scholarly journals Individual Differences in Statistical Learning: Conceptual and Measurement Issues

Collabra ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy C. Erickson ◽  
Michael P. Kaschak ◽  
Erik D. Thiessen ◽  
Cassie A. S. Berry
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Language Outcomes ◽  
Statistical Structure ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Null Results ◽  
Measurement Issues ◽  
Statistical Segmentation ◽  
The Relationship

The ability to adapt to statistical structure (often referred to as “statistical learning”) has been proposed to play a major role in the acquisition and use of natural languages. Several recent studies have explored the relationship between individual differences in statistical learning and language outcomes. These studies have produced mixed results, with some studies finding a significant relationship between statistical learning and language outcomes, and others finding weak or null results. Furthermore, the few studies that have used multiple measures of statistical learning have reported that they are not correlated (e.g., [1]). The current study assesses the reliability of various measures of auditory statistical segmentation, and their consistency over time. That is, do the generally low correlations observed between measures of statistical learning stem from task demands, the psychometric properties of the measures, or the fact that statistical learning may be a highly fragmented construct? Our results confirm previous reports that individual measures of statistical learning tend not to correlate with each other, and suggest that the somewhat weak reliability of the measures may be an important factor in the low correlations. Our data also suggest that aggregating performance across tasks may be an avenue for improving the reliability of the measures.

scholarly journals Dysfunctions in Infants’ Statistical Learning are Related to Parental Autistic Traits

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettoni Roberta ◽  
Valentina Riva ◽  
Chiara Cantiani ◽  
Elena Maria Riboldi ◽  
Massimo Molteni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Skills ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Statistical Structure ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Visual Habituation

AbstractStatistical learning refers to the ability to extract the statistical relations embedded in a sequence, and it plays a crucial role in the development of communicative and social skills that are impacted in the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Here, we investigated the relationship between infants’ SL ability and autistic traits in their parents. Using a visual habituation task, we tested infant offspring of adults (non-diagnosed) who show high (HAT infants) versus low (LAT infants) autistic traits. Results demonstrated that LAT infants learned the statistical structure embedded in a visual sequence, while HAT infants failed. Moreover, infants’ SL ability was related to autistic traits in their parents, further suggesting that early dysfunctions in SL might contribute to variabilities in ASD symptoms.

scholarly journals Do current statistical learning capture stable individual differences in children? An investigation of task reliability across modalities

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inbal Arnon
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Language Outcomes ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
Level Performance ◽  
Extract Information

Do commonly used statistical learning measures capture stable individual differences in children? Infants, children and adults are capable of using statistical learning to extract information about their environment. While most studies look at group-level performance, a growing literature examines individual differences in SL and their relation to language learning outcomes: individuals who are better at SL are expected to show better linguistic abilities. Accordingly, studies have found positive correlations between SL performance and language outcomes in both children and adults. However, these studies often use tasks designed to explore group-level performance without modification, resulting in psychometric shortcomings (Siegelman et al. 2017a). In particular, they use relatively few testing trials, repeat items during testing, and assess learning using forced choice trials, all of which impact task reliability in adults (Siegelman et al. 2017b). Even though similar measures are used to assess individual differences in children, no study to date has examined their reliability in development. We examine the reliability of common SL measures in children, and ask if they are similarly reliable in children and adults. We assess the reliability of three SL tasks (two auditory and one visual) in children (mean age 8;2) and adults two months apart. While the tasks showed moderate reliability in adults, they did not capture stable individual variation in children where test-retest and split-half reliability fell well below psychometric standards. These findings raise significant concerns about the use of current SL measures to predict and explain individual differences in development.

scholarly journals Statistical learning, implicit learning and first language acquisition: a critical evaluation of age-invariance and the link to language learning outcomes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inbal Arnon
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Implicit Learning ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Language Outcomes ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Developmental Issues ◽  
Distributional Information

The role of distributional information in language learning, and learning moregenerally, has been studied extensively in both the statistical learning and the implicit learningliteratures. Despite the similarity in research questions, the two literatures have remainedlargely separate. Here, we provide a critical evaluation of two developmental issues pertainingto these literatures: the question of age-invariance – does learning improve during developmentor is it fully developed in infancy - and the ability of statistical learning measures to predictvariation in language learning outcomes. In the first part, we draw on combined findings fromthe statistical learning and implicit learning literatures to suggest that both improve duringchildhood, contra the age-invariance prediction. In the second part, we review existing findingson the link between statistical learning and language outcomes in development and evaluatethe suitability of current SL measures for capturing individual differences across the life-span.We present data indicating that while SL measures show moderate reliability in adults, they donot capture stable individual differences in children, undermining their utility for assessing thelink to language outcomes in developmental samples. We end with a broader discussion of theway methods impact our theoretical understanding of statistical and implicit learning.

The Need to Belong and the Relationship Between Loneliness and Health

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 194-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Freda-Marie Hartung ◽  
Britta Renner
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Health State ◽  
Need To Belong ◽  
First Year University ◽  
Perceived Social Isolation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Humans are social animals; consequently, a lack of social ties affects individuals’ health negatively. However, the desire to belong differs between individuals, raising the question of whether individual differences in the need to belong moderate the impact of perceived social isolation on health. In the present study, 77 first-year university students rated their loneliness and health every 6 weeks for 18 weeks. Individual differences in the need to belong were found to moderate the relationship between loneliness and current health state. Specifically, lonely students with a high need to belong reported more days of illness than those with a low need to belong. In contrast, the strength of the need to belong had no effect on students who did not feel lonely. Thus, people who have a strong need to belong appear to suffer from loneliness and become ill more often, whereas people with a weak need to belong appear to stand loneliness better and are comparatively healthy. The study implies that social isolation does not impact all individuals identically; instead, the fit between the social situation and an individual’s need appears to be crucial for an individual’s functioning.

Attachment and Field Dependence: Individual Differences in Information Processing

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrizia Vermigli ◽  
Alessandro Toni
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Field Dependence ◽  
Attachment Styles ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Figure Test ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Measure Field

The present research analyzes the relationship between attachment styles at an adult age and field dependence in order to identify possible individual differences in information processing. The “Experience in Close Relationships” test of Brennan et al. was administered to a sample of 380 individuals (160 males, 220 females), while a subsample of 122 subjects was given the Embedded Figure Test to measure field dependence. Confirming the starting hypothesis, the results have shown that individuals with different attachment styles have a different way of perceiving the figure against the background. Ambivalent and avoidant individuals lie at the two extremes of the same dimension while secure individuals occupy the central part. Significant differences also emerged between males and females.

Individual Differences in Students' Preferences for Lecturers' Personalities

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 176-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Furnham ◽  
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Student Ratings ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Personality Profile ◽  
Similarity Effect ◽  
Intelligence Scores ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract. This study examines the relationship between students' personality and intelligence scores with their preferences for the personality profile of their lecturers. Student ratings (N = 136) of 30 lecturer trait characteristics were coded into an internally reliable Big Five taxonomy ( Costa & McCrae, 1992 ). Descriptive statistics showed that, overall, students tended to prefer conscientious, open, and stable lecturers, though correlations revealed that these preferences were largely a function of students' own personality traits. Thus, open students preferred open lecturers, while agreeable students preferred agreeable lecturers. There was evidence of a similarity effect for both Agreeableness and Openness. In addition, less intelligent students were more likely to prefer agreeable lecturers than their more intelligent counterparts were. A series of regressions showed that individual differences are particularly good predictors of preferences for agreeable lecturers, and modest, albeit significant, predictors of preferences for open and neurotic lecturers. Educational and vocational implications are considered.

Investment Traits and Intelligence in Adulthood

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie von Stumm
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Need For Cognition ◽  
Openness To Experience ◽  
Intelligence Tests ◽  
Crystallized Intelligence ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Intelligence-as-knowledge in adulthood is influenced by individual differences in intelligence-as-process (i.e., fluid intelligence) and in personality traits that determine when, where, and how people invest their intelligence over time. Here, the relationship between two investment traits (i.e., Openness to Experience and Need for Cognition), intelligence-as-process and intelligence-as-knowledge, as assessed by a battery of crystallized intelligence tests and a new knowledge measure, was examined. The results showed that (1) both investment traits were positively associated with intelligence-as-knowledge; (2) this effect was stronger for Openness to Experience than for Need for Cognition; and (3) associations between investment and intelligence-as-knowledge reduced when adjusting for intelligence-as-process but remained mostly significant.

Individual Differences in Mental Rotation

2013 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 164-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Khooshabeh ◽  
Mary Hegarty ◽  
Thomas F. Shipley
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Mental Rotation Task ◽  
Imagery Ability ◽  
Alternative Strategies

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that imagery ability and figural complexity interact to affect the choice of mental rotation strategies. Participants performed the Shepard and Metzler (1971) mental rotation task. On half of the trials, the 3-D figures were manipulated to create “fragmented” figures, with some cubes missing. Good imagers were less accurate and had longer response times on fragmented figures than on complete figures. Poor imagers performed similarly on fragmented and complete figures. These results suggest that good imagers use holistic mental rotation strategies by default, but switch to alternative strategies depending on task demands, whereas poor imagers are less flexible and use piecemeal strategies regardless of the task demands.

An Exploration of Individual Differences in Statistical Learning

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy C. Erickson ◽  
Michael Kaschak ◽  
Erik D. Thiessen ◽  
Cassie Berry
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Statistical Learning

The role of personality in shaping pandemic response: Systemic sociopolitical factors drive country differences

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan Siritzky ◽  
David M Condon ◽  
Sara J Weston
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
State Fragility ◽  
Systemic Factors ◽  
Pandemic Response ◽  
The Relationship

The current study utilizes the current COVID-19 pandemic to highlight the importance of accounting for the influence of external political and economic factors in personality public-health research. We investigated the extent to which systemic factors modify the relationship between personality and pandemic response. Results shed doubt on the cross-cultural generalizability of common big-five factor models. Individual differences only predicted government compliance in autocratic countries and in countries with income inequality. Personality was only predictive of mental health outcomes under conditions of state fragility and autocracy. Finally, there was little evidence that the big five traits were associated with preventive behaviors. Our ability to use individual differences to understand policy-relevant outcomes changes based on environmental factors and must be assessed on a trait-by-trait basis, thus supporting the inclusion of systemic political and economic factors in individual differences models.

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