Acessibilidade / Reportar erro
Psychology & Neuroscience, Volume: 5, Número: 1, Publicado: 2012
  • Psychology & Neuroscience is well-ranked by the Brazilian Qualis Psychology Committee Editorial

    Landeira-Fernandez, J.; Cruz, A. Pedro de Mello; Ventura, Dora Fix
  • Early malnutrition decreases contrast sensitivity to circular concentric gratings

    Alencar, Caroline C. G.; Santos, Natanael A. dos

    Resumo em Inglês:

    Early malnutrition refers to inadequate nutrition during the critical period of nervous system development followed by nutritional recovery, resulting in a short stature according to age but normal weight according to short stature. We measured the effects of early malnutrition on contrast sensitivity (CS) to concentric circular gratings in 18 children of both sexes, aged 8 to 11 years (mean = 9.2 years, standard deviation = .99 years). Nine of the children were eutrophic (E group), and nine experienced early malnutrition (EM group) based on state healthcare records and Waterlow's anthropometric parameters. Contrast sensitivity to four spatial frequencies (.25, 1.0, 2.0, and 8.0 cycles per degree [cpd]) was measured using a temporal two-alternative forced-choice psychophysical method with mean luminance of 40.1 cd/m². Statistical analyses showed significant differences between groups and a group × frequency interaction. EM group was significantly less sensitive than the E group to the 8.0 cpd frequency and needed 1.49-times more contrast to detect the gratings. These results suggest that early malnutrition impairs CS to high-spatial-frequency concentric circular gratings in children. Therefore, early malnutrition, which is known to affect primary visual cortical areas, may also affect higher visual cortical areas such as V4 and the inferotemporal cortex.
  • Pain in preterm infants: effects of sex, gestational age, and neonatal illness severity

    Valeri, Beatriz Oliveira; Linhares, Maria Beatriz Martins

    Resumo em Inglês:

    Neonates hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit are exposed to many painful and stressful procedures. Biobehavioral pain reactivity in preterm infants during the neonatal period may reflect the capacity of the central nervous system to regulate arousal and neurobiological organization. We review empirical studies on the effects of sex, gestational age, and neonatal illness severity on pain reactivity in children born preterm. A literature search was conducted using PubMed, Institute of Scientific Information Web of Science, PsycINFO, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature, and Scientific Electronic Library Online databases. Additionally, a special search was performed in online journals that publish pain studies including Pain, Early Human Development, European Journal of Pain, and Pain Management Nursing. The literature search covered the period from 2004 to 2009. Data were extracted according to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of the 18 studies reviewed, 16 analyzed gestational age, 13 examined neonatal illness severity, and eight focused on sex. Most of the studies analyzed more than one of these three variables. The majority of the studies found effects of gestational age (n = 14) and neonatal illness severity (n = 11) on pain responses. Only two studies found an influence of sex on infant pain responses. In conclusion, gestational age and neonatal illness severity influence pain responses in infants born preterm. Further studies should be conducted to examine the influence of sex on pain responses.
  • Healthy maternal bonding as a resilience factor for depressive disorder

    Miranda, Agnes M.; Soares, Claudio N.; Moraes, Maira L.; Fossaluza, Victor; Serafim, Paula M.; Mello, Marcelo F.

    Resumo em Inglês:

    INTRODUCTION: Depressive disorders (DDs) are very prevalent disorders particularly in women, a high-risk gender group. Determining the risk and protective factors associated with the development of DDs is fundamental to planning preventive and therapeutic strategies. In this study, we evaluated the correlations between healthy maternal attachment and the development of DDs in adulthood. METHODS: We evaluated 52 women at 6 months to 1 year after premature childbirth at Maternidade Vila Nova Cachoeirinha. They were evaluated using the following instruments: Brazilian Criteria of Economic Classification,Parental Bonding Inventory (PBI),Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Cut-off scores on the CES-D and EPDS were used to classifythe subjects as currently having a DD or having probable postpartum disorder (PPD) after childbirth. Multiple logistic regression was used to evaluate the risk factors associated with DDs. RESULTS: We found that 49.1% of the sample had a current depressive episode, and 73.6% had probable PPD. Based on logistic regression, current depression (odds ratio = 1.092 [confidence interval: 1.005; 1.186]), and a PPD (odds ratio = 1.108 [confidence interval: 1.011; 1.21]) were negatively correlated with affective maternal relationships. CONCLUSIONS: Women who reported healthy attachment with their mothers did not develop DDs when faced with stressful situations such as premature childbirth.
  • Sitting and silent meditation as a strategy to study emotion regulation

    Menezes, Carolina B.; Pereira, Mirtes G.; Bizarro, Lisiane

    Resumo em Inglês:

    Emotion regulation is the capacity to control the way in which people attend, perceive, process and react to emotional information. Practitioners of sitting and silent meditation develop a greater control of their mental processes, culminating in regulatory abilities that lead to well-being and emotional balance. In this paper we reviewed evidence from recent studies on neurophysiology and cognitive psychology on emotion regulation-focusing on negative emotions-and meditation in order to discuss their intertwining. This critical review showed that controlling attention and fostering a relaxation state are the main mechanisms for the interaction between emotion regulation and meditation. Importantly, it is suggested that the effects of meditation on emotion regulation should be conceptualized separately as those taking effect during the practice and those occurring as an outcome of such practice. Finally, it is highlighted that meditation should be conceived as a particular type of emotion regulation strategy, and that further studies comparing these strategies more directly are warranted.
  • Explaining school mathematics performance from symbolic and nonsymbolic magnitude processing: similarities and differences between typical and low-achieving children

    Ferreira, Fernanda de Oliveira; Wood, Guilherme; Pinheiro-Chagas, Pedro; Lonnemann, Jan; Krinzinger, Helga; Willmes, Klaus; Haase, Vitor Geraldi

    Resumo em Inglês:

    Magnitude processing is one of the most central cognitive mechanisms that underlie persistent mathematics difficulties. No consensus has yet been reached about whether these difficulties can be predominantly attributed to deficits in symbolic or nonsymbolic magnitude processing. To investigate this issue, we assessed symbolic and nonsymbolic magnitude representations in children with low or typical achievement in school mathematics. Response latencies and the distance effect were comparable between groups in both symbolic and nonsymbolic tasks. The results indicated that both typical and low achievers were able to access magnitude representation via symbolic and nonsymbolic processing. However, low achievers presented higher error rates than typical achievers, especially in the nonsymbolic task. Furthermore, measures of nonsymbolic magnitude explained individual differences in school mathematics better than measures of symbolic magnitude when considering all of the children together. When examining the groups separately, symbolic magnitude representation explained differences in school mathematics in low achievers but not in typical achievers. These results suggest that symbolic magnitude is more relevant to solving arithmetic problems when mathematics achievement is particularly low. In contrast, individual differences in nonsymbolic processing appear to be related to mathematics achievement in a more general manner.
  • Neuropsychological assessment of a preteen with conduct disorder

    Acosta, María Rocío; Triana, Juliana; Chipatecua, Alexandra Gaitán; Fonseca, Luisa; Alonso, Diana

    Resumo em Inglês:

    The main objective of this article was to describe the neuropsychological performance of a preteen diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV). An average level of intelligence but poor attention, memory, and language performance and executive function were found during the neuropsychological assessment. We also found significant detriments at the behavioral level that corresponded to the DSM-IV diagnosis. These results are consistent with studies of patients with frontal lobe dysfunction in which females with conduct disorder present a neuropsychological profile with greater compromises in cognitive processes. Consequently, the present text highlights the importance of obtaining a greater empirical and theoretical background for diagnosis and early intervention to reduce the social consequences of female criminality.
  • The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test: normative data for the Arabic-speaking population and analysis of the differential influence of demographic variables

    Poreh, Amir; Sultan, Alya; Levin, Jennifer

    Resumo em Inglês:

    The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) is the one of the most widely used neuropsychological tests of verbal memory.It has been translated into numerous languages including Spanish, German, Arabic, Hebrew, Czech, Portuguese, and English. The present study examined the hypothesis that the learning of word lists forms an algorithmic pattern across all cultures. To this end, a sample of 200 Arabic-speaking Omani adults between the ages of 18 and 50 years was collected. The resulting norms were then compared withexisting American and Brazilian samples. The study confirmed that the first trial on the RAVLT correlates with demographic variables, whereas the learning slope on subsequent trials is almost identical across all cultures. Based on the above finding, the slope of the verbal learning test is hypothesized to measure a psychophysiological process linked with the hippocampal formation and allows for the laying down of new memories. In contrast, the first trial of the test is amenable to more cultural, demographic, and environmental factors.
  • Executive demands of the Tower of London task in Brazilian teenagers

    Dias, Natália Martins; Seabra, Alessandra Gotuzo

    Resumo em Inglês:

    Some executive tasks may require diverse abilities to solve, having implications for the comprehension of an individual's performance. This study investigated the processes involved in the resolution of a complex test of executive function (EF): the Tower of London (ToL) task. One hundred twenty-four healthy teenagers, 11-14 years old (M = 12.5, SD = 1.14) participated in the study. They were tested using the Auditory Working Memory Test, Visual Working Memory Test, Computerized Stroop Test, Semantic Generation Test, Cancellation Attention Test, and Trail Making Test B, in addition to the ToL. Multivariate analysis showed significant effects of age on visual and auditory working memory, interference control, and planning, with a marginal effect on selective attention. A gender effect was found only on visual working memory where boys scored higher than girls. Significant correlations were found between EF measures despite their low and moderate magnitudes. Performance on the ToL task was correlated with some executive ability measures. The most difficult problems that required four and five moves were more correlated with EF measures than the easier problems that required two and three moves. Regression analyses revealed that only auditory working memory integrated the ToL explanation model after controlling for age. However, the explained variability was very modest, suggesting that other abilities not analyzed in this study may participate in the ToL solution. In conclusion, this investigation highlighted the modest role of auditory working memory in ToL scores in a sample of teenagers.
  • Semantic word association: comparative data for Brazilian children and adults

    Zortea, Maxciel; Salles, Jerusa Fumagalli de

    Resumo em Inglês:

    The construction of associated word lists is important for the elaboration of psychological and neuropsychological tasks and experiments. It remains unknown whether differences exist in the semantic associations of words from childhood to adulthood, possibly indicating important lexico-semantic developmental changes that influence neuropsychological assessment. The present study compared semantic word associations in children and adults in terms of forward associative strength and set size. The participants included 247 children from the third grade of elementary school, aged 7 to 11 years (M = 9.17 years, SD = 0.83 years), and 108 adults, aged 16 to 49 years (M = 22.17 years, SD = 6.04 years) from the study of Salles et al. (2008). The task consisted of the participants responding to the first word that came to mind (associate) with a meaning related to each of 87 words presented aloud (target). The children's responses had significantly higher forward associative strength between the target and most frequent associate word and a smaller response diversity index. Although the meaning and total set size did not significantly differ between groups, 40.2% of the targets had a large meaning set size in the children compared with only 10.3% in the adults. Among the most strongly associated pairs, 56.3% were equal between the sample groups. These results suggest that the selection of stimuli for the construction of verbal cognitive tasks should consider specific word association norms for different ages.
  • Restricted stimulus control in stimulus control shaping with a capuchin monkey

    Brino, Ana Leda de Faria; Galvão, Olavo de Faria; Barros, Romariz da Silva; Goulart, Paulo Roney Kilpp; McIlvane, William J.

    Resumo em Inglês:

    Teaching the first instances of arbitrary matching-to-sample to nonhumans can prove difficult and time consuming. Stimulus control relations may develop that differ from those intended by the experimenter-even when stimulus control shaping procedures are used. We present, in this study, efforts to identify sources of shaping program failure with a capuchin monkey. Procedures began with a baseline of identity matching. During subsequent shaping trials, compound comparison stimuli had two components-one identical to and another different from the sample. The identical component was eliminated gradually by removing portions across trials (i.e., subtracting stimulus elements). The monkey performed accurately throughout shaping. At a late stage in the program, probe tests were conducted: (1) arbitrary matching trials that had all elements of the identical comparison removed and (2) other trials that included residual elements. During the test, the monkey performed at low levels on the former trials and higher levels on the latter. These results suggested that higher accuracy was due merely to continued control by the residual elements: the target arbitrary matching relations had not been learned. Thus, it appears that procedures that gradually transform identity matching baselines into arbitrary matching can fail by inadvertently shaping restricted control by residual elements. Subsequent probes at the end of the shaping series showed a successful transfer of stimulus control from identity to arbitrary matching after further programming steps apparently overcame the restricted stimulus control.
  • Fixed-interval pause duration in chained fixed-ratio, fixed-interval schedules

    Todorov, João Claudio; Carvalho, Lucas Couto de; Couto, Kalliu Carvalho; Cruz, Gleidson Gabriel da; Cunha, Claudia Octavia Ribeiro da

    Resumo em Inglês:

    Ten rats were submitted to chained fixed-ratio (FR), fixed-interval (FI) schedules of reinforcement. A FR schedule at one lever produced a discriminative stimulus associated with a FI 60-s schedule of primary reinforcement (water) at the second response lever. In Experiment 1, the FI schedule was kept constant while the FR requirement was changed from one to seven responses under five different experimental conditions for five rats. Increases in the FR requirement resulted in increases in post-reinforcement pauses but also decreases in pauses in the FI schedule. Using another five rats, Experiment 2 tested the hypothesis that short pauses in the FI schedule result from the use of the chained schedules procedure. Baseline was a FI 80-s schedule. In the second condition, chained FR 1 FI 80-s schedules were programmed. The third condition was a return to baseline. In baselines 1 and 2, the FI pause was compatible with the literature but decreased considerably when a chained schedule was used. The present results support the hypothesis that the time between primary reinforcement presentations dominates the control of FI pauses over control by the onset of a discriminative stimulus.
  • Discriminated conditioned suppression in rats

    Ribeiro, Thais Arantes; Huziwara, Edson Massayuki; Montagnoli, Tathianna Amorim Souza; Souza, Deisy das Graças de

    Resumo em Inglês:

    This experiment evaluated the effects of superimposing the Estes-Skinner Conditioned Emotional Response (CER) procedure on one of two components of a multiple schedule. The question was whether CER conditioning occurred under contextual control. The procedure had four experimental phases: (1) baseline of operant responding under a two-component multiple schedule (mult VI 30 VI 30), one component correlated with the house light on and the other correlated with the house light off (light/dark components), (2) introduction of tone-shock pairings during the light component only, (3) return to baseline contingencies, and (4) reintroduction of the tone (but not shock) in the light component. Three Wistar rats showed robust suppression of responding in the light component, and the suppression also partially generalized to the dark component. The suppression was stronger during the pre-aversive stimulus than during the intervals immediately before and after its presentation. Responding partially recovered under baseline contingencies, but response rates remained lower in the light component than in the dark component. Thus, under the present experimental conditions, the context in which CER conditioning occurred (i.e., the house light-illuminated chamber) also produced conditioned suppression, and contextual control of suppressed responding generalized to another context, one that shared some but not all elements of the first context (i.e., the same chamber not illuminated by a house light). These results have direct implications for our understanding of emotional conditioning produced in the laboratory and for analysis of related phenomena addressed in the clinic.
  • Cues to the usefulness of grooming behavior in the evaluation of anxiety in the elevated plus-maze

    Estanislau, Celio

    Resumo em Inglês:

    Grooming behavior has been reported to be a response to novelty and other stressors. However, studies that sought to identify anxiety-related measures in the elevated plus-maze have not found grooming as a reliable index. Grooming has been implied with dearousal after a stressful experience. In the present work, a detailed investigation of this behavior was performed in a test with a longer duration (i.e., 10 min) than the usual duration in the elevated plus-maze. The level of anxiety was manipulated prior to the test by confining male rats to environments known to differ in the degree of aversive stimulation, including a familiar cage, a closed arm of the elevated plus-maze, and an open arm (i.e., the most aversive arm) of the elevated plus-maze. Grooming behavior was classified into three constituent elements: rostral grooming, head grooming, and body grooming. The groups were compared with regard to conventional measures of the elevated plus-maze and grooming behavior. Prior confinement to an open arm led to a delayed effect of decreased open-arm exploration undetectable during the first half of the test compared with rats previously confined to a closed arm. Prior confinement to an open arm also increased the total duration of grooming during the second half of the test. These increases were found to be partially attributable to increases in the rostral element of grooming. The percentage of interrupted bouts was also found to discriminate the group previously confined to an open arm. These results indicate that prolongation of the session can reveal effects that are otherwise undetectable and that under such conditions some grooming measures can be useful in the evaluation of anxiety-like behavior.
  • Relationship between circulating testosterone and emotional behavior in rats

    Oyekunle, Olanrewaju Akinloye; Ibironke, Goke Francis; Opabunmi, Oluwole Adebayo

    Resumo em Inglês:

    The experiment was aimed at investigating the relationship between reduced circulating/endogenous testosterone occasioned by orchiectomy and emotional behavior using the open field test. Eighteen male Wistar rats were randomly selected and classified into two groups: orchiectomized and nonorchiectomized. Orchiectomy was carried out by simple sham surgery. After recovery from orchiectomy, plasma testosterone was determined in both groups after which each animal was observed in the open-field for neurobehavioral activities. The result showed a significant (p <0.05) reduction in plasma testosterone concentration as well as the frequencies of novelty-induced neurobehaviors scored in the open field arena in the orchiectomized group when compared with the nonorchiectomized group. Results indicated that a reduction in circulating testosterone exerts behavioral deficits in orchiectomized animals in the form of fear imposed by exposure to a novel environment resulting in fewer activities. This observation was confirmed by the presence of testosterone receptors in specific brain areas associated with behavioral modulation. We therefore conclude that circulating testosterone could be one of the endogenous mechanisms responsible for coping with fear induced by exposure to a novel environment.
  • Subchronic effects of fluoxetine on conditioned suppression produced by a hot air blast

    Nascimento, Gabriela Souza do; Monteiro, Patrícia Caroline Madeira; Gouveia Jr., Amauri; Carvalho Neto, Marcus Bentes de

    Resumo em Inglês:

    Conditioned suppression is an animal model of anxiety disorders that has been broadly used to investigate the behavioral effects of different drugs. However, various methodological variables (e.g., the type of aversive stimulus) that supposedly interfere with the acquisition of conditioned suppression may also contribute to conflicting results among the studied drugs. Additionally, few studies have sought to investigate the effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The present study investigated the effect of subchronic 5-day administration of 5 mg/kg fluoxetine in the retention of conditioned suppression produced by a hot air blast (HAB). The subjects were 12 albino Wistar rats distributed into an Experimental Group (EG) and Control Group (CG). After sessions were conducted to pair two stimuli, a sound and HAB, fluoxetine (EG) or saline (CG) was administered. Twenty-four hours after the last injection, a test session was conducted. The results showed no difference between groups. Fluoxetine (5 mg/kg) did not exert anxiolytic effects in this model of conditioned suppression produced by a HAB.
Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Universidade de Brasília, Universidade de São Paulo Rua Marques de São Vicente, 225, 22453-900 Rio de Janeiro/RJ Brasil, Tel.: (55 21) 3527-2109, Fax: (55 21) 3527-1187 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: psycneuro@psycneuro.org