Mind, brain and education-Neuromechanisms during child development.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Educational neuroscience has emerged as an interdisciplinary field aimed at elucidating the neurobiological underpinnings of learning and educational outcomes. By synthesizing findings from diverse research endeavours, this Editorial aims to delineate the intricate interplay between neural processes and educational experiences, shedding light on the factors that shape cognitive development and learning trajectories in children. RESULTS: This Editorial highlights significant advancements, spanning investigations into neural mechanisms, cognitive development and educational interventions on the basis of four exemplary topics and their effects on academic learning and achievement: student's academic self-concept, (cyber-)bullying, reading skills/dyslexia and a growth mindset intervention. Summaries of the four empirical contributions in this special issue are presented and discussed in relation to how they provide insight into the dynamic interplay between neural mechanisms and environmental influences, underscoring the role of early experiences in sculpting brain development and shaping educational outcomes. Furthermore, the integration of neuroscientific techniques (e.g., fMRI, eye-tracking) with educational research methodologies has provided novel insights into the neural correlates of learning processes, executive functions and socio-emotional development during childhood. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the pivotal role of Educational Neuroscience in bridging the gap between neuroscience and education is highlighted. By elucidating the neurobiological foundations of learning, this interdisciplinary field offers valuable insights for informing evidence-based educational practices and interventions tailored to individual learning profiles. Moving forward, continued collaboration between researchers, educators and policymakers is essential to harnessing the full potential of Educational Neuroscience in promoting cognitive growth and academic success across diverse learner populations.

Neural and behavioural correlates of adolescents changing academic self-concept.

BACKGROUND: Mid-adolescence is an important phase of self-development in various domains including academics as well as for changes in the neural mechanisms underlying the self-concept. Students' academic self-concept (ASC) is affected by educational achievements and social others (such as teachers and peers). To what extent these external influences relate to neural dynamics during adolescents' self- and other-evaluations (i.e. of friends and teachers) which affect ASC over time is currently unclear. AIMS: The current study aimed to address the question of to what extent the developing ASC is influenced by developmental changes in self- and other-evaluations (friends, teachers) and their underlying neural mechanisms as well as academic achievement. METHODS: In this interdisciplinary longitudinal fMRI study, forty-seven 13-year-olds (at T1) were instructed to indicate whether positive and negative trait adjectives described themselves (self-evaluations), their teachers, or peers (other-evaluations) at two time points. We investigated how adolescents' academic self-concept is influenced by changes in their academic achievement and self- and other-evaluations (teachers and peers) 1.5-years later. RESULTS: Behaviourally, both, academic achievement and positive teacher evaluations were important to prevent the observed decline in ASC during mid-adolescence. Our fMRI results showed that cortical midline structures were linked to self-evaluation, whereas the precuneus and occipital regions were related to friends- and teacher-evaluation. Here, ASC was predicted by activity changes in the precuneus during friends-evaluations for students with better academic achievement. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that academic achievement and positive teacher-evaluations could prevent the decline in ASC observed in mid-adolescents and that the neural correlates of evaluating close others within the precuneus present an important link to ASC. The current study highlights the importance of educational neuroscience studies to understand the changing ASC during adolescence.

Support from parents, teachers, and peers and the moderation of subjective and objective stress of secondary school student.

During adolescence, students increasingly report suffering from stress and school burnout, which poses a risk to students' healthy development. However, social support may counteract perceived stress according to the Buffering Hypothesis and the Conservation of Resources Theory. In search of factors that would support healthy student development, studies have primarily focused on self-report data and neglected biophysiological processes. Addressing this research desideratum, this study examined whether perceived social support buffers the interplay of self-reported stress considering biophysiological markers (i.e., cortisol, alpha-amylase, oxidative stress, and telomere length). 83 secondary school students (Mage = 13.72, SD = 0.67; 48% girls) from Germany participated in a questionnaire study and biophysiological testing. Moderation analyses in R revealed that support from parents moderated the relationships between psychological stress as well as cynicism and inadequacy at school linked to alpha-amylase.

Examining different motivational patterns in individualized learning.

Past research on situated expectancy-value theory has regularly provided evidence of different motivational patterns indicating that not only can students be characterized by different levels of motivation (e.g., low vs. high), but also by divergent profiles (e.g., high success expectancies, low task values). This person-oriented two-wave study (a) identified and compared the motivational patterns of secondary school students from different learning environments (i.e., Student-Centered Learning vs. Teacher-Directed Learning), (b) analyzed the stability of and changes to these patterns during a school year, and (c) examined whether achievement-related choices and performance predicted the pattern changes. Using data from German secondary school students (T1: N = 1153; M = 13.97 years, SD = 1.37; 49% girls) multigroup latent transition analysis revealed four different motivational patterns, including a (a) High Motivational pattern, (b) Medium Motivational pattern, (c) Low Motivational pattern, and (d) Highly Confident/Hardly Interested pattern. The distribution of these patterns differed significantly between students from Student-Centered-Learning and Teacher-Directed-Learning environments. Approximately 47% of students in Teacher-Directed Learning were in the low motivational class whereas the Student-Centered Learning environment exhibited approximately half of that number. The extremely stable nature of these classes highlights the strong relevance of the educational context for student motivation and supports situated expectancy-value theory.

Biophysiological stress markers relate differently to grit and school engagement among lower- and higher-track secondary school students.

BACKGROUND: This study examines the relationship between adolescents' biophysiological stress (i.e. cortisol, alpha-amylase and oxidative stress) and the development of grit and school engagement over one school year. AIMS: The study aims to identify how objective stress affects grit and three dimensions of school engagement. Based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, the study considers lower- and higher-track school students and their genders. SAMPLE: The sample consists of secondary school students (N = 82; MAge  = 13.71; SD = 0.67; 48% girls) from Germany. METHODS: Students participated in a questionnaire and a biophysiological study in the first semester (t1) of the school year and completed the same questionnaire at the end of the school year (t2). After conducting whole-sample analysis, a multi-group cross-lagged panel model was calculated to identify differences among students at lower- and higher-track schools. RESULTS: Whole-sample analysis reveals that students who exhibit high levels of cortisol report lower cognitive school engagement at t2, whereas students who exhibit high levels of alpha-amylase exhibit less grit at t2. Additionally, lower-track students who exhibited high cortisol levels reported lower cognitive and emotional school engagement throughout the school year. Furthermore, higher-track students with high oxidative stress levels reported lower grit and behavioural school engagement at t2. CONCLUSIONS: Examining the relationship between biophysiological stress markers and grit and school engagement of students at lower- and higher-track schools indicates that the educational context and its specific subculture shapes physiological stress reactions, which are related differently to grit and engagement dimensions.

Adolescents' neural reactivity to acute psychosocial stress: dysfunctional regulation habits are linked to temporal gyrus response.

Mid-adolescence is a critical time for the development of stress-related disorders and it is associated with significant social vulnerability. However, little is known about normative neural processes accompanying psychosocial stress at this time. Previous research found that emotion regulation strategies critically influence the relationship between stress and the development of psychiatric symptoms during adolescence. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined neural responses to acute stress and analyzed whether the tendency to use adaptive or maladaptive emotion regulation strategies is related to neural and autonomic stress responses. Results show large linear activation increases from low to medium to high stress levels mainly in medial prefrontal, insulae and temporal areas. Caudate and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, neural areas related to reward and affective valuations, showed linearly decreasing activation. In line with our hypothesis, the current adolescent neural stress profile resembled social rejection and was characterized by pronounced activation in insula, angular and temporal cortices. Moreover, results point to an intriguing role of the anterior temporal gyrus. Stress-related activity in the anterior temporal gyrus was positively related to maladaptive regulation strategies and stress-induced autonomic activity. Maladaptive coping might increase the social threat and reappraisal load of a stressor, relating to higher stress sensitivity of anterior temporal cortices.

How teacher and classmate support relate to students' stress and academic achievement.

According to the conservation of resources theory, social support provides resources to help overcome challenges. Although some empirical findings have emphasized the pivotal role of teacher support and/or peer support for students' stress and academic achievement, multilevel analyses that consider contextual class and individual student effects are scarce. The current study addresses this gap and further includes gender, socio-economic status, and neuroticism as covariates. Multilevel analyses in Mplus were conducted. All measures were taken at the student level and then aggregated to the classroom level to estimate class-level relationships. Results revealed that on the individual level, teacher support was related to higher ability to cope and lower levels of helplessness, while on the class level, peer support by classmates was related to higher ability to cope and academic achievement. The context effects also show that in classes with higher peer support, students are more likely to benefit in terms of coping ability and achievement, whereas in classes with higher teacher support, students tend to show less coping ability.

Adolescents' enjoyment and effort in class: Influenced by self-directed learning intervals.

Based on the control-value theory, the present study examined the development and change of enjoyment and effort among adolescents during a school year. The study analyzed 754 adolescent students (MAge = 13.56; SD = 1.2; 49.7% female) who twice participated in a 1-week intervention of self-directed learning (SDL). The results of the bivariate latent neighbor change model showed that-contrary to previous study results-a positive development of enjoyment and effort was generally recorded over the school year and that particularly the two 1-week self-directed learning interventions were beneficial for this increase. Furthermore, the results show that enjoyment and effort were reciprocally linked over time, but only when self-directed learning was experienced first. In other words, by enlarging instruction via self-directed learning intervals, it is possible to counteract the tendency of enjoyment and effort to exhibit a downward spiral. This tendency is especially pronounced during students' entry into secondary school and the onset of adolescence.

The relation between sensory processing sensitivity and telomere length in adolescents.

BACKGROUND: In the present study, we investigated the association between sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) and telomere length (TL), which is considered a biomarker of cellular aging. SPS is an individual characteristic describing increased perception and procession of inner or outer stimuli, and is positively related to self-perceived stress. METHODS: We recruited 82 healthy adolescents aged 13-16 from secondary schools in Germany. SPS was measured with the Highly Sensitive Person Scale, and TL was determined by a multiplex quantitative PCR method. RESULTS: Our results show that students with higher values of SPS are likely to have shorter telomeres (ß = 0.337, p = .001), when adjusting for sex, socioeconomic status, age, and body mass index. These findings are also independent of the negative impact of stress students might have perceived shortly before data collection. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis suggests that students who struggle with low sensory threshold are likely to have shorter telomeres.

Adolescents' expectancy-value profiles in school context: The impact of self-directed learning intervals.

INTRODUCTION: Using the situated expectancy-value theory, it becomes possible to explain motivational functioning across alternating learning conditions not only at a particular moment but also over time. The situated expectancy-value theory provides evidence for the critical role of context. The present research examines how adolescents' success expectancies, task values, and effort develop when the conditions of the academic environment change. It also evaluates whether adolescents adopt more adaptive expectancy-value profiles in response to the need-based nature of self-directed learning as an extension of regular instruction. Within the self-directed learning approach under investigation, adolescents take responsibility for their own learning processes. METHODS: The present research offers insights into the expectancy-value profiles of 754 German adolescents (Mage = 13.56; SD = 1.2; 49.4% female). A four-wave study was used to examine perceptions of self-efficacy, intrinsic value, utility value, and effort. Latent profile analyses and latent transition analyses were employed. RESULTS: Notably, the results provide evidence that expanding instruction via self-directed learning intervals that occur for 1 week per semester contributes to more favorable expectancy-value profiles within a student's favorite subject. A mixed profile (highly confident, hardly interested) disappeared. Instead, success expectations aligned more closely with adolescents' task values and effort. All profiles settled at a higher level. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that instruction that is expanded via self-directed learning intervals has positive consequences for motivational profiles over time. An initial self-directed learning episode led to a shift to more interested profile groups. The continuation of a positive trend even after a self-directed learning interval indicates that adolescents are able to continually adapt their learning to their needs during teacher-directed instruction. This study provides clues about how to design curricula in a way that counteracts the downward trend in students' motivation to learn.

The role of social belonging and exclusion at school and the teacher-student relationship for the development of learned helplessness in adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Based on learned helplessness theory and conservation of resources theory, the present study explores the role of schools' social environments (i.e., school belonging, school exclusion, and teacher-student relationships) as potential buffers and amplifiers in students' development of learned helplessness during adolescence. AIMS: We examine whether school belonging, school exclusion, and teacher-student relationship moderate the longitudinal association of learned helplessness differently for students from low-track schools and high-track schools. SAMPLE: The study uses a sample of N = 1,088 (Mage = 13.70, SD = 0.53; 54% girls) adolescent students who participated in a two-wave longitudinal study. METHODS: We conducted latent moderated structural equation modelling to examine whether school belonging, school exclusion, and teacher-student relationship moderate the longitudinal association of learned helplessness differently for students from low-track schools and high-track schools. RESULTS: The moderation analyses revealed that students from both school tracks are differently affected by school belonging and school exclusion in their development of learned helplessness. Teacher-student relationship did not moderate the association. CONCLUSION: Our findings underline the important role of the social environment in students' development of learned helplessness. Particularly, the differential effects found for the different educational tracks highlight the necessary awareness of educators to interindividual differences of their students.

Do Belonging and Social Exclusion at School Affect Structural Brain Development During Adolescence?

Students' sense of belonging presents an essential resource for academic and health outcomes, whereas social exclusion at school negatively impacts students' well-being and academic performance. Aiming to understand how feelings of school-related belonging and exclusion shape the structural brain development, this study applied longitudinal questionnaire-based data and MRI data from 71 adolescent students (37 females, Mage at t1 = 15.0; t2 = 16.1 years). All were white participants from Germany. Voxel-based morphometry revealed only an association of social exclusion (and not of belonging) and gray matter volume in the left anterior insula: From t1 to t2, there was less gray matter decrease, the more social exclusion students perceived. School-related social exclusion and disturbed neurodevelopment are thus significantly associated.

Needs satisfaction and motivation among adolescent boys and girls during self-directed learning intervention.

INTRODUCTION: Self-directed learning (SDL) fosters adolescents' needs satisfaction. According to self-determination theory, meeting adolescents' needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness is essential for their motivation. However, students' needs satisfaction and motivation tend to decrease during adolescence and the rate of decrease varies by gender. Prior research within the self-determination theory literature has described adolescents in traditional teacher-directed learning (TDL) contexts, but little research has examined decreases in adolescents' needs satisfaction and motivation or gender-based differences among adolescents in SDL interventions. METHODS: The present two-wave study compared questionnaire data from German adolescent boys and girls (N = 754; Mage = 13.56; SD = 1.2; 49.4% girls) who attended an SDL intervention. To investigate possible gender-based differences in the interplay and extend of the variables, two multi-group structural equation model (multigroup SEM) and latent mean comparison (LMC) were programmed. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS: Boys reported higher values only for introjected and extrinsic regulation. With two different restricted multigroup SEMs, the present study detected additional gender-based differences. For example, the paths between autonomy and intrinsic and identified motivation were stronger for boys than for girls, and competence was only associated with intrinsic motivation among girls. Overall, these findings suggest that fewer gender-based differences exist in needs satisfaction and academic self-regulation in an SDL intervention than have been observed in previous research in TDL contexts. Further, adolescents' needs satisfaction was explicitly associated with higher forms of academic motivation (i.e., intrinsic and identified).

School-related pressure and parental support as predictors of change in student stress levels from early to middle adolescence.

INTRODUCTION: One major stressor of adolescents relates to the pressure students perceive from their parents accompanied by high academic expectations, while in contrast parental support is related to low levels of stress. However, it is not clear whether the perceived parental pressure and support contribute to a change in students' stress level from early to middle adolescence and if there are differences among students from low vs. high track schools. METHODS: Thus, based on the conservation of resources theory, this two-wave study examined the role of perceived maternal and paternal pressure and support for students' general stress level from grades 8 to 9 among students attending high- and low-track schools by applying multigroup multilevel latent change modeling based on data from 1088 8th grade students (MAge = 13.70, SD = 0.53, 53.9% girls at Time 1). RESULTS: Results indicate that the general stress level from early to middle adolescence increases for students from low-track schools only. This change increases even more if students from lowtrack schools perceive pressure from their fathers, whereas perceived paternal support dampen the increase of stress. For students from high-track schools, perceived maternal pressure is positively and maternal support negatively related to students' stress level in grade 8. Overall, boys tend to report lower stress levels compared to girls. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study support the conservation of resources theory, as both perceived support and pressure from parents and the educational context predict students' stress development during adolescence.

Control-value theory in the context of teaching: does teaching quality moderate relations between academic self-concept and achievement emotions?

BACKGROUND: Students' self-concept of ability is an important predictor of their achievement emotions. However, little is known about how learning environments affect these interrelations. AIMS: Referring to Pekrun's control-value theory, this study investigated whether teacher-reported teaching quality at the classroom level would moderate the relation between student-level mathematics self-concept at the beginning of the school year and students' achievement emotions at the middle of the school year. SAMPLE: Data of 807 ninth and tenth graders (53.4% girls) and their mathematics teachers (58.1% male) were analysed. METHOD: Students and teachers completed questionnaires at the beginning of the school year and at the middle of the school year. Multi-level modelling and cross-level interaction analyses were used to examine the longitudinal relations between self-concept, teacher-perceived teaching quality, and achievement emotions as well as potential interaction effects. RESULTS: Mathematics self-concept significantly and positively related to enjoyment in mathematics and negatively related to anxiety. Teacher-reported structuredness decreased students' anxiety. Mathematics self-concept only had a significant and positive effect on students' enjoyment at high levels of teacher-reported cognitive activation and at high levels of structuredness. CONCLUSIONS: High teaching quality can be seen as a resource that strengthens the positive relations between academic self-concept and positive achievement emotions.

Adolescents' Personality Development - A Question of Psychosocial Stress.

Following the relational-developmental systems approach, this three-wave study examines whether acute stress (T2) mediates the relationship between the development of personality traits from the beginning of 8th grade (T1, M age = 15.63, SD = 0.59; 22 girls) to the end of 9th grade (T3). Using the Montréal Imaging Stress Task, which is a task that provokes acute social stress by negative social feedback, this study combined the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), heart rate, and longitudinal survey data of 41 adolescents. Mediation analysis revealed that stress-induced left insula activation partially mediates the longitudinal stability of conscientiousness. These results highlight the impact of negative social feedback during stress on students' personality development.

Positive emotions, learning behavior and teacher support in self-directed learning during adolescence: Do age and gender matter?

INTRODUCTION: It has already been shown that positive emotions can positively influence learning behavior. However, what is less known is whether teacher support mediates this relationship in adolescents of varying ages and genders in self-directed learning (SDL) at school. METHODS: Data gathered with questionnaires given to 754 German students (Mage = 13.56; SD = 1.2; 49,4% female students) at two measurement times is used as the empirical basis of this study. To control for possible gender and age-based differences in the interplay and extent of the variables, a multigroup structural equation model and latent mean comparison (LMC) were carried out, whereby four groups [female 6th/7th graders, male 6th/7th graders (earlier adolescence), female 8th/9th graders, male 8th/9th graders (middle adolescence)] were examined. RESULTS: Across from the female 8th/9th graders as the reference group, the LMC showed that all other groups have significantly higher mean values for positive emotions. In addition, female 6th/7th graders report a significantly higher level of volition. Teacher support partly mediates all relations. Group differences in the interplay of the variables were excluded. CONCLUSION: The results of the study highlight the importance of teacher support when SDL is carried out in school. Thus, teacher support reduces the effects between positive emotions and learning behavior. This means that in self-directed learning, even those students who develop weaker positive emotions are supported.

Does Stress Mediate the Association Between Emotional Intelligence and Life Satisfaction During Adolescence?

BACKGROUND: Based on Mayer and Salovey's model of emotional intelligence, this study examined whether perceived stress mediates the interplay of emotional intelligence and life satisfaction for girls and boys during early and middle adolescence. METHODS: Using multigroup structural equation modeling with questionnaire data from a sample of Spanish adolescent students (N = 800; MAge T1 = 14.02, MAge T2 = 15.00, SD = 1.21) in 2 waves (T1 = March 2015; T2 = December 2015). RESULTS: Results of multigroup structural equation modeling indicated no group differences between boys and girls in early adolescence (7th and 8th grade) and middle adolescence (9th and 10th grade), as stress function as mediator between emotional intelligence and life satisfaction for all groups. However, latent mean comparison indicated that girls not only perceive and understand emotions better than boys, but they also perceive higher amounts of stress at an older age. CONCLUSION: Results indicate the potential risk of perceived stress that might drop the protective effect of emotional intelligence on life satisfaction. These findings have implications for future research and educational practice considering combined prevention programs for adolescent's health and well-being.

Loneliness and Adolescents' Neural Processing of Self, Friends, and Teachers: Consequences for the School Self-Concept.

The present interdisciplinary study explored whether perceived loneliness is associated with ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) activation during self- and social judgments (friends and teachers) in adolescents. Moreover, we examined how vMPFC activity is related to the academic self-concept (ASC). Results of manifest path analysis indicated that high perceived loneliness was related to lower neural response to self-judgments. In turn, high neural response to self-judgments was positively associated with the ASC, whereas there was a trendwise negative association between high neural response to teacher-related judgments and ASC. This study reveals associations between perceived loneliness and neural processing of the self, underlining the idea that feeling isolated from others may hinder self-insight and, by extension, the formation of a stable academic self-concept.

How classmates' stress affects student's quality of motivation.

Over the last decades, more and more adolescents and children feel chronically stressed, which negatively affects their school performance. However, less is known whether classmates' general stress affects an individual student's quality of motivation. Therefore, based on conservation of resources theory, this study examined the precise interplay between general stress and the quality of motivation for students in high- and low-tracking schools considering potential context effects. Results of multilevel multigroup structural equation models with questionnaire data from 1,088 German students identified differences in the relation between general stress and quality of motivation for students from different school forms on both the within and between level.