How time perspective, personality, and morningness contributed to psychological well-being during the Coronavirus lockdown / Contribución de la perspectiva temporal, personalidad y matutinidad en el bienestar durante el confinamiento por Coronavirus

The exceptionality of the Coronavirus-related quarantines motivated the design of a longitudi-nal study aimed at exploring how the confinement can affect psychological well-being. 205 par-ticipants (81% female) took part in the study. Personality, time perspective, and morningness were assessed at the beginning of the quarantine, along with levels of depression, anxiety, and satisfaction with life as mood and well-being indicators. A post measure was taken 2 weeks af-ter the first data collection. Two weeks later, a supplementary follow-up measure was per-formed again. A significant increase in depression and anxiety was found between pre and post measures that remained stable at follow up, whereas life satisfaction was not affected. Past-negative temporal orientation and neuroticism were the highest risk factors fora decline in psychological well-being. Results are discussed in terms ofhow individual differences should be considered in assessing citizens’ response to public health policies regarding isolation measures. (AU)

La excepcionalidad de las cuarentenas relacionadas con el Coronavirus motivó el diseño de un estudio longitudinal destinado a explorar cómo el confinamiento puede afectar al bienestar psicológico. 205 participantes (81% mujeres) participaron en el estudio. Se evaluó la persona-lidad, la perspectiva temporal y la matutinidad al inicio de la cuarentena, junto con los nive-les de depresión, ansiedad y satisfacción con la vida como indicadores del estado de ánimo y bienestar. Se tomó una medida posterior dos semanas después de la primera recolección de datos. A las dos semanas se volvió a realizar una medida de seguimiento complementaria. Se encontró un aumento significativo en los niveles de depresión y ansiedad entre las medidas pre y post que se mantuvieron estables en el seguimiento, mientras que la satisfacción con la vida no se vio afectada. La orientación temporal negativa hacia el pasado y el neuroticismo fueron los factores de riesgo más predictores de una disminución en el bienestar psicológico. Los re-sultados se discuten en términos de cómo se deben considerar las diferencias individuales al evaluar la respuesta de los ciudadanos a las políticas de salud pública con respecto a las medi-das de aislamiento. (AU)

Psychological impact of COVID-19 lockdowns among adult women: the predictive role of individual differences and lockdown duration.

COVID-19 pandemic has altered women's mental health as a consequence of the global threat and the lockdown measures adopted by public health policies. It has been suggested that women are at a higher risk for mood alterations, but most of the studies are cross-sectional or have only considered the first days of the confinement in their longitudinal designs. The present study was aimed at evaluating temporal changes in anxiety and depression in a general sample of 155 non-infected adult Spanish women after a complete quarantine. It also explored the predictive role of personality, the establishment of new routines and physical activity during lockdown in a pre-post design assessing temporal and clinical mood changes after 5 weeks of lockdown. Logistic regression analyses showed that higher neuroticism and depressive levels at baseline, lower routines engagement, and lower physical activity during lockdown predicted depression caseness, whereas anxiety caseness was best predicted by higher neuroticism, more days of lockdown and greater anxiety symptoms at baseline. It is concluded that lockdown duration, increased neuroticism and baseline levels of anxiety and depression are risk factors for women's mental health, while routines and physical activity emerge as protective factors for managing psychological wellbeing during the pandemic lockdowns.

Cannabis and Its Different Strains.

Previous studies show how time perception can be altered by cannabis consumption, but it is not clear yet whether cannabis produces temporal underproductions or overproductions after acute cannabis intoxication. The present study aimed to analyze a sample of 50 regular cannabis users controlling for cannabis strain (sativa, indica, and hybrid) and to compare their scores in a temporal production task before and after consuming cannabis with a control group of 49 nonusers. Results showed that cannabis intake leads to overproductions, suggesting that regular users' internal tempo slows down after acute intoxication. However, the analyses of main effects showed that indica users, both at baseline levels and after consuming, reported significant underproductions compared to controls, sativa, and hybrid users, and the cannabis-induced effects had a higher magnitude after smoking in the indica-strain group. Results highlight the relevance of including the type of strain consumed in cannabis studies, and they are discussed in terms of short- and long-term alterations in temporal perception under the light of the self-medication theory and the therapeutic uses of cannabis.

New virtual reality tool (Nesplora Aquarium) for assessing attention and working memory in adults: A normative study.

Attentional and working memory (WM) processes undergo significant changes during different stages of development. However, currently there are not many continuous performance tools based on virtual reality (VR) for measuring attentional capacity in adults. The present study aimed to obtain normative data for the Nesplora Aquarium VR test in a Spanish population, looking at sex and age variables. In addition, this study also aimed to analyze the psychometric properties of the tool such as scale, internal consistency, and item difficulty and discrimination indices. A total of 1,469 participants from different regions of Spain (57.6% female) with ages ranging from 16 to 90 years old took part in this normative study. Nesplora Aquarium was developed in order to support clinicians in the assessment of attentional processes and WM in adults over 16 years old. It is an 18-minute individual test performed through a VR system. The system provides better visual and auditory immersion in the task than computerized CPTs. This study revealed that the new VR tool, designed to measure adult attention and working memory levels, exhibited good psychometric properties related to reliability and internal consistency. In addition, item difficulty and discrimination values were also acceptable.

Differential effects of working memory load on priming and recognition of real images.

Several studies have explored the effects of divided attention on priming, but little is known about the impact of working memory load on implicit visual memory. The aim of this study was to determine whether there are differential effects of working memory load on a visual priming task compared to a recognition task. In the encoding phase, participants were presented with real-object pictures and asked to classify them semantically. At retrieval, 40 studied and 40 new images were presented (partially masked) for 100 ms, and participants had to identify the object. Each trial was immediately followed by a recognition test, in which the unmasked image was shown again, and participants had to indicate whether it had been presented at encoding or not. Regarding working memory load, participants performed a task in which a load was imposed in half of the trials. Twenty-four participants concurrently performed an articulatory suppression task, another group of 24 subjects performed an executive demanding task, and a third group of 24 participants performed a spatial tapping task. Working memory load failed to diminish performance on both priming and recognition tests in the articulatory suppression condition. However, the backward counting and the tapping tasks influenced recognition, rather than priming. The relative pattern of backward counting effects on recognition and priming were then broadly replicated in a follow-up experiment using an adapted priming task (N = 24). Results suggest that a concurrent load has a more robust effect on recognition than on priming, especially when the working memory task is executively demanding.

Jump and free fall! Memory, attention, and decision-making processes in an extreme sport.

In the present study, we explored the effects of high arousal on cognitive performance when facing a situation of risk. We also investigated how these effects are moderated by either positive or negative emotional states (valence). An ecological methodology was employed, and a field study was carried out in a real-life situation with 39 volunteer participants performing a bungee jumping activity and a control group of 39 participants. Arousal and valence were assessed with the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM). Working memory capacity (reverse digit span), selective attention (Go/No-Go task) and decision-making (Iowa Gambling Task) were assessed at 3 time points: 30 min before the jump, immediately after the jump, and approximately 8 min after the onset of the previous phase. The results indicate that high arousal accompanied by high positive valence scores after jumping either improved performance or led to a lack of impairment in certain cognitive tasks. The Processing-Efficiency and the Broaden-and-Build theories are put forward to explain emotional moderation of cognitive performance in potentially life-threatening situations.

The (lack of) effect of dynamic visual noise on the concreteness effect in short-term memory.

It has been suggested that the concreteness effect in short-term memory (STM) is a consequence of concrete words having more distinctive and richer semantic representations. The generation and storage of visual codes in STM could also play a crucial role on the effect because concrete words are more imaginable than abstract words. If this were the case, the introduction of a visual interference task would be expected to disrupt recall of concrete words. A Dynamic Visual Noise (DVN) display, which has been proven to eliminate the concreteness effect on long-term memory (LTM), was presented along encoding of concrete and abstract words in a STM serial recall task. Results showed a main effect of word type, with more item errors in abstract words, a main effect of DVN, which impaired global performance due to more order errors, but no interaction, suggesting that DVN did not have any impact on the concreteness effect. These findings are discussed in terms of LTM participation through redintegration processes and in terms of the language-based models of verbal STM.

To what extent is personality associated with time perspective? / ¿Hasta qué punto está relacionada la personalidad con la perspectiva temporal?

Recent research has focused on behavioral correlates of temporal perspective (TP), suggesting that this individual difference has an influence on many health-related behaviors such as smoking and substance use, physical activity or life satisfaction. It is suggested that a consistently biased temporal orientation is associated with some psychiatric disorders and mediated by personality factors. However, few studies have explored the relationship between personality and TP from a psychobiological approach. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) and the ZuckermanKuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ) in a sample of 196 undergraduate students through a multiple regression analysis. Results showed that: Past-Negative correlated positively with Neuroticism-Anxiety and negatively with Activity; Present Hedonistic correlated positively with Impulsive-Sensation Seeking and Sociability in a very high degree; and Future correlated positively with Neuroticism-Anxiety and Activity, and negatively with Impulsive-Sensation Seeking. Results are discussed in terms of the definition of both scales, their relationships and their implications in applied fields

Estudios recientes han analizado los correlatos conductuales de la perspectiva temporal (PT), sugiriendo que esta diferencia individual influye en muchos comportamientos relacionados con la salud, tales como el consumo de tabaco y otras sustancias, la actividad física o la satisfacción vital. Se sugiere que una PT consistentemente sesgada hacia un determinado marco temporal está asociada con algunos trastornos psiquiátricos y también está mediada por determinados factores de personalidad. Sin embargo, son escasos los estudios que han explorado la relación entre personalidad y PT, y ninguno de ellos bajo una perspectiva psicobiológica. El objetivo de este estudio fue examinar la relación entre el Inventario de Perspectiva Zimbardo Time (ZTPI) y Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ) en una muestra de 196 estudiantes universitarios a través de un análisis de regresión múltiple. Los resultados mostraron que: el pasado negativo correlaciona positivamente con el Neuroticismo-Ansiedad y negativamente con la Actividad; el presente hedonista correlaciona positivamente con la Impulsividad- Búsqueda de Sensaciones y la Sociabilidad en un grado muy alto, y el futuro correlaciona positivamente también con el Neuroticismo-Ansiedad y la Actividad, y negativamente con la Impulsividad Búsqueda de Sensaciones. Los resultados se discuten en términos de la definición de ambas escalas, sus relaciones y sus implicaciones en campos aplicado

Automatic semantic encoding in verbal short-term memory: evidence from the concreteness effect.

The concreteness effect in verbal short-term memory (STM) tasks is assumed to be a consequence of semantic encoding in STM, with immediate recall of concrete words benefiting from richer semantic representations. We used the concreteness effect to test the hypothesis that semantic encoding in standard verbal STM tasks is a consequence of controlled, attention-demanding mechanisms of strategic semantic retrieval and encoding. Experiment 1 analysed the effect of presentation rate, with slow presentations being assumed to benefit strategic, time-dependent semantic encoding. Experiments 2 and 3 provided a more direct test of the strategic hypothesis by introducing three different concurrent attention-demanding tasks. Although Experiment 1 showed a larger concreteness effect with slow presentations, the following two experiments yielded strong evidence against the strategic hypothesis. Limiting available attention resources by concurrent tasks reduced global memory performance, but the concreteness effect was equivalent to that found in control conditions. We conclude that semantic effects in STM result from automatic semantic encoding and provide tentative explanations for the interaction between the concreteness effect and the presentation rate.

What does visual suffix interference tell us about spatial location in working memory?

A visual object can be conceived of as comprising a number of features bound together by their joint spatial location. We investigate the question of whether the spatial location is automatically bound to the features or whether the two are separable, using a previously developed paradigm whereby memory is disrupted by a visual suffix. Participants were shown a sample array of four colored shapes, followed by a postcue indicating the target for recall. On randomly intermixed trials, a to-be-ignored suffix array consisting of two different colored shapes was presented between the sample and the postcue. In a random half of suffix trials, one of the suffix items overlaid the location of the target. If location was automatically encoded, one might expect the colocation of target and suffix to differentially impair performance. We carried out three experiments, cuing for recall by spatial location (Experiment 1), color or shape (Experiment 2), or both randomly intermixed (Experiment 3). All three studies showed clear suffix effects, but the colocation of target and suffix was differentially disruptive only when a spatial cue was used. The results suggest that purely visual shape-color binding can be retained and accessed without requiring information about spatial location, even when task demands encourage the encoding of location, consistent with the idea of an abstract and flexible visual working memory system.