Differential roles for visuospatial and verbal working memory in situation model construction

Two experiments investigated the processing of the spatial and causal dimensions of situation models. In Experiment 1, participants read texts varying in spatial and causal demands while responding to on-line spatial and causal probes. Experiment 2 used the same design, but used texts that more tightly integrated spatial and causal information. In both experiments, spatially oriented dependent measures were generally influenced by spatial, but not causal, demands, whereas causally oriented measures were influenced by causal, but not spatial, demands. In addition, spatially oriented dependent measures were generally correlated with a measure of spatial working memory capacity, whereas causally oriented measures were correlated with a measure of verbal working memory capacity. These results indicate that spatial and causal dimensions of situation models are maintained and elaborated independently in different working memory subsystems.     

Brain mechanisms and intelligence. Psychometric g and executive function

Sternberg [Sternberg, R.J. (1985). Beyond IQ: a triarchic theory of human intelligence. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.] has proposed that the general intelligence, or the g factor, obtained when batteries of mental tests are factor analyzed, is a reflection of the fact that executive functions (EF) are common to all cognitive tests. Three lines of evidence that fail to support Sternberg's formulation are presented. First, in animal problem solving studies, there is only a modest degree of overlap between brain structures that are critical for g, and brain structures that have been identified as the rodent EF system. Second, children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), characterized by EF dysfunction, do not have IQ scores that are lower, on average, than children in the test standardization populations. Third, human frontal lobe patients often have clear EF deficits, but IQ (a next-best estimate of g) may be preserved. These findings cast serious doubt on the plausibility of Sternberg's formulation. Clarifying the distinction between psychometric g and EF can be important for understanding the differences between practical and psychometric intelligence.     

Models of visuospatial and verbal memory across the adult life span

The authors investigated the distinctiveness and interrelationships among visuospatial and verbal memory processes in short-term, working, and long-term memories in 345 adults. Beginning in the 20s, a continuous, regular decline occurs for processing-intensive tasks (e.g., speed of processing, working memory, and long-term memory), whereas verbal knowledge increases across the life span. There is little differentiation in the cognitive architecture of memory across the life span. Visuospatial and verbal working memory are distinct but highly interrelated systems with domain-specific short-term memory subsystems. In contrast to recent neuroimaging data, there is little evidence for dedifferentiation of function at the behavioral level in old compared with young adults. The authors conclude that efforts to connect behavioral and brain data yield a more complete understanding of the aging mind.     

Age differences in proactive interference in verbal and visuospatial working memory

Abstract

In a free recall situation, subjects can predict, with some degree of accuracy, which words they will subsequently recall. This study focused on the question of why subjects often recall words to which they assign low prediction ratings. This problem was approached by comparing the properties of recall-not-predicted (RNP) and recall-predicted (RP) words which appeared in subjects' recall protocols. No differences were found between the two types of items (RNP and RP) in retrieval monitoring. The two types of items were differentiated by whether subjects could recollect the actual occurrence of the recalled items in the study list (“remember” responses) or not (“know” responses). Furthermore, the recall of RNP items, but not RP items, was improved by retrieval prompts. These results were taken to support the position that weakly encoded items may be recalled if they encounter a highly favourable retrieval environment, not anticipated by subjects during study.     

Individual differences in proactive interference in verbal and visuospatial working memory

Proactive interference (PI) has been shown to affect working memory (WM) span as well as the predictive utility of WM span measures. However, most of the research on PI has been conducted using verbal memory items, and much less is known about the role of PI in the visuospatial domain. In order to further explore this issue, the present study used a within-subjects manipulation of PI that alternated clusters of trials with verbal and visuospatial to-be-remembered items. Although PI was shown to build and release across trials similarly in the two domains, important differences also were observed. The ability of verbal WM to predict performance on a measure of fluid intelligence was significantly affected by the amount of PI present, consistent with past research, but this proved not to be the case for visuospatial WM. Further, individuals’ susceptibility to PI in one domain was relatively independent of their susceptibility in the other domain, suggesting that, contrary to some theories of executive function, individual differences in PI susceptibility may not be domain-general.     

Clocking g: Relating intelligence and measures of timed performance

The relationships between intelligence test scores and measures derived from reaction time (RT) and perceptual speed procedures were investigated in 137 twelve-year-old students with IQs ranging from 59 to 142. A range of intelligence tests were used and the scores factor analyzed to produce general, spatial and verbal factors. Test and factor scores were correlated with perceptual speed and with measures taken from 2, 4, and 8 choice RT tasks using a response keyboard upon which the subject's fingers directly rested, thus avoiding interpretive problems associated with a “home key.” Inspection time correlated poorly with intelligence. Only three of the RT measures produced correlations greater than .25 with the general factor. These were the slope of Hick's law, B, (correlation −.28), the 8 choice mean RT, RT8, (−.33) and the 8 choice standard deviation, SD8 (−.41), compared with the average intercorrelation between the intelligence measures of .40. Test-retest correlations of the RT measures, taken over a year for half the subjects, were low as reliability measures, with .35 for B, .52 for RT8, and .48 for SD8. Correlations of RT measures with spatial scores were not significantly greater than with verbal scores, suggesting that whatever relationship exists is with a general factor rather than only a spatial one.     

Comparing subtest profiles of g loadings and correlations with RT measures

It is argued that if a response time (RT) measure correlates with psychometric test (PT) scores because it shares variance in common with general intelligence, g, then the profile of g loadings for a set of PTs would be predictable from the profile of correlations between the RT measure and the PT scores. On the other hand, if an RT correlates with PTs through variance not shared with g, the g loadings of the PTs should be unrelated to the correlations between RT and PTs. The profiles of g loadings and correlations with RT were compared for a set of 6 RT measures and 8 PT scores from Smith and Stanley (1983). To demonstrate statistical significance, standard errors of the statistics were generated by Efron's bootstrap technique (Efron, 1979). It was clearly shown that the profile of the PT's g loadings could be well predicted from the RT-PT correlations for four of the RT measures. It can be concluded that RT tasks do measure general intelligence. Analysis of the errors in prediction suggested that the RTs may correlate more with fluid than crystallized intelligence.     

Suicide and occupation in Hong Kong

Suicide rates were highest among Service workers and the lowest in Agriculture workers and fisherfolk in Hong Kong.     

Weather and homicide in Hong Kong

No seasonality was discovered in homicide in Hong Kong. Weather variables were not associated with homicide rates.     

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.     

The role of visuospatial and verbal working memory in perceptual category learning

The role of verbal and visuospatial working memory in rule-based and information-integration category learning was examined. Previously, Maddox, Ashby, Ing, and Pickering found that a sequentially presented verbal working memory task did not affect information-integration learning, but disrupted rule-based learning when the rule was on the spatial frequency of a Gabor stimulus. This pattern was replicated in Experiment 1, in which the same category structures were used, but in which the verbal working memory task was replaced with a visuospatial analog. Experiment 2A examined rule-based learning on an oblique orientation and also found both verbal and visuospatial working memory tasks disrupting learning. Experiment 2B examined rule-based learning on a cardinal orientation and found a minimal effect of the verbal working memory task, but a large effect of the visuospatial working memory task. The conceptual significance of cardinal orientations and the role of visuospatial and verbal working memory in category learning are discussed.     

Influence of bias on visuospatial and verbal compatibility effects in mixed-mapping environments

The advantage for the compatible mapping of physical locations or arrows to keypresses is reduced when trials with compatible and incompatible mappings are mixed, whereas the advantage is increased for location words. We evaluated explanations of these mixing effects by varying the proportions of compatible and incompatible trials for groups performing with each stimulus mode. The mappings were compatible on 75%, 50%, and 25% of the trials, respectively, for compatibly biased, unbiased, and incompatibly biased conditions. For locations and arrows, compatible bias increased the SRC effect, and incompatible bias reduced the effect; for location words, the incompatible bias was stronger than the compatible one. Reaction time distributions showed that, with locations and arrows, initial activation toward either the compatible (unbiased condition) or the predominant (biased conditions) response was transient. With words, activation of the corresponding response increased across the distribution, regardless of bias condition. The influence of bias on the SRC effects was relatively independent of the mixing and sequential effects, and was different for words than for nonwords. These results are consistent with the view that visuospatial stimuli produce transient activation of the corresponding or predominant response, whereas location words produce phonological activation, required for word identification, that persists.     

Assessing the impact of verbal and visuospatial working memory load on eye-gaze cueing

Observers tend to respond more quickly to peripheral stimuli that are being gazed at by a centrally presented face, than to stimuli that are not being gazed at. While this gaze-cueing effect was initially seen as reflexive, there have also been some indications that top-down control processes may be involved. Therefore, the present investigation employed a dual-task paradigm to attempt to disrupt the putative control processes involved in gaze cueing. Two experiments examined the impact of working memory load on gaze cueing. In Experiment 1, participants were required to hold a set of digits in working memory during each gaze trial. In Experiment 2, the gaze task was combined with an auditory task that required the manipulation and maintenance of visuospatial information. Gaze cueing effects were observed, but they were not modulated by dual-task load in either experiment. These results are consistent with traditional accounts of gaze cueing as a highly reflexive process.     

无为而治，王化天下——《道德经》与香港的和谐社会

《道德经》是修心养性、治国安邦的大典,道家内圣外王之学,尽在此经。汉朝初年奉行的黄老道术,缔造战国以来中国首次的太平盛世。唐朝李姓,唐初     

Reasons for Living Among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

Two hundred and seventy-nine secondary school students in Hong Kong responded to the Chinese version of the Reasons for Living Inventory. The importance of these reasons could be adequately described by five dimensions interpreted as Positive Values and Self-Efficacy, Optimism, Family Concerns, Concerns for Social Disapproval, and Suicidal Fears. These dimensions corresponded closely to the original subscales of the inventory. Implications of the importance of gender and age group differences in endorsing coping beliefs, rather than fears, in time of crisis are discussed.     

Intellectual differences among Mexican Americans, Papagos and Whites, independent of g

Patterns of intellectual abilities for Mexican American and Native American Papago children were contrasted with those of White children, independent of overall differences in ability. Large differences in highly verbal skills remained, with Whites consistently outscoring the other two groups. Native Americans showed higher performance than Whites on spatial-visualization tasks but Mexican Americans exceeded Whites on no tasks. These race-related patterns of ability are nearly opposite those found in Black–White comparisons.     

香港医疗制度与改革

香港的医疗制度由一个"二元医疗体系"组成,在体制模式、融资制度及服务规管三方面的安排都有其独特之处,为香港七百多万人提供了一个全民医疗安全网,能够达到公平、有效、可及性高及质素佳的要求。但是这个医疗系统也存在不少问题和隐忧,需要有效的改革,包括管治、管理、服务安排和融资模式改革等。     

香港社区礼俗与信仰共生——道教太平清醮中所见的信仰复合

本文以香港新界地区的太平清醮庆典仪式的田野调查为基础,从道教教义、仪式理论以及太平清醮仪式的宗教意义等角度分析宗教信仰在中国人生活世界中的地位和功能,进而尝试说明不同的宗教信仰为什么可以在中国人的宗教生活中共存共生。作者试图说明,由于道教已经通过其仪法结构将教义和宗教思想传递出来,以道教仪式为基本形式的社区礼俗自然就可以包容其他异质的信仰。