Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons^™

Motivational Profiles And Their Associations With Achievement Outcomes, Bo Shen, Nate Mccaughtry, Jeffrey J. Martin, Mariane Fahlman

Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies

With the belief that theoretical integration in motivation may help us better understand motivational behavior, we designed this study to explore adolescents’ motivational profiles and their associations with knowledge acquisition, leisure-time exercise behaviors, and cardiorespiratory fitness. Middle school students from a large urban inner-city school district (N = 603, ages 12–14) completed questionnaires assessing motivational constructs and leisure-time exercise behavior. Knowledge and cardiorespiratory fitness were also assessed with a knowledge test and the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) test, respectively. Using hierarchical cluster analysis, we found that students’ motivation in physical education could be explained from a multi-theoretical …

Sleep-Disordered Breathing Affects Auditory Processing In 5–7 Year-Old Children: Evidence From Brain Recordings, Alexandra P.F. Key, Dennis L. Molfese, Louise O’Brien, David Gozal

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Poor sleep in children is associated with lower neurocognitive functioning and increased maladaptive behaviors. The current study examined the impact of snoring (the most common manifestation of sleep-disordered breathing) on cognitive and brain functioning in a sample of 35 asymptomatic children ages 5–7 years identified in the community as having habitual snoring (SDB). All participants completed polysomnographic, neurocognitive (NEPSY) and psychophysiological (ERPs to speech sounds) assessments. The results indicated that sub-clinical levels of SDB may not necessarily lead to reduced performance on standardized behavioral measures of attention and memory. However, brain indices of speech perception and discrimination (N1/P2) are sensitive …

Frequency And Spatial Characteristics Of Highfrequency Neuromagnetic Signals In Childhood Epilepsy, Jing Xiang, Yang Liu, Yingying Wang, Elijah G. Kirtman, Cincinnati Children’S Hospital Medical Center Kotecha, Yangmei Chen, Xiaolin Huo, Hisako Fujiwara, Nat Hemasilpin, Ki Lee, Francesco T. Mangano, James Leach, Blaise Jones, Ton Degrauw, Douglas Rose

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Purpose. Invasive intracranial recordings have suggested that high-frequency oscillation is involved in epileptogenesis and is highly localized to epileptogenic zones. The aim of the present study is to characterize the frequency and spatial patterns of high-frequency brain signals in childhood epilepsy using a non-invasive technology. Methods. Thirty children with clinically diagnosed epilepsy were studied using a whole head magnetoencephalography (MEG) system. MEG data were digitized at 4 000 Hz. The frequency and spatial characteristics of high-frequency neuromagnetic signals were analyzed using continuous wavelet transform and beamformer. Threedimensional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was obtained for each patient to localize magnetic sources. …

Impairments In Attention In Occasionally Snoring Children: An Event-Related Potential Study, Maria E. Barnes, Elizabeth A. Huss, Krista N. Garrod, Eric Van Raay, Ehab Dayyat, Dennis L. Molfese

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Objective—To determine whether minimal snoring is benign in children.

Procedure—22 rarely snoring children (mean age=6.9 years, 11 females) and age- and sexmatched controls participated in an auditory oddball task wearing 128-electrode nets. Parents completed Conner’s Parent Rating Scales-Revised Long (CPRS-R:L).

Results—Snorers scored significantly higher on 4 CPRS-R:L subscales. Stepwise regression indicated that two ERP variables from a region of the ERP that peaked at 844 ms post-stimulus onset predicted CPRS-R:L ADHD Index scores.

Conclusions—Occasional snorers according to parental report do exhibit ADHD-like behaviors. Basic sensory processing is longer than in controls, suggesting that delayed frontal activation requires more effort in …

The Theory Of Planned Behavior: Predicting Physical Activity In Mexican American Children, Jeffrey J. Martin, Kimberly L. Oliver, Nate Mccaughtry

Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies

Theoretically grounded research on the determinants of Mexican American children's physical activity and related psychosocial variables is scarce. Thus, the purpose of our investigation was to evaluate the ability of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict Mexican American children's self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Children (N = 475, ages 9–12) completed questionnaires assessing the TPB constructs and MVPA. Multiple regression analyses provided moderate support for the ability of the TPB variables to predict MVPA as we accounted for between 8–9% of the variance in MVPA. Attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control accounted for 45% of the …

Smoking During Pregnancy Affects Speech-Processing Ability In Newborn Infants, Alexandra P.F. Key, Melissa Ferguson, Dennis L. Molfese, Kelley Peach, Victoria J. Molfese

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking during pregnancy is known to adversely affect development of the central nervous system in babies of smoking mothers by restricting utero–placental blood flow and the amount of oxygen available to the fetus. Behavioral data associate maternal smoking with lower verbal scores and poorer performance on specific language/auditory tests.

OBJECTIVES: In the current study we examined the effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on newborns’ speech processing ability as measured by event-related potentials (ERPs).

METHOD: High-density ERPs were recorded within 48 hr of birth in healthy newborn infants of smoking (n = 8) and nonsmoking …

The Effect Of Handling Time On Temporal Discounting In Two New World Primates, Alexandra G. Rosati, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Marc D. Hauser

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Foraging decisions in nonhuman animals often require choosing between small, immediate food rewards and larger, more delayed rewards. Faced with such choices, animals typically discount or devalue the future quite strongly. Although discounting studies often focus on delays to reward access, other temporal intervals contribute to foraging rate, and thus may potentially influence discounting levels. Here, we examine the effect of handling time, the time required to process and consume food, on discounting in cottontop tamarins, Saguinus oedipus, and common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, two species that differ in levels of temporal discounting. We presented subjects with a discounting task under …

The Theory Of Planned Behavior: Predicting Physical Activity And Cardiorespiratory Fitness In African American Children, Jeffrey J. Martin, Pamela Hodges Kulinna, Nate Mccaughtry, Donetta Cothran, Joe Dake, Gail Frances Fahoome

Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies

The purpose of our study was to evaluate the ability of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to predict African American children’s moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and cardiorespiratory fitness. Children (N = 548, ages 9–12) completed questionnaires assessing the TPB constructs and MVPA and then had their cardiorespiratory fitness assessed with the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) test. Commonly used Structural Equation Modeling fit indices suggested the model was an adequate representation for the relationships within the data. However, results also suggested an extended model which was examined and supported. Tests of direct paths from subjective …

The Relationships Among Competitiveness, Age And Ability In Distance Runners, Robert C. Eklund, Jeffrey J. Martin, Alan L. Smith

Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships suggested by general achievement motivation literature and the popular literature in sport using the Sport Orientation Questionnaire (SOQ). The current study examined if faster runners are more competitive than slower runners, if older athletes were less competitive than younger athletes, and if faster runners were more goal oriented than slower runners. Distance runners (n=80), ranging from 10 to 61 years old completed race packets containing a cover letter, consent forms, the SOQ and a demographic questionnaire. Runners averaged 32.9 years of age and reported levels of competitiveness and goal …