A Proposed Decision-Making Framework for the Translation of In-Person Clinical Care to Digital Care: Tutorial.

Unlabelled: The continued demand for digital health requires that providers adapt thought processes to enable sound clinical decision-making in digital settings. Providers report that lack of training is a barrier to providing digital health care. Physical examination techniques and hands-on interventions must be adjusted in safe, reliable, and feasible ways to provide digital care, and decision-making may be impacted by modifications made to these techniques. We have proposed a framework to determine whether a procedure can be modified to obtain a comparable result in a digital environment or whether a referral to in-person care is required. The decision-making framework was developed using program outcomes of a digital physical therapy platform and aims to alleviate barriers to delivering digital care that providers may experience. This paper describes the unique considerations a provider must make when collecting background information, selecting and executing procedures, assessing results, and determining whether they can proceed with clinical care in digital settings.

The effect of new e-commerce platform's OSC promotion on consumer cognition: from cognitive legitimacy and cognitive psychology perspective.

Introduction: In the realm of emerging e-commerce platforms, the influence of online shopping events, specifically online carnival promotions (OSC), on consumer behavior is a significant area of interest.This paper delves into the effects of such promotions on consumer perceptions, a topic that has not been extensively explored in academic research. Methods: To investigate this phenomenon, two distinct studies were conducted. The first study employed a questionnaire-based experiment involving 220 participants, divided into two groups. The first study examined the mediating role of cognitive legitimacy in the relationship between OSC events organized by new e-commerce platforms and the perceptions of consumers. The second study utilized an event-related potentials (ERPs) experiment with 33 participants to explore the differences in consumer perceptions between OSC promotions and general promotions by new e-commerce platforms. This study measured the brain's response to promotional stimuli to gain insights into the cognitive processes involved. Results: The first study yielded results that suggest OSC activities can facilitate the establishment of cognitive legitimacy for new e-commerce platforms. This, in turn, was found to be associated with an increase in positive purchase intentions among consumers. In the second study, the ERPs data indicated that exposure to OSC promotional materials elicited larger P2 and N2 ERP components when participants were presented with the logo of a new e-commerce platform. This was in contrast to the response to general promotional materials, suggesting a heightened cognitive and perceptual engagement with OSC promotions. Discussion: The findings from both studies collectively imply that OSC promotions have a distinct impact on consumer perceptions and cognitive processes. The implicit memory triggered by these promotions appears to influence the identification of new platforms and the mechanisms of cognitive control during online shopping. This, in turn, may have implications for explicit consumer behavior, suggesting that OSC promotions could be a powerful tool for shaping consumer attitudes and behaviors in the e-commerce space. The results underscore the importance of understanding the nuances of consumer engagement with new e-commerce platforms and the role of promotional strategies in fostering a positive brand image and consumer loyalty.

Modeling distracted driving behavior considering cognitive processes.

The modeling of distracted driving behavior has been studied for many years, however, there remain many distraction phenomena that can not be fully modeled. This study proposes a new method that establishes the model using the queuing network model human processor (QN-MHP) framework. Unlike previous models that only consider distracted-driving-related human factors from a mathematical perspective, the proposed method reflects the information processing in the human brain, and simulates the distracted driver's cognitive processes based on a model structure supported by physiological and cognitive research evidence. Firstly, a cumulative activation effect model for external stimuli is adopted to mimic the phenomenon that a driver responds only to stimuli above a certain threshold. Then, dual-task queuing and switching mechanisms are modeled to reflect the cognitive resource allocation under distraction. Finally, the driver's action is modeled by the Intelligent Driver Model (IDM). The model is developed for visual distraction auditory distraction separately. 773 distracted car-following events from the Shanghai Naturalistic Driving Study data were used to calibrate and verify the model. Results show that the model parameters are more uniform and reasonable. Meanwhile, the model accuracy has improved by 57% and 66% compared to the two baseline models respectively. Moreover, the model demonstrates its ability to generate critical pre-crash scenarios and estimate the crash rate of distracted driving. The proposed model is expected to contribute to safety research regarding new vehicle technologies and traffic safety analysis.

Sequential model based on human cognitive processing to robot acceptance.

Robots have tremendous potential, and have recently been introduced not only for simple operations in factories, but also in workplaces where customer service communication is required. However, communication robots have not always been accepted. This study proposes a three-stage (first contact, interaction, and decision) model for robot acceptance based on the human cognitive process flow to design preferred robots and clarifies the elements of the robot and the processes that affect robot acceptance decision-making. Unlike previous robot acceptance models, the current model focuses on a sequential account of how people decide to accept, considering the interaction (or carry-over) effect between impressions established at each stage. According to the model, this study conducted a scenario-based experiment focusing on the impression of the first contact (a robot's appearance) and that formed during the interaction with robot (politeness of its conversation and behavior) on robot acceptance in both successful and slightly failed situations. The better the appearance of the robot and the more polite its behavior, the greater the acceptance rate. Importantly, there was no interaction between these two factors. The results indicating that the impressions of the first contact and interaction are additively processed suggest that we should accumulate findings that improving the appearance of the robot and making its communication behavior more human-like in politeness will lead to a more acceptable robot design.

Non-invasive neuromodulation of cerebello-hippocampal volume-behavior relationships.

The study here explores the link between transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and brain-behavior relationships. We propose that tDCS may indirectly influence the complex relationships between brain volume and behavior. We focused on the dynamics between the hippocampus (HPC) and cerebellum (CB) in cognitive processes, a relationship with significant implications for understanding memory and motor skills. Seventy-four young adults (mean age: 22±0.42 years, mean education: 14.7±0.25 years) were randomly assigned to receive either anodal, cathodal, or sham stimulation. Following stimulation, participants completed computerized tasks assessing working memory and sequence learning in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environment. We investigated the statistical interaction between CB and HPC volumes. Our findings showed that individuals with larger cerebellar volumes had shorter reaction times (RT) on a high-load working memory task in the sham stimulation group. In contrast, the anodal stimulation group exhibited faster RTs during the low-load working memory condition. These RT differences were associated with the cortical volumetric interaction between CB-HPC. Literature suggests that anodal stimulation down-regulates the CB and here, those with larger volumes perform more quickly, suggesting the potential need for additional cognitive resources to compensate for cerebellar downregulation. This new insight suggests that tDCS can aid in revealing structure-function relationships, due to greater performance variability, especially in young adults. It may also reveal new targets of interest in the study of aging or in diseases where there is also greater behavioral variability.

An Augmented Reality Serious Game for Children's Optical Science Education: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Knowledge construction in the context of children's science education is an important part of fostering the development of early scientific literacy. Nevertheless, children sometimes struggle to comprehend scientific knowledge due to the presence of abstract notions. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of augmented reality (AR) games as a teaching tool for enhancing children's understanding of optical science education. Methods: A total of 36 healthy Chinese children aged 6-8 years were included in this study. The children were randomly divided into an intervention group (n=18, 50%) and a control group (n=18, 50%). The intervention group received 20 minutes of AR science education using 3 game-based learning modules, whereas the control group was asked to learn the same knowledge for 20 minutes with a non-AR science learning app. Predict observe explain tests for 3 topics (animal vision, light transmission, and color-light mixing) were conducted for all participants before and after the experiment. Additionally, the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, which measures levels of interest-enjoyment, perceived competence, effort-importance, and tension-pressure, was conducted for children after the experiment. Results: There was a statistically significant difference in light transmission (z=-2.696; P=.008), color-light mixing (z=-2.508; P=.01), and total predict observe explain test scores (z=2.458; P=.01) between the 2 groups. There were also variations between the groups in terms of levels of interest-enjoyment (z=-2.440; P=.02) and perceived competence (z=-2.170; P=.03) as measured by the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. Conclusions: The randomized controlled trial confirmed that the AR-based science education game we designed can correct children's misconceptions about science and enhance the effectiveness of science education.

FRAMED: a framework facilitating insight problem solving.

Insight has been studied as an element of problem solving in the field of cognitive psychology and may play an important role in clinical reasoning. We propose a new strategy based on theories that promote insight that may help generate further diagnostic hypotheses by reviewing the interpretation of a case and an individual's list of differential diagnoses from multiple perspectives: formation (F), re-encoding (R), analogy (A), modification (M), elaboration (E), and deliberation (D) (FRAMED). The FRAMED strategy may help clinicians overcome misinterpretations and cognitive bias by systematically reflecting on previous clinical reasoning processes from multiple perspectives.

Insight from the association between critical thinking and English argumentative writing: catering to English learners' writing ability.

Introduction: English argumentative writing (EAW) is a 'problem-solving' cognitive process, and its relationship with critical thinking has drawn attention in China. This is because fostering EAW proficiency is a crucial element but a challenging task for Chinese high school English teaching and learning. The present study examined how critical thinking is related to Chinese high school students' EAW performance. The study identified eight critical thinking disposition (CTD) subscales and aims to determine whether EAW and CTD are correlated. Methods: A questionnaire modified from the Chinese Version Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CTDI-CV) and the Evaluation Criteria for English Argumentative Writing (ECEAW) were employed in this study. Both instruments were administered to 156 students from Grade 12. A purposive sampling of high school students was used in this study. Student EAW performance was scored by two experts based on the Evaluation Criteria for English Argumentative Writing. Results: A significant relationship was found between students' CTD and EAW abilities. Furthermore, among the eight CTD subdispositions, cognitive maturity, truth-seeking, analyticity, and justice were found to be positively correlated with EAW, and they all were found to be the main predictors of EAW proficiency among high school students. Conclusion: Zhangzhou high school students' CTDs were overall positive, and students' EAW performance correlated significantly with the overall CTD and its four subdispositions of cognitive maturity, truth-seeking, analyticity, and justice. These four subdispositions showed a significantly predictive validity on EAW performance as well.

Static and dynamic functional connectome reveals reconfiguration profiles of whole-brain network across cognitive states.

Assessment of functional connectivity (FC) has revealed a great deal of knowledge about the macroscale spatiotemporal organization of the brain network. Recent studies found task-versus-rest network reconfigurations were crucial for cognitive functioning. However, brain network reconfiguration remains unclear among different cognitive states, considering both aggregate and time-resolved FC profiles. The current study utilized static FC (sFC, i.e., long timescale aggregate FC) and sliding window-based dynamic FC (dFC, i.e., short timescale time-varying FC) approaches to investigate the similarity and alterations of edge weights and network topology at different cognitive loads, particularly their relationships with specific cognitive process. Both dFC/sFC networks showed subtle but significant reconfigurations that correlated with task performance. At higher cognitive load, brain network reconfiguration displayed increased functional integration in the sFC-based aggregate network, but faster and larger variability of modular reorganization in the dFC-based time-varying network, suggesting difficult tasks require more integrated and flexible network reconfigurations. Moreover, sFC-based network reconfigurations mainly linked with the sensorimotor and low-order cognitive processes, but dFC-based network reconfigurations mainly linked with the high-order cognitive process. Our findings suggest that reconfiguration profiles of sFC/dFC networks provide specific information about cognitive functioning, which could potentially be used to study brain function and disorders.

Influence of voluntary action and outcome valence on the sense of agency.

Recent studies have revealed that people might experience a lessened sense of agency for negative consequences by claiming that they were obeying orders. However, little is known about the cognitive neural mechanism behind the reduced sense of agency when individuals are forced to inflict physical harm on others. This study adopted temporal estimation tasks to investigate the internal mechanism of voluntary action on the sense of agency and the moderating effect of outcome valence as measured by event-related potentials (ERPs). In the temporal estimation task, participants were asked to make trade-offs of monetary gains for themselves against painful electric stimuli experienced by strangers, subjectively estimated the perceptual temporal interval between keypress actions (i.e., free or coercive actions) and consequent outcomes (i.e., positive or negative tones) and rated the feeling of control. The results showed that perceived temporal interval was shorter for positive tones compared with negative tones in the coercive condition, and induced more negative N1 and N300 amplitudes, which indicated that the implicit sense of agency was higher. However, the explicit sense of agency was stronger in the free condition than in the coercive condition, which was not influenced by outcome valence. We discuss the implications of utilizing positive feedback and free choice as significant strategies for those experiencing the abnormal sense of agency.

Effects of abstract versus concrete rumination about anger on affect.

BACKGROUND: The processing-mode theory of rumination proposes that an abstract mode of rumination results in more maladaptive consequences than a concrete ruminative mode. It is supported by evidence mostly from the area of depression and little is known of the relative consequences of abstract versus concrete rumination for anger. AIMS: We investigated the differential effects of abstract versus concrete rumination about anger on individuals' current affect. We hypothesized that abstract rumination would increase current anger and negative affect, and decrease positive affect, to a greater extent than concrete rumination. METHOD: In a within-subject design, 120 participants were instructed to focus on a past social event that resulted in intense anger and then to ruminate about the event in both an abstract and a concrete mode, in a randomly assigned order. Current anger, negative and positive affect were assessed before and after each rumination phase. RESULTS: Anger and negative affect increased and positive affect decreased from pre- to post-rumination. Contrary to expectations, these patterns were observed irrespective of the ruminative mode induced. CONCLUSIONS: This initial study does not support the hypothesis that abstract and concrete rumination about anger have different consequences for current affect. Replications and more extensive designs are needed.

[Neuroscience of creativity or can the ungraspable be captured?] / A kreativitás idegtudománya, avagy megragadható-e a megfoghatatlan?

Creativity is a particularly complex entity that can be best conceptualized along dimensions of opposite polarities. It can simultaneously be considered as a phenomenon that comprises a multitude of processes but also be interpreted as a complex construct which indeed does not have a uniformly accepted definition despite extensive literature on creativity. Creativity researchers of various approaches offer alongside methodological diversity a vast array of paradigms and definitions, leading, on the other hand, to contradictions of results. Nevertheless, the concept of creativity is to be maintained in the sense that it encompasses the ability to produce innovatively original, valuable, adaptive solutions breaking with pre-existing categories and developing unconventional alternatives. Since creativity cannot definitely be subject of scientific investigations as an overarching entity and its essence has not been grasped so far, some of its components can be measured and defined such as specific cognitive processes (divergent and convergent thinking, remote associations, conceptual expansion, working memory), motivational factors, emotional/affective conditions or personality traits considered as predictors of creative performance (schizotypal, autistic spectrum traits). Even though definitional inconsistencies persist, gradually neurobiological approaches have become the main issue of creativity research. Recently, the analysis of brain network activity applying methods of electrophysiology and brain imaging seems to promote the understanding of the functional localization of creative performance. Certain brain regions were initially identified as correlates of creativity, such as lateral prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobe, insula, striatum. More recent studies emphasize the activation and effective functional connectivity of large brain networks (default mode network, frontoparietal executive control, and others) as well as highlight the importance of their brain and neurochemical substrate (gray matter volume, white matter integrity, dopamine), connecting with cognitive processes of opposite style (flexibility versus persistence). While this paradigm seems to converge toward the delineation of a coherent neurobiological model of creativity, obviously we would not infer the essence of such a complex phenomenon from a simplified sub-process. Orv Hetil. 2023; 164(18): 683-693.

Effects of Robotics Education on Young Children's Cognitive Development: a Pilot Study with Eye-Tracking.

The emerging field of robotics education (RE) is a new and rapidly growing subject area worldwide. It may provide a playful and novel learning environment for children to engage with all aspects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning. The purpose of this research is to examine how robotics learning activities may affect the cognitive abilities and cognitive processes of 6-8 years old children. The study adopted the mixed methods approach with a repeated measures design; three waves of data collection over 6 months, including quantitative data obtained from cognitive assessments and eye-tracking, and qualitative data from the interviews. A total of 31 children were recruited from an afterschool robotics program. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first RE research that used a combination of eye-tracking, cognitive assessments, and interviews for examining the effect of RE on children. Using linear growth models, the results of cognitive assessments showed that children's visuospatial working memory as well as logical and abstract reasoning skills improved over time. The interview data were analyzed by a thematic analysis. The results revealed that children perceived RE activities as game play, which made children more engaged in their study; parents found their children to be more focused on activities comparing to six months ago. Additionally, the visualization of the eye-tracking data suggested that children became more focused on RE activities and got faster to process the information across six months in general, which echoed the findings in assessments and interviews. Our findings may help educators and policymakers better understand the benefits of RE for young children.

Perseverative thinking is associated with features of spoken language.

Perseverative thinking (PT), such as rumination or worry, is a transdiagnostic process implicated in the onset and maintenance of emotional disorders. Existing measures of PT are limited by demand and expectancy effects, cognitive biases, and reflexivity, leading to calls for unobtrusive, behavioral measures. In response, we developed a behavioral measure of PT based on language. A mixed sample of 188 participants with major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or no psychopathology completed self-report PT measures. Participants were also interviewed, providing a natural language sample. We examined language features associated with PT, then built a language-based PT model and examined its predictive power. PT was associated with multiple language features, most notably I-usage (e.g., "I", "me"; ß = 0.25) and negative emotion language (e.g., "anxiety", "difficult"; ß = 0.19). In machine learning analyses, language features accounted for 14% of the variance in self-reported PT. Language-based PT predicted the presence and severity of depression and anxiety, psychiatric comorbidity, and treatment seeking, with effects in the r = 0.15-0.41 range. PT has face-valid linguistic correlates and our language-based measure holds promise for assessing PT unobtrusively. With further development, this measure could be used to passively detect PT for deployment of "just-in-time" interventions.

El aporte del procesamiento cognitivo a los puntajes en matemáticas en el Tercer Estudio Regional Comparativo y Explicativo / The contribution of cognitive processing to scores in mathematics in the Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study

Resumen Las pruebas internacionales de aplicación masiva permiten evaluar los aportes de los factores individuales, familiares, institucionales y nacionales al logro educativo de los estudiantes expresado en su desempeño. En este contexto, el propósito de este estudio fue proponer y evaluar un modelo de efectos centrado en el procesamiento cognitivo esencial e incidental de las actividades académicas, de acuerdo con el desempeño en las pruebas de matemáticas en estudiantes de sexto grado de 15 países (y el estado de Nuevo León de México) que participaron en el Tercer Estudio Regional Comparativo y Explicativo (TERCE). Se formuló un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales en el que se calcularon índices de procesamiento esencial (control atencional, memoria de trabajo y supervisión familiar) y procesamiento incidental (violencia percibida, uso de ocio de la computadora -videojuegos, redes sociales, reproducción de contenidos, etcétera), con base en los ítems o preguntas utilizados en el TERCE. Los índices se diseñaron y obtuvieron según el Modelo de Rasch de la Teoría de Respuesta al Ítem (TRI). El modelo planteado afecta el desempeño en la prueba en 24 puntos. La variable con mayor tamaño de efecto es el uso de ocio de computadoras en el hogar. Los resultados se discuten a la luz de las hipótesis cognitivas sobre la distribución de recursos de atención y la de entrenamiento para entender el rol de las tecnologías de la información en el proceso formativo.

Abstract International tests of massive application allow evaluating how individual, institutional, national, and family factors contribute to students' educational achievement through their performance. Consequently, education evaluation is based on the paradigm of general and specific competencies for life. One of these general competencies is the capacity to solve mathematical problems and apply logical thinking to problem-solving. In order to evaluate this general competence, standardized tests have been developed. Among these tests, the Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE) in 2013 evaluated the mathematical and other areas' academic performance of children in the third and sixth grade. The TERCE Mathematics evaluation allows researchers to capture the students' academic performance in five domains: numeric, geometric, measurement, statistics, and variation, as well as their cognitive performance in objects and elements recognition and simple and complex problem-solving. In addition, to evaluate these eight dimensions, the TERCE test also asks for information regarding academic context, family environment, and teachers, among others. Despite this information, in Colombia and in general, the evaluation of the socioeconomic context over academic performance has been studied mainly considering the schools' characteristics, families' economic levels, and public expenses. Therefore, there is little evidence of the effects of psycho-pedagogical and psychological factors on academic performance. Psycho-pedagogical models emphasize the dependence of the superior processes on perceptual and attentional processes and the need for activities that demand deep processing and active involvement with information before, during, and after classes. Thus, attending simultaneously to different elements affects the development of cognitive control functions, which leads to low academic achievement and performance. Frequently, students face academic activities in different scenarios where the attentional system should divide its resources between several stimulus sources. Activities in which the attentional system focuses are "essential processing", and those not related to the main academic activity are called "incidental processing". Consequently, increasing the sources of incidental processing would decrease the attentional resources devoted to the essential processing of educational activities producing low academic performance. In this context, the study proposes and evaluates an effects model focused on essential and incidental cognitive processing of academic activities. The information was captured on the mathematics performance of sixth-grade students from 15 countries (and the state of Nuevo León de México) participating in the Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE). A Structural Equations model was formulated using indices of Essential Processing (Attentional Control, Working Memory, and Family Supervision) and Incidental Processing (Perceived Violence, Leisure use of the computer, and incidental processing) based on the items or questions used in the TERCE. The indices were designed based on the Item Response Theory (IRT) model. Findings show that the proposed model affects the performance in the test by 24 points. Higher scores in essential processing produce higher scores in the mathematics component of the TERCE test. Family supervision of academic activity is the single element with the highest impact on academic performance (3.020); on the other hand, attentional control (7.48) and working memory (4.295) also impact academic performance positively. Regarding the incidental processing variables, lower levels of perceived violence (1.680), less noise and distractor in class (2.130), and higher use of computers at home for leisure activities (5.851) have the most significant impacts on academic performance. The results are discussed considering the cognitive hypotheses on the distribution of attention resources and the training hypothesis to understand information technologies' role in the academic processes. Suggestions for further research focus on the inclusion of items with a higher theoretical background that allows researchers to evaluate the impact of essential and incidental processing on academic performance using items specially designed with that goal to get more conclusive and robust results.

Why am I craving? The role of elaboration on ambiguous desire states.

Objective: We examined how attributions of broad ambiguous desire symptoms (eg, irritability) and elaborations on specific substances (ie, caffeine/food) influence subsequent self-reported cravings for these substances. Participants: 346 undergraduates were randomized to attribute their ambiguous desire symptoms to a lack of caffeine, food, or a vacation (active control), and then elaborate on the assigned stimulus. There was also a no-elaboration control group. Methods: Generalized Linear Models were used to test whether elaborating on one substance would increase cravings for that substance and decrease craving for the unelaborated substance relative to controls. Results: Participants who elaborated in terms of food reported increased food cravings, whereas participants who elaborated in terms of caffeine reported increased caffeine cravings. Conclusions: Findings suggest that food and caffeine cravings are malleable, and point to the importance of elaboration in polysubstance contexts. Food and caffeine elaborations may matter for heightening craving and determining the targets of craving.

Understanding creativity process through electroencephalography measurement on creativity-related cognitive factors.

Introduction: Neurotechnology approaches, such as electroencephalography (EEG), can aid understanding of the cognitive processes behind creativity. Methods: To identify and compare the EEG characteristics of creativity-related cognitive factors (remote association, common association, combination, recall, and retrieval), 30 participants were recruited to conduct an EEG induction study. Results: From the event-related potential (ERP) results and spectral analysis, the study supports that creativity is related to the frontal lobe areas of the brain and common association is an unconscious process. Discussion: The results help explain why some creativity-related cognitive factors are involved either more or less readily than others in the creative design process from workload aspects. This study identifies the part of the brain that is involved in the combination cognitive factor and detects the ERP results on cognitive factors. This study can be used by designers and researchers to further understand the cognitive processes of creativity.

How does price variance among purchase channels affect consumers' cognitive process when shopping online?

The rise of a flourishing online shopping market has expanded the range of purchase channels available to consumers. Meanwhile, the competition among channels has become increasingly fierce. In this study, the changes in cognitive processes caused by price variance among channels were investigated using event-related potentials. Several daily necessities with low or high price variance between a self-operated business channel and third-party seller channels were chosen as the study objects from a well-known electronic business platform. Thirty participants' electroencephalograms were collected while they faced higher or lower price variance during the experiment. The results showed that small price variances between the two channels tended to intensify component N2, while big price variances tended to diminish component P3. These results suggest that N2 may reflect consumers' identification process for price variance and inhibition of a planned response, while P3 may reflect the activation of attention caused by task difficulty due to price variance. These findings indicate that the changes in ERP components N2 and P3 may act as cognitive indices that measure customers' identification and attention distribution when considering product price variances among online purchase channels.

Is Splitting Related to Resistance to Proactive Interference? A Process-Oriented Study of Kernberg's Conceptualization of Splitting.

INTRODUCTION: Splitting, as a defense mechanism in Kernberg's theory, plays a significant role in the development and maintenance of polarized and oscillating representations of self/other characteristics of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Although the notion of splitting can be considered from a structural and a functional point of view, almost all empirical studies to date have focused on the former elements to the detriment of related cognitive processes. METHODS: To further investigate the cognitive processes related to splitting, 60 participants were administered the Splitting Index and indexes of resistance to proactive interference (PI) using the interpersonal recent negative task with words that reflect negative or positive interactions compared to neutral words. RESULTS: The use of splitting was uniquely and significantly predicted by a higher capacity to resist PI and a lower capacity to consistently maintain this resistance when presented with negative words, above and beyond BPD traits, primitive defenses, and the presentation of neutral words. Results showed no evidence of a relationship between splitting and resistance to PI with positive words. CONCLUSION: Results appear compatible with Kernberg's conceptualization of splitting as an active defense process that relates to an unstable capacity to inhibit negative representations of the object from entering working memory.