Trait emotional intelligence and adolescent psychological well-being: a systematic review

Trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) has a protective role in adolescence, linked to better well-being and social interactions. However, research on these topics with adolescent samples is limited and has not yet been systematized in the field. The present work aims to scrutinize the extant trait EI literature and adolescent psychological well-being. Since operationalization is crucial for any EI model, the review focused on studies that used the adolescent forms of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue). A search conducted in EBSCO Essentials, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, and Psyc Articles in October 2023 identified 34 articles. Findings are discussed under five subsections: gender differences, psychological constructs, parental relations, scholastic constructs, and practice-oriented topics. The review corroborates the protective role of trait EI in adolescent psychological well-being. Future studies should aspire to extend research in cross-cultural settings with more rigorous designs

Expressing one’s feelings and listening to others increases emotional intelligence: a pilot study of Asian medical students

<p>Background: There has been considerable interest in Emotional Intelligence (EI) in undergraduate medical education, with respect to student selection and admissions, health and well-being and academic performance. EI is a significant component of the physician-patient relationship. The emotional well-being of the physician is, therefore, a significant component in patient care. The aim is to examine the measurement of TEIQue-SF in Asian medical students and to explore how the practice of listening to the feelings of others and expressing one’s own feelings influences an individual’s EI, set in the context of the emotional well-being of a medical practitioner.</p> <p>Methods: A group of 183 international undergraduate medical students attended a half-day workshop (WS) about mental-health and well-being. They completed a self-reported measure of EI on three occasions, pre- and post-workshop, and a 1-year follow-up.</p> <p>Result: The reliability of TEIQue-SF was high and the reliabilities of its four factors were acceptable. There were strong correlations between the TEIQue-SF and personality traits. A paired t-test indicated significant positive changes after the WS for all students (n=181, p= .014), male students (n=78, p= .015) and non-Japanese students (n=112, p= .007), but a repeated measures analysis showed that one year post-workshop there were significant positive changes for all students (n=55, p= .034), female students (n=31, p= .007), especially Japanese female students (n=13, p= .023). Moreover, 80% of the students reported that they were more attentive listeners, and 60% agreed that they were more confident in dealing with emotional issues, both within themselves and in others, as a result of the workshop.</p> <p>Conclusion: This study found the measurement of TEIQue-SF is appropriate and reliable to use for Asian medical students. The mental health workshop was helpful to develop medical students’ EI but showed different results for gender and nationality. The immediate impact on the emotional awareness of individuals was particularly significant for male students and the non-Japanese group. The impact over the long term was notable for the significant increase in EI for females and Japanese. Japanese female students were more conscious about emotionality. Emotion-driven communication exercises might strongly influence the development of students’ EI over a year.</p&gt

Emotional intelligence buffers the effect of physiological arousal on dishonesty

We studied the emotional processes that allow people to balance two competing desires: benefitting from dishonesty and keeping a positive self-image. We recorded physiological arousal (skin conductance and heart rate) during a computer card game in which participants could cheat and fail to report a certain card when presented on the screen to avoid losing their money. We found that higher skin conductance corresponded to lower cheating rates. Importantly, emotional intelligence regulated this effect; participants with high emotional intelligence were less affected by their physiological reactions than those with low emotional intelligence. As a result, they were more likely to profit from dishonesty. However, no interaction emerged between heart rate and emotional intelligence. We suggest that the ability to manage and control emotions can allow people to overcome the tension between doing right or wrong and license them to bend the rules

Self-ordered pointing and visual conditional associative learning tasks in drug-free schizophrenia spectrum disorder patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is evidence of a link between schizophrenia and a deficit of working memory, but this has been derived from tasks not specifically developed to probe working memory per se. Our aim was to investigate whether working memory deficits may be detected across different paradigms using the self-ordered pointing task (SOPT) and the visual conditional associative learning task (VCALT) in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and healthy controls. The current literature suggests deficits in schizophrenia spectrum disorder patients versus healthy controls but these studies frequently involved small samples, broad diagnostic criteria, inclusion of patients on antipsychotic medications, and were not controlled for symptom domains, severity of the disorder, etc. To overcome some of these limitations, we investigated the self-monitoring and conditional associative learning abilities of a numerically representative sample of healthy controls and a group of non-deteriorated, drug-free patients hospitalized for a schizophrenia spectrum disorder with florid, mainly positive psychotic symptoms.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eighty-five patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of schizophrenia (<it>n </it>= 71) or schizophreniform disorder (<it>n </it>= 14)) and 80 healthy controls entered the study. The clinical picture was dominated by positive symptoms. The healthy control group had a negative personal and family history of schizophrenia or mood disorder and satisfied all the inclusion and exclusion criteria other than variables related to schizophrenia spectrum disorders.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared to controls, patients had worse performances on SOPT, VCALT and higher SOPT/VCALT ratios, not affected by demographic or clinical variables. ROC curves showed that SOPT, VCALT, and SOPT/VCALT ratio had good accuracy in discriminating patients from controls. The SOPT and VCALT scores were inter-correlated in controls but not in patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The selection of a clinically homogeneous group of patients, controlled for a number of potential confounding factors, and the high level of significance found in the different analyses confirm the presence of SOPT and VCALT abnormalities in a large preponderance of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder with positive symptoms. SOPT, VCALT, and SOPT/VCALT ratio showed good accuracy in discriminating patients from healthy controls. These conclusions cannot be extended to schizophrenia spectrum disorder patients with a different clinical profile from our patient population.</p

Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Subregions Make Dissociable Contributions during Fluid Reasoning

Reasoning is a key component of adaptable “executive” behavior and is known to depend on a network of frontal and parietal brain regions. However, the mechanisms by which this network supports reasoning and adaptable behavior remain poorly defined. Here, we examine the relationship between reasoning, executive control, and frontoparietal function in a series of nonverbal reasoning experiments. Our results demonstrate that, in accordance with previous studies, a network of frontal and parietal brain regions is recruited during reasoning. Our results also reveal that this network can be fractionated according to how different subregions respond when distinct reasoning demands are manipulated. While increased rule complexity modulates activity within a right lateralized network including the middle frontal gyrus and the superior parietal cortex, analogical reasoning demand—or the requirement to remap rules on to novel features—recruits the left inferior rostrolateral prefrontal cortex and the lateral occipital complex. In contrast, the posterior extent of the inferior frontal gyrus, associated with simpler executive demands, is not differentially sensitive to rule complexity or analogical demand. These findings accord well with the hypothesis that different reasoning demands are supported by different frontal and parietal subregions

The representation of abstract task rules in the human prefrontal cortex

We have previously reported sustained activation in the ventral prefrontal cortex while participants prepared to perform 1 of 2 tasks as instructed. But there are studies that have reported activation reflecting task rules elsewhere in prefrontal cortex, and this is true in particular when it was left to the participants to decide which rule to obey. The aim of the present experiment was to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to find whether there was activation in common, irrespective of the way that the task rules were established. On each trial, we presented a word after a variable delay, and participants had to decide either whether the word was abstract or concrete or whether it had 2 syllables. The participants either decided before the delay which task they would perform or were instructed by written cues. Comparing the self-generated with the instructed trials, there was early task set activation during the delay in the middle frontal gyrus. On the other hand, a conjunction analysis revealed sustained activation in the ventral prefrontal and polar cortex for both conditions. We argue that the ventral prefrontal cortex is specialized for handling conditional rules regardless of how the task rules were established

Resection of the Medial Temporal Lobe Disconnects the Rostral Superior Temporal Gyrus from Some of its Projection Targets in the Frontal Lobe and Thalamus

Auditory memory in the monkey does not appear to extend beyond the limits of working memory. It is therefore surprising that this ability is impaired by medial temporal lobe (MTL) resections, because such lesions spare working memory in other sensory modalities. To determine whether MTL ablations might have caused the auditory deficit through inadvertent transection of superior temporal gyrus (STG) projections to its downstream targets, and, if so, which targets might have been compromised, we injected anterograde tracer (biotinylated dextran amine) in the STG of both the normal and MTL-lesioned hemispheres of split-brain monkeys. Interhemispheric comparison of label failed to show any effect of the MTL ablation on efferents from caudal STG, which projects to the inferior prefrontal convexity. However, the ablation did consistently interrupt the normally dense projections from rostral STG to both the ventral medial prefrontal cortex and medial thalamic nuclei. The findings support the possibility that the auditory working memory deficit after MTL ablation is due to transection of downstream auditory projections, and indicate that the candidate structures for mediating auditory working memory are the ventral medial prefrontal cortical areas, the medial thalamus, or both

A case of malignant hyperlactaemic acidosis appearing upon treatment with the mono-carboxylase transporter 1 inhibitor AZD3965

A 47-year-old man with metastatic melanoma presented with refractory hyperlactaemic acidosis following the first dose of the mono-carboxylase transporter 1 inhibitor AZD3965 within a "first time in man" clinical trial. The mechanism of the agent and the temporal relationship suggested that this event was potentially drug related and recruitment was suspended. However, urinary metabolomics showed extensive abnormalities even prior to drug administration, leading to investigations for an underlying metabolic disorder. The lack of clinical symptoms from the elevated lactate and low blood glucose suggested a diagnosis of "hyper-Warburgism", where the high tumour burden was associated with extensive glucose uptake and lactate efflux from malignant cells, and the subsequent impact on blood biochemistry. This was supported by an FDG-PET scan showing extensive glucose uptake in numerous metastases and lack of uptake in the brain. A review of the literature showed 16 case reports of "hyper-Warburgism" in non-haematological malignancies, none of them with melanoma, with most associated with a poor outcome. The patient was treated symptomatically, but died 2 months later. The development of AZD3965 continues with the exclusion of patients with elevated plasma lactate at screening added to the protocol as a safety measure. Trial identification number ClinicalTrials.Gov. NCT01791595

An empirical investigation of the emergent issues around OER adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa

In the past few years, Africa has joined the rest of the world as an active participant in the Open Educational Resource (OER) movement with a number of home-grown and externally driven initiatives. These have the potential to make an immense contribution to teaching and learning in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, certain barriers prevent full participation. This paper reports on qualitative research that sought to investigate SSA's readiness to adopt OERs. This study involves three case studies based in higher education institutions involved in OER projects and located in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. Contrary to the popular belief, findings indicate that low technological levels in Africa do not necessarily impede the adoption of such educational technologies; the real challenges facing the readiness to adopt OERs appear to be related to socio-economic, cultural, institutional and national issues. This paper argues for a complete mind shift in how people perceive OERs. It also proposes raising awareness of OERs at all levels, involving institutions and government, versioning OERs for the African context and conducting more research on OER adoption