Introduction: A Festschrift in Honor of Earl A. Alluisi

A battery of 10 traditional paper-and-pencil aptitude tests and a battery of 25 cognitive-components-based tests were administered to 298 men and women to investigate the common sources of variance in those batteries. Earlier confirmatory factor analyses showed each battery to have a hierarchical structure, each with a single higher order factor. The higher order factor in the paper-and-pencil battery had previously been identified as general cognitive ability, or g. The higher order factor from the cognitive-components battery had been identified as working memory. The intercorrelation of the higher order factors from the two batteries was .994, indicating that both measured g. The proportion of common variance because of g was greater in the cognitive-components battery than in the paper-and-pencil battery. The correlations between each factor based on cognitive components and g averaged .946. Despite theoretical foundations and arguments, cognitive components tests appear to measure much the same thing as traditional paper-and-pencil tests.     

Music evokes vivid autobiographical memories

Music is strongly intertwined with memories—for example, hearing a song from the past can transport you back in time, triggering the sights, sounds, and feelings of a specific event. This association between music and vivid autobiographical memory is intuitively apparent, but the idea that music is intimately tied with memories, seemingly more so than other potent memory cues (e.g., familiar faces), has not been empirically tested. Here, we compared memories evoked by music to those evoked by famous faces, predicting that music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) would be more vivid. Participants listened to 30 songs, viewed 30 faces, and reported on memories that were evoked. Memories were transcribed and coded for vividness as in Levine, B., Svoboda, E., Hay, J. F., Winocur, G., & Moscovitch, M. [2002. Aging and autobiographical memory: Dissociating episodic from semantic retrieval. Psychology and Aging, 17, 677–689]. In support of our hypothesis, MEAMs were more vivid than autobiographical memories evoked by faces. MEAMs contained a greater proportion of internal details and a greater number of perceptual details, while face-evoked memories contained a greater number of external details. Additionally, we identified sex differences in memory vividness: for both stimulus categories, women retrieved more vivid memories than men. The results show that music not only effectively evokes autobiographical memories, but that these memories are more vivid than those evoked by famous faces.     

Maximizing predictive efficiency for a fixed total testing time

For any fixed total time of testing it is possible, through proper item-and-time allotment, to combine tests into a battery so that the multiple correlation with a pre-assigned criterion will be maximized. By holding constant the ratio of the length in number of items to the time length for each test, a set of general equations has been derived which will yield this maximum value of the multipleR and will enable one to determine, in any given case, the optimal fraction of total testing time that should be devoted to each type of test under consideration. The set of general equations is applied to a two-test-battery problem to obtain the optimal length of each type of test for one hour total testing time. If two other tests had been selected for the two-test sample problem, different subdivisions of the total time would generally occur. The manner in which the results would change when using other tests with different initial reliability, validity, and intercorrelation values is briefly presented. Some general implications of this method of battery development are also discussed.The writer is indebted to Max Woodbury for his assistance and especially to Dr. N. J. F. Van Steenberg and Dr. Anna S. Henriques, who provided valuable guidance and aid in the development of the solution to this problem. This paper is a revision of a thesis submitted in 1939 at the University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the master's degree.     

A test battery to assess intrasensory and intersensory development of young children.

The purpose of the study was to develop a battery of tests for use in evaluation of intra- and intersensory development of young children. A battery of 15 tests (4 visual, 4 auditory, 4 tactile-kinesthetic, and 3 intersensory) was administered to 109 normally developing 6- and 8-year-old and 32 slowly developing or learning disabled children. Interdependence of test items within each intrasensory and the intersensory category was determined; intercorrelations ranged from .00 to .78. Reliability estimates were also determined. Face validity was claimed for each item. The effects of age or developmental level on test performance were established. Based upon the interdependence of the tests, reliability estimates, and the capacity of the tests to discriminate among groups classified according to age or developmental level, a battery of 10 intra- and intersensory tests was proposed. The battery has 3 tests of visual perception-visual memory, dynamic depth perception, and size discrimination; 3 tests of auditory perception-auditory discrimination, auditory memory of related syllables, and auditory sequential memory of numbers; 2 tests of tactile-kinesthetic perception-tactile integration and movement awareness; and 2 tests of intersensory integration-auditory-tactile intergration and auditory-visual integration.     

How rock music videos can change what is seen when boy meets girl: Priming stereotypic appraisal of social interactions

An experiment demonstrated the capacity of sex role stereotyped portrayals of women and men found in popular rock music videos to alter impressions formed of a man and a woman who subsequently were seen interacting. The results indicated that stereotypic rock music videos increased the accessibility of (i.e., primed) sex role stereotypic schemas, dramatically changing impressions of the interactants. Of particular interest were judgments of skill, indicating that impressions formed by subjects who had watched sex role stereotypic videos, but not by those who had watched neutral videos, seemed guided by the principles of chivalry: droit de seiquneur for her and noblesse oblige for him. A process whereby rock music videos perpetuate sex role stereotypes was described.The authors are indebted to M. Kaseta and M. McCliment who served as the actors, and to C. Alexander, G. Bause, M. Case, K. Glassco, J. Grauer, K. Hannula, S. King, F. Kirsch, J. Minor, G. Rinehart, A. Saghy, D. Schnering, J. Sweeney, and R. Unakar who served as experimenters.     

The differential effect of background music on memory for verbal and visuospatial information

Background music is a part of our everyday activities. Considerable evidence suggests that listening to music while performing cognitive tasks may negatively influence performance. However, other studies have shown that it can benefit memory when the music played during the encoding of information is also provided during the retrieval of that information, in the so-called context dependent memory effect. Since controversial results may be attributed to the nature of the material to be memorized, the aim of the present study is to compare the potential effect of consistent background music on the immediate and long-term recall of verbal and visuospatial information. Experiment 1 showed that instrumental background music does not benefit nor decrease recall of a list of unrelated words, both at the immediate and the 48-hours-delayed tests. By contrast, Experiment 2 revealed that the same background music can impair immediate and therefore long-term memory for visuospatial information. Results are interpreted in terms of competition for neurocognitive resources, with tasks mostly relying on the same brain hemisphere competing for a limited set of resources. Hence, background music might impair visuospatial memory to a greater extent than verbal memory, in the context of limited capacity cognitive system. In conclusion, the nature of the material to be learnt must be considered to fully understand the effect of background music on memory.     

Expanding the Nexus of Cognitive and Psychomotor Abilities

A study was conducted to expand the nexus of cognitive and psychomotor abilities. A cognitive aptitude battery and a psychomotor battery were administered to 429 military recruits. A confirmatory factor analysis yielded higher-order factors of general cognitive ability (g) and psychomotor/technical knowledge (PM/TK). PM/TK was interpreted as Vernon's (1969) practical factor (k:m). In the joint analysis of these batteries, g and PM/TK each accounted for about 31% of the common variance. No residualized lower-order factor accounted for more than 7% PM/TK influenced a broad range of lower-order psychomotor factors. The first practical implication of these findings is that psychomotor tests are expected to be at least generally interchangeable. A second implication is that the incremental validity of psychomotor tests beyond cognitive tests is expected to be small. These findings should help guide test developers and inform personnel selecting agencies regarding the expected utility of psychomotor tests.     

The effect of aging in recollective experience: the processing speed and executive functioning hypothesis

This study was designed to investigate the effects of aging on consciousness in recognition memory, using the Remember/Know/Guess procedure (Gardiner, J. M., & Richarson-Klavehn, A. (2000). Remembering and Knowing. In E. Tulving & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Memory. Oxford University Press.). In recognition memory, older participants report fewer occasions on which recognition is accompanied by recollection of the original encoding context. Two main hypotheses were tested: the speed mediation hypothesis (Salthouse, T. A. (1996). The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition. Psychological Review, 3, 403–428) and the executive-aging hypothesis (West, R. L. (1996). An application of prefrontal cortex function theory to cognitive aging. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 272–292). A group of young and a group of older adults took a recognition test in which they classified their responses according to Gardiner, J. M., & Richarson-Klavehn, A. (2000). Remembering and Knowing. In E. Tulving & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Memory. Oxford University Press. remember-know-guess paradigm. Subsequently, participants completed processing speed and executive function tests. The results showed that among the older participants, R responses decreased, but K responses did not. Moreover, a hierarchical regression analysis supported the view that the effect of age in recollection experience is determined by frontal lobe integrity and not by diminution of processing speed.     

Testing specific cognitive abilities by telephone and mail

The two goals of this research were to develop a brief battery of tests of specific cognitive abilities that can be administered via telephone to adolescents and to assess the psychometric properties of the battery. In a sample of 212 adolescents from 10 to 15 years of age, factor analyses supported the hypothesized structure of verbal, spatial, perceptual speed, and memory abilities, with three tests intended to mark each factor. For a subsample of 62 subjects, retest correlations were .81, .73, .82, and .57, respectively, for the four specific cognitive abilities; scores from telephone testing and face-to-face testing correlated near the reliabilities of the telephone tests. Recommendations are made for shortening the 60-min battery to 35 min by using only two tests to mark each factor.     

Toward a Model of Neuropsychological Activity

The main purpose of this research was to establish the intercorrelations existing among different psychological and neuropsychological test scores in a normal and homogenous population. A second purpose was to attempt further step in the component analysis of cognitive activity measured by means of neuropsychological tests. A comprehensive neuropsychological test battery was assembled and individually administered to a 300-subject sample, aged 17–25 years-old. All of them were right-handed male university students. The battery included some basic neuropsychological tests directed to assess language, calculation abilities, spatial cognition, praxic abilities, memory, perceptual abilities, and executive functions. In addition, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale was administered. Forty-one different scores were calculated. Correlations among the different test scores were analyzed. It was found that some of the tests presented a quite complex intecorrelation system, whereas other tests presented few or no significant correlations. Mathematical ability tests and orthography knowledge represented the best predictors of Full Scale IQ. A factor analysis with varimax rotation disclosed five factors (verbal, visuoperceptual, executive function, fine movements, and memory) accounting for 63.6% of the total variance. Implications of these results for a neuropsychological model about brain organization of cognition were analyzed.     

False memories in music listening: exploring the misinformation effect and individual difference factors in auditory memory

ABSTRACT

The study of false memory has had a profound impact on our understanding of how and what we remember, as shown by the misinformation paradigm [Loftus, E. F. (2005). Planting misinformation in the human mind: A 30-year investigation of the malleability of memory. Learning & Memory, 12(4), 361–366. doi:10.1101/lm.94705]. Though misinformation effects have been demonstrated extensively within visual tasks, they have not yet been explored in the realm of non-visual auditory stimuli. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate whether post-event information can create false memories of music listening episodes. In addition, we explored individual difference factors potentially associated with false memory susceptibility in music, including age, suggestibility, personality, and musical training. In two music recognition tasks, participants (N?=?151) listened to an initial music track, which unbeknownst to them was missing an instrument. They were then presented with post-event information which either suggested the presence of the missing instrument or did not. The presence of misinformation resulted in significantly poorer performance on the music recognition tasks (d?=?.43), suggesting the existence of false musical memories. A random forest analysis indicated that none of the individual difference factors assessed were significantly associated with misinformation susceptibility. These findings support previous research on the fallibility of human memory and demonstrate, to some extent, the generality of the misinformation effect to a non-visual auditory domain.     

They’re (not) playing our song: (Ir)religious identity moderates the effects of listening to religious music on memory,self-esteem,and mood

Previous research suggests that listening to music can enhance memory and well-being. However, what is often missing from this analysis is consideration of the social dimensions of music—for example, its capacity to affirm or threaten listeners’ social identities. This study examined whether (ir)religious music that was potentially identity-affirming or identity-threatening (Christian hymns, Buddhist chants, classical, or no music) would affect Christians’ and Atheists’ (N = 267) well-being and memory performance while listening. Analyses revealed significant interactions between (ir)religious group and music type on memory, self-esteem, and mood. Listening to music that potentially threatened one's religious identity appeared to undermine both performance self-esteem and actual memory performance, while increasing feelings of hostility. This pattern was found for Christians (vs. Atheists) who listened to Buddhist chants. Conversely, Atheists’ performance self-esteem (and to some degree their memory performance) was lowest, and their hostility highest, when they listened to Christian hymns. In this way, listening to music that potentially threatened one's religious group identity (or lack thereof) appeared to be detrimental for memory, self-esteem, and mood. These results bridge research on the psychology of religion, music psychology, and social identity theorizing by demonstrating that the effects of music on memory and well-being may reflect important (even sacred) social identities, with potential implications for individual well-being and intergroup relations.     

PERCEIVED SUBSTRUCTURES AND EMOTIONAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS A TEST BATTERY AND ITS PARTS

M ogensen , A. Perceived substructures and emotional attitudes towards a test battery and its parts. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1962, 3 , 30–32.—The potential value of an experimental and phenomenological approach for the study of the perception and cognition of ability tests is stressed. Some preliminary results from a pilot study of twelve students are given. The relationship between the subjects' emotional attitudes towards the tests and their perceptions and cognitions of the tests are briefly discussed.     

The benefits of self-compassion and optimism exercises for individuals vulnerable to depression

The effectiveness of two online exercises intended to help individuals experience (1) self-compassion (n?=?63) and (2) optimism (n?=?55) were compared to a control intervention where participants wrote about an early memory (n?=?70). A battery of tests was completed at 1 week following the exercise period, and at 1-, 3-, and 6-month follow-ups. Both active interventions resulted in significant increases in happiness observable at 6 months and significant decreases in depression sustained up to 3 months. The interventions were examined in relationship to dependency and self-criticism, both related to vulnerability to depression. Individuals high in self-criticism became happier at 1 week and at 1 month in the optimism condition in the repeated measures analysis. A sensitivity test using multi-level modeling failed to replicate this effect. More mature levels of dependence (connectedness) were related to improvements in mood up to 6 months in the self-compassion condition. This study suggests that different personality orientations may show greater gains from particular types of positive psychology interventions.     

A family study of memory processes and their relations to cognitive test scores

Members of 118 families (456 individuals) who had been tested on several measures of cognitive ability were retested on the same battery in order to determine test-retest reliability. They then were administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and tests of visual memory, auditory memory, and figure memory, as well as other measures not discussed herein. Intercorrelations of memory tasks were low to moderate. Factor analysis resulted in a four factor solution. The different factors appeared to represent auditory sequential memory (Factor I); visual memory, as measured psychometrically (Factor II); visual memory, as measured experimentally (Factor III); and figure memory (Factor IV). A second order factor analysis yielded two factors, one consisting of basically psychometric measures of memory and the other of measures of memory obtained in the experimental psychological tradition. Memory measures generally showed low to moderate positive correlations with scores on the cognitive test battery. Significant spouse correlations were found for 3 of the 11 measures of memory. Significant midparent-midchild regressions were found for 9 of the 11 memory measures.     

Validities of Unit-Weighted Composites of the ASVAB and the ECAT Battery

Currently, assignment to training in each entry-level enlisted job in the U.S. military is influenced by examinees’ scores on the classification composite for that job from the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). For a cross-service sample of the 18 occupations in the Enhanced Computer-Administered Test (ECAT) project, enhancements of their respective operational ASVAB composites (9 unique ones) are evaluated here. Analyses are reported on the gains in validity from adding 1 test with unit weight to each composite, the addition coming either from the other ASVAB tests or from the 9 tests of the ECAT battery. In more than half the schools, the best ASVAB additions were Coding Speed or Mechanical Comprehension. In the ECAT battery, 1 test of psychomotor ability (Two-Hand Tracking) and 2 tests of working memory (Mental Counters and Sequential Memory) were the most promising additions. The utility of the new composites for person–job matching is discussed.     

Language switching in the bilingual brain: What’s next?

Recent work using functional neuroimaging with early bilinguals has found little evidence for separate neural systems for each language during picture naming (Hernandez, A. E., Dapretto, M., Mazziotta, J., & Bookheimer, S. (2001). Language switching and language representation in Spanish–English bilinguals: An fMRI study. Neuroimage, 14, 510–520). However, switching between languages in early bilinguals during picture naming shows increased activity in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) suggesting the importance of maintaining goal related information in order to bias subsequent response selection (Braver, T. S., Barch, D. M., Kelley, W. M., Buckner, R. L., Cohen, N. J., Miezin, F. M., et al. (2001). Direct comparison of prefrontal cortex regions engaged by working and long-term memory tasks. Neuroimage, 14, 48–59; Cohen, J. D., Braver, T. S., & O’Reilly, R. C. (1996). A computational approach to prefrontal cortex, cognitive control and schizophrenia: Recent developments and current challenges. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences, 351, 1515–1527; O’Reilly, R. C., Braver, T. S., & Cohen, J. D. (1999). A biologically based computational model of working memory. In E. Akira Miyake, E. Priti Shah & et al. (Eds.), Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control. (pp. 375–411): New York, NY, USA). The current study set out to test early bilinguals using a picture naming paradigm. Results revealed increased activity in the DLPFC and the superior parietal lobule during language switching compared to naming of pictures in a single language. Increased activity was also observed between early learned first and second languages. The results from single language conditions revealed differences in areas devoted to language processing such as the Superior Temporal Gyrus. However, increased activity in brain areas devoted to memory, somatosensory processing and emotion were also observed. Taken together these results replicate previous studies on language switching. They also extend studies on the neural bases of bilingualism by suggesting that early bilinguals’ representation of the two languages may be mediated by neural systems not typically associated with language. The article ends by considering future directions in understanding the brain bases of language switching and single language processing in bilinguals.     

The Training Effect of Working Memory Based on Central Executive System Intervention in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Study

This article aims to investigate the training effect of working memory in older adults. A total of 43 older adults ranging in age from 75 to 95 were recruited to participate in the study. A battery of tests regarding central executive function, working memory, and primary mental ability were administered in the pretest phase. A total of 22 of the older participants were randomly selected as the intervention group. Thirteen days after the pretest, the same tests were administered to all of the participants. The results showed that (1) the differences in the pretest and posttest gains in the task-switching tests were not significant between the intervention group and the control group; (2) the performance of the intervention group on the operation working memory span test and the graphical reasoning test showed a significant improvement after the intervention compared with the control group who did not receive the intervention. We can conclude that the working memory of old adults may be improved by an intervention targeting the central executive system. However, this possibility needs further investigation.     

Working memory training improvements and gains in non-trained cognitive tasks in young and older adults

Previous studies on working memory training have indicated that transfer to non-trained tasks of other cognitive domains may be possible. The aim of this study is to compare working memory training and transfer effects between younger and older adults (n = 60). A novel approach to adaptive n-back training (12 sessions) was implemented by varying the working memory load and the presentation speed. All participants completed a neuropsychological battery of tests before and after the training. On average, younger training participants achieved difficulty level 12 after training, while older training participants only reached difficulty level 5. In younger participants, transfer to Verbal Fluency and Digit Symbol Substitution test was found. In older participants, we observed a transfer to Digit Span Forward, CERAD Delayed Recall, and Digit Symbol Substitution test. Results suggest that working memory training may be a beneficial intervention for maintaining and improving cognitive functioning in old age.     

Individual differences in false memory from misinformation: Cognitive factors

This research investigated the cognitive correlates of false memories that are induced by the misinformation paradigm. A large sample of Chinese college students (N=436) participated in a misinformation procedure and also took a battery of cognitive tests. Results revealed sizable and systematic individual differences in false memory arising from exposure to misinformation. False memories were significantly and negatively correlated with measures of intelligence (measured with Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale), perception (Motor-Free Visual Perception Test, Change Blindness, and Tone Discrimination), memory (Wechsler Memory Scales and 2-back Working Memory tasks), and face judgement (Face Recognition and Facial Expression Recognition). These findings suggest that people with relatively low intelligence and poor perceptual abilities might be more susceptible to the misinformation effect.