Introdução O consumo alimentar está associado com prevenção ou com risco de doenças e por isso sua estimativa pode ser utilizada como importante fonte de informação para o planejamento de políticas públicas em nutrição. Objetivo Estudar a ingestão habitual de nutrientes em uma amostra representativa de adultos e idosos residentes no município de São Paulo, segundo características sociodemográficas. Métodos Estudo transversal, com amostra representativa da população de adultos e idosos do município de São Paulo, conduzido no ano de 2003 (ISA-2003). Foi coletado um recordatório alimentar de 24 horas (R24h) para cada participante (n=1663), além de dados socioeconômicos e antropométricos. A medida de variabilidade da ingestão foi calculada por meio de duas replicações do R24h em uma subamostra desta população, no ano de 2007 (ISA-2007). A ingestão habitual foi estimada por meio do método desenvolvido pelo Iowa State University no programa PC-SIDE. As prevalências de inadequação foram calculadas pelo método da EAR como ponto de corte, segundo sexo, escolaridade do chefe da família, escolaridade do indivíduo e estado nutricional, posteriormente comparados utilizando o teste de proporções. Foram calculadas as razões de variância intrapessoal sobre a interpessoal entre os sexos. Resultados As prevalências de inadequação mais elevadas foram relativas às vitamina A (67por cento e 58por cento ), vitamina C (52por cento e 62por cento ), tiamina (41por cento e 50por cento ) e riboflavina (29por cento e 19por cento ), para o sexo masculino e feminino, respectivamente. A proporção de indivíduos com ingestão superior ao recomendado de cálcio foi menor que 2por cento e de sódio maior do que 99por cento . A prevalência de inadequação de vitaminas A, C, tiamina, riboflavina e niacina e dos minerais cobre, fósforo e selênio foi mais elevada entre os indivíduos com menor escolaridade, tanto do chefe da família como do indivíduo. Observaram-se diferenças nas frações das variâncias intrapessoais de alguns nutrientes segundo gênero. Conclusão Os adultos e idosos residentes do município de São Paulo apresentaram altas prevalências de inadequação na ingestão das vitaminas A, C, tiamina e riboflavina em ambos os sexos, principalmente entre os com menor escolaridade / Introduction Food intake is associated with prevention or risk of disease and so this estimation can be used as important source of information for planning public policy in nutrition. Objective To study the usual intake of nutrients in a representative sample of adults and older people living in São Paulo, according to sociodemographic characteristics. Methods Cross-sectional study with a representative sample of the adults and older people population in São Paulo, conducted in the year 2003 (ISA-2003). We collected a 24-hour dietary recall (24HR) for each participant (n=1663), and anthropometric and socioeconomic data. The measurement of intake variability was calculated by two replications of 24HR in a subsample of this population in 2007 (ISA-2007). The usual intake was estimated using the PC-SIDE program, which uses the method developed by Iowa State University. The prevalence of inadequacy were calculated by EAR cut-point method, according to sex, education of household head, education and nutritional status of individual, compared using proportion test. Ratios of within- to between-person variation were calculated according to sex. Results The highest prevalence of inadequate intake were related to vitamin A (67per cent and 58per cent ), vitamin C (52per cent and 62per cent ), thiamin (41per cent and 50per cent ) and riboflavin (29per cent and 19per cent ), for male and female, respectively. The proportion of individuals with more than the recommended intake of calcium was less than 2per cent and this percent of sodium was greater than 99per cent . The prevalence of inadequate intake of vitamins A, C, thiamin, riboflavin and niacin and of minerals copper, phosphorus and selenium were higher among individuals with less education, both of the head of the family as the individual. Differences were observed in the ratios of intraindividual variances of some nutrients by sex. Conclusion Adults and older people living in São Paulo presented high prevalence of inadequate intake of vitamins A, C, thiamin and riboflavin for both sexes, especially among the less educated people

Knowledge of the literature pertaining to patterns of performance in normal individuals is essential if we are to understand intraindividual variability in neurocognitive test performance in neuropsychiatric disorders. Twenty-five healthy individuals with a high-level of education were evaluated on a short neuropsychological battery which spanned several cognitive domains. ---Results indicated that cognitive abilities are not equally distributed within a sample of healthy, high-level functioning individuals. This may be of interest to neuropsychologists who might base clinical inference about the presence of cerebral dysfunction, at least in part, on marked variation in a patient’s level of cognitive test performance. The practice of deductive reasoning in clinical neuropsychology may be prone to false-positive conclusions about cognitive functioning in neuropsychiatric disorders where base-rates of cognitive impairments are low and pre-existing educational achievements are high.

Knowledge of the literature pertaining to patterns of performance in normal individuals is essential if we are to understand intraindividual variability in neurocognitive test performance in neuropsychiatric disorders. Twenty-five healthy individuals with a high-level of education were evaluated on a short neuropsychological battery which spanned several cognitive domains. ---Results indicated that cognitive abilities are not equally distributed within a sample of healthy, high-level functioning individuals. This may be of interest to neuropsychologists who might base clinical inference about the presence of cerebral dysfunction, at least in part, on marked variation in a patient’s level of cognitive test performance. The practice of deductive reasoning in clinical neuropsychology may be prone to false-positive conclusions about cognitive functioning in neuropsychiatric disorders where base-rates of cognitive impairments are low and pre-existing educational achievements are high.

Recent retrospectives of classic psychology articles by Meehl (1978) and Wachtel (1980), concerning problems with psychology’s research paradigm, have been viewed by commentators, on the whole, as germane as when first published. However, no similar examination of Lykken’s (1991) classic criticisms of psychology’s dominant research tradition has been undertaken. Twenty years on, this thesis investigates whether Lykken’s criticisms and conclusions are still valid via an exposition of three contentious issues in psychological science: the measurement problem, null hypothesis significance testing, and the granularity of research methods. Though finding that little progress has been made, Observation Oriented Modelling is advanced as a promising methodological solution for improving psychological research.

Introdução O consumo alimentar está associado com prevenção ou com risco de doenças e por isso sua estimativa pode ser utilizada como importante fonte de informação para o planejamento de políticas públicas em nutrição. Objetivo Estudar a ingestão habitual de nutrientes em uma amostra representativa de adultos e idosos residentes no município de São Paulo, segundo características sociodemográficas. Métodos Estudo transversal, com amostra representativa da população de adultos e idosos do município de São Paulo, conduzido no ano de 2003 (ISA-2003). Foi coletado um recordatório alimentar de 24 horas (R24h) para cada participante (n=1663), além de dados socioeconômicos e antropométricos. A medida de variabilidade da ingestão foi calculada por meio de duas replicações do R24h em uma subamostra desta população, no ano de 2007 (ISA-2007). A ingestão habitual foi estimada por meio do método desenvolvido pelo Iowa State University no programa PC-SIDE. As prevalências de inadequação foram calculadas pelo método da EAR como ponto de corte, segundo sexo, escolaridade do chefe da família, escolaridade do indivíduo e estado nutricional, posteriormente comparados utilizando o teste de proporções. Foram calculadas as razões de variância intrapessoal sobre a interpessoal entre os sexos. Resultados As prevalências de inadequação mais elevadas foram relativas às vitamina A (67por cento e 58por cento ), vitamina C (52por cento e 62por cento ), tiamina (41por cento e 50por cento ) e riboflavina (29por cento e 19por cento ), para o sexo masculino e feminino, respectivamente. A proporção de indivíduos com ingestão superior ao recomendado de cálcio foi menor que 2por cento e de sódio maior do que 99por cento . A prevalência de inadequação de vitaminas A, C, tiamina, riboflavina e niacina e dos minerais cobre, fósforo e selênio foi mais elevada entre os indivíduos com menor escolaridade, tanto do chefe da família como do indivíduo. Observaram-se diferenças nas frações das variâncias intrapessoais de alguns nutrientes segundo gênero. Conclusão Os adultos e idosos residentes do município de São Paulo apresentaram altas prevalências de inadequação na ingestão das vitaminas A, C, tiamina e riboflavina em ambos os sexos, principalmente entre os com menor escolaridade / Introduction Food intake is associated with prevention or risk of disease and so this estimation can be used as important source of information for planning public policy in nutrition. Objective To study the usual intake of nutrients in a representative sample of adults and older people living in São Paulo, according to sociodemographic characteristics. Methods Cross-sectional study with a representative sample of the adults and older people population in São Paulo, conducted in the year 2003 (ISA-2003). We collected a 24-hour dietary recall (24HR) for each participant (n=1663), and anthropometric and socioeconomic data. The measurement of intake variability was calculated by two replications of 24HR in a subsample of this population in 2007 (ISA-2007). The usual intake was estimated using the PC-SIDE program, which uses the method developed by Iowa State University. The prevalence of inadequacy were calculated by EAR cut-point method, according to sex, education of household head, education and nutritional status of individual, compared using proportion test. Ratios of within- to between-person variation were calculated according to sex. Results The highest prevalence of inadequate intake were related to vitamin A (67per cent and 58per cent ), vitamin C (52per cent and 62per cent ), thiamin (41per cent and 50per cent ) and riboflavin (29per cent and 19per cent ), for male and female, respectively. The proportion of individuals with more than the recommended intake of calcium was less than 2per cent and this percent of sodium was greater than 99per cent . The prevalence of inadequate intake of vitamins A, C, thiamin, riboflavin and niacin and of minerals copper, phosphorus and selenium were higher among individuals with less education, both of the head of the family as the individual. Differences were observed in the ratios of intraindividual variances of some nutrients by sex. Conclusion Adults and older people living in São Paulo presented high prevalence of inadequate intake of vitamins A, C, thiamin and riboflavin for both sexes, especially among the less educated people

Physical activity (PA) offers numerous physical and mental health benefits. Unfortunately, most people struggle to lead an active lifestyle, particularly when they are concurrently striving to balance other pursuits that may interfere with their engagement in PA. The self-regulatory strategies of action planning (AP) and coping planning (CP) have been proposed as a means of helping people initiate and maintain PA, though inconsistent findings have been observed to this effect. The primary objectives of the present dissertation, achieved by way of two original articles, were to (a) review the extant planning for PA literature in order to summarize and synthesize knowledge in the area to date, and (b) examine AP and CP in relation to more than one goal at a time, while testing the relevant moderator of academic goal conflict. The first article comprised a meta-analysis of correlational (k = 19) and experimental (k = 21) studies on planning for PA, which revealed a medium-to-large summary effect for correlational studies, and a small summary effect for experimental studies. Furthermore, AP and CP emerged as partial mediators in the relation between behavioural intention and PA. Numerous moderators were also found. Among other key findings, this article cast light on the fact that, despite multiple goal pursuit being the rule rather than the exception, most studies reviewed examined a single goal in isolation. Further, the summary effects found were more modest than expected and highly heterogeneous, pointing to the value to testing relevant moderators. Thus, the second article contained two studies that examined the moderating role of academic goal conflict on the relations between AP and CP with PA using samples of university students concurrently pursuing an academic and a PA goal. Study 1 (N = 317) used a 6-week prospective design, and Study 2 (N = 97) used a 1-week daily diary design and measures of self-reported PA behaviour and goal progress. Across both studies, it was found that academic goal conflict moderated the influence of planning on PA outcomes. AP and CP were found to play differential roles in predicting PA when students were experiencing goal conflict: AP related to better PA outcomes at lower levels of academic goal conflict, whereas CP related to better PA outcomes at higher levels of academic goal conflict. These two self-regulatory strategies appear to play a different, yet complementary role in the goal pursuit process. Overall, the present dissertation contributes to knowledge synthesis in the area of planning for PA. In addition, novel research findings are presented which specifically target identified gaps in the literature. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are discussed, and future research avenues are proposed.

This dissertation aimed to investigate the utility of the ex-Gaussian approach to estimating intraindividual variability (IIV) of response times (RT) in diagnosing attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children ages 6 to 13 years old. Higher IIV is consistently noted in children with ADHD, but also with other disorders commonly associated with impairments in attention. Firstly, the relationship between IIV and attention abilities was investigated both in relation to parent ratings and participants’ objective performance. Secondly, IIVs utility as an objective measure for supplementing behavioural ratings in the diagnosis of ADHD, a diagnosis which is currently primarily assigned based on informant interviews and ratings of attention, was assessed. Participants included 46 children with ADHD and 58 children without ADHD. Children completed computerized tasks to estimate IIV and assess inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Parents completed questionnaires aimed at assessing attention and hyperactive/impulsive behaviours of participants. Analyses revealed that IIV was predictive of parent ratings of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity as well as the number of omission errors made by participants. Regarding diagnostic utility, IIV significantly predicted group membership (ADHD vs Control). However, IIV did not improve diagnostic accuracy when parent ratings were used, such that parent ratings were superior at determining diagnosis. Overall, current results support the use of IIV, based on the ex-Gaussian approach, as an objective measure of attention problems such that it appears to be superior to omission errors on sustained attention CPT-type tasks. Additionally, while parent ratings of attention impairment remain the best predictor of ADHD diagnostic status, IIV may be helpful in determining when further assessment is required in the absence of those ratings. / Graduate / 2021-06-17

Olfactory function plays an important role in health and well-being. Deficits have been associated with a greater risk of cognitive decline, dementia, and death, indicating that olfactory ability may be an early marker of cognitive impairment and indicator of brain integrity. In the progression of cognitive impairment related to dementia, intraindividual variability in cognition may precede cognitive decline as an early risk factor, indicating that individuals with more variability in their cognitive performance may have an increased risk of cognitive impairment. Despite a significant amount of literature examining the relationship between olfaction and cognitive decline, to the best of our knowledge, no study has yet examined whether olfaction is associated with the earlier marker of cognitive decline, intraindividual variability in cognition. Project 1. In data drawn from the Rush Memory and Aging Project (N=1501), multistate models were used to estimate the association of olfactory identification with transition patterns through cognitive states including non-impaired cognitive functioning, clinically diagnosed mild cognitive impairment and dementia, and death. Additionally, multinomial regression models were fit to estimate life expectancies for overall and cognitively unimpaired years of life, relative to olfactory identification scores. This dissertation aims to contribute to the current body of literature suggesting potential for the use of olfactory identification as a clinically administered marker for the early detection of cognitive decline and risk of dementia. Project 2. In data collected by our lab (N=65), multilevel models were used to examine whether olfactory identification scores were associated with the magnitude and rate of change of intraindividual variability (IIV) in cognitive functioning. This dissertation aims to address whether olfactory identification is associated with IIV in cognition using self-administered mobile cognitive testing in a 14-day micro-longitudinal study. / Graduate

The aging process is often coupled with major life changes such as retirement, death of friends and family members, and declines in physical and psychological functioning. Intuitively, any one or a conjunction of these events might be expected to lead to decreases in positive affect (PA) and increases in negative affect (NA). However, older adults tend to be emotionally positive and stable even late in life. Thus, it is possible that emotion-based strategies for coping with the challenges presented in later life can be used effectively by older adults, even amidst potential vulnerabilities in other domains. The design of effective interventions and technologies aimed at facilitating this coping process, will depend on understanding that emotions can influence health in different ways. Affect level and intraindividual variability (IIV) are independently related to distal factors such as personality and health-related outcomes such as immune functioning and mortality, among others. By nature, emotions are subject to daily fluctuations that cannot be captured by investigation of mean affect levels alone. Research on affect IIV has focused primarily on whether there are stability differences in younger and older adults. In general, older adults tend to be more stable, perhaps because the failure to regulate emotions is particularly detrimental for older adults’ physiological health. It is therefore important to understand how proximal factors in everyday life lead to intraindividual emotional changes. The primary goal of this study was to identify the factors occurring within older adults’ daily lives that predicted emotional deviations and to determine whether individuals differed in the types of factors that were emotionally-relevant. As such, it was imperative to employ a methodology that could differentiate the factors that evoked consistent emotional responses across all individuals from the factors whose impact on affect were person-dependent. Specifically, participants were given online surveys three times per day for 20 consecutive weekdays that included assessments of their current positive and negative emotional states and questions (at least once per day) about their stress, pain, sleep quality, life space, physical activity, and social activity. Multilevel modeling (MLM) was used to determine if there was significant affect IIV for these older adults and how much IIV could be explained by these proximal predictors. This analysis approach was used because it is well-suited for nested data (in this case, observations nested within-persons) and does not assume independence of observations (which is a concern when individuals receive repeated assessments). Additionally, MLM analyzes the complete dataset rather than complete cases (individuals), which allowed for comparison of fixed effects regression models and random effects regression models. Random effects models, which are the hallmark of MLM, enabled the analysis of potential individual differences in the within-person relationships between the predictors and affect. As expected, there was significant affect IIV in these older adults for both PA and NA. The predictors of PA and NA were analyzed first in isolation (referred to as “isolated models”) and then when controlling for the other proximal variables (referred to as “full models”). The random effects isolated models were generally better fitting than the fixed effects isolated models, indicating that the models that did not constrain individual predictor-affect slopes to be the same across persons (random) were more accurate representations of the observed data than models that constrained individuals’ slopes to be the same (fixed). Full fixed slopes and full random slopes models were built in stepwise fashion based on the results of the isolated models. Again, the random effects full models better fit the observed data than the fixed effects models for both PA and NA, providing strong evidence in favor of the hypothesis that a larger percentage of affect IIV would be explained when allowing individual differences in the within-person predictor-affect relationships. The full random models accounted for 32% of the PA IIV, and 45% of the NA IIV. These were both better fitting than their respective null models, indicating that overall, the proximal predictors accounted for significant proportions of the within-person PA and NA variance. Certain factors accounted for larger percentages of the IIV than others and in general, there were differences between the PA and NA model in terms of which factors led to emotional fluctuations. Subjective health accounted for the largest percentage of PA IIV and stress accounted for the largest percentage of NA IIV. Additionally, subjective health, life space, stress, and pain were significant unique predictors of PA, NA, or both. However, there were specific unique effects across both PA and NA, namely, the slope variances for stress and pain. Follow-up analyses were unable to account for these slope variances using person-level predictors. In essence, an individual’s emotional reactivity to pain and stress did not depend on his or her overall mean level of those factors, or of the other daily predictors. This provided further evidence that PA and NA should be treated as separable variables (e.g., it is possible for a daily event to decrease older adult’s positivity without necessarily increasing their negativity) but also highlighted factors that have pervasive influences on emotion regardless of valence, which is harmonious with models of affect that propose a dynamic relationship between PA and NA. The results from this study have theoretical and practical implications. Theories on emotional stability often focus on if and why older adults are more stable than younger adults. Findings of the present study both support and expand upon these theories by identifying within an older adult population, which proximal factors were likely to cause emotional deviations after partialling out the effects of other daily variables, including factors that were previously unstudied in this domain. The analysis methodology implemented in the present research allowed for direct investigation of whether certain individuals were more prone to the influences of these factors than others. These results are discussed in the context of coping and resiliency theories that posit individual differences in emotional responses to stimuli based on these capabilities. From a practical perspective, these results highlight that the design of interventions and technologies intended to provide older adults with effective skills and resources to maintain or improve their emotional well-being should be tailored to individuals’ affective profiles.

Wiederholte Messungen mehrerer Individuen sind von entscheidender Bedeutung für die Psychologie. Beispiele sind längsschnittliche Paneldaten und Elektroenzephalografie-Daten (EEG-Daten). In dieser Arbeit entwickle ich für jede dieser beiden Datenarten neue Analyseansätze, denen Methoden des maschinellen Lernens zu Grunde liegen. Für Paneldaten entwickle ich Gauß-Prozess-Panelmodellierung (GPPM), die auf der flexiblen Bayesschen Methode der Gauß-Prozess-Regression basiert. Der Vergleich von GPPM mit längsschnittlicher Strukturgleichungsmodellierung (lSEM), welche die meisten herkömmlichen Panelmodellierungsmethoden als Sonderfälle enthält, zeigt, dass lSEM wiederum als Sonderfall von GPPM aufgefasst werden kann. Im Gegensatz zu lSEM eignet sich GPPM gut zur zeitkontinuierlichen Modellierung, kann eine größere Menge von Modellen beschreiben, und beinhaltet einen einfachen Ansatz zur Generierung personenspezifischer Vorhersagen. Ich zeige, dass die implementierte GPPM-Darstellung gegenüber bestehender SEM Software eine bis zu neunfach beschleunigte Parameterschätzung erlaubt. Für EEG-Daten entwickle ich einen personenspezifischen Modellierungsansatz zur Identifizierung und Quantifizierung von Unterschieden zwischen Personen, die in konventionellen EEG-Analyseverfahren ignoriert werden. Im Rahmen dieses Ansatzes wird aus einer großen Menge hypothetischer Kandidatenmodelle das beste Modell für jede Person ausgewählt. Zur Modellauswahl wird ein Verfahren aus dem Bereich des maschinellen Lernens genutzt. Ich zeig ich, wie die Modelle sowohl auf der Personen- als auch auf der Gruppenebene interpretiert werden können. Ich validiere den vorgeschlagenen Ansatz anhand von Daten zur Arbeitsgedächtnisleistung. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen, dass die erhaltenen personenspezifischen Modelle eine genauere Beschreibung des Zusammenhangs von Verhalten und Hirnaktivität ermöglichen als konventionelle, nicht personenspezifische EEG-Analyseverfahren. / Repeated measures obtained from multiple individuals are of crucial importance for developmental research. Examples of repeated measures obtained from multiple individuals include longitudinal panel and electroencephalography (EEG) data. In this thesis, I develop a novel analysis approach based on machine learning methods for each of these two data modalities. For longitudinal panel data, I develop Gaussian process panel modeling (GPPM), which is based on the flexible Bayesian approach of Gaussian process regression. The comparison of GPPM with longitudinal structural equation modeling (SEM), which contains most conventional panel modeling approaches as special cases, reveals that GPPM in turn encompasses longitudinal SEM as a special case. In contrast to longitudinal SEM, GPPM is well suited for continuous-time modeling, can express a larger set of models, and includes a straightforward approach to obtain person-specific predictions. The comparison between the developed GPPM toolbox and existing SEM software reveals that the GPPM representation of popular longitudinal SEMs decreases the amount of time needed for parameter estimation up to ninefold. For EEG data, I develop an approach to derive person-specific models for the identification and quantification of between-person differences in EEG responses that are ignored by conventional EEG analysis methods. The approach relies on a framework that selects the best model for each person based on a large set of hypothesized candidate models using a model selection approach from machine learning. I show how the obtained models can be interpreted on the individual as well as on the group level. I validate the proposed approach on a working memory data set. The results demonstrate that the obtained person-specific models provide a more accurate description of the link between behavior and EEG data than the conventional nonspecific EEG analysis approach.