Mapping differential responses to cognitive training using machine learning

We used two simple unsupervised machine learning techniques to identify differential trajectories of change in children who undergo intensive working memory (WM) training. We used self‐organizing maps (SOMs)—a type of simple artificial neural network—to represent multivariate cognitive training data, and then tested whether the way tasks are represented changed as a result of training. The patterns of change we observed in the SOM weight matrices implied that the processes drawn upon to perform WM tasks changed following training. This was then combined with K‐means clustering to identify distinct groups of children who respond to the training in different ways. Firstly, the K‐means clustering was applied to an independent large sample (N = 616, M_age = 9.16 years, range = 5.16–17.91 years) to identify subgroups. We then allocated children who had been through cognitive training (N = 179, M_age = 9.00 years, range = 7.08–11.50 years) to these same four subgroups, both before and after their training. In doing so, we were able to map their improvement trajectories. Scores on a separate measure of fluid intelligence were predictive of a child's improvement trajectory. This paper provides an alternative approach to analysing cognitive training data that go beyond considering changes in individual tasks. This proof‐of‐principle demonstrates a potentially powerful way of distinguishing task‐specific from domain‐general changes following training and of establishing different profiles of response to training.     

Separate and shared sources of dual-task cost in stimulus identification and response selection

There is often strong interference if a second target stimulus (T2) is presented before processing of a prior target stimulus (T1) is complete. In the "Psychological Refractory Period" (PRP) paradigm, responses are speeded and interference manifests as increased response time for T2. In the "Attentional Blink" (AB) paradigm, stimuli are masked and responses unspeeded; interference manifests as reduced T2 accuracy. While different causes have usually been considered for PRP and AB phenomena, recent evidence has supported a unified account based on a single, shared restriction on concurrent processing. Here we show that a full assessment of separate and shared resource limitations requires direct comparison of hybrid PRP/AB trials with corresponding pure PRP and AB cases. Randomizing trial types in such a comparison also brings substantial benefit in addressing possible changes in task preparation or readiness. The data from two such experiments--combining speeded auditory (SA) and unspeeded visual (UV) task events--provide clear evidence for both separate and shared resource limitations. Often interference is strongest for T1 and T2 events of the same type, reflecting predominantly different limitations in SA and UV processing. With modest increases in demand, however, interference between different event types can also be made arbitrarily large, reflecting arbitrarily important shared limitations. For even such simple tasks as these, T--T2 interference reflects a combination of relatively local and relatively global sources.     

Ego function assessment of nonclinical individuals

Ego Function Assessment was adapted into a self-report inventory yielding 12 operationalized function measures. 426 respondents from a stratified sample completed the inventory. In addition, 42 respondents completed the inventory twice within a 20-day period. A hierarchical algorithm was used to revise the 12 scales to maximize internal consistencies. Their stabilities were assessed by analyzing the retest scores. Standardization, reliability, and stability data are presented for the original and revised scales. Results show adequate reliability, suggesting that the tool may be useful to measure ego functioning in nonclinical populations.     

Global self-esteem across the life span

This study provides a comprehensive picture of age differences in self-esteem from age 9 to 90 years using cross-sectional data collected from 326,641 individuals over the Internet. Self-esteem levels were high in childhood, dropped during adolescence, rose gradually throughout adulthood, and declined sharply in old age. This trajectory generally held across gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and nationality (U.S. citizens vs. non-U.S. citizens). Overall, these findings support previous research, help clarify inconsistencies in the literature, and document new trends that require further investigation.     

The use of reliable digits to detect malingering in a criminal forensic pretrial population

The present research is a cross-validation of previous investigation by Greiffenstein, Baker; and Gola; Greiffenstein, Gola, and Baker; and Meyers and Volbrecht on the reliable digits (RELD) method of detecting suspected malingering on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R). The results support the use of the RELD method on a criminalforensic pretrial population (N = 187). Sensitivities, specificities, and incremental hit ratesfor two cut levels of the RELD method, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) Infrequency and the Personality Assessment Inventory Negative Impression Scales, as well as multiple combined cut scores, were comparable to those observed in previous studies that used neuropsychologically evaluated participants. The selection of which cut score or combination of cut scores is appropriate on the RELD method is also discussed.     

Unusual Child–Mother Communication During Separation: A Psychoanalytic Study

This paper describes two vignettes from psychoanalytic work with a mother who experienced unusual communication with her baby when they were apart. These episodes suggest there are sensory cues or an extrasensory perceptual awareness between individuals separated by physical distance. This paper attempts to describe these thought transferences in order to better understand communication phenomena that have not been described in the scientific literature.     

Brain Potentials in the Processing of Complex Sentences: An ERP Study of Control and Raising Constructions

In the present study we made use of Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to examine raising and subject control constructions in German. Our most salient result is that the ERPs elicited at the empty subject position of a raising construction are clearly different from those elicited at the corresponding position of an otherwise identical subject control construction, the former producing a stronger P600. We argue that this result provides an electrophysiological correlate of the theoretical distinction between NP trace and PRO.