Papers by Caroline Edmonds
Aluminium is the most common metallic element, but has no known biological role. It accumulates i... more Aluminium is the most common metallic element, but has no known biological role. It accumulates in the body when protective gastrointestinal mechanisms are bypassed, renal function is impaired, or exposure is high – all of which apply frequently to preterm infants. Recognised clinical manifestations of aluminium toxicity include dementia, anaemia and bone disease. Parenteral nutrition (PN) solutions are liable to contamination with aluminium, particularly from acidic solutions in glass vials, notably calcium gluconate. When fed parenterally, infants retain >75% of the aluminium, with high serum, urine and tissue levels. Later health effects of neonatal intravenous aluminium exposure were investigated in a randomised trial comparing standard PN solutions with solutions specially sourced for low aluminium content. Preterm infants exposed for >10 d to standard solutions had impaired neurologic development at 18 months. At 13–15 years, subjects randomised to standard PN had lower ...
Water Consumption Increases Handwriting Speed and Volume Consumed Relates to Increased Finger-tapping Speed in Schoolchildren
Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 2021
Taking Class Notes by Hand Compared to Typing: Effects on Children’s Recall and Understanding
Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 2020
ABSTRACT The increasing adoption of educational technology in school classrooms has resulted in g... more ABSTRACT The increasing adoption of educational technology in school classrooms has resulted in greater use of electronic devices to take lesson notes. Recent research comparing performance of adult students who recorded lecture notes using computer keyboards with that of students who handwrote their notes shows somewhat conflicting findings about their factual recall and conceptual understanding. There is very little, if any, research with children on the effect of note-taking mode on recall and understanding. The present study compared the recall and understanding of children taking handwritten notes to that of children typing their notes. Twenty-six boys age 10–11 years old participated in the study. Factual recall and understanding of a history and a biology lesson were assessed using multiple choice questions (MCQ). MCQ tests were carried out both immediately after each lesson and one week later. Factual recall was not affected by the note-taking mode but, in both lessons, children who handwrote notes had greater conceptual understanding one week after viewing their lesson, compared to those who typed notes.
Drinking Water Enhances Cognitive Performance: Positive Effects on Working Memory But Not Long-Term Memory
Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 2021
Previous studies suggest that acute water drinking interventions enhance working memory, particul... more Previous studies suggest that acute water drinking interventions enhance working memory, particularly digit span. The aims of the present study were two-fold. Firstly, to investigate whether the working memory enhancements extend to different components of working memory. Secondly, to evaluate whether drinking water would improve long term memory task performance. Seventy-four adult participants completed baseline tests and then either drank 300 ml water or nothing. They completed a thirst scale, two working memory tests (digit span and Corsi blocks) and two long term memory tests (picture recall and word recall). After this the water group was offered 300 ml water and the control group did not have a drink. Following a 20 minute interval the measures were repeated. The results showed that both working memory tests were improved by drinking water, but long term memory assessments were not affected. This study adds to the body of evidence that suggests that acute drinking interventions in adults enhance working memory, but not long term memory, and that it may not be restricted to particular components of working memory.
Dehydration in older people: A systematic review of the effects of dehydration on health outcomes, healthcare costs and cognitive performance
Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 2021
OBJECTIVE To systematically examine the effect of dehydration on health outcomes, identify associ... more OBJECTIVE To systematically examine the effect of dehydration on health outcomes, identify associated financial costs and consider impacts on cognitive performance in older adults. DESIGN A systematic review of English-language articles via OVID using MEDLINE, PsychINFO, EMBASE, and others, to March 2018. Included studies examined the relationship between hydration status and health, care costs or cognitive outcome. SETTING Cross sectional and cohort data from studies reporting on dehydration in older adults. PARTICIPANTS Adults aged 60 years and older. MEASUREMENTS Independent quality ratings were assessed for all extracted articles. RESULTS Of 1684 articles screened, 18 papers (N = 33,707) met inclusion criteria. Participants were recruited from hospital settings, medical long-term care centres and the community dwelling population. Data were synthesised using a narrative summary. Mortality rates were higher in dehydrated patients. Furthermore, health outcomes, including frailty, bradyarrhythmia, transient ischemic attacks, oral health and surgery recovery are linked to and worsened by dehydration. Length of hospital stay, either as a principal or secondary diagnosis, is greater in those with dehydration, compared to those who are euhydrated. Finally, neurocognitive functioning may be impacted by dehydration. There are issues with study design, inconsistency in hydration status measurement and different measures used for outcome assessment. CONCLUSION Dehydration in older people is associated with increased mortality, poorer course of illness and increased costs for health services. In addition, there is some, but sparse evidence that dehydration in older people is linked to poorer cognitive performance. Intervention studies should test strategies for reducing dehydration in older adults.
Acta Paediatrica, 2021
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri butio n-NonCo mmer... more This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri butio n-NonCo mmerc ial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
The effects of attitudes, knowledge and beliefs about healthy eating on sugar and low-fat product intake
Appetite, 2018
European Journal of Paediatric Neurology, 2020
Vision, 2018
Experiments demonstrating level-1 visual perspective-taking have been interpreted as providing im... more Experiments demonstrating level-1 visual perspective-taking have been interpreted as providing important evidence for 'implicit mentalising'-the ability to track simple mental states in a fast and efficient manner. However, this interpretation has been contested by a rival 'submentalising' account that proposes that these experiments can be explained by the general purpose mechanisms responsible for attentional orienting. Here, we aim to discriminate between these competing accounts by examining whether a gaze aversion manipulation expected to enhance attention orienting would have similar effects on both perspective-taking and attention orienting tasks. Gaze aversion was operationalised by manipulating head position relative to torso of the avatar figures employed in two experiments (gaze-averted vs. gaze-maintained). Experiment 1 used a Posner cueing task to establish that gaze aversion enhanced attention orienting cued by these avatars. Using the avatar task, Experiment 2 revealed level-1 visual perspective-taking effects of equivalent magnitude for gaze-averted and gaze-maintained conditions. These results indicate that gaze aversion moderated attention orienting but not perspective-taking. This dissociation in performance favours implicit mentalising by casting doubt on the submentalising account. It further constrains theorising by implying that attention orienting is not integral to the system permitting the relatively automatic tracking of mental states.
Psychological Research, 2019
Drinking water is important for health and there is agreement that drinking water facilitates cer... more Drinking water is important for health and there is agreement that drinking water facilitates certain cognitive processes. However, the mechanism underlying the effect of drinking water on cognition is unknown. While attention performance is improved by even a very small drink, memory performance seems to require larger drinks for performance enhancement. This suggests that attention could be affected earlier in the drinking process than memory. We aimed to elucidate further the mechanism involved, by investigating the stage during the drinking process influencing performance on cognitive tasks. To this end, we compared mouth rinsing and mouth drying. Mouth rinsing was expected to result in improved attention performance and would suggest that the mechanism responsible is located in the mouth and occurs early in the drinking process, before swallowing. Eighty-seven adults participated in either a treatment (mouth rinsing or mouth drying) or control (no intervention) condition. They were assessed at baseline and 20 minutes later after intervention on measures of visual attention, short-term memory, subjective thirst and mood. Our results showed that mouth rinsing improved visual attention, but not short-term memory, mood or subjective thirst. Mouth drying did not affect performance. Our results support the hypothesis that different mechanisms underlie the effect of drinking water on different cognitive processes. They suggest that merely sipping water, as opposed to having a large drink, can improve attention.
Physiology & behavior, 2018
There is general consensus that drinking water facilitates certain cognitive processes. However, ... more There is general consensus that drinking water facilitates certain cognitive processes. However, it is not yet known what mechanism underlies the effect of drinking on performance and these may be different for different cognitive processes. We sought to elucidate the mechanisms involved by establishing at what stage of the drinking process cognitive performance is influenced. We examined the effect of mouth rinsing and mouth drying on subjective thirst and mood, visual attention and short term memory in children. Data are reported from 24 children aged 9- to 10-years. Children's performance was assessed in three conditions - mouth drying, mouth rinsing and a control (no intervention). In each condition they were assessed twice - at baseline, before intervention, and 20 min later at test. Mouth rinsing improved visual attention performance, but not short term memory, mood or subjective thirst. The effects of mouth drying were more equivocal. The selective nature of the results i...
Comparative Exercise Physiology, 2016
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of carbohydrate mouth rinse on 30-min arm crankin... more The aim of this study was to examine the effect of carbohydrate mouth rinse on 30-min arm cranking performance. Twelve healthy, active males (age 21.6, standard deviation (SD)=3.1 years; mass 76.2, SD=12.2 kg) volunteered in a single-blind, randomised crossover design. Firstly they completed an incremental exercise test to exhaustion (VO2max test) on an arm crank (50W for 2 min, increasing by 10W every min). During visit 2 and 3 they arm cranked for maximal distance over 30 min at a resistance equivalent to 50% of their peak power, mouth rinsing for 5 s with either 25 ml of a tasteless 6.4% maltodextrin solution (CHO) or 25 ml of water (placebo) every 6 min. A letter cancellation test was performed pre and post exercise to measure cognitive function. The result showed that cognitive function was not significantly different between trials (P=0.874). There was no significant difference in distance arm cranked between trials (P=0.164) even though 9 out of 12 participants had improved p...
Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006), Jan 17, 2017
Experiments revealing 'spontaneous' visual perspective-taking are conventionally interpre... more Experiments revealing 'spontaneous' visual perspective-taking are conventionally interpreted as demonstrating that adults have the capacity to track simple mental states in a fast and efficient manner ('implicit mentalising'). A rival account suggests that these experiments can be explained by the general purpose mechanisms responsible for reflexive attentional orienting. Here, we report two experiments designed to distinguish between these competing accounts. In Experiment 1, we assessed whether reflexive attention orienting was sufficient to yield findings interpreted as spontaneous perspective taking in the 'avatar task' (Samson et al., 2010) when the protocol was adapted so that participants were unaware that they were taking part in a perspective-taking experiment. Results revealed no evidence for perspective-taking. In Experiment 2, we employed a Posner paradigm to investigate the attentional orienting properties of the avatar stimuli. This revealed cue...
European Journal of Sport Science, 2016
This study investigated the impact that mouth rinsing carbohydrate solution has on skillspecific ... more This study investigated the impact that mouth rinsing carbohydrate solution has on skillspecific performance and reaction time following a fatigue inducing bout of fencing in epee fencers. Nine healthy, national level epee fencers visited a laboratory on 2 occasions, separated by a minimum of 5 days, to complete a 1-minute lunge test and Stroop test pre and post fatigue. Heart rate and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded during completion of the fatiguing protocol. Between fights the participants mouth rinsed for 10 seconds, either 25ml of 6.7% maltodextrin solution (MALT) or water (PLAC). Blood lactate and glucose were recorded at baseline, pre-and post-testing. Results showed an increase in heart rate and overall RPE over time in both conditions. There were no differences in blood glucose (F(1,8)=.63, P=.4, η p =.07) or blood lactate levels (F(1,8)=.12, P=.70, η p =.01) between conditions as a function of time. There was a significant improvement in lunge test accuracy during the MALT trial (F(1,8)=5.21, P=.05, η p =.40) with an increase from pre (81.2 ±8.3%) to post (87.6 ±9.4%), whereas there was no significant change during the placebo (pre 82.1 ±8.8%, post 78.8 ±6.4%). There were no recorded differences between conditions in response time to congruent (F(1,8)=.33, P=.58, η p =.04) or incongruent stimuli (F(1,8)=.19, P=.68, η p =.02). The study indicates that when fatigued mouth rinsing MALT significantly improves accuracy of skill-specific fencing performance but no corresponding influence on reaction time was observed.
Edmonds, Crombie, Gardner 2013 Frontiers
Appetite, 2016
Water supplementation has been found to facilitate visual attention and short-term memory, but th... more Water supplementation has been found to facilitate visual attention and short-term memory, but the dose required to improve performance is not yet known. We assessed the dose response effect of water on thirst, mood and cognitive performance in both adults and children. Participants were offered either no water, 25 ml or 300 ml water to drink. Study 1 assessed 96 adults and in Study 2, data are presented from 60 children aged 7-9 years. In both studies, performance was assessed at baseline and 20 minutes after drinking (or no drink); on thirst and mood scales, letter cancellation and a digit span test. For both children and adults, a large drink (300 ml) was necessary to reduce thirst, while a small drink (25 ml) was sufficient to improve visual attention (letter cancellation). In adults, a large drink improved digit span, but there was no such effect in children. In children, but not adults, a small drink resulted in increased thirst ratings. Both children and adults show dose-response effects of drinking on visual attention. Visual attention is enhanced by small amounts of fluid and appears not to be contingent on thirst reduction. Memory performance may be related to thirst, but differently for children and adults. These contrasting dose-response characteristics could imply cognitive enhancement by different mechanisms for these two domains.
Water consumption improves fine motor speed in school children
Appetite, 2016
Acta Psychologica, 2016
Contemporary studies of spatial and social cognition frequently use human figures as stimuli. The... more Contemporary studies of spatial and social cognition frequently use human figures as stimuli. The interpretation of such studies may be complicated by spatial compatibility effects that emerge when researchers employ spatial responses, and participants spontaneously code spatial relationships about an observed body. Yet, the nature of these spatial codes -whether they are location-or object-based, and coded from the perspective of the observer or the figure -has not been determined. Here, we investigated this issue by exploring spatial compatibility effects arising for objects held by a visually presented whole-bodied schematic human figure. In three experiments, participants responded to the colour of the object held in the figure's left or right hand, using left or right key presses. Left-right compatibility effects were found relative to the participant's egocentric perspective, rather than the figure's. These effects occurred even when the figure was rotated by 90 degrees to the left or to the right, and the coloured objects were aligned with the participant's midline. These findings are consistent with spontaneous spatial coding from the participant's perspective and relative to the normal upright orientation of the body. This evidence for object-based spatial coding implies that the domain general cognitive mechanisms that result in spatial compatibility effects may contribute to certain spatial perspective-taking and social cognition phenomena.
Does fasting during Ramadan affect children's cognition and mood? A pilot study of children's performance and teachers' perceptions
Appetite, 2014
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Papers by Caroline Edmonds