Rocío Guil Bozal

Reaction Time and Attention: Toward a New Standard in the Assessment of ADHD? A Pilot Study.

This pilot study shows results of an experiment comparing reaction times (RTs) and attentional performance between an ADHD group of 30 children and 30 controls, both Spanish speaking. The experiment was carried out using the Seville computerized neuropsychological battery (SNB). Objective: This study had two goals: One was to test sensitivity of SNB for attention deficits in ADHD and the second was to detect differences in RTs between ADHD and controls. Possible explanations and implications of such differences are also discussed. Method: SNB computerized system was used to assess RTs and accuracy, and alternate forms of continuous performance task were used. Results: Results showed high sensitivity of some of the SNB tests, especially cancellation tests. RTs were significantly different between groups. Conclusion: SNB represents a helpful tool for detection of attention deficits, and RT indices represent the most significant variable in differentiation of both groups studied.

Inteligencia emocional: resultados preliminares sobre su naturaleza y capacidad predictiva a partir de un estudio correlacional en muestras de estudiantes de secundaria = Emotional intelligence: preliminary results on its nature and predictive validity.

RESUMEN Uno de los campos de aplicacion de la inteligencia emocional (IE) esta siendo desde hace pocos anos el educativo. La posible vinculacion entre la IE y la adaptacion del alumnado al sistema educativo pasa por resolver algunas cuestiones a priori necesarias para los estudios de validez predictiva en contextos escolares. Por un lado, se necesita datos empiricos que muestren que estamos ante un constructo novedoso y, si esto fuese asi, comprobar si la IE esta relacionada con algunos criterios adaptativos sobre la adaptacion escolar. Este estudio, es solo el principio de una serie de trabajos de los autores encaminados a mostrar que la IE es un concepto novedoso e independiente de otros de conceptos relacionados con la inteligencia y la personalidad; y por otro lado, se muestran algunos resultados relacionados con la adaptacion. ABSTRACT The Educational System is one of the Emotional Intelligence (EI) implementation fields. From a few years back, the possible links between EI and students adaptation to the Educational System need some questions to be answered prior to the study of predictive validity in educational contexts. On one hand, some empirical data are needed to show we are faced with a novel construct and, if so, to prove whether EI is related to some adaptive criteria about educational adaptation. This research is only the beginning of a series of investigations by the authors aimed at showing that EI is a novel and autonomous construct, with independence from other constructs related to intelligence and personality. On the other hand, some outcomes related to adaptation are shown.