Tarek Bellaj, PhD, is a Professor at Qatar University and Tunis University where he teaches neuropsychology and social neuroscience. His research interests are in cultural and clinical neuropsychology. His work incorporates multiple facets of these axes as applied to memory, executive functions, and emotional dysfunctions in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders in Arabic culture. Dr. Bellaj has been the President of the Tunisian Psychological Society from 2007 to 2015.
The influence of Facebook in social life keeps constantly growing. Recently, the communication of... more The influence of Facebook in social life keeps constantly growing. Recently, the communication of information has been vital to the success of the Tunisian revolution, and Facebook was its main “catalyst”. This study examines the key reasons that explain Facebook’s contribution to this historical event, as perceived by Tunisian Internet users. To do so, we launched this study five days after the fall of the regime using an online questionnaire in which participants (N = 333) first rated the importance of Facebook in the Tunisian revolution and then explained the reasons for their ratings. A cluster analysis based on the Euclidean distance between the most frequent words in the participants’ text corpus (6640 words), revealed three main clusters that we interpret as follows: 1: Facebook political function, 2: Facebook informational function, and 3: Facebook media platform function. It is likely that these factors reflect the dynamic of Tunisian cyberspace and the Tunisian Internet users’ collective consciousness during the revolution.
Research regarding executive functioning (EF) in children rarely focuses on populations in Africa... more Research regarding executive functioning (EF) in children rarely focuses on populations in African or Middle-Eastern Arabic-speaking countries. The current study used a cross-sectional design to examine the developmental trajectories of school-age Tunisian children in three domains of executive control (inhibition of prepotent responses, cognitive flexibility, and working memory) as well as their mutual interactions and the effects of gender and parents' education level. Inhibitory processes, cognitive flexibility, and working memory were assessed using the Stroop test, a version of the Hayling test adapted for children, simple and alternating tasks of verbal fluency, and verbal and visuospatial span tasks (forward and backward spans). The study population included 120 7- to 12-year-old Tunisian children (60 girls, 60 boys) who were grouped and matched for age, gender, and parents' education level. The results revealed an overall effect of age on executive performance, whereas gender and parents' education level showed non-significant effects. In addition, executive indices were significantly associated with fluid intelligence level. Partial correlation analyses (controlled for age) found significant links between indices that assessed the same executive process, except for inhibitory processes; the temporal indices for inhibitory processes showed relative independence. The correlations between indices that assessed distinct executive processes were weaker (but significant). Overall, the results suggest that executive components in school-age Tunisian children operate according to relatively homogeneous developmental trajectories, marked by peaks of maturity that differ according to the assessed index. A transcultural approach to EF is discussed in terms of the unity and diversity of its components.
Après un rappel de l'historique du Test de Gestion des Ressources Attentionnelles et une prés... more Après un rappel de l'historique du Test de Gestion des Ressources Attentionnelles et une présentation des résultats obtenus avec la version papier-crayon, les auteurs présentent l'épreuve dans sa version informatisée.
La psychométrie classique utilise des indices de liaisons entre variables qui sont symétriques. P... more La psychométrie classique utilise des indices de liaisons entre variables qui sont symétriques. Par exemple, la corrélation entre a et b sera la même que celle entre b et a. Ou bien, dans une analyse de régression multiple, chacune des variables peut prendre indifféremment le statut de variable expliquée ou de variable explicative. Il en résulte l’impossibilité de déterminer si c’est a qui implique b ou l’inverse : un lien symétrique ne peut pas être un lien de causalité. Il est impossible d’ordonner des corrélations entre variables en séquence implicative. Pour atteindre cet objectif il convient de faire appel à des indices de liaisons qui ne soient pas symétriques. L’analyse implicative des données offre une possibilité d’atteindre cet objectif d’ordonnancement séquentiel des variables. Dans ce chapitre, nous présenterons un exemple de recours à ce type d’analyse pour comparer des groupes contrastés.
Revue Européenne de Psychologie Appliquée/European Review of Applied Psychology, 2010
ABSTRACT Our work purpose was to study the impact of focal frontal lesions on the inhibitors proc... more ABSTRACT Our work purpose was to study the impact of focal frontal lesions on the inhibitors processes. We used two arabophone versions of Hayling task and the Stroop task with condition of flexibility. In comparison with 13 control subjects matched by age, gender and level of education, frontal patients were (1) significantly slower in both task without been disproportionately slower in the condition needed inhibition, (2) committed significantly more errors than control subjects in the second part of Hayling task showed inhibition deficit, (3) laterality of frontal lesions had no incidence on performance, (4) individual analysis showed multiples dissociated deficits but also showed correlations between scores of rapidity, flexibility and inhibition. In conclusion, among all of performances, scores of errors in the Stroop and the Hayling tasks seemed to be the more sensitive to the frontal damage. Patients with the lowest performance in both inhibition tasks were those who presented lesions involving both the medial and lateral frontal cortex, the anterior cingulated cortex and/or orbitofrontal cortex.
The purpose of this study was to assess attitudes towards body size of urban Tunisian women. Firs... more The purpose of this study was to assess attitudes towards body size of urban Tunisian women. Firstly, to determine body size satisfaction amongst women and investigate the body size that women associate with good health, high social status and individual desirability; and secondly, to study whether perception varies in different groups of society, to see if there is a difference
The influence of Facebook in social life keeps constantly growing. Recently, the communication of... more The influence of Facebook in social life keeps constantly growing. Recently, the communication of information has been vital to the success of the Tunisian revolution, and Facebook was its main “catalyst”. This study examines the key reasons that explain Facebook’s contribution to this historical event, as perceived by Tunisian Internet users. To do so, we launched this study five days after the fall of the regime using an online questionnaire in which participants (N = 333) first rated the importance of Facebook in the Tunisian revolution and then explained the reasons for their ratings. A cluster analysis based on the Euclidean distance between the most frequent words in the participants’ text corpus (6640 words), revealed three main clusters that we interpret as follows: 1: Facebook political function, 2: Facebook informational function, and 3: Facebook media platform function. It is likely that these factors reflect the dynamic of Tunisian cyberspace and the Tunisian Internet users’ collective consciousness during the revolution.
Research regarding executive functioning (EF) in children rarely focuses on populations in Africa... more Research regarding executive functioning (EF) in children rarely focuses on populations in African or Middle-Eastern Arabic-speaking countries. The current study used a cross-sectional design to examine the developmental trajectories of school-age Tunisian children in three domains of executive control (inhibition of prepotent responses, cognitive flexibility, and working memory) as well as their mutual interactions and the effects of gender and parents' education level. Inhibitory processes, cognitive flexibility, and working memory were assessed using the Stroop test, a version of the Hayling test adapted for children, simple and alternating tasks of verbal fluency, and verbal and visuospatial span tasks (forward and backward spans). The study population included 120 7- to 12-year-old Tunisian children (60 girls, 60 boys) who were grouped and matched for age, gender, and parents' education level. The results revealed an overall effect of age on executive performance, whereas gender and parents' education level showed non-significant effects. In addition, executive indices were significantly associated with fluid intelligence level. Partial correlation analyses (controlled for age) found significant links between indices that assessed the same executive process, except for inhibitory processes; the temporal indices for inhibitory processes showed relative independence. The correlations between indices that assessed distinct executive processes were weaker (but significant). Overall, the results suggest that executive components in school-age Tunisian children operate according to relatively homogeneous developmental trajectories, marked by peaks of maturity that differ according to the assessed index. A transcultural approach to EF is discussed in terms of the unity and diversity of its components.
Après un rappel de l'historique du Test de Gestion des Ressources Attentionnelles et une prés... more Après un rappel de l'historique du Test de Gestion des Ressources Attentionnelles et une présentation des résultats obtenus avec la version papier-crayon, les auteurs présentent l'épreuve dans sa version informatisée.
La psychométrie classique utilise des indices de liaisons entre variables qui sont symétriques. P... more La psychométrie classique utilise des indices de liaisons entre variables qui sont symétriques. Par exemple, la corrélation entre a et b sera la même que celle entre b et a. Ou bien, dans une analyse de régression multiple, chacune des variables peut prendre indifféremment le statut de variable expliquée ou de variable explicative. Il en résulte l’impossibilité de déterminer si c’est a qui implique b ou l’inverse : un lien symétrique ne peut pas être un lien de causalité. Il est impossible d’ordonner des corrélations entre variables en séquence implicative. Pour atteindre cet objectif il convient de faire appel à des indices de liaisons qui ne soient pas symétriques. L’analyse implicative des données offre une possibilité d’atteindre cet objectif d’ordonnancement séquentiel des variables. Dans ce chapitre, nous présenterons un exemple de recours à ce type d’analyse pour comparer des groupes contrastés.
Revue Européenne de Psychologie Appliquée/European Review of Applied Psychology, 2010
ABSTRACT Our work purpose was to study the impact of focal frontal lesions on the inhibitors proc... more ABSTRACT Our work purpose was to study the impact of focal frontal lesions on the inhibitors processes. We used two arabophone versions of Hayling task and the Stroop task with condition of flexibility. In comparison with 13 control subjects matched by age, gender and level of education, frontal patients were (1) significantly slower in both task without been disproportionately slower in the condition needed inhibition, (2) committed significantly more errors than control subjects in the second part of Hayling task showed inhibition deficit, (3) laterality of frontal lesions had no incidence on performance, (4) individual analysis showed multiples dissociated deficits but also showed correlations between scores of rapidity, flexibility and inhibition. In conclusion, among all of performances, scores of errors in the Stroop and the Hayling tasks seemed to be the more sensitive to the frontal damage. Patients with the lowest performance in both inhibition tasks were those who presented lesions involving both the medial and lateral frontal cortex, the anterior cingulated cortex and/or orbitofrontal cortex.
The purpose of this study was to assess attitudes towards body size of urban Tunisian women. Firs... more The purpose of this study was to assess attitudes towards body size of urban Tunisian women. Firstly, to determine body size satisfaction amongst women and investigate the body size that women associate with good health, high social status and individual desirability; and secondly, to study whether perception varies in different groups of society, to see if there is a difference
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