Cognitive Psychology Journal

Designing, developing and validating a Psycho-Educational program of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive empowerment to Executive Functions in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

alireza moradi

Mindfulness is one of the effective interventions in improving executive functions. Although this intervention is well documented for adults, but it is less addressed for children, while children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder Executive functions are problematic. The purpose of this study is to Designing, developing and validating a psycho-educational program of empowerment based on mindfulness-cognitive for reduce behavioral symptoms and improve executive function in children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder. The present study is of the fundamental type, which is in two parts, In the first for designing and development stages was a descriptive - analytic method with a configurative synthesis approach In the second stage For program validation, along with the use of face validity method, content validity method was used quantitatively and Qualitatively method with a panel of 10 experts and Content Validity Ratio (CVR) and Content Validity Index (CVI). The minimum and maximum CVRs for each item or component of the program were calculated as 0/73 and 1, respectively. Also the minimum and maximum CVIs for each item or component of the program were calculated as 0/80 and 1, respectively. Finally, the average content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) for the entire program was calculated as 0/91. This research leads to the preparation of an educational-therapeutic program in three sections: 1- basics, 2- external awareness and 3- internal awareness, which includes the sub-elements of strengthening attention, concentration, awareness of emotions, thoughts, tasks, purpose and impulses. Be. This educational-therapeutic program includes 16 sessions for children and 3 sessions for parents, 120 cards and 20 educational worksheets. The psycho educational program of empowerment based on mindfulness- cognitive for reduce behavioral symptoms and improve executive function in children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder has appropriate face and content validity, and has a useful validity for educational, clinical and research uses.

Structural Relationships of Behavioral Brain Systems and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Mediated by Executive Cognitive Functions in Prisoner

Kamran Yazdanbakhsh

Given the increase in criminal behaviors and the damage they cause in society; it is important to study the psychological factors that make people prone to crime or prevent it from committing. Accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of cognitive executive functions in the relationship between behavioral brain systems with cognitive emotion regulation in prisoner men. The research was descriptive-correlational. The study population included all men who were serving their sentences in Kermanshah Central Prison in 1398, from which 300 people were selected by convenience sampling method. The participants completed the Gray-Wilson Personality Questionnaire (GWPQ-28), Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), and Cognitive Ability Questionnaire (Nejati, 2013). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and structural equations using SPSS22 and AMOS24. Findings showed that path analysis models of the relationship between behavioral brain systems and cognitive emotion regulation with executive functions' mediating role have a good fit. The results emphasize the importance of behavioral brain systems and executive functions in cognitive emotion regulation. As a result, paying attention to executive functions in controlling and cognitively regulating emotions and promoting them can be effective in reducing criminal behaviors.

structure and validation of the Persian version of the Cognitive Load Questionnaire

fariborz dortaj

Cognitive Load Theory is one of the most powerful research frameworks in educational research. The main concern within this framework is to develop a proper instrument to measure cognitive load. Hence, the goal of this research was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Cognitive Load Questionnaire designed by Kelpsch, Schmitz and Seufert (2017). This questionnaire was administered to 206 seventh- and eighth-grade female students, in which they rated the amount of intrinsic, germane, and extraneous load of various learning tasks on a 7-point Likert scale. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were examined and confirmed through Cronbach's alpha coefficient and t-test in which the quality of individuals' answers in different tasks were compared together. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis was performed using LISREL 8.80, to investigate factor structure of the questionnaire. The results showed that the questionnaire has desirable reliability and validity to measure different types of cognitive load. The results of confirmatory factor analysis also revealed a three-factor structural model whose fit indices suggested a desirable fit with the data, thus corroborating the three-factor structure of the cognitive load questionnaire. Therefore, this questionnaire can be a proper measure to assess different types of cognitive load in seventh and eighth grade students.

Investigating the Mediating Role of Embodied Self-Awareness in Predicting Rubber Hand Illusion Based on Psychological Self-Awareness

susan alizadeh fard

Human has always been interested in thinking about nature of self, and knowing its dimensions. In fact, different information is forming psychological and embodied representations through cognitive processes. The result of these representations is two types of mental sense of self: body self-awareness, and psychological self-awareness. Sometimes, the real representation makes mistake and, under certain circumstances, experiences an artificial hand as a real one. This study was designed and conducted to predicting rubber hand illusion based on embodied and psychological self-awareness. The statistical population consisted of all male and female students living in Tehran. A sample of 167 people (96 females and 71 males) were selected by convenience sampling method. Research instruments included the self-consciousness scale (Fenigstein et al., 1975), and embodied sense of self scale (Asai et al., 2016) as well as performing Rubber hand illusion testing. Data were analyzed by using SPSS and AMOS software. The results of path analysis showed that the dimensions of psychological and embodied self-awareness have a negative and significant direct relationship with rubber hand illusion. Also private self-awareness mediated by embodied ownership and agency awareness; and public self-awareness mediated by embodied ownership awareness are negatively and indirectly related to rubber hand illusion. These results indicate the role of different dimensions of consciousness in body representations and have created new insights into the boundaries of knowledge related to these concepts.

Topic Shift in the Elderly with Alzheimer’s from Crow's Model Perspective

Masoud Dehghan

The present study aimed at investigating the topic shift in the discourse of the senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type based on neurolinguistics perspective within the framework of Crow's model (1983). The methodological nature of this quantitative research was casual-comparative; and the data include 20 subjects (10 senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type subjects and 10 normal elderly subjects). To determine the severity of dementia, the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale was administered and subjects with a score (0.5 ≤ X< 2) were selected. Then, they answered the questions about their families, daily activities. Moreover, the conversations were recorded and transcribed. The utterances were coded according to Dijkstra et al. model (2004), and they were categorized according to Crow's model (1983). Finally, the statistic results obtained using of independent t-test. The findings indicate significantly different Topic Shift (P=0.001) and Topic Maintenance (P=0.01) in the discourse of both groups that occurred Within Turn and Across Turn. The results showed that topic shift has much more frequency in the senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type subjects’ discourse occurring more often Within Turn. Also, Topic Initiation was Type of Shift having the most frequency, and also the most important Reason for Shift was related to Failure to Continue.

Effectiveness of Captain Log Cognitive Rehabilitation Software on Auditory and Spatial Working Memory among People with Depressive Symptoms

najmeh hamid

Due to the prevalence of depression and the existence of deficites in the executive functions of depressed people, it seems necessary to study and evaluate various treatment methods in the field of cognitive functions, including working memory. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Captain Log cognitive rehabilitation software on auditory and spatial working memory of people with depressive symptoms in Ahvaz. The method of this research was quasi-experimental with pre-test, post-test design and a control group. The population of this study was thirty individuals with depressive symptoms referring to psychology and psychiatric centers in Ahvaz and the web pages of these centers in 2009-2010. Participants were completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and the Wechsler Active Memory Profile Test-Third Edition). Participants were matched based on gender, age, education, socio-economic status, lack of acute physical, psychological diseases and they were randomly allocated into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group recieved cognitive rehabilitation for 10 sessions using Captain Log software, while the control group did not receive any intervention. After the intervention and post-test, the data were analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) by SPSS-24. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of auditory and spatial working memory (p < .001). The rate of auditory and spatial active memory in the experimental group were significantly increased in comparison with the pre-test scores and the scores of the control group. It can be concluded that Captain Log cognitive rehabilitation software has a significant effect on the auditory and spatial working memory of depressed people (p < .001). Therefore, the Captan Log cognitive rehabilitation software can be used to effectively increase the auditory and spatial working memory of people with depressive symptoms.