Emotional Face Processing in Autism Spectrum Condition: A Study of Attentional Orienting and Inhibitory Control.

A core feature of Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) is the presence of difficulties in social interactions. This can be explained by an atypical attentional processing of social information: individuals with ASC may show problems with orienting attention to socially relevant stimuli and/or inhibiting their attentional responses to irrelevant ones. To shed light on this issue, we examined attentional orienting and inhibitory control to emotional stimuli (angry, happy, and neutral faces). An antisaccade task (with both prosaccade and antisacade blocks) was applied to a final sample of 29 children with ASC and 27 children with typical development (TD). Whereas children with ASC committed more antisaccade errors when seeing angry faces than happy or neutral ones, TD children committed more antisaccade errors when encountering happy faces than neutral faces. Furthermore, latencies in the prosaccade and antisaccade blocks were longer in children with ASC and they were associated with the severity of ASC symptoms. Thus, children with ASC showed an impaired inhibitory control when angry faces were presented. This bias to negative high-arousal information is congruent with affective information-processing theories on ASC, suggesting that threatening stimuli induce an overwhelming response in ASC. Therapeutic strategies where train the shift attention to emotional stimuli (i.e. faces) may improve ASC symptomatology and their socials functioning.

Difusión de la hipnosis en prensa online escrita en español / Dissemination of hypnosis in the online press written in Spanish

Las creencias y expectativas sobre hipnosis de pacientes/clientes y de profesionales cualificados influyen en la decisión de usar este procedimiento, así́ como en sus efectos. Por otro lado, en Internet hay mucha información sobre hipnosis, que configura la opinión del público y de los profesionales. Por ello, el objetivo de este estudio es analizar la calidad de la información difundida por la prensa online no especializada. Se han analizado 334 (de 2011 a 2012) y 200 artículos (de 2018 a 2019) publicados en español en prensa online no especializada. Los resultados muestran que, aunque un elevado número de artículos desmitifica la hipnosis, muchos de ellos difunden mitos al mismo tiempo. El mayor porcentaje de artículos que desmitifican la hipnosis está asociado al tema “Ciencia y Cultura”. Los resultados indican que los mitos están ampliamente presentes en la cultura popular y se mantienen con el apoyo de su continua difusión en los artículos de prensa online. Esto reafirma la importancia de fomentar la difusión de evidencia científica disponible sobre la investigación aplicada y básica sobre hipnosis. (AU)

The patients/clients and the skilled professionals’ beliefs and expectations about hypnosis, influence the decision to use this procedure as well as its effects. On the other hand, in the Internet there is plenty of information about hypnosis, which shapes opinions of public and professionals. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze the quality of the information disseminated by non-specialized online press. 334 articles (from 2011 to 2012) and 200 articles (from 2018-2019) written in Spanish and published online in non-specialized publications press have been analyzed. Results show that, although a high number of articles demystify hypnosis, many of them disseminate myths as well. The highest percentage ofarticles that demystify hypnosis is associated with the press topic “Science and Culture”. Results indicate that myths are broadly present in the popular culture and are maintained with the support of their ongoing dissemination in the newspapers online articles. This supports the importance of fostering the dissemination of scientific available evidence about applied and basic research on hypnosis. (AU)

Estudio cualitativo de las conductas de salud en la primera adolescencia / Qualitative study of health behaviours in the first adolescence

El objetivo del presente estudio de casos, de corte cualitativo, es múltiple: (1) conocer qué piensan los jóvenes al principio de la adolescencia respecto a las conductas asociadas a la salud; (2) explorar si realizan estas conductas; (3) averiguar cuáles son los motivos para llevarlas a cabo, y (4) detectar sus predicciones de futuro respecto a las mismas. Para tratar estos temas, ocho chicos y ocho chicas de entre 11 y 12 años de edad participaron en dos grupos de discusión, uno de chicos y otro de chicas, durante sesiones de una hora. Una vez analizadas las transcripciones por parte de tres investigadores, y codificadas utilizando el programa informático Nudist Vivo, versión 2.0.163, los resultados informaron que los principales temas identificados fueron las conductas de salud "clásicas", los contextos en los que realizaban las conductas, y el patrón conductual relacionado con la salud. Las interrelaciones entre estos tres temas indicaron diferencias por género, tanto en las opiniones sobre lo que significa estar sano, como en sus conductas presentes y sus predicciones conductuales para el futuro.

The goal of the current qualitative case study is multiple: (1) to know what young people thought at the beginning of adolescence with regard to health related behaviours; (2) to explore if they followed these behaviours; (3) to find out what their motives were for following them; and (4) to detect their future predictions with regard to those behaviours. Eight boys and eight girls between the ages of 11 and 12 years-old participated in two discussion groups (one for boys and one for girls). Each session lasted one hour. The transcriptions of these discussions were analyzed by three researchers and were codified using the computer programme, Nudist Vivo, version 2.0.163. The main topics identified were the "classical" health behaviours, the contexts where the behaviours took place, and the health-related behavioural patterns. The relationships among these three topics indicated that there were differences between girls and boys, specifically on what it meant to be healthy, their current behaviours, and their predicted future behaviours.

Testing direct and indirect effects of sports participation on perceived health in Spanish adolescents between 15 and 18 years of age.

This paper examines the direct and indirect effects of sports participation on perceived health. It is based on a representative sample of middle adolescents aged 15-18 (N=1038, M age=16.31, S.D.=0.92; 510 boys and 528 girls) from the Valencian Community (Spain). This study used two different models; Model A is an adaptation of Thorlindsson, Vilhjalmsson and Valgeirsson's (Social Science and Medicine 31 (1990) 551) model which introduces smoking, alcohol use, feelings of anxiety, feelings of depression and psychophysiological symptoms as mediator variables; Model B is an extension of Model A with perceived physical fitness as an added mediator variable. Both models show a good fit to the data. Results showed that, in both models, sports participation affected perceived health directly and indirectly by decreasing smoking and alcohol consumption, feelings of depression and psychophysiological symptoms. In Model B, sport also affected perceived health via increased perceived physical fitness explaining almost 10% more of the variance.

Propiedades psicométricas de la escala de satisfacción con la vida en adolescentes / Psychometric propierties of the satisfaction with life scale in adolescents

Este trabajo analiza las propiedades psicométricas de la versión en Castellano de la Escala de Satisfacción con la Vida (SWLS) en una muestra de 697 adolescentes de la Comunidad Valenciana. El análisis factorial exploratorio mostró una estructura monofactorial que explicó el 53,7 por ciento de la varianza, con elevados pesos factoriales de sus ítems. El análisis de la fiabilidad de la escala señaló que la versión española posee una buena consistencia interna. Por último, la versión española del SWLS mantuvo relaciones significativas y en el sentido previsto con las variables de satisfacción en el ámbito escolar, sentimientos de felicidad y sentimientos de soledad, indicando una validez convergente adecuada (AU)

This study analyzed the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). The subjects in the study were 697 adolescents from the Valencian Community. The exploratory factor analysis showed a single-factor solution accounting for 53.7% of the variance, with a high factor loading of the items. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the model fit was acceptable. The reliability analysis showed good internal consistency. The SWLS maintained a significant relationship in expected accordance with classroom satisfaction, feelings of happiness and of loneliness, which showed evidence of construct validity (AU)