Disentangling the Mechanisms of Symbolic Number Processing in Adults’ Mathematics and Arithmetic Achievement

A growing body of research has shown that symbolic number processing relates to individual differences in mathematics. However, it remains unclear which mechanisms of symbolic number processing are crucial—accessing underlying magnitude representation of symbols (i.e., symbol‐magnitude associations), processing relative order of symbols (i.e., symbol‐symbol associations), or processing of symbols per se. To address this question, in this study adult participants performed a dots‐number word matching task—thought to be a measure of symbol‐magnitude associations (numerical magnitude processing)—a numeral‐ordering task that focuses on symbol‐symbol associations (numerical order processing), and a digit‐number word matching task targeting symbolic processing per se. Results showed that both numerical magnitude and order processing were uniquely related to arithmetic achievement, beyond the effects of domain‐general factors (intellectual ability, working memory, inhibitory control, and non‐numerical ordering). Importantly, results were different when a general measure of mathematics achievement was considered. Those mechanisms of symbolic number processing did not contribute to math achievement. Furthermore, a path analysis revealed that numerical magnitude and order processing might draw on a common mechanism. Each process explained a portion of the relation of the other with arithmetic (but not with a general measure of math achievement). These findings are consistent with the notion that adults’ arithmetic skills build upon symbol‐magnitude associations, and they highlight the effects that different math measures have in the study of numerical cognition.     

Cognitive ability in virtual reality: Validity evidence for VR game‐based assessments

Virtual reality (VR) technology may provide unique benefits for assessing individual characteristics, in contrast with traditional assessments. This study examined validity evidence for the use of VR game (VRG) scores to indicate specific cognitive abilities. Participants completed three VRGs, three computer‐based assessments (CBAs), and additional scales. To evaluate convergent validity, VRG scores were compared with CBA scores. For divergent validity, VRG scores were compared with five factors of personality based on the Five Factor Model. For criterion‐related validity, VRG scores were compared with academic achievement (i.e., grade point average). Findings generally provided support that the VRG scores are related to certain spatial reasoning subdimensions of cognitive ability. However, further research is needed to examine the qualities of VRGs as assessment tools.     

Habiletés phonologiques chez des enfants dysphasiques de GS et CP : étude comparative avec des enfants au développement langagier normal

The aim of this study was to investigate the deficit in phonological skills of pre-reader and beginning reader children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). We compared their performances in different metaphonological tasks (a common unit detection task (syllable vs phoneme) and a phoneme deletion task) with those of children with Normal Language Development (NLD) of the same school level. Phoneme detection task is very difficult for all children in kindergarten. The performances of SLI children are poorer than those of NLD children for syllables and phonemes in first grade. The forced choice phoneme deletion tasks point out a specific difficulty for children with SLI to focus on the phonological properties of words when their attention must shift from content to form.     

Comprehension of televised stories in boys with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and nonreferred boys

Two studies compared comprehension of televised stories by 7- to 12-year-old boys with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and nonreferred comparison boys. Boys watched one show with toys present and one with toys absent. Visual attention was continuously recorded, and recall was tested after each show. Across studies, visual attention was high with toys absent but decreased sharply with toys present for boys with ADHD. Groups showed similar levels of cued recall of discrete units of information regardless of differences in attention. When recall tasks and television story structure required knowledge of relations among events, the reduced attention of boys with ADHD interfered with recall. Although visual attention of comparison boys also decreased to some extent with toys present, there was no such decrement in recall. Implications of the difficulties children with ADHD have in integrated story comprehension are discussed.     

Properties of curvilinear vection

Approximately linear relationships were observed between contrast, spatial frequency, temporal frequency, or velocity of stimulation and perceived velocity of curvilinear vection—that is, a visually induced self-motion in a curved path. Similarly, linear relationships were also found between the perceived degree of curvature of curvilinear vection and spatial frequency or velocity of stimulation. Since the perceived velocity of curvilinear vection varies with contrast, spatial frequency, temporal frequency, and angular velocity, and the perceived degree of curvature of curvilinear vection varies only with spatial frequency and angular velocity, peripheral vision is not sufficient for computing accurately the curvilinear component of induced self-motion in a curved path. Concurrently, it was shown that the perceived direction of curvilinear vection is not always unambiguously perceived (Sauvan & Bonnet, 1989). Consequently, it is suggested that two different types of visual processing, which involve the peripheral or the central vision, underlie the processing of curvilinear vection.     

Stigmatized‐Identity Cues and Consumer Applications Revisited

This article responds to thoughtful commentaries provided by Lamberton (2019–this issue) and Wooten & Rank‐Christman (2019—this issue) on Chaney, Sanchez, & Maimon (2019—this issue), an article in which we discussed the implications of social psychological research on stigmatized‐identity safety cues for consumer behavior. In Chaney, et al. (2019–this issue), we contend that stigmatized‐identity cues can signal belonging to marginalized groups via the ideological assumptions made about companies. In this article, we first clarify our definition of stigmatized identities beyond the limitation assumed by Wooten & Rank‐Christman (2019—this issue). In addition, we join the conversation regarding when cues lead to divergent responses in social groups. We also consider how using identity cues can “backfire” and the importance of using marketing goals to assess the extent to which strategies using such cues succeeded. Lastly, we integrate Lamberton's (2019–this issue) framework of dignity architecture and related empirical findings to discuss some of the challenges of research on stigmatized‐identity cues.     

Increased sensitivity to proactive and retroactive interference in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: new insights

Background

Increased sensitivity to proactive (PI) and retroactive (RI) interference has been observed in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). PI and RI are often explained as being the result of a response competition mechanism. However, patients with aMCI are supposed to suffer mostly from encoding deficits. We hypothesized that in aMCI interference may occur at encoding and not only at the retrieval stage.

Material and methods

We developed an original paradigm enabling PI and RI to be tested with and without response competitors. Eighteen young controls (YC), 16 elderly controls (EC) and 15 aMCI participated in the study.

Results

The YC and EC groups presented interference effects only in conditions that included a direct response competitor. In contrast, aMCI had interference effects in all conditions including the one without response competitor.

Conclusion

Increased sensitivity to interference in aMCI appears to occur at the encoding/consolidation stage and not only at the retrieval stage, as is the case in healthy subjects. This result is discussed in the context of the associative encoding deficits characterizing aMCI.     

Large-scale brain systems in ADHD: beyond the prefrontal-striatal model

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has long been thought to reflect dysfunction of prefrontal-striatal circuitry, with involvement of other circuits largely ignored. Recent advances in systems neuroscience-based approaches to brain dysfunction have facilitated the development of models of ADHD pathophysiology that encompass a number of different large-scale resting-state networks. Here we review progress in delineating large-scale neural systems and illustrate their relevance to ADHD. We relate frontoparietal, dorsal attentional, motor, visual and default networks to the ADHD functional and structural literature. Insights emerging from mapping intrinsic brain connectivity networks provide a potentially mechanistic framework for an understanding of aspects of ADHD such as neuropsychological and behavioral inconsistency, and the possible role of primary visual cortex in attentional dysfunction in the disorder.     

Is speech alignment to talkers or tasks?

Speech alignment, or the tendency of individuals to subtly imitate each other’s speaking styles, is often assessed by comparing a subject’s baseline and shadowed utterances to a model’s utterances, often through perceptual ratings. These types of comparisons provide information about the occurrence of a change in subject’s speech, but they do not indicate that this change is toward the specific shadowed model. In three experiments, we investigated whether alignment is specific to a shadowed model. Experiment 1 involved the classic baseline-to-shadowed comparison, to confirm that subjects did, in fact, sound more like their model when they shadowed, relative to any preexisting similarities between a subject and a model. Experiment 2 tested whether subjects’ utterances sounded more similar to the model whom they had shadowed or to another, unshadowed model. In Experiment 3, we examined whether subjects’ utterances sounded more similar to the model whom they had shadowed or to another subject who had shadowed a different model. The results of all experiments revealed that subjects sounded more similar to the model whom they had shadowed. This suggests that shadowing-based speech alignment is not just a change, but a change in the direction of the shadowed model, specifically.