فصلنامه روانشناسی شناختی

Researchers emphasise the effect of metacognition on learning and teaching. The purpose of this article was to investigate the metacognitive knowledge and skills of physics students at Farhangian University in mechanic's problem solving. This qualitative study is an interpretive phenomenology and the methods of think-aloud protocols, interviewing and observation in natural conditions have been used to collect data and evaluate the metacognitive knowledge and skills of students and instructors at Farhangian University. The sample of the current study were forty two girls in the first semester, who studied physics at the Nasibeh Campus of Farhangian University in Tehran. Metacognitive evaluations were also performed to solve problems in mechanics in the kinematic field. In this study, the samples included students who had successfully passed the university entrance exam in the previous six months. In addition, one day before the start of the research, they participated in the university's basic physics exam, therefore, they had the necessary preparation and knowledge to solve the problems. The study was conducted in three stages. In the first stage, two to three problems were solved by the students with the think-aloud protocols. To familiarize students with the think-aloud protocols, they practiced this method with the help of a researcher. In the second stage, the researcher interviewed six students who were more interested and cooperative. In the third stage, the behavior of all forty-two students was observed and recorded during the academic semester, while solving problems under normal conditions. The results showed that most of the students surveyed had moderate metacognitive knowledge and very poor metacognitive skills

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of training neuropsychological executive functions on metamemory, planning and problem solving in students with mathematics disorder. This research is semi-experimental and its design includes pre-test and post-test as well as a control group. The population of this research were female students with mathematics disorder from the third to sixth grade of primery school, who had been to the Isar Specialty Learning Problem Instruction Center in 2017-2018. Thirty of them were selected by available sampling and were divided into experimental and control groups. Initially, both groups were tested by Wechsler Intelligence Test and K-Mathematical Test. Both groups were assessed by pre-test and post-test using the Metamemory Questionnaire and the Tower of London Questionnaire. The experimental group received 10 sessions for 3 months, while the control group did not receive any training. The results of multivariate analysis of covariance indicated that there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of metamemory, planning and problem solving. This means that training executive functions has been able to increase the amount of metamemory, planning and problem solving for students with mathematics disorder. The results of this study can be used in the education and treatment of students with mathematics disorder and executive functions should always be considered as a key factor.

Metaphores are considered as one of the most common functions of language and due to their abstract meaning, they can be used to study the performance of patients suffering from cognitive deficits. This research aimed at investigating dead and novel metaphor comprehension in Persian-speaking Alzheimer’s patients, and analyzing the role of executive function in this process. This research has taken advantage of co-relational methods. The sample society is composed of 5 Persian-speaking Alzheimer’s patients whose age and education matched healthy controls. To assess patients’ executive abilities and metaphor comprehension, stroop color, clock drawing and metaphor comprehension tests were used respectively. The results showed Alzheimer’s patients’ deficit in metaphor comprehension, particularly in the novel ones. Patients’ performance in metaphor comprehension was related with theirs in stroop color test and clock drawing tests, although this correlation was more significant in the case of novel metaphors. On the one hand, the relationship between patients’ metaphor comprehension and their executive abilities demonstrated that deficit in executive system plays an important role in patients’ poor metaphor comprehension. On the other hand, this highlights the significant role of pre-frontal cortex in metaphor comprehension.

Critical thinking helps people to consider and analyze a wide range of information. The importance of strengthening this skill is significant for managers because it leads to success and the overcoming of crises. The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Test, is a tool for measuring critical thinking and has been designed to combine the aspects of skill and tendency for critical thinking. The purpose of this study is to investigate psychometric properties of this test amomg the Iran Gas Transmission Company managers and to evaluate its psychometrics properties using validation and reliability methods as suitable tools for identifying and measuring critical thinking in the Iranian sample, especially among managers. The sample of the present study included 472 staff managers, who participated in the study of "The Development of Psychological Identity of the Managers at the Iran Gas Transmission Company" in 2018-2019, and responded to 80 questions of a computer-based version of the test. The findings of this study showed that the test on our sample society has four dimensions of analytical thinking, evaluation, interpretation, and assumption while its original version has five dimensions. Moreover, an exploratory factor analysis revealed that the two components of inference and inferring had to be merged and this new component was called analytical thinking. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis of the model with the four components was meaningful and desirable in all fit indices of the model. According to the results of this research, the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Test can be used to achieve research goals.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of working memory training with emotional stimulation on self-injury behaviors of people with borderline personality disorder. The method of current study was semi-experimental and its design was pre-test and post-test with a control group. All the students of University of Mohaghegh Ardebili with borderline personality disorder in the 2017-2018 academic year comprised the population of this study. Forty people were selected by the screening method via the Boderline Traits Scale (STB) and the Structured Clinical Interview for Mental Disorders (SCID-II) and they were assigned to two experimental and control groups. The experimental group attended working memory training with emotional stimulation for 10 sessions of 30 to 45 minutes for 10 days, i.e. during two weeks every day (except Thursdays and Fridays), while the control group did not receive such training. The Sansone and Wiederman Self-Harm Inventory (SHI) questionnaire was used to collect information for both pre-test and post-test stages. Data were analyzed using a statistical method of single variable covariance analysis. The results showed that the mean self-injury scores of the subjects in the experimental group were significantly reduced compared to the control group in the post-test stage. According to the present study, it could be suggested that working memory training with emotional stimulation via strengthening cognitive control is effective for reducing impulsive behaviors such as self-injury.

Given the wide prevalence of procrastination and delaying tasks and the need to identify factors affecting this problem, present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of anticipated regret and consideration of future consequences in the relationship between impulsive choice and emotional distress with procrastination. In an analytical cross-sectional study, 400 students were selected through available sampling from Kermanshah universities and they were assessed employing impulsivity (Cyders et al., 2014), depression, anxiety and stress (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), monetary choice (Kirby & Marakovic, 1996), regret-based decision making (Nygren & White, 2002), consideration of future consequences (Strathman et al., 1994), and pure procrastination (Steel, 2010) questionnaires. Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation test and path analysis using SPSS and Mplus software. The findings showed that the present model has an excellent fit with data (RMSEA=0.001, CFI=1, TLI=1). Urgency (β=0.08, P<0.01), lack of perseverance (β=-0.07, P<0.01), anxiety (β=0.06, P<0.01), and delay discounting (β=-0.04, P<0.01) had significant effect on procrastination through anticipated regret and lack of premeditation had significant effect on procrastination through both anticipated regret (β=-0.07, P<0.01) and consideration of future consequences (β=0.03, P<0.05).It could be said that anticipated regret and consideration of future consequences play a mediating role in the relationship between impulsive choice and emotional distress with procrastination and we can help to reduce procrastination in distressed and impulsive individuals by formulating interventions that target these variables.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are developmental neurological disorders characterized by defects in social interactions, communication, and repetitive behaviors. This study attempted to examine the efficacy of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on social skills in children with ASD.Thirty-two children with confirmed ASD diagnoses were randomly allocated into a tDCS treatment group or a control group. The tDCS treatment group underwent 10 sessions of anodal tDCS stimulation applied simultaneously over the left DLPFC (F3) area, whereas the control group underwent the same procedures but with the use of sham tDCS stimulation.Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS) and Social Skills Rating System was used to measure the Social Skills in two pre-test and post-test stages. Finally, the data were analyzed by the SPSS software using repeated measures analysis.Results showed that anodal tDCS significantly increased social skills in the experimental group after treatment compared to the control group.

Mathematical reasoning is the ability of inductive and inferential reasoning with mathematical concepts that underlying cognitive variables play an important role in explaining it. The purpose of this study is to model the role of divided attention and working memory in mathematical reasoning with the mediation of mathematical knowledge and fluid intelligence in fourth grade elementary students. This study is non-experimental (descriptive) and a type of correlational study in which data were analyzed by Path Analysis. The statistical population of the research included all male fourth-graders of the primary schools in District 4 of Qom from which 213 students were randomly selected by two-stage cluster sampling. The study used different measures and instruments including the Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test-Second Edition (IVA-2 CPT) for measuring different types of attention, the Working Memory Index of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV), the Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFIT), the knowing questions test and the mathematical reasoning questions test of TIMSS 2015. The findings of the study showed that all path coefficients are significant and appropriate model fit indices were obtained. The results indicate that working memory influenced by divided attention predicts mathematical reasoning with the mediation of mathematical knowledge and fluid intelligence. The research helps to develop in mathematics learning and cognitive rehabilitation of mathematical disorders by identifying the role of important cognitive variables in mathematical reasoning.

Researchers in the field of science education believe that people's attitudes about learning will have a significant impact on their future learning and what they learn from science will not be irrelevant to their views and attitudes. Accordingly, most questionnaires have been developed to measure attitudes towards science. One of the newest questionnaires is the Colorado Learning Attitudes about science, known as CLASS. This questionnaire has not been standardised in Iran for the use of researchers in the field of education and psychology. The current descriptive research has been based on instrument designs and examined their psychometric properties. In this study, 476 high school students in science and mathematics courses were recruited to evaluate the psychometric properties of the questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to investigate the questionnaire structures and a graded response model in Polytomous Item Response Theory (IRT) was used to analyse items. The Cronbach’s alpha for all eight factors of the questionnaire ranged from 0.701 to 0.891. All the eight factors perfectly fitted into the Polytomous IRT models, in addition to having diagnosis and threshold parameters. In terms of classical measurement, indicators such as reliability and validity of the structure as well as the estimated parameters in the Polytomous IRT model, the items and structure of this questionnaire could be considered as desirable. Therefore, the authours would recommend using the Persian version of this questionnaire to examine attitudes about science, especially physics, appropriately.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) on the rate of drug abuse temptation  among adult men with substance abuse disorder in Safadasht.To achieve this goal, a statistical population was used that included all adult men with substance abuse disorder in the Akhavan center located in Safadasht.The experimental research design is a pre-test post-test with a control group and an experimental group that the sample size of up to 30 people (15 people in the experimental group and 15 people in the control group) is available using sampling method. The number of meeting held was 10 meeting and was held once a week in the center. In this study, a material temptation questionnaire as well as Transcranial electrical stimulation was performed on the sample group. Multivariate analysis of covariance was (Mancova) used for statistical analysis.  The findings showed that there is a significant difference between the mean of the temptation  of  drug abuse  in adult men with impaired drug abuse disorder (p>0.01);  Therefore, it could be concluded that there was a significant difference by eliminating the effect of pre-test scores between the propensity adjusted average of drug abuse according to group.  According to the results, it seems that Transcranial electrical stimulation of the brain can reduce the symptoms of cravings in people with drug abuse. Therefore, addiction specialists are recommended to use transcranial electrical stimulation as an intervention method in the treatment of these people.

Sleep has been shown to have an impact on the consolidation of motor memory in adults. However, sleep-dependent consolidation is not well-specified among children compared with adults. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of sleep on children's motor memory consolidation. The participants were 32 voluntary boys aging from 10 to 12 years old from Kerman, which had the necessary qualifications for entering the study. Serial Reaction Time Task was used to determine the implicit memory in children. The participants were allocated into a sleep group (8±1pm and 8±1am) and a wake group (8±1am and 8±1pm). Each group underwent five training blocks consisiting of 90 trails in each block in the acquisition phase. The retention (consolidation) and transfer tests were administered 12 hours after the acquisition phase in both groups. For analyzing data 2×2 and 4×2 Mixed ANOVA tests were used. The results in the retention and transfer tests showed that the reaction time was significantly different in two blocks (P > 0.05), but the effect of group and block interaction was not significant (P ≥ 0.05). The results also indicated that motor memory consolidation occurred in sleep and wake groups, however, it was not sleep-dependent. The findings revealed that children‘s performance was improved and enhanced not only through the training sessions, but after the learning phase in the offline period. In addition, the memory associated with a learned skill enhanced over time. It can be concluded that sleep was not the essential factor in the enhancement of offline learning and the transfer of sequential implicit motor task among children.

It is very stressful to constantly struggle to meet the expectations of others or those of one’s self, and it affects performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of intervention based on Dweck’s mind set on academic expectations stress among gifted and talented school students. This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The statistical population consisted of female students in the eighth grade of schools for gifted and talented students in Isfahan selected by a multi-stage random sampling method. Thirty students were selected by the Academic Expectations Stress Inventory (AESI) and were randomly assigned into a control group (n = 15) and an experimental group (n = 15). The experimental group received 8 sessions of 50 minutes as intervention. Data were analysed using MANCOVA in SPSS-23. There was a significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of the expectations of self, expectations of others, and the total scale. According to the effectiveness of intervention based on Dweck’s mind set in the case of improving the academic expectations stress in gifted students, it could be suggested that this intervention would be useful for reducing stress among gifted students.

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.

Time is an abstract concept that can be understood by conceptual or cognitive metaphors. A questionnaire based on dataset and qualitative analysis has not been designed in Persian yet to investigate the metaphorical perception of different source domains with various mappings. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to design, make and evaluate the psychometric characteristics of a time perception pattern as a metaphorical questionnaire based on cognitive dataset analysis among Persian speakers. The method of this study was descriptive and psychometric, and it was a survey type of research. For cognitive dataset analysis, a set of 28 contemporary Persian texts were first selected as a targeted sample and then 405 metaphorical expressions of time were extracted in 18 metaphorical mappings. It indicated source domains as object, matter, path and place, which are the most used time source domains. Based on cognitive dataset analysis, 41 questions with a Likert scale were made for the time perception pattern. The questions of this questionnaire were evaluated by 8 cognitive linguists and 2 psychometrics. Then, inappropriate questions were deleted and other questions were corrected or replaced, and at the end of the content, the validity index of the 30 remaining questions were calculated. This questionnaire was completed by 150 Persian speakers (with a bachelor’s degree and above) selected by at-reach sampling. The results showed that there was a reliability coefficient by using Cronbach’s alpha for the whole questionnaire and its components. Moreover, the results of factor analysis indicated that there were three factors of matter, place and object, which explained 37.12 % of the total variance. As a result, the time perception pattern as a metaphorical questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument in the case of Persian speakers.

Computer-based cognitive games are new and exciting for kids and adolescents that can help them to improve their cognitive functions and creativity in addition to entertainment. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of computerised cognitive games on executive functions and creativity of preschool children. This study is a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test, and control group design. The sample consisted of 21 preschool female and male children, who were selected by convenience sampling in a preschool centre in Bushehr. Participants were matched on the basis of gender, age and intelligence and were allocated to three groups of seven children, i.e., two experimental groups and one control group. Before and after cognitive games, the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), a simple Stroop software and the working memory Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) were used. The experimental groups played cognitive games such as Lomocyte and Tetris for 16 one-hour sessions, and the control group did not play any games during this time. The results showed that playing computerised cognitive games has a significant effect on creativity and working memory among preschool children. However, there is no significant effect on selective attention, cognitive flexibility, planning and organising. The results of this research have important theoretical and applied implications regarding the role of computerised cognitive games in promoting cognitive functions of preschool children.