Depression and identity : Are self-constructions negative or conflictual?

Negative self-views have proved to be a consistent marker of vulnerability for depression. However, recent research has shown that a particular kind of cognitive conflict, implicative dilemma, is highly prevalent in depression. In this study, the relevance of these conflicts is assessed as compared to the cognitive model of depression of a negative view of the self. In so doing, 161 patients with major depression and 110 controls were assessed to explore negative self-construing (self-ideal discrepancy) and conflicts (implicative dilemmas), as well as severity of symptoms. Results showed specificity for the clinical group indicating a pattern of mixed positive and negative self-descriptions with a high rate of conflict. Regression analysis lent support to the conflict hypothesis in relation to clinically relevant indicators such as symptom severity, global functioning. However, self-ideal discrepancy was a stronger predictor of group membership. The findings showed the relevance of cognitive conflicts to compliment the well-consolidated theory of negative self-views. Clinical implications for designing interventions are discussed.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Lie detection with neuroimaging techniques

Treball Final de Grau en Psicologia. Codi: PS1048. Curs: 2018/2019.In this review we have searched for information about the detection of lies through neuroimaging techniques in the literature of the last decade (2010-2019). These new techniques can be useful because they are able to explore the functioning of the brain while carrying out certain actions (in this case, lying) and this can be especially useful for the forensic field. For this reason, we have searched scientific articles in two well-known databases (PubMed and PsycNet), finally obtaining a selection of 42. The results point in all cases to an important work of the frontal lobe, which is pivotal in the action of lying, together with other areas such as the anterior cingulate gyrus and the temporo-parietal junction. These results seem to be the same both in healthy people and in patients with certain pathologies, as well as in men and women. Neither large differences have been found in the results of the different techniques explored in the literature, nor among the different experimental conditions. In conclusion, we consider that neuroimaging techniques can be a great field of study for the detection of lies, but at present they still don’t have enough validity to be able to be applied in real-life situations or in the forensic field.En esta revisión bibliográfica hemos buscado información acerca de la detección de mentiras mediante técnicas de neuroimagen en la literatura de la última década (2010- 2019). Estas novedosas técnicas pueden ser útiles ya que son capaces de explorar el funcionamiento del cerebro mientras lleva a cabo determinadas acciones (en este caso la mentira) y esto puede resultar especialmente útil para el campo forense. Para ello hemos buscado artículos científicos en dos conocidas bases de datos (PubMed y PsycNet), obteniendo finalmente una selección de 42. Los resultados apuntan en todos los casos a una importante labor del lóbulo frontal, que es esencial en la acción de mentir, junto a otras áreas como el giro cingulado anterior y la unión temporo-parietal; estos resultados parecen ser los mismos tanto en personas sanas como en pacientes con determinadas patologías, al igual que también comparten áreas hombres y mujeres. Tampoco se han encontrado grandes diferencias en los resultados de las distintas técnicas exploradas en la literatura, ni entre las distintas condiciones experimentales. Como conclusión, consideramos que las técnicas de neuroimagen pueden ser un gran campo de estudio para la detección de mentiras, pero actualmente todavía no cuentan con suficiente validez como para poder ser aplicadas en situaciones reales o del campo forense

A note on the non-commutative Chern-Simons model on manifolds with boundary

We study field theories defined in regions of the spatial non-commutative (NC) plane with a boundary present delimiting them, concentrating in particular on the U(1) NC Chern-Simons theory on the upper half plane. We find that classical consistency and gauge invariance lead necessary to the introduction of $K_0$-space of square integrable functions null together with all their derivatives at the origin. Furthermore the requirement of closure of $K_0$ under the *-product leads to the introduction of a novel notion of the *-product itself in regions where a boundary is present, that in turn yields the complexification of the gauge group and to consider chiral waves in one sense or other. The canonical quantization of the theory is sketched identifying the physical states and the physical operators. These last ones include ordinary NC Wilson lines starting and ending on the boundary that yield correlation functions depending on points on the one-dimensional boundary. We finally extend the definition of the *-product to a strip and comment on possible relevance of these results to finite Quantum Hall systems.Comment: 15 pages, references added, to appear in International Journal of Modern Physic