فصلنامه روانشناسی شناختی

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness and the attention bias program on attention, inhibition and emotional regulation among children with generalised anxiety disorder. This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design. The population of this study consisted of 30 children with generalised anxiety disorder referred to psychiatric clinics in Tehran's 20th district selected by the available sampling method and randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group underwent an integrated program of attention correction and mindfulness for 8 sessions and the control group did not receive any intervention. In addition, parents of all participants completed the brief executive functions test at pre-test and post-test. Data were statistically analysed at two levels of descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential (multivariate analysis of covariance). The results of this study showed that the program of correcting attention bias and mindfulness had an effect on the amount of attention, inhibition and emotion control among children with generalised anxiety disorder (p < 0.001). According to the findings of this study, it could be concluded that the combination of the treatment of attention bias and mindfulness improves executive functions in children with generalized anxiety and can be used in clinical interventions.

The aim of this research was to predict students' academic procrastination based on metacognitive beliefs about procrastination with the mediating role of test anxiety The research method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population included all undergraduate students of Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran in the academic year of 2019-20, from which 320 (206 females and 114 males) were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. The Procrastination Assessment Scale for Students, Spielberger test anxiety questionnaire and Metacognitive Beliefs about Procrastination Scale were used to collect data. Data were analyzed by structural equation modeling. Findings showed that the suggested conceptual model has a good fit with the data. The variables of test anxiety and metacognitive beliefs about procrastination accounted for most of the variance in academic procrastination, respectively, and explained a total of 28% of its variance. Negative metacognitive beliefs about procrastination only indirectly affected academic procrastination through test anxiety, and full mediation was endorsed. According to the results, it can be concluded that negative beliefs about procrastination make students prone to test anxiety and academic procrastination. Therefore, modifying these beliefs can be considered as an intervention program to decrease test anxiety and academic procrastination.

Time perception is one of the important cognitive functions of the brain, and it refers to the mental sense of time by a person. This ability not only affects all human activities but also affects our mood and emotions. The present study was applied in a semi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test for two experimental and control groups. Subjects were 40 men and women (20 males and 20 females), which were selected by available sampling from bachelor's and master's degrees and divided into two peer control and experimental groups based on gender and education. All subjects were tested by production time task of 30 and 60 seconds by chronometer before and after the intervention. The experimental group was exposed to induction of three stages of negative, positive mood, and anxiety state, and the control group were tested by the same method in neutral state. The results of variance analysis with repeated measures in the production time task showed, individuals in positive mood and anxiety estimates time faster than neutral state, and also time perceived faster in positive mood in compare to anxiety state. Furthermore, individuals in the Negative mood perceived time slower than neutral state. Based on the result of this study, it can conclude that people experience time faster in positive mood and anxiety state, while in negative mood, people experience time slower.

Anxiety is a natural reaction of humans to stress that occurs in the face of various factors. Anxiety is considered as a mental illness if it is excessive and uncontrollable in the form of fear and anxiety. Today, clinicians use certain criteria to diagnose anxiety disorders. This analytical-observational study was aimed at automatically classifying the two levels of anxious and normal by analyzing electroencephalogram signals. In this paper, the DASPS database was used, which contains a 14-channel electroencephalogram of 23 people (13 females and 10 males, mean age 30 years) during anxiety. Anxiety was presented in the form of flooding as actual exposure to the feared stimulus. Based on the results of the Self-Assessment Manikin, data were divided into two groups: (1) normal and low anxiety and (2) moderate and high anxiety. Approximate entropy, fractal dimension, and Lyapunov exponents were extracted from all channels as nonlinear properties. Maximum relevance and minimum redundancy were used to select the best feature to apply to the multilayer perceptron network. To evaluate the performance of the algorithm, different network structures were examined in terms of the number of features and neurons as well as different feature dimensions. Maximum accuracy, precision, f1-score, and sensitivity in 20 repetitions in all cases is equal to 100, and with an increasing number of neurons, the average accuracy increases. The best results were obtained for 5 features and 15 neurons, where the mean accuracy, precision, f1-score, and sensitivity for it were 80%, 92.75%, 84.15%, and 80.58%, respectively. The results of this paper indicated the capability of the proposed algorithm to distinguish anxious people from normal ones.

The purpose of this research was the effectiveness of mindfulness training on executive functions (working memory and attention) and self-efficacy in patients with anxiety disorders. The sample of this research included 30 people from the mentioned community who were selected by available sampling method. 15 people in the experimental group and 15 people in the control group were randomly divided. The research design was semi-experimental with pre-test-post-test with control and experimental groups. The measurement tools included Gioia et al.'s executive function questionnaire (2000) and Scherer's general self-efficacy. To implement, at first, a pre-test was taken from both groups. Then the experimental group underwent mindfulness intervention during 8 sessions of 90 minutes, then a post-test was taken from both groups. Data analysis was done using multivariate covariance analysis (MANCVA) and one-way covariance analysis (ANCVA). The results of the research showed that mindfulness training has a significant effect on executive functions (working memory and attention) and self-efficacy of patients with anxiety disorders.

Research and clinical observations demonstrate that anxiety is a prevalent mental health issue in children, impacting various aspects of their lives throughout different developmental stages. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of mentalization-based therapy and parent-child relationship-based therapy in addressing executive functions and anxiety symptoms in anxious children. This research employed a semi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up assessments. The study's statistical population consisted of mothers of anxious children from the Bandar Abbas Oil Refining Company in 1402, with 45 eligible participants selected through available sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and a control group. Assessment tools included Giova et al.'s behavioral rating questionnaires (2000) and the Spence-Parent Form children's anxiety scale (1998) administered at pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages. Data analysis utilized SPSS 26 software, incorporating descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the mixed variance analysis indicated a significant difference between the control group and the mentalization-based and relationship-based treatment groups regarding executive functions and anxiety symptoms in anxious children (P < 0.05). Both mentalization and parent-child relationship interventions contributed to reduced anxiety symptoms and improved executive functions in anxious children. Furthermore, parent-child relationship therapy demonstrated greater efficacy in alleviating anxiety symptoms compared to mentalization-based therapy. Consequently, based on the study's outcomes, it is plausible to consider mentalization and parent-child relationship interventions as appropriate strategies for enhancing executive functions and alleviating anxiety symptoms in anxious children.

 

The purpose of this research is to compare the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy, solution-oriented therapy, and endurance exercises on the problem-solving styles of female students with social anxiety disorder. The design of this research is a semi-experimental pre-test-post-test type with a heterogeneous control group and a one-month follow-up. The statistical population was female students of the second level of high school in the three educational districts of Kermanshah in the academic year 1401-1402. From this population, 60 students with social anxiety were selected by screening and according to the criteria for entering the study. They were randomly assigned to 4 groups of 15 people (three experimental and one control). The research tools included social anxiety questionnaires (Kanor, 2000) and problem-solving styles (Dzurila et al., 2002). The data were analyzed with SPSS23 software and analysis of variance and Benferoni's post hoc test. The findings showed that metacognitive therapy, solution-oriented therapy, and endurance exercises increased efficient problem-solving styles and decreased ineffective problem-solving styles in people with social anxiety (P≤0.05) and among the three treatments, metacognitive therapy in efficient problem-solving styles and metacognitive and solution-oriented treatment in ineffective problem-solving styles were more effective than endurance exercises (P≤0.05). Based on these findings, it can be said that all three treatment models can be used in the Iranian clinical sample.

The present study aimed to compare recognition memory and memory confidence among individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) subtypes—washing and checking—and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) using an experimental post-event design. The sample consisted of 45 patients referred to Razi Hospital Clinic in Tabriz in 2023, divided into three groups of 15 each: washing-type OCD, checking-type OCD, and GAD. Participants were aged 20 to 45 years, had at least a high school diploma, and included both genders. Memory was assessed using two computerized word lists, comprising recognition and recall tasks. Data were analyzed through multivariate analysis. Findings indicated significant differences among groups in recognition memory and memory confidence (p < 0.05), with the checking-type OCD group demonstrating poorer performance compared to the other groups. These results highlight the differential impact of emotional disorders on cognitive memory components and emphasize the need for targeted cognitive and psychotherapeutic interventions to improve memory functioning in OCD and anxiety patients.