Working memory updating and the development of rule-guided behavior

The transition from middle childhood into adolescence is marked by both increasing independence and also extensive change in the daily requirements of familial demands, social pressures, and academic achievement. To manage this increased complexity, children must develop the ability to use abstract rules that guide the choice of behavior across a range of circumstances. Here, we tested children through adults in a task that requires increasing levels of rule abstraction, while separately manipulating competition among alternatives in working memory. We found that age-related differences in rule-guided behavior can be explained in terms of improvement in rule abstraction, which we suggest involves a working memory updating mechanism. Furthermore, family socioeconomic status (SES) predicted change in rule-guided behavior, such that higher SES predicted better performance with development. We discuss these results within a working memory gating framework for abstract rule-guided behavior.     

Self-unawareness of levodopa induced dyskinesias in patients with Parkinson’s disease

The study analyzes the presence of dyskinesias-reduced-self-awareness in forty-eight patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease (PD). As the association with executive dysfunction is a matter of debate and we hypothesize it plays an important role in dyskinesias self-unawareness, we analyzed the role of dopaminergic treatment on the medial-prefrontal-ventral-striatal circuitry using a neurocognitive approach. Special attention was given to metacognitive abilities related to action-monitoring that represent a novel explanation of the phenomenon.PD patients were assessed using different rating scales that we devised to measure movement awareness disorders. In order to ascertain whether each variable measured at a cognitive-clinical level contributes to predicting the scores of the movement-disorder-awareness-scales, we conducted multiple logistic regression models using the latter as binary dependent variables. We used the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-metacognitive-version to assess the executive functions of the prefrontal-ventral-striatal circuitry.Data showed that a reduction of self-awareness using the Dyskinesia rating scale was associated with global monitoring (p = .04), monitoring resolution (p = .04) and control sensitivity (p = .04). Patients failed to perceive their performance, distinguish between correct and incorrect sorts, be confident in their choice and consequently decide to gamble during the task.We did not find any association with executive functions using the hypo-bradykinesia rating scale.Our findings indicate that when the comparator mechanism for monitoring attentive performance is compromised at a prefrontal striatal level, patients lose the ability to recognize their motor disturbances that do not achieve conscious awareness.     

Working memory training improvements and gains in non-trained cognitive tasks in young and older adults

Previous studies on working memory training have indicated that transfer to non-trained tasks of other cognitive domains may be possible. The aim of this study is to compare working memory training and transfer effects between younger and older adults (n = 60). A novel approach to adaptive n-back training (12 sessions) was implemented by varying the working memory load and the presentation speed. All participants completed a neuropsychological battery of tests before and after the training. On average, younger training participants achieved difficulty level 12 after training, while older training participants only reached difficulty level 5. In younger participants, transfer to Verbal Fluency and Digit Symbol Substitution test was found. In older participants, we observed a transfer to Digit Span Forward, CERAD Delayed Recall, and Digit Symbol Substitution test. Results suggest that working memory training may be a beneficial intervention for maintaining and improving cognitive functioning in old age.     

I can’t get no satisfaction: Potential causes of boredom

A variety of causes of boredom have been proposed including environmental, motivational, emotional, and cognitive factors. Here, we explore four potential cognitive causes of boredom: inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and executive dysfunction. Specifically, we examine the unique and common associations between these factors and boredom propensity. Recent research has established that the two most commonly used measures of boredom propensity (BPS and BSS) are not measuring the same underlying construct. Thus, a second goal of the present project is to determine the unique and common roles of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and poor executive system functioning in predicting the BPS and BSS specifically. The findings reveal that inattention, hyperactivity and executive dysfunction predict boredom propensity, with shared variance accounting for the greater part of this effect. Further, executive dysfunction and hyperactivity uniquely predict boredom propensity as measured by the BPS and BSS, respectively.     

Updating working memory in aircraft noise and speech noise causes different fMRI activations

The present study used fMRI/BOLD neuroimaging to investigate how visual‐verbal working memory is updated when exposed to three different background‐noise conditions: speech noise, aircraft noise and silence. The number‐updating task that was used can distinguish between “substitution processes,” which involve adding new items to the working memory representation and suppressing old items, and “exclusion processes,” which involve rejecting new items and maintaining an intact memory set. The current findings supported the findings of a previous study by showing that substitution activated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the posterior medial frontal cortex and the parietal lobes, whereas exclusion activated the anterior medial frontal cortex. Moreover, the prefrontal cortex was activated more by substitution processes when exposed to background speech than when exposed to aircraft noise. These results indicate that (a) the prefrontal cortex plays a special role when task‐irrelevant materials should be denied access to working memory and (b) that, when compensating for different types of noise, either different cognitive mechanisms are involved or those cognitive mechanisms that are involved are involved to different degrees.     

Are support and social comparison compatible? Individual differences in the multiplexity of career‐related social networks

Social networks are crucial for helping people in their careers. Moreover, social identity is reflected in and influenced by individuals’ networks. To date, there is little knowledge on how these different functions of networks might interact. A survey in which 450 individuals provided information on 2,499 contacts in their social networks indicated both multiplexity and segmentation in networks. Contacts tended either to provide psychosocial support only or to provide instrumental support and serve as a standard for social comparison. The segmentation was stronger for individuals with an independent career orientation than for promotion‐oriented individuals. These findings contribute to the literature on social networks and careers by providing insights into how career orientation affects the multiplexity in career‐related social networks.     

When the poor excel: Poverty facilitates procedural learning

Recent research has shown that poverty directly impeded cognitive functions because the poor could be easily distracted by monetary concerns. We argue that this effect may be limited to functions relying on working memory. For functions that rely on proceduralized processes however, monetary concerns elicited by reminding of financial demands would be conducive rather than harmful. Our results supported this hypothesis by showing that participants with lower income reached the learning criterion of the information‐integration categorization task faster than their more affluent counterparts after reminding of financial demands.     

The protective role of long-term meditation on the decline of the executive component of attention in aging: a preliminary cross-sectional study

Life expectancy is constantly increasing. However, a longer life not always corresponds to a healthier life. Indeed, even normal aging is associated with a decline in different cognitive functions. It has been proposed that a central mechanism that could contribute to this widespread cognitive decline is an ineffective inhibitory attentional control. Meditation, to the other hand, has been associated, in young adults, to enhancement of several attentional processes. Nevertheless, attention is not a unitary construct. An influent model proposed the distinction of three subsystems: the alerting (the ability to reach and maintain a vigilance state), the orienting (the capacity of focusing attention on a subset of stimuli), and the conflict resolution or executive component (the ability to resolve conflict or allocate limited resources between competing stimuli). Here, we investigated, employing the Attentional Network Task (ANT), the specific impact of age on these three subcomponents, and the protective role of long-term meditation testing a group of older adults naïve to meditation, a group of age-matched adults with long-term practice of meditation, and a group of young adults with no previous meditation experience. We reported a specific decline of the efficiency of the executive component in elderly that was not observed in age-matched meditators. Our results are encouraging for the investigation of the potential beneficial impact of meditation on other cognitive processes that decline in aging such as memory. Moreover, they could inform geriatric healthcare prevention and intervention strategies, proposing a new approach for cognitive remediation in elderly populations.