فصلنامه روانشناسی شناختی

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.

The importance of understanding the pathology, nature, and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has always been emphasised throughout school. Children with ASD have difficulties in verbal and non-verbal social communication, which limit their ability regarding effective social communication and academic achievement. The purpose of this research was to compare learning strategies and executive functions among successful and non-successful autistic students in terms of academic achievement. For this purpose, 15 successful students with ASD and 15 non-successful students with ASD were recruited via the purposeful sampling method. The Autism-Spectrum Quotient Test, the executive functions and learning strategies questionnaires were used. Data was analysed with an independent t-test. Results showed that, successful students with ASD had a significant difference with the second group in all variables of learning strategies in addition to inhibition, emotional management, planning, organizing and attention shifting. It can be concluded that students with ASD who are successful in education use more learning strategies and have better executive functions compared with autistic students who are not successful in education.

Recent research has indicated the influence of bilingualism on many cognitive and emotional processes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of bilingualism in processing anger in Turkish-Persian bilinguals’ first (L1) and second (L2) language. To achieve this goal, 18 Turkish-Persian sequential bilingual students with an average age of 26 from different universities in Tehran were selected with targeted sampling to participate in this quasi-experimental research. Participants completed the language history questionnaire, the General Health questionnaire, and the Positive and Negative affect schedule questionnaire, in addition to a computerized task designed to induce anger and determine the meaningfulness of Turkish and Persian words and non-words. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed that the participants significantly spent more time on determining the meaningfulness of words when they were induced with anger in comparison to the normal condition. Moreover, they were significantly slower in selecting Turkish words compared to Persian ones. Regarding the comparison of the two languages in both conditions separately, paired comparison results demonstrated that participants’ reaction time to Turkish words in anger inducing conditions was significantly longer. Thus, it could be proposed that Turkish-Persian bilinguals are more involved in their first language in emotional states, specifically anger states, and the Turkish language has more and deeper emotional associations for them, hence their emotional involvement is stronger for their mother tongue than for their second language.

One great ability of the brain is memory. Poor visual-auditory memory leads to dyslexia, dyscalculia and hyperactivity. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a test to determine the ability and accurate performance of memory. With this in mind, a test has been prepared using theoretical literature. This researcher-made memory test consists of four parts (numerical-verbal memory, visual memory, working memory and auditory-sentence memory) and its validity has been confirmed by professors of cognitive psychology and counselling in addition to using the random cluster sampling method on a sample of 308 elementary school students. The questions were analysed by relevant statistical methods and their validity, reliability and norm scores were determined. To evaluate the reliability of the test, three methods were used. The reliability coefficient was 0.83 using the internal consistency method and the Pearson correlation coefficient was determined to be r = 0.79 between the two halves of the questionnaire, which indicated that there was a high correlation between the two halves of the questionnaire. To determine the validity of the structure and components of the questionnaire, the principal component analysis method was used by rotation in the normalised Varimax method and to evaluate differential validity, an independent t-test was used. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of male and female students. (P < 0.001 and t (204) = 2.76). Based on the obtained reliability and validity, the audiovisual memory test is a tool that could be used by disorder and counselling centres. Moreover, it could be used as a tool for early assessment and diagnosis in the case of preschool students.

Unethical decision-making could be considered as both selfish and self-beneficial in addition to being aimed at benefiting others. The aim of this study was to investigate the differential relationship among the sense of power, the sense of status and status seeking styles (i.e., prestige and dominance) with two forms of unethical decision-making. Participants were 150 citizens of Tehran, who voluntary participated in this study. Data were gathered by the sense of power scale, the sense of status scale, the dominance-prestige scale, and the unethical decision-making questionnaire (self-beneficial and other-beneficial forms). The multiple regression analysis showed that dominance was positively and prestige was negatively associated with self-beneficial unethical decision-making, whereas dominance was positively associated with other-beneficial unethical decision-making. The relationship between the sense of power and the sense of status with two forms of unethical decision-making was not significant. The results of this study supported the conceptual distinction between two forms of unethical decision-making. It seems that the sense of power or the sense of status alone could not explain unethical decision-making, and status seeking styles (i.e., prestige and dominance) would be the main mental mechanisms which contribute to the tendency for unethical decision-making.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of age and swimmers’ levels of somersaults skills on mental rotation. This study was conducted as a comparative causal research with a one-stage and post-event design. Participants were female swimmers in Shiraz, who were trained in somersaults.  Sixty subjects were selected by the purposive sampling method and then divided into four groups (a group of 7 to 9-year-olds with low skills, a group of 7 to 9-year-olds with high skills, a group of 10 to 12-year-olds with low skills, and a group of 10 to 12-year-olds with high skills). The salto skill level was determined based on the average score of three judges. To measure mental rotation, the pen and image paper test (with a reliability of 0.75 by Cronbach's alpha method) was used. The results showed that there was no significant difference in mental rotation scores between age groups (p = 0638). However, the scores of mental rotation showed a significant difference between the two groups of skill level (P = .0001). Moreover, mental rotation changed with different skill levels. Therefore, it is possible to change mental characteristics of athletes, including mental rotation by means of skill training.

Several studies have investigated wishful thinking or desirability bias in children and adults, while no research has been conducted for the evolution of wishful thinking during childhood and adolescence. The aim of the present research was to investigate the evolution of wishful thinking in Iranian children and adolescents aged from 7 to 14. This study was an evolutional one with a cross-sectional method. Participants were all students aged from 7 to 14 in public schools in the academic year of 2019-2020. The sample consisted of 240 individuals in 4 age groups and each group was made up of 30 females and 30 males selected by the convenience sampling method. The marked-card test, which has been designed as a web-based software, was used. The data were analyzed by a repeated measuring ANOVA. The results showed that wishful thinking among Iranian children did not decrease with age. Moreover, participants aged from 11 to 14 years indicated more severe bias than children from 7 to 10 years old in predicting unpleasant events, despite the perception of probabilities. Considering the effect of wishful thinking on the decision-making process, especially in predicting negative events and subsequently the occurrence of risky behaviors, further research would be necessary to find solutions for the awareness and balance of wishful thinking.

Combining psychoanalysis and neurology feels peculiar at first. The combination that tries to bind concepts of psychoanalysis with neuroscience in order to provide an integrates knowledge for better understanding of human mind. However, interaction between psychoanalysis and neuroscience has come to attention during past three decades. Purpose of this study is to investigate and find correlation between three styles of defense mechanism, Mature, immature and neurotic defense mechanism with executive functions within universities students of Tehran. For this matter a study performs on a sample of 140 students (including 76 women and 64 men) by available sampling. The instruments of this research were The Defense Styles Questionnaire (DSQ40) and four computer base test for executive functions including Continues Performance Test (CPT), Strops, 1-back, Go-No Go. The data was analyzed by Pearson correlation and multiple regression method. This study demonstrated significant relation between styles of defense mechanism and executive functions and also forms a model to estimate executive function shares in neurotic and growth defense mechanisms. As a result, the findings suggest that one’s performance on executive functions can affect their style of defense mechanism.

With the significant increase in the computer and internet usage, the new concept of addiction to internet games is now considered as a new psychiatric disorder. The evidences have demonstrated that the internet gaming disorder is similar to drug addiction in terms of neurology, but just a few researches has been done in terms of brain functions. The aim of this project is to compare Inhibitory control and risky decision making among heroin and methamphetamine users, internet gaming disorders and normal people. To do so 180 men participants (45 persons in each group) were selected via simple nonrandom or convenience sampling. Subjects of the study were evaluated using go/no go and Balloon Risk Taking Task (BART) test. For analyzing the results multivariable analyze of variance was used. Results showed that inhibitory control in both substance abuse disorder and internet gaming disorder was significantly lower than normal group (P<0.001). Although internet gaming disorder group showed better performance in comparison with substance abuse disorder group. (P<0.001) Moreover, risky decision-making in internet gaming disorder group was similar to substance abuse disorder group and was significantly higher than normal group (P<0.001). Generally, there are relative similarity in impulsivity parameters particularly in risky decision-making and inhibitory control between internet gaming group and substance abuse group. This can lead to continue taking drugs or online gaming despite of their annoying consequences.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of emotional induction on physiological characteristics and cognitive functions of adolescents based on psychological hardiness. In order to meet this aim, 400 students from 2 high schools in 2nd district of Tehran completed the Ahvaz Hardiness Questionnaire (AHI), of which two groups of 20 participants were selected based on the mean and standard deviation (10precent). One group included participants with a low hard score, and the other included hard participants. The pieces of films that create positive and negative emotional experiences (Mixed) were used in order to induce emotional experiences. The pieces of films (5 minute) were displayed individually for participants in each group. Physiological responses of the participants (systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate) were measured by the digital barometer and the participants’ cognitive performance were measured in two areas of attention and memory using the WAIS(III) as cognitive function - Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-revised (WAIS-R) - before and after watching the films. The results of the study showed that there was a significant difference between the three baseline measurements of positive excitement induction and negative excitement induction for heart rate, systolic blood pressure or diastolic blood pressure at P <0.01. There was also a significant difference between the three baseline measurements of positive excitement induction and negative excitement induction for cognitive functions at P <0.01. Overall, the research findings indicate that people with high stubbornness have the power to prevent emotional and impulsive reactions to potentially stressful situations or events due to their hardiness and high self-control. They can effectively alleviate stressful situations and prevent mental and physical problems.

The aim of this research was to predict students' academic procrastination based on metacognitive beliefs about procrastination with the mediating role of test anxiety The research method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population included all undergraduate students of Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran in the academic year of 2019-20, from which 320 (206 females and 114 males) were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. The Procrastination Assessment Scale for Students, Spielberger test anxiety questionnaire and Metacognitive Beliefs about Procrastination Scale were used to collect data. Data were analyzed by structural equation modeling. Findings showed that the suggested conceptual model has a good fit with the data. The variables of test anxiety and metacognitive beliefs about procrastination accounted for most of the variance in academic procrastination, respectively, and explained a total of 28% of its variance. Negative metacognitive beliefs about procrastination only indirectly affected academic procrastination through test anxiety, and full mediation was endorsed. According to the results, it can be concluded that negative beliefs about procrastination make students prone to test anxiety and academic procrastination. Therefore, modifying these beliefs can be considered as an intervention program to decrease test anxiety and academic procrastination.