This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Brain Function Assessment in Learning, BFAL 2017, held in Patras, Greece, in September 2017. The 16 revised full papers presented together with 2 invited talks and 6 posters were carefully selected from 28 submissions. The BFAL conference aims to regroup research in multidisciplinary domains such as neuroscience, health, computer science, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, education and social interaction on the theme of Brain Function Assessment in Learning.

The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) administers two disability programs: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), for disabled individuals, and their dependent family members, who have worked and contributed to the Social Security trust funds, and Supplemental Security Income (SSSI), which is a means-tested program based on income and financial assets for adults aged 65 years or older and disabled adults and children. Both programs require that claimants have a disability and meet specific medical criteria in order to qualify for benefits. SSA establishes the presence of a medically-determined impairment in individuals with mental disorders other than intellectual disability through the use of standard diagnostic criteria, which include symptoms and signs. These impairments are established largely on reports of signs and symptoms of impairment and functional limitation. Psychological Testing in the Service of Disability Determination considers the use of psychological tests in evaluating disability claims submitted to the SSA. This report critically reviews selected psychological tests, including symptom validity tests, that could contribute to SSA disability determinations. The report discusses the possible uses of such tests and their contribution to disability determinations. Psychological Testing in the Service of Disability Determination discusses testing norms, qualifications for administration of tests, administration of tests, and reporting results. The recommendations of this report will help SSA improve the consistency and accuracy of disability determination in certain cases.

This monograph provides the readers with a comprehensive neuroscience and cognitive studies in pregnant women in various trimesters of pregnancy. The authors’ goal is to provide significant findings about the states of cognitive function in pregnant women, in response to the claims of the ‘baby brain’ phenomenon, which has been debated for years. The event-related potential (ERP) electrophysiological technique is used to capture neural activity at various states of cognitive function, including pre-attentional and attentional processing, during varied types of visual and auditory stimuli. Furthermore, executive function evaluations using various neuropsychological tests are performed as a complement to reveal the states of cognitive function. This monograph provides answers to pregnant women who may experience forgetfulness about what is happening in their brains during pregnancy. It is intended to benefit readers with backgrounds in obstetrics and gyneacology, psychology and cognitive neurosciences. Furthermore, for those who are new to ERP and neuroscience research, this monograph lays out the fundamentals and basics of ERP in an experimental setting.

First released in the Spring of 1999, How People Learn has been expanded to show how the theories and insights from the original book can translate into actions and practice, now making a real connection between classroom activities and learning behavior. This edition includes far-reaching suggestions for research that could increase the impact that classroom teaching has on actual learning. Like the original edition, this book offers exciting new research about the mind and the brain that provides answers to a number of compelling questions. When do infants begin to learn? How do experts learn and how is this different from non-experts? What can teachers and schools do-with curricula, classroom settings, and teaching methodsâ€"to help children learn most effectively? New evidence from many branches of science has significantly added to our understanding of what it means to know, from the neural processes that occur during learning to the influence of culture on what people see and absorb. How People Learn examines these findings and their implications for what we teach, how we teach it, and how we assess what our children learn. The book uses exemplary teaching to illustrate how approaches based on what we now know result in in-depth learning. This new knowledge calls into question concepts and practices firmly entrenched in our current education system. Topics include: How learning actually changes the physical structure of the brain. How existing knowledge affects what people notice and how they learn. What the thought processes of experts tell us about how to teach. The amazing learning potential of infants. The relationship of classroom learning and everyday settings of community and workplace. Learning needs and opportunities for teachers. A realistic look at the role of technology in education.

Some may say that this book is long overdue; others, including myself, will state that the book appears atjust the right time. The latter is likely more true, for it is doubtful that many in the professions would, until now, link issues of learning disabilities with those of neurophysiological dysfunction in the manner in which ultimately must be the case. As a matter of fact, there are those who deny the relationship completely. Lee Wiederholt (1974)1 in his short, but excellent, review of the historical perspectives of learning disabilities, traces the early interest in this problem to the work of Gall (1802), and to his successors Broca (1861), Jackson (1864), Bastian (1869), and a few others. Each of these men would, at the time of this writing, be considered to have interests in the field of neurology, although at the time of their investigations, neurology per se was but a gleam in the eye of the anatomical beholder. A relative detour then took place. Cerebral palsy, in the decades of the 1940s and 1950s, caught the attention of researchers through the work of Winthrop Morgan Phelps (orthopedist) and George Deaver (physiatrist) and one or two other medically oriented individuals. This was related to the writings of W. J. Little (1810-1894). It was, however, Kurt Goldstein, Heinz Wemer, both eminent German scientists, and Alfred A.

The brain is the most complex organ in our body. Indeed, it is perhaps the most complex structure we have ever encountered in nature. Both structurally and functionally, there are many peculiarities that differentiate the brain from all other organs. The brain is our connection to the world around us and by governing nervous system and higher function, any disturbance induces severe neurological and psychiatric disorders that can have a devastating effect on quality of life. Our understanding of the physiology and biochemistry of the brain has improved dramatically in the last two decades. In particular, the critical role of cations, including magnesium, has become evident, even if incompletely understood at a mechanistic level. The exact role and regulation of magnesium, in particular, remains elusive, largely because intracellular levels are so difficult to routinely quantify. Nonetheless, the importance of magnesium to normal central nervous system activity is self-evident given the complicated homeostatic mechanisms that maintain the concentration of this cation within strict limits essential for normal physiology and metabolism. There is also considerable accumulating evidence to suggest alterations to some brain functions in both normal and pathological conditions may be linked to alterations in local magnesium concentration. This book, containing chapters written by some of the foremost experts in the field of magnesium research, brings together the latest in experimental and clinical magnesium research as it relates to the central nervous system. It offers a complete and updated view of magnesiums involvement in central nervous system function and in so doing, brings together two main pillars of contemporary neuroscience research, namely providing an explanation for the molecular mechanisms involved in brain function, and emphasizing the connections between the molecular changes and behavior. It is the untiring efforts of those magnesium researchers who have dedicated their lives to unraveling the mysteries of magnesiums role in biological systems that has inspired the collation of this volume of work.

The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) provides disability compensation to veterans with a service-connected injury, and to receive disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), a veteran must submit a claim or have a claim submitted on his or her behalf. Evaluation of the Disability Determination Process for Traumatic Brain Injury in Veterans reviews the process by which the VA assesses impairments resulting from traumatic brain injury for purposes of awarding disability compensation. This report also provides recommendations for legislative or administrative action for improving the adjudication of veterans' claims seeking entitlement to compensation for all impairments arising from a traumatic brain injury.