Correlations of stress and timing in periodic tapping

The purpose of this study was to explore control mechanism in sequential by measuring, simultaneously successive stress and timing in peridic tapping. Stress and timing were estimated by the accelerative impulse (PAI) at an instance of tap and by interimpulse interval (IRI), respectively. Autocorrelations of PAIs and IRIs and cross-correlation between the two processes provided evidence that the tapping sequences at 250- and 300-msec intervals were temporally patterned into units of two responses; stressed and unstressed responses as well as longer and shorter IRIs alternated with each other, and the stressed responses were either preceded and followed (type I) or followed and preceded (type II) by longer and shorter IRIs, respectively. The type of pattern found during synchronization tapping was preserved during self-paced tapping followed in a sequence. The results were interpreted in terms of rhythmic organization of the sequential movements.     

Short-term recognition memory for serial order and timing

Recent evidence suggests that a common temporal representation underlies memory for serial order of items in a sequence, and the timing of items in a sequence. This stands in contrast to other data suggesting a reliance on only ordinal information in short-term memory tasks. An experiment is reported here in which participants were post cued to perform a comparison between a probe and study list of items irregularly spaced in time, on the basis of order or temporal information.Participants' performance on theserial recognition task was notaffected by the temporal proximity of items, although participants were able to use temporal information to perform a temporal recognition task. Application of a temporal matching model of serial and temporal recognition suggests that although participants were able to remember the timing of items, this memory for timing was unlikely to determine serial recognition performance. The results suggest a dissociation between ordinal and temporal information in short-term memory.     

Isolating the components of intelligence

In a recent volume (Sternberg, 1977b), I proposed a method called componential analysis that provides a means to isolate the components of intelligent performance. The method was described in detail, and then tested in a series of experiments. But an important question was left unanswered by this early work: Is componential analysis generalizable to tasks other than analogies? More recently, I have been investigating the generalization of the methodology to other tasks, and have also been engaged in extending the methodology in order to increase its flexibility of application. The present article (a) briefly summarizes the structure of a componential analysis, (b) describes the method of precuing, the method originally used for isolating the components of intelligence, and (c) describes new methods that have also been successful in isolating these components in a variety of reasoning tasks.     

A mechanism of timing variability underlying the association between the mean and SD of asynchrony

Sensorimotor timing behaviors typically exhibit an elusive phenomenon known as the negative asynchrony. When synchronizing movements (e.g. finger taps) with an external sequence (e.g. a metronome), people’s taps precede event onsets by a few tens of milliseconds. We recently reported that asynchrony is less negative in participants with lower asynchrony variability. This indicates an association between negative asynchrony and variability of timing. Here, in 24 metronome-synchronization data sets, we modeled asynchrony series using a sensorimotor synchronization model that accounts for serial dependence of asynchronies. The results showed that the modeling well captured the negative correlation between the mean and SD of asynchrony. The finding suggests that serial dependence in asynchronies is an essential mechanism of timing variability underlying the association between the mean and SD of asynchrony.     

Correlations of measures of personality and of intelligence within and across generations

Members of over 100 families were administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) as well as various psychometric tests of personality. Individual cognitive and personality measures often were associated. Parent personality scale scores often were associated with offspring WAIS scores and vice versa. Stepwise multiple regressions demonstrated that knowledge of parental personality test scores substantially increased the predictability of offspring WAIS scores.     

Expertise and age-related changes in components of intelligence

In a sample of 263 male GO players at 48 levels of expertise and ranging from 18 to 78 years of age, it was found that factors of expertise deductive reasoning (EDR) and expertise working memory (EWM) were independent of factors of fluid reasoning (Gf) and short-term working memory (STWM) that, along with cognitive speed (Gs), have been found to characterize decline of intelligence in adulthood. The main effects of analyses of cross-sectional age differences indicated age-related decline in EDR and EWM as well as in Gf, STWM, and Gs. However, interaction and partialing analyses indicated that decline in EDR and EWM decreased to no decline with increase in level of expertise. The results thus suggest that with increase in factors known to raise the level of expertise--particularly, intensive, well-designed practice--there may be no age-related decline in the intelligence that is measured in the abilities of expertise.     

Force and timing components of the motor program

Three experiments were undertaken to assess the effects of variations of force and time on both simple and choice reaction time. The first two experiments demonstrated that although latency did not vary as a function of force, timing variations, such as requiring that a response be maintained, led to consistent changes in reaction time. These results led to the development of a model of motor programming in which force and timing are dissociated as separate components. However, the data also indicated that the force component may be further analyzed into two subcomponents-force activation and force deactivation. The model predicts that the latter subcomponent may be programmed on-line provided that sufficient time elapses between the implementation of the two subcomponents. A different pair of movements was used in Experiment 3 to further demonstrate that force activation and deactivation may be preprogrammed into a single component. These results support the aspect of the proposed model that makes a distinction between operations required for program construction from those necessary for program implementation.     

Force and timing variability in rhythmic unimanual tapping

In 3 experiments the interdependencies between timing and force production in unimanual paced and self-paced rhythmic tapping tasks were examined as participants (N = 6 in each experiment) tapped (a) to 1 of 3 target periods (333 ms, 500 ms, and 1,000 ms), while they simultaneously produced a constant peak force (PF) over a 50-s trial; (b) to produce 1 of 3 target forces (5, 10, and 15 N) at their preferred frequency, while keeping their rhythm as invariant as possible; and (c) to all combinations of target force and period. The results showed that (a) magnitudes of force and period were largely independent; (b) variability in timing increased proportionally with tapping period, and the variability in force increased with peak force; (c) force variability decreased at faster tapping rates; and (d) timing variability decreased with increasing force levels. (e) Analysis of tap-to-tap variability revealed adjustments over sequences of taps and an acceleration in the tapping rate in unpaced conditions. The interdependencies of force and time are discussed with respect to the challenges they provide for an oscillator-based account.     

Timing variability in circle drawing and tapping: probing the relationship between event and emergent timing

R. Ivry, R. M. Spencer, H. N. Zelaznik, and J. Diedrichsen (2002) have proposed a distinction between timed movements in which a temporal representation is part of the task goal (event timing) and those in which timing properties are emergent. The issue addressed in the present experiment was how timing in conditions conducive to emergent timing becomes established. According to what the authors term the transformation hypothesis, timing initially requires an event-based representation when the temporal goal is defined externally (e.g., by a metronome), but over the first few movement cycles, control processes become established that allow timing to become emergent. Different groups of participants (N = 84) executed either 1 timed interval, 4 timed intervals, or 2 timed intervals separated by a pause. They produced the intervals by either circle drawing, a task associated with emergent timing, or tapping, a task associated with event timing. Analyses of movement variability suggested that similar timing processes were used in the 2 tasks only during the 1st interval. Those results are consistent with the transformation hypothesis and lead to the inference that the transition from event-based control to emergent timing can occur rapidly during continuous movements.     

Performance on a coincidence timing task correlates with intelligence

Timed performance measures from a coincidence timing (CT) task taking about 10 minutes are shown to have significant correlations with psychometric general intelligence in a group of 56 children. This task required subjects to press a key when a moving target is coincident with a stationary line. The mean absolute error across three conditions (CTE) correlated - .294 with Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) scores but was sex biased, with girls being less accurate than boys. The mean intrasubject standard deviation or consistency (CTC) correlated - .359 and showed no sex bias. The overall performance score (CTP, the sum of CTE and CTC) correlated - .357, and had a smaller but significant sex bias. The correlations partialing out sex were - .363, - .371, - .369 for CTE, CTC, and CTP, respectively. It is suggested that CT tasks are a useful addition to the already known timed performance measures that correlate with intelligence and can provide a tool to increase our understanding of psychometric intelligence.     

Response timing variability: coherence of kinematic and EMG parameters

A detailed kinematic and electromyographic (EMG) analysis of single degree of freedom timing responses is reported to (a) determine the coherence of kinematic and EMG variability to the reduced timing error variability exhibited with amplitude increments within a given criterion movement time and (b) understand the temporal organization of various movement parameters in simple responses. The data reveal that the variability of kinematic (time to peak acceleration, duration of acceleration phase, time to peak deceleration) and EMG (duration of agonist burst, duration of antagonist burst, time to antagonist burst) timing parameters decreased with increments of average velocity in a manner consistent with the variable timing error. In addition, the coefficient of variation for peak acceleration, peak deceleration, and integrated EMG of the agonist burst followed the same trend. Increasing average movement velocity also led to decreases in premotor and motor reaction times. Overall, the findings suggest a strong coherence between the variability of response outcome, kinematic, and EMG parameters.     

The effect of age on relative timing variability and transfer

The purpose of this study was to investigate potential qualitative differences in relative timing across age both within and across speed conditions. Forty right-handed males performed 48 trials of a five-component coincident-timing task at one speed and then 16 more at a different speed. The independent variables were age (5-7, 8-10, 11-13 years, and adult), speed (slow and fast), and block order (training and transfer). The results indicated that within-speed relative timing consistency improved with increasing age for movement-time and pause-time components, while across-speed transfer improved with age only for pause time. movement velocity emerged as a more stable timing parameter than movement time across speeds for all groups. The last movement-time component correlated highly with the total response times, suggesting that coincident-timing accuracy was controlled to a large degree by a final, fine-tuning correction. These results imply that developmental deficits in relative timing increase the attention demands of a given task, thereby reducing a child's capacity to concurrently control his movements and monitor events in the environment.     

Sources of variability and systematic error in mouse timing behavior

In the peak procedure, starts and stops in responding bracket the target time at which food is expected. The variability in start and stop times is proportional to the target time (scalar variability), as is the systematic error in the mean center (scalar error). The authors investigated the source of the error and the variability, using head poking in the mouse, with target intervals of 5 s, 15 s, and 45 s, in the standard procedure, and in a variant with 3 different target intervals at 3 different locations in a single trial. The authors conclude that the systematic error is due to the asymmetric location of start and stop decision criteria, and the scalar variability derives primarily from sources other than memory.     

Contextual variability and serial position effects in free recall.

In immediate free recall, words recalled successively tend to come from nearby serial positions. M. J. Kahana (1996) documented this effect and showed that this tendency, which the authors refer to as the lag recency effect, is well described by a variant of the search of associative memory (SAM) model (J. G. W. Raaijmakers & R. M. Shiffrin, 1980, 1981). In 2 experiments, participants performed immediate, delayed, and continuous distractor free recall under conditions designed to minimize rehearsal. The lag recency effect, previously observed in immediate free recall, was also observed in delayed and continuous distractor free recall. Although two-store memory models, such as SAM, readily account for the end-of-list recency effect in immediate free recall, and its attenuation in delayed free recall, these models fail to account for the long-term recency effect. By means of analytic simulations, the authors show that both the end of list recency effect and the lag recency effect, across all distractor conditions, can be explained by a single-store model in which context, retrieved with each recalled item, serves as a cue for subsequent recalls.     

Relationship between intelligence and vocabulary

This study explored the correlations of scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III in screening language problems and scores on the three Comprehensive Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Test subscales. Participants were 243 students ages 6 to 17 years in Grades K-11 who were identified as learning disabled, learning disabled with speech impairment, mentally retarded, and speech impaired. Analysis indicated strong correlations between the two measures, particularly between the CREVT General Vocabulary and WISC-III Verbal IQ (r = .80), WISC-III Verbal Comprehension Index (r =.83), and the Vocabulary subtest (r =.76). These results held across the grades. Supporting earlier studies of relationships of Verbal IQ and Receptive Vocabulary, correlations were lower between participants in Grades K through 2 than those in higher grades on the WISC-III Verbal IQ and the Receptive Vocabulary subtest. An analysis of the accuracy of the WISC-III for classifying students with language problems indicated improvement in classification over chance. These findings suggest that the WISC-III may be an effective screen for language problems.     

Comparison of variance and covariance patterns in parallel and serial theories of timing.

Parallel and serial timing processes are analyzed for their account of the dynamics of intertrial responding in the peak procedure. A strictly serial model, such as the behavioral theory of timing (Killeen & Fetterman, 1988), does not fit the dynamic correlation pattern in the location and duration of the middle high-rate responding portion of peak trials. In contrast, the parallel scalar expectancy theory model, with a sample for memory and threshold, does fit this pattern. A modification of the serial model is presented that also accommodates the within-trial covariance pattern. The modification, which is formally equivalent to a model for human tapping (Wing & Kristofferson, 1973), entails the addition of concurrent processes operating in parallel with serial timing.     

Correlations between optimism and social relationships

This study examined the relationships between self-report scores of 275 Japanese college students on the Japanese version of the revised Life Orientation Test and the Interpersonal Relationship Inventory. Ratings for optimism were positively correlated with those for social support and reciprocity (rs= .39 and .29, respectively) and negatively correlated with those for interpersonal conflict (r = -.26).