Predictive coding in autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Predictive coding has been proposed as a framework to understand neural processes in neuropsychiatric disorders. We used this approach to describe mechanisms responsible for attentional abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We monitored brain dynamics of 59 children (8-15 yr old) who had ASD or ADHD or who were control participants via high-density electroencephalography. We performed analysis at the scalp and source-space levels while participants listened to standard and deviant tone sequences. Through task instructions, we manipulated top-down expectation by presenting expected and unexpected deviant sequences. Children with ASD showed reduced superior frontal cortex (FC) responses to unexpected events but increased dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation to expected events. In contrast, children with ADHD exhibited reduced cortical responses in superior FC to expected events but strong PFC activation to unexpected events. Moreover, neural abnormalities were associated with specific control mechanisms, namely, inhibitory control in ASD and set-shifting in ADHD. Based on the predictive coding account, top-down expectation abnormalities could be attributed to a disproportionate reliance (precision) allocated to prior beliefs in ASD and to sensory input in ADHD.

Incorporating perspective analysis into critical thinking performance assessments.

BACKGROUND: The International Performance Assessments of Learning (iPAL) project developed a framework for the construction of performance assessments for testing critical thinking, which proposes structuring them around a problem situation that sets an authentic (i.e., real-life-like) problem-solving task for the test-taker. Its critical thinking construct - which reflects the dominant conception of critical thinking - focuses on assessment and use of information, of arguments, and of consequences, and on communication. However, it fails to acknowledge that perspectives on a problem situation are systemically articulated in networks and derive from worldviews, which should also be critically examined. AIMS: We aim to elaborate on the iPAL framework and enhance its critical thinking construct, incorporating a new facet of perspective analysis. We also intend to show what design considerations the construction of a performance assessment appropriate for this task entails. DEVELOPMENT: Based on Werner Ulrich's Critical Systems Heuristics, which provides a systemic way of analysing perspectives about a problem situation, we argue the need to introduce perspective analysis in the critical thinking construct, and we discuss the considerations necessary for designing critical thinking performance assessments that test perspective analysis skills: about the kind of problem situation the test-taker will face and about the expectations she may have about her task or role in that problem situation. We illustrate how performance assessments of this kind can be constructed by means of an example of an actual test.

Executive and arousal vigilance decrement in the context of the attentional networks: The ANTI-Vea task.

BACKGROUND: Vigilance is generally understood as the ability to detect infrequent critical events through long time periods. In tasks like the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART), participants tend to detect fewer events across time, a phenomenon known as "vigilance decrement". However, vigilance might also involve sustaining a tonic arousal level. In the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT), the vigilance decrement corresponds to an increment across time in both mean and variability of reaction time. NEW METHOD: The present study aimed to develop a single task -Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance - executive and arousal components (ANTI-Vea)- to simultaneously assess both components of vigilance (i.e., the executive vigilance as in the SART, and the arousal vigilance as in the PVT), while measuring the classic attentional functions (phasic alertness, orienting, and executive control). RESULTS: In Experiment #1, the executive vigilance decrement was found as an increment in response bias. In Experiment #2, this result was replicated, and the arousal vigilance decrement was simultaneously observed as an increment in reaction time. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHOD: The ANTI-Vea solves some issues observed in the previous ANTI-V task with the executive vigilance measure (e.g., a low hit rate and no vigilance decrement). Furthermore, the new ANTI-Vea task assesses both components of vigilance together with others typical attentional functions. CONCLUSIONS: The new attentional networks test developed here may be useful to provide a better understanding of the human attentional system. The role of sensitivity and response bias in the executive vigilance decrement are discussed.

Executive Functions as Predictors of School Performance and Social Relationships: Primary and Secondary School Students.

This study examined the relationship between executive functions (EFs) and school performance in primary and secondary school students aged 8 to 13 years (N = 146, M = 10.4, 45.8% girls). EFs were evaluated using the Trail Making Test (TMT), Verbal Fluency (VF), and the Stroop Test. Students' GPAs and teachers' assessment of academic skills were used to measure school performance. To evaluate the students' social behavior, participants were asked to rate all their classmates' prosocial behavior and nominate three students with whom they preferred to do school activities; teachers also provided evaluations of students' social skills. EF measures explained 41% (p = .003, f 2 = .694) of variability in school performance and 29% (p = .005, f 2 = .401) of variance in social behavior in primary school students. The predictive power of EFs was found to be lower for secondary school students, although the TMT showed significant prediction and explained 13% (p = .004, f 2 = .149) of variance in school performance and 15% (p = .008, f 2 = .176) in peer ratings of prosocial behavior. This paper discusses the relevance of EFs in the school environment and their different predictive power in primary and secondary school students.

Neural markers of social and monetary rewards in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Recent theories of decision making propose a shared value-related brain mechanism for encoding monetary and social rewards. We tested this model in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and control children. We monitored participants' brain dynamics using high density-electroencephalography while they played a monetary and social reward tasks. Control children exhibited a feedback Error-Related Negativity (fERN) modulation and Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) source activation during both tasks. Remarkably, although cooperation resulted in greater losses for the participants, the betrayal options generated greater fERN responses. ADHD subjects exhibited an absence of fERN modulation and reduced ACC activation during both tasks. ASD subjects exhibited normal fERN modulation during monetary choices and inverted fERN/ACC responses in social options than did controls. These results suggest that in neurotypicals, monetary losses and observed disloyal social decisions induced similar activity in the brain value system. In ADHD children, difficulties in reward processing affected early brain signatures of monetary and social decisions. Conversely, ASD children showed intact neural markers of value-related monetary mechanisms, but no brain modulation by prosociality in the social task. These results offer insight into the typical and atypical developments of neural correlates of monetary and social reward processing.

Stop Saying That It Is Wrong! Psychophysiological, Cognitive, and Metacognitive Markers of Children's Sensitivity to Punishment.

Neurodevelopmental evidence suggests that children's main decision-making strategy is to avoid options likely to induce punishment. However, the cognitive and affective factors contributing to children's avoidance to high punishment frequency remain unknown. The present study explored psychophysiological, cognitive, and metacognitive processes associated with sensitivity to punishment frequency. We evaluated 54 participants (between 8 and 15 years old) with a modified Iowa Gambling Task for children (IGT-C) which included options with varying long-term profit and punishment frequencies. Skin conductance responses (SCRs) were recorded during this task. Additionally, we assessed IGT-C metacognitive knowledge, fluid intelligence, and executive functions. Participants exhibited behavioral avoidance and high anticipatory SCRs to options with high frequency of punishment. Moreover, age, IGT-C metacognitive knowledge, and inhibitory control were associated with individual differences in sensitivity to punishment frequency. Our results suggest that children's preference for infrequently punished decisions is partially explained by psychophysiological signals as well as task complexity and development of cognitive control.

Hemodynamic response in a geographical word naming verbal fluency test.

Functional hemodynamic response was studied in a new Verbal Fluency Task (VFT) that demanded the production of geographical words while fMRI data was obtained. Participants completed 7 trials with a total duration of 2 min. 20 s. Four simple arithmetic subtraction trials were alternated with 3 geographical naming trials. Each trial had a duration of 20 s. Brain activity was contrasted between both conditions and significant differences (p < .05, Family Wise Error correction) were observed in the prefrontal medial gyrus, typically associated with word retrieval and phonological awareness, and in the parahippocampal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex and lingual gyrus, areas related to spatial cognition. These results indicate that geographic VFT could be incorporated into a browser of cognitive processes using VFT considering its specific relationship with spatial cognition. Further investigations are proposed, taking special interest in the gender variable and eliminating phonological restrictions, because the evoked Argentinean cities and towns ended in a consonant letter.

Inter-individual cognitive variability in children with Asperger's syndrome.

Multiple studies have tried to establish the distinctive profile of individuals with Asperger's syndrome (AS). However, recent reports suggest that adults with AS feature heterogeneous cognitive profiles. The present study explores inter-individual variability in children with AS through group comparison and multiple case series analysis. All participants completed an extended battery including measures of fluid and crystallized intelligence, executive functions, theory of mind, and classical neuropsychological tests. Significant group differences were found in theory of mind and other domains related to global information processing. However, the AS group showed high inter-individual variability (both sub- and supra-normal performance) on most cognitive tasks. Furthermore, high fluid intelligence correlated with less general cognitive impairment, high cognitive flexibility, and speed of motor processing. In light of these findings, we propose that children with AS are characterized by a distinct, uneven pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses.

Academic performance and social competence of adolescents: predictions based on effortful control and empathy.

This study explored the predictive power of effortful control (EC) on empathy, academic performance, and social competence in adolescents. We obtained self-report measures of EC and dispositional empathy in 359 students (197 girls and 162 boys) aged between 12 and 14 years. Each student provided information about the prosocial behavior of the rest of his/her classmates and completed a sociogram. At the end of the school year, we calculated the mean grade of each student and the teacher responsible for each class completed a questionnaire on the academic skills of his/her students. The study confirmed the existence of a structural equation model (SEM) in which EC directly predicted academic performance and social competence. Additionally, empathic concern partially mediated the effect of EC on social competence. Finally, social competence significantly predicted academic performance. The article discusses the practical applications of the model proposed.

Normas de asociación léxica e índices psicolingüísticos de 407 palabras en español en una muestra latinoamericana / Lexical associative norms and psycholinguistic indexes of 407 Spanish words in a latin american sample

El diseño de tareas experimentales en psicología y lingüística suele requerir el uso de estímulos con características y propiedades estandarizadas, con el objetivo de predecir con mayor exactitud el impacto de su presentación. Las normas de asociación léxica son instrumentos que determinan la fuerza de asociación que existe entre dos conceptos. El método más común para su construcción es mediante la evocación libre de un concepto ante la presentación de una palabra clave. El objetivo de este trabajo fue construir normas de asociación léxica para 407 palabras en español. Participaron del estudio 800 estudiantes de la Ciudad de Córdoba, Argentina. Se analizó cuantitativamente el número de respuestas válidas, en blanco y no válidas, número de asociados por ítem, y se añadió una clasificación cualitativa según la fuerza de asociación. Adicionalmente, se presentaron un conjunto de índices psicolingüísticos para una mejor descripción de los ítems utilizados. Se realizó un análisis de correlaciones que demostró una fuerte relación negativa entre la frecuencia del primer y segundo asociado y el número de asociados por cada ítem. Este estudio pretende ser de suma utilidad en investigaciones de psicología y lingüística que requieran su consulta para la construcción de instrumentos de evaluación (AU)

The design of experimental tasks in psychology and linguistics requires using stimulus with properties and characteristics in standardized values. This allows predicting with higher accuracy the impact of the stimulus presentation. The lexical associative norms are instruments that determine the strength of association between two concepts. The most common method to construct these norms is to take a free response from a presentation of a cue word. The main goal of this study was to construct lexical associative norms of 407 Spanish words. 800 students from Ciudad de Córdoba, Argentina, participated in the study. Quantitative analyses were performed taking into account the number of valid answers, blank and non valid answers, and number of associates per item. A qualitative classification was performed according to the strength of association. Additionally, it is presented a group of psycholinguistic indexes for a better description of the items used. Correlation analysis demonstrated a strong and negative relation between the frequency of first and second associations and the number of associations per item. This study pretends to be highly useful in research in psychology and linguistic where it is required consulting the norms presented to the design of evaluation instruments (AU)

¿existen diferencias entre sexos en las redes atencionales? una revisión sistemática sobre el alerta fásica, vigilancia, orientación y control ejecutivo / Are there sex differences in attentional networks? a systematic review of the phasic alerting, vigilance, orienting and executive control

Resumen Las diferencias entre sexos suelen ser un aspecto crucial a ser tenido en cuenta en ciertos desarrollos en neurociencias cognitivas. En el estudio de las redes neuronales de la atención (alerta fásica, vigilancia, orientación, control atencional), aún no se observa un consenso establecido y esclarecedor sobre las diferencias existentes entre mujeres y hombres. Este trabajo presenta una revisión de las diferencias entre sexos encontradas en las investigaciones de las redes atencionales. Se pretende aportar una discusión que sirva como guía para considerar el sexo como variable de interés en futuros estudios en ciencias cognitivas.

Abstract Sex differences are often a crucial topic to be taken into account in certain developments in cognitive neuroscience. In the study of attention neural networks (phasic alerting, vigilance, orienting, executive control), there is not yet a consensus established and enlightening about the differences between men and women. This paper presents a review of sex differences found in investigations of attentional networks. We plan to bring a discussion to serve as a guide to regard sex as a variable of interest in future studies in cognitive neuroscience.

Conectividad cerebral en la regulación emocional: la solución de problemas emocionales / Brain connectivity in emotional regulation: the emotional solving problems

La solución de problemas emocionales es un mecanismo de regulación emocional que utiliza estrategias cognitivo-lingüísticas para reducir el impacto afectivo de una situación y lograr un objetivo propuesto. Es considerado un mecanismo saludable junto con la revaluación, a diferencia de la supresión y la rumiación. Estudios con técnicas de neuroimágenes han propuesto áreas cerebrales asociadas al funcionamiento de los diferentes mecanismos de regulación emocional. En este trabajo se propuso investigar los gradientes de conectividad cerebral de sustancia blanca asociados a la solución de problemas emocionales, con el objetivo de proponer una red de conectividad neuronal de este mecanismo de regulación emocional. Para evaluar la efectividad de la solución de problemas emocionales se utilizó una tarea conductual desarrollada recientemente basada en la recuperación semántica esforzada con estímulos de alto impacto afectivo. Participaron del estudio 32 mujeres jóvenes (M= 24,34; DS=5,24). Se obtuvieron coeficientes de correlación de Pearson entre las medidas del porcentaje de acierto de la tarea conductual y la anisotropía fraccional de los fascículos de sustancia blanca de interés. Los resultados proponen un red neuronal de solución de problemas emocionales en la que participarían principalmente el Fascículo Arqueado y Fronto Occipital Inferior del hemisferio izquierdo, cruciales en la implementación de estrategias de carácter léxico y semántico para la disminución del impacto afectivo (AU)

Emotional solving problems is an emotional regulation mechanism that implements cognitive-linguistics strategies to reduce the affective impact in a situation and to accomplish a proposed objective. Together with the reappraisal, it is considered a healthy mechanism, in difference with suppression and rumination. Researches that have used neuroimaging techniques have proposed cerebral areas associated to the functioning of the different emotional regulation mechanisms. The objective of this research was to study the brain connectivity gradients of white matter associated to emotional solving problems, to propose a brain connectivity network of this emotional regulation mechanism. The efficacy of emotional solving problems was measured with a behavioral task recently developed, based on semantic effortful retrieval with high affective impact stimulus. 32 young women (M= 24,34; DS=5,24) participated of the study. Correlations of Pearson were performed between accuracy measures of the behavioral task and fractional anisotropy of the white matter fascicles of interest. The results propose a brain connectivity network of emotional solving problems with the main participation of the Arcuate and Fronto Occipital Inferior fascicles of left hemisphere, both crucial in the implementation of lexical and semantic strategies to the reduction of affective impact (AU)

Una tarea conductual para medir Solución de Problemas Emocionales basada en el Control Ejecutivo Semántico / A behavioral task to measure Emotional Solving Problems based on Semantic Executive Control

En este trabajo se presenta una tarea conductual basada en la diseñada por Thompson-Schill, Badre y Wagner para medir la recuperación esforzada de contenidos semánticos y la selección semántica (Badre & Wagner, 2007). En su origen fue utilizada para debatir sobre la red de Control Ejecutivo Semántico (CES), se presentaba una palabra clave y luego tres palabras- opciones. Las personas debían escoger cuál tenía el significado más cercano a la palabra clave, entre las opciones había una palabra correcta y dos opciones incorrectas. Se manipulaba la Distancia Semántica (cercana o lejana) y la presentación o no de un criterio de elección (recuperación esforzada versus selección). Nuestra investigación le agregó a esta tarea una nueva manipulación de tipo afectiva. Siguiendo un diccionario semántico de palabras y las dimensiones afectivas (valencia, arousal, control) se creó la tarea de CES- Emocional (CES-E). La cantidad de eventos congruentes, incongruentes y neutros fue equivalente, por lo que la valencia afectiva no servía de criterio para escoger por el significado más cercano. Participaron del estudio 104 sujetos sanos (74 mujeres), de la ciudad de Córdoba, Argentina (N = 32) y de la ciudad de Granada, España (N = 72), de edades entre 19 y 35 años (M= 24.6, DS= 4.7). Se cumplió el objetivo de asentar las manipulaciones (se halló que las condición más difícil fue la valencia neutra distancia lejana, eta2= .530, p< .001), construir índices de aprovechamiento de las manipulaciones (congruencia, Distancia Semántica cercana) y relacionar la tarea con los mecanismos establecidos de regulación emocional. Dentro de los propuestos por la literatura, se consideró que esta tarea tiene rasgos de solución de problemas emocionales que se discuten en el artículo, con algunos componentes de supresión (eta2= .864, p<.01) (AU)

The present research introduces a novel behavioral task based on the designed by Thompson-Schill, Badre and Wagner to measure semantic effortful retrieval and post-retrieval selection (Badre & Wagner, 2007). In the previous works, this task was used to study the Semantic Executive Control (SEC) network. In the task it was presented a cue word with three options, and participants should choose which of the three options had the closer meaning to the cue word. The options were formed by a correct word and two incorrect options. The semantic distance between the cue word and the options was manipulated (low or high distance) with the presentation or not of a choose criterion (effortful retrieval or post-retrieval selection respectively). The present research added to this task a novel affective manipulation. Using a semantic dictionary and affective dimensions of words (valence, arousal, and control), this new SEC - Emotional (SEC-E) task was developed. The number of congruent, non- congruent and neutral events was equivalent, controlling that affective valence was not the criterion to choose the closer meaning word. 104 healthy subjects (74 female) participated in the study, from Córdoba city, Argentina (N = 32) and Granada city, Spain (N = 72), and participants aged between 19 and 35 (M= 24.6, DS= 4.7). The semantic manipulations were confirmed (the most difficult condition was formed by neutral valence and high semantic distance, eta2= .530, p< .001). Different indexes were constructed to compare different manipulations (affective congruence and low semantic distance) and to make relations with established emotional regulation mechanisms. Taking account those proposed by literature, it was considered that this novel task has characteristics of emotional solving problems that are argued in the article, with some components of suppression (eta2= .864, p<.01) (AU)

Pruebas de fluidez verbal categoriales, fonológicas y gramaticales en la infancia: factores ejecutivos y semánticos / Categorical, phonological and grammatical verbal fluency tasks in children: executive and semantic factors

En el presente trabajo se aplicaron las Pruebas de Fluidez Verbal (PFV), correspondientes al Explorador Neuropsicológico en Fluidez Verbal (ENFV), a una población de niños argentinos. El objetivo principal fue conocer su estructura factorial en niños y divulgar valores normativos. Se obtuvieron dos factores principales: uno ejecutivo y el otro semántico. Esto avala gran parte de la literatura especializada, que discute sobre el rol de las capacidades atencionales y otras habilidades en PFV. Respecto del rol de la edad, se encontró una elevada incidencia en todas las pruebas, excepto la categorial de supermercado. La influencia fue mayor para las pruebas fonológicas y de verbos, lo que fue relacionado con su mayor compromiso frontal y la tardía maduración de estas estructuras. Se sugiere, por último, la continuidad de estos trabajos desde una perspectiva interactiva entre nodos ejecutivos y semánticos. Esto conlleva la utilización de equipos de neuroimágenes para obtener imágenes por Tensor de Difusiones, cuyo dato principal es la conectividad entre regiones cerebrales distantes.

In this work we applied Verbal Fluency Tasks (VFT) belonging to the Verbal Fluency Neuropsychological Explorer (VFNE) to a popu-lation of Argentinean childrens. The main objective was to determine the factor structure in children and disseminate normative values. We obtained two main factors: one executive and one semantic. This supports much of the literature, which discusses the role of attentional capacities and other skills in VFT. On the role of Age, there was a high incidence in all tests except the categorical supermarket. The influence was greater for the phonological tests and verbs, which was associated with greater commitment and delayed frontal maturation of these structures. It suggests, finally, the continuity of this work from an interactive perspective be-tween executive and semantic nodes. This involves the use of neuroimaging equipment to obtain diffusion tensor images, which shows connectivity data between distant brain regions.

Control ejecutivo y fluidez verbal en población infantil: Medidas cuantitativas, cualitativas y temporales / Executive control and verbal fluency in child population: Quantitative, qualitative and temporal measures

Para evaluar la evocación de palabras asociadas bajo una consigna de prueba de fluidez verbal (PFV) se tienen en cuenta la cantidad de palabras producidas, las asociaciones categoriales y fonológicas entre ellas y el tiempo en que son evocadas. A continuación se presenta un estudio que se realizó aplicando PFV semánticas y fonológicas en una población infantil (8 - 12 años) de la ciudad de Granada (España), que tuvo por objetivos: (1) revisar las tradicionales medidas en PFV, (2) actualizar los índices temporales de medición y (3) presentar combinaciones de éstas con el fin de establecer con mayor precisión la participación del control ejecutivo en PFV. Se encontraron resultados significativos entre los que se destaca que la combinación entre la medida temporal de evocación de palabras conjuntas y la cualitativa de palabras en relación cluster podría aislar con mayor fiabilidad el compromiso de funciones ejecutivas como el control inhibitorio y la flexibilidad cognitiva. Esto se determinó empleando medidas de regresión, ingresando como variables independientes funciones ejecutivas y como variables dependientes cada una de las medidas de Fluidez Verbal. Para la mencionada combinación de palabras conjuntas - palabras en relación cluster (PFV fonológica letra P) se halló un R² de .41 (p = .000) ingresando como variables predictoras el Trail Making B y la parte Color - Palabra de la versión Trenerry del paradigma Stroop (Lezak, 1995). Se describen también otras posibilidades de medición temporales - cualitativas y su posible utilidad clínica y de investigación.

Verbal fluency tests (VFTs) are considered semantic cognitive tasks. They demand the retrieval of words under different semantic, phonologic, and grammatical conditions. The measures most commonly used to assess word recall in VFTs are: (1) the number of words produced, (2) categorical and phonological association between words, (3) switching between clusters, and (4) the time at which the words are evoked. These measures involve quantitative (1), qualitative (2 and 3), and temporal (4) analyses. In this study, semantic and phonological VFTs were administered to a child population (8-12 years) in Granada (Spain), in order to: (1) review traditional VFT measures, (2) update temporal indices, and (3) introduce combinations, in an effort to more precisely establish the role of executive control. Topics widely-discussed in the literature include two crucial cognitive processes that underlie VFT performance: semantic processing and executive control, which have been associated with activity in temporal and frontal brain regions, respectively. One of the major challenges in the study of these processes is to distinguish between their separate contributions to VFT execution using obtained data. Measures of switching and clustering have traditionally been used to this end, however they do not take into account the time at which the words are evoked. These measures have also been criticized because their final scores are interrelated and exposed to biases difficult to control. Considering temporal measures important, we evaluated the role of five executive control variables (attentional control, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, switching, and sustained control) and their relationship with combined quantitative, qualitative and temporal measures. Time variables were included by placing each word evoked on a sixtysecond timeline of verbal production. This way we were able to simultaneously calculate the clustering and switching of words, and their temporal positions. All of these results were associated with executive measures using predictive association statistical techniques. Significant results were found among those measures that emphasized the combination of temporary and qualitative cluster measures. We were also able to reliably isolate the participation of executive functions such as inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility in the combination of spurts and clusters words. This was determined with Multiple Regression Analysis scores, entering the executive functions as independent variables and each of the verbal fluency measures as dependent variables. For example, an R² of .41 (.000) was obtained for the abovementioned combination of spurted -clustered words in the phonological VFT letter P, entering Trail Making B and Trenerry's Color-Word version of the Stroop task (Lezak, 1995) as predictor variables. When compared, these values clearly exceed those obtained with traditional quantitative and qualitative measures. We discussed these results in relation to the possibility of developing a more precise executive control index for VFTs, specifically for the rapid transition from one word to another related word. As far as we know, only switching (shifting between clusters of words) has been considered an executive control index in VFTs. Here we propose the combination measures described. Possible cognitive mechanisms related to these findings are discussed. Future research must contemplate: (1) a greater sample size, because only 61 participants were studied here, (2) using other technical measures to determine clustering and switching, (3) improving the executive function measures, (4) including other VFTs, such as letter exclusion or action fluency, and (5) extending the procedure to an adult population.

Variación de la actividad cognitiva en diferentes tipos de pruebas de fluidez verbal / Variation of the cognitive activity in different types of verbal fluency tasks

En esta investigación se aplicaron diez pruebas de fluidez verbal del tipo fonológico, categorial, gramatical y combinadas a 259 adultos argentinos (15 a 70 años) con el fin de conocer su correlación con la actividad ejecutiva, semántica y atencional. Se indagó sobre la estructura teórica de cada prueba de fluidez verbal, a fines de determinar la lógica de sus variaciones. El objetivo final de la investigación fue aportar al desarrollo de un explorador neuropsicológico en fluidez verbal, que sea útil para hacer evaluaciones breves y sencillas, incluyendo situaciones difíciles como pacientes hospitalizados, y tratando de extraer la máxima información posible de la actividad cognitiva. RESULTADOS: se realizaron análisis descriptivos sobre las pruebas de fluidez verbal, análisis factorial sobre las variables de la actividad cognitiva y análisis de regresión múltiples, ingresando como variables independientes las variables cognitivas y como dependientes cada una de las pruebas de fluidez verbal. CONCLUSIONES: los modelos predictivos hallados indican variaciones sistemáticas en relación al compromiso cognitivo entre los tipos de pruebas de fluidez verbal. También se hallaron variaciones dentro de cada tipo. Esto indica que el explorador en fluidez verbal puede ser una herramienta útil para evaluar diferentes capacidades y funciones cognitivas.

On this study we have applied ten Verbal Fluency tasks belonging to phonological, categorial, grammatical and combined forms to 259 Argentinean adults (age 15 to 70, n=259). We calculate their relationship with executive, attentional and semantic neuropsychological tasks using regression analysis.. Executive, attentional and semantic scores were entered like independent variables and each verbal fluency task were entered like dependent ones. Also we revised the theoretical structure of each Verbal Fluency Task to address their putative data variations Results showed significative different cognitive predictive models between the verbal fluency tasks, as between as into each form. The final objective of this research was to develop a Verbal Fluency Neuropsychological Explorer, able to screen cognitive functions in short time and in difficult situations. In order to reach that we consider this research an approach needed to complement with neuroimaging, psychometric and clinical studies.

Hemodynamic response in a geographical word naming verbal fluency test

Functional hemodynamic response was studied in a new Verbal Fluency Task (VFT) that demanded the production of geographical words while fMRI data was obtained. Participants completed 7 trials with a total duration of 2 min. 20 s. Four simple arithmetic subtraction trials were alternated with 3 geographical naming trials. Each trial had a duration of 20 s. Brain activity was contrasted between both conditions and significant differences (p < .05, Family Wise Error correction) were observed in the prefrontal medial gyrus, typically associated with word retrieval and phonological awareness, and in the parahippocampal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex and lingual gyrus, areas related to spatial cognition. These results indicate that geographic VFT could be incorporated into a browser of cognitive processes using VFT considering its specific relationship with spatial cognition. Further investigations are proposed, taking special interest in the gender variable and eliminating phonological restrictions, because the evoked Argentinean cities and towns ended in a consonant letter (AU)

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Academic performance and social competence of adolescents: prediction based on effortful control and empathy

This study explored the predictive power of effortful control (EC) on empathy, academic performance, and social competence in adolescents. We obtained self-report measures of EC and dispositional empathy in 359 students (197 girls and 162 boys) aged between 12 and 14 years. Each student provided information about the prosocial behavior of the rest of his/her classmates and completed a sociogram. At the end of the school year, we calculated the mean grade of each student and the teacher responsible for each class completed a questionnaire on the academic skills of his/her students. The study confirmed the existence of a structural equation model (SEM) in which EC directly predicted academic performance and social competence. Additionally, empathic concern partially mediated the effect of EC on social competence. Finally, social competence significantly predicted academic performance. The article discusses the practical applications of the model proposed (AU)

No disponible