Effects of a Focused Breathing Mindfulness Exercise on Attention, Memory, and Mood: The Importance of Task Characteristics

Previous research has shown that long-Term mindfulness training has beneficial effects on cognitive functioning and emotional regulation, but results are mixed regarding single mindfulness exercises, especially on attention and memory tasks. Thus, the present study aimed to analyse the effects of the Focused Breathing Exercise (FB) on cognitive performance, using standardised tests. Forty-six healthy undergraduate students were randomly assigned either to a FB or a Control condition. Two cognitive tasks (the Concentrated Attention task of the Toulouse-Pierron Factorial Battery and the Logical Memory Subtest I from the Wechsler Memory Scale III), along with mood evaluations (the Positive and Negative Affect Scale), were implemented both before and after the interventions. Results showed no significant differences for the attention task and mood evaluations. Nonetheless, the FB enhanced performance for the memory task significantly more than the Control exercise. The findings highlight that mindfulness does not affect equally all types of cognitive performances. Task characteristics may be important and their analysis can help to disentangle how mindfulness interferes with cognitive processes

A preliminary demonstration of transformation of functions through hierarchical relations

The current study focuses on the experimental analysis of hierarchical responding, and aims at analyzing some of the transformation of functions that take place at different levels of hierarchical categories. Ten university students participated. During Phase 1, four arbitrary stimuli were established as INCLUDES, BELONGS TO, SAME, and DIFFERENT relational cues, respectively. During Phase 2, three four-member equivalence classes were trained and tested (A1-B1-C1-D1; A2-B2-C2-D2; A3-B3-C3-D3). These equivalence classes constituted the bottom level of two hierarchical categories. The middle and top levels of the hierarchical categories were formed during Phase 3. The middle level was established by training hierarchical relations (INCLUDES and BELONGS TO) between novel stimuli X.1 and A1/B1; X. 2 and A2/B2; and Y and A3/B3. The top level was established by training hierarchical relations between X and X.1/X.2, and between Y and Y.1. During Phase 4, X.1 was established as always cold, D2 as always heavy and C3 as always sweet. During Phase 5 (Critical Test), six stimuli from both hierarchical categories (Y, X, C1, X.2, D3, C2) and a non-related stimulus (M) were tested for the transformation of functions. Nine of the ten participants responded correctly to the test. The implications and limitations of these findings, as well as lines for future research, are discussed

Spanish Validation of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA): Introducing the ERQ-SpA

Research on emotion regulation is now extensive and shows the benefits of the adaptive management of emotions for social functioning and psychological well-being. Our purpose was to test the psychometric properties of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents with a sample of nonclinical Spanish adolescents. A total of 462 secondary education students (223 girls, mean age = 13.89 years, SD = 1.38) participated. The instrument proved to be two-factor and gender-invariant. Results revealed the temporal stability of both emotion regulation strategies, while the predictive validity study revealed that depressive symptoms were negatively related to cognitive reappraisal, and positively related to expressive suppression. Our findings support the use of the ERQ-SpA in Spanish adolescents

School violence towards peers and teen dating violence: the mediating role of personal distress

School violence towards peers and teen dating violence are two of the most relevant behaviour problems in adolescents. Although the relationship between the two types of violence is well established in the literature, few studies have focused on mediators that could explain this empirical relationship. We departed from the evidence that relates anger, emotional distress and impaired empathy to teen dating violence and juvenile sexual offending, to explore the role of personal distress, i.e., a self-focused, aversive affective reaction to another’s emotion associated with the desire to alleviate one’s own, but not the other’s distress; as a possible mechanism linking school violence towards peers and teen dating violence in a sample of Spanish adolescents. We also explored the prevalence of emotional and physical teen dating violence, both occasional and frequent, and the differences between boys and girls. A total of 1055 adolescents (49.2% boys and 50.8% girls) aged between 11 and 17 years (M = 14.06, SD = 1.34) who had had at least one romantic relationship within the last year, completed measures of school violence towards peers, teen dating violence, and personal distress. Statistical analyses revealed that occasional and frequent teen dating violence (both physical and emotional) was more frequent in girls than in boys, and that personal distress functioned as a partial mediator, with an overall model fit higher for boys than girls: in boys, partial mediation occurred for both physical and emotional teen dating violence; in girls, partial mediation occurred only for physical violence. The interpretation of the results is tentative given the novel nature of the study, and points to the evidence of the emotional costs of school violence and the importance of emotion and behavior regulation to undermine the social costs of personal distress

Promoting Psychological Flexibility on Tolerance Tasks: Framing Behavior Through Deictic/Hierarchical Relations and Specifying Augmental Functions

Recent research is advancing in the analysis of the defusion and self-based exercises used in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) through relational frame theory (RFT) terms. This study aimed to analyze the effect of two RFT-defined defusion protocols in promoting psychological flexibility by altering the discriminative functions of avoidance of aversive private events. Thirty participants first responded to several questionnaires. Subsequently, participants were exposed to 2 experimental tasks (pretest): a cold pressor and an aversive film. Participants were then randomly assigned to 3 experimental conditions: (a) a control condition, (b) a defusion protocol based on framing one’s own behavior through deictic relations (Defusion I), and (c) a defusion protocol that also included hierarchical relations and giving regulatory functions to that discrimination (Defusion II). Finally, participants were again exposed to the 2 experimental tasks (posttest). Results showed that participants who received the defusion protocols performed better in the posttest than did the control participants, and that Defusion II participants showed higher tolerance than Defusion I participants

Psychological Flexibility With Prejudices Increases Empathy and Decreases Distress Among Adolescents: A Spanish Validation of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire–Stigma

Empathy is an emotional response that may facilitate prosocial behavior and inhibit aggression by increasing empathic concern for others. But the vicarious experience of other’s feelings may also turn into personal distress when the person has poor regulation skills and holds stigmatizing beliefs. In thinking about the processes that may trigger the experience of personal distress or empathic concern, research on the influence of psychological flexibility and inflexibility on stigma is showing promising results. Both processes are assessed with the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire–Stigma (AAQ-S). The current study sought to carry out a validity study of a Spanish version of the AAQ-S with a sample of adolescents aged 11–17 years. The study included an expanded test of its predictive validity with measures at three times to evaluate the role of psychological flexibility and inflexibility as risk or protective variables for the development of personal distress and/or empathic concern in the stigmatizer. Statistical analyses confirmed a two-correlated-factor solution, the adequate reliability of both factors, and their construct and predictive validity in the expected direction. The stigmatizer’s inflexible reaction to their stigmatizing thoughts predicted the occurrence of personal distress, whereas the stigmatizer’s flexible reaction to their stigmatizing thoughts predicted the occurrence of empathic concern for others. These findings confirm the importance of considering the role of regulatory skills in the experience of empathic concern or personal distress in the presence of stigmatizing thoughts, with possible implications for the promotion of prosocial behavior and the reduction of aggressive behavior among adolescents.

Transactional Links between Teacher-Adolescent Support, Relatedness, and Aggression at School: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study

This study examines the reciprocal effects between two school-based relationships within the classroom-namely, perceived teacher support and relatedness with classmates-and school aggression (overt and relational) across two courses of secondary education. Participants were 654 adolescents (48% boys), who were assessed in three waves: first, at the beginning of the academic year (T0), second, at the end of the same academic year (T1), and third, at the beginning of the next academic year (T2) (Mage wave 1 = 13.98 years). Autoregressive cross-lagged modeling was applied. Results show a protective effect of relatedness against relational aggression in both genders. Moreover, we observed a protective effect of perceived teacher support at the beginning of the course for later school aggression as well as a risk effect if this perceived teacher support is maintained throughout the course. These effects were observed in relation with gender-atypical forms of aggression (overt in girls and relational in boys). Finally, aggression had negative consequences for relatedness in girls and for teacher support through the mediation of relatedness in boys. Gender differences and practical implications of these findings are discussed

Extreme salinity as a challenge to grow potatoes under Mars-like soil conditions: targeting promising genotypes.

One of the future challenges to produce food in a Mars environment will be the optimization of resources through the potential use of the Martian substratum for growing crops as a part of bioregenerative food systems. In vitro plantlets from 65 potato genotypes were rooted in peat-pellets substratum and transplanted in pots filled with Mars-like soil from La Joya desert in Southern Peru. The Mars-like soil was characterized by extreme salinity (an electric conductivity of 19.3 and 52.6 dS m−1 under 1 : 1 and saturation extract of the soil solution, respectively) and plants grown in it were under sub-optimum physiological status indicated by average maximum stomatal conductance <50 mmol H2O m−2 s−1 even after irrigation. 40% of the genotypes survived and yielded (0.3–5.2 g tuber plant−1) where CIP.397099.4, CIP.396311.1 and CIP.390478.9 were targeted as promising materials with 9.3, 8.9 and 5.8% of fresh tuber yield in relation to the control conditions. A combination of appropriate genotypes and soil management will be crucial to withstand extreme salinity, a problem also important in agriculture on Earth that requires more detailed follow-up studies

Academic competence, teacher–student relationship, and violence and victimisation in adolescents: The classroom climate as a mediator

School violence is a serious social and public health problem prevalent worldwide. Alt-hough the relevance of teacher and classroom factors is well established in the literature, few studies have focused on the role of teacher perceptions in school violence and victimisation and the poten-tial mediational role of classroom climate in this relationship. A total of 2399 adolescents (50% girls), aged between 11 and 18 years (M = 14.65, SD = 1.78) and enrolled in five Spanish Secondary Com-pulsory Education schools completed measures of classroom climate, school violence towards peers and perception of peer victimisation, and their teachers informed about their academic competence and the teacher–student relationship. Correlational analyses revealed that whereas academic competence perceived by the teacher was negatively related to overt violence and victimisation, its relationship with pure relational violence was positive. Structural equation modelling analyses showed that variables of classroom climate (involvement, affiliation, and teacher support) perceived by the students functioned as partial mediators between teacher perceptions of academic competence and of teacher–student relationship and violence and victimisation. In the mediational model, teacher perception of academic competence acted as a direct protective factor against violence and victimisation, and teacher perception of teacher–student relationship acted as a direct risk for violence, as well as an indirect protective factor through classroom climate for victimisation. The interpretation of these results points to the importance of the teacher’s subjective perceptions in the prevention of violence and victimisation problems and their practical implications for the classroom climate perceived by students

Rol de los medios digitales en el m?rketing electoral : el caso de Lima

Los avances en las nuevas tecnolog?as de informaci?n a trav?s de Internet han ocasionado que la forma convencional de ejercer y aplicar el m?rketing electoral est? cambiando y evolucionando hacia una mayor interacci?n entre pol?ticos y electores. Por ejemplo, la campa?a del actual presidente estadounidense Barack Obama destac? por emplear con ?xito herramientas digitales como el portal del Partido Dem?crata, el correo electr?nico, la red social Facebook, la utilidad gr?fica YouTube y los mensajes masivos a tel?fonos celulares. El objetivo de la presente investigaci?n es determinar el impacto de estos nuevos medios digitales en el escenario electoral lime?o, para contribuir con el desarrollo conceptual y la aplicaci?n de las estrategias del m?rketing electoral. En la primera parte del trabajo se revisa la literatura relacionada con el m?rketing electoral y las estrategias de comunicaci?n en campa?as electorales y se analiza el rol de los medios de comunicaci?n en las elecciones presidenciales y municipales en el Per? de los ?ltimos veinte a?os. En la segunda parte, se realizan entrevistas a expertos en medios de comunicaci?n --polit?logos, publicistas, directores de encuestadoras y docentes universitarios-- a fin de determinar los factores cr?ticos de ?xito (FCE) del uso de los medios digitales en los procesos electorales. Una vez determinados los FCE, se ha dise?ado una encuesta dirigida a los electores lime?os para determinar sus preferencias en el uso de medios de comunicaci?n e identificar las principales variables o factores que repercuten en la influencia del h?bito de uso de los medios digitales a trav?s de Internet. Asimismo, los electores se agrupan con respecto a su estilo de vida y el uso de medios digitales