The rise of competitive e-sports and its increasing popularity with several million players worldwide across various games has sparked an interest in the cognitive abilities associated with it. This study aimed to investigate if there is a relationship between competitive play and an increase in cognitive ability, as measured by performance in cognitive tasks. The research question focuses on whether or not players who dedicate a significant amount of time playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) to compete on a higher level will perform better in cognitive tasks than non-competitive players. In this differential study with a between-group design, a total of 24 participants participated, with 12 in each group. Data for cognitive abilities were measured by performance across a battery of cognitive tests consisting of the Iowa Gambling Task, Inhibition of Return, Multitasking, and the Tower of Hanoi, with the latter acting as a control for general cognitive ability. All data were gathered online. Results show that competitive players performed significantly better in the multitasking task than their non-competitive counterparts. Furthermore, there seems to be no significant difference overall in general cognitive ability or for the other tasks. This finding suggests that the competitive environment of CSGO may be effective for increased performance in some cognitive tasks like multitasking. However, this might not be true regarding other cognitive abilities such as decision-making.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD), a complex disorder linked to adverse behavioral outcomes and impaired functioning, is associated with difficulties in emotion regulation (ER)—including both ER abilities and use of ER strategies. BPD commonly co-occurs with other disorders that are themselves linked to emotion dysregulation. Thus, it is important to consider the potential role of these comorbidities when examining ER difficulties in BPD. The present study investigated relationships between ER abilities, ER strategies, and BPD, while considering key comorbidities, among a sample of participants: (a) diagnosed with BPD, (b) without BPD but matched to BPD group members on key classes of psychopathology (i.e., mood, anxiety, substance use, trauma-related, and other personality disorders; matched psychiatric control [MPC] group), or (c) free of assessed psychopathology (healthy control [HC] group). Results revealed few significant differences between the BPD and MPC groups, who both demonstrated greater impairments than the HC group across most ER abilities and strategies. Notable exceptions were greater impulse control difficulty (ability) and anger rumination (strategy) in the BPD relative to both other groups. Additionally, lower composite maladaptive ER strategies and higher composite adaptive strategies distinguished the HC from BPD group, with neither composite ER abilities nor strategies differentiating the MPC from BPD group, though this result is limited by statistical overlap between variables. By elucidating the potential role of psychiatric comorbidity in two key components of ER in BPD, this study contributes to a growing literature that may help inform therapeutic interventions targeting the severe emotional and behavioral dysregulation commonly seen in this complex disorder. / Psychology

The comprehensive aim of the essay is to discuss the abilities of developing individual, communicative and cooperative skills, related to The Swedish National Agency for Education, for pre-school children in Montessori and Reggio Emilia-inspired pre-schools. The importance of the choice of pre-school for lifelong learning is discussed and examined. The two educational profiles are presented and the theories of communication, collaboration and individual work are the basis for the analysis of the results. The collection of empirical data is done through observations and interviews with pre-school children. First, the informants construct a fantasy animal on their own and then together with a partner. The results revealed some general patterns among the children in both pre-schools. About the communicative abilities no general pattern were found among the children. The Montessori pre-school provided good opportunities for individual abilities and the Reggio Emilia-inspired preschool good potential for developing skills in collaboration. The conclusion is that the choice of pre-school can have an impact on children’s continued learning.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No

The purpose of the present study was to attempt to reconcile the seemingly overwhelming body of empirical evidence arguing for the preeminence of general cognitive ability in relation to specific abilities with the general resistance of the majority of Industrial-Organizational psychologists to such a position. The contention of the present study was that the primary evidence used to support the view that specific abilities are of little importance relative to general cognitive ability did not faithfully represent the classic selection model and was based on tenuous assumptions about the operationalizations of general and specific cognitive abilities. By virtue of being defined in un-interpretable terms with respect to content or function, prior operationalizations of specific abilities did not lend themselves to logical and theoretical relationships with job specific job performance. The general thesis of the present study was that if a "construct oriented approach" that is largely based on this classic selection model were implemented, a composite of psychologically interpretable job related specific abilities would prove equivalent or even superior to general cognitive ability in the prediction of job performance. Results suggest implementation of the construct oriented approach demonstrates potential for the value of this approach with respect to balancing criterion related validity and social equity. / Ph. D.

[pt] São os jovens que convivem de modo contínuo e crescente com novos conteúdos, usos e contextos de interação através das novas mídias, sendo assim é importante investigar mais sobre esses usos e suas possíveis relações entre eles e os processos educativos Os objetivos deste estudo, que tem como base a Pesquisa Juventude e Mídia, estão relacionados a identificação, descrição e análise dos modos de uso de mídias digitais, especialmente da internet, construídos por estudantes do nono ano do ensino fundamental da rede pública municipal do Rio de Janeiro, em contexto escolar e no seu tempo livre e as habilidades desenvolvidas por estes jovens a partir dos usos. A realização desse estudo envolveu a construção e aplicação de questionários junto a 3705 alunos do nono ano do Ensino Fundamental em uma amostra de 39 escolas. A análise dos dados foi baseada na aplicação de oito modelos de regressão linear. Os resultados indicam há uma correlação negativa entre a defasagem idade/série e habilidades (quanto maior o número de anos de atraso em relação à idade esperada menor a probabilidade de se declarar habilidoso), que pode estar relacionada ao efeito da baixa autoestima. Por outro lado há uma correlação positiva entre o desenvolvimento de habilidades e a presença, no âmbito doméstico, de mídias e livros, assim como a prática de atividades culturais cultivadas (frequência a museus, centros culturais, cinema, teatro, shows etc.) que sugere a necessidade de redução da desigualdade social, o que tornaria tais recursos acessíveis a todos. Nossos resultados sugerem que o ganho mais significativo no uso do computador e da Internet entre os jovens pesquisados se dá no âmbito da sociabilidade, entendida como transmissão de conhecimentos, normas e valores entre pares. / [en] The young adults are the ones who interact on a continuous and growing basis with the new contents, uses and interaction contexts through the new media. Therefore, it is important to further investigate these uses and their possible relations between them and with the education processes. The purpose of this study, which has as its basis the Research Youth and Media, are related to the identification, description and analysis of the ways of use of digital media, specially the Internet, developed by students of the 9th grade of the fundamental cycle of the public Municipal schools of Rio de Janeiro in the school context and in their free time and the abilities developed by these young adults as a result of these uses. Carrying out this study involved the development and application of questionnaires to 3,705 students of the 9th grade of the fundamental cycle in a sample of 39 schools. The data analysis was based on the application of eight linear regression models The results show a negative correlation between the gap age/grade and abilities (the higher the number of years of delay as compared to the expected age the lower the probability of the student declaring him/herself skillful)., what may be related to the effect of low self esteem. On the other hand, there is a positive correlation between the development of abilities and the presence in the domestic environment of media and books, as well as the engagement in cultural activities (visits to museums, cultural centers, movie theatres, plays, shows etc) what suggests the need of reducing the social differences, what would make these resources available to all. Our results suggest that the most significant gain resulting from the use of computer and internet among the young adults subject of the research is verified in their sociability, understood as transmission of knowledge, rules and value between the pairs.

Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka eventuella skillnader mellan barn med cochleaimplantat (CI) och/eller hörapparat (HA) och normalhörande barn i åldrarna fem till sju år avseende fonologiska och kognitiva förmågor. I studien jämfördes resultat från elva till 44 normalhörande barn med åtta till 25 barn med CI/HA från fyra olika studier. Undersökningsmaterialet utgjordes av kortversionen av Stora fonemtestet, fonologiska representationer, TOWRE samt fem deltest ur testbatteriet SIPS. Testresultaten analyserades kvantitativt och för kortversionen av Stora Fonemtestet även kvalitativt. Resultatet visade att barnen med CI/HA generellt presterade lägre än de normalhörande barnen på test av fonologisk förmåga och fonologiskt arbetsminne, men att de låg i nivå med de normalhörande barnen avseende generellt och visuospatialt arbetsminne. De slutsatser som kunde dras var att barnen med CI/HA presterade signifikant lägre avseende flertalet aspekter av fonologisk förmåga, på gruppnivå, dock var prestationen hos barnen med CI/HA vid uppdelning i åldersgrupper signifikant lägre på test av fonologisk produktion i femårsgruppen, men inte i sex- och sjuårsgrupperna. Beträffande kognitiv förmåga presterade barnen med CI/HA betydligt lägre på test av fonologiskt arbetsminne, men de presterade i nivå med de normalhörande barnen i samma åldrar avseende generellt och visuospatialt arbetsminne. / The aim of the current study was to examine potential differences in phonological and cognitive abilities between children with cochlear implants (CI) and/or hearing aids (HA) and hearing children in the ages five to seven years. The study compared results from eleven to 44 children with normal hearing with eight to 25 children with CI/HA from four different studies. The material consisted of a test of output phonology, a test of phonological representations, TOWRE and five subtests in SIPS. All of the results were analyzed quantitatively and the test of output phonology was also analyzed qualitatively. The results indicated that children with CI/HA in general performed poorer than the hearing children on tests of phonological ability and phonological working memory, but they performed on a par with hearing children on tests of complex and visuospatial working memory. The conclusions that may be drawn are that the children with CI/HA, as a group, exhibited poorer phonological ability on several of tests of phonological ability than the children with normal hearing. When analyzed according to age the children with CI/HA exhibited significantly lower phonological production skills in the group consisting of five year old children, but not in the groups consisting of six and seven year old children. Regarding cognitive ability the children with CI/HA exhibited poorer phonological working memory capacity compared to the children with normal hearing, but regarding complex and visuospatial working memory they exhibited abilities on a par with the children with normal hearing