Advances in Cognitive Sciences
Year:2019 | Volume:21 | Issue:2 |Papers Count:16

Introduction: The prevalence of anxiety disorders in children suffering from chronic diseases, such as asthma, makes it necessary to investigate the underling mechanisms of etiology and continuation of anxiety. Studies on the attentional bias of children with asthma have not only very limited but ended up in mixed results. The present study aims is to compare attentional bias disease-related stimuli and threat in children with asthma and healthy peers. Methods: Sixty-four children, aged 9– 12, took part in the study and were recruited into four conditions (asthma/low anxiety, asthma/high anxiety, healthy/low anxiety, and healthy/high anxiety). The research instruments were Spielberger children’ s trait anxiety test and researcher made visual Dot-probe task. Data were analyzed using unifactor and multifactor analysis of variance. Results: There was a significant difference in illness and negative emotions components between groups (P<0. 05) but no significant difference was found in the asthma component between groups (P>0. 05). Also, there was no significant difference between the severity of asthma and three components of attentional bias in the groups (P>0. 05). Conclusion: Findings showed that children with asthma and anxiety show vigilant towards illness and negative emotional stimuli. The results of this research can identify mediating factors and underlying mechanisms of psychological and physical variables and can be effective for intervening protocols to reduce the anxiety of children with asthma and other chronic diseases.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of menstrual cycle on the types of attention and executive functions in healthy (normal) women aged 18-30 years. Methods: This study was a fundamental research. The statistical population of this study included all female students of South Payame Noor University of Tehran. The research sample consisted of 41 students who were selected by available sampling method and were studied in three stages: menstrual, follicular and luteal. To collect the attention data, continuous performance test, stroop test, focused and distributed accuracy test were used. Also, the wisconsin card sorting test was used to measure the executive functions. Results: The results of analysis of variance with repeated measure showed that there was a significant difference between scattered attention and selective attention (dimensions of test time and reaction time) in menstrual cycle (P<0. 05), but there was no significant difference in hyper vigilance, focused attention, executive functions and selective attention (dimensions of error number, no response and correct answer). Conclusion: The results of the present research illustrated that hormonal fluctuations during menstrual cycle affect attention and executive functions.

Introduction: Alcohol addiction is an important phenomenon, which has attracted college students because of its multi-variable nature. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of meta-cognitive group therapy on the alcoholism potential in male students. Methods: This study was considered as a semi-experimental research which has used the pretest-post-test with control group and follow-up stage design. The statistical population included all of the undergraduate male students at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in the academic year 2017. The sample including 30 subjects was selected by the cluster sampling and they were assigned into experimental and control groups. In this study, meta-cognition questionnaire (MCQ-30) and the addiction potential scale (APS) were used. Results: The obtained data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance and dependent t-test. The covariance and post-test alcoholism potential scores showed that the effect of meta-cognitive therapy on the alcoholism potential of male students was significant (P<0. 01). Conclusion: Overall, the results indicated that meta-cognitive therapy has decreased the alcoholism potential of the male students and the effect of meta-cognitive therapy on alcoholism potential in a three-month follow-up stage is persistent.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to determine the mediation role of cognitive regulation in predicting rumination based on distress tolerance in patients undergoing methadone maintenance therapy. Methods: The method of the current research was descriptive-correlational and the statistical population included all patients undergoing methadone maintenance therapy in the city of Tehran, Iran, in 2017. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results: The results of this study showed that the indirect relationship between distress tolerance and rumination at with the mediating role of negative cognitive regulation was significant (P<0. 01). Conclusion: If people are not able to relieve these excitements, they will be overwhelmed by these thrilling excitements. In the meantime, cognitive emotion regulation is likely to play an essential role. Negative emotion strategies, each one due to its maladaptive nature, leads to exacerbations of negative emotions and may interact with rumination during the cognitive-emotional regulation process and result in increased rumination.

Introduction: This study aimed to study the effectiveness of phonological interventions to improve working memory in children with reading difficulties. Methods: The study population consisted of first-grade poor readers girl students in Tehran. Thirty students were recruited through a purposeful method (n=15 in 2 groups). The experimental group was received the 13 sessions of the 80-minute training program, which developed based on phonology. Assessment instruments included Diagnostic Phonological Awareness test (Dastjerdi & Soleimani, 2010) and Wechsler memory scale. Pretest and posttest data were analyzed using analysis of covariance. Results: Result revealed that phonological intervention could enhance experimental groups working memory (P<0. 001). Conclusion: Thus, the results suggested the phonological intervention, which can be crucial to be ready for learning.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the polysemy of one of the verb prefixes of the Persian language using a cognitive approach. With the cognitive semantics approach, the verb prefixes have their own meanings that add the meanings to the host’ s verb, and, in fact, by combining with it, a verb with a new meaning is created. The prefix “ forou” is one of the most prevalent verb prefixes in Persian, which, by joining different verbs, forms a kind of radial semantic structure. In this article, we analyze the meanings of the “ forou” prefix from a cognitive perspective. Methods: First, all the preceding verbs with the prefix “ forou” were retrieved from the book “ Culture of Speech” (Sokhan) and then analyzed according to the cognitive semantic concepts, Polysemy Categorization and Schema. Accordingly, by specifying the radial category of this prefix, the Prototypical meaning, the semantic network and the structure of this prefix were determined in the form of a radial category. Finally, in order to analyze the semantic network of this prefix, the spatial interactions of the trajector (TR) and the landmark (LM) were used. Results: The results obtained from the analyses indicate that the prototypical meaning of this prefix is “ down and below” , and its semantic networks, which include several groups, are: reduction, humiliation, fixity and pause, degradation, etc. Also, all semantic meanings are associated with the main meaning. For example, the meaning of “ down” in the concepts of reduction, humiliation, is interrupted. Conclusion: With studing the prefix “ Forou” in terms of a cognitive semantics approach, we found that the cognitive approach, in addition to the different meanings of a prefix and its applications in different contexts, it proves the conceptual relationships between these meanings. Therefore, it provides a better analysis of semantics of prefixs compared with traditional approaches.

Introduction: On the basis of the scientific evidence illustrating that emotions dominate the cognitive and behavioral processes. Emotions are required to be taken into account in advertising because the advertisement of branding social responsibility for organizations can be considered an emotional potential for promotion and a competitive strategic. . Methods: The research was an exploratory-laboratory method. In order to record brain signals, the Electroencephalography instrument using through the EEG EPOC + 14 Electrode wireless device was applied. After clearing the signals using Emotive 3D Brain Visualizer, the frequency band and its position were extracted. The statistical population of the study consisted of two groups of 25 people (examination and control), which is a stimulus in the form of advertising for the examination group with a social nature and for the control group with a completely economic nature. Results: Three-dimensional analysis of the brain in terms of brain wave production showed that the examination group had a significant frequency with respect to the nature of the high-frequency stimulus in the theta wave; also, the results of ANOVA confirm this. Conclusion: The results indicated that branding social responsibility could be effective in terms of its impact on the brain on brand reminders. This finding confirms previous studies that theta frequency band can affect memory if it exists.

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the effect of rhythmic-musical exercises on visual perception and executive function of 8-10 years old children with dyslexia. Methods: The research design was quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test. The participants included 23 children with dyslexia aged between 8 and 10 years who were selected through convenience sampling and, after matching, were randomly assigned into the experimental and control groups. The experimental group participated in rhythmic-musical exercises for 12 weeks (3 sessions per week), but the control group did not receive any intervention during this time. Prior and following the intervention, visual perception skills were measured by the Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills-Revised (TVPS-R) and the executive functions by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). The data were analyzed using covariance test. Results: The Findings of the analyses indicated that the rhythmic-musical exercises improved the visual perception skills and executive functions of the children with dyslexia. Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, it might be concluded that the rhythmic-musical exercises can be used to enhance the visual perceptual skills and executive functions of children with dyslexia.

Introduction: The Socratic Dialogue is one of the effective strategies of teaching, with strong research evidence supporting its positive effects on improving student learning and thinking skills. In this regard, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of Socratic Dialogue teaching on sixth grade students’ attention and academic achievement. Methods: This study was conducted with a mixed method approach (quasi-experimental and phenomenological). Participants in this study were 24 sixth grade male students, half of whom were in the experimental group (dialogic method) and the other half in the control group (non-dialogic method). The Attention Network Test and CPT were used for measuring the changes in the efficacy of students’ attention and a multi-choice test was designed to assess students’ academic performance. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were also used for recording and representing the changes in neural network of attention when they performed the attention network test. Moreover, the semi-structured interview was utilized to describe the experiences of the teachers and students in the experimental group at the end of the intervention period. Results: Results of the study indicated that in different aspect of attention, there was a significant difference only in overall omission component of sustained attention test between the experimental and control groups. Further, there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the student of the experimental and control groups on the academic achievement tests (except for mathematics) in favor of the experimental group. The ERPs data also indicated the effect of amplitude of the incongruent task at the Fz electrode and the latency of neutral task at the CZ electrode for the P200 component enhanced significantly after training for experimental group. Howevr, there was not a significant relationship among all measured changes for the N200 component. The analysis of the qualitative data obtained from the interview confirmed the role of the Socratic dialogue method in improving attention and academic performance. Conclusion: These results support the positive effects of Socratic dialogue in enhancing some aspects of students’ attention and their academic achievement. These effects are highly likely related to the questioning nature of dialogic learning context that encourages students to continuously control and monitor their own attention processes.

Introduction: Social anxiety is one of the most common mental disorder among adolescents. Recent developments in the treatment of anxiety disorders have been attention bias modification (ABM). The aim of this study was to determine effectiveness of ABM using computerized attention training in reducing social anxiety and attentional bias in adolescents. Methods: In this study, we used an experimental pretest and posttest design with control group. Thirty-two high social anxious adolescent girls and boys aged 12– 17 years, who met all inclusion criteria to be enrolled in the study were selected by using the multistage cluster random sampling method and then randomly divided into two 16-participat groups: attention training group (ATG, N=16) and control group (CG, N=16). In ATG, the participants performed computerized attention training using modified dot-probe task designed to facilitate attentional disengagement from disgusted faces or a control dot-probe task group. In control group, the participants conducted the unmodified dot-probe task. Results: After eight, twice-weekly computer sessions of training, the participants in the attention-training group compared to the control group, showed a significant decrease in attentional bias for disgusted faces and self-reported of social anxiety from pre-to post-assessment. Conclusion: The results support cognitive models of social anxiety and causal role of attentional bias in development and maintenance of social anxiety. The finding of the current research clearly indicate that use of computerized attention training procedures can be a promising alternative or complementary intervention in treatment of social anxiety.

Introduction: Depression is a mood disorder that changes the individual’ s subjective experience of time. On the other hand, emotion can affect time perception, which its importance in performing activities and projecting future is well known to everyone. The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of different emotional stimuli (happy, sad and neutral) on the time perception in people with and without major depression disorder (MDD). Methods: The current research was an analytical descriptive study. Fifteen patients with major depressive disorder with psychiatric diagnosis referred to psychiatric clinics of Najaf Abad were selected randomly using the convenience sampling and. The control group contained 15 people without mental disorders. Two groups were matched in terms of demographic characteristics. For a better understanding of the subjects, from each person took Beck depression inventory before time perception task, then time perception task in the four stages was taken for them. Results: The results showed that time discrimination between two groups was significantly different and oddball stimuli were underestimated by the MDD group. Conclusion: The mood of sadness in depressive individuals is associated with the slowing of the internal clock speed, internal clock runs more slowly than normal in depressive people that can lead to underestimation of time. Also, attention-deficit disorder in depressive patients has been proved that can cause time distortions and reducing sensitivity to time and, in turn, disrupt time discrimination in these people.

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of self-modeling, skilled model and novice model on the activity of mirror neurons. Methods: The current research was a semi-experimental study with an intergroup design. Twenty-one male students (mean age: 19. 16 years) in three experimental conditions: 1. self-modeling, 2. skilled model observation, and 3. novice model observation attended in the study. The task of interest was a golf putting task. After providing pre-training considerations, instructions, and initial training in putting skill with emphasis on important stages and tips, the volunteers performed 10 golf putts and their performance was used for providing video tapes for display during recording of brain electrical waves. The second stage was to record the brain electrical waves by observing three types of models. In this recording, 10 10-second videos of golf putting were watched. The operation was repeated three times in the form of counterbalance: within-participant order; 1. by viewing their performance filmed in the previous stage, 2. by viewing skilled model performances (skilled golfer) and 3. by viewing novice model performances (beginning golfers in putting task). To measure the mu rhythm suppression, ratios of the mu rhythm power during the observed conditions relative to the power over the baseline condition at C3, C4 and CZ scalp locations were used. Results: Two-way within-subject analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the mu rhythm suppression was significantly different among experimental conditions. The results of paired comparisons also indicated that in, self-modeling, suppression of mu rhythm was significantly higher than the other two conditions. Conclusion: Some of the findings indicate that due to the discrepancy between the ability to perform movement with the observed model execution, the activity of the mirror neurons was lower in the skilled and novice models. The cause of greater mirror neurons activity in self-modeling conditions was also discussed in terms of the Bandura’ s cognidoitive-social theory and model-observer similarity.