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Short-term memory is a dynamic psychological process that operates within a network in which non-verbal intelligence and attentional domains are connected. However, no consensus has been reached about which process has the greatest effect on this memory ability, which was the main objective of the present study. A sample of 1448 Brazilian participants (mean age = 26.62 years, standard deviation = 9.97 years; 53.9% females) were collectively tested on pen-and-paper standardized and validated measures of selective (ROTAS-C), alternating (ROTAS-A), and divided (ROTAS-D) attention. They also performed the R1 Non-verbal Intelligence Test and a visual short-term memory test (Memória Visual de Curto Prazo [MEMORE] test). The statistical analyses consisted of a data mining procedure, in which exhaustive automatic selection screening was performed. The results were compared with Corrected Akaike Information Criteria. The linear model met the classic assumptions of ordinary least squares and only included main effects of selective attention (standardized β = 0.39) and non-verbal intelligence (standardized β = 0.37) as main predictors (F2,39 = 7.01, p < 0.01, adjusted R2 = 24%). The results are discussed within a cognitive psychology framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brazilian State-Trait Anxiety Inventory has been widely used to measure state (STAI-S) and trait (STAI-T) components of anxiety. The present work developed and evaluated a short version of the STAI-S and STAI-T in a large sample of Brazilian subjects. The first study selected short-form scales. The second one employed factor analyses to investigate whether each of the two short-form scales presented a well-defined and balanced structure with both anxiety-present and anxiety-absent factors. Results indicated that the STAI-S and STAI-T could be reduced to six items (STAI-S-6 and STAI-T-6, respectively) without sacrificing their psychometric properties. The findings suggest that STAI-S-6 and STAI-T-6 may be employed in situations where time restraints make the use of full-length forms unfeasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anxiety sensitivity (i.e., fear of arousal-related bodily sensations, including sensations that arise from normal physiological processes, due to the personal belief that these sensations will produce harmful consequences) is an important psychological construct involved in the etiology and maintenance of different anxiety disorders. The present study evaluated the psychometric proprieties and the factor structure of the 18-item Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3) among 585 Brazilian patients with primary anxiety disorder diagnosis. Results indicated good internal consistency and item-total correlation coefficients. Exploratory factor analyses suggested a hierarchical structure composed of a single higher-order factor and three lower-order factors related to physical, cognitive and social concern. ASI-3 score comparisons across the different anxiety disorder groups indicated that panic disorder patients produced significantly higher overall ASI-3 scores as well as on the physical and social subscales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]