Additional considerations when measuring adaptive control in conflict tasks

A recent review article by Braem et al. (2019, Trends in Cognitive Sciences) summarises some of the major challenges associated with investigating the dynamics of cognitive control in conflict tasks and recommends steps that researchers can take to minimise these challenges. This commentary highlights two further considerations for researchers studying the dynamics of cognitive control. First, researchers should consider analysing effects stemming from trial n - 2 to identify (a) how the congruency sequence effect emerges over a longer series of trials and (b) whether residual feature-integration effects remain in confound-minimised designs. Second, data from hand-tracking studies indicates that the dynamics observed in button-press measures of response time reflect the functioning of dissociable processes. Consequently, researchers should consider how the various manipulations used to investigate the dynamics of cognitive control might impact different processes underlying performance.     

The role of eye movements in motor sequence learning

An experiment that utilized a 16-element movement sequence was designed to determine the impact of eye movements on sequence learning. The participants were randomly assigned to two experimental groups: a group that was permitted to use eye movements (FREE) and a second group (FIX) that was instructed to fixate on a marker during acquisition (ACQ). A retention test (RET) was designed to provide a measure of learning, and two transfer tests were designed to determine the extent to which eye movements influenced sequence learning. The results demonstrated that both groups decreased the response time to produce the sequence, but the participants in the FREE group performed the sequence more quickly than participants of the FIX group during the ACQ, RET and the two transfer tests. Furthermore, continuous visual control of response execution was reduced over the course of learning. The results of the transfer tests indicated that oculomotor information regarding the sequence can be stored in memory and enhances response production.     

大中小学生内隐序列学习的发展性研究

采用序列学习的研究范式,对大中小学生的序列反应时和序列生成成绩进行测量,结果表明:(1)大中小学生均能在序列学习中获得序列规则。(2)采用比例测量方法,大中小学生的序列反应时无显著差异。(3)大中小学生的序列生成成绩是不同的,包含成绩随着年级升高而上升,排除成绩则不随年级变化;小学生包含和排除成绩无显著差异,而中学生和大学生的差异逐渐加大。说明序列学习的意识成分随年级的升高而增加。     

Satisfiability Decay along Conjunctions of Pseudo-Random Clauses

k-SAT is a fundamental constraint satisfaction problem. It involvesS(m), the satisfaction set of the conjunction of m clauses,each clause a disjunction of k literals. The problem has manytheoretical, algorithmic and practical aspects. When the clauses are chosen at random it is anticipated (butnot fully proven) that, as the density parameter m/n (n thenumber of variables) grows, the transition of S(m) to beingempty, is abrupt: It has a "sharp threshold", with probability1 – o(1). In this article we replace the random ensemble analysis by apseudo-random one: Derive the decay rule for individual sequencesof clauses, subject to combinatorial conditions, which in turnhold with probability 1 – o(1). This is carried out under the big relaxation that k is not constantbut k = log n , or even r log log n . Then the decay of S isslow, "near-perfect" (like a radioactive decay), which entailssharp thresholds for the transition-time of S below any givenlevel, down to S = .     

The effects of a high-probability instruction sequence and response-independent reinforcer delivery on child compliance

We compared the effects of a high-probability (high-p) instruction sequence and a fixed-time (FT) schedule of reinforcement on the compliance of 2 typically developing children. A multielement experimental design with a reversal component was implemented according to a multiple baseline across participants arrangement. Both the high-p and FT conditions resulted in increased compliance for both participants during the multielement sessions. These results suggest that it may be possible to increase compliance without a response requirement of the type arranged in the high-p instruction sequence.     

EFFECTS OF TREATMENT INTEGRITY FAILURES DURING DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT OF ALTERNATIVE BEHAVIOR: A TRANSLATIONAL MODEL

Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) is used frequently as a treatment for problem behavior. Previous studies on treatment integrity failures during DRA suggest that the intervention is robust, but research has not yet investigated the effects of different types of integrity failures. We examined the effects of two types of integrity failures on DRA, starting with a human operant procedure and extending the results to children with disabilities in a school setting. Human operant results (Experiment 1) showed that conditions involving reinforcement for problem behavior were more detrimental than failing to reinforce appropriate behavior alone, and that condition order affected the results. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated the effects of combined errors and sequence effects during actual treatment implementation.     

Perceptual Effect on Motor Learning in the Serial Reaction-Time Task

Although the Serial Reaction-Time Task has been an effective tool in studying procedural learning, there is still a debate as to whether learning in the task is effector-based, stimulus-based, or response-based. In this article, the authors contribute to this debate by contrasting response- and stimulus-based learning by manipulating them selectively and simultaneously. Results show that (a) participants learned response sequences in the absence of stimulus-specific perceptual sequence information but (b) not stimulus sequences without corresponding response information. In a third condition, response sequence and stimulus frequency information were in conflict, and each effect decreased learning in the other domain. Overall, our findings show that learning in these tasks is primarily motor-based, but it is also constrained by relatively salient perceptual information. Together with earlier findings in the literature, the findings also suggest a task and stimulus-arrangement-specific interaction between motor and perceptual learning, where relevance and salience of the specific information plays a crucial role.     

The Effect of Mental Practice on Performance in a Sequential Reaction Time Task

The effect of mental practice on performance in a dot-location RT task was investigated. Participants (N = 40) were required either to mentally practice, physically practice, or do no practice on an RT task in which the signals appeared in a repeating sequence. Correct mental practice, as opposed to incorrect mental practice and no practice, was predicted to have a positive (enhancing) effect on performance of the RT task. Despite previous evidence that mental rehearsal does enhance performance in many perceptual-motor tasks, neither correct nor incorrect mental rehearsal affected subsequent sequence learning; that is, no mental practice effect was observed. That surprising result is discussed in terms of motivational, psychoneuromuscular, separate memory systems, and transfer-appropriate processing explanations of mental practice.     

Effects of Classically Differentiated Supplementary Feedback Cues on Tracking Skill

Although previous studies had shown that classical predifferentiation of green (CS-j and red (CS+) cues enabled them to facilitate tracking performance when used as supplementary indicators of correct and incorrect responses respectively, the studies were inconclusive concerning specific conditional properties versus nonspecific arousal consequences of the cues. A sample of 108 Ss was exposed to the same predifferentiation procedure, but then were subgrouped in terms of the kind of feedback signal received in tracking (no signal, red only, green only, both signals). A nonspecificity theory predicts subgroup equality of tracking performances while specificity theory predicts the dependence of performance level on the kind of signal received. Results corroborated previous findings and the view that tracking effects were reasonably attributable to the transfer of specific stimulus functions generated in the differentiation trials.