Time experience during social distancing: A longitudinal study during the first months of COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

Social distancing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic brought several modifications in our daily lives. With these changes, some people have reported alterations in their feelings of how fast time was passing. In this study, we assessed whether and how social distancing and the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced participants' time awareness and production of time intervals. Participants (n = 3855) filled in the first questionnaire approximately 60 days after the start of social distancing in Brazil and weekly questionnaires for 15 weeks during social distancing. Our results indicate that time was perceived as expanded at the beginning, but this feeling decreased across the weeks. Time awareness was strongly associated with psychological factors such as loneliness, stress, and positive emotions, but not with time production. This relation was shown between participants and within their longitudinal reports. Together, our findings show how emotions are a crucial aspect of how time is felt.

Differences in brain activity between fast and slow responses on psychomotor vigilance task: an fNIRS study.

Attention is a basic human function underlying every other cognitive process. It is demonstrated in the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging literature that frontoparietal networks are involved with attentive performance while default mode networks are involved with inattentive performance. Yet, it is still not clear whether similar results would be found with functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. The goal of our study was to investigate differences in hemodynamic activity measured by functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy between fast and slow responses on a simple sustained attention task both before and after stimulus onset. Thirty healthy adults took part in the study. Our results have shown differences between fast and slow responses only on channels over medial frontal cortex and inferior parietal cortex (p < 0,05). These differences were observed both before and after stimulus presentation. It is discussed that functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy is a good tool to investigate the frontoparietal network and its relationship with performance in attention tasks; it could be used to further investigate other approaches on attention, such as the dual network model of cognitive control and brain states views based on complex systems analysis; and finally, it could be used to investigate attention in naturalistic settings.

Equivalence relations do exist before they are tested: Confirmatory evidence revealed by EEG measurements.

We examined equivalence-based N400 effects by comparing EEG data from participants with different experiences with equivalence testing. Before a priming task used in EEG measurement, Group 1 was given only matching-to-sample training trials whereas Group 2 was exposed to matching-to-sample training and equivalence probe trials. We asked whether exposure to the reinforcement contingency was sufficient to bring about an N400 outcome that might indicate potentially emergent equivalence relations or if such a response depended on experience with equivalence tests. Results showed robust N400 in both groups. Experience with equivalence tests did not further increase the N400 effects. Our findings add confirmatory evidence that equivalence relations may originate via the reinforcement contingency alone. Furthermore, complementary EEG data collected from priming tasks involving words from natural language showed functional overlap between laboratory-defined equivalence and natural word-based N400 effects.

Embodied concepts, allostasis, and the origin of emotions.

Here we advance the proposal that in addition to the importance of emotion words, the dynamics of allostatic regulation play a central role in emotion concept development. We argue for a comprehensive extension of constructed emotion theory to emotional development. To do so, we emphasize possible mechanisms for emotion concept differentiation that may occur before linguistic and semantic skills necessary for constructing and using abstract concepts are sufficiently developed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Evidences of validity and reliability of the Luria-Nebraska Test for Children

Abstract This paper aimed to verify evidences of validity and reliability of Luria-Nebraska Test for Children (TLN-C, in Portuguese). Three hundred eighty-seven students aged 6­13 years old, with learning difficulties, comprised the study. They were assessed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III) and TLN-C; and effect of age differences, as well as accuracy rating by internal consistency were investigated. Age effects were found for all subtests and in the general score, except for receptive speech subtest, even when total IQ effect was controlled. Reliability analysis had satisfactory results (0.79). The TLN-C showed evidences of validity and reliability. Receptive speech subtest requires revision. (AU)

Evidências de Validade do Teste Luria-Nebraska para Crianças: Relações com Escolaridade e Inteligência / Validity Evidences of Luria-Nebraska Test for Children: Relations with Education and Intelligence

RESUMO O presente estudo buscou evidências de validade do Teste Luria-Nebraska para Crianças (TLN-C) em sua relação com escolaridade e inteligência. Participaram 120 crianças com dificuldades escolares (2ª ao 6ª ano), avaliadas com o TLN-C e a Escala de Inteligência Wechsler para Crianças - Terceira Revisão. Os resultados evidenciaram influência da escolaridade e desempenho intelectual no escore total do TLN-C e nos subtestes Ritmo, Habilidade Motora, Habilidade Visual, Escrita, Leitura, Raciocínio Matemático e Memória Imediata. Tais resultados permitiram diferenciar o desempenho das crianças no 2º e 3º ano daquele de crianças em outros anos escolares, e o desempenho de crianças com nível intelectualmente deficiente daquele de crianças com outros níveis intelectuais.Houve correlações positivas e significativas entre os escores do TLN-C e o quociente de inteligência total da WISC. O instrumento mostrou-se adequado para diferenciar o desempenho por escolaridade e inteligência.

ABSTRACT This study sought evidences of validity of the Luria-Nebraska Test for Children (TLN-C) in its relation to education and intelligence. The participants were 120 children with learning difficulties (2st to 6th grades) assessed with the TLN-C and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Revision. Results showed influence of education and intellectual performance on the TLN-C total score and Rhythm, Visual Skill, Motor Skill, Writing, Reading, Mathematical Reasoning and Immediate Memory subtests. The results allowed to differentiate between performance of children of the 2nd and 3rd grades from that of children from others school years, and the performance of intellectually disabled children from that of children with other intellectual levels. Positive and significant correlations were obtained between TLN-C scores and the WISC total score of intelligence. The instrument was adequate for differentiating performance by education and intelligence..