Temple University

About: Temple University is a education organization based out in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 32154 authors who have published 64375 publications receiving 2219828 citations.

Age differences in sensation seeking and impulsivity as indexed by behavior and self-report: evidence for a dual systems model.

Abstract: It has been hypothesized that sensation seeking and impulsivity, which are often conflated, in fact develop along different timetables and have different neural underpinnings, and that the difference in their timetables helps account for heightened risk taking during adolescence. In order to test these propositions, the authors examined age differences in sensation seeking and impulsivity in a socioeconomically and ethnically diverse sample of 935 individuals between the ages of 10 and 30, using self-report and behavioral measures of each construct. Consistent with the authors' predictions, age differences in sensation seeking, which are linked to pubertal maturation, follow a curvilinear pattern, with sensation seeking increasing between 10 and 15 and declining or remaining stable thereafter. In contrast, age differences in impulsivity, which are unrelated to puberty, follow a linear pattern, with impulsivity declining steadily from age 10 on. Heightened vulnerability to risk taking in middle adolescence may be due to the combination of relatively higher inclinations to seek excitement and relatively immature capacities for self-control that are typical of this period of development.

The malleability of spatial skills: a meta-analysis of training studies.

Abstract: spatial skills. After eliminating outliers, the average effect size (Hedges’s g) for training relative to control was 0.47 (SE 0.04). Training effects were stable and were not affected by delays between training and posttesting. Training also transferred to other spatial tasks that were not directly trained. We analyzed the effects of several moderators, including the presence and type of control groups, sex, age, and type of training. Additionally, we included a theoretically motivated typology of spatial skills that emphasizes 2 dimensions: intrinsic versus extrinsic and static versus dynamic (Newcombe & Shipley, in press). Finally, we consider the potential educational and policy implications of directly training spatial skills. Considered together, the results suggest that spatially enriched education could pay substantial dividends in increasing participation in mathematics, science, and engineering.

Age Differences in Resistance to Peer Influence

Abstract: Prior research describes the development of susceptibility to peer pressure in adolescence as following an inverted U-shaped curve, increasing during early adolescence, peaking around age 14, and declining thereafter. This pattern, however, is derived mainly from studies that specifically examined peer pressure to engage in antisocial behavior. In the present study, age differences and developmental change in resistance to peer influence were assessed using a new self-report instrument that separates susceptibility to peer pressure from willingness to engage in antisocial activity. Data from four ethnically and socioeconomically diverse samples comprising more than 3,600 males and females between the ages of 10 and 30 were pooled from one longitudinal and two cross-sectional studies. Results show that across all demographic groups, resistance to peer influences increases linearly between ages 14 and 18. In contrast, there is little evidence for growth in this capacity between ages 10 and 14 or between 18 and 30. Middle adolescence is an especially significant period for the development of the capacity to stand up for what one believes and resist the pressures of one's peers to do otherwise.

Free fatty acids in obesity and type 2 diabetes: defining their role in the development of insulin resistance and beta-cell dysfunction.

Abstract: Plasma free fatty acids (FFA) play important physiological roles in skeletal muscle, heart, liver and pancreas. However, chronically elevated plasma FFA appear to have pathophysiological consequences. Elevated FFA concentrations are linked with the onset of peripheral and hepatic insulin resistance and, while the precise action in the liver remains unclear, a model to explain the role of raised FFA in the development of skeletal muscle insulin resistance has recently been put forward. Over 30 years ago, Randle proposed that FFA compete with glucose as the major energy substrate in cardiac muscle, leading to decreased glucose oxidation when FFA are elevated. Recent data indicate that high plasma FFA also have a significant role in contributing to insulin resistance. Elevated FFA and intracellular lipid appear to inhibit insulin signalling, leading to a reduction in insulin-stimulated muscle glucose transport that may be mediated by a decrease in GLUT-4 translocation. The resulting suppression of muscle glucose transport leads to reduced muscle glycogen synthesis and glycolysis. In the liver, elevated FFA may contribute to hyperglycaemia by antagonizing the effects of insulin on endogenous glucose production. FFA also affect insulin secretion, although the nature of this relationship remains a subject for debate. Finally, evidence is discussed that FFA represent a crucial link between insulin resistance and beta-cell dysfunction and, as such, a reduction in elevated plasma FFA should be an important therapeutic target in obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Risk Taking in Adolescence New Perspectives From Brain and Behavioral Science

Abstract: Trying to understand why adolescents and young adults take more risks than younger or older individuals do has challenged psychologists for decades. Adolescents' inclination to engage in risky behavior does not appear to be due to irrationality, delusions of invulnerability, or ignorance. This paper presents a perspective on adolescent risk taking grounded in developmental neuroscience. According to this view, the temporal gap between puberty, which impels adolescents toward thrill seeking, and the slow maturation of the cognitive-control system, which regulates these impulses, makes adolescence a time of heightened vulnerability for risky behavior. This view of adolescent risk taking helps to explain why educational interventions designed to change adolescents' knowledge, beliefs, or attitudes have been largely ineffective, and suggests that changing the contexts in which risky behavior occurs may be more successful than changing the way adolescents think about risk.