Advances in Cognitive Sciences
Year:2016 | Volume:17 | Issue:4 (68)|Papers Count:9

Introduction: Novel findings in neuroscience have suggested that individuals may strive to train their brains to improve their cognitive abilities including working memory and attention. On other hand, according to the Attentional Gate Model (AGM), our perception of time roots in cognitive processes such as attention, working memory.Method: Taking the above into consideration, in order to improve such cognitive processes, a time reproduction training tool in the form of game was designed and developed. The purpose of this study was to primarily examine the effect of our designed game on time reproduction performance. To this end, in the framework of single-subject (A-B) design, 4 subjects (6-12 years old) were enrolled. Subjects’ performance in time reproduction task was measured during four phases including baseline, during training, immediately after the training as a post-test and 30 days following post-test as a follow–up. Effect sizes (Cohen’s d) and (PND) were calculated in all subjects.Results: Despite the intervention effect for some subjects, overall results suggest a large variability.Furthermore, performance in reproduction task and performance in training sessions were compared to examine whether improvement on training transferred to performance.Conclusion: We argue that variability in effect transmission might refer to differences in the nature of training and assessment tools. This was a pilot study to test the impact of time perception training by means of a game training and continued research is required to conclude on such an effect.

Introduction: Considerable attention has focused on aspects of social cognition (including emotion recognition) as potential determinants of social dysfunction in schizophrenia. Recent research endeavors have consistently indicated that schizophrenia patients are less competent in perceiving emotions compared to healthy controls. On the other hand, it has been welldocumented that emotion processing in different individuals can be attributed to their genetic factors and biological relatives of schizophrenia patients are likely to have potential impairments in emotion perception. Thereupon, this study attempted to compare facial affect recognition in schizophrenia patients, their unaffected first- degree relatives and normal individuals.Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 78 participants. A computer-based version of the emotion recognition task, using Ekman’s photo set, was used to assess their facial emotion recognition.Results: Normal individuals and schizophrenia patients had respectively the best and the worst performance on the task. Regarding sadness recognition, relatives and schizophrenia patients, were less competent than normal individuals.However, their relatives’ performance on anger recognition was similar to that of normal individuals; and both groups performed better than schizophrenia patients. The performance of schizophrenia relatives fell between the patient and control groups during the recognition of neutral faces. All such these differences were statistically significance.Conclusion: Our results corroborated the previous findings suggesting that schizophrenia patients and their unaffected first-degree relatives tend to have deficits when performing facial emotion recognition tasks.Besides, the findings confirmed the notion that emotion types potentially influence the emotion recognition across schizophrenic and healthy individuals.

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of computer-based cognitive rehabilitation on cognitive deficits in elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease.Methods: This controlled study followed a pretest/post-test paradigm. Sixteen elderly nursing-home residents with Alzheimer's disease in Kerman were included based on the defined criteria.Subjects were assigned to two groups i.e. experimental and control. Participantswere submitted tobrief mental state questionnaire, physical examination, Wechsler Memory Test, Tower of London, Go-No Go and Bender Gestalt Tests. The cognitive rehabilitation program using neuro-training for 24 sessions over 8 weeks, 2-3 times a week and 1-hour per session was performed. Same set of results were obtained in an 8-week follow-up.Data were analyzed using repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance.Results: According to our results, the experimental group who received computer-based cognitive rehabilitation intervention was found to have significantly less impairment as compared to the control group in terms of scores in mental state examination (h2=-0.94), Tower of London task (h2=-0.68), Go- No Go task (h2=-0.93), memory performance in Wechsler memory test (h2=-0.89) and Bender-Gestalt test (h2=-0.88). Results also showed that the intervention effects on all variables remained consistent upon follow-up.Conclusion: Our findings confirmed the influence of computer-based cognitive rehabilitation intervention to improve cognitive function in elderly patients with mild Alzheimer's disease. Such interventions are therefore recommended in the applied neuro-cognitive rehabilitation setting.

Introduction: Different capacity in performing cognitive tasks with emotional components amongst normal subjects and those with emotional disorders as well as the disparity in verbal and visual information processing for the same, warrant the study of emotional working memory capacity in patients with major depressive- (MDD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).Method: This Ex post-facto research enrolled four groups including individuals with PTSD, MDD, non- PTSD and a control group which each comprising 14 participants. Participants were selected through the convenience sampling method. The four applied assessment tools were thesemi-structured diagnostic interviews for PTSD, the Impact of Event Scale–Revised (IES-R) questionnaire, Beck’s Depression Inventory (BD), and a computer version of the visual-emotional working memory capacity task. One-way analysis of variation (ANOVA) was used upon statistical analysis.Results: Results revealed significant differences in total visual working memory capacity between PTSD, non- PTSD, and control group. In addition, the difference between PTSD and non- PTSD groups and depressed and non- PTSD groups in traumarelated distracters were significant.Conclusion: It can be concluded that impaired visual working memory capacity can be considered as a risk factor for re-experiencing symptoms in patients with PTSD. In addition, weak cognitive control in patients with PTSD and MDD can be considered as a premorbid factor in this group.

Introduction: In this study, we propose a new adaptive method for fusing multiple emotional modalities to improve the performance of an emotion recognition system.Method: Three-channel forehead biosignals, along with peripheral physiological measurements (blood volume pressure, skin conductance, and interbeat intervals), were utilized as emotional modalities. Six basic emotions, i.e., anger, sadness, fear, disgust, happiness, and surprise were elicited by displaying preselected video clips for each of the 25 participants in the experiment. In the proposed emotion recognition system, recorded signals with the formation of three classification units identified the emotions independently. The results were then fused using the adaptive weighted linear model to produce the final result. Each classification unit is assigned a weight that minimizes the squared error of the ensemble system.Results: The results showed that, the proposed fusion method outperformed all individual classifiers and emotion systems that were designed based on feature level fusion and classifiers fusion using the majority voting method. Using the support vector machine (SVM) classifier, an overall recognition accuracy of 88% was obtained in identifying the intended emotional states. Also, applying only the forehead or the physiological signals in the proposed fusion scheme indicates that designing a reliable emotion recognition system is feasible without the need for additional emotional modalities.Conclusion: The results suggest using adaptive fusion of classification units in the design of multimodal emotions recognition system.

Introduction: This study compared the executive functions in children residing in orphanage and normal conditions.Methods: This Ex-Post Facto study enrolled 90 children from orphanage and 90 normal children in three age groups (7-5, 11-9, 15-13 years old) from the city of Gorgan in 2011. In each age group, 30 orphanage children were recruited through convenient sampling method and for the selection normal children; the first stage used cluster sampling followed by random sampling methods. Coolidge (2002) neuropsychological and personality tests were administered across subjects.Data were analyzed usingt -test, ANOVA and Scheffe tests.Results: Data analysis revealed some significant differences in executive functions between orphanage and normal children of all age groups.Conclusion: Our findings have suggested that poor executive functions in children residing in orphanages could possibly be due to the environmental isolation, economic variables and the lack of rich social interactions.

Introduction: Working memory deficits are common in traumatic brain injury and causing much compromise in patients’ activity of daily living. Research has shown possiblility to improve working memory through cognitive training. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of computerized cognitive rehabilitation on working memory performance in patients with traumatic brain injury.Methods: Fifty two patients with traumatic brain injury aged 16-40 who fulfilled the inclusion criteria, were randomly assigned to experimental and waiting-list control groups. The experimental group was trained for 8 session with a Memory rehabilitation software while the waiting-list control group did not receive any intervention and the training was postponed until after the conclusion of this research. The Wechsler memory index was employed to assess the working memory at baseline, post-test, and follow-up time points.Results: The results of ANCOVA suggested a significant difference between the means of working memory in experimental and waiting-list control groups. The posttest and follow-up scores in the experimental group were not statistically different.Conclusions: The computerized cognitive rehabilitation appeared to exert a significant effect on working memory performance in patients with traumatic brain injury.

Introduction: The present research aimed to evaluate the possible association of mindfulness and metacognitive strategies with learning styles among basic science students at Shiraz University.Method: This correlation study followed a descriptive method whereby 280 students were enrolled through convenient sampling. Toronto Mindfulness Scale, Kolb learning style questionnaire and the metacognition scale were employed as study tools. The validity of our applied questioners was 0.97, 0.85 and 0.98, respectively. Data were analyzed thorough descriptive method and logistic regression.Results: Our findings demonstrated an inverse and meaningful relation between convergent learning style and mindfulness as well as a direct relation between divergent learning style and mindfulness. Likewise, there was a direct and meaningful relation between metacognitive strategies and student’s divergent style and an inverse relation between metacognition and students’ accommodate learning style, also with the students’ assimilated learning style.Conclusion: Individuals who possess higher mindfulness and metacognitive capacity appeared to more subject to divergent learning style.