Answering Cronbach's Call: Searching for the Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying Individual Differences in Intelligence

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 50 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Mayer
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms

scholarly journals The Cognitive Mechanisms of the SNARC Effect: An Individual Differences Approach

PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. e95756 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnaud Viarouge ◽  
Edward M. Hubbard ◽  
Bruce D. McCandliss
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Snarc Effect ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms

scholarly journals Personality correlates of individual differences in the recruitment of cognitive mechanisms when rewards are at stake

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. e12987 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan J. Heritage ◽  
Laura J. Long ◽  
Geoffrey F. Woodman ◽  
David H. Zald
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Personality Correlates

scholarly journals Chimpanzee ‘folk physics’: bringing failures into focus

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1603) ◽  
pp. 2743-2752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Seed ◽  
Eleanor Seddon ◽  
Bláthnaid Greene ◽  
Josep Call
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Folk Physics ◽  
The Third

Differences between individuals are the raw material from which theories of the evolution and ontogeny of cognition are built. For example, when 4-year-old children pass a test requiring them to communicate the content of another's falsely held belief, while 3-year-olds fail, we know that something must change over the course of the third year of life. In the search for what develops or evolves, the typical route is to probe the extents and limits of successful individuals' ability. Another is to focus on those that failed, and find out what difference or lack prevented them from passing the task. Recent research in developmental psychology has harnessed individual differences to illuminate the cognitive mechanisms that emerge to enable success. We apply this approach to explaining some of the failures made by chimpanzees when using tools to solve problems. Twelve of 16 chimpanzees failed to discriminate between a complete and a broken tool when, after being set down, the ends of the broken one were aligned in front of them. There was a correlation between performance on this aligned task and another in which after being set down, the centre of both tools was covered , suggesting that the limiting factor was not the representation of connection, but memory or attention. Some chimpanzees that passed the aligned task passed a task in which the location of the broken tool was never visible but had to be inferred.

The Role of Processing Speed and Cognitive Control on Word Retrieval in Aging and Aphasia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Yasmeen Faroqi-Shah ◽  
Megan Gehman
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Control Word ◽  
Healthy Adults ◽  
Word Retrieval ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Language Deficit

Purpose When speakers retrieve words, they do so extremely quickly and accurately—both speed and accuracy of word retrieval are compromised in persons with aphasia (PWA). This study examined the contribution of two domain-general mechanisms: processing speed and cognitive control on word retrieval in PWA. Method Three groups of participants, neurologically healthy young and older adults and PWA ( n = 15 in each group), performed processing speed, cognitive control, lexical decision, and word retrieval tasks on a computer. The relationship between word retrieval speed and other tasks was examined for each group. Results Both aging and aphasia resulted in slower processing speed but did not affect cognitive control. Word retrieval response time delays in PWA were eliminated when processing speed was accounted for. Word retrieval speed was predicted by individual differences in cognitive control in young and older adults and additionally by processing speed in older adults. In PWA, word retrieval speed was predicted by severity of language deficit and cognitive control. Conclusions This study shows that processing speed is compromised in aphasia and could account for their slowed response times. Individual differences in cognitive control predicted word retrieval speed in healthy adults and PWA. These findings highlight the need to include nonlinguistic cognitive mechanisms in future models of word retrieval in healthy adults and word retrieval deficits in aphasia.

scholarly journals Musical training, individual differences and the cocktail party problem

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayaganesh Swaminathan ◽  
Christine R. Mason ◽  
Timothy M. Streeter ◽  
Virginia Best ◽  
Gerald Kidd, Jr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Large Individual ◽  
Cocktail Party ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Cocktail Party Problem ◽  
Speech In Noise ◽  
Speech Science ◽  
Spatial Locations

Abstract Are musicians better able to understand speech in noise than non-musicians? Recent findings have produced contradictory results. Here we addressed this question by asking musicians and non-musicians to understand target sentences masked by other sentences presented from different spatial locations, the classical ‘cocktail party problem’ in speech science. We found that musicians obtained a substantial benefit in this situation, with thresholds ~6 dB better than non-musicians. Large individual differences in performance were noted particularly for the non-musically trained group. Furthermore, in different conditions we manipulated the spatial location and intelligibility of the masking sentences, thus changing the amount of ‘informational masking’ (IM) while keeping the amount of ‘energetic masking’ (EM) relatively constant. When the maskers were unintelligible and spatially separated from the target (low in IM), musicians and non-musicians performed comparably. These results suggest that the characteristics of speech maskers and the amount of IM can influence the magnitude of the differences found between musicians and non-musicians in multiple-talker “cocktail party” environments. Furthermore, considering the task in terms of the EM-IM distinction provides a conceptual framework for future behavioral and neuroscientific studies which explore the underlying sensory and cognitive mechanisms contributing to enhanced “speech-in-noise” perception by musicians.

scholarly journals Time perception and patience: individual differences in interval timing precision predict choice impulsivity in European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Andrews ◽  
Jonathon Dunn ◽  
Daniel Nettle ◽  
Melissa Bateson
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Numerical Model ◽  
Intertemporal Choice ◽  
Interval Timing ◽  
Sturnus Vulgaris ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
European Starlings ◽  
Temporal Reproduction ◽  
Limited Variation

AbstractImpulsivity, in the sense of the extent rewards are devalued as the time until their realization increases, is linked to various negative outcomes in humans, yet understanding of the cognitive mechanisms underlying it is limited. Variation in the imprecision of interval timing is a possible contributor to variation in impulsivity. We use a numerical model to generate predictions concerning the effect of timing imprecision on impulsivity. We distinguish between fixed imprecision (the imprecision that applies even when timing the very shortest time intervals) and proportional imprecision (the rate at which imprecision increases as the interval becomes longer). The model predicts that impulsivity should increase with increasing fixed imprecision, but decrease with increasing proportional imprecision. We present data from a cohort of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris, n = 28) in which impulsivity had previously been measured through an intertemporal choice paradigm. We tested interval timing imprecision in the same individuals using a tri-peak temporal reproduction procedure. We found repeatable individual differences in both fixed and proportional imprecision. As predicted, birds with greater proportional imprecision in interval timing made fewer impulsive choices, whilst those with greater fixed imprecision tended to make more. Contradictory observations in the literature regarding the direction of association between timing imprecision and impulsivity might be clarified by distinguishing between fixed and proportional components of imprecision.

scholarly journals Test-retest reliability for common tasks in vision science

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kait Clark ◽  
Kayley Birch-Hurst ◽  
Charlotte Rebecca Pennington ◽  
Austin C P Petrie ◽  
Joshua Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Retest Reliability ◽  
Vision Science ◽  
Intraclass Correlations ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Test Retest Reliability

Research in perception and attention has typically sought to evaluate cognitive mechanisms according to the average response to a manipulation. Recently, there has been a shift toward appreciating the value of individual differences and the insight gained by exploring the impacts of between-participant variation on human cognition. However, a recent study suggests that many robust, well-established cognitive control tasks suffer from surprisingly low levels of test-retest reliability (Hedge et al., 2018b). We tested a large sample of undergraduate students (n = 160) in two sessions (separated by 1–3 weeks) on four commonly used tasks in vision science. We implemented measures that spanned the range of visual processing, including motion coherence (MoCo), useful field of view (UFOV), multiple-object tracking (MOT), and visual working memory (VWM). Intraclass correlations ranged from excellent to poor suggesting that some task measures are more suitable for assessing individual differences than others. VWM capacity (ICC = 0.89), MoCo threshold (ICC = 0.60), UFOV middle accuracy (ICC = 0.60) and UFOV outer accuracy (ICC = 0.74) showed good-to-excellent reliability. Other measures, namely the maximum number of items tracked in MOT (ICC = 0.41) and UFOV number accuracy (ICC = 0.48), showed moderate reliability; the MOT threshold (ICC = 0.36) and UFOV inner accuracy (ICC = 0.30) showed poor reliability. In this paper, we present these results alongside a summary of reliabilities estimated previously for other vision science tasks. We then offer useful recommendations for evaluating test-retest reliability when considering a task for use in evaluating individual differences.

scholarly journals A REVIEW ON THE ROLE OF ‘FEAR’ EMOTIONS ON ATTENTIONAL BIAS

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (21) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Epidemic Disease ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Bomb Explosion

The purpose of this review is to evaulate how attentional processes that are vital cognitive mechanisms for survival are affected due to threat-related stimuli by investigating studies which address the emotion of fear and attentional bias. Individuals experience three dimensions of emotions: bodily excitations (arousal), expressive behaviors caused by bodily excitations and awareness of emotions. The increase of arousal level accompanying emotions may affect the range/variety of cues which organisms pay attention to. In this review, beside the evolutionarily relevant threats (snake, spider, etc.), modern threats (gun, knife, etc.) and fears based on learning were investigated. At the same time, the role of threat-related stimuli encountered during situations involving attentional blindness and in real life (pain, epidemic disease, bomb explosion, etc.) was included. By analysing studies focusing on individual differences, it was investigated how attentional bias to threat-related stimuli may be affected by factors like age, sex, culture, emotinal intelligence, personality traits, loneliness, and anxiety level. Results from the investigated studies has shown that attentional bias is stronger for threat-related stimuli compared to neutral stimuli. Keywords Fear, attentional bias, threat-related stimuli, emotions and attention

Acute Stress Time-dependently Modulates Multiple Memory Systems

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 1877-1894 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth V. Goldfarb ◽  
Yeva Mendelevich ◽  
Elizabeth A. Phelps
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Cortisol Reactivity ◽  
Preferential Expression ◽  
Multiple Memory Systems ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Adrenergic Activity ◽  
Context Memory

Acute stress has been shown to modulate the engagement of different memory systems, leading to preferential expression of stimulus–response (SR) rather than episodic context memory when both types of memory can be used. However, questions remain regarding the cognitive mechanism that underlies this bias in humans—specifically, how each form of memory is individually influenced by stress in order for SR memory to be dominant. Here we separately measured context and SR memory and investigated how each was influenced by acute stress after learning (Experiment 1) and before retrieval (Experiment 2). We found that postlearning stress, in tandem with increased adrenergic activity during learning, impaired consolidation of context memory and led to preferential expression of SR rather than context memory. Preretrieval stress also impaired context memory, albeit transiently. Neither postlearning nor preretrieval stress changed the expression of SR memory. However, individual differences in cortisol reactivity immediately after learning were associated with variability in initial SR learning. These results reveal novel cognitive mechanisms by which stress can modulate multiple memory systems.

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