Cognitive functioning: is it all or none?

Under various circumstances, the cognitive system operates in a global manner that is not very precise and barely discriminatory. This form of operating has been described via a general principal that Diamond (Developmental Psychology 45:130-138, 2009) has denominated the All or None Hypothesis. This author has described a set of corollaries derived from this hypothesis that make it possible to verify it in each one of these domains. Although there is evidence of the global and non-discriminate way in which the cognitive system operates in populations of children, to date, there are no studies that have examined whether this mode of operation is also present in populations of adults. Researchers have yet to determine whether these corollaries apply to middle-aged adults. For this reason, this is the current study's principal objective. A sample of 73 participants with ages ranging from 18 to 57 of both genders was evaluated. A modified version of the arrows test in Davidson et al. (Neuropsychologia 44:2037-2078, 2006) was used to analyze the three corollaries. The results obtained in this study can be interpreted as evidence in favor of the corollaries analyzed herein. Furthermore, they indicate that adult populations have a global response mode that is barely differentiated and that is activated by default in the face of problems and situations that demand behaviors and/or thoughts that are not very analytical and differentiated. However, in contexts that demand greater discrimination, this global mode is substituted by a controlled mode that requires greater cognitive effort and more differentiated processing.

Diseño, Implementación y Análisis de Transferencia de una Tarea de Entrenamiento de Inhibición Cognitiva para Niños Escolares. Un Estudio Piloto / Design, implementation, and transfer analysis of a cognitive inhibition training task for school children. A pilot study

Dentro de un enfoque no unitario de la inhibición, se identifica a la inhibición cognitiva como la capacidad para eliminar información irrelevante de la memoria de trabajo que interfiere con la actividad en curso. Se entiende que su desarrollo experimenta cambios no durante los años de escolaridad primaria y que participa en habilidades fundamentales para dicha etapa. Por ello, este trabajo se propuso analizar los efectos de transferencia de una actividad de entrenamiento de la inhibición cognitiva en niños en los primeros años de educación primaria, con desarrollo típico. Se trabajó con una muestra no probabilística de 39 niños de 6 a 8 años y se implementó un diseño experimental con medidas pre y posttest y grupo control. Luego del entrenamiento se encontraron efectos bajos en el rendimiento en una tarea de inhibición cognitiva y memoria de trabajo viso-espacial

Within a non-unitary approach to inhibition, cognitive inhibition is identified as the ability to remove from working memory irrelevant information which interferes with ongoing activity. Cognitive inhibition undergoes remarkable changes in development during elementary school age and is involved in core skills. Therefore, this work aimed to design, implement, and the transfer effects of a training activity of cognitive inhibition in children over the first years of elementary school with typical development. The sample consisted of 39 children aged 6 to 8 years. An experimental design with pre- and post-test measures and a control group was implemented. After training, low performance effects on a cognitive inhibition task and visual-spatial working memory task were found

Perspectivas Teóricas y Evidencia Empírica sobre la Inhibición / Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Evidence on Inhibition / Perspectivas Teóricas e Evidência Empírica sobre a Inibição

La evidencia empírica muestra que la inhibición es un proceso fuertemente implicado en el dominio y la adquisición de competencias sociales, emocionales y comportamentales. Sin embargo, a pesar del acuerdo respecto a su importancia en distintos ámbitos, aún existen divergencias en cuanto a su definición conceptual y operativa. Principalmente, existe un profundo debate en torno a si la inhibición es un constructo unitario o debería fragmentarse en un conjunto de procesos. El objetivo de este trabajo es describir los hallazgos y las posturas más significativas en relación con el estudio de dicho constructo, para lo cual, en primer lugar se hace una propuesta explicativa del control de la interferencia, basada en un enfoque no inhibitorio; en segundo lugar, se describen los modelos más representativos, de 1, 2 y 3 factores para, finalmente, enumerar algunos de los aportes y hallazgos planteados como principal fuente de evidencia a favor del enfoque fragmentado.

Empirical evidence shows that inhibition is a process strongly implicated in the dominion and acquisition of social, emotional and behavioral skills. However, despite the agreement on its importance in various areas, there is still divergence in terms of its conceptual and operational definition. Mainly, a deep debate exists whether inhibition is a unitary construct or must be fragmented into a set of processes. The objective of this study is to describe the findings and the most significant positions in relation to the study of this construct by first, making an explanatory proposal for interference control, based on a non-inhibitory approach; and secondly, describing the most representative 1, 2 and 3 factor models, to finally list some of the contributions and findings proposed as the main source of evidence for the fragmented approach.

A evidência empírica mostra que a inibição é um processo fortemente vinculado ao domínio e à aquisição de competências sociais, emocionais e comportamentais. Contudo, apesar da concordância a respeito de sua importância em diferentes âmbitos, ainda existem divergências quanto a sua definição conceitual e operativa. Principalmente, existe um profundo debate sobre se a inibição é um construto unitário ou deveria fragmentar-se num conjunto de processos. O objetivo deste trabalho é descrever os achados e os posicionamentos mais significativos no que se refere ao estudo desse construto; para isso, em primeiro lugar, faz-se uma proposta explicativa do controle da interferência, baseada num enfoque inibitório; em segundo lugar, descrevem-se os modelos mais representativos, de 1, 2 e 3 fatores para, finalmente, enumerar algumas das contribuições e constatações apresentadas como principal fonte de evidência a favor do enfoque fragmentado.

[Classification statistical techniques: an applied and comparative study]. / Técnicas estadísticas de clasificación: un estudio comparativo y aplicado.

The aim of this article is to assess and compare three classification statistical techniques--logistic regression, discriminant analysis and classification trees--to identify the personality characteristics associated with the risk of suffering from ischemic cardiovascular acute episodes (ICAE). The sample comprised 313 participants, men and women, aged from 36 to 80. Participants were divided into two groups: a clinical group of patients (n = 143) who were diagnosed as suffering from ICAE, and a control group (n = 170). Both groups were equated in gender, age, socio-economic and educational level. In view of the comparative study of the analytical procedures, we recommend classification trees as the best choice, as it was the most accurate for the individuals in the clinical group, a simple data analysis and a meaningful clinical interpretation. The predictive validity analysis of the MCMI-II allowed the construction of a reduced version made up of 9 personality scales from the 22 scales in the original version. Thus, we could identify the patients with a higher probability of suffering from ICAE, and additionally, generate an empirical model comprising seven and five personality profiles associated, respectively, with the increase and the decrease of the probability of suffering from ICAE.

Técnicas estadísticas de clasificación: un estudio comparativo y aplicado / Classification statistical techniques: An applied and comparative study

El propósito de este trabajo es evaluar y comparar tres técnicas estadísticas de clasificación -regresión logística, análisis discriminante y árboles de clasificación- para identificar las características de personalidad asociadas al riesgo de padecimiento de episodios isquémicos cardiovasculares agudos (EICA). Se utilizaron la tasa de error y el índice C de discriminación como criterios para comparar los resultados obtenidos con las distintas técnicas. El tamaño de la muestra, compuesta por mujeres y hombres con edades comprendidas entre 36 y 80 años, fue igual a 313 participantes, quienes fueron divididos en dos grupos: clínico (n= 143) y control (n= 170), equiparándose por sexo, edad, nivel socio-económico y nivel educacional. El análisis de los resultados posibilitó la elección de los árboles de clasificación como la técnica más adecuada, ya que aporta un porcentaje de predicción más elevado, un tratamiento simple de los datos y una significativa interpretación clínica. Los resultados posibilitaron reducir a 9, de las 22 originales, las escalas de personalidad asociadas a una mayor probabilidad de padecer EICA y generar un modelo empírico de siete perfiles de personalidad asociados al aumento de la probabilidad de EICA y cinco perfiles de personalidad vinculados a la ausencia de patología

The aim of this article is to assess and compare three classification statistical techniques -logistic regression, discriminant analysis and classification trees- to identify the personality characteristics associated with the risk of suffering from ischemic cardiovascular acute episodes (ICAE). The sample comprised 313 participants, men and women, aged from 36 to 80. Participants were divided into two groups: a clinical group of patients (n= 143) who were diagnosed as suffering from ICAE, and a control group (n= 170). Both groups were equated in gender, age, socio-economic and educational level. In view of the comparative study of the analytical procedures, we recommend classification trees as the best choice, as it was the most accurate for the individuals in the clinical group, a simple data analysis and a meaningful clinical interpretation. The predictive validity analysis of the MCMI-II allowed the construction of a reduced version made up of 9 personality scales from the 22 scales in the original version. Thus, we could identify the patients with a higher probability of suffering from ICAE, and additionally, generate an empirical model comprising seven and five personality profiles associated, respectively, with the increase and the decrease of the probability of suffering from ICAE