Moscow University Psychology Bulletin, 2019, 2, 184 p.

Relevance. The musical activity of a professional pianist has been little studied by objective methods. For most musicians, the task of sight-reading causes a difficulty in both academic and professional activities. Understanding the visual-motor mechanisms and cognitive processes involved in the implementation of sight-reading can help musical pedagogical practice. There are few sight-reading studies and most of them were conducted in conditions far from the real ones. This work is interdisciplinary that involved the interests of musical pedagogy, psychology and physiology.

Objective. On the base of the cognitive task of sight-reading music in conditions close to reality to explore the interaction of visual-motor parameters and their relationship with the parameters of the working memory.

Methods. 55 subjects aged 18–25 years (30 pianists and 25 non-pianists) were tested using the OS and N-back method to determine individual parameters of the working memory, as well as to determine the time of a complex visual-motor response. Eye tracking method was utilized for eye movement recording when the pianists sight read sheet of notes.

Results.The visual-motor performance parameters (eye hand span, errors and regressions) differ significantly at sight-reading musical fragments of varying complexity. Compared with the literature data we obtained opposite results for value of the eye hand span depending on the complexity of the musical text. We revealed correlations between the visual-motor parameters and the working memory parameters as well as their dependence on the quality of performance.

Conclusion. Objectively recorded visual-motor parameters complexly interact with each other. The mastery of sight-reading music of professional pianists closely related with individual parameters of the working memory.

The relevance of the study is the need to clarify what factors can determine the self-esteems of volitional traits of a person.

Objective. The empirical study of the possible influence of action control mode and action and meaningfulness of life level on person's representation  about the development of his volitional traits.

Methods. 943 first-fifth year university students were asked to complete three questionnaires: Self-esteem technique of the volitional traits (V. Ivannikov, E. Aidman), Action control in planning scale (NAKEMP-90) in adaptation of S. Schapkin, Purpose in Life test in adaptation of D. Leontiev.

Results. There was a reliable relationship of the values of action control in planning scale (ACP) and general meaningfulness of life index (MLI) with three volitional traits (strong-willed, confident, bold) and total score of 20 volitional traits (TSVT). The results of 2-way ANOVA showed significant effects of Action Control and Meaningfulness of Life on the value of TSVT. The lowest TSVT values were observed in students with low values of ACP and MLI, and the highest -with high values of these indexes.

Conclusion. The results are discussed in the framework of V.A. Ivannikov’s theoretical ideas about psychological mechanisms of volitional regulation of personality, especially the role of the meaning formation in the process of transferring prompting from motive to purpose. It explains the natural connection of person`s meanings and self-esteems of volitional traits, as well as the contribution of such resource of self-regulation of human activity as action control mode.

Relevance. In psychosomatics, subjective attributions of the causes of the disease are considered as one of the components of illness representation. In somnology, the disfunctional beliefs about illness reasons are considered as a factor in insomnia perpetuation. Study of the characteristics of subjective perceptions of sleep disorders reasons in good sleepers versus sleep disorders, as well as their relationship to well-being, can help to clarify theoretical knowledge about the functions of reasons’ representations in various illnesses.

Objective. The aim was to compare the subjective reasons of sleep disorders in good sleepers, insomnia, parasomnias and sleep apnea, as well as to reveal the relationship between beliefs about the reasons of sleep disorders and anxiety and depression.

Methods. The clinical group consisted of 77 patients with sleep apnea syndrome, 18 patients with parasomnias, 105 patients with chronic insomnia who filled the Checklists of Sleep Quality, Subjective Reasons of Sleep Disorders, Screening for Sleep Apnea, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. In 46 patients with apnea, 15 patients with parasomnias and 93 patients with insomnia, polysomnography was performed over one night. The control group included 102 people, 67 of them with periodic sleep complaints, and 33 without sleep complaints who filled Checklists of Sleep Quality, Subjective Reasons of Sleep Disorders.

Results. Good sleepers are characterized by a wide range of sleep problems’ attributions. In case of complaints for some sleep problems, the focus on emotional causes was enhanced while in case of chronic disorders, the number of reasons was narrowed to those specific for that sleep disorder. In both apnea and insomnia, subjective belief that sleep is disturbed by unpleasant sensations in the arms and legs was especially stressful for participants and was associated with depression and marginally associated with anxiety. Attribution of sleep disorders to life events was associated with a higher level of anxiety, especially in insomnia.

Conclusions. The data supports the hypothesis that some subjective reasons of sleep disorders are associated with psychological distress, regardless of the subjective and objective quality of sleep.

Relevance. Eye-tracking study of reading is widely used methodology in modern psychology. But there is a lack of such studies in Russian language. Particularly, there are few eye-tracking studies of reading on early stages of acquisition of this skill. 

Objectives. The main aim of our study is to describe process of reading in children 9-10 years old. We compare state of cognitive functions of children and state of their reading skills and try to describe possible strategies for mastering the skill of reading based on indicators of oculomotor activity. 

Methods. 56 third graders participated in the study, mean age – 9.62 years old. The reading skills were assessed using the method “Reading regular and irregular words”. We also record eye-movements of the children during reading the corpus of sentences designed for early schoolchildren. Cognitive functions were assessed by neuropsychological assessment adapted for children of 6–9 years old. 

Results. We separated the sample into two subgroups with relatively low and high state of reading skill and found differences in the state of cognitive functions and in the oculomotor activity of children in these groups. The children with relatively low reading skill often had weaknesses of executive functions, functions of visual-spatial and auditory information processing. They made more fixations and their fixations were longer than children with high state of the reading skill. A qualitative analysis of the reading of two children with dyslexia and two children with selective development of sub-lexical / lexical routes made it possible to describe the features of reading in children with the weakness of the both strategies or one of them.

Conclusion. The results obtained in the study, on the one hand, show a general interrelation between the features of reading mastering and the state of individual cognitive functions of children, and on the other hand, they indicate that there is no rigid determination of the level of reading development by the state of cognitive functions.

Relevance. The development of the students’ general study skills is in most cases based on their ability to work with a scientific text, and it needs special examination.

Objective. The goal is to study the strategies the fourth-year students of different departments use to single out the most important information. It is also necessary to explore the criteria which students use to distinguish between the essential and inessential information while reading an explanatory scientific text.

Methods. We have used the method created by Sidelnikova and Malskaya, which constitutes a specially constructed text of an explanatory type including some essential information (the description and explanation of facts) along with some trap sentences, in their formal structure similar to definitions (sentences containing dates, surnames and the statement of the significance of the problem). 1021 fourth-year students of Moscow State University and Moscow Pedagogical University (from the pedagogical, psychological, philological departments and the department of soil science) have taken part in the examination.

Results. Less than 6 % of the students single out the description of the facts and their explanation while reading an explanatory text, which means that they learn the material and control the efficiency of learning in accordance with metacognitive knowledge based on academic conception of the structure of scientific knowledge? More than 94 % choose both the description of the facts and their explanation and the trap sentences, considering the sentences in the form of definitions, historical facts and the statements of the significance of the problem to be essential information. There have been found some statistically significant differences in the choice of the students of different departments.

Conclusion. The results show that the fourth-year students who have taken part in the study do not have academic conception of the structure of scientific knowledge and effective strategies for its mastering.

Relevance. In connection with the process of aggravation of religious feelings and the growth of religious consciousness due to changes in cultural patterns in modern Russia, it is important to analyze the features of the religious identity of Chechen students, which is one of the forms of self-consciousness, which is at the origins of the formation of other types of social identity of the individual, which determines the specifics of social behavior. 

Objective. To characterize religious identity from the perspective of socio-psychological approach and identify its features in Chechen students.

Methods. Socio-psychological analysis of the concepts of religious identity and Muslim identity; theoretical and empirical analysis of the structure and characteristics of religious identity of Chechen students using the scale of religious orientation of G. Olport and D. Ross, methods of diagnosis of the structure of individual religion And methods of mathematical statistics. Sample. The study was conducted with 60 students of the Chechen state pedagogical University.

Results. The article presents: the definition of religious identity from the perspective of socio-psychological approach, the analysis of the concept of religious Muslim identity. The methods of research of religious identity are designated and the results of diagnostics of the Chechen students are analyzed. It is shown that students are characterized by internal religious orientation, and religion, contributing to the self-identification of young people, performs ideological, epistemological and communicative functions, acting as a model of moral norms of behavior and guidance in values. The results of the study are compared with the data of earlier studies of the religious identity of Chechen students.

Conclusion. Religion is the main value and tool of the identification process of Chechen students, filling its content with religious norms and values, answering important existential questions. Based on religious norms and values, Chechen students motivate their activities in various social spheres.

Relevance. The studies of psychological well-being are of particular relevance considering a rapidly changing world, requiring a rapid adaptation to changes as well as the constant search for ways to account your needs within unstable environment. Psychologists around the world pay a lot of attention to the psychological well-being of different social groups in recent decades. They analyze how social hierarchy provides different possibilities and influence on well-being of people.  There for LGBTQA community, who have experience of discrimination in the heteronormative society, is one of most important group for studying today.  

Objective. To review the studies on the relationship of psychological well-being, according to the eudemonistic approach, and various socio-psychological characteristics of the LGBTQIA community.

Methods. We overview and analyze the research of psychological well-being and its determinants among non-heteronormative people.

Results. The observed research show non-heteronormative people have a low level of psychological well-being. The following determinants of these results was identified: hidden discrimination, social and interpersonal barriers, stressful situations, internalized homophobia, support for gender norms, avoidance of interpersonal relations, fear of entering into intimate relations. Positive factors of psychological well-being are: social support, sexual satisfaction, openness, acceptance of one’s sexual identity, predominance of positive emotions, optimism. A combination of hedonistic and eudemonic approaches is possible direction for further development of such studies. 

Conclusion. Researches of non-heteronormative people’s well-being can reduce discrimination of them in the modern Russia that will contribute to increasing psychological culture in the society.

Relevance. Mindfulness practices are used today in many different fields, including medicine and education. They have shown their effectiveness in reducing depression, anxiety, improving psychological well-being. The introduction of mindfulness practices in the educational system opens up new opportunities for the development of educational, personal, communication skills, contributing to the improvement of self-regulation, formation of compassionate attitude to oneself and other people, the opportunity to learn from their experience and cope with academic and personal problems and conflicts.

Objective. The article presents the cases of application of mindfulness practices in the prevention of suicidal behavior in adolescents.

Method. Review of foreign literature. 

Results. The article presents modern developments of application of mindfulness practices in primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of suicidal and self-injurious behavior in adolescents. The key components of mindfulness practices that can become protective factors in cases of risk of anti-vital behavior are considered. Studies of effectiveness of mindfulness programs in different groups of the adolescent population are presented. The paper also presents the most common practices of mindfulness, which are included in the program of prevention of suicidal behavior or used independently in the framework of primary prevention.

Conclusion. Mindfulness practices have proven themselves at all levels of suicide prevention. However, randomized controlled trials are needed to better understand their effectiveness.

Relevance. The proliferation of various destructions in the interaction between students (bulling, cyber bulling) demands to increase of their social and psychological adaptability. So, it is important to create a psychodiagnostic toolkit for identification of students at risk for exposure to violence for further psychological preventive work. 

Objective. To develop a technique for assessing the individualized risks of the socio-cultural safety of the adolescent educational environment.

Methods. The theoretical development and psychometric verification of the author's technique “Adolescence Socio-Cultural Safety Index”.  The study involved 3375 students (53% of girls, 47% of boys, 13-16 years old) from municipal schools of the Republic of Tatarstan. 

Results. A priori and a posteriori models of the questionnaire were reconciled using structural equation modeling. The proposed model corresponds to the initial data on the main indicators of the consent indices (CMIN=4,272; df=1; p=0.39; GFI=0,999; CFI=0,995; RMSEA=0,033; Pclose=0,759). The article describes the psychometric characteristics of the technique: reliability, validity, discriminatory power. Convergent validityof the technique is assessed using the methods: Propensity for deviant behavior (A. Orel), Methods of assessing the collective psychological atmosphere (F. Fiedler), Questionnaire on aggressiveness by Bass-Dark, Test questionnaire of self-organization of activities by E. Mandrikova, Cultural Congruence Questionnaire (L. Bayanova).  The statistical limits of norms are revealed. The possibility of using the technique in further research is evaluated.

Conclusion. The technique “Adolescence Socio-Cultural Safety Index” possesses the necessary psychometric characteristics that allow the use of the questionnaire to identify the risks of the student's educational environment.