Nikolaos Zygouris
@dit.uth.gr
Assistant Professor
Informatics and Telecommunications Department
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction, Behavioral Neuroscience, Developmental and Educational Psychology
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Nikolaos C. Zygouris
MDPI AG
Depression is clinically diagnosed when a defined constellation of symptoms manifests over a specific duration with notable severity. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is characterized by the presence of five or more symptoms persisting for at least two weeks. As a profound mental health condition affecting millions globally, depression presents a considerable challenge for researchers and clinicians alike. In pediatric and adolescent populations, depression can precipitate adverse outcomes, including substance abuse, academic difficulties, risky sexual behaviors, physical health problems, impaired social relationships, and a markedly elevated risk of suicide—up to thirty times higher than the general population. This paper details a study that evaluated the efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) alone vs. CBT combined with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in a treatment program. The study cohort comprised sixteen (16) children and adolescents diagnosed with depression (eight males and eight females) and sixteen (16) typically developing peers (eight males and eight females) aged from 9 to 15 years (Mean age = 11.94, standard deviation = 2.02). Initial assessments employed Event-Related Potentials (ERPs), the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), and reaction time measurements. The results reveal that participants with depression exhibit cognitive deficits in attention and memory, as evidenced by prolonged P300 latencies. Following intervention with either CBT alone or CBT combined with medication, the depressed participants demonstrated significant improvements, evidenced by lower CDI scores, reduced P300 latencies, and faster reaction times, both compared to their pre-treatment status and relative to the control group.
L. Messinis, E. Aretouli, P. Patrikelis, S. Malefaki, A. Ntoskou-Messini, N. Trimmis, N.C. Zygouris, K. Konstantopoulos, and P. Gourzis
Informa UK Limited
The Children's Color Trail Test (CCTT) is considered a culture fair equivalent of the Trail Making Test for the assessment of cognitive flexibility in pediatric populations, while others emphasize its additional validity as a measure of attention, perceptual tracking, processing speed, susceptibility to interference and inhibition. The need for standardized neuropsychological tests in Greece, especially for the pediatric population is significant. In the present study, considering the relatively good psychometric properties of the CCTT and its wide cross-cultural application, we decided that such a tool would be useful to Greek clinicians and researchers, and therefore developed norms for the Greek child and adolescent population. Additionally, we examined the clinical validity of the test, administering it to two groups of patients (children with Traumatic Brain Injury and Attention Deficit - Hyperactivity Disorder). We administered the test to 417 native healthy Greek children 6-15 years, recruited primarily from Southwestern Greece from several public schools. Linear regression analysis revealed a significant influence of age on completion time in both parts of the CCTT, whereas sex did not influence time to completion. Older children consistently completed the test faster than younger children, whereas girls and boys performed similarly on both conditions. In addition, CCTT differentiated the performance of children who have had a TBI and those diagnosed with ADHD from the performances of their typically developing peers. This study provides much needed performance and clinical utility data for the pediatric population in Greece on a promising neuropsychological tool for use in clinical and research settings.
Maria Tsolia, Nikolaos C. Zygouris, and Kostas Kolomvatsos
IEEE
Reading, or the ability to infer meaning from printed words in order to correctly interpret relevant information, is the most fundamental component of education. To recognize letters, letter strings, and words, one must possess the ability to decode abstract graphemes accurately and fluently into their corresponding phonemes. Additionally, processing text requires the capacity to read and comprehend text with both fluency and accuracy. Thus, reading requires a variety of cognitive abilities, including effective processing speed, phonological awareness, syntactic processing, auditory and visual word recognition, and phonological awareness. The present study reports the outcomes of a research that evaluated the identification of students with reading disabilities using an artificial neural network. The neural network consisted of structured tasks aiming at a) reading, b) distinguishing words and pseudowords and c) reading two texts. Participants were 235 children attending grades from third to sixth class. Audio is converted into a spectrogram and students with disabilities are identified using machine learning algorithms and auditory analysis. The outcome of the present study suggests that a neural network that is comprised from three tasks can identify the reading abilities and classify the school aged children between typical achievers and reading disabled. Furthermore, including the mAP scores, the results show that the model is highly effective in identifying and classifying reading difficulties in real-time, offering a promising avenue for future research and practical applications in educational settings.
E. Beazidou, N. Zygouris, K. Botsoglou, E. Kougioumtzidou, and C. Samantzis
Informa UK Limited
Aikaterini Striftou, Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Filippos Vlachos, Panayiotis Patrikelis, and Lambros Messinis
Informa UK Limited
The present study aimed to investigate the improvement of reading ability and cognitive performance of children with reading difficulties through a Web application named "Poke the Reading Ability" (PtRA). PtRA is designed to assist the intervention of reading difficulties in Greek, a language that is more transparent than English. Sixty (60) children between nine (9) to twelve (12) years old (mean age 10.18 years). The baseline assessment consisted of two batteries of reading and cognitive abilities tests. Test-A, a Greek standardized psychometric tool and Askisi, a newly developed neuropsychological battery of tests are adopted to assess reading and cognitive performance. Both tools, were used in order to screen children's reading and cognitive performance before and after implementing the PtRA. The PtRA Web intervention consists of (a) tasks that focus on improving visual and auditory working memory, (b) tasks that improve phonological awareness and decoding, (c) tasks that are adopted to strengthen visual discrimination ability and (d) tasks that improve reading comprehension ability. Following the Web delivered intervention program the results revealed that the reading and cognitive abilities of children with reading difficulties were statistically significant improved in all 9 reading and all 3 cognitive abilities tasks.
Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Kafenia Botsoglou, Georgios Dimitriou, Olympia Axelou, Panagiotis Oikonomou, Eleftheria Beazidou, and Grigoris D. Tziallas
International Association of Online Engineering (IAOE)
Web applications can be constructed to assess the executive functions and literacy skills of preschool aged children using a variety of research protocols. This work describes such a web application and its research protocol with tasks that screen inhibition, auditory and visual working memory, letter sound connection, word identification, and cognitive flexibility. The application was tested on a group of 65 preschoolers with cognitive deficits whose parents were advised to allow their children to reattend kindergarten classes and a control group of 65 typically achieving peers of similar age and gender. The results revealed that children at the age of four and five years old with cognitive deficits presented lower scores of correct answers and larger latencies in all six tasks compared to children that participated in the control group.
Stamoulia Polyzou, Kafenia Botsoglou, Nikolaos, C. Zygouris, and George Stamoulis
Informa UK Limited
ABSTRACT The preference of preschool children for interactive traditional paper books has long been proved. More novel than traditional interactive books are the Augmented Reality (AR) books, which took a place in the book market for more than a decade now. For this study, we have used the Mosaic approach as a form of participatory research. The main methods used included children's presentations, interviews, observations, photo-taking, and taking part in a voting procedure. Our findings showed that the requirements for using AR books are not yet met by mobile devices that the youngest users have, so their audience is still limited. Even though the AR book seemed to be more promising for engaging children's attention longer, this was not possible because of the constraints imposed by the very delicate screen handling and children expressed their preference for the traditional interactive book.
Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Filippos Vlachos, and Georgios I. Stamoulis
MDPI AG
According to DSM 5, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive, uncontrollable worry about various topics that occupies the majority of the subject’s time for a period of at least six months. The aforementioned state causes distress and/or functional impairments. This paper presents the outcomes of a pilot study that evaluated the implementation of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and CBT with an SSRIs intervention program. The participants comprised 16 children and adolescents with GAD (8 males and 8 females) matched with 16 typically developing peers (8 males and 8 females) aged from 10 to 16 years old (M = 12.56 SD = 2.18). Baseline assessment consisted of event related potentials (ERPs), which indicated that participants with GAD presented cognitive deficits in attention and memory, as they exhibited longer P300 latencies. Following treatment with the CBT program and/or medication, children and adolescents with GAD did not present statistically significantly longer P300 latencies and reaction times in comparison to the control group. Lastly, children and adolescents who followed the CBT program or the CBT program with psychopharmacological assistance did not reveal statistically significant differences in 13 out of 15 topographic brain areas and in reaction time.
Dimitrios A. Varsos, Georgios Dimitriou, and Nikolaos C. Zygouris
IEEE
The typical way to learn programming is using different high-level programming languages and a simple text editor, in order to compose and compile programs, usually to solve simple computational problems. Nowadays, an alternative method for the introduction of lower secondary school students into programming is through educational robotics. In this work, we design, organize and implement a teaching model in the context of flipped classroom learning, using educational robotics and an asynchronous tele-education environment for courses with limited weekly school time. Such a model must include learning independent of time and place, a more efficient use of classroom time and a cooperative teaching technique in cross-curricular subjects. The whole process is evaluated by the lower secondary school students themselves through a data collection tool and the relevant results are presented.
Eleni Fatourou, Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Thanasis Loukopoulos, and Georgios I. Stamoulis
IEEE
Programming, most recently in the form of Computational Thinking (CT), is emerging as a new subject in primary schools worldwide. By data-based decision making, teachers, as learning designers, make decisions on instruction design based on a broad range of evidence, such as student assessment scores and classroom teaching observations. Given the current limitations on conclusive, field-proven teaching practices and an underlying “culture” to use as a basis, we turn to pertinent empirical studies that the growing scientific interest on introducing programming in primary school curricula has produced. The hypothesis is that we may overcome the lack of extensive experience in designing a programming course by reviewing the above evidence, in order to frame learning situations and methods.
Aikaterini Striftou, Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Georgios I. Stamoulis, and Denis Vavougios
Springer International Publishing
Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Kafenia Botsoglou, Antonios N. Dadaliaris, Georgios Dimitriou, Daniil Trontsios, Georgios I. Stamoulis, and Denis Vavougios
Springer International Publishing
Eleni Fatourou, Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Athanasios Loukopoulos, Georgios I. Stamoulis, and Denis Vavougios
Springer International Publishing
Theano Yfanti, Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Ioannis Chondropoulos, and Georgios I. Stamoulis
Springer International Publishing
Madalena Soula, Nikolaos C. Zygouris, and Georgios I. Stamoulis
Springer International Publishing
Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Filippos Vlachos, Antonios N. Dadaliaris, Evangelos Karagos, Panagiotis Oikonomou, Aikaterini Striftou, Denis Vavouguios, and Georgios I. Stamoulis
Springer International Publishing
Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Elias Avramidis, Argyris V. Karapetsas, and George I. Stamoulis
Informa UK Limited
ABSTRACT Developmental dyslexia is defined as an unexpected specific and persistent failure to acquire efficient reading skills despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence and sociocultural opportunity. This article reports the outcomes of a study that evaluated the implementation of a 4-month intervention program. The intervention consisted of structured activities aiming at improving (a) the children’s phonological awareness, (b) their visual and auditory memory, (c) their visual discrimination ability, and (d) their text comprehension. Participants were 12 children diagnosed as dyslexic matched with 12 typically achieving peers of similar age and gender. Baseline assessment consisted of a clinical neuropsychological battery of tests and Event Related Potentials (ERPs) and resulted in confirming the discrepancy between the dyslexic and the control group. Following the remediation program, the dyslexic group did not differ significantly from their control group in six out of eight neuropsychological tests. The electrophysiological results revealed that the two groups had similar P300 latencies in 12 out of the 15 electroencephalographic sites assessed. These findings suggest that children with dyslexia can improve their abilities through a remediation program which aims to strengthen their audio-visual and phonological processes along with their working memory capability.
Eleni Fatourou, Nikolaos C Zygouris, Thanasis Loukopoulos, and Georgios I Stamoulis
International Association of Online Engineering (IAOE)
Computer programming can help children develop problem solving and analytical skills. Thus, many countries have included computer science in the curriculum of primary school. Given differences in culture, available infrastructures, as well as the age pupils are introduced to computer science, forming a computer science curriculum still remains a challenge. Towards this end, this study focuses on ex-ploring the potential merits of introducing concurrent programming concepts ear-ly in the learning process. The basic premise is that although concurrent pro-gramming at its full details is a rather advanced topic even at university level, it is everyday practice to perform two or more tasks simultaneously that might need (or not) some sort of synchronization. Therefore, the tutor can capitalize on eve-ryday experience to explain basic concepts on concurrency. Such correlation be-tween life experience and concurrent programming challenges may expand the cognitive functions of the pupils and provide them with further background to improve analytical thinking. The proposed curriculum for fifth and sixth grade primary school was adopted in seven classes in Greece. Results indicate that un-initiated to programming pupils at the age of ten (fifth grade) were able to com-prehend basic concurrency topics, while pupils at the age of eleven (sixth grade) with some programming familiarity were able to understand more advanced concepts.
Panos K. Papadopoulos, Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Maria G. Koziri, Thanasis Loukopoulos, and Georgios I. Stamoulis
Springer International Publishing
Eleni Fatourou, Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Thanasis Loukopoulos, and Georgios I. Stamoulis
Springer International Publishing
Nikolaos C. Zygouris, George I. Stamoulis, Filippos Vlachos, Denis Vavougios, Antonios N. Dadaliaris, Evaggelia Nerantzaki, Panagiotis Oikonomou, and Aikaterini Striftou
IEEE
Dyscalculia is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects the ability of a child to learn arithmetic. Dyscalculia appears despite normal intelligence, proper schooling, adequate environment, socioeconomic status and motivation. The first aim of the present research protocol was to construct a battery of tests that can be delivered by computer in order to screen children's arithmetic skills. Our second aim was to develop a web application screener for dyscalculia that assesses children aged from 8–11 years old and that, to the best of our knowledge, does not exist. The hypothesis of the present study was that Greek students that are already diagnosed by paper-and-pencil tests as dyscalculic, will present lower performance and higher time latencies in the tasks of the aforementioned web application screener. A total of sixty, right handed children (30 male and 30 female, age range 8–11 years old) participated in this study. The students with disorders in mathematics (N=30, 15 male and 15 female) had a statement of dyscalculia issued after assessment at a Centre of Diagnosis, Assessment and Support, as required by Greek Law. The comparison group (N=30) was formed by pupils who attended the same classes with dyscalculics, presented typical academic performance according to their teachers' ratings and had been matched for age and gender with the children with disorder in mathematics. Three tasks were used for evaluating children's arithmetic ability: a calculation task, a task that evaluated their skills in understanding mathematical terminology, and an arithmetic problem solving task. Statistical analysis revealed that children with dyscalculia had statistically significant lower mean scores of correct answers and larger time latencies in all tasks compared to their average peers that participated in the comparison group. In conclusion, it must be highlighted that the web application screener for dyscalculia used in this study was found to be a feasible instrument for first-pass screening services and referral.
Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Aikaterini Striftou, Antonios N. Dadaliaris, George I. Stamoulis, Apostolos C. Xenakis, and Denis Vavougios
IEEE
Popular interest in robotics has increased significantly over the last years. It has been claimed that robotics can provide new benefits to the learning process at all levels of education. The main ideas of the present study adhered to the constructionist theory, according to which the learning process is not only transmitted from teacher to pupil, but rather constructed in the mind of the pupil in the form of active learning. The purpose of the present study was to implement a robotic toy (Lego Mindstorms NXT TM) in a Greek primary school, in order to teach twelve year-old children some of the basic concepts of geometry. The main hypothesis of the present study was that children who used the Lego Mindstorms NXT platform would score higher on an evaluation questionnaire than children who formed the control group. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed in order to evaluate the correct answers of the questionnaires. Statistical analysis revealed that children who participated in the experimental group performed better in the 21 items of the questionnaire. Moreover, they mentioned that the geometry course became more interesting and drew their attention in comparison to the courses that were taught through the standard teaching process. It is apparent that the present study follows the line of inquiries that supports that robotics can make a significant impact to education. Robots can be a tool that can enhance the skills of children.
Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Filippos Vlachos, Antonios N. Dadaliaris, Panagiotis Oikonomou, George I. Stamoulis, Denis Vavougios, Evaggelia Nerantzaki, and Aikaterini Striftou
Springer International Publishing
Nikolaos C. Zygouris, Filippos Vlachos, Antonios N. Dadaliaris, George I. Stamoulis, Denis Vavougios, Evaggelia Nerantzaki, and Aikaterini Striftou
IEEE
Learning disabilities is a generic term that refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders. The aim of the present pilot study was to examine the efficacy of a new web neurocognitive screening tool, the “askisi” that was developed to provide a brief screening measure for learning difficulties. Participants were twenty children who had been initially identified with learning difficulties and a control group of twenty students' age- and sex-matched with the children with learning difficulties. Group members' ages range between 8 and 12 years old. The set of tasks which all children had to undergo included 10 test that examined children's rreading, spelling, arithmetic and cognitive skills. In our effort to enhance the aforementioned procedure we created a client-server web application that implements its core characteristics. The results indicated that children with learning difficulties had significantly less correct responses in eight of the ten tasks, of our web screening test, compared with the control group, suggesting that the difference between the two groups could be practically important. Although time latency of learning disabled children was larger than their typical developing schoolmates (see Table 2), this difference did not reach statistical significance in five of the nine tasks measured. Overall, these results of this pilot study revealed strong convergent and discriminant evidence for the eight tasks of the “askisi” screening measure, suggesting that this web application may provide a useful method to screen for learning difficulties in both research studies and clinical settings.