consuming high-aspartame diets, participants had more irritable mood, exhibited more depression, and performed worse on spatial orientation tests. Aspartame consumption did not influence working memory. Given that the higher intake level tested here was well below the maximum acceptable daily intake level of 40-50 mg/kg body weight/day, careful consideration is warranted when consuming food products that may affect neurobehavioral health.

Effects of hydration on cognitive function of pilots.

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of fluid intake and possible dehydration on cognitive flight performance of pilots. A repeated-measures, counterbalanced, mixed study design was used to examine differences in working memory, spatial orientation, and cognitive flight performance of 40 randomly selected healthy pilots after having high and low fluid intakes. Serial weights were also analyzed to determine differences in cognitive flight performance of the dehydrated (1-3% weight loss) and hydrated study participants. Results showed flight performance and spatial cognition test scores were significantly (p < 0.05) poorer for pilots who had low fluid intakes and experienced dehydration in comparison to the hydrated pilots. These findings indicate fluid intake differences resulting in dehydration may have safety implications because peak cognitive performance among pilots is critical for flight safety.

Lower but not higher doses of transdermal nicotine facilitate cognitive performance in smokers on gender non-preferred tasks.

One of the most widely used treatments for smoking cessation is nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). There is some evidence that smokers experience abstinence-induced deficits in cognitive function, which are attenuated by NRTs. Additionally it's been suggested that the degree of reversal of cognitive deficits may depend on the NRT dose and the smoker's gender. In the present placebo-controlled study we investigated effects of three doses of transdermal nicotine (7 mg, 14 mg and 21 mg) on cognitive performance of 48 male and 48 female smokers after overnight abstinence and 6h of patch application. Cognitive tasks used in the study included the Conners' CPT, emotional Stroop, mental arithmetic, and verbal recall of affective prose passages. The results showed greater probability of attentional problems in the male sample compared to females as identified by the Conners' CPT. Within gender women showed improved performance in the 7 mg and 14 mg conditions on several measures of the Conners' CPT, and faster hit reaction time on the emotional Stroop test compared to women in the placebo and 21 mg of nicotine groups. Conversely, males showed a moderate overall advantage on the mental arithmetic task and were differentially sensitive to nicotine treatment on the prose recall task, on which the greatest improvement in recall of affective material was observed for the 14 mg group compared to the 21 mg group. The results are explained on the basis of an inverted U-shaped relationship between nicotinic stimulation and cognitive performance as well as greater sensitivity to nicotine dose manipulation on gender non-preferred cognitive tasks.

Accommodative response and cortical activity during sustained attention.

Greater accommodative lag and vergence deficits have been linked to attentional deficits similar to those observed in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The purpose of the present study was to assess the effect of accommodative-vergence stress on a measure of sustained attention (Conners CPT) used in the diagnosis of ADHD. Twenty-seven normal non-ADHD adults completed the Conners CPT twice: wearing -2.00 D lenses and normally (without the -2.00 D lenses) in a counterbalanced order with at least 24 h between the sessions. Simultaneous recording of participants' dynamic accommodative responses was performed from the right eye using the Grand Seiko WAM-5500 auto-refractor and electroencephalographic activity (EEG) in the left prefrontal region using the Neurosky Mindset headset. The results demonstrated a significantly greater accommodative lag in the -2.00 D stress condition and a significantly poorer performance on the Conners CPT as indexed by slower reaction time, greater standard error of hit reaction time, grater response variability, poorer stimulus detectability and a greater number of perseverations. No differences were observed on measures of EEG in the theta (4-7 Hz), alpha (8-12 Hz), and beta (12-20 Hz) bands. Moreover, when directly juxtaposed with each EEG band in multiple linear regression analyses, greater accommodative lag in the stress condition was significantly associated with a greater probability of clinical classification on the Conners CPT, and was also marginally predictive of the number of omissions recorded in the stress condition. The results demonstrated that sustained attention can be influenced by such factors as accommodative-vergence stress and suggest that bottom-up processes can contribute to and potentially exacerbate attentional problems in individuals with ADHD. The study also showed that cortical dysfunction (while sufficient) may not be a necessary condition for attentional deficits.

Effects of acute alcohol intoxication on verbal memory in young men as a function of time of day.

This experiment examined whether the time of day of alcohol administration influences alcohol metabolism and the impact of alcohol on verbal memory. It was hypothesized that circadian fluctuations in endogenous levels of testosterone in young men would differentially affect blood alcohol levels, which would consequently impair their memory performance to a different degree. Participants were administered alcohol or placebo drinks either at 8am or 6pm and recall of 4 prose passages was examined. The results indicated that recall declined for subjects administered alcohol but time of day did not moderate these effects. Nevertheless, generally alcohol breath levels changed in the predicted direction as a function of the time of the day with higher levels recorded in the morning and lower levels in the afternoon. The results suggested that observed differences in breath alcohol levels may be influenced by differences in endogenous levels of testosterone, but the effect of this presumed interaction on verbal memory appears inconclusive.

Dietary Effects on Cognition and Pilots' Flight Performance.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of diet on cognition and flight performance of 45 pilots. Based on a theory of self-care, this clinical study used a repeated-measure, counterbalanced crossover design. Pilots were randomly rotated through 4-day high-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat, and control diets. Cognitive flight performance was evaluated using a GAT-2 full-motion flight simulator. The Sternberg short-term memory test and Vandenberg's mental rotation test were used to validate cognitive flight test results. Pilots consuming a high-protein diet had significantly poorer (p < .05) overall flight performance scores than pilots consuming high-fat and high-carbohydrate diets.