فصلنامه روانشناسی شناختی

The purpose of current study was to investigate the effect of Attention Training Technique (ATT) on the anxiety, self-focused attention and metacognitions in socially anxious adolescents. Of 200 participants, 34 participants were selected considering their scores in social anxiety scale (SAS), Beck Depression Scale and Structured Clinical Interview which was based on DSM-IV-TR. Finally, 16 participants were selected based on their high scores in Focus of Attention Questionnaire (FAQ) and metacognition questionnaire and after a social task in front of two adults then, these participants were randomly classified into experimental and control groups. Following the 4^th and 8^th sessions and following a month after the training, the two groups completed self-focused attention scale, metacognition questionnaire, cognitive-attentional syndrome scale and social anxiety questionnaire. According to the results of the study, resulting from analysis of variance with repeated measures, the experimental group showed significant reduction in self-focused attention, positive and negative metacognitive beliefs, cognitive control, cognitive attentional syndrome and social anxiety. The results of this study suggested that anxiety could be lastingly modified through a brief attention manipulation without the use of other cognitive behavioral techniques however, cogent decision making needs more studies

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the coping styles, meta-cognitive beliefs and test anxiety by considering the mediating role of coping styles based on the Self-regulatory executive function in the university students. In 2010, 638 students of Tehran’s kharazmi University and Agricultural faculty of Tehran University were selected through Stratified sampling method from October to November. Students completed Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations of Endler and Parker, Test Anxiety Inventory, Metacognitions Questionnaire. In this study the correlational method was used. Spearman correlation test was used to determine the relationship between the variables and the path analysis method was used to determine the contribution of each component. The Results showed that the emotion-oriented and problem-oriented coping strategies had a mediating role in the relationship between the meta-cognition and test anxiety. But avoidance coping strategy had no mediating role in this relationship. Of five dimensions of meta-cognition, only the positive meta-cognitive beliefs and cognitive confidence had a direct effect on the test anxiety. But the effects of other dimensions were indirect. With respect to the results, focusing on the coping strategies and meta-cognitive beliefs can play an important role in the students’ test anxiety. It is suggested that the treatment interventions which are based on the meta-cognition and coping should be considered for treatment of test anxiety disorder.  

The goal of the current study was to assess the role of the cognitive emotion regulation strategie in student’s test anxiety. Using randomized multistage cluster sampling method 330 (165 girls, 135 boys) were selected and assessed by Persian version of cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire (Garnefski, Kraaij & Spinhoven, 2001) and Spielberger's test Anxiety Scale (1980). The results of stepwise multivariate regression analysis indicated that among adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, positive reappraisal and putting into perspective pridected both wory and emotionality components of test anxiety, wheras total score of test anxiety was pridected by positive reappraisal and refocus on planning strategies. Among maladaptive strategies, self-blame and catastrophizing strategies pridected wory component and total score of test anxiety. Also, the emotionality component was pridected via self-blame, catastrophizing and rumination strategies. The results of this study indicate that dysfunctional cognitive coping is one of causes of test anxiety incidence and training effective cognitive emotion regulation strategies can be major steps in test anxiety based interventions.

The purpose of the present study was to compare effects of self-focused attention on memory bias in individuals with social anxiety. To do this, 45 male students in Tabriz University were selected to participate in the study who had higher scores in Connor social phobia inventory (SPIN) than its cut point. The sampling method was available. Participants were randomly divided into three groups: two experimental groups and one control group. All the subjects were presented the emotionally words to recall. During the experiment, one group received the false feedback of increased self-focused attention, and the other group received the false feedback of decreased self-focused attention. The control group received non-relevant feedback. Next, previous emotional words were presented with a series of other words for subjects to recognize. Using signal detection theory, response bias (ß) and response sensitivity (d'), were calculated for the recognition of emotional words. The data was analyzed by MANOVA. The results showed that there is significant difference in response sensitivity among three groups, but no significant difference in response bias was seen among the groups. Based on the findings, sensitivity of people with social anxiety in dealing with stressful situations and negative social and also individual memory bias were confirmed.  

Emotionand cognitionconstructs constitute twobasic dimensions ofhuman psychologicalstructureandtheexplanation of performanceis onlypossibledue to theinteractionof thesetwo dimensions.The aimofthis study wasto investigate student’s information processingspeed based ontrait/stateanxiety.From large population ofNajaf Abadcityhighschoolstudentsaccording to inclusion criteria and  extreme scores of distribution of Spielberger Trait and State AnxietyScale (EPQ-R)fourgroups(highstatanxiety, lowstatanxiety, hightraitanxiety&lowtraitanxiety N=15) wereselected  and assessed by Speed-of-processing tests  (Zahlen-Verbindungs-TestOswald & Roth, 1978) and Sitzwohl’s Coding Test (KDT)(1995). Theresultsofmultivariate analysis of varianceand Bonferenipost hoctestsshowed thatthere aresignificant differences between fourgroups in speed-of-processing andcoding .Theresults alsoshowed thatspeed-of-processinginstudents with low trait and low state anxietyis faster thanstudentswithhightrait and high stateanxiety. Based on the findingsof this studycan be said thatanxiety plays an important role incognitive functionsandinformationprocessing speedofandhigh anxiety(trait /state) causes interferenceininformation processingspeed, and ultimately cognitive functions.

All the people sometimes in their life become anxious in social situations. Social phobia is exaggerated form of these fears. Social phobic patients are afraid of being seen. They scared of act somehow that being contemptional or shameful.Researchers have found four type of cognitive bias in anxious individuals: attention bias, memory bias, judgment (reasoning) and interpretation bias.One kind of reasoning bias is jumping to conclusion, that represent judgment or making decision about something without having all truth or conclusion without rationalization. So, it's possible that social phobic patients do this bias in fearful social situations.Design of this research is casual-comparative style. And for sampling, we use of convenience sampling and two groups have been experimented: 45 individuals with social phobia disorder and 45 non-patients individauls.Findings have shown that patients with social phobia, in anxiety induction situation, have jumping to conclusion bias in compare to non-patients group and make hastier decisions and judgments. Indeed, for being free from anxiety, they make decision with little and imperfect evidences. Also, result has shown that presence of supervisor could be a stressor factor for individual with social phobia that would have a negative effect on their reasoning in conditions of decision making and judgment.    

This study aim to compare the cognitively biased information processing in anxiety, depression and was normal people. The study was causal-comparative study of 50 subjects anxious subjects, 50 subjects with depression and 50 normal subjects were formed by students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences were selected using data Bvdnd.grdavry anxiety scales and Beck Depression scale psychological symptoms and clinical interviews, tests, and test complete root words were a reminder properties and data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. The results showed that explicit and implicit memory between the three groups, anxious, depressed and normal in terms of positive, negative, and there was a significant threat, while threatening words of anxious, depressed subjects with negative words and positive words of ordinary scores were higher. But there was no significant difference in terms of neutrality between the three groups. It can be concluded that information processing in explicit and implicit memory bias creates and causes the information to be more consistent with the mood.
 
 

Mathematics is one of the courses in which students are weak and it causes their academic failure. The aim of present study is to estimate the math anxiety based on cognitive emotion regulation and problem-solving ability in second year students of science. The research method was correlation. The participants of this study were female second year students of science in Yazd. So, 130 girls were selected based on cluster random sampling method and completed math anxiety MARS-R, cognitive emotion regulation CERQ and problem-solving ability PSI questionnaires.  Descriptive statistical indices, Pearson correlation coefficient, and step by step multivariate regression were used by the software SPSS V. 20 to analyze the data. The results indicated that although there is an inverse relation between math anxiety scores of students and two dimensions of problem-solving ability such as control characters (r = - 0/249) and confidence in problem-solving (r = - 0/348), the relation between math anxiety scores and negative cognitive emotion regulation is direct and significant (r = 0/327). The findings from regression showed that problem-solving ability and negative dimension of cognitive emotion regulation explained totally 18 percent of variance in math anxiety in level p<0/01, serialization negative direction and positive direction could predict the math anxiety. According to these findings, it's suggested to authorities and math teachers to attempt for increasing math performance of students through decreasing their negative cognitive emotion regulation and increasing their confidence in problem-solving.

The aim of this research was to compare the effectiveness of MCT and Neurofeedback on metacognitive believes and symptoms of SAD. This research was a single subject study with volunteer sampling method. 7 students from Ferdowsi and Farhangian universities with diagnosis of SAD have been matched and assigned into one of the three groups (control, MCT and Neurofeedback).DSM-IV structured interview,Conner's Social Phobia Inventory, Watson and Friend's social anxiety questionnair, metacognition questionnair have been used before and after intervention and in 45 days follow-up.  Conner's Inventory also had been answered 2 times within the treatment. 8 session per week for MCT and 16 sessions 3 times each week for neurofeedback has been performed. Percent recovery is used for data analysis.  Results showed MCT and neurofeedback were effective in treating SAD with different range of percent recovery in each one of the subjects. But the mean of percent recoveries weren't different between the two interventions. Although metacognitive believes changed more in MCT. Percent recovery has improved in the follow up.  In general, MCT and Neurofeedback are both effective in reducing SAD but MCT was more effective in milder SAD and Neurofeedback was more effective in more severe SAD than MCT.

The aim of current study was to investigation the Compare executive functions and cognitive interpretation bias and cognitive estimation in social anxiety disorder patients and healthy controls. In this study, the sample was 100 students with Purposive sampling method selected from public university from the city of Tehran. This means that the first explanation was given about the research and the cooperation to sample every five Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), Cognitive estimation, Cognitive Abilities Questionnaire  and، Interpretation bias Questionnaire. Then 50 people who score above the cut-off point in Social Phobia Inventory And in the range of subclinical and clinical, and 50 people who score below the cut-off point gained in social anxiety questionnaire formed the sample. The data was analyzed through multivariable analysis of variance. In sum, the finding of current study Interpretation bias in social phobia patients is higher than normal Individuals and cognitive estimation and executive functions in individuals with social anxiety disorder compared to healthy individuals is flawed.  So that students with social anxiety disorder have lower performance in the components of other groups of students. This problem must be identified and targeted intervention.

The aim of present study was to investigation the role of metacognitive beliefs and thought control strategies in test anxiety symptoms of students. In a frame of correlation design, using multi-stage cluster sampling among high school students of Estahban and Shiraz in the 93-94 academic year, 401 students (male and female) were selected and completed test anxiety inventory (TAI), metacognitive questionnaire (MCQ-30) and thought control questionnaire (TCQ). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Pearson correlation coefficient showed that the cognitive components of positive beliefs about worry, uncontrollability, danger and cognitive confidence had a positive relationship with test anxiety symptoms of students. Also, among thought control strategies, worry, social control and punishment had a positive relationship with test anxiety symptoms of student, but attention diversion had a negative relationship. The results of stepwise multiple regression analysis of variables combination showed that uncontrollability and danger, cognitive confidence, punishment and need to thoughts control predict test anxiety symptoms of students, respectively.  The results of this study suggests that one of important factors in incidence of test anxiety in students is metacognitive beliefs and copying strategies about them. Therefore, it is recommended that pay particular attention to metacognitive beliefs and copying strategies in the prevention programs or treatment of test anxiety. 

This study aimed to determine the mediating role of self-regulation in the relationship between thinking styles and students’ test anxiety in Birjand University. The present study is a non-experimental one and of Structural Equations Modeling (SEM) type. The sample size consists of 300 students (150 males and 150 females) who were studying in Birjand University that were selected through multi-stage cluster random sampling method. They completed three questionnaires including Test Anxiety questionnaire developed by Abolqasemi et al. (1996), Self-regulation questionnaire by Pinterich and DeGrowth (1990) and Thinking Styles by Sternberg and Wagner (1992). Then, descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation and parameters of inferential statistics and path analysis were applied using AMOS software. The results showed that thinking styles explain 31% of the self-regulatory learning variance and thinking styles with mediation of self-regulatory learning explain 36% of the test anxiety variance. Thinking styles have an indirect relationship with test anxiety through self-regulation. Therefore, identifying different learning styles and skills through self-regulation of the amount of test anxiety they explained. And thus to reduce test anxiety set of programs. As a result, planners and therapists These findings suggest that self-regulation is necessary to reduce test anxiety, and also references to different learning styles as a key variable pay special attention

Low self-esteem is one of the key factors underlying psychopathology, such as test anxiety. It seems that the activation of positive self-representations in memory plays an important role in self-perception. The aim of this article was to determine the effect of strengthening memory representations on self-esteem in people with test anxiety. This study was based on a quasi-experimental design with pretest and post-test. According to retrieval competition approach, a training package was designed to promote self-esteem and after verifying its content validity by 5 expert psychologist, the intervention was administered in 10 sessions (a one-hour session per week). Participants were 10 high school students with test anxiety diagnosis which were selected by purposive and available sampling; and completed Spielberger Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) before and after the intervention and also one month follow up. Data analysis was performed using one-way trend analysis (one-way ANOVA with repeated measures). The results indicated that this intervention could lead to improve self-esteem and decrease test anxiety in participants (p˂0.01) and this trend continued until one month follow-up. As a result, it seems that interventions on the factors underlying psychopathology, such as low self-esteem, can have beneficial as well as proactive effects in this area and We may be able to make changes in self-concept even with no deliberate challenge to the thoughts.

The project aimed to assess of biofeedback’s effect on anxiety and waiting anxiety symptoms using researcher-built instrument. The research design for this study was “Pretest- Posttest with Control Group Design”. The statistical population consisted of people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in the 19-45 age range. This survey was based on a sample of 19 patients with GAD who were systematically drawn from 70 students with the high level of anxiety and then randomly assigned into experimental (n=10) and control (n=9) groups. At the percolation step, Anxiety disorder interview schedule for DSM-IV, Beck anxiety inventory and Waiting anxiety employed for the evaluation of the research variables. Biofeedback’s treatment using researcher-built instrument was performed on testable samples of the experimental groups. The data were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The covariance analysis revealed that biofeedback’s researcher-built instrument could help reduce anxiety (P<0.01) nevertheless no significant difference between experimental and control groups was observed in regards to waiting anxiety. The report suggested, easy availability of home version of biofeedback in large-scale in ensuring optimal level of its ability which can be subsequently employed on a broad spectrum of disorders.

The present study attemps to investigate overgeneral autobiographical memory and relationship with problem- solving deficits in depressive and anxious individuals. For this reason, 15 depressive, 15 anxious and 15 normal individuals were chosen from the students of estahban  payam noor university, that were the clients of the counceling clinic. In this study, after completing the Beck Anxiety Inventory(BAI) and Beck Depression Inventory(BDI), Autobiographical Memory Test And Means- ends Problem- solving task was used. To compare the overgeneral and problem- solving in 3 group of depressive, anxious and normal individual, data were analyzed with Analysis of Varience(ANOVA) And the Tukeys test was used to compare the pair groups. The results revealed that overgeneral in autobiographical memory depressive individuals is more than anxious and normal ones. Depressive individual are more inefficient problem solving solution to distressed and healthy people.So, according to Williams models depressed people because negative mood and bias in processing information not only in retrieving autobiographical memories are exclusively trouble but this was a problem retrieving, problem solving and also affect their problems and makes solutions less effective to produse.

mind wandering is a pervasive and common phenomenon of human cognition that its role in performance of any field related to mind is undeniable. This study plans to investigate The causal relationship of mindfulness and mind wandering with mediating strategical engagement regulation, anxiety, depression and working memory. To this, 434 female students of Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz were selected by multistage random sampling method and They got Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, Strategic Engagement Regulation Scale, Stress Anxiety Depression Scale, Stress Anxiety Depression Scale, The Working Memory Questionnaire and The Mind Wandering: Deliberate and Mind Wandering: Spontaneous Scale. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS and AMOS (version 21) and using structural equations modelling method. In order to earn the suitable model fitness indices, the item parceling method was used about mindfulness variable. Finally, on the base of values of some indices (for example, RMSEA = 0/06 and GFI = 0/98), model had a good fit. Also, all paths of the model except two paths: anxiety to working memory and anxiety to mind wandering were significant. In sum, this research results showed that mindfulness plays important role in mind wandering anticipation that transfers this effect through mechanisms as self-regulation, mood and working memory. 

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate causal relationship between cognitive emotion regulation, metacognition and test anxiety were evaluated in students according to the self-regulatory executive function model of wells and Matthews (1999). Data was analyzed through correlation, structural equation modeling. In this study 1000 students at second and third grade of public, governmental and gifted school were participated from October to November 2015 by cluster random sampling method. The participants completed cognitive emotion regulation inventory (Garnefski et al, 2001), test anxiety inventory (Abolghasemi: et al, 1995) and metacognition questionnaire (Cartwright-Hatton and Wells, 2004). Result of this study showed positive and negative cognitive emotion regulation had a mediating role in the relationship between Meta cognition and test anxiety in student. Metacognition had a direct and indirect effect on test anxiety by mediating role of positive and negative cognitive emotion regulation but negative cognitive emotion regulation had a more effect than positive cognitive emotion regulation in mediating role between meta cognition and test anxiety. To the result, focusing on the cognitive emotion regulation strategies can play on important role in student test anxiety. More interventions based on metacognition and negative cognitive emotion regulation in treatment for pathological test anxiety are suggested.