Although the emotions and learning based on emotional reaction are individual-specific, the main features are consistent among all people. Depending on the emotional states of the persons, various physical and physiological changes can be observed in pulse and breathing, blood flow velocity, hormonal balance, sound properties, face expression and hand movements. The diversity, size and grade of these changes are shaped by different emotional states. Acoustic analysis, which is an objective evaluation method, is used to determine the emotional state of people’s voice characteristics. In this study, the reflection of anxiety disorder in people’s voices was investigated through acoustic parameters. The study is a case-control study in cross-sectional quality. Voice recordings were obtained from healthy people and patients. With acoustic analysis, 122 acoustic parameters were obtained from these voice recordings. The relation of these parameters to anxious state was investigated statistically. According to the results obtained, 42 acoustic parameters are variable in the anxious state. In the anxious state, the subglottic pressure increases and the vocalization of the vowels decreases. The MFCC parameter, which changes in the anxious state, indicates that people can perceive this situation while listening to the speech. It has also been shown that text reading is also effective in triggering the emotions. These findings show that there is a change in the voice in the anxious state and that the acoustic parameters are influenced by the anxious state. For this reason, acoustic analysis can be used as an expert decision support system for the diagnosis of anxiety.
The death of a person, particularly my own death, is the most momentous occasion that happens in a lifetime. It seems to be an inevitable end of any possible experience, ceasing any relationship, the end of memories and hopes. It evokes various reactions in the living, just to mention some as: fascination, fear, stress, consent, willingness to familiarization. Each of them may be analysed, while each one shows also the death in a different aspect. In the proposed article, the author indicates another reaction - that is experiencing anxiety. It appears that this is the key experience, both when I am thinking about it as something that may afflict me at any moment, as well as when I become aware that there is a possibility of exit of the loved ones or just a popular person. Some texts by Joseph Ratzinger have inspired me to carry out such analyses.
O b j e c t i v e s: The aim of study was to investigate the association between anxiety, depression, stress and determinants of quality of life among Iranian students.
M e t h o d s: The questionnaires were completed by 275 students. The random sampling was conducted in two phases, the stratified sampling which some classes were selected among different classes of faculty of health and at the second phase, in each class the number of students who had the requirements to enter in the study were selected randomly. the logistic regression to find out the association between demographic characteristics with the quality of life was run and according to the normality status of the distribution of data the parametric or non-parametric tests were used.
R e s u l t s: In the univariable model, the students that were living in their own homes had the odds of 2.18 times more than the others to have a higher quality of life level (95% CI: 1.07–4.45). In the multi variable model the anxiety and stress were significantly related to the quality of life and for increasing each 1 unit in the amount of anxiety and stress the odds of a better quality of life decreases 0.19 and 0.03 respectively. Even after adjusting for other covariates – in the multivariable model – both anxiety and stress were associated with the quality of life.
C o n c l u s i o n: It is useful for the universities to understand different aspects of the students’ lives which are under the influence of stress, anxiety and depression, and also determining the resources from which they are originated.
Although the usefulness of alternative assessment in second language (L2) classrooms has been extensively recognized by scholars, the use of the various types of alternative assessment in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts has not received adequate attention by L2 practitioners. To contribute to this line of research, the present research sought to examine the impact of a portfolio-based writing instruction on writing performance and writing anxiety of EFL students. To this end, a number of 41 EFL learners were recruited as the participants of this study. They were then randomly divided to an experimental group (N=21) and a control group (N=20). The participants in the experimental group received portfolio-based writing instruction, whereas the control group received the regular writing instruction with no archiving of students’ drafts in portfolios. Timed-writing tasks and the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) were employed to collect the data. The results obtained from ANCOVA analysis revealed that the portfolio-based writing instruction aided the participants in improving their writing performance more than the control group. Moreover, it was found that the use of portfolios significantly reduced the L2 writing anxiety of the participants while the traditional writing instruction did not have any significant impact on L2 writing anxiety of the control group. The pedagogical implications for portfolio-based writing instruction are discussed finally.
This is an obituary of Harold Bloom and a brief review of his two books: The Western Canon and How to Read and Why, which were recently translated into Polish. It also outlines Bloom’s unique conception of literature and his praise of solitary reading.
Studies based on the most common diagnostic categories do not bring conclusive results concerning the overlapping and distinctive features of anxiety and depression, especially in the areas of attentional functioning, structure of affect, and cognitive emotion regulation. However, a new typology has been proposed which treats anxiety and depression as personality types (Fajkowska, 2013). These types – arousal and apprehension anxiety as well as valence and anhedonic depression – are constructed based on two criteria: specific structure and functions (reactive or regulative). The present paper critically examines the empirical evidence related to this approach. The data mostly confirmed the prediction that the similarities and differences in attentional and affective functioning among the anxiety and depression types would be related to their shared and specific structural and functional characteristics. The new typology turned out to be suitable for integrating the existing research findings by relating them to the structure and functions of anxiety and depression. As a result, it is useful in explaining some of the inconsistencies in literature, as it allows to identify the overlapping and distinctive features of the anxiety and depression types. It also helps to understand the mechanisms contributing to the development and maintenance of anxiety and depression, which might be useful in diagnosis and treatment. However, even though Fajkowska’s approach is an important contribution to the understanding of anxiety and depression, it is not exhaustive. Its limitations are discussed, along with proposed modifications of the theory, as well as further research directions.
Starting in the early years of education, math anxiety is negatively related to mathematic outcomes, therefore there is a need for its adequate measurement in young children. This study presents the psychometric properties of the modified Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale for Elementary Children (mAMAS-E) for first- to third-grade children based on mAMAS. The validity of mAMAS-E was determined by a series of tests. The analysis confirmed its two-factor structure (Testing and Learning), positive relationships between mAMAS-E and math, general, and test anxiety, and a negative relationship with mathematical achievement. Children with a high level of math self-esteem and math self-confidence (but not Polish language self-esteem and self-confidence) have lower math anxiety in comparison to those with a moderate level. The results also indicate that girls have a higher level of math anxiety than boys. The validity and internal consistency of mAMAS-E are satisfactory; therefore, mAMAS-E may be a recommendable questionnaire for measuring math anxiety in young children.
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