Validation of Dating Violence Questionnarie-R (DVQ-R)

Background/Objective

Despite the growing interest in the study of dating violence, relatively few psychometrically sound instruments are available to researchers. To provide an instrument to researchers and professionals to assess victimization in dating relationships, with adequate psychometric properties. Method: Participants were 6,138 adolescents drawn from the general population, 25% of which were university students. Participants responded to the original Dating Violence Questionnaire (DVQ). Results: Confirmatory analyses results provided evidence of a clear factorial structure that was invariant through sex groups. The DVQ-R measures with 20 items five dimensions of abuse in affective interpersonal relationships of adolescents and youth: Detachment, Humiliation, Coercion, Physical and Sexual violence. Internal consistency indexes were adequate for both each one of the five dimensions as well as for the general scale. Conclusions: The DVQ-R is an useful assessment to be applied in adolescents and youth. Implications for research and intervention are discussed in light of the results obtained.     

Improving executive function using transcranial infrared laser stimulation

Transcranial infrared laser stimulation is a new non‐invasive form of low‐level light therapy that may have a wide range of neuropsychological applications. It entails using low‐power and high‐energy‐density infrared light from lasers to increase metabolic energy. Preclinical work showed that this intervention can increase cortical metabolic energy, thereby improving frontal cortex‐based memory function in rats. Barrett and Gonzalez‐Lima (2013, Neuroscience, 230, 13) discovered that transcranial laser stimulation can enhance sustained attention and short‐term memory in humans. We extend this line of work to executive function. Specifically, we ask whether transcranial laser stimulation enhances performance in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task that is considered the gold standard of executive function and is compromised in normal ageing and a number of neuropsychological disorders. We used a laser of a specific wavelength (1,064 nm) that photostimulates cytochrome oxidase – the enzyme catalysing oxygen consumption for metabolic energy production. Increased cytochrome oxidase activity is considered the primary mechanism of action of this intervention. Participants who received laser treatment made fewer errors and showed improved set‐shifting ability relative to placebo controls. These results suggest that transcranial laser stimulation improves executive function and may have exciting potential for treating or preventing deficits resulting from neuropsychological disorders or normal ageing.     

ICTs and Family Functioning: A Study on Portuguese Families with Adolescents and Emerging Adults

Nowadays, information and communication technologies (ICTs) represent an integral part of contemporary family life, introducing changes in families’ functioning. Positive, negative, and mixed aspects of this influence were identified. The present study intends to understand the relationship between ICTs and family functioning among participants from two different family life cycle stages. A total of 157 Portuguese families (307 participants from 97 families with emerging adult children and 169 from 60 families with adolescents) completed measures about the use of ICTs (an adaptation of SEFT/ETEF©) and family functioning (SCORE-15). The number of ICTs and problems related to their use were higher in families with adolescent children. The use of a higher number of ICTs was related to a better level of family functioning in both family groups. However, according to the multiple regression model, the problematic situations related to ICTs use only seem to predict a worse level of family functioning in families with adolescent children. Also, parents and children of each group differed in the number of ICTs used. Some limitations, implications for family therapy, and future research directions are discussed.     

Static images with different induced intensities of human body movements affect subjective time

Modulation of subjective time was examined using static images eliciting perceptions of different intensities of body movement. Undergraduate students were exposed to photographs of dancer sculptures in different dance positions for 36 sec. and asked to estimate the exposure duration. Lower movement intensities were related to shorter estimated durations. Mean durations for images of unmoving dancers were underestimated and for dancers taking a ballet step were overestimated. Temporal estimations were also related to the order of presentation of the stimuli, which suggested that subjective time estimations were influenced by the experimental context. Subjective time is related not only to the visual perception of moving images, but also of elicited perceptions of movement in static images, suggesting an embodiment effect on subjective time estimation.     

Impact of Economic Hardship and Financial Threat on Suicide Ideation and Confusion

The present study tested the extent to which perceived economic hardship is associated with psychological distress (suicide ideation and confusion) after controlling for personal characteristics. It also explored whether perceived financial threat (i.e., fearful anxious-uncertainty about the stability and security of one's personal financial situation) mediates the relationship between economic hardship and psychological distress outcomes. The theoretical model was tested in a sample of Canadian students (n = 211) and was validated in a community sample of employed Portuguese adults (n = 161). In both samples, the fit of the model was good. Parameter estimates indicated that greater experience of economic hardship increased with financial threat, which in turn increased with levels of suicide ideation and confusion. We discuss the practical implications of these results, such as for programs aimed at alleviating the burden of financial hardship, in our concluding remarks.     

Perception of the teaching-learning process and academic achievement in diverse instructional contexts of Higher Education

In Higher Education, performance and Teaching-Learning (T-L) contexts are highly current concerns. Based on the DEDEPRO model, interdependence can be established between instructional contexts and levels of performance as they relate to the T-L process. Partitipants were 2020 pupils from two Spanish universities. Measurements of both variables were used in a quasi-experimental and correlational design. The univariate and causal analyses showed the effect of context on the T-L process and on performance; thus, the interdependent relationships between the latter and perception of the T-L process. Partial interaction effects also appeared, as well as a causal model of academic performance. Results are discussed and implications for the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) are analyzed.     

The nature of expertise in fingerprint examiners

Latent print examinations involve a complex set of psychological and cognitive processes. This article summarizes existing work that has addressed how training and experience creates changes in latent print examiners. Experience appears to improve overall accuracy, increase visual working memory, and lead to configural processing of upright fingerprints. Experts also demonstrate a narrower visual filter and, as a group, tend to show greater consistency when viewing ink prints. These findings address recent criticisms of latent print evidence, but many open questions still exist. Cognitive scientists are well positioned to conduct studies that will improve the training and practices of latent print examiners, and suggestions for becoming involved in fingerprint research are provided.     

Memory span and general intelligence: A latent-variable approach

There are several studies showing that working memory and intelligence are strongly related. However, working memory tasks require simultaneous processing and storage, so the causes of their relationship with intelligence are currently a matter of discussion. The present study examined the simultaneous relationships among short-term memory (STM), working memory (WM), and general intelligence (g). Two hundred and eight participants performed six verbal, quantitative, and spatial STM tasks, six verbal, quantitative, and spatial WM tasks, and eight tests measuring fluid, crystallized, spatial, and quantitative intelligence. Especial care is taken to avoid misrepresenting the relations among the constructs being studied because of specific task variance. Structural equation modelling (SEM) results revealed that (a) WM and g are (almost) isomorphic constructs, (b) the isomorphism vanishes when the storage component of WM is partialed out, and (c) STM and WM (with its storage component partialed out) predict g.