Bio/neurofeedback

ResumenLas técnicas de biofeedback (BF) desarrolladas desde los años 60 por la psicología tienen ya una larga historia, en la que han demostrado su utilidad y eficacia terapéutica en una considerable variedad de trastornos clínicos: neurológicos, neuromusculares, cardiovasculares, gastrointestinales, dolores crónicos, problemas dermatológicos, de sueño, respiratorios, trastornos traumáticos y de estrés, entre muchos otros. Entre las aplicaciones prácticas del BF destaca de modo especial el biofeedback electroencefalográfico (BF-EEG), denominado neurofeedback (NF), cuya importancia y aplicaciones clínicas ha crecido y continua creciendo aceleradamente gracias al importante desarrollo acaecido en los campos de la neurociencia y la informática sobre los que se sustenta el NF. El trabajo presentado describe y analiza de forma práctica el proceso y la técnica del BF y del NF, además de sus fundamentos metodológicos, pero, sobre todo, examina desde un punto de vista crítico las principales aplicaciones clínicas de las mismas junto al nivel de utilidad y eficacia terapéutica alcanzado en la actualidad.AbstractBiofeedback (BF) techniques were developed by psychology in the 1960s having then a long history in which they have proved their usefulness and therapeutic efficacy in a considerable variety of clinical disorders: neurologic, neuromuscular, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, chronic pain, dermatological, sleep, respiratory, trauma and stress, among many other disorders. Practical applications of the BF include in particular Electroencephalographic Biofeedback (BF-EEG), known as Neurofeedback (NF), whose importance and clinical applications have grown and continue to grow rapidly thanks to the significant development in the fields of neuroscience and computer science on which NF rests. This paper describes and analyzes the technique and process of BF and NF, apart from their methodological foundations but, above all, from a critical point of view, the paper examines their main clinical applications together with the level of utility and therapeutic effectiveness currently achieved

Influence of heuristics and framing factors on speculating and investment behavior: Evidence from individual traders in the Saudi stock market / Ibrahim Tawfeeq Alsedrah

Traditional finance (TF) assumes that people are rational. However, TF ignores the fact that people are human; their decisions, and subsequently, their behaviors, are influenced by emotions and psychology, especially when trading in the stock market. Therefore, Behavioral Finance (BF) has arisen to compliment TF. BF is a relatively new field that applies psychology to financial decisions and subsequently examines its effects on stock prices and the market. Most BF studies are conducted in developed markets, which are dominated by institutional investors. Most of these studies have used the experimental approach, and a few have used observation of trading accounts. However, there remains a lack of quantitative studies using surveys, especially in frontier markets like the Saudi Stock Market (SSM). The SSM is dominated by individuals who control around 90% of the market value. The market has witnessed stock mispricing, market inefficiency and sharp corrections, which have negatively affected individuals’ investments. Irrational behavior on the part of individuals is suspected to be the root of this problem. While many studies that have been published examine rationality in decision making in emerging and developed markets, little is known about the behavior of individuals in the Saudi stock market. In response to these issues, this research aims to determine the degree of heuristics and framing factors exhibited by individuals and to propose a theoretical model that explains the influence of heuristics and framing factors on individual speculating and investment buying behavior simultaneously. It then aims to quantify how much speculation and investment behavior is due to the influence of heuristics and framing factors

Cancer-related masculinity threat in young adults with testicular cancer: the moderating role of benefit finding.

Background and Objectives: Perceiving benefit from a health-related stressor such as cancer has been associated with better psychological adjustment in various cancer populations; however, it has not been studied in the context of young adulthood or gender-related cancer threat. This study investigated the role of benefit finding in psychological adjustment among young adults with testicular cancer, and whether BF moderates cancer-related masculine threat.Design: This study utilizes a cross-sectional design with a diverse sample of young adult testicular cancer survivors.Methods: Men with a history of testicular cancer (N = 171; M age = 25.2, SD = 3.32) completed questionnaires of benefit finding, cancer-related masculine threat, and indicators of psychological adjustment.Results: Multiple regression analysis revealed that cancer-related masculine threat was associated with worse adjustment across indicators and that benefit finding was related to higher positive affect and lower depressive symptoms. Benefit finding attenuated the potentially adverse effect of cancer-related masculine threat on negative affect and depressive symptoms such that cancer-related masculine threat demonstrated a stronger association with negative affect and depressive symptoms for people with relatively low BF.Conclusions: For young adult men with testicular cancer, finding benefit appears to promote well-being in the face of masculine cancer threat

Busting a myth with the Bayes Factor: Effects of letter bigram frequency in visual lexical decision do not reflect reading processes

Psycholinguistic researchers identify linguistic variables and assess if they affect cognitive processes. One such variable is letter bigram frequency, or the frequency with which a given letter pair co-occurs in an orthography. While early studies reported that bigram frequency affects visual lexical decision, subsequent, well-controlled studies not shown this effect. Still, researchers continue to use it as a control variable in psycholinguistic experiments. We propose two reasons for the persistence of this variable: (1) Reporting no significant effect of bigram frequency cannot provide evidence for no effect. (2) Despite empirical work, theoretical implications of bigram frequency are largely neglected. We perform Bayes Factor analyses to address the first issue. In analyses of existing large-scale databases, we find no effect of bigram frequency in lexical decision in the British Lexicon Project, and some evidence for an inhibitory effect in the English Lexicon Project. We find strong evidence for an effect in reading aloud. This suggests that, for lexical decision, the effect is unstable, and may depend on item characteristics and task demands rather than reflecting cognitive processes underlying visual word recognition. We call for more consideration of theoretical implications of the presence or absence of a bigram frequency effect

Why do we need to employ Bayesian statistics and how can we employ it in studies of moral education?: With practical guidelines to use JASP for educators and researchers

ABSTRACTIn this article, we discuss the benefits of Bayesian statistics and how to utilize them in studies of moral education. To demonstrate concrete examples of the applications of Bayesian statistics to studies of moral education, we reanalyzed two data sets previously collected: one small data set collected from a moral educational intervention experiment, and one big data set from a large-scale Defining Issues Test-2 survey. The results suggest that Bayesian analysis of data sets collected from moral educational studies can provide additional useful statistical information, particularly that associated with the strength of evidence supporting alternative hypotheses, which has not been provided by the classical frequentist approach focusing on P-values. Finally, we introduce several practical guidelines pertaining to how to utilize Bayesian statistics, including the utilization of newly developed free statistical software, Jeffrey’s Amazing Statistics Program, and thresholding based on Bayes Factors, to scholars in the field of moral education

Spatial and verbal routes to number comparison in young children

The ability to compare the numerical magnitude of symbolic numbers represents a milestone in the development of numerical skills. However, it remains unclear how basic numerical abilities contribute to the understanding of symbolic magnitude and whether the impact of these abilities may vary when symbolic numbers are presented as number words (e.g., \u201csix vs. eight\u201d) vs. Arabic numbers (e.g., 6 vs. 8). In the present study on preschool children, we show that comparison of number words is related to cardinality knowledge whereas the comparison of Arabic digits is related to both cardinality knowledge and the ability to spatially map numbers. We conclude that comparison of symbolic numbers in preschool children relies on multiple numerical skills and representations, which can be differentially weighted depending on the presentation format. In particular, the spatial arrangement of digits on the number line seems to scaffold the development of a \u201cspatial route\u201d to understanding the exact magnitude of numerals