Renata Ferrarez Fernandes Lopes

Memória de trabalho viso-espacial em crianças de 7 a 12 anos

Visuo-spatial working memory in 7-12 year old children. This study aimed to evaluate the mechanisms of visual-spatial memory in children. Seventy eight children took part in an experiment with four factors: children’s age, stimuli spatial position, stimuli visual similarity, stimuli set color. The results have shown that all main factors are statistically meaningful. The oldest children presented a better performance than the youngest ones. Stimuli set formed by low similarity letters were better recollected than the stimuli set formed by high similarity letters. The recall of the spatial position of letters was better in trials where the letters of a set were presented in the same color. The percentage of correct recall changed meaningfully as a function of the spatial position in which the target had been presented. The results were interpreted according to models that emphasize aspects of development of cognitive strategies along with the human development, especially the working memory model.

Relação entre percepção e comportamento de risco e níveis de habilidades cognitivas em um grupo de adolescentes em situação de vulnerabilidade social

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar as correlacoes entre inteligencia verbal e nao verbal, percepcao e intencao de apresentar comportamentos de risco. Quarenta e oito adolescentes, sendo 22 homens e 26 mulheres, com media de idade de 16 anos, responderam tres instrumentos: Escala de Percepcao e Intencao de Apresentar Comportamento Arriscado, bateria de provas de raciocinio e Teste de Matrizes Progressivas de Raven. Os resultados indicaram classificacao media quanto a inteligencia. Houve diferenca significativa entre os generos para o raciocinio mecânico, com homens apresentando desempenho melhor que mulheres. Observaram-se correlacoes positivas entre percepcao de risco legal etico e percepcao de risco a saude, raciocinio verbal e percepcao de risco legal-etico e com percepcao de risco a saude, raciocinio mecânico e intencao de apresentar comportamento de risco legal-etico e com intencao de apresentar comportamento de risco financeiro. Constataram-se relacoes entre inteligencia e percepcao de risco, sendo que as habilidades intelectuais superiores parecem ajudar o individuo a perceber melhor as situacoes de risco, mas nao garantem evitacao de comportamentos que gerem punicoes e sancoes derivadas do contato com o risco. Estudos como este ajudam a avaliar elementos ligados ao risco que devem ser abordados em programas sociais de cunho preventivo que visem adolescentes, como o projeto no qual esta amostra esta inserida.The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between verbal and non verbal intelligence, risk perception and intention to show risk behavior. Forty-eight teenagers, including 22 men and 26 women around 16 years old answered three instruments: Perception and Intention to Show Risk Behavior Scale, reasoning tests battery and Raven’s Progressive Matrix Test. Results indicated average classification concerning intelligence. There was significant difference between genres to mechanic reasoning, and men showed better performance than women. There was positive correlation between ethic-legal and health risk perception and verbal reasoning as well as between legal-ethic to health risk perception and intention to show financial risk behavior. Correlation between intelligence and risk perception was observed; higher intellectual abilities seem to help the individual in better perceiving the risk situations, but they don’t garantee they can avoid behaviors which generate punishment and sanctions consequent to risk contact. Studies like this have social and theoretical relevance to preventive social programs directed to teenagers in risk.

A psicologia cognitiva experimental cinqüenta anos depois: a crise do paradigma do processamento de informação

Resumo: Este texto apresenta uma discussao acerca da revolucao cognitiva em Psicologia e de sua problematica teorico-metodologica que parece culminar numa tentativa de naturalizacao do conhecimento e numa dificuldade de integracao da experimentacao, modelagem computacional da mente e neurociencias. Tres abordagens alternativas/complementares ao processamento da informacao sao apresentadas: a abordagem computacional, as neurociencias e a psicologia ecologica. Palavras-chave: processamento da informacao; metodo experimental; abordagem computacional; neurociencias, psicologia ecologica. EXPERIMENTAL COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY FIFTY YEARS LATER: THE CRISIS OF THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING PARADIGM

Estudo das habilidades de memória e raciocínio simbólico e não-simbólico de crianças e adolescentes surdas por meio da bateria padrão do Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test

This study aimed to explore memory and symbolic and non symbolic reasoning skills of deaf children and adolescents using the analyses of performance of the standard battery of Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT). Fifty five participants took part in the study. The collected data were analyzed through parametric statistics. The data suggest that the capacity to manipulate and to represent memorized symbolic information may be enhanced by school and/or extracurricular activities.

Características psicométricas da Bateria Padrão do Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT): um estudo preliminar

Este trabalho teve como objetivo realizar a analise preliminar das caracteristicas psicometricas da Bateria Padrao do Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT) numa amostra com 77 sujeitos. Os subtestes avaliaram as habilidades de atencao para detalhe, processamento sequencial, mediacao simbolica, formacao de conceitos, integracao viso-motora, pensamento abstrato, processamento holistico, capacidade de sintese, dentre outros. Como se trata de um teste nao-verbal, a comunicacao entre o aplicador e o avaliado foi feita a partir de gestos universais, e 100% dos participantes foram capazes de compreender as instrucoes. Uma analise de componentes principais indicou a presenca de um componente (fator g) que explicou 90,01% da variância total do teste. O coeficiente de consistencia interna (metodo das metades) e bastante satisfatorio (0,99). Os dados obtidos, ate o presente, mostram a viabilidade de aplicacao deste teste, configurando-se numa alternativa para os testes intelectuais verbais conhecidos.

Aspectos conceituais do perdão no campo da Psicologia

As Psychology is a relatively new science, the interest in the study of forgiveness in this area is also new. More systematic works appeared only in the 80s, outside our country, while here it appeared only in the early 2000s. Considering the recency of the scientific production on forgiveness in our country, this article aims to present a review of the literature addressing the conceptual issues of forgiveness in the field of Psychology. Since it is common in publications about forgiveness the concern of researchers to define and clarify how they understand this construct - always emphasizing that the way how we understand forgiveness has important implications in the way we will study it - a work that addresses these issues seems relevant to those who are engaged into research in the topic in our country. The text is divided into four parts, beginning with a brief presentation of the historical aspects of the studies on forgiveness. Next the main points of disagreement surrounding the concept of forgiveness are presented. After that, the main definitions proposed by the researchers are listed, followed by final considerations.

Uma análise sistemática dos contos dos irmãos Grimm a partir da terapia dos esquemas de Jeffrey Young

The Therapy of the Schemes proposed by Jeffrey Young has as a characteristic the notion of Non-adaptive Initial Schemes (NISs) and of domains of schemes. The NISs are schematic structures formed by memories, emotions, cognitions and bodily sensations, which are in dysfunctional states and early in development. A premise of this approach is to consider that the NISs originate from harmful emotional experiences throughout childhood and adolescence in the family context. In child therapy, the NISs can be identified and modified from narrative techniques. Fairy tales, for containing symbols, fantasies and metaphors, they allow the activation of internal states and perceptions of the child in relation to their NISs. Excerpts from 12 tales were selected for which the concordance index in relation to the five domains of NISs was established. The contribution of this research is to show that the plots of fairy tales can compose protocols of child cognitive-behavioral intervention, constituting themselves as a psycho-educative and interventional tool.

Presença de distorções cognitivas em propagandas brasileiras

The objective of this research was to analyze advertisements in order to verify the hypothesis that cognitive distortions can be found in advertisements. We used results of proof obtained by judges that evaluated the transcription (verbal and non-verbal content) from two commercials aired nationally on public television according to the absence or presence of these distortions: dichotomous thinking, catastrophizing, disqualifying the positive, labeling, magnification/minimization, mental filter, mind reading, overgeneralization, personalization, statements like “I should” or “I could”). Participated as judges, six experts in cognitive-behavioral therapy that work in the clinical area and/or are teachers in Higher Education. Responses were submitted to the Binomial test with the following result: the presence of the cognitive distortion “dichotomous thinking” (p < 0.01) in the first advertising (cosmetic industry), and “catastrophizing” (p < 0.01) in the second advertisement (insurance industry). These results indicate that there may be influence of advertising on the construction and maintenance of maladaptive representations. Additionally, the results may contribute to further studies in the psychology of consumption, and so that advertising regulation may take into consideration the cognitive processing and avoid spreading distortions in the actions of the social media.

Interfaces da terapia cognitivo-comportamental familiar com a teoria piagetiana

This paper is a theoretical exercise which focuses on the Cognitive-Behavioral Family Therapy (TCCF) in an interface with the Piagetian theory. Thus, we emphasize the retrogressions of the cognitive development stages (pre-operative, operative concrete and formal operations) that some adults may have in the context of family conflict and relationships were indicated between maladaptive patterns of cognition (cognitive distortions) and this retrogression of cognitive abilities. We proposed a framework based on the development of cognitive functions to give support to the TCCF, providing a more comprehensive and effective intervention that takes into account the cognitive and affective capacities of all family members.

Conceptual issues of forgiveness in the field of Psychology

As Psychology is a relatively new science, the interest in the study of forgiveness in this area is also new. More systematic works appeared only in the 80s, outside our country, while here it appeared only in the early 2000s. Considering the recency of the scientific production on forgiveness in our country, this article aims to present a review of the literature addressing the conceptual issues of forgiveness in the field of Psychology. Since it is common in publications about forgiveness the concern of researchers to define and clarify how they understand this construct - always emphasizing that the way how we understand forgiveness has important implications in the way we will study it - a work that addresses these issues seems relevant to those who are engaged into research in the topic in our country. The text is divided into four parts, beginning with a brief presentation of the historical aspects of the studies on forgiveness. Next the main points of disagreement surrounding the concept of forgiveness are presented. After that, the main definitions proposed by the researchers are listed, followed by final considerations.