We propose to enrich an ongoing longitudinal study among 2,300 children from 54 elementary schools on the impact of adverse social experiences on children?s problem behavioral and academic development. We know that social experiences like peer rejection, victimization, poor teacher-child relationship are associated with adverse child behavior problems and poor academic achievement. However, the underlying pathways are yet unknown. We will test the hypothesis that adverse social experiences link to behavior and academic problems because such experiences become embodied in neurobiological risks of children. We will specifically test two pathways: 1) impact of adverse social experiences on DNA methylation of genes implicated with stress system functioning, resulting in blunted stress responses and low sensitivity to punishment, and 2) impact on brain regions involved in social cognitions and self-regulation. To study these pathways, 1) we need to have detailed assessments of multiple adverse social experiences to know what social experiences account for setting of the hypothesized developmental pathways. The proposed study has annual assessments of such social experiences, from multiple raters (children, peers, teachers, parents). 2) We need to assess these experiences over a long developmental span to explore sensitive periods for prevention. The proposed study will have annual assessments covering kindergarten and elementary school (age 5 to 12 years). 3) We need to have multiple waves of DNA to test for the predictive effect of social experiences on changes in DNA methylation of stress system genes, and to relate changes in social experiences to changes in DNA methylation. 4) We need to conduct laboratory studies to elucidate the hypothesized developmental pathways under fully controlled conditions. This is essential not only to understand the neurobiological consequences of adverse social experiences, but also to direct more downstream prevention efforts to the factors implicated by such experiences. The enrichment investment proposes to prolong the annual assessments among the 2,300 children covering the entire elementary school (7 waves, age 5 ? 12 years). The study is currently in its third wave. We also propose to enrich the study by adding three waves of DNA collection (one wave, age 6-8 years is available). We finally propose to conduct two laboratory studies (wave 4), one aimed at unraveling the DNA methylation-stress reactivity pathway, and a second laboratory study to understand differences in brain responses between children with positive versus negative social experiences in elementary school. These laboratory studies will be repeated two years later (wave 6) to study whether changes in social experiences in the classroom link to stress and brain response changes as assessed in the laboratory studies. With these proposed investments, the strengths of the ongoing study will be combined with state of the art assessments to create a data set not matched worldwide. It will provide unique opportunities to study the neurobiological pathways of adverse social experiences leading to problem behavior and poor academic achievement and to enrich our understanding of the impact of adverse social experiences.

Studenten Bewegingswetenschappen van de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) hebben dit jaar de 10de editie van de Rabobank / ACE Summerschool Ondernemerschap gewonnen. Tijdens deze week hebben de studenten een eerste versie van een business case gemaakt die is gebaseerd op een Spelinzichttest ontwikkeld vanuit 10 jaar wetenschappelijk onderzoek vanuit de VU waarmee talent bij jonge voetballers kan worden ontdekt door op een objectieve manier talent in spelinzicht te meten. De potentie of spelinzicht wel of niet aanwezig is, bepaalt het verschil op latere leeftijd tussen zeer goede en andere spelers. Daarom is het zo belangrijk om spelinzicht meetbaar te maken in een vroeg stadium. Voetballers worden thans vooral gescout op basis van wedstrijden en dus op basis van subjectieve waarnemingen. Hierdoor is het in de praktijk moeizaam om te bepalen wie er talent heeft in spelinzicht. De studenten willen een onderneming starten en willen in samenwerking met de VU de wetenschap in de praktijk brengen, andersom ook. De VU ziet graag een verdergaande toepassing van de Test zoals deze tot nu toe ontwikkeld is. Tijdens de haalbaarheidsstudie wordt de business case verder uitgewerkt.

The capacity to adaptively solve motor problems is a defining characteristic of motor skill and learning. Nevertheless, this has been an understudied area of research in movement sciences as well as being largely ignored for talent identification and development in sport and physical education programs. Concurrently, there is also an urgent need in cognitive sciences to examine the appropriateness of models of problem solving and creativity in task domains other than cognition. The research proposed aims to advance both the fields of motor skill and creativity research by adopting the dual pathway to problem solving and creativity model, a contemporary theory of creativity in cognition, in the motor domain. Specifically, we use validated motor creativity tests i) to investigate whether motor problem solving and creativity are mediated by the two separate pathways of flexibility and persistence, ii) to assess whether individual differences in motor problem solving and creativity reflect differential influences of breadth of attention and working memory to the flexibility and persistence pathways, iii) to investigate if a relationship exists between cognitive and motor problem solving and creativity and how this develops with age, and iv) to examine to what degree motor learning promotes problem solving and creativity in particular as a function of the degree of practice variability and the degree to which motor learning proceeds through the accrual of declarative knowledge.

Children with mild psychopathology or particular psychosocial factors bear the risk of impaired school performance and/or school motivation. These factors can bring students on a downstream path from higher to lower levels of education (e.g., in the Netherlands from HAVO to VMBO). This project involves two subprojects. Subproject 1 aims at improving the identification of children and youth at risk for persistent psychological problems. Stable problems will be identified by follow-up assessments of oppositional behavior, aggression, ADHD, anxiety and depression and their interactions. The second subproject aims at the development and evaluation of a web-based intervention to help parents support their child in a manner that accounts for child age and personal characteristics. The scientific information from both subprojects will be used for the continuous education of teachers, teacher-students and parents.

Autisme wordt veel vaker gediagnosticeerd bij mannen dan bij vrouwen. Is dit het resultaat van biologische verschillen, of op mannen gerichte wetenschap en gezondheidszorg met diagnostische blinde vlekken? Met SCANNER gaan wetenschappers beide verklaringen onderzoeken en sensomotorische diagnostische tools ontwikkelen om geslacht sensitive zorg voor mensen met autisme te verbeteren.