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El Retén Episódico (RE) está tomando un creciente papel central en las explicaciones sobre el funcionamiento de la memoria operativa. De hecho, los últimos estudios de Baddeley y sus colaboradores sitúan al RE en el corazón del sistema de memoria. Recientemente la discusión también atañe a si este componente de la memoria operativa presenta una naturaleza independiente respecto a los recursos del ejecutivo central. Algunos estudios muestran como en tareas automatizadas, la construcción y mantenimiento de elementos almacenados en el RE no requieren de recursos desde el ejecutivo central. El presente trabajo pretende analizar esta cuestión para lo que se toman diferentes variables y se ha diseñado un nuevo test para medir el EB. En este test de doble tarea, la tarea secundaria consiste en la lectura de textos sencillos que contienen palabras ocultas. Los resultados muestran como a pesar del aumento del procesamiento debido al incremento de la longitud de los textos, no se produce un aumento en la carga demandada por el ejecutivo central, ni en la creación de los agrupamientos de información ni en su mantenimiento. Es por ello, que pensamos que el RE bajo ciertas circunstancias es independiente del ejecutivo central. The Episodic Buffer (EB) is taking on an increasingly central role in explanations regarding the functioning of working memory. In fact, in the most recent studies by Baddeley and his collaborators, the EB has situated itself at the core of this memory system. Recently under discussion is that this component of working memory seems to demonstrate an independent nature with respect to central executive resourcing. Some studies show that in automatic tasks the creation and maintenance of elements stored in the episodic buffer do not require resources from the central executive. The current work attempts to evaluate this assumption for what different variables are taken and a new test has been developed to measure the EB. In this double task test, the secondary task consists of reading short simple texts that contain missing words. The results show that further processing due to increasing the length of the texts does not correspond to higher load demands made on the central executive, nor in the creation (organization) of chucks or their maintenance. Thus, we believe the EB is under certain circumstances independent of the central executive.         

Reading comprehension is a highly demanding task that involves the simultaneous process of extracting and constructing meaning in which working memory's executive processes play a crucial role. In this article, a training program on working memory's executive processes to improve reading comprehension is presented and empirically tested in two experiments with third-grade primary school students. Experiment 1 showed a greater gain after training the experimental group in contrast to the control group in reading comprehension and intelligence. In experiment 2, we focused on the training processes and compared training results of high and low pretest reading comprehension groups. Results confirmed the increase in reading comprehension, intelligence, and executive processes and showed that the low group reached a greater gain in reading comprehension after training than the high group did. The results of these experiments and their limitations are discussed in the context of recent theories on the role of executive processes in reading comprehension and the possibility of training working memory and intelligence.

El Retén Episódico (RE) está tomando un creciente papel central en las explicaciones sobre el funcionamiento de la memoria operativa. De hecho, los últimos estudios de Baddeley y sus colaboradores sitúan al RE en el corazón del sistema de memoria. Recientemente la discusión también atañe a si este componente de la memoria operativa presenta una naturaleza independiente respecto a los recursos del ejecutivo central. Algunos estudios muestran como en tareas automatizadas, la construcción y mantenimiento de elementos almacenados en el RE no requieren de recursos desde el ejecutivo central. El presente trabajo pretende analizar esta cuestión para lo que se toman diferentes variables y se ha diseñado un nuevo test para medir el EB. En este test de doble tarea, la tarea secundaria consiste en la lectura de textos sencillos que contienen palabras ocultas. Los resultados muestran como a pesar del aumento del procesamiento debido al incremento de la longitud de los textos, no se produce un aumento en la carga demandada por el ejecutivo central, ni en la creación de los agrupamientos de información ni en su mantenimiento. Es por ello, que pensamos que el RE bajo ciertas circunstancias es independiente del ejecutivo central.

Empirical and theoretical advances and application to society are moved at different speed. Application work is frequently developed later because it requires the integration of knowledge from different research areas. In the present paper, we integrate literature coming from diverse areas of research in order to design a deductive reasoning intervention, based on the involved executive functions. Executive functions include working memory (WM)’s online executive processes and other off-line functions such as task revising and planning. Deductive reasoning is a sequential thinking process driven by reasoners’ meta-deductive knowledge and goals that requires the construction and manipulation of representations. We present a new theoretical view about the relationship between executive function and higher-level thinking, a critical analysis of the possibilities and limitations of cognitive training, and a metacognitive training procedure on executive functions to improve deductive reasoning. This procedure integrates direct instruction on deduction and meta-deductive concepts (consistency, necessity) and strategies (search for counterexamples and exhaustivity), together with the simultaneous training of WM and executive functions involved: Focus and switch attention, update WM representations, inhibit and revise intuitive responses, and control the emotional stress yielded by tasks. Likewise, it includes direct training of some complex WM tasks that demands people to carry out similar cognitive assignment than deduction. Our training program would be included in the school curriculum and attempts not only to improve deductive reasoning in experimental tasks, but also to increase students’ ability to uncover fallacies in discourse, to automatize some basic logical skills, and to be able to use logical intuitions.

This paper presents CANUM, a new numerical and manual version of Stroop interference task. The stimulus used replaces the classical color-word conflict by the numerosity-number conflict considering the interference generated between the symbolic value of the number and the amount of times it is repeated. CANUM also replaces the vocal answer by a simple right-left typing. The aim was twofold: first, to ensure a general measure of attentional control capacity not linked to the verbal factor; and second, to extent the population to whom the test would be applied, avoiding the restrictions on reading ability inherent to the classical Stroop task. The results obtained in a sample of school children reveal a high reliability in terms of internal consistency, as well as a significant predictive validity in relation to two criterial measures: general intelligence and working memory. This supports its usefulness as an instrument for the assessment of executive function and controlled attention applicable in a wide age range, both for research purposes as for clinical and educational goals.

This paper presents CANUM, a new numerical and manual version of Stroop interference task. The stimulus used replaces the classical color-word conflict by the numerosity-number conflict considering the interference generated between the symbolic value of the number and the amount of times it is repeated. CANUM also replaces the vocal answer by a simple right-left typing. The aim was twofold: first, to ensure a general measure of attentional control capacity not linked to the verbal factor; and second, to extent the population to whom the test would be applied, avoiding the restrictions on reading ability inherent to the classical Stroop task. The results obtained in a sample of school children reveal a high reliability in terms of internal consistency, as well as a significant predictive validity in relation to two criterial measures: general intelligence and working memory. This supports its usefulness as an instrument for the assessment of executive function and controlled attention applicable in a wide age range, both for research purposes as for clinical and educational goals.

En este trabajo presentamos CANUM, una nueva versión numérica y manual de la prueba de interferencia de Stroop. El estímulo utilizado sustituye el conflicto color-palabra de la tarea clásica por el de cantidad-número, dada la interferencia que también se genera entre el valor simbólico del número y la cantidad de veces que éste se repite. Asimismo se sustituye la respuesta vocal por una simple pulsación izquierda-derecha en el teclado del ordenador. El objetivo fue doble: primero, asegurar un índice de control ejecutivo-atencional general desvinculado del factor verbal; y, segundo, ampliar así la población en la que resulta aplicable la prueba, obviando las restricciones relativas a la competencia lectora que conlleva la tarea de Stroop clásica. Los resultados obtenidos en una muestra de escolares revelan una alta fiabilidad en términos de consistencia interna, así como una notable validez predictiva en relación con dos medidas criterio: inteligencia general y memoria operativa. Ello avala su utilidad como instrumento de evaluación de la función ejecutivo-atencional, aplicable en un amplio rango de edad tanto con objetivos de investigación como en contextos clínicos y educativos.

En el presente trabajo se estudiaron las relaciones entre los procesos ejecutivos de la memoria operativa, la inteligencia fluida y la comprensión lectora en una muestra de 77 escolares de 3º de Educación Primaria. Asimismo, se analizó la capacidad predictiva de la MO y de la inteligencia fluida con respecto al rendimiento en comprensión lectora. Como se predijo, los resultados mostraron un patrón de correlaciones positivas y significativas: las medidas de comprensión lectora -en particular, inferencias e integración- correlacionaron con las medidas de los procesos ejecutivos de la MO y de inteligencia fluida. Los análisis de regresión mostraron que las habilidades cognitivas de alto nivel -actualización semántica en la MO e inteligencia fluida- contribuyen de manera independiente a explicar el 33 % de la varianza en comprensión lectora.

Background: Nearly two decades have passed since a paradoxical reaction in the orofacial region to some bone modifying agents and other drugs was recognized, namely medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ). Purpose: The aim of this manuscript was to critically review published data on MRONJ to provide an update on key terminology, concepts, and current trends in terms of prevention and diagnosis. In addition, our objective was to examine and evaluate the therapeutic options available for MRONJ. Methods: The authors perused the most relevant literature relating to MRONJ through a search in textbooks and published articles included in several databases for the years 2003–2021. Results and conclusions: A comprehensive update of the current understanding of these matters was elaborated, addressing these topics and identifying relevant gaps of knowledge. This review describes our updated view of the previous thematic blocks, highlights our current clinical directions, and emphasizes controversial aspects and barriers that may lead to extending the accumulating body of evidence related to this severe treatment sequela.

Background The presence of chondral lesions in patients with chronic ankle instability is common and has been suggested as a possible cause of persistent pain in some cases, even after successful ligament reconstruction. For this reason, some authors have proposed combining ankle stabilization with cartilage microfracture; however, the results reported in literature are contradictory. Materials and methods The study was designed as a prospective randomized clinical study with two parallel arms. Patients with an anterior talofibular ligament tear causing pain and instability, associated with a Berndt–Harty stage I–IIb talar osteochondral lesion of < 150 mm 2 that had not responded to conservative treatment, were blindly assigned to either isolated ligament reconstruction (REC) or reconstruction plus microfracture (REC + MIC). Evaluators were also blinded. Results A total of 71 patients were included in the study, with 36 in the REC group and 35 in the REC + MIC group. The groups were comparable in terms of anthropometry and pathology. The operating time was significantly longer in the REC + MIC group (48.0 ± 4.5 min) compared with the REC group (24.9 ± 3.9 min; p  < 0.001). At the end of follow-up, both patient groups showed similar results on the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score ( p  = 0.755), Self-Reported Foot and Ankle Score (SEFAS) ( p  = 0.862), Karlsson score ( p  = 0.993), and visual analog scale (VAS) ( p  = 0.870). However, the time to recovery differed between the groups, with patients in the REC group recovering faster from before the operation (pre-op) through the third month after the operation (post-op). The difference in recovery at 3 months post-op was statistically significant on the AOFAS ( p  < 0.001), SEFAS ( p  < 0.001), and Karlsson ( p  < 0.001) scores. No statistically significant difference was observed in terms of pain ( p  = 0.342). The failure rate was also comparable between the groups, with four (11.1%) reoperations in the REC group and five (14.3%) in the REC + MIC group ( p  = 0.735). Conclusions At 2 years post surgery, no differences were observed in function (according to the AOFAS, SEFAS, and Karlsson scores), pain, or complications in patients with ankle instability and associated chondral damage treated with or without microfractures. However, patients who underwent microfractures experienced a significantly slower recovery of function. Level of evidence: Level 1. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT06947317 (retrospectively registered). Date: 1 May 2025. ( https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06947317 ).