Instituto de Psicología Básica, Aplicada y Tecnología

Foi proposto que a regulação da emoção (ER) é um fator com uma capacidade preditiva de desempenho acadêmico. No entanto, estudos empíricos são escassos e ainda relativamente pouco se sabe sobre a relação específica das estratégias e habilidades RE com diferentes indicadores de desempenho acadêmico. O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar o estado da arte sobre a relação entre regulação emocional e desempenho acadêmico. Uma pesquisa sistemática de artigos empíricos foi realizada nas bases de dados Google Scholar, ERIC e PsycArticles combinando os termos regulação de emoção ou auto-regulação emocional com: (acadêmico) habilidades, competência, realização, sucesso, desempenho, aprendizagem, escola, alfabetização, sala de aula, educação, leitura, matemática. Foram selecionados 17 itens. Análise possível formar dois grupos. No primeiro grupo, foram considerados os artigos que avaliaram estratégias de RE. Nestes estudos predominaram projetos experimentais e indicadores comportamentais como medidas de RE. No segundo grupo, foram considerados estudos que avaliam habilidades RE. Neste grupo predominaram estudos com projetos transversais e medidas de auto-relato ou de relatórios de terceiros para avaliar RE. Concluiu-se apontando algumas recomendações para trabalhos futuros.

Background Considering the physical, mental and behavioral problems related to fetal alcohol exposure, prenatal clinical guides suggest a brief evaluation of alcohol consumption during pregnancy to detect alcohol intake and to adjust interventions, if required. Even if any alcohol use should be considered risky during pregnancy, identifying women with alcohol use disorders is important because they could need a more specific intervention than simple advice to abstain. Most screening tests have been developed and validated in male populations and focused on the long-term consequences of heavy alcohol use, so they might be inappropriate to assess consumption in pregnant women. Objective To analyze the internal reliability and validity of the alcohol screening instruments Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test – Consumption (AUDIT-C), Tolerance, Worried, Eye-Opener, Amnesia and Cut-Down (TWEAK), Rapid Alcohol Problems Screen – Quantity Frequency (RAPS-QF) and Tolerance, Annoyed, Cut-Down and Eye-Opener (T-ACE) to identify alcohol use disorders in pregnant women. Methods A total of 641 puerperal women were personally interviewed during the 48 hours after delivery. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves and the sensitivity and specificity of each instrument using different cut-off points were analyzed. Results All instruments showed areas under the ROC curves above 0.80. Larger areas were found for the TWEAK and the AUDIT. The TWEAK, the T-ACE and the AUDIT-C showed higher sensitivity, while the AUDIT and the RAPS-QF showed higher specificity. Reliability (internal consistency) was low for all instruments, improving when optimal cut-off points were used, especially for the AUDIT, the AUDIT-C and the RAPS-QF. Conclusions In other cultural contexts, studies have concluded that T-ACE and TWEAK are the best instruments to assess pregnant women. In contrast, our results evidenced the low reliability of those instruments and a better performance of the AUDIT in this population.

Summary The present study analyzed the joint predictive role of verbal working memory (WM), verbal short‐term memory (STM), fluid intelligence, and intelligence mindset in reading comprehension, controlling for prior reading comprehension performance, in typically developing Spanish‐speaking school‐aged children. A sample of 83 children aged 9–10 years old were evaluated at fourth grade of primary school, with measures of verbal WM, verbal STM, fluid intelligence, intelligence mindset and reading comprehension; then with the measure of reading comprehension after 1 year, during fifth grade. Results showed that controlling for prior performance, verbal WM and fluid intelligence significantly predicted reading comprehension after 1 year, whereas verbal STM and intelligence mindset did not make a significant contribution. These results indicate that when jointly considered, a higher level of verbal WM and fluid intelligence in fourth grade is related to a better performance in reading comprehension in fifth grade. Possible explanations and implications of these results are discussed.

La personalidad constituye uno de los principales constructos psicológicos debido a su poder explicativo y predictivo sobre el comportamiento humano. Recientemente, muchos estudios se han focalizado en la relación entre la personalidad y la regulación y control de las emociones. Por este motivo, el presente estudio se propuso indagar acerca de las relaciones entre los rasgos de personalidad del Modelo de los Cinco Grandes Factores y las dificultades que las personas pueden tener al momento de regular sus emociones. Se trabajó con un total de 195 participantes, estudiantes regulares de la Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (84.1% mujeres, 15.9% hombres), con edades comprendidas entre los 18 y los 35 años (M = 22.85; DE = 4.22). Los estudiantes que accedieron a participar voluntariamente del estudio completaron la adaptación de la Escala de Dificultades en la Regulación Emocional y el listado de Adjetivos para Evaluar la Personalidad. Los resultados indicaron que el rasgo con mayor efecto explicativo sobre la desregulación emocional fue el Neuroticismo. Se observó que mientras mayor es la presencia del rasgo, mayor es la presencia de dificultades de regulación emocional. Asimismo, los rasgos Amabilidad y Extraversión también aportaron a la varianza explicada, aunque de forma menor. Los rasgos Responsabilidad y Apertura a la Experiencia no resultaron significativos en el modelo de regresión para las dificultades de regulación emocional. Este estudio supone un aporte al esclarecimiento de las relaciones entre la personalidad y los mecanismos de regulación emocional, específicamente en población estudiantil universitaria.

Research on motorcycle rider distraction and inattention is limited, especially when compared to that on car drivers. This study examines motorcycle rider error and its relationship with engagement in distracting activities. Additionally, it provides an adaptation of the Attention-Related Driving Errors Scale for use with motorcycle riders (ARDES-M). A sample of 418 motorcyclists responded to a web questionnaire consisting of the ARDES-M, a self-report measure of Involvement in Distracting Activities (IDA), a measure of everyday inattention (ARCES, Attention Related Cognitive Errors Scale) and socio-demographic and riding-related questions. Riding errors were associated with a higher level of engagement in distracting activities and a greater propensity for inattention in daily life. ARDES-M scores were associated with various types of self-reported traffic crashes and near-crashes, while self-reported distractions (IDA) were only linked with near-crashes. The most widely self-reported distracting activities were using map navigation, listening to the radio or to music and adjusting vehicle devices. The various uses of cell phones were relatively minor. Young riders reported higher levels of engagement in distracting activities and committing more riding errors. The ARDES-M showed good psychometric properties for the sample in Spain.

Las habilidades académicas constituyen un componente específico del éxito escolar y numerosos factores influyen en su adquisición y consolidación. Uno de estos es la habilidad de regulación emocional de tolerancia al distrés, que se define por la capacidad de resistir estados emocionales negativos en pos de un objetivo. El propósito de este trabajo fue analizar la relación entre la tolerancia al distrés y las habilidades académicas de comprensión lectora y cálculo matemático en 107 niños de escolaridad primaria de 9 a 11 años de edad. Los resultados mostraron que la tolerancia al distrés resultó un predictor significativo de la comprensión lectora de textos expositivos y del cálculo matemático, no así de la comprensión lectora de textos narrativos. Es posible que la tolerancia al distrés resulte un factor relevante para el éxito académico en varios dominios. Academic skills are a specific component of academic success, and many factors influence their acquisition and consolidation. One of these factors is the ability to emotionally regulate distress tolerance, as defined by the ability to withstand negative emotional states in pursuit of a goal. This paper undertook to analyse the relationship between distress tolerance and reading comprehension and mathematical computations in 107 primary school children aged 9 to 11. The results showed that distress tolerance was a significant predictor of reading comprehension of expository texts and mathematical computations, albeit not so for reading comprehension of narrative texts. Distress tolerance is likely to be a relevant factor for academic success in several domains.

Inhibition constitutes one of the main executive functions and it is important to more complex skills such as fluid intelligence. Actually, there is an agreement on distinguishing three inhibitory types: perceptual, cognitive and response inhibition. Several studies show the differential engagement of these inhibitory types in different skills. However, there is no registered evidence about the differential relation of inhibitory types with fluid intelligence. This inquiry is especially important during the first school years, since in this stage, inhibitory processes would already be differentiated, and inhibitory processes and fluid intelligence are linked to the performance of children in the school setting. For these reasons, the goal of this work is to study the relation and contribution of perceptual, cognitive, and response inhibition with fluid intelligence, in children in the first years of primary school. For that purpose, a sample of children from six to eight years old (N = 178) was tested with a perceptual inhibition task (perception of similarities and differences task); a cognitive inhibition task (proactive interference task); a response inhibition task (stop signal task); and a fluid intelligence task (progressive matrices task). We observed significant correlations between perceptual and response inhibition and fluid intelligence (controlling for age), but only perceptual inhibition explains significantly part of the performance in the fluid intelligence task. This study provides data about the specific contribution, during childhood, of an inhibitory type to fluid intelligence and contributes empirical evidence in support of the non-unitary approach of inhibition.

The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) is a self-report measure designed to assess the two most widely studied strategies of Gross' model: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Even though there are two Spanish adaptations of the ERQ, region-specific linguistic factors and dialects must also be considered when adapting a test for another country in order to ensure equivalent evaluations across cultures. The present work developed an Argentinean adaptation of the ERQ. Additionally, the study evaluated its psychometric properties and associations with theoretically related constructs. Study 1 consist of the translation the ERQ into Argentinean Spanish and the analysis of its internal structure and reliability in a sample of 2957 participants. The results supported a two-factor structure with good data fit, adequate factor loadings, and good test-retest reliability and internal consistency. Expected age and gender differences in the use of reappraisal and suppression were also observed. Study 2 analyzed the external validity (concurrent and convergent) of the ERQ adaptation in a sample of 2160 participants. Theory-consistent associations were found with emotion regulation mechanisms, anxiety, depression, and personality traits. In summary, the findings support the validity of a new ERQ adaptation and its use in Argentina.

Introduction: Although alcohol consumption affects more than half of all adolescents, there are no known studies to assess the effectiveness of interventions to prevent or reduce consumption at a local level. The aim of this randomized clinical trial was to determine the effectiveness and clinical significance of a brief intervention program to reduce the consumption of alcohol and related problems in an educational setting in Argentina. Materials and methods: Systematically selected high school students (N = 167) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: two control groups (screening, screening and evaluation) and one experimental group (screening, assessment and intervention). With the approval of an Ethics Committee, we implemented a protocol based on international guidelines. The effectiveness measures used were a reduction in usual quantity, in high-risk alcohol drinking or in alcohol-related problems. We performed descriptive analyses, linear and logistic regressions, estimates of relative and absolute risk reduction, and the number of patients needed to reduce an event. In the follow-up (N = 150), the quantity of consumption and high-risk consumption were higher in the control groups. Results: The intervention effectively reduced alcohol consumption and related problems in about one out of seven adolescents, with a minimal investment in training and implementation. However, we did not find significant differences in alcohol-related problems among the groups, which decreased under all conditions. Conclusion: Long-term studies could determine whether this change primarily affects the intervention group.

El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo desarrollar y validar el Cuestionario de Funciones Ejecutivas (CUFE), un cuestionario accesible para evaluar las tres principales funciones ejecutivas (memoria de trabajo, inhibición y flexibilidad cognitiva) en niños de 9 a 12 años y, así, proporcionar valores descriptivos de referencia y evidencias acerca de su confiabilidad y validez. Para ello se analizó su funcionamiento en una muestra de 269 niños argentinos de 9 a 12 años de edad, alumnos del segundo ciclo de la escuela primaria. El análisis factorial exploratorio reveló una estructura de tres factores que explicaban 49.08 % de la varianza, con cargas factoriales unidimensionales y satisfactorias. Los factores retenidos presentaron buenos índices de confiabilidad y fueron llamados: memoria de trabajo, inhibición y flexibilidad y control emocional. La memoria de trabajo se asoció con la comprensión lectora, el cálculo matemático y las calificaciones escolares de Prácticas del lenguaje y Matemática. Las restantes dos subescalas se asociaron con las calificaciones escolares de ambas asignaturas. Las dimensiones del cuestionario coinciden con los actuales modelos teóricos de funcionamiento ejecutivo. En función de las evidencias de validez y confiabilidad, el CUFE se presenta como un instrumento ecológico y valioso para la medición de las funciones ejecutivas en el contexto de la evaluación infantil.

Self-regulation -a core aspect of adaptive human behavior- is linked to developing healthy social and emotional skills, during childhood. Thus, different intervention studies on self-regulation in child population were developed worldwide. In general, these studies employ one of two basic approaches: Processes-based or school curriculum-based. In Argentina, there are research groups about the topic, but there is not a registry with information about all of them. For these reasons, this systematic review is aimed to relieve, to synthesize and to evaluate the impact of intervention programs (taking into account both approaches) which have been implemented in Argentina, in preschoolers and elementary school student. Among main results the prevalence of analysis of near short-term transfer effects, positive results in populations with and without unsatisfied needs, and difficulties in the intervention context are highlighted. We discuss about the importance of new conditions and politics for self-regulation interventions.

El Inventario de Orientaciones Suicidas ISO-30 es una de las escalas ms ampliamente utilizadas en Argentina. Este trabajo analiz sus propiedades psicomtricas en una muestra de adolescentes y jvenes universitarios de Mar del Plata, Bs As. El estudio se dividi en dos etapas. La etapa exploratoria incluy con 821 casos (62.5% mujeres, 37.5% varones; M edad =16.40; DS=1.09), y desarroll anlisis de evidencias de validez de contenido y anlisis factoriales exploratorios. En la etapa confirmatoria se trabaj con 297 adolescentes y jvenes (67% mujeres y 33% varones; M edad =16.78; DS=2.02), y se realiz anlisis factorial confirmatorio y de consistencia interna. Asimismo, se compar el modelo dimensional obtenido versus el hallado en un estudio previo. Los resultados permitieron arribar a una versin reducida de la escala, ISO-19 que, si bien supone diferencias con la ISO-30, presenta evidencias psicomtricas que avalan y justifican su aplicabilidad.

The prevalence of alcohol use disorders in university students is alarmingly high. Screening instruments are fundamental for both, epidemiological research and clinical practice. The aim of this article is to compare the performance of the most widely used screening instruments (AUDIT, AUDIT-C, TWEAK, RAPS-QF, and CAGE) in Argentinean university students. Screening tests, along with the Alcohol Section of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview that yields DSM 5 compatible diagnoses were administered to a probabilistic sample (N = 2,430) of university students from a national public university. The following characteristics were evaluated among others: optimal cut-off points, sensitivity, specificity, internal consistency, temporal stability, and item presence and discrimination capacity. The global appraisal of results suggests that the AUDIT and RAPS-QF would be preferable for evaluating AUD in this population.

Selective attention is involved in multiple daily activities. Several authors state that it experiences a decline after 20 years, although there is no agreement regarding the cognitive processes that explain it. Two theories dominate the discussion: The theory of inhibitory inefficiency and the theory of processing speed. At the same time, it has been suggested that there could be complementary relations between both; however, it is not clear what the contribution of inhibition and processing speed is on the changes of selective attention. Therefore, the present study proposes to analyze this contribution, in adults between 20 and 80 years old. To assess selective attention and inhibitory control, two indices of a visual search task were obtained in which participants must identify a target stimulus among a set of distracting stimuli. To evaluate the processing speed, a response speed task was used. The main results indicate that, from the age of 60, a gradual decrease in selective attention begins and that this decline can be largely explained by a decrease in processing speed and inhibitory control. We discuss about the literature on the development of selective attention, the contribution of processing speed, and the inhibitory inefficiency hypothesis.

Objetivo. Caracterizar la teora de la mente (TM) y la empata en nios y adolescentes, y analizar si existe una interaccin diferencial entre ambos procesos segn la etapa del desarrollo. Este objetivo se basa en que el estudio de la cognicin social sugiere que la TM asiste a la capacidad emptica en la atribucin de emociones y de la comprensin del estado emocional ajeno. Mtodo. Estudio correlacional con diseo transversalcorrelacional. Se emple una muestra no probabilstica de 168 participantes (61 nios y 107 adolescentes) de ambos sexos. Los instrumentos utilizados fueron el Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) y el Test de las Miradas. Resultados. Se encontraron diferencias estadsticamente signifi cativas en la subescala preocupacin emptica (t = -3,53, p = 0.001) y en el Test de las Miradas (t = -2.94, p = 0.004) a favor de los adolescentes; sin embargo, no se hallaron diferencias entre grupos de acuerdo a las escalas cognitivas del IRI (t = 1.07, p = 0.82; t = -0.04, p = 0.96). En cuanto a la relacin entre los procesos cognitivos sociales, se encontr una correlacin positiva entre la empata y la TM en los nios (r = 0.24, p = 0.54) y negativa en los adolescentes (r = -0.19, p = 0.49). Conclusin. Existe complementariedad funcional entre la empata cognitiva y la TM en la infancia, pero no en la adolescencia, etapa en la que dichos procesos parecen comenzar a funcionar con mayor independencia.

Introduction/Objective. This research aims to examine the predictive power of perceived interpersonal styles of coaches, fathers and mothers on engagement and intentions to drop-out of Argentinean high-performance adolescent athletes considering the role of gender in this relationship. Method. A total of 234 adolescents aged 12-16 years (M = 14.48, SD = 1.09) selected for the Youth Olympic Games -Buenos Aires 2018- participated in the study, who answered questionnaires assessing the variables of interest. Results. Males perceived higher levels of engagement than females, and females perceived higher autonomy support from the mother. Coaches’ autonomy support had greater predictive power on males’ engagement and females’ intentions to drop-out sport. In both genders, the effect of coach autonomy support was greater than parents. Conclusions. These results show the importance of significant others in sport participation and contribute to the knowledge of factors that may foster positive development in high-performance adolescence athletes.

Las razones para reducir el consumo de alcohol pueden ser definidas como motivos que llevan a una persona a disminuir el consumo de alcohol o mantener la sobriedad. Este tema suele ser poco estudiado, particularmente en pases latinoamericanos y en poblaciones en riesgo. El objetivo de esta investigacin de diseo secuencial exploratorio fue explorar las razones para cambiar el consumo de alcohol en universitarios que lo hayan modificado (N = 100),

El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar la relación de las estrategias de regulación emocional reevaluación cognitiva aplicada a tareas escolares para el hogar (RC-TEH) y manejo emocional aplicado a tareas escolares para el hogar (ME-TEH) sobre el desempeño académico (DA) controlando dificultades de memoria de trabajo (dif-MT) en niños que finalizaban la Educación Primaria. Se administró un cuestionario de autoinforme para evaluar la RC-TEH y el ME-TEH a 119 de niños de cuarto, quinto y sexto grado (9 a 11 años de edad) y dos cuestionarios a sus maestros para evaluar su DA y dificultades de MT. Los resultados mostraron que el ME-TEH se asoció con las dimensiones éxito, productividad académica, matemáticas y lectura del DA, incluso cuando se controlaron dif-MT. No se observaron asociaciones significativas de la RC-TEH con el DA, ni de ninguna de las estrategias sobre el control del impulso en situaciones académicas. Se espera que los resultados profundicen en el conocimiento del rol de la regulación emocional en el DA y contribuyan así al contenido de programas de promoción de la regulación emocional diseñados para contextos escolares.

En los últimos años se ha producido una profusa investigación en torno al tema de la memoria semántica en la vejez. En ese marco el presente trabajo abordó la producción de atributos semánticos y las variaciones en la fluencia verbal en el envejecimiento cognitivo normal. Existen numerosos estudios sobre fluencia, pero son exiguos los estudios que comparan la distancia semántica entre conceptos en poblaciones de jóvenes y de mayores de una misma región. El objeto de este trabajo es comparar y analizar la distancia y la riqueza semántica por medio de la fluencia, dada para 130 conceptos por 90 adultos mayores de 65 años cognitivamente conservados, con los atributos producidos por 90 adultos jóvenes, tal como se hallan en las Normas de Producción de Atributos Semánticos en Español. Los atributos semánticos fueron empíricamente colectados en forma escrita y corresponden a las categorías de seres vivos y no vivos. Se encuentran diferencias significativas en fluencia verbal y convergencia en la constitución semántica entre los conceptos dados por ambos grupos etarios.Palabras clave: Atributos. Distancia Semántica. Fluencia Verbal. Adultos Mayores. Adultos Jóvenes

Actualmente se considera a la inhibición como una de las principales funciones ejecutivas y se la vincula con diversas habilidades fundamentales a lo largo del ciclo vital. Asimismo, existe un importante debate sobre su estructura y naturaleza, destacándose perspectivas que la conciben como un constructo unitario y otras que plantean una familia de procesos inhibitorios. De las perspectivas teóricas se deriva una serie de tareas destinadas a medir inhibición sobre las que también se ha extendido el debate. Dentro de este conjunto de tareas, aquellas con un formato informatizado reciben un importante interés, puesto que su empleo ha crecido, producto de la revolución tecnológica y las ventajas que conllevan en el proceso de administración y registro. Entre los ejes en torno a los cuales se desarrolla el debate se destaca la confiabilidad y la validez de las pruebas. Por ello este trabajo pretende –mediante una revisión no sistemática– reunir y analizar los siguientes aspectos: (1) Factores que pueden afectar la confiabilidad de las tareas inhibitorias informatizadas. Se abordan factores vinculados a características de las tareas (como las aplicaciones a través de las que se desarrollan, la calidad del instrumento, la organización de los diferentes ensayos o condiciones y el empleo de índices de desempeño poco fiables), su administración y las características de los participantes (considerando la familiaridad con el uso de computadoras, la motivación, la fatiga y la práctica); (2) Problemáticas vinculadas a la validez de estas tareas, específicamente asociadas a la validez de constructo y validez convergente. Aquí se aborda la falta de acuerdo sobre aquello que miden algunas tareas inhibitorias informatizadas, la impureza de las tareas y la dificultad para encontrar diferentes actividades que midan el mismo proceso inhibitorio. Se concluye con algunas consideraciones para la construcción y la aplicación de tareas inhibitorias informatizadas, que derivan de los temas revisados.