A multitrait–multimethod study of assessment instruments for complex problem solving

Recently published studies on Complex Problem Solving (CPS) suggest that assessments of CPS using multiple complex systems are only moderately related to tests of classical cognitive abilities. Further, CPS assessments show incremental validity beyond tests of other cognitive abilities when predicting relevant outcomes. However, these empirical accounts have relied on single CPS assessment instruments. We do not know whether these findings will generalize to the construct level across different CPS assessment instruments. To answer this question, we tested a sample of N = 339 German university students who completed three CPS assessment instruments based on multiple complex systems (MicroDYN, the Genetics Lab, and MicroFIN) and the matrices subtest of the Intelligence Structure Test as measure of reasoning. Students further reported their school grades. Analyses including latent multitrait–multimethod models provided support for the conceptualization of CPS as a complex cognitive ability. Results indicated that different CPS assessment instruments showed sufficient convergent validity (with a consistency mostly between .50 and .60). In addition, we found evidence for the divergent validity of CPS from reasoning (reasoning predicted two CPS facets, knowledge and control, β_KNOW = .49 and β_CON = .53, respectively). In the prediction of academic achievement, CPS explained variance in natural science grades after we controlled for reasoning (β_CPS = .22), whereas social science grades were not predicted. Our findings suggest that the validity of CPS generalizes across different measurement instruments.     

The role of attention during retrieval in working-memory span: A dual-task study

We tested the hypothesis that retrieving target words in operation span (OSpan) involves attention-demanding processes. Participants completed the standard OSpan task and a modified version in which all equations preceded all target words. Recall took place under either full attention or easy versus hard divided-attention conditions. Recall suffered under divided attention with the recall decrement being greater for the hard secondary task. Moreover, secondary-task performance was disrupted more by the standard OSpan task than by the modified version with the hard secondary task showing the larger decrement. Finally, the time taken to start recalling the first word was considerably longer for the standard version than for the modified version. These results are consistent with the proposal that successful OSpan task performance in part involves the attention-demanding retrieval of targets from long-term memory.     

Eye movements reveal no immediate “WOW” (“which one's weird”) effect in autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developed (TD) adult participants viewed pairs of scenes for a simple “spot the difference” (STD) and a complex “which one's weird” (WOW) task. There were no group differences in the STD task. In the WOW task, the ASD group took longer to respond manually and to begin fixating the target “weird” region. Additionally, as indexed by the first-fixation duration into the target region, the ASD group failed to “pick up” immediately on what was “weird”. The findings are discussed with reference to the complex information processing theory of ASD (Minshew & Goldstein, 1998 Minshew, N. J. and Goldstein, G. 1998. Autism as a disorder or complex information processing. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 4: 129–136. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]).     

Computer-based Testing and Training with Scenarios from Complex Problem-solving Research: Advantages and Disadvantages

The use of PC-based simulations for selection and training for jobs which require complex problem solving skills is ever-increasing. This paper gives a short review of such simulations along with a list of advantages and disadvantages of their use. Possible future developments are sketched.     

High regularities in eye-movement patterns reveal the dynamics of the visual working memory allocation mechanism

With only two to five slots of visual working memory (VWM), humans are able to quickly solve complex visual problems to near optimal solutions. To explain the paradox between tightly constrained VWM and impressively complex human visual problem-solving ability, we propose several principles for dynamic VWM allocation. In particular, we propose that complex visual information is represented in a temporal manner using only a few slots of VWM that include global and local visual chunks. We built a model of human traveling salesman problem solving based on these principles of VWM allocation and tested the model with eye-movement data. Exactly as the model predicted, human eye movements during traveling salesman problem solving have precise quantitative regularities with regard to both the general statistical pattern of attentional fixations and how they vary across individuals with different VWM capacities. Even though VWM capacity is very limited, eye movements dynamically allocate VWM resources to both local and global information, enabling attention to fine details without loss of the big picture.     

Succeeding at succession: the myth of Orestes

Abstract: Although the myth of Oedipus seems an inevitable template for understanding succession in psychoanalysis, the myth of Orestes offers a more complex and promising view of the intergenerational transfer of leadership and authority, one that takes into account the entire community, not merely the individual leader. A closer look at the Aeschylus drama suggests three dimensions that need to be taken into account in managing succession: what are the mechanisms enabling the community to participate, what is the role of the unconscious irrational forces inevitably aroused in the process, and what are the wider social and economic issues that need to be addressed? This paper looks at the myth elaborated in the Greek drama, and then applies it to some of the current problems facing contemporary psychoanalytic institutions.     

The explanatory potential of artificial societies

It is often claimed that artificial society simulations contribute to the explanation of social phenomena. At the hand of a particular example, this paper argues that artificial societies often cannot provide full explanations, because their models are not or cannot be validated. Despite that, many feel that such simulations somehow contribute to our understanding. This paper tries to clarify this intuition by investigating whether artificial societies provide potential explanations. It is shown that these potential explanations, if they contribute to our understanding, considerably differ from potential causal explanations. Instead of possible causal histories, simulations offer possible functional analyses of the explanandum. The paper discusses how these two kinds explanatory strategies differ, and how potential functional explanations can be appraised.     

Suppose Freud had chosen Orestes instead

Abstract :  The paper argues that the story of Oedipus, however understood, conveys psychic truth of no greater or more central importance to human development than do the stories of many other myths. A distinction is made between sophisticated theories developed out of Freud's original concept of the Oedipus complex, and the adherence by some clinicians to his original sexual theory. The meaning of Sophocles' play Oedipus the King is found to lie in the clash between Oedipus' omnipotent narcissism ( hubris) and the power of the unconscious psyche, rather than in cross-generational sex. Emphasis is placed on the clinical usefulness of understanding all myths symbolically. The Oresteia by Aeschylus is offered as a story about pre-Oedipal (in the Freudian sense) psychic states. This trilogy shows symbolically the developing of an ego, the establishment of moral judgement and the integration of our shadow (the Furies). It also shows the parallel development of structures of law in society to replace instinctive blood feuds. It is suggested that had Freud chosen Orestes instead of Oedipus, the course of both psychoanalysis and of Western society would have had a different emphasis.     

The Orsino complex: Men who love themselves as love objects

Abstract

The Duke Orsino, in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, is cited as the archetypal embodiment of a psychological complex which, it is argued, may affect many men in modern patriarchal societies. This condition named the ‘Orsino complex’ is characterized by the subject's experience of being in love with himself as a love object. It is the consequence of the subject's very early experience of his mother's dual psychological reactions to him as a male child. The first of these, and the more significant, I have called maternal phallic projection, while the second I term maternal withdrawal. I also consider the influence of the father upon this complex.

While this paper remains speculative in its present form—that is, its central thesis is based on fictional and not on clinical material—it might, I hope, assist all of us working psychodynamically in understanding further some of the severe problems that male clients present in their relationships with women, as well as directing further research into the complexities of gender identity in contemporary society.