No abstract

La sustentación del proyecto de tesis doctoral es una situación que genera estrés con múltiples manifestaciones físicas y comportamentales. En este artículo se analizó la respuesta autonómica de estrés en estudiantes de doctorado en una defensa de su proyecto de tesis doctoral. El estudio conto con una muestra de 16 estudiantes de doctorado, a quienes se les analizó la variabilidad de la Frecuencia Cardiaca en estado basal y en la defensa de su proyecto para evaluar su respuesta autonómica de estrés. Se evidencio que los estudiantes presentaron un aumento en la modulación autonómica simpática en la exposición a la defensa de su proyecto de tesis doctorado, debido a la disminución de los valores de Porcentaje de diferencias entre R-R adyacentes normales intervalos mayores de 50 ms (PNN50) = 15.2±13.7 y la dispersión longitudinal de los puntos, respectivamente, obtenidos a partir del gráfico de Poincaré (SD1) = 34.0±22.2 y SD2= 77.1±42.8 durante la defensa de su proyecto de tesis.  Podemos concluir que con base en los resultados obtenidos el incremento de la modulación simpática, por parte de los estudiantes de estudiantes de doctorado evidencia una baja capacidad adaptativa por parte de ellos a situaciones de alto nivel de estrés como sería la defensa de la propuesta de tesis doctoral, aspecto este que autores previos han relacionado con impedimentos en el rendimiento académico en estudiantes pregrado y posgrado pero que no están inmerso dentro de una actividad investigativa lo cual pone de manifiesto la necesidad de diseñar programas de regulación y entrenamiento del control y manejo del estrés en estudiantes de pregrado y posgrado. Esto permitirá mejorar los resultados académicos en contextos de educación superior como el evaluado en el presente trabajo.

Semantic memory (SM) is a type of long-term memory associated with the storage of general information about the world. Here we assessed the characteristics of the SM battery, developed by Catricalà et al. (2013), in a sample of Colombian children. This battery was originally conceived to evaluate adults, and features six subtests that assess SM in different modalities, using a common set of 48 stimuli in both living and nonliving categories. The design of the current study is of a cross-sectional and exploratory type. The sample was composed of 111 children, 57 boys (51%) and 54 girls (49%), who were 6 (n = 68) and 7 (n = 43) years old and had no intellectual disability. Robust linear regression models and correlation networks were used. We found an effect of age on general intelligence after correcting for gender, and no differences on the six subtest scores after corrections for gender and age were performed. Furthermore, age was found to be positively associated with the naming of colored photographs (β = .75, p = .039), naming in response to an oral description (β = 1.81, p = .039), picture sorting at four levels (β = 7.22, p = .029), and sentence verification (β = 26.66, p = .01). In addition, there were differences between the results obtained in adults in the original study and in the children of our study. This exploratory study supports the feasibility of the Spanish translation of the Catricalà et al. (2013) battery to assess SM in children with a nonclinical condition. Future studies are needed to evaluate the psychometric properties of this SM battery, and to corroborate and expand our findings in a larger sample of control children, and in children with some degree of intellectual disability or suffering of some neurodegenerative or psychiatric conditions.

Introduction: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to evaluate the factor structure of Spanish translation and adaptation of the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (CFI) in a sample of Colombian adults. Method: The sample of the study was n = 968. Respondents were aged between 18 and 52 years old (Mage=22.81, SD=4.42). Descriptive analyses, confirmatory factor analysis, and Cronbach’s Alpha calculation were carried out. Results: Internal consistency for the global scale was high (α=.89). Likewise, the coefficients of the Alternative factor and the Control factor were similar (α=.90, 95% CI=.89–.90 and α=.83, 95% CI=.81–.85, respectively). A two-factor structure performed best according to the results of model selection criteria. This model suggested the existence of two correlated factors, with correlated items within factors (Item19∼Item20 and Item8∼Item10). Conclusions: Overall, the results suggest that the CFI scale exhibits construct validity and adequate reliability, both for the general scale and the subscales in the Colombian sample, enabling their use in contexts such as clinical or research.