Abstract
The concept of executive functions plays a prominent role in contemporary experimental and clinical studies on cognition. One paradigm used in this framework is the random number generation (RNG) task, the execution of which demands aspects of executive functioning, specifically inhibition and working memory. Data from the RNG task are best seen as a series of successive events. However, traditional RNG measures that are used to quantify executive functioning are mostly summary statistics referring to deviations from mathematical randomness. In the current study, we explore the utility of recurrence quantification analysis (RQA), a non-linear method that keeps the entire sequence intact, as a better way to describe executive functioning compared to traditional measures. To this aim, 242 first- and second-year students completed a non-paced RNG task. Principal component analysis of their data showed that traditional and RQA measures convey more or less the same information. However, RQA measures do so more parsimoniously and have a better interpretation.
Highlights
In experimental and clinical studies on cognition, the concept of “executive functions” plays a dominant role [see e.g., Jurado and Rosselli (2007), for an overview]
The goal of the current study was to explore the utility of recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) in quantifying number sequences generated in the framework of random number generation (RNG) tasks
We explored RNG in healthy participants by using non-linear methods to quantify performance, RQA
Summary
In experimental and clinical studies on cognition, the concept of “executive functions” plays a dominant role [see e.g., Jurado and Rosselli (2007), for an overview]. The observed order in human-generated sequences is often attributed to imperfections of the central executive and working memory (Baddeley, 1966; Brugger, 1997; Baddeley et al, 1998), in particular to the inability to inhibit stereotyped (i.e., repetitive) behavior and to Recurrence quantification of random number generation monitor and update recent responses (Towse and Neil, 1998; Miyake et al, 2000; Friedman and Miyake, 2004) This inability to be random is operationalized using a series of randomization measures that capture different types of order (Evans, 1978; Towse and Neil, 1998). The entire sequence can be seen as a time series of human executive behavior
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