The precursors of mathematics learning: Working memory,phonological ability and numerical competence

This research aims at identifying the precursors of mathematics learning at the beginning of primary school. There are few experimental studies on this topic and existing ones use between-subjects designs and correlation analysis. This paper analyses longitudinal data to investigate whether the relationship between basic abilities and mathematics learning is causally interpretable, rather than one where cognitive abilities are correlated to early mathematics learning in a cross-section design.     

The effect of cognitive load and hyperarousal on negative intrusive memories

Clinical theories of post-traumatic stress suggest that encoding processes at the time of a trauma are critical in determining whether intrusive memories will develop. Potential mechanisms that might influence the development of intrusive memories were studied, as was objective memory performance. In an analogue design, 65 participants were randomised to three conditions (cognitive load, hyperventilation, and control), and then watched a film of traumatic content. Intrusive memories were recorded during the experimental phase and at 1-week follow-up. Support was found for the prediction that verbal cognitive load and hyperventilation would facilitate intrusion development immediately following exposure to the trauma film; however, this was not maintained at follow-up. Consistent with cognitive models of post-traumatic stress, thought suppression and the distress associated with intrusive experiences mediated the relationship between distress caused by the film and intrusions at 1-week follow-up. Objective memory testing indicated that the three experimental groups showed similar recall and recognition performance for the content of the film; however, relative to the control group, individuals in the cognitive load condition were significantly less able to place film scenes in the correct order.     

The association between working models of attachment and personality: Toward an integrative framework operationalizing global relational models

A theoretical framework is presented which outlines the association between relational models of romantic relationships (romantic attachment anxiety and avoidance) and the conceptually similar dual dimensions of autonomy and sociotropy identified in the literature on personality diatheses of depression. Two studies, along with a meta-analysis of previous research, lend support to the notion that autonomy and avoidance share a common element reflecting variation in the degree to which people seek out or avoid closeness with others, whereas sociotropy and anxiety share a common element reflecting variation in the degree to which people worry about or are content in their social relations. The measures differ in relational specificity, however, as attachment anxiety and avoidance assess models of close and romantic relationships, whereas sociotropy and autonomy reflect more abstracted representations that encompass broader categories of social relation. The proposed framework offers a variety of avenues for research operationalizing and elaborating upon the function of global relational models in the attachment system.     

Education does not protect against age-related decline of switching focal attention in working memory

In this experimental study, effects of age and education on switching focal attention in working memory were investigated among 44 young (20-30 years) and 40 middle-aged individuals (50-60 years). To this end, a numeric n-back task comprising two lag conditions (1- and 2-back) was administered within groups. The results revealed a comparable increase of reaction time as a function of lag across age groups, but a disproportionate decrease of accuracy in the middle-aged relative to the young group. The latter effect did not interact with education, which challenges the cognitive reserve hypothesis. Moreover, the high-educated middle-aged participants showed a greater increase of reaction time as a function of lag than their low-educated counterparts. Apparently, they were not able to sustain their relatively high response speed across conditions. These results suggest that education does not protect against age-related decline of switching focal attention in working memory.     

Cortical locus of coherent motion deficits in deaf poor readers

Samar and Parasnis [Samar, V. J., & Parasnis, I. (2005). Dorsal stream deficits suggest hidden dyslexia among deaf poor readers: correlated evidence from reduced perceptual speed and elevated coherent motion detection thresholds. Brain and Cognition, 58, 300-311.] reported that correlated measures of coherent motion detection and perceptual speed predicted reading comprehension in deaf young adults. Because deficits in coherent motion detection have been associated with dyslexia in the hearing population, and because coherent motion detection is strongly dependent on extrastriate cortical area MT, these results are consistent with the claim that hidden dyslexia occurs within the deaf population and is associated with deficits in MT. However, coherent motion detection can also be influenced by subcortical deficits in both magnocellular and parvocellular pathways. To confirm the putative cortical locus of coherent motion perception deficits, we measured contrast thresholds for detecting the direction of movement of drifting sine wave gratings in the same participant group as [Samar, V. J., & Parasnis, I. (2005). Dorsal stream deficits suggest hidden dyslexia among deaf poor readers: correlated evidence from reduced perceptual speed and elevated coherent motion detection thresholds. Brain and Cognition, 58, 300-311.], under stimulus conditions that selectively biased for input from the subcortical magnocellular and parvocellular pathways, respectively. Contrast thresholds were not related to reading comprehension performance under either the magnocellular or parvocellular conditions. Furthermore, the previously reported correlations among reading comprehension, coherent motion thresholds, and perceptual speed remained significant even after contrast thresholds and non-verbal IQ were controlled in partial correlation analyses. In addition, coherent motion detection thresholds were found to correlate specifically with a reading-IQ discrepancy score, one commonly used indicator of dyslexia. These results provide direct psychophysical evidence that the previously reported deficit in coherent motion detection in deaf poor readers does not involve subcortical pathway deficits, but rather is associated with a cortical deficit likely involving area MT. They also strengthen the argument for the existence of hidden dyslexia in the deaf adult population.     

The Hennessy–Milner equivalence for continuous time stochastic logic with mu-operator

A continuous stochastic logic with a μ-operator μCSL is defined, and an interpretation through stochastic relations is proposed. We investigate morphisms for models of μCSL, showing that the associated congruences can be used for an investigation of bisimilarity. The Hennessy–Milner equivalence for μCSL is discussed, and it is shown that models are equivalent iff they are bisimilar, using a general criterion for bisimilarity from the theory of stochastic relations.     

Working memory affects false memory production for emotional events

Whereas a link between working memory (WM) and memory distortions has been demonstrated, its influence on emotional false memories is unclear. In two experiments, a verbal WM task and a false memory paradigm for negative, positive or neutral events were employed. In Experiment 1, we investigated individual differences in verbal WM and found that the interaction between valence and WM predicted false recognition, with negative and positive material protecting high WM individuals against false remembering; the beneficial effect of negative material disappeared in low WM participants. In Experiment 2, we lowered the WM capacity of half of the participants with a double task request, which led to an overall increase in false memories; furthermore, consistent with Experiment 1, the increase in negative false memories was larger than that of neutral or positive ones. It is concluded that WM plays a critical role in determining false memory production, specifically influencing the processing of negative material.     

Understanding the role of mind wandering in stress-related working memory impairments

Mind wandering has been identified as a possible cause for stress-related working memory (WM) task impairments following laboratory stressors. The current study attempted to induce mind wandering regarding negative, positive, or neutral events using an expressive writing task and examined the impact on WM task performance. We examined the role of mind wandering in understanding the impact of life stress on WM. Additionally, we explored the role of thought suppression on the relationship between mind wandering and WM. One hundred and fifty participants completed WM measures before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) the writing manipulation. The writing manipulation did not alter mind wandering or WM task performance. Time 1 WM predicted mind wandering during the Time 2 WM task, which subsequently predicted poorer Time 2 WM task performance. The impact of daily life stress on WM was mediated by mind wandering. Trait levels of thought suppression moderated the impact of mind wandering on WM. Specifically, higher levels of suppression resulted in stronger negative impact of mind wandering on WM task performance. Findings are discussed in terms of the impact of mind wandering on WM task performance.     

Individual differences in working memory capacity and resistance to belief bias in syllogistic reasoning

In two experiments, we investigated the possibility that individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) would provide resistance to belief bias in syllogistic reasoning. In Experiment 1 (N?=?157), participants showed a belief bias effect in that they had longer response times and decreased accuracy on syllogisms with conflict between the validity and believability of the conclusion than on syllogisms with no such conflict. However, this effect did not differ as a function of individual differences in WMC. Experiment 2 (N?=?122) replicated this effect with the addition of decontextualized (i.e., nonsense) syllogisms as a different means of measuring the magnitude of the belief bias effect. Although individual differences in WMC and fluid intelligence were related to better reasoning overall, the magnitude of the belief bias effect was not smaller for participants with greater WMC. The present study offers two novel findings: (a) The belief bias effect is independent of individual differences in WMC and fluid intelligence, and (b) resolving conflict in verbal reasoning is not a type of conflict resolution that correlates with individual differences in WMC, further establishing boundary conditions for the role of WMC in human cognitive processes.     

Planning sentences while doing other things at the same time: effects of concurrent verbal and visuospatial working memory load

This study investigated to what extent advance planning during sentence production is affected by a concurrent cognitive load. In two picture–word interference experiments in which participants produced subject–verb–object sentences while ignoring auditory distractor words, we assessed advance planning at a phonological (lexeme) and at an abstract–lexical (lemma) level under visuospatial or verbal working memory (WM) load. At the phonological level, subject and object nouns were found to be activated before speech onset with concurrent visuospatial WM load, but only subject nouns were found to be activated with concurrent verbal WM load, indicating a reduced planning scope as a function of type of WM load (Experiment 1). By contrast, at the abstract–lexical level, subject and object nouns were found to be activated regardless of type of concurrent load (Experiment 2). In both experiments, sentence planning had a more detrimental effect on concurrent verbal WM task performance than on concurrent visuospatial WM task performance. Overall, our results suggest that advance planning at the phonological level is more affected by a concurrently performed verbal WM task than advance planning at the abstract–lexical level. Also, they indicate an overlap of resources allocated to phonological planning in speech production and verbal WM.