فصلنامه تازه های علوم شناختی
سال شانزدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 62، تابستان 1393)

The aim of the present study was to examine the impulsivity and cognitive emotion regulation strategies among patients with bipolar- and major depressive disorders. This investigation recruited 50 patients including 25 patients with bipolar disorder (11 females، and 14 males) and 25 patients with major depression (15 females، and 10 males)، who presented to Imam Hossein Psychiatric Center، using the convenience sampling method. Our control group comprised 25 healthy participants (13 females، and 12 males) matched for age، education and marital status to patients group. To collect data، Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ-short) and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11)، were administered. Our findings showed a higher score in both patient groups than the healthy controls with regard to attentional/cognitive impulsivity، motor impulsivity and non-planning. Meanwhile، there were no significant differences in such indices between the two patient groups. In addition، both patient groups scored higher than healthy controls in maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies including self-blame، rumination and catastrophizing. Whereas، there were no significant differences in other-blaming and acceptance strategies among the three groups. In adaptive emotion regulation strategies of refocus-on-planning، positive reappraisal، putting into Perspective and positive refocusing there were significant differences amongst the three groups. These findings reemphasize on the importance of the role of the impulsivity and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in bipolar- and major depressive disorders.

Studies have shown that the levels-of-pocessing may differentially affect recall، recognition and false memory. This study was mainly designed to investigate the effect of levels-of-processing on recall، recognition and false memory in students of different academic fields. The current study was a pilot experimental research of pre- and post-test design carried out in a single study group. With regard to the statistical analysis، factor analysis variance was employed to assess the effect of task type within groups as well as the effect of field type and study approach between groups. Through convenience sampling method، this study enrolled 100 bachelor and master students of psychology، law، electrical engineering and computer at Shahid Beheshti University. The assessment tools which were used in this study included: 1- the utility of false memory (DRM Paradigm)، measuring the rate of false memory، recall and recognition of individuals، and 2- the revised two-factor study process questionnaire (R-SPQ-2 F) developed byBiggs، Kember& Leung،2001. Data was analyzed using mixed analysis of variance. Our analysis revealed that the rate of recall and recognition was higher in surface- as compared to deep task. Meanwhile، the rate of individuals’ false memory was higher in deep- as compared to the surface task. In addition، mixed analysis of variance demonstrated that in between group effect recall، the field was a significant determinant whereas the individuals’ approach to the study was the significant factor affecting false memory. Therefore، the individuals’ deep approach to study resulted in higher rate of false memory. Both task types including deep and surface tasks and the individuals approach to the study (deep and surface approaches) is shown to potentially affect recall، recognition، and false memory.

The comparison of verbal abilities in normal and dyslexic children is one of the most important issues in the interdisciplinary field of psycholinguistics. Evidence shows that dyslexic children not only have poor phonological processing، but also show compromised performance in complex syntactic processing tests as compared with normal children. This study aims to investigate and compare the syntactic awareness of normal and dyslexic Persian-speaking elementary school students. Subjects were 60 elementary school second and third graders (mean age of 8. 6 years)، including 40 normal and 20 dyslexic children، who were evaluated by syntactic awareness test which included two subtests i. e. grammaticality judgment test and a sentence correction test. Two types of syntactic structures were evaluated including simple sentences and complex sentences with relative clauses. The complex sentences were of subject-subject type. The children were assessed to recognize the grammatical category of subject-verb agreement based on “person”، “number” or both “person and number” in the sentences. Results were described and analyzed using the descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Our analysis revealed a lower performance in dyslexic children compared to normal subjects both in the whole test and in each subtest. Dyslexic children made more mistakes. Based on the independent t test، there was a significant difference between normal and dyslexic children with regard to their performance. On the other hand، third graders had better performance compared to second graders in both groups. Current findings propose that further to phonological awareness، the syntactic ability of Persian-speaking dyslexic children needs to be improved.

The comparison of cognitive components of anxiety- and mood disorders with those of normative psychological values is considered a new approach by which findings may contribute to more optimized treatment. The aim of the current study was to compare the selective attention and working memory capacity of depressed and obsessive-compulsive patients with that of normal subjects. In this descriptive، causal comparative study we used the screening method to enroll 820 female students. Using the Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Questionnaire and Beck Depression Inventory، students with depression or obsessive-compulsive who acquired an average score of 30-21 points higher than the cut-off score، were selected. Among the eligible patients، 27 were randomly selected from each group. The 27 normal students who were enrolled in the screening program، did not show any problem. Cognitive components of the Stroop color-word test and working memory were isolated and results were compared between groups. Data were analyzed using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). According to our data، the three groups، showed no significantly difference with respect to selective attention. However، working memory was shown to be significantly different across groups. Inasmuch as depressed individuals in all subscales and the working memory test measures showed a weaker performance than normal individuals. working memory impairment appears to be one of the most encountered problems amongst depressed patients. This deficiency is influenced by factors such as increasing task complexity، limited memory capacity، reduced motivation، psycho-motor retardation، which are typically considered as limiting factors in cognitive functioning of depressed people.

Cognitive acoustic cues have an important role in shaping the phonological structure of language as a means to optimal communication. In this paper، we introduced P-trac procedure in order to track dispersion of contrasts in different contexts in lexicon. The results of applying P-trac procedure to the case of dispersion of contrasts in preconsonantal contexts and in consonantal positions of CVCC sequences in Persian provide Evidence in favor of phonetic basis of the dispersion of contrasts argued by Licensing by Cue hypothesis and the Dispersion Theory of Contrast. The P-trac procedure is proved to be very effective in revealing the dispersion of contrasts in lexicon especially when providing means to compare the dispersion of contrasts in various contexts.

Recognition of the emotional states of others is considered an important factor in social communication. The goal of the curent research was to compare the ability to recognize facial emotional states in extraversion and neuroticism personality dimentions with regard to the modulatory role of working memory. 728 male and female students of Zanjan University were enrolled and completed the revised version of Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-R). Based on the final distribution of scores on the two dimensions of Extraversion and Neuroticism، 4 groups including stable extrovert، introvert stable، introvert and extrovert neuroticism (each comprising 30 subjects) were isolated. All subjects assigned to the above four groups were matched for age، sex and education level. To assess the workind memory، n-back test and images for emotional faces were administered to each subject. Results were analyzed using the mixed analysis of variance، multiple regression and analysis of covariance. Findings demonstrated a favorable performance in stable extroverts and a poor performance in introvert neurotic subjects. Regression analysis revealed that working memory capacity is a significant predictor of the ability to recognize facial emotion. In addition، one-way between-groups analysis of covariance showed that under the controlled effect the working memory capacity، there was no significant difference between the four groups in terms of the ability to recognize facial emotional states. Dimensions of personality and working memory-related processes play a central role in emotional information processing.

The working-memory rating scale (WMRS) is a behavioral rating scale developed for educators to facilitate easy identification of children with working memory deficits. Working memory is the theoretical construct used in cognitive psychology and recently cognitive neuroscience to refer to the system or mechanism underlying the maintenance of task-related information during the performance of a cognitive task. The current research attempted to standardize this scale in 5-11year old children. WMRS was the instrument used in our study. This tool comprised 20 items، each on a four-point scale، ranging from zero to 3. Random clustered sampling method was used to enroll 320 children (5-11 year old) across the city of Ilam. Internal consistency and Cronbach''s alpha were used to assess the reliability of the scale، and correlation coefficients of Wechsler memory scale، math and reading subjects with working memory scale were computed for validation of the scale. Descriptive and inference statistical methods were used and data were analyzed using SPSS version 16. Our findings showed a significant relationship between the scale items and the total score. Likewise، the correlations among items were significant. All correlation coefficients were significant at the level of 0. 001. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient and split–scale reliability were 0. 77 and 0. 88، respectively. Our results suggested a significant positive correlation between math/reading subjects scores and working memory scale scores (p<0. 001). Further findings revealed a significant relationship between scale items and the total score with Wechsler memory scale (p<0. 001). The T score and percentile values were also presented. working memory rating scale is a useful tool to diagnose children suffering from working memory deficiencies. Working memory dysfunctions may efficiently be rectified where specific trainings and classroom activities are prescribed.