Multitimescale dynamical interactions between speech rhythm and gesture

Temporal patterns in human movement, and in speech in particular, occur on multiple timescales. Regularities in such patterns have been observed between speech gestures, which are relatively quick movements of articulators (e.g., tongue fronting and lip protrusion), and also between rhythmic units (e.g., syllables and metrical feet), which occur more slowly. Previous work has shown that patterns in both domains can be usefully modeled with oscillatory dynamical systems. To investigate how rhythmic and gestural domains interact, an experiment was conducted in which speakers performed a phrase repetition task, and gestural kinematics were recorded using electromagnetic articulometry. Variance in relative timing of gestural movements was correlated with variance in rhythmic timing, indicating that gestural and rhythmic systems interact in the process of planning and producing speech. A model of rhythmic and gestural planning oscillators with multifrequency coupling is presented, which can simulate the observed covariability between rhythmic and gestural timing.     

Similar Processes Despite Divergent Behavior in Two Commonly Used Measures of Risky Decision Making

Performance on complex decision-making tasks may depend on a multitude of processes. Two such tasks, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART), are of particular interest because they are associated with real world risky behavior, including illegal drug use. We used cognitive models to disentangle underlying processes in both tasks. Whereas behavioral measures from the IGT and BART were uncorrelated, cognitive models revealed two reliable cross-task associations. Results suggest that the tasks similarly measure loss aversion and decision-consistency processes, but not necessarily the same learning process. Additionally, substance-using individuals (and especially stimulant users) performed worse on the IGT than healthy controls did, and this pattern could be explained by reduced decision consistency.     

任务结构相似性对工作记忆训练迁移效应的影响

个体的工作记忆能力通过训练可以提高,但是,目前对于工作记忆训练的迁移效应尚未有统一的结论。本文通过梳理相关研究,发现训练任务与评估迁移效应任务之间的结构相似性会对迁移效应产生影响。结构相似性即训练任务和未训练任务之间共享加工成分和加工程序,而这个共享加工成分和加工程序能通过发展相似的策略实现工作记忆训练的迁移。今后研究应该更加注意以往研究设计中的不足,针对不同群体的工作记忆训练效果的机制分别进行研究。     

Towards a better understanding of the association between motor skills and executive functions in 5- to 6-year-olds: The impact of motor task difficulty

Different lines of evidence suggest an association between motor skills and executive functions (EFs) in kindergarten children. Comparatively little is known about the specific nature of this relationship. In the present study, using a within-subjects design, a sample of 124 five- to six-year-old children completed 12 fine and gross motor tasks of varying nominal difficulty and three EFs tasks. We assumed that difficult motor tasks are less automated than easy motor tasks. Therefore, EFs should be involved more strongly in difficult compared to easy motor tasks. Firstly, results replicated the association between motor skills and EFs. Secondly, results provided a new and differentiated perspective on the evidence of this link. Performance on both easy and difficult fine motor tasks was significantly related to EFs. However, only performance on the difficult, but not on the easy gross motor tasks was significantly correlated with EFs. The findings demonstrate that the challenges and demands inherent in any motor task influence the magnitude of the motor–EFs link. That is, difficult (i.e., less automated) motor tasks require EFs more substantially than easy (i.e., more automated) motor tasks. Results will be discussed with regard to further candidate processes underlying the motor–EFs link.     

Maternal mind-mindedness over infants’ first three months

Maternal mind-mindedness refers to mothers’ ability to reflect upon their infants’ mental states and respond appropriately. The present study assessed mind-mindedness longitudinally from the newborn period to the infant age of three months. The study is the first to assess maternal mind-mindedness in the infant’s early life prior to three months (one week, one month, two months, three months). To measure maternal mind-mindedness, mothers’ speech to their infants is coded for mental state comments about the infants’ thoughts, desires, and emotions. Appropriate mind-minded comments are judged to accurately reflect the infants’ mental states; non-attuned mind-minded comments are judged to misinterpret the infants’ mental states. Mothers’ individual stability (rank order stability) and group level continuity (mean level of stability across the infant ages) were assessed. Mothers showed modest temporal stability in both appropriate and non-attuned mind-mindedness over the infants’ first three months. The continuity of mind-mindedness showed that appropriate mind-mindedness increased over the infant ages, but non-attuned mind-mindedness showed no change. In infants’ early lives, mothers’ ability to accurately interpret their infants’ mental states is enhanced as the mother-infant relationship develops and infants become more communicative partners.     

任务转换条件下对特征的并行搜索

采用双任务范式,以两个实验探讨了任务设置与刺激特征的匹配程度对特征搜索方式的影响。要求被试首先辨认数字序列中包含的字母,随后完成特征搜索任务。在实验一中特征搜索任务是检测同时呈现的多个灰色圆点(干扰子）中是否有红色圆点(目标）出现。在实验二中,以多种不同颜色的圆点代替实验一中的灰色干扰子。结果发现：在特征搜索主要由自下而上的信息或自上而下的信息引导的两种条件下,任务设置与刺激特征的匹配程度均不影响特征搜索方式,特征搜索仍以并行方式进行。据上述结果笔者推测,在任务设置与刺激特征不匹配的条件下,视觉加工系统首先调整任务设置使二者相匹配,随后进行高效率的并行搜索,而非在二者不匹配的条件下进行低效率的系列搜索。     

Task performance influences general self-efficacy,even without increases in the skills required to achieve success

ABSTRACT

The current article tests whether task performance influences general self-efficacy without increases in the skills required to achieve success. To do so, an experimental design is applied in which participants predict a random future event, and the relationship between prediction task performance and self-efficacy is observed. This article also tests whether this specific performance/self-efficacy relationship is moderated by (a) perceived illegitimacy of predicting the future and (b) self-assessed ability to predict the future. The results show that prediction task performance indeed influences general self-efficacy, and neither of these two moderators has a significant effect on this relationship. Therefore, performance on a low-stakes task does influence general self-efficacy—at least temporarily. More importantly, task performance is shown to influence self-efficacy even without increases in the skills required to achieve success.     

Cognitive control of language production in bilinguals involves a partly independent process within the domain-general cognitive control network: evidence from task-switching and electrical brain activity

In highly proficient, early bilinguals, behavioural studies of the cost of switching language or task suggest qualitative differences between language control and domain-general cognitive control. By contrast, several neuroimaging studies have shown an overlap of the brain areas involved in language control and domain-general cognitive control. The current study measured both behavioural responses and event-related potentials (ERPs) from bilinguals who performed picture naming in single- or mixed-language contexts, as well as an alphanumeric categorisation task in single- or mixed-task context. Analysis of switch costs during the mixed-context conditions showed qualitative differences between language control and domain-general cognitive control. A 2 × 2 ANOVA of the ERPs, with domain (linguistic, alphanumeric) and context (single, mixed) as within-participant factors, revealed a significant interaction, which also suggests a partly independent language-control mechanism. Source estimations revealed the neural basis of this mechanism to be in bilateral frontal-temporal areas.     

Why borderline personality features adversely affect job performance: The role of task strategies

This study examined how Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and its components influence job performance. BPD is theorized to adversely affect the generation of task strategies in the workplace which results in poor job performance. In this study, 180 college students completed the Borderline Scale from the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI-BOR; Morey, 1991) followed by a work-related simulation. While none of the facets of BPD related to task strategy, the composite of borderline negatively related to task strategy, which was positively related to task performance. Thus, borderline appears to have an indirect effect on task performance through task strategy.     

Skill‐based versus effort‐based task difficulty: A task‐analysis approach to the role of specific emotions in motivating difficult actions

We make a distinction between primarily effort-based and skilled-based tasks and examine the correspondence between emotion and task. We reverse attribution theory results wherein failure to expend effort engenders regret and accomplishing tasks with skill engenders pride, and propose these emotions as antecedents to effort-based and skill-based behaviors. Specifically, pride (regret) produces higher self-efficacy, behavioral intentions and sign-ups when the task (CPR training) is portrayed as skill-intensive (effort-intensive) compared to effort-intensive (skill-intensive) or easy. Our research highlights the value of integrating an attributional analysis of tasks into an appraisal theory of emotions and suggests mechanisms that might underlie this relationship.