<b><i>Background:</i></b> It has often been argued that there is a relationship between oral health and cognitive decline in late adulthood, but a recent systematic review concluded that it was unclear “how or whether” any relationship exists. However, most of the studies that contributed to this review operationalised cognitive function using a brief cognitive screen and/or dementia status. <b><i>Objective:</i></b> An updated systematic review was conducted that focused on how oral health relates to specific cognitive abilities in older adults (specifically, the neurocognitive domains specified in the DSM-5: learning and memory, perceptual motor function, language, executive function, complex attention, and social cognition). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A systematic review was undertaken and completed in August 2018. From a total of 1,304 potentially relevant articles, 23 were identified that assessed oral health and at least one of the specific cognitive domains in an older adult cohort. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The most consistent relationships were identified with learning and memory, complex attention, and executive function. For each of these cognitive domains, most studies identified significant unadjusted associations with oral health; where adjustments for covariates were made, at least one of the associations with oral health remained significant in half or more of the studies. Results were less clear for the domains of language and perceptual motor function. No study assessed the relationship between social cognition and oral health. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> This systematic review provides evidence of an association between learning and memory, complex attention, and executive function with oral health in old age. Gaining a detailed picture of how specific types of cognitive decline relate to oral health has potential implications for earlier identification of older adults who experience oral health problems, and may also inform the development of more effective interventions focused on enhancing oral health outcomes in this group.

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Objectives Normal adult aging is associated with changes in social cognition. Although four social cognitive domains have been identified (social perception, theory of mind (ToM), affective empathy and social behavior), no study has tested all four domains concurrently in a lifespan sample, limiting understanding of the relative magnitude of age-related changes across domains. This study addresses this gap by providing the first assessment of all four social cognitive domains in an adult lifespan sample. Method 372 participants ranging from 18 to 101 years of age took part in this study. Participants completed a testing battery that assessed social perception, theory of mind, affective empathy and social behavior, as well as broader cognitive function and well-being. Results The results showed that adult aging is associated with multidirectional changes in social cognitive abilities, with ToM and social perception showing non-linear decline across much of the lifespan, and affective empathy and social behavior showing improvement. Age remained a significant predictor of all four social cognitive domains, even after accounting for broader cognitive function. Weak associations emerged between some of the social cognitive abilities indices of broader well-being. Discussion These findings provide novel and important evidence that normative aging is associated with both gains and losses in social cognition that occur at distinct points of the adult lifespan, and that are at least partially independent of general age related cognitive decline.

IntroductionMany children affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) exhibit neurocognitive delays that contribute to secondary consequences, including a disrupted school experience. Educators often have limited knowledge or experience in the identification, referral, management and accommodation of students with FASD. Effective resources and tools for educators are crucial to ensure these students are supported in their ongoing learning, development and school participation. This scoping review aims to identify and evaluate resources for educators that aid in the identification, management, or accommodation of students with FASD.Methods and analysisA search will be conducted in 9 peer-reviewed and 11 grey literature databases, Google search engine, two app stores and two podcast streaming services (planned search dates: November 2020 to February 2021). Relevant experts, including researchers, health professionals and individuals with lived experience of FASD, will be contacted in February and March 2021 to identify additional (including unpublished) resources. Resources will be selected based on registered, prespecified inclusion–exclusion criteria, and the quality of included resources will be critically appraised using a composite tool based on adaptions of the National Health and Medical Research Council FORM Framework and the iCAHE Guideline Quality Checklist. Relevant experts will also be requested to provide feedback on included resources.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval for this scoping review was obtained from the University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee (2020/825). Results of the review will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication, conference presentations, and seminars targeting audiences involved in the education sector.Trial registrationOpen Science Framework: osf.io/73pjh.

Empathy is a core component of social cognition that can be indexed via behavioral, informant-report, or self-report methods of assessment. However, concerns have been raised regarding the lack of convergence between these assessment approaches for cognitive empathy. Here, we provided the first comparison of all three measurement approaches for cognitive and affective empathy in a large adult sample ( N = 371) aged 18 to 101 years. We found that poor convergence was more of a problem for cognitive empathy than affective empathy. While none of the cognitive empathy measures correlated with each other, for affective empathy, self-report was significantly associated with both behavioral and informant-report assessments. However, for both cognitive and affective empathy, there was evidence for poor discriminant validity within the measures. Out of the three assessment approaches, only the informant-report measures were consistently associated with indices of social functioning. Importantly, age did not moderate any of the tested relationships, indicating that both the strengths and the limitations of these different types of assessment do not appear to vary as a function of age. These findings highlight the variation that exists among empathy measures and are discussed in relation to their practical implications for the assessment of empathy.