Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Social Isolation, Third Places, And Precarious Employment Circumstances: A Scoping Review, Debbie Laliberte Rudman, Rebecca M. Aldrich

Occupational Therapy Publications

No abstract provided.

Who’S Cooking Tonight? A Time-Use Study Of Coupled Adults In Toronto, Canada, Bochu Liu, Michael J. Widener, Lindsey G. Smith, Steven Farber, Dionne Gesink, Leia M. Minaker, Zachary Patterson, Kristian Larsen, Jason Gilliland

Geography & Environment Publications

Understanding how coupled adults arrange food-related labor in relation to their daily time allocation is of great importance because different arrangements may have implications for diet-related health and gender equity. Studies from the time-use perspective argue that daily activities such as work, caregiving, and non-food-related housework can potentially compete for time with foodwork. However, studies in this regard are mostly centered on individual-level analyses. They fail to consider cohabiting partners’ time spent on foodwork and non-food-related activities, a factor that could be helpful in explaining how coupled partners decide to allocate time to food activities. Using 108 daily time-use logs …

Long Term Outcomes After Norse: Treatment With Vagus Nerve Stimulation, Poul H. Espino, Jorge G. Burneo, Gaby Moscol, Teneille Gofton, Keith Macdougall, Ana Suller-Marti

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

New-onset refractory status epilepticus (NORSE) is associated with high mortality, therapy resistant epilepsy (TRE) and poor cognitive and functional outcomes. Some patients develop multifocal TRE, for whom surgery with a curative intention, is not an option. In these patients, Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) is performed as a palliative treatment. We report the long-term outcomes regarding seizure frequency, functional and cognitive outcome, and effectiveness of VNS in two patients with TRE as a consequence of NORSE. In the first patient with cryptogenic NORSE, VNS implantation occurred during the acute stage, probably contributing to the cessation of her status epilepticus. However, in …

No Statistical Learning Advantage In Children Over Adults: Evidence From Behaviour And Neural Entrainment., Christine N Moreau, Marc F. Joanisse, Jerrica Mulgrew, Laura J. Batterink

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Explicit recognition measures of statistical learning (SL) suggest that children and adults have similar linguistic SL abilities. However, explicit tasks recruit additional cognitive processes that are not directly relevant for SL and may thus underestimate children's true SL capacities. In contrast, implicit tasks and neural measures of SL should be less influenced by explicit, higher-level cognitive abilities and thus may be better suited to capturing developmental differences in SL. Here, we assessed SL to six minutes of an artificial language in English-speaking children (n = 56, 24 females, M = 9.98 years) and adults (n = 44; 31 females, M …

Parents’ Perceptions Of Their Children’S Physical Activity During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Emma Ostermeier, Patricia Tucker, Danielle Tobin, Andrew Clark, Jason Gilliland

Geography & Environment Publications

Background

COVID-19 has drastically changed the everyday lives of children, including limiting interactions with peers, loss of regularly organized activities, and closure of schools and recreational facilities. While COVID-19 protocols are in place to reduce viral transmission, they have affected children’s access to physical activity opportunities. The purpose of this study was to understand how COVID-19 has affected children’s engagement in physical activity and to identify strategies that can support children’s return to physical activity programming in public places.

Methods

Parents of past participants in the Grade 5 ACT-i-Pass Program in London, Ontario, Canada were invited to participate in a …

Intake Of Fruits, Vegetables, And Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Among A Sample Of Children In Rural Northern Ontario, Canada, Brenton L.G. Button, Louise W. Mceachern, Gina Martin, Jason A. Gilliland

Geography & Environment Publications

There is evidence to suggest that dietary intake of children differs by rural/urban place of residence: rural children may have a higher intake of foods high in fat and sugar than those living in urban environments. The aim of this study was to examine the intake of fruits and vegetables (FV) and the frequency of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption, among a sample of rural children in Northern Ontario, Canada, in two different seasons. Sociodemographic factors and children’s FV and SSB intake were measured using two repeated cross-sectional surveys, and seasonal information was based on the month of data collection. Logistic …

Junk Food Accessibility After 10 Years Of A Restrictive Food Environment Zoning Policy Around Schools, Lindsey Soon, Jason Gilliland, Leia M. Minaker

Geography & Environment Publications

Zoning has been proposed as a way of reducing unhealthy food access for youth, but little research has evaluated outcomes of proposed or existing junk food bans, and even less research has considered equity implications of such zoning policies. In this simulation study, set in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario (Canada), we examined how secondary student access to fast food restaurants and convenience stores would change under such a policy over 10 years in a mid-sized Canadian municipality. Outcomes are presented by school-level advantage (derived from the proportion of students in equity-deserving subgroups: low income, students who speak English …

Examining Elementary School Children’S Knowledge About Food And Nutrition In Southwestern Ontario, Canada, Paige Colley, Jamie A. Seabrook, Sarah J. Woodruff, Jason Gilliland

Geography & Environment Publications

Purpose: Knowledge is fundamental to helping children make nutritional choices that support lifelong healthy behaviours. This study (i) investigates elementary school children’s knowledge about food and nutrition and (ii) identifies sociodemographic factors influencing children’s reported knowledge. Methods: In 2017–2019, a survey was administered to 2443 students (grades 5–8) at 60 schools across southwestern Ontario, Canada, and a parent survey was used to validate self-reported sociodemographics. Multiple regression was used to analyse children’s knowledge scores and related sociodemographic factors. A total knowledge score was calculated by summing correct responses derived from 46 individual questions in the student …

An Open Access Resource For Functional Brain Connectivity From Fully Awake Marmosets, David J. Schaeffer, L Martyn Klassen, Yuki Hori, Xiaoguang Tian, Diego Szczupak, Cecil Chern-Chyi Yen, Justine C. Cléry, Kyle M. Gilbert, Joseph S. Gati, Ravi S. Menon, Cirong Liu, Stefan Everling, Afonso C. Silva

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is quickly gaining traction as a premier neuroscientific model. However, considerable progress is still needed in understanding the functional and structural organization of the marmoset brain to rival that documented in longstanding preclinical model species, like mice, rats, and Old World primates. To accelerate such progress, we present the Marmoset Functional Brain Connectivity Resource (marmosetbrainconnectome.org), currently consisting of over 70 h of resting-state fMRI (RS-fMRI) data acquired at 500 µm isotropic resolution from 31 fully awake marmosets in a common stereotactic space. Three-dimensional functional connectivity (FC) maps for every cortical and subcortical gray matter voxel …

Rethinking Walkability And Developing A Conceptual Definition Of Active Living Environments To Guide Research And Practice, Melissa Tobin, Samantha Hajna, Kassia Orychock, Nancy Ross, Megan Devries, Paul J. Villeneuve, Lawrence D. Frank, Gavin R. Mccormack, Rania Wasfi, Madeleine Steinmetz-Wood, Jason Gilliland, Gillian L. Booth, Meghan Winters, Yan Kestens, Kevin Manaugh, Daniel Rainham, Lise Gauvin, Michael J. Widener, Nazeem Muhajarine, Hui Luan, Daniel Fuller

Geography & Environment Publications

Background

Walkability is a popular term used to describe aspects of the built and social environment that have important population-level impacts on physical activity, energy balance, and health. Although the term is widely used by researchers, practitioners, and the general public, and multiple operational definitions and walkability measurement tools exist, there are is no agreed-upon conceptual definition of walkability.

Method

To address this gap, researchers from Memorial University of Newfoundland hosted “The Future of Walkability Measures Workshop” in association with researchers from the Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE) in November 2017. During the workshop, trainees, researchers, and practitioners …

School-Level Perspectives Of The Ontario Student Nutrition Program, Mariam R. Ismail, Jason A. Gilliland, June I. Matthews, Danielle S. Battram

Geography & Environment Publications

The purpose of this study was to assess the implementation of a school snack program for children in elementary schools. School-level program volunteers’ experiences were explored using semi-structured interviews. Fieldnotes were taken during on-site school visits. Quantitative data were collected through a General Information Form and Weekly Logbooks. Seven elementary schools in Southwestern Ontario were invited and agreed to participate. Interviews (n = 27) revealed that volunteers valued the program for its universality, the excitement it created, the opportunity for students to try new foods, and the social interactions that it generated. Challenges included the burden on snack volunteers to …

A Neural Signature Of Regularity In Sound Is Reduced In Older Adults, Björn Herrmann, Burkhard Maess, Ingrid S. Johnsrude

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Sensitivity to repetitions in sound amplitude and frequency is crucial for sound perception. As with other aspects of sound processing, sensitivity to such patterns may change with age, and may help explain some age-related changes in hearing such as segregating speech from background sound. We recorded magnetoencephalography to characterize differences in the processing of sound patterns between younger and older adults. We presented tone sequences that either contained a pattern (made of a repeated set of tones) or did not contain a pattern. We show that auditory cortex in older, compared to younger, adults is hyperresponsive to sound onsets, but …

Completing The Puzzle: Why Studies In Non-Human Primates Are Needed To Better Understand The Effects Of Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation, Sebastian J. Lehmann, Brian D. Corneil

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Brain stimulation is a core method in neuroscience. Numerous non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques are currently in use in basic and clinical research, and recent advances promise the ability to non-invasively access deep brain structures. While encouraging, there is a surprising gap in our understanding of precisely how NIBS perturbs neural activity throughout an interconnected network, and how such perturbed neural activity ultimately links to behaviour. In this review, we will consider why non-human primate (NHP) models of NIBS are ideally situated to address this gap in knowledge, and why the oculomotor network that moves our line of sight offers …

Learning Words Without Trying: Daily Second Language Podcasts Support Word Form Learning In Adults, Elise Alexander, Stephen C. Van Hedger, Laura Batterink

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Spoken language contains overlapping patterns across different levels, from syllables to words to phrases. The discovery of these structures may be partially supported by statistical learning (SL), the unguided, automatic extraction of regularities from the environment through passive exposure. SL supports word learning in artificial language experiments, but few studies have examined whether it scales up to support natural language learning in adult second language learners. Here, adult English speakers (n = 70) listened to daily podcasts in either Italian or English for two weeks while going about their normal routines. To measure word knowledge, participants provided familiarity ratings of …