Individual differences in adult foreign language learning: The mediating effect of metalinguistic awareness

In this study, we sought to identify cognitive predictors of individual differences in adult foreign-language learning and to test whether metalinguistic awareness mediated the observed relationships. Using a miniature language-learning paradigm, adults (N = 77) learned Russian vocabulary and grammar (gender agreement and case marking) over six 1-h sessions, completing tasks that encouraged attention to phrases without explicitly teaching grammatical rules. The participants’ ability to describe the Russian gender and case-marking patterns mediated the effects of nonverbal intelligence and auditory sequence learning on grammar learning and generalization. Hence, even under implicit-learning conditions, individual differences stemmed from explicit metalinguistic awareness of the underlying grammar, which, in turn, was linked to nonverbal intelligence and auditory sequence learning. Prior knowledge of languages with grammatical gender (predominantly Spanish) predicted learning of gender agreement. Transfer of knowledge of gender from other languages to Russian was not mediated by awareness, which suggests that transfer operates through an implicit process akin to structural priming.     

Philosophy Unbound: The Idea of Global Philosophy

The future of philosophy is moving towards “global philosophy.” The idea of global philosophy is the view that different philosophical approaches may engage more substantially with each other to solve philosophical problems. Most solutions attempt to use only those available resources located within one philosophical tradition. A more promising approach might be to expand the range of available resources to better assist our ability to offer more compelling solutions. This search for new horizons in order to improve our clarity about philosophical issues is at the heart of global philosophy. The idea of global philosophy encourages us to look beyond our traditions to improve our philosophical problem‐solving by our own lights. Global philosophy is a new approach whose time is coming. This essay offers the first account of this approach and an assessment of its future promise.     

Effects of video-game play on information processing: A meta-analytic investigation

Do video games enhance cognitive functioning? We conducted two meta-analyses based on different research designs to investigate how video games impact information-processing skills (auditory processing, executive functions, motor skills, spatial imagery, and visual processing). Quasi-experimental studies (72 studies, 318 comparisons) compare habitual gamers with controls; true experiments (46 studies, 251 comparisons) use commercial video games in training. Using random-effects models, video games led to improved information processing in both the quasi-experimental studies, d = 0.61, 95 % CI [0.50, 0.73], and the true experiments, d = 0.48, 95 % CI [0.35, 0.60]. Whereas the quasi-experimental studies yielded small to large effect sizes across domains, the true experiments yielded negligible effects for executive functions, which contrasted with the small to medium effect sizes in other domains. The quasi-experimental studies appeared more susceptible to bias than were the true experiments, with larger effects being reported in higher-tier than in lower-tier journals, and larger effects reported by the most active research groups in comparison with other labs. The results are further discussed with respect to other moderators and limitations in the extant literature.     

Face encoding is not categorical: Consistent evidence across multiple types of contingent aftereffects

ABSTRACT

Race-contingent aftereffects indicate that faces of different races are encoded via dissociable visual channels. Race-contingent aftereffects reflect perceptions of typicality, indicating a gradual transition of activity across channels as faces change from looking more typical of one race to the other We examine whether faces forming more discrete categories (sex: male/female; species: human/monkey) are encoded in a similar fashion, or whether they are instead encoded via more dichotomous categorical judgements. Curves representing the rate of change of aftereffect magnitude as stimuli changed from male to female produced shallow slopes, closely resembling ratings of typicality, but differing significantly from slopes for categorical judgements. For species, aftereffect slopes were significantly shallower than both ratings of typicality and categorical judgements. Overall, these results suggest that the encoding of facial properties such as these is not categorical, but instead involves a graded response as stimulus typicality varies. Aftereffect slopes were similar across the two experiments, raising the possibility of a common system that is recruited during contingent adaptation, regardless of the specific dimension involved or the categories used by the experimenter.     

Advanced clinical interpretation of the WAIS-IV and WMS-IV: prevalence of low scores varies by level of intelligence and years of education

Clinicians can use the base rates of low scores in healthy people to reduce the likelihood of misdiagnosing cognitive impairment. In the present study, base rates were developed for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) and Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) using 900 healthy adults and validated on 28 patients with moderate or severe traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Results indicated that healthy people obtain some low scores on the WAIS-IV/WMS-IV, with prevalence rates increasing with fewer years of education and lower predicted intelligence. When applying the base rates information to the clinical sample, the TBI patients were 13 times more likely to be identified as having a low cognitive profile compared with the controls. Using the base rates information is a psychometrically advanced method for establishing criteria to determine low cognitive abilities on the WAIS-IV/WMS-IV.     

Teaching posttraining: influencing diagnostic strategy with instructions at test

It is believed that medical diagnosis involves two complementary processes, analytic and similarity-based. There is considerable debate as to which of these processes defines diagnostic expertise and how best to teach clinical diagnosis and reduce diagnostic errors. The purpose of these studies is to document the use of these strategies in medical students. We shifted the balance in use of these processes and improved diagnostic accuracy with instructions given posttraining at the moment of diagnosis. Analytic processing reflecting the degree to which cases contain the diagnostic rules was indexed by the rate of accuracy on typical versus atypical cases (typicality effect). Similarity-based processing reflecting the degree to which cases resemble previously encountered cases was indexed by the rate of accuracy on similar versus dissimilar cases (similarity effect). Two studies are presented illustrating that diagnosis involves the coordination of analytic and similarity-based processes and that differential instruction given at test shifts the balance in the use of these processes. Study 1 illustrated that participants adopting an analytic strategy exhibit a larger effect of typicality. Participants adopting a similarity-based strategy exhibit a larger effect of similarity. The diagnostic approach of students given no instructions was predominantly analytic. Dual instructions in which participants first employed similarity-based processing followed by the application of rules improved overall accuracy. Study 2 investigated two versions of dual instructions and illustrated that assessing a case with the rules of diagnosis first may inhibit the subsequent use of similarity-based reasoning. The implications for diagnostic expertise and pedagogy are discussed.