فصلنامه روانشناسی شناختی

The goal of the present study was to investigate the impact of the attention training on the visual search in normal adults and children. In this study, using purposive random sampling, 60 subjects (30 adults and 30 children) were selected. The tools used in this study were concentrated attention test, mini mental state examination and researcher made questionnaire which was used to control the variables. First, the pre-test (concentrated attention) was performed and then the adults has underwent five 35 minutes sessions of training for three weeks and the children has underwent ten 45 minutes sessions of training for five weeks, and finally post-test was performed for the two groups. Data was analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. Analysis of the data showed the significant impactof the attention trainingon the rate of correct responding and the reaction time of visual search. Given the impact of the attention training on the visual search, the importance of these trainings in process shaping, correct cognitive processes, paying attention to the target stimuli and quick, accurate responding become more and more clear.
 

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 research was to study the effectiveness of the self-consciousness and attention on the decrease of performance in female basketball players. 60 athletes, who were the members of different basketball team in Ahvaz city, were selected through simple random sampling and then were put in four groups: two experimental group for the self-consciousness (a group with high self-consciousness and a group with low self-consciousness) and two experimental group for the attention (a group with relevant attention and a group with irrelevant attention). Open and closed skills as well as self-consciousness questionnaire were considered as the measurement tools of the study. Results of multivariable regression analysis showed that the low self-consciousness and irrelevant attention groups were better than the other groups in the situations with high pressure. Generally, those with high-self consciousness were aroused more than the group with low self-consciousness. Individuals with high self-consciousness believed that they were in the target of the others’ observation. So, the findings of the study supported the distraction model. Skill failure and success depended on how the environment of performing affects the attention and on how much skill performance depends on the attention.  

In this study was tested the effect of psychology pressures on the serial reaction time task. In this research served 75 right-handed participants, were randomly assigned to three experimental condition (each group consisted of 25 students), including the outcome pressure, monitoring pressure and control groups. First of all groups practice serial reaction time and then test stage was performed by applying pressure conditions for the group. Results repeated measures ANOVA showed that subjects in the monitoring pressure group had decrement performance higher than the other groups in the test phase. Skill failure and success depends in part on how the performance environment influences attention and the extent to which skill execution depends on explicit attentional control.

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.  

Abstract:

There has been substantial interest in mindfulness as an approach to reduce cognitive vulnerability to stress and emotional distress in recent years, and mindfulness meditation practices have been incorporated into several interventions that are now widely available in medical and mental health settings. However, thus far mindfulness has not been defined operationally. Among the important questions that can be studied is whether mindfulness should be described as a multifaceted construct and, if so, how the facets should be defined. Several current descriptions of mindfulness suggest a multidimensional nature. The aim of the present study was to investigate the factor structure and psychometric properties of Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) in Iran. 247 Iranian university student (188 women, 53 men and 6 undefined) filled following scales:  FFMQ (Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney, 2006), Integrative Self-Knowledge (Ghorbani, Watson, & Hargis, 2008), BSCS(Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004) , Rumination Scale (Trapnell & Campbell, 1999), Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ; (Meyer, Miller, Metzger, & Borkovec, 1990), Vitality Scale (Ryan & Frederick, 1997), symptom checklist  (Bartone 1995), perceived stress(Cohen, Kamarack, & Mermelstein, 1983) & Anxiety and Depression Scale(Costello & Comrey, 1967).  The second order CFA showed that five-factor structure of FFMQ in first order and one-factor in second order did not fit the data well and EFA proved five-factor structure in first order and two-factor in second order of the scale that fit the data well. These results point toward conceptual distinction between facets of mindfulness. Mindfulness facets were shown to be differentially correlated in expected ways with several other constructs and to have convergent and divergent validity. Findings suggest that conceptualizing mindfulness as a multifaceted construct is helpful in understanding its components and its relationships with other variables, and suggested a need for reviewing the research and theory of mindfulness due to exposed facets.

Abstract

Background & Aims: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of strop on the psychological refractory period.

 Materials & Methods: The present study is of semi-experimental. 20 students of Chamran University of Ahwaz, chosen in reach; participated in the study with average age of 23/45±1/45. Each of the participants did a test of strop effect dual task within four intervals of 50, 100, 300, 900 ms between asynchronous onset of the tasks in both congruent and incongruent conditions.

Results: The results of repeated measurement test with (p>0/05) significant indicate that response time of the congruent stimulant is quicker compared with the incongruent one. In short intervals, the automatic process of reading the word had no overlap with the process of naming the word.

Conclusion: Therefore, strop effect in short intervals was not effective and the incongruent condition of strop effect makes the analysis of stimulant complex during the phase of choosing the response. Intra-group difference and internal inconsistency of two stimulants within the sequence of congruent and incongruent dual task increased the response time of the second stimulant. So, increase in the complexity of the first stimulant causes the longest delay of the second one.

Obesity is one of the most important problems which threatens the global health. Healthcare organizations spend a
large amount of money to predict and treat obesity every year. The most common treatment for obesity is
concentrated on shaping a new lifestyle with more exercise and healthy diet. But a multitude of dieters fail. In this study, the role of cognitive processing in dieters` success or fail was investigated. Participants were
successful (N= 42) and unsuccessful (N= 45) dieters between 18 and 40 years old. Attentional bias, positive
implicit association, and working memory capacity were measured by dot-probe task, a modified
version of implicit association test (IAT), and N-Back task. Results indicated that unsuccessful dieters showed
greater attentional bias to (d= 0.69) and more food preferences for (d= 1.06) high-calorie food pictures.
Nevertheless, there was no significant difference in implicit associations for high calorie food and in working memory capacity between the groups. These results were congruent with some previous studies and they were discussed based on dual-processing model.
 

In working memory (WM) tasks, performance can be boosted by directing attention to one memory object: When a retro-cue in the retention interval indicates which object will be tested, responding is faster and more accurate (theretro-cue benefit). This study tests explanations of the retro-cue benefits in 2 experiment desined by superlab software: Experiment 1, the effect of valid and invalid retro-cues compared with no-cues were tested before the  memory test. Experiment 2, We tested whether the retro-cue benefit in WM depends on sustained attention to the cued object by inserting an attention-demanding interruption task between the retro-cue and the memory test. In this quasi-experimental study, with a series of repeated measurements, 30 individual (15 for each test) from graduate students of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad were selected by convenience sampling and were tested. Data analysis of variance with repeated measurements and t-test for paired samples were also analyzed. The result showed that valid retro-cue compared to the no-cue was better. Also, it was shown when visual interference was held constant, retro-cue benefits were still obtained whenever the retro-cue enabled retrieval of an object from VWM but delayed response selection. The results showed that retro-cue improved visual working memory performance.