Cognitive Resource Allocation Research Articles

Allocation of cognitive resources in comparative visual search – Individual and task dependent effects

Behaviors recruit multiple, mutually substitutable types of cognitive resources (e.g., data acquisition and memorization in comparative visual search), and the allocation of resources is performed in a cost-optimizing way. If costs associated with each type of resource are manipulated, e.g., by varying the complexity of the items studied or the visual separation of the arrays to be compared, according adjustments of resource allocation (“trade-offs”) have been demonstrated. Using between-subject designs, previous studies showed overall trade-off behavior but neglected inter-individual variability of trade-off behavior. Here, we present a simplified paradigm for comparative visual search in which gaze-measurements are replaced by switching of a visual mask covering one stimulus array at a time. This paradigm allows for a full within-subject design. While overall trade-off curves could be reproduced, we found that each subject used a specific trade-off strategy which differ substantially between subjects. Still, task-dependent adjustment of resource allocation can be demonstrated but accounts only for a minor part of the overall trade-off range. In addition, we show that the individual trade-offs were adjusted in an unconscious and rather intuitive way, enabling a robust manifestation of the selected strategy space.

The effects of self-control on cognitive resource allocation during sustained attention: a transcranial Doppler investigation.

Vigilance, or sustained attention, is a required ability in many operational professions. While past research has consistently indicated that vigilance performance declines over time, referred to as the vigilance decrement, the theoretical mechanisms underlying the decrement continue to be explored. In the current study, trait self-control was examined to determine how this individual differences measure may contribute to the theoretical explanation of vigilance decrement. Transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD) was used as a measure of cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV), as previous research has indicated that CBFV may index attentional resource allocation during vigilance (e.g., Shaw et al. in Hum Factors Ergon Soc 50:1619-1623, 2009). Participants performed a demanding 12-min computer-based vigilance task. Prior to the task, a validated self-report measure was used to determine trait-level self-control, and subjective workload was measured after the task was completed. Participants were divided, based upon survey responses, as either low- or high-trait self-control. Performance results showed a significant decrement across participants, but no significant main effect or interaction relating to the self-control measure was observed. Results relating to the TCD measure showed a significant decline in CBFV in the low self-control group, but no CBFV decrement was observed in the high self-control group. The subjective workload results revealed a nonsignificant trend of the low self-control group becoming more frustrated after the task. These results suggest that there are differences in the resource allocation strategies between low and high self-control participants. How trait self-control can add to an understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of sustained attention performance is discussed.

Phasic Electrodermal Activity During the Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC).

The long-term effects of concussion on brain function during cognitive tasks are not fully understood and neuroimaging findings are equivocal. Some images show hyperactivation of prefrontal brain regions in previously concussed individuals relative to controls, suggesting increased cognitive resource allocation. Others show prefrontal hypoactivation and hyperactivation in other regions as a presumed compensatory mechanism. Given the relationship between sympathetic arousal and neural activation, physiologic measures of arousal, such as electrodermal activity, may provide additional insight into the brain's functional changes in those with a history of concussion. To quantify differences in electrodermal activity during a commonly used standardized neurocognitive assessment between individuals with or without a history of concussion. Descriptive laboratory study. Research laboratory. Seven asymptomatic individuals with a self-reported history of physician-diagnosed, sport-related concussion (number of previous concussions = 1.43 ± 0.53; time since most recent concussion = 0.75 to 6 years, median = 3 years) and 10 individuals without a history of concussion participated in this study. All participants wore bilateral wrist electrodermal activity sensors during the Standardized Assessment of Concussion. We measured normalized phasic (reactive) electrodermal activity during each test element (orientation, immediate recall, concentration, delayed recall). A significant group-by-test element interaction was present (P = .003). Individuals with a history of concussion had greater phasic activity during delayed recall (P < .001). Delayed-recall phasic activity was greater in both groups relative to the other elements. Delayed recall resulted in greater physiologic arousal in previously concussed individuals relative to healthy control participants, supporting previous neuroimaging findings of increased prefrontal cortex activity during memory tasks after concussion. Given similar task performance and arousal patterns across the test, our results suggest that previously concussed individuals incur additional cognitive demands in a short-delay recall task.

Efficiency Evaluation for Femtocell Spectrum Access in LTE-Advanced

Femtocells are considered one of the ultimate solutions for the ever increasing demand in LTE-Advance. Recently, wireless industries have resorted to femtocell networks in order to enhance indoor coverage and quality of service since macro-antennas fail to reach these objectives. In enabling indoor home or enterprise users with mobile broadband solutions, role of femtocells are crucially important. While considering low cost solutions for higher coverage and data rate, femtocells apparently have one of the best potentials for indoor users. Due to the dense self-deployment of femtocells in a limited area, serious inter-femtocell interference (IFI) may cause, which consequently results in severe performance degradation. To mitigate the IFI and utilize spectrum resource more efficiently, this paper proposes a cluster based femtocell deployments along with a capacity based cognitive resource allocation scheme .Three different channel configurations in a hybrid access femtocell network are considered for performance analysis. The results of a performance analysis of the cluster based femtocell configurations in a priority based users’ network are presented.

Measuring Advertising Effectiveness Through Inter Modulation of Affect and Cognition

Information processing models, involving affect and cognition, are replete with theories advocating prominence of cognition or affect or the hierarchies in which processing takes place. We have taken into account various literatures on information processing, along with recent advances on neuroscience to propose a model in which affect and cognition operate simultaneously and interactively in a mutually reinforcing manner. Any study to assess advertising effectiveness cannot ignore the role of involvement, cognitive resource allocation, and gender. The proposed model takes into consideration the moderating role of all these factors on various attitudes and behaviors. Looking at the recent surge in the tendency of advertisers to humanize the offer, the model developed can also determine the effectiveness of anthropomorphized advertisements as well, and explains the mediating role of affect and relatedness (generated as a consequence of category based processing on exposure to these advertisements) on purchase behavior.

The effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on task processing and prioritisation during dual-task gait.

The relationship between cognition and gait is often explored using a dual-task gait paradigm, which represents the ability to divide cognitive resources during walking. Recent evidence has suggested that the prefrontal cortex is involved in the allocation of cognitive resources during dual-task gait, though its precise role is unclear. Here, we used anodal and cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to probe the role of the prefrontal cortex in the control of stride time variability (STV), trunk RoM and cognitive task performance during dual-task gait. As task difficulty has been shown to mediate the dual-task cost, we also manipulated walking speed to see whether the effects of tDCS on dual-task gait were influenced by walking difficulty. Ten adults performed a serial subtraction task when walking at either preferred walking speed or 25 % of preferred walking speed, before and after receiving tDCS of the left prefrontal cortex. Anodal tDCS reduced STV and the dual-task cost on STV and improved cognitive task performance. Cathodal tDCS increased STV and appeared to increase the dual-task cost on STV, but did not affect cognitive task performance. There was no effect of tDCS on trunk RoM, and the effects of tDCS were not mediated by walking speed. The effect of dual-task gait on stride time variability and cognitive task performance was altered by the application of tDCS, and these effects were polarity dependent. These results highlight the role of the prefrontal cortex in biasing task performance during dual-task gait and indicate that tDCS may be a useful tool for examining the role of the cortex in the control of dual-task gait.

Cooperative and cognitive satellite systems

Cooperative and Cognitive Satellite Systems provides a solid overview of the current research in the field of cooperative and cognitive satellite systems, helping users understand how to incorporate state-of-the-art communication techniques in innovative satellite network architectures to enable the next generation of satellite systems. The book is edited and written by top researchers and practitioners in the field, providing a comprehensive explanation of current research that allows users to discover future technologies and their applications, integrate satellite and terrestrial systems and services to create innovative network architectures, understand the requirements and possibilities for future satellite communications standards and protocols, and evaluate the feasibility and practical constraints involved in the deployment process. Provides a solid overview of the current research in the field of co-operative and cognitive satellite systemsPresents concepts in multibeam and multicarrier joint processing and high performance random access schemes Explains hybrid and dual satellite systems, cognitive broadband satellite systems, spectrum exploitation, and resource allocation

Cognitive Diversity Executive Compensation and Resource Allocation Efficiency in Multibusiness Firms

This study investigates the determinants and consequences of the efficiency of resource allocation in multibusiness firms. We find that greater cognitive diversity among top and division managers is associated with decreased resource allocation efficiency. When diversity is greater top managers find it more difficult to verify the value benefits of resource allocation proposals and are more likely to be swayed by influence activities of divisional managers. However, performance based compensation incentives for divisional managers appear to counter this negative effect, and act to reduce the sensitivity of resource allocation efficiency to cognitive diversity. Lastly, there is strong evidence that higher resource allocation efficiency is related to higher stock market performance.

Reduced Influence of Monetary Incentives on Go/NoGo Performance During Smoking Abstinence.

Smokers may experience decreased sensitivity to nondrug incentives during acute smoking deprivation. This decreased sensitivity may undermine attempts to encourage continued abstinence by enhancing cognitive processes through the use of monetary incentives. This study assessed whether the capacity for monetary incentives to enhance cognitive performance was compromised in nicotine-deprived smokers. Eighteen smokers performed an incentivized Go/NoGo task on 2 occasions, once after smoking as usual prior to the session, and once after undergoing 12-hr abstinence. Participants could earn up to $5.00 ($2.50 per session) based on their performance on reward blocks of the Go/NoGo task. Performance was significantly more accurate on incentivized NoGo, frequent-Go, and infrequent-Go trials relative to neutral trials during the smoke as usual session. Participants also produced fewer premature, impulsive responses on rewarded versus neutral blocks during the smoke as usual session. No significant difference between reward and neutral blocks was observed on any of the 4 performance indices during the abstinent session. The ability for monetary incentives to enhance inhibitory control may be compromised during acute abstinence in smokers. These findings may have implications for contingency management treatment programs which are thought to promote continued abstinence partly by facilitating the allocation of cognitive resources to processes that encourage continued abstinence by increasing the value associated with continued abstinence.

Conflict adaptation and congruency sequence effects to social-emotional stimuli in individuals with autism spectrum disorders.

The modification of performance following conflict can be measured using conflict adaptation tasks thought to measure the change in the allocation of cognitive resources in order to reduce conflict interference and improve performance. While previous studies have suggested atypical processing during nonsocial cognitive control tasks, conflict adaptation (i.e. congruency sequence effects) for social-emotional stimuli have not been previously studied in autism spectrum disorder. A total of 32 participants diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and 27 typically developing matched controls completed an emotional Stroop conflict task that required the classification of facial affect while simultaneously ignoring an overlaid affective word. Both groups showed behavioral evidence for emotional conflict adaptation based on response times and accuracy rates. However, the autism spectrum disorder group demonstrated a speed-accuracy trade-off manifested through significantly faster response times and decreased accuracy rates on trials containing conflict between the emotional face and the overlaid emotional word. Reduced selective attention toward socially relevant information may bias individuals with autism spectrum disorder toward more rapid processing and decision making even when conflict is present. Nonetheless, the loss of important information from the social stimuli reduces decision-making accuracy, negatively affecting the ability to adapt both cognitively and emotionally when conflict arises.

A Cognitive Heterogeneous Network Spectrum Resource Allocation Algorithm Based on User Needs Feedback

Allocation of spectrum resource is the key for heterogeneous wireless networks. Taking the differences between different types of access networks available channel bandwidth and the communication requirements of users into consideration on the basis of cognitive heterogeneous network spectrum resource allocation algorithm based on graph coloring theory, this paper introduces bandwidth control parameter and proposes a spectrum resource allocation algorithm based on user needs feedback, which improves the utilization and fairness of system spectrum resources.

Mind-wandering, cognition, and performance: a theory-driven meta-analysis of attention regulation.

The current meta-analysis accumulates empirical findings on the phenomenon of mind-wandering, integrating and interpreting findings in light of psychological theories of cognitive resource allocation. Cognitive resource theory emphasizes both individual differences in attentional resources and task demands together to predict variance in task performance. This theory motivated our conceptual and meta-analysis framework by introducing moderators indicative of task-demand to predict who is more likely to mind-wander under what conditions, and to predict when mind-wandering and task-related thought are more (or less) predictive of task performance. Predictions were tested via a random-effects meta-analysis of correlations obtained from normal adult samples (k = 88) based on measurement of specified episodes of off-task and/or on-task thought frequency and task performance. Results demonstrated that people with fewer cognitive resources tend to engage in more mind-wandering, whereas those with more cognitive resources are more likely to engage in task-related thought. Addressing predictions of resource theory, we found that greater time-on-task-although not greater task complexity-tended to strengthen the negative relation between cognitive resources and mind-wandering. Additionally, increases in mind-wandering were generally associated with decreases in task performance, whereas increases in task-related thought were associated with increased performance. Further supporting resource theory, the negative relation between mind-wandering and performance was more pronounced for more complex tasks, though not longer tasks. Complementarily, the positive association between task-related thought and performance was stronger for more complex tasks and for longer tasks. We conclude by discussing implications and future research directions for mind-wandering as a construct of interest in psychological research.

Arithmetic and algebraic problem solving and resource allocation: the distinct impact of fluid and numerical intelligence.

This study investigates cognitive resource allocation dependent on fluid and numerical intelligence in arithmetic/algebraic tasks varying in difficulty. Sixty-six 11th grade students participated in a mathematical verification paradigm, while pupil dilation as a measure of resource allocation was collected. Students with high fluid intelligence solved the tasks faster and more accurately than those with average fluid intelligence, as did students with high compared to average numerical intelligence. However, fluid intelligence sped up response times only in students with average but not high numerical intelligence. Further, high fluid but not numerical intelligence led to greater task-related pupil dilation. We assume that fluid intelligence serves as a domain-general resource that helps to tackle problems for which domain-specific knowledge (numerical intelligence) is missing. The allocation of this resource can be measured by pupil dilation.

Truck Driving Distractions

Distracted driving is becoming more prevalent as automobile use is commonplace and technology use grows in pervasiveness. The present study investigated the impact of cell phone, touch MP3, and external environmental distractions on commercial truck driving performance. Commercial truck drivers’ performance and physiological responses were monitored while they drove a simulated cab through various control and distraction scenarios. The results support previous findings that distractions, particularly the phone and touch MP3, reduce driving performance and increase cognitive resource allocation in truck drivers.

Selective control of attention supports the positivity effect in aging.

There is emerging evidence for a positivity effect in healthy aging, which describes an age-specific increased focus on positive compared to negative information. Life-span researchers have attributed this effect to the selective allocation of cognitive resources in the service of prioritized emotional goals. We explored the basic principles of this assumption by assessing selective attention and memory for visual stimuli, differing in emotional content and self-relevance, in young and old participants. To specifically address the impact of cognitive control, voluntary attentional selection during the presentation of multiple-item displays was analyzed and linked to participants' general ability of cognitive control. Results revealed a positivity effect in older adults' selective attention and memory, which was particularly pronounced for self-relevant stimuli. Focusing on positive and ignoring negative information was most evident in older participants with a generally higher ability to exert top-down control during visual search. Our findings highlight the role of controlled selectivity in the occurrence of a positivity effect in aging. Since the effect has been related to well-being in later life, we suggest that the ability to selectively allocate top-down control might represent a resilience factor for emotional health in aging.

A social-cognitive framework for understanding serious lies: Activation-decision-construction-action theory

Abstract Little is known about the cognition of deception ( Gombos, 2006 ). We propose a cognitive account of serious lying (i.e., deception involving high stakes) in response to a solicitation of a truth: Activation-Decision-Construction-Action Theory (ADCAT). Built on the Activation-Decision-Construction Model of answering questions deceptively ( Walczyk, Roper, Seeman, & Humphrey, 2003 ), the theory elaborates on the roles of executive processes, theory of mind, emotions, motivation, specifies cognitive processing thoroughly, and considers the rehearsal of lies. ADCAT's four processing components are (a) activation of the truth, the (b) decision whether and how to alter deceptively the information shared, (c) construction of a deception, and (d) action [acting sincere while delivering a lie]. Core constructs are “theory of mind” and “cognitive resources”. Specifically, throughout serious deception, individuals are inferring the current or potential mental states of targets and taking steps to minimize the allocation of cognitive resources during delivery to appear honest and lie well.

Pupillary responses during a joint attention task are associated with nonverbal cognitive abilities and sub-clinical symptoms of autism

Measures of pupillary dilation provide a temporally sensitive, quantitative indicator of cognitive resource allocation. The current study included 39 typically developing children between 3 and 9 years of age. Children completed a free-viewing task designed to elicit gaze following, a core deficit of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Results revealed a negative association between children's pupil dilation and a standardized measure of nonverbal intelligence, suggesting that children with lower intelligence allocated more cognitive resources than children with higher intelligence. In addition, the results revealed a negative association between pupil dilation and a parent-report measure of sub-clinical symptoms of ASD, suggesting that children with fewer ASD-related symptoms allocated more cognitive resources than children who showed more sub-clinical symptoms of ASD. Both associations were independent of each other and could not be explained by variation in chronological age. These findings extend previous research demonstrating associations between basic aspects of visual processing and intelligence. In addition, these findings comport with recent theories of ASD that emphasize reduced sensitivity to the reward value of social situations. When confronted with social ambiguity, children with more ASD-related symptoms allocated fewer cognitive resources to resolving this ambiguity than children who showed fewer sub-clinical symptoms of ASD.

Interest contagion in violation-of-expectation-based false-belief tasks

In the debate about how to interpret Violation-of-Expectation (VoE) based false-belief experiments, it has been suggested that infants are predicting the actions of the agent based on more or less sophisticated cognitive means. We present an alternative, more parsimonious interpretation, exploring the possibility that the infants’ reactions are not governed by rational expectation but rather of memory strength due to differences in the allocation of cognitive resources earlier in the experiment. Specifically, it is argued that (1) infants’ have a tendency to find more interest in events that observed agents are attending to as opposed to unattended events (“interest contagion”), (2) the object-location configurations that result from such interesting events are remembered more strongly by the infants, and (3) the VoE contrast arises as a consequence of the difference in memory strength between more and less interesting object-location configurations. We discuss two published experiments, one which we argue that our model can explain (Kovács etal., 2010), and one which we argue cannot be readily explained by our model (Onishi and Baillargeon, 2005).

Mindful creativity: the influence of mindfulness meditation on creative thinking

GENERAL COMMENTARY article Front. Psychol., 10 January 2014Sec. Cognition Volume 4 - 2013 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.01020

Thinking of anything else does not always reduce pain: It depends on timing

In this issue, you will find a paper by Silvestrini and Rainville (2013), entitled ‘After-effects of Cognitive Control on Pain’. In their study, the authors investigated the effect of a cognitive task on subsequent pain perception and nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR). It was found that both pain rating and NFR score increased after a highly demanding cognitive task, as compared to a less demanding cognitive task. The subject is interesting and original. Indeed, it is widely accepted that employment of cognitive resources during a noxious stimulation may reduce the subjective perception of pain through a mechanism of distraction from the stimulation itself (Chen, 2009; Ossipov et al., 2010). In other words, if one suffering from pain is induced, automatically or by a voluntary process, to diverge his/her attention from his/her own painful feeling, he/she will downgrade the subjective pain perception. It has also been demonstrated that distraction from a painful stimulus can reduce an objective measure of pain, such as the laser-evoked potential amplitude (Lorenz and Garcia-Larrea, 2003). However, what happens when the cognitive task precedes the noxious stimulation? Is the level of cognitive task difficulty important in the interaction between the initial cognitive resource allocation and the subsequent pain perception? The study by Silvestrini and Rainville (2013) answers these questions since the authors show that performing a numerical Stroop task in a condition with a high cognitive demand increases the subsequent pain perception, as compared with the same task performed in a condition with a low cognitive demand. Previous papers demonstrated a reduced pain tolerance following acts of self-control (Muraven et al., 2006; Vohs et al., 2008; Schmeichel and Vohs, 2009). However, in all these studies, reduced pain tolerance was suggested by a faster withdrawal of subject's hand from the cold water following the self-control act. Therefore, there was not a direct pain measurement, nor an objective evidence of the level of the nociceptive sensitization. Silvestrini and Rainville (2013), beyond showing an increased subjective pain perception after a highly demanding cognitive task, demonstrated that the sensitization to the painful stimuli begins from the nociceptive input processing at the spinal cord level (increased NFR score). This last finding means that the increased pain perception is a top-down process, beginning with the allocation of cognitive resources (numerical Stroop task) and leading to a reduced efficiency of the descending pain control mechanisms. Some points remain to be elucidated and will have to be investigated in future studies. First, as was also underlined by Silvestrini and Rainville (2013), it is not clear whether the effective depletion of cognitive resources per se or merely the subjective perception of such depletion is responsible for the increased subsequent pain perception. Indeed, if submitted to a highly demanding cognitive task, one could feel less able to cope with a subsequent painful stimulus, independent of the effective consumption of cognitive resources. On the ground of the treatment of an expected pain, this is not a secondary point. While in the first hypothesis (quantitative effect of cognitive resource depletion), the subject could feel less pain only by reducing his/her own resource engagement in the prior cognitive task, in the other case (belief about one's own willpower), a psychological treatment encouraging the subject to downgrade his/her subjective perception of the preceding cognitive effort may make him/her less sensitive to following painful stimuli. This is nothing else than what sportsmen define as ‘mental energy recovery’ between two consecutive competitions. Second, in the study by Silvestrini and Raiville's (2013), the subjects were asked to rate pain due to a train of electrical stimuli. Each train was very short, lasting 30 ms. Such a phasic stimulus is very different from the far longer-lasting clinical pain referred by patients. This prevents any immediate application of Silvestrini and Rainville's (2013) results to the clinical practice. However, it will be very interesting to investigate whether also a more ecological expected pain, as compared to that due to electrical stimuli, is influenced by a preceding depletion of cognitive resources. In conclusion, the present study by Silvestrini and Rainville (2013) has the main merit to have highlighted an original field for the psychophysiological investigation on pain. In particular, the authors showed that the engagement of cognitive resources cannot only interfere with the cognitive activities devoted to elaborate the affective/emotional aspects of pain, thus reducing the perception of a painful stimulus, but it can also diminish the cognitive activities needed for subsequent endogenous pain control.