فصلنامه روانشناسی شناختی

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Executive function is a set of processes which is responsible for the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral and performance conduct of human being at the time of activities and problem solving. The aim of this study was the comparison of the executive function of the reorganization of thought in adolescents with cannabis abuse. This study is a casual comparison, so 50 adolescents with cannabis abuse who lived in Ahwaz’ juvenile institution and were between the age of 15 and 18 were selected and were compared with 50 normal adolescents of a high school in Ahwaz city, as the control group, who were similar to each other in terms of some demographical variables and who were selected through availability sampling. To collect the data, Gestalt test, TOVA test (as a continual performance test) and Vygotsky’s concept formation test were used. The data was analyzed through multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The results showed that the adolescents with a cannabis abuse disorder had weaker performance in the behavior inhibition and reconstruction of thought than the normal adolescents and there was significant difference between these two groups. Generally speaking, considering the results of the study, i.e. the weaker performance of the adolescents with cannabis abuse disorder in executive functions (behavior inhibition and reorganization of thought) than the normal students, it seems that this weakness would lead to the inappropriate social behaviors, problems in decision making, inappropriate judgment, problems with innovation and change, distractibility and problems in various aspects of memory.

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The Purpose of this study was investigating the effects of the emotion elicitation on the enhancement of the implicit motor memory. To achieve this goal, of the students of Kharazmi University, 40 undergraduate students (20 male and 20 female students), who were accessible, were selected, and then they were divided randomly into two emotional and neutral groups: in each group there was 10 men and 10 women. Serial color matching task was considered for this study. The experiment included two periods: acquisition and remembering period. In the acquisition period, all groups practiced the task for six blocks of 150 trials with the repetitive and random frequency. During the acquisition period, the emotion of a group was aroused by the method of manipulating failure while the other group was in a neutral situation. During the experiment, the changes occurred in the density of the salivary cortisol and anxiety was measured. The Results showed that increasing the emotion of the task could increase the density of the salivary cortisol and anxiety. Furthermore, while the neutral group had no enhancement in SCRT learning during the 24 hours, the emotional group showed substantial enhancement during the same period of time.  

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The purpose of this study was developing and validating the metamemory scale for adolescents in the academic context. The study was a mixed method research and benefitted from sequential exploratory type which in qualitative stage using triangulation method (aligning multiple data approach) holding four dimensions of a) collecting literature reviews related to metamemoey based on the theoretical framework of Nelson & Narens, b) researches done in the field of metamemory and learning, c) presentation of memory-based assignments and metamemory based interviews on students (n=33) and analysis them (criteria and markers), & d) utilizing the views of experts in the field of primary theoretical framework and at last based on them, metamemory scale was developed and validated. Then in quantitative stage, using a sample of 289 students (170=girl & 116=boy in the range of 12-18 years old) validity and reliability of the scale were verified by using exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha. The results of exploratory factor analysis showed 19 items in the form of 4 factors that create the metamemory scale: Judgments of Learning, Self-Confidence Judgments, Feeling of Knowing Judgments, and Ease of Learning Judgments. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated for each factor and the reliability coefficient of the whole scale was 0/71. Research findings provide a tool for measuring matamemory in adolescent’s age group in academic context that is a useful instrument for measuring metamemory and applying in cognitive and learning researches.
 

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Domestic violence could cause different types of physical and mental consequences for women. This may threaten safety of the family. Women are more prone to be the victims of violence particularly partners’ one. One of the important consequences of violence is cognitive dysfunctioning. Domestic violence could be considered as an environmental stressor factor which in turn could affect cognitive functions. Surviving from the influence of a domestic violence is in direct relation with the cognitive capabilities of abused women. Therefore, investigation on the effect of domestic violence on cognitive functioning of women suffering from domestic violence is an important issue. The effect of violence on cognitive functions may occur throughout other psychological variables. That is why in the current study, the mediating role of self-regulation and psychological Distress relating domestic violence and cognitive functions is investigated.
The current study is a fundamental research. Considering that, the study of the relationship between the interested variables has been conducted on a limited number of abused women, it is a descriptive-correlative type of research. The relationship between the parameters is analyzed based on the research objectives. The subject community is abused women referred to different branches of Tehran Forensic Medicine Center in 2017-2018. 200 abused women are asked to participate in this study. They are selected on a purposive sampling method based on entry-exit criteria and after seeking their acceptances. Miller & Brown (1999) Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSRQ), DASS-21 Questionnaire (1995), Pour Naghash Tehrani (2004) Domestic Violence Questionnaire and MONTREAL cognitive assessment scale (2005) were utilized as the instruments of research variables.
Results are analyzed by means of SPSS and LISREL software. The conceptual model connecting domestic violence to the cognitive functioning throughout the above mentioned mediating parameters are examined. The outcomes supported a suitable fitness for the proposed model, since the statistical indicators such as RMSEA, GFI, MFI, AGFI … showed satisfactory values.
Present study shows that the experience of domestic violence creates significant cognitive dysfunctioning through the mediating factors such as loss of self-regulation capability and Psychological Distress. By means of these findings, families and social organizations such and women’s shelter and support centers can offer suitable educational programs and treatment to prevent the continuation of the violence.  
 

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