mohammad-ali nazari

The temporal reproduction paradigm is extensively used to study human time perception. Despite extensive behavioral and physiological research, the effect of click trains on different supra-second interval timings in the time reproduction task remains unclear. Event-related potentials (ERPs), such as contingent negative variation (CNV), might provide further insight into the underlying processes occurring at various timing stages.

In this study, constant and click trains stimuli were presented to the 33 participants in a time reproduction task. During the encoding phase, participants in each condition were given different click train interval timings (1400, 1600, 1800, and 2000 ms). In this original research, we examined the influence of click trains on time reproduction performance using behavioral and electrophysiological methods.

Findings revealed time dilation during the presentation of click trains in behavioral patterns (P-value = 0.001). Furthermore, electroencephalography (EEG) data revealed a distinct CNV during the encoding and reproduction of interval timings. In the reproduction phase, CNV amplitudes were more negative in the click trains condition compared with the constant auditory stimulation condition (P-value = 0.027). Statistically significant differences were also observed in the CNV amplitudes at various interval timings during the encoding phase, but the amplitude did not increase linearly.

Intriguingly, according to the proposed neural mechanism studies, the brain structures affected by the click train corresponded to the electrodes that CNV was observed in the time reproduction task. These findings contribute to our understanding of the striatal-beat frequency (SBF) timing model.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of neurofeedback (NFB) and motor training (MT) on the learning and consolidation of procedural motor performance in novice adolescents. 44 elementary students (mean age 12.1 ±0.6), who had no access to smart devices, were selected as the sample of the research, and then were randomly assigned into four groups; NFB, MT, NFB+MT and control. The implementation of the study included six stages: first baseline, pre-test, intervention (NFB included a 30 minute single-session of alpha suppression on the C4 region for NFB and NFB+MT groups. MT by using 6 blocks of Pursuit Rotor Task (PRT) for NFB+MT and MT groups), secondary baseline, post-test and consolidation test, respectively. Stages 1-5 were done in one day but last stage (learning consolidation test) was conducted 48 hours after the rest period. Participants were right-handed and performed PRT in inverted mode with their non-dominant hand. One-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyses the data. The results showed significantly different between the performance of NFB and MT (P=0.010), NFB and NFB+MT (P=0.044), MT and Control (P=0.022) groups, but the difference between MT and NFB+MT (P=1.000), NFB+MT and Control (P=0.90), and NFB and Control (P=1.000) groups was not significant. The present findings showed that the alpha suppression in C4 had no significant effect on learning and consolidation of unfamiliar and non-automatic movements in novice adolescents but motor training can be an effective way for these people in the first stage of their learning.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating mental illness with symptoms typically manifesting during childhood and adolescence. Quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) is a favored brain mapping technique for investigating psychiatric disorders due to its accessibility and ease of use. Spectral features of QEEG, particularly differences in neural activity across frequency bands and brain regions, may underlie certain diseases. This study investigates the performance of a machine learning algorithm using spectral features as input to provide insight into the neural activities associated with OCD.

This analytical cross-sectional study obtained EEG signals from healthy controls and OCD patients in a closed-eyes condition using a 21-channel cap. After noise removal via independent component analysis (ICA), features were calculated, augmented by 1-minute EEG segmentation, and used as input for the machine learning algorithm. Statistical tests were used to compare features between groups.

The study included 42 participants, 27 OCD patients, and 14 healthy controls. All features followed a non-normal distribution. The Mann-Whitney test revealed no significant differences between groups for all features (p>0.05) except for frontal beta (p<0.002). Using 10-fold cross-validation, the machine learning algorithm achieved an accuracy of 82.1%, with a sensitivity of 83.3% and specificity of 80.0%. The false discovery rate (FDR) was 11.8%.

In the studied population, there were no significant differences between OCD patients and healthy controls for any of the investigated features except for the frontal beta feature. However, the machine learning algorithm accurately detected 82.1% of patients, which was comparable to the performance of other features and imaging methods reported in previous studies.

Many children with math learning disabilities encounter challenges related to attention, response inhibition, and verbal comprehension. Cognitive rehabilitation has been recognized as an effective intervention for enhancing the learning abilities of these children. However, there is a lack of comprehensive research regarding the design, development, and effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation tools.

This study was conducted with the aim of examining the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation on attention, response inhibition, and verbal comprehension in children with mathematical learning disabilities.

This study employed a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test measurements, including a control group. The statistical population consisted of students with math learning disabilities who were referred to centers for learning disorders and cognitive rehabilitation in areas 2, 5, 15, and 18 of Tehran. From this population, a purposive sample of 30 individuals was selected and randomly assigned to two groups: experimental (15 individuals) and control (15 individuals). To diagnose math learning disabilities, the Key-Math examination was used. The experimental group received twelve 50-60 minute sessions of intervention using a researcher-made package called Morva, while the control group did not receive any intervention. The children’s’ performance before and after the intervention was evaluated by the Children’s fourth Wechsler test (Wechsler, 2003) < . Analysis of covariance for the data was conducted in SPSS 22 software.

The results showed that the group receiving cognitive rehabilitation program had a significant improvement compared to the control group in attention and response inhibition variables (p<0.001), but had no significant effect on verbal comprehension (p>0.05)

Considering the positive impact on attention and response inhibition variables in children with math learning disabilities, we recommend the utilization of the MORVA cognitive rehabilitation package as an effective intervention for professionals working in this field.

The natural frequencies and mode shapes of bone are widely used in the diagnosis of bone fracture healing, bone remodeling, osteoporosis diagnosis, and implant-bone interaction. These characteristics can be estimated using numerical analysis and finite element modeling and measured and validated by modal testing of laboratory samples. Bone heterogeneity in finite element models affects its natural frequency. In this research, the effect of bone heterogeneity and density-elasticity relationships on the natural frequency of bone and the accuracy of their estimation have been investigated. A cow tibia bone was prepared and subjected to modal test. The experimental results of the modal test were compared with the results of the 3D finite element model created from the bone CT scan images. Inhomogeneity based on the proposed density-elasticity relationships was applied element by element (continuous) and regionally based on a tolerance (discrete) in the model. Comparing the results of heterogeneous models with experimental results shows that there is very little difference between the natural frequencies of discrete and continuous heterogeneous models. So, for the first five frequencies, a discrete heterogeneous model with 20 regions can predict the natural frequencies with an error of less than 2% with less cost and shorter time.

Cognitive rehabilitation consists of a set of targeted programs to remediate or improve cognitive functions. Cognitive skills are considered the main predictors of mathematical ability and related deficits are associated with mathematical disorders. The present study sought to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation in improving working memory performance, visual processing, and spatial perception in children with mathematical learning disorders.

This research utilized a semi-experimental approach with a pre-test-post-test design. The population of the study consisted of students with math problems in Tehran province. 30 participants were selected by purposive sampling and randomly assigned into two experimental (n=15) and control groups (n=15). KeyMath diagnostic test (Connelly, 1988) was used to evaluate their mathematical learning disorder. A researcher-made device called Morva was used for the intervention program. The experimental group participated in eight intervention sessions of 50 to 60 minutes for four weeks. However, the control group did not receive any intervention. The children’s’ performance before and after the intervention was evaluated by the Children’s fourth Wechsler test (Wechsler, 2003). Analysis of covariance for the data was conducted in SPSS 22 software.

The findings revealed a significant difference between the two groups (P<0.001). Therefore, our results suggest that the cognitive intervention had a significant effect on working memory performance, visual perception, and spatial perception.

These results reveal that cognitive interventions might have been effective on the mathematical competency of children with math learning disorders.

The aim of this study was to detect different populations of Pacific White Shrimp (Penaeus vannamei: Boone, 1931) in farmed broodstocks and to determine their genetics indeces in hatchery centers of Bushehr province. First, the origin of the farmed broodstocks was determined based on the historical information of the different stocks. Then, DNA was extracted from muscle tissue of 30 broodstocks from 11 different stocks using a commercial kit. The repeated sequences were amplified using 10 specific primers by PCR in Iranian Shrimp Center. The results showed that the number of alleles was in range of 4.5-5.5 in studied stocks. The most allele frequency was observed in the farmed broadstocks of the third stock in H2 hatchery center, 5.2±0/359. Also, the average of observed heterozygosity in the farmed broadstocks of the second stock in H5 hatchery center obtained 0.669±0.152 that was more than other stocks among all centers. The results of the present study showed that genetics indeces of of third stock in H2 hatchery center were increased compared to other stocks in Bucher province. The inbreeding coefficients of the first stocks in H1 (0.595±0.105) and H3 (0.547±0.145) hatchery centers were significantly higher than other stocks. The inbreeding coefficient increase in farmed broadstocks in these stocks could be related to the small size of founder population and the bias selection programs. However, according to the information from other hatchery centers in Bushehr province and other countries, this amount is acceptable. According to the obtained results, it can be concluded that to increase the genetic indicators in the centers, breeders with higher diversity should be used.

The persistence of post-detoxification problems in drug addiction is one of the disadvantages of the ultra-rapid opioid detoxification (UROD) method. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been introduced in experimental addiction treatment for some years. Results of pilot studies suggest that it might be a promising method for addiction treatment. This study explores the adjunctive application of tDCS during treating opiate addiction with the UROD approach.

This double-blind, sham-controlled clinical trial was carried out on patients with substance abuse admitted to the Bahman Clinic of Yazd City in Iran (from March to September 2014). Forty participants were randomly allocated to treatment and control groups. Two sessions of tDCS (real or sham) over dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFC) were applied, accompanied by UROD. Withdrawal symptoms and craving were assessed by the drug desire questionnaire and objective opiate withdrawal scale before UROD and for the 24-hour interval after.

Transcranial direct current stimulation optimized the opiate addiction treatment through craving and withdrawal syndrome alleviation.

The study results indicate that prefrontal tDCS may promote the efficacy of the UROD method in opioid addiction.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of temperamental differences in people's perceptual bias in the two dimensions of animacy (alive/non-alive) and expression of facial emotion (happy/disgust) in morphed images under ambiguous conditions.

Four groups, each group consisting of 20 people aged 22-35, with emotional temperament of high and low activation and high and low inhibition, were selected based on Affective and Emotional Composite Temperament (AFECT) scale. Under the same conditions, they performed the task of morphed images in two dimensions of emotion and animacy. The findings were analyzed by t-test and Kruskal-Wallis in SPSS software version 26.

High vs. low activation and high vs. low inhibition temperamental groups are biased in the perception of morphed images with emotional expressions of disgust/happiness but not in animacy.

Temperament plays a role in perception of the morphed images with emotional expression of happiness/disgust, but it does not in the animacy dimension.

In line with Lakoff’s theory of embodied cognition, several studies in the field of emotional processing have demonstrated that positive and negative valence is represented based on spatial and bodily characteristics.

The present study aimed to investigate the implicit link between body parts and the emotional valence of Persian words.

The participants included 33 right-handed undergraduate students in the field of psychology who were selected via the convenience sampling method. A priming task with emotional negative and positive words (prime) was used, and the participants had to recognize the leftness or rightness of hand stimuli (target). Reaction times were recorded for target stimuli. The data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 24) using repeated-measures ANOVA.

The obtained results pointed to the implicit association of positive and negative words with bodily features (right hand and left hand).

The findings of the current study are finally discussed within theories of embodied cognition, as well as hemispheric and language processing, for emotional stimuli.

A recent study was conducted to investigate the effects of mindfulness on time perception using a group experimental method.

143 undergraduate students with random control variables, age 18-24 years, minimum diploma, no history of mindfulness exercises, with normal or modified vision to normal (according to the subject) and right-handed were randomly selected and then filling the Freiburg questionnaire. 87 females with a mean age of 19.2 who were moderate in terms of mindfulness ability, subjects whose scores were between (-1Z - + 1Z), were led to the next stage.The number of participants with primary control variables was 87 females with a mean age of 19.2. Of these, 17 did not have the necessary cooperation to continue the research process, and canceled their interviews. The remaining 70 people were invited for structured clinical interviews for DSM-5 (SCID-5-CV) disorders. If there were no major psychiatric disorders, neurological disorders and other systemic diseases, the subjects were selected from the student population. There were 31 of them and 16 people were randomly divided into experimental and 15 control groups.The experimental group listened to a 13-minute mindfulness audio file session and practiced it. A neutral audio file was presented to the control group. The temporal bisection task was presented before and after the implementation of the independent variable and its findings were recorded. Then, with ANCOVA MANCOVA method, we examined the significant difference between the two groups in terms of the percentage of long responses in different conditions of temporal bisection task, Bisection point (Bp) measure, and the measure of the behavioral variable of reaction time.
The temporal bisection task was designed by the researcher to assess the time perception and processing the temporal information of the tests. In this task, subjects are asked to compare the visual temporal stimuli presented with the two reference stimuli "short" and "long" that they memorized. In this task, stimuli with duration (400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1400, 1600 milliseconds) are presented randomly. These stimuli are presented as a block of 126 trails including 18 trails from each stimulus. the subject is asked to classify the presented temporal stimuli into two categories: "short" and "long".

The experimental group scored significantly lower in Bp measure than the control group. The bisection point in time is the period of time in which the percentage of long responses is equal to 50% of the cases, calculated for each subject at each stage. Also, the percentage of Plongs in this group increased significantly compared to the control group, this significant difference was observed especially in condition 5 in the experimental group. Long responses are the ratio of the long responses that the subject gives to the stimuli presented or at different time intervals. Which indicates an overestimation of time following the effect of mindfulness training. In this study, the measure of the behavioral variable of reaction time, which is a behavioral indicator of improving the decision-making process, was also measured. Reaction time is the time between the presentation of the visual stimulus to the time of the subjectschr('39') response to each of the visual stimuli, statistical analysis of the comparison of this index in different test conditions and in the two groups no significant difference was observed between the experimental and control groups.

The results of this study were analyzed based on the hypothesis that mindfulness overestimates time by decreasing the level of arousal and increasing the sources of attention to internal stimuli. To investigate the effect of mindfulness in the decision-making process, it seems that evaluation and spectral analysis of brain wave changes Behavioral responses are essential.Ethical consent form approved by Tabriz University was taken from all subjects and the form was sent to the appendix. The Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology of Tabriz University does not currently provide an ethical code-based identifier for research.

For more than a decade, researchers of Neuromarketing in the field of decision-making neuroscience have been studying the limitations, cognitive biases, and stereotypes of consumers. The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive bias of "what is beautiful is good" on consumer’s purchasing decisions. The appearance of the product is one of the most important factors in the consumer's decision to purchase a product, however, functional information might lead to a breach of expectation in the purchase decision.In order to investigate this phenomenon, 40 female undergraduate students of Tabriz University were selected by convenience sampling method. In this study, 140 wearable gadgets in four categories of beautiful products and standard products, and congruent and incongruent functional information were presented, using eevoke software, in order to investigate the purchase decisions of the participants.Repeated measurement analysis shows that when congruent information is provided, participants have a faster response time to a purchase decision task. The interactive effect of product appearance and information was also significant.The results of this study show that information processing can be as effective as the appearance of the product. These results complement previous and recent findings on “what is beautiful is good” cognitive bias and suggest that functional information is important in interacting with product appearance in the purchasing decision process.

Time Perception is a category that stimulates human's intelligent curiosity for scientific manipulation and cognition. Differences in cognitive function of time perception in different areas such as time awareness, time perspective, and time estimation concerning different variables such as age, different emotional and mental states, different personality traits, and different psychiatric disorders have been studied. In this regard, the relationship between altered states of consciousness and time perception is one of the essential and new areas of attention. In this area, the altered states of consciousness due to meditation exercises have attracted a lot of attention. The mindfulness technique is one of the meditation techniques that affect human cognitive function, including time perception. The studies that have been done in this field are primarily in the field of cognitive, behavioral, and perceptual. However, very little research has been done on the electrophysiological mechanisms of the effect of mindfulness on the time perception.
This study aimed to investigate the effects of mindfulness on the time perception and brain waves using a bio section task with a controlled group experimental design.

This research was carried out through a randomized controlled clinical trial, which was lasted from autumn 2018 to 2020. 143 students of the Science and Research Branch of Islamic Azad University participated voluntarily in the experiments. In a structured clinical interview for the DSM-5 (SCID-5-CV) psychiatric disorder, thirty-one undergraduate students were assessed for mental health and brain disease.. Their mindfulness ability was moderate based on the Freiburg questionnaire, and they were assigned randomly into experimental and control groups, containing sixteen and fifteen participants, respectively. The experimental and control groups were presented a 13-minute mindfulness audio file and a neutral file to. 19-channel EEG signals during the temporal bio section task was recorded from participants, while the power of brain waves in different frequency bands were calculated before and after presenting the independent variable in two groups in channels C3, C4, Cz, F3, F4, Fz, and Pz.F3, Fz, F4, F3, C3, Cz, C4, and Pz channel signals from 19 channels, in 7 conditions, and two pre-test and post-test stages were used for analysis. ICA removed the EMG and EOG artifacts and blinking. Spectral analyzes in the range of 0.5 to 40 Hz were considered. Finally, the signals were visually examined, and the artifact was removed using amplitude thresholding.The Welch power spectrum density estimation method performed power extraction, hamming window 400 ms, 50% overlap, and 0.25 Hz resolution. Frequency bands, Delta 0.5-4, Theta 4-8, Alpha 1: 8-10, Alpha 2: 10-12, Beta 12-30, Gamma 1: 30-35, and Gamma 2: 35-40 Hz were considered. Signal segments were defined from the start of the stimulus display to the response moment in each trial. 500 milliseconds before the trial, and the reference interval was considered. The normalized power was calculated from the relation (signal segment absolute power minus reference absolute power divided by reference absolute power), representing the percentage increase in power from the reference interval to the excitation interval.Subjects were selected with scores (-1Z - + 1Z) on the Freiburg scale. An independent t-test assessed no significant difference between the two groups. Data beyond 1.5 times the interquartile range were defined as an outlier and removed. Normalized power of different frequency bands extracted from target channels was compared between two groups before and after presenting the independent variable using both ANCOVA and MANCOVA tests.

Based on the findings of the ANCOVA test, mindfulness-based intervention decreased BP scores and increased the percentage of long responses in the experimental group compared to the control group.Mindfulness intervention has increased beta power at C3, F4, and Fz, delta at F3, Fz and Pz, theta at C4, F4 and Fz, and theta-to-beta size at C4, Cz, and Pz.Alpha power decreases in C3, F3, F4, and Fz, and increases in Cz and C3; alpha 1 decreases in C4 condition 1; Fz decrease in C4 condition 2 and 3; Cz and Pz decrease, and alpha 2 decreases in C3 condition 2 and C3 condition 7; C4 and F4 it has increased. Therefore, the alpha changes in C3 and F4 were contradictory, and it is impossible to make an integrated inference from the power changes of this wave in C3 and F4.Nevertheless, alpha power increased at C4, Cz, and Pz and decreased at F3 and Fz.Decreased gamma power was observed in F3, F4, and Fz, gamma 1 in F3, gamma 2 in C3, Cz, F3, F4, and Fz. As a result, it can be hypothesized that mindfulness may also improve temporal function by increasing motor inhibition.

Thus, mindfulness has led to an increase in the percentage of long responses (Plong) and a decrease in the bio section points (Bp), resulting in an overestimation of time perception.Mindfulness increases beta, delta, and theta power, resulting in decreased arousal. The decrease in gamma, which indicates an increase in motor inhibition, physical awareness. and emotional regulation, was also proven in this study.The reduction in the theta-to-beta size, indicating an increase in internal focus, also shows in this study that mindfulness overestimates time by changing the outward-inward focus of attention.Therefore, these changes seem to be the electrophysiological mediators of the effect of mindfulness meditation on the process of cognitive processing of time perception in an overestimated way in time perception.Changes in alpha power were obtained inconsistently, requiring further research by examining the distinctive effect of alpha on the hemispheres.According to the results of this study, people estimate longer time intervals after performing mindfulness exercises by decreasing arousal, increasing attention to internal stimuli, and increasing motor inhibition. This effect occurs with the increasing power of beta, delta, and theta, and decreasing gamma, which are possible electrophysiological mediators in this process. Based on the contradictory alpha results, a more detailed study of alpha changes in the hemisphere is suggested.

Ethical considerations

Compliance with ethical guidelines
An ethical consent form approved by Tabriz University was obtained from all subjects. The present study consisted of data analysis, and it was approved by the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Tabriz. 

Authors' contributions

Mohammad Ali Nazari, Mohammad Reza Feizi Derakhshi, and Touraj Hashemi guided the idea generation and design phase. Shahnaz Sabouri has done all the performing steps, sampling, and writing. Maryam Houri Pasand was involved in constructing the bio section task and its execution. Zeynab Khodakarami assisted in signal processing and data extraction, Behzad Golizadeh in statistical processing, and Homa Hashemi in typing and editing.

Personal funds funded this study.

The present article is the doctoral dissertation of the first author of this article (dated 2018/09/19 with the number 17/33419); therefore, the cooperation of all those who contributed to the advancement of this study is appreciated. I would also like to thank the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology of Tabriz University for leading this research.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest

Emotional effects on human time perception are generally attributed to the arousal factor, which is hypothesized to be responsible for speeding up or slowing down the internal clock. The aim of the present study was to investigate the arousal effect on time distortion with the help of event-related potentials (ERPs) that can provide direct electrophysiological measures of arousal rather than self-report indices which have been the common approach in the previous studies. In this study, a temporal bisection task was employed to assess the temporal responses of participants to emotional faces that varied in arousal dimension. The N170 component was used as an objective measure of induced arousal by different emotional faces.

Electroencephalography was recorded in 20 participants who performed a temporal bisection task using high arousal pleasant stimuli (happy faces) and neutral ones as stimuli.

Behavioral data revealed that temporal bisection points were significantly smaller for high arousal pleasant stimuli (happy faces) compared to neutral ones, while changes in N170 amplitude were independent of the emotional modulation of facial stimuli.

In the light of the dual-stage theory of emotional processing, it seems that the N170 component is not appropriate to measure the arousal index of emotional faces in implicit tasks, and probably later components may be a better indicator for this index.

Safety, raising awareness, and preventing the occurrence of hazards are necessary in order to continue to improve the quality of laboratory activities, which have been recently considered by scientific, research, and industrial communities. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the risk factor, potential hazards, and provide practical programs in the laboratories of the Shrimp Research Institute.

Safety hazards of eight laboratories of the National Shrimp Research Institute were evaluated during the intervention study with the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis technique. To this end, in the first phase, the team of safety experts (HSE: Health and Safety Executive), by preparing and completing safety questionnaire forms, identified the current status of safety indicators and danger points of laboratories, assessed the distance with safety indicators, and managed danger points. Based on risk severity, probability of occurrence, and probability of risk detection, the risk priority number (RPN) was calculated, prioritized, and corrective measures were proposed. In the second phase, after corrective measures, the safety questionnaire was completed again and the level of risk severity, probability of occurrence, probability of detection, risk priority number, risk number, and percentage reduction of risk priority number of the studied laboratories were calculated and analyzed.

Thirty-five hazard points were identified in the laboratories. The range of risk priority numbers ranged from RPN = 12 for the Plankton Laboratory to RPN = 210 for the Marine Microbiology Laboratories and Marine Pollutants. After control measures, the risk number of marine microbiology laboratory was reduced to 180 and marine pollutants to 120 (P <0.05).

The results showed that FMEA technique is appropriate in identifying the risk points, evaluating, and classifying the risks of the Iran Shrimp Research Institute laboratories and provide control strategies to eliminate or reduce the risk rate of research environments.

There is conflicting evidence in favor of the hemispheric distribution of motor planning. Some studies supported the left-hemisphere-dominance hypothesis for motor planning and claimed that the left-hemisphere has a crucial function in motor control even in left-handers. The present study aimed to compare the right- and left-handed participants on motor planning ability and to investigate the performance of their dominant hands in a specific action selection task. Also, the effect of task complexity was assessed.

Twenty right-handers and 20 left-handers performed an action selection task. The participants had to grasp a hexagonal knob with their dominant hand and consequently rotated it 60° or 180 ° clockwise or counterclockwise. Depending on our objects, we used mixed factorial ANOVA and the groups were examined in terms of the planning time, grasping time, releasing time and planning pattern for initial grip selection. The SPSS 19 was used for analyzing the data and p≤0.05 was considered as the significant level.

No significant differences were observed between the two groups. The movement-related measures revealed a main effect of rotation (p˂0.001). However, a significant interaction between direction × planning pattern × group (p˂0.001) indicated a preferential bias for rotatory movements in the medial direction which is consistent with the “medial over lateral advantage”.

Both left- and right-handed participants had a similar motor planning ability while performing a planning task with their dominant hands. Because our study was behavioral, it only provided a test of the left-hemisphere hypothesis of motor planning.

This experiment assessed the effectiveness of two interventions; mental imagery and physical training as compared to a control group, on their ability to improve visuomotor accuracy, measured by scores achieved on a visuomotor task. For mental imagery participants had to imagine throwing a dart and for physical training participants physically practised dart throwing. Measurements were recorded pre-intervention, after two weeks of training (Mid-intervention), after five weeks of training (Outcome Measure 1) and two weeks after training (Outcome Measure 2). Comparison of Mid-intervention, Outcome Measure 1 and Outcome Measure 2 with baseline showed both interventions to significantly increase performance on dart throwing compared to the Control group. Our findings show that, as well as traditional physical practise, mental imagery can effectively improve performance on a fine visuomotor task. This is an important finding highlighting possible applications of mental imagery in those with limited motor abilities to maintain or enhance motor movement.

 Long-term use of Methamphetamine (MA) can impose some deficits by its toxicity on the brain structure and function. It can also alter brain electrical activity and cortico-cortical neural connections. The coherence index of electroencephalography reflects the temporal integration of electrical oscillations between different sites of the brain and could be affected by the chronic use of MA.

 In this study, we aimed to compare quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) coherence as an index of brain connectivity between methamphetamine users and healthy people.

 In this descriptive-analytical study, 18 patients with methamphetamine abstinence and 18 healthy people with no history of psychiatric illness were evaluated. Electroencephalography was recorded during eyes-open and eyes-closed states for each group, and then, the analysis for coherence between different twin electrodes was performed. The evaluation was done on occipital, temporal, frontal, and parietal lobes. Repeated-measures ANOVA and t-test were conducted for statistical analysis (P < 0.05).

 Coherence differences in frontal, temporal, and occipital lobes were not significant while coherence was significantly different in parietal lobes between the groups (P = 0.03), so that a decrease in C3-CZ electrode coherence in both delta and theta bands in methamphetamine users was significant (P = 0.03 and P = 0.01, respectively).

 It was revealed that brain coherence could be changed after the chronic use of MA, especially in slow waves. This could be an indicator of structural and functional damage in the neuronal population and show less regional integration in cortical areas in MA users, possibly due to substance toxicity.
 

Depression associated with aggression can lead to violent behaviors. The present study was aimed to determine how sertraline, a standard medication for depression treatment, can efficiently decrease aggression and affect psychophysiological parameters in patients with depression.

Patients with depression and aggression were included in a six-week trial with sertraline (50 100 mg/day). Depression diagnosis was confirmed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR). Depression severity before and after treatment was assessed using Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Aggression was evaluated by Spielberger’s State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXIII). The BDI and STAXI-II were finally applied to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment. For each patient, peripheral and central psychophysiological parameters were recorded using peripheral biofeedback apparatus and electroencephalogram in the initial and final stages of treatment. These recordings were attempted to assess variations of the autonomic nervous system and electrocortical activity in response to treatment.

Depressive and aggressive symptoms decreased significantly over the six-week treatment period, as measured by BDI and STAXI-II. Significant changes in some of the peripheral and central psychophysiological variables were observed. Sensorimotor rhythm (SMR)/theta ratio (p=0.01) have decreased during a task, delta (p=0.02) and theta (p=0.008) wave activity and theta/alpha ratio (p=0.01) have increased during task, and theta/beta ratio has increased during both rest and task (p=0.02 for both). Among peripheral psychophysiological variables, skin conductance during task decreased significantly (p=0.03).

Several numbers of psychophysiological parameters were influenced significantly after successful pharmacotherapy of aggressiveness in patients with depression.

The Islamic Revolution has gone through critical stages so far and has achieved some of its important goals during its evolutionary process; However, there is still a long way to go to reach the final goal, which is the foundation of the new Islamic civilization and the formation of the ummah and the Islamic world, and many preconditions and requirements must be met to achieve it. One of the basic prerequisites for achieving the ultimate goals of the Islamic Revolution is the training of elites who can lead the nation in the role of "Imam" and "leader" in order to lay the groundwork for the formation of Islamic civilization. The Al-Mustafa Society, (pbuh), is the most important scientific and theological institution of the country in the world, and the training of elites in the style of the Islamic Revolution forms its mission and fundamental goal. In this article, after explaining the role of elites in social developments, the basic characteristics of revolutionary-style elites that are essential to the "community of Mustafa (pbuh)" their growth and development in educational strategies and policies. Have taken care of themselves, have been explained, and since then some serious societal challenges in elite education have been analyzed. The method of this research is descriptiveanalytical.

Cognitive neuroscience has developed several indicators and tools for use in education. It has also led to the discovery of neuro-markers to assess learning and individual differences. The present study aimed to investigate individual differences in mathematical skills using event-related potentials.

Thirty-eight right-handed participants were assigned into two groups of high and low math skills. After that, their electroencephalograms were recorded during the completion of a number verification task. The accuracy scores, reaction times, and peak amplitude of the negativity in the 200-400 ms time window were analyzed. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance.

The results showed that the high skill group performs better in the accuracy and reaction time than the low skill group (P<0.001). The amplitude of the study’s ERP component was significantly higher in the high skill group at the parietal area, whereas in the low skill group, the component was more prevalent in frontal and prefrontal areas. Besides, there was a significant difference between the peak amplitude of anterior and posterior areas in the low skill group, while no such difference was observed in the high skill group.

In general, students with different math skills demonstrated different brain activity and the negative component in the time window of the 200-400 ms was different for individual differences in math performance.

In psychophysics domain, various factors have been studied as the main account of the time contraction after stimulus repetition and the time expansion after a novel stimulus; however, there is no clear explanation about the amount of involvement of temporal and non-temporal features. In this study, 48 sub-jects participated in 3 experiments in which the purer role of temporal properties of stimului were examined. Data were provided by a tem-poral oddball paradigm and the analysis was implemented by repeated measures analysis of variance in experiments 1 and 3. In experiment 2, a psychometric function was used to deter-mine the modified estimations in temporal pro-cessing system. Findings showed that despite removing the non-temporal change in expe-riment 1, the temporal change between repea-ted/non-repeated stimuli can produce time con-traction and dilation respectively. The result was only for the auditory system. In experi-ment 2, an efficient threshold for temporal oddball was suggested. Using the updated threshold, experiment 3 revealed concordant repeated/non-repeated effects on time percep-tion in both modalities.

In recent years, the use of probiotics has been considered as an ecological preventive approach to aquaculture, because of the perilous consumption of antimicrobials for humans and the environment, the use of alternative methods is increasing. In this study, we compared the efficacy of different methods of preparation of functional food containing native probiotic Takcell® on the growth performance of juvenile western white shrimp. For this purpose, post larvae of shrimps were fed in 8 experimental treatments in two ways: probiotic Supplemented and sprayed diets at doses of 108, 107, and 106 CFU kg-1 and probiotic-free diets for 40 days in tanks. All probiotic fed- diets showed better performance in relative growth rate, specific growth rate, survival rate and feed conversion ratio compared to control groups (p<0.05). The highest activity of growth indices was observed in spray treatment at a dose of 108 CFU kg-1. There was no significant difference with complementary diets (p>0.05). The results of this study showed that functional food containing native probiotic Takcell®, regardless of doses and preparation methods, resulted in improvement of growth and survival indices in western white shrimp, and the dose of 108 and 107 CFU kg-1 had the highest effect.

Several behavioral and neuropsychological studies have shown that many cognitive processes are influenced by spatial, motor, and physical characteristics. For example, the relations between emotional valence of stimuli (positive vs. negative) and spatial dimensions (up vs. down) have been approved by many experiments (e.g. happiness is up).

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the movement of the head to the left or right of the space could affect retrieval of Persian words with positive and negative valence?

The research method was experimental. For this purpose, 38 participants from the population of Psychology Students of the University of Isfahan were selected by the public call and convenience sampling for participation in the research. DMDX software was used to evaluate the effect of movement on emotional memory. The results were then analyzed by repeated measure design using SPSS 24 software.

The results of the study indicated that the number of retrieved words with valence was more than neutral ones. In addition, the interaction of valence and head movement was significant (p<0.05).

In addition to reviewing embodied accounts we finally conclude that abstract concepts such as positive and negative emotions might be under the influence of movement to the left or right of the space.

Stroke is the most important neurological disease in old people. Cognitive impairment, such as attention deficit, is one of the common problems in stroke patients. So, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of computer-based cognitive rehabilitation on sustained attention, divided attention, and selective attention  function in patients with stroke.

A quasi- experimental investigation was carried out using a pretest- posttest design and a control group. A total of 30 stroke patients aged 30-65 meeting the inclusion criteria were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group was trained for 21 sessions using Captain’s Log Cognitive Rehabilitation Software, but the control group did not receive any intervention. Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test was used as pretest and posttest.

Data analysis, using single-variable covariance, showed a significant difference between experimental and control groups in attention scores (selective attention, sustained attention, and divided attention).

According to the findings of the present study, it can be deduced that computer cognitive rehabilitation programs can be used to improve the components of attention in people with stroke.