Basic Cognitive Processes Research Articles

Clinical significance of knowledge about the structure, function, and impairments of working memory.

A review of contemporary research on the working memory system (WMS) is important, both due to the need to focus the discussion on further necessary investigations on the structure and function of this key part of the human brain, as well as to share this knowledge with clinicians. In our introduction we try to clarify the actual terminology and provide an intuitively understandable model for 3 basic cognitive operations: perception, recognition, imagery, and manipulation of recalled mental images. We emphasize the importance of knowledge of the structure and function of the WMS for the possibility to demonstrate the links between genetic polymorphisms and the prevalence to some mental disorders. We also review current knowledge of working memory dysfunction in the most common diseases and specific clinical situations such as maturation and aging. Finally, we briefly discuss methods for assessment of WMS capacity. This article establishes a kind of compendium of knowledge for clinicians who are not familiar with the structure and operation of the WMS.

Approximate number sense, symbolic number processing, or number–space mappings: What underlies mathematics achievement?

In this study, the performance of typically developing 6- to 8-year-old children on an approximate number discrimination task, a symbolic comparison task, and a symbolic and nonsymbolic number line estimation task was examined. For the first time, children’s performances on these basic cognitive number processing tasks were explicitly contrasted to investigate which of them is the best predictor of their future mathematical abilities. Math achievement was measured with a timed arithmetic test and with a general curriculum-based math test to address the additional question of whether the predictive association between the basic numerical abilities and mathematics achievement is dependent on which math test is used. Results revealed that performance on both mathematics achievement tests was best predicted by how well childrencompared digits. In addition, an association between performance on the symbolic number line estimation task and math achievement scores for the general curriculum-based math test measuring a broader spectrum of skills was found. Together, these results emphasize the importance of learning experiences with symbols for later math abilities.

Predicting Visual Stimuli From Self-Induced Actions: An Adaptive Model of a Corollary Discharge Circuit

Neural circuits that route motor activity to sensory structures play a fundamental role in perception. Their purpose is to aid basic cognitive processes by integrating knowledge about an organism's actions and to predict the perceptual consequences of those actions. This work develops a biologically inspired model of a visual stimulus prediction circuit and proposes a mathematical formulation for a computational implementation. We consider an agent with a visual sensory area consisting of an unknown rigid configuration of light-sensitive receptive fields which move with respect to the environment and according to a given number of degrees of freedom. From the agent's perspective, every movement induces an initially unknown change to the recorded stimulus. In line with evidence collected from studies on ontogenetic development and the plasticity of neural circuits, the proposed model adapts its structure with respect to experienced stimuli collected during the execution of a set of exploratory actions. We discuss the tendency of the proposed model to organize such that the prediction function is built using a particularly sparse feedforward network which requires a minimum amount of wiring and computational operations. We also observe a dualism between the organization of an intermediate layer of the network and the concept of self-similarity.

Mechanisms of insight in schizophrenia and impact of cognitive remediation therapy

The origins of poor insight in schizophrenia are still unclear. We contrasted the changes in clinical insight, basic cognitive processes, autobiographical memory and metacognition in 63 outpatients with schizophrenia pseudo-randomly assigned to one of three cognitive remediation groups: one targeting basic cognitive processes (RECOS), a second autobiographical memory (REMAu), and a third metacognitive deficits (MBCT). Three dimensions of insight (awareness of: mental illness, benefit of treatment, psychosocial consequences) improved after treatment, regardless of the group. In addition, the REMAu and MBCT showed an improvement on other dimensions of insight (symptomatic awareness and symptomatic attribution, respectively). Poor insight and its improvement after treatment were best predicted by a combination of basic cognitive, autobiographical and metacognitive measures. This study supports a multidimensional conception of insight and recommends the combination of remediation therapies to improve clinical insight in schizophrenia.

Sleep quality and cognitive function in healthy old age: The moderating role of subclinical depression.

Previous research has yielded inconclusive results on the relationship between self-reported sleep quality and cognitive performance in healthy old age. Discrepant findings have been reported regarding processing speed and attention, executive functions, and episodic memory. However, sleep quality has also been found to be related to cognitive performance in patients with depression. Our aim was to clarify the relationship between sleep quality and cognitive performance in healthy older adults, and to evaluate the moderating role of subclinical depression on this relationship. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to assess subjective sleep quality in 107 participants (age ≥ 61 years). A broad battery of neuropsychological tests measured basic cognitive processes, executive functions, and memory processes. Subclinical depression moderated the link between sleep quality and cognitive performance. More precisely, poorer sleep quality was associated with lower performance in reasoning, semantic fluency, and shifting in those with high versus low levels of subclinical depression. Our findings suggest that poor sleep quality might affect higher order cognitive processes, particularly in those reporting higher levels of subclinical depression. Findings on the relationships between sleep quality, cognitive functioning, and depressive symptomatology are discussed in relation to neurobehavioral theories of sleep.

A Preliminary Essay on Intertextuality as a Socio-Cognitive Phenomenon

In the past five decades, the concept of intertextuality has motivated several questions in Literary Criticism and in other fields such as Textual Linguistics and Discourse Analysis. Many of the answers proposed for those questions are based on an aesthetic and discursive approach. However, intertextuality can be studied from a broader perspective, that is, it can be seen as a concrete manifestation of cognitive principles, abilities and operations that underlie the phenomenon. The present essay aims at (1) understanding the basic social-cognitive principles that underlie intertextuality, (2) identifying which Cognitive Psychology theory allows the depiction of the basic cognitive operations implied in different manifestations of intertextuality, especially in paintings and lyrics and (3) identifying which theoretical categories of Textual Linguistics and Discourse Analysis (i.e., characters, narrator, enunciator, enunciatee, etc.) are fundamental in the analysis of intertextuality.

Neural networks related to pro-saccades and anti-saccades revealed by independent component analysis

The saccadic eye movement system provides an excellent model for investigating basic cognitive processes and flexible control over behaviour. While the mechanism of pro-saccades (PS) is well known, in the case of the anti-saccade task (AS) it is still not clear which brain regions play a role in the inhibition of reflexive saccade to the target, nor what is the exact mechanism of vector inversion (i.e. orienting in the opposite direction). Independent component analysis (ICA) is one of the methods being used to establish temporally coherent brain regions, i.e. neural networks related to the task. In the present study ICA was applied to fMRI data from PS and AS experiments. The study revealed separate networks responsible for saccade generation into the desired direction, the inhibition of automatic responses, as well as vector inversion. The first function is accomplished by the eye fields network. The inhibition of automatic responses is associated with the executive control network. Vector inversion seems to be accomplished by the network comprising a large set of areas, including intraparietal sulcus, precuneus/posterior cingulate cortices, retrosplenial and parahippocampal. Those regions are associated with the parieto-medial temporal pathway, so far linked only to navigation. These results provide a new insight into understanding of the processes of the inhibition and vector inversion.

Visual efficiency of image fusion methods

The objective of image fusion is to represent relevant information from multiple individual images in a single image. Some fusion methods may represent important visual information more distinctively than others, thereby conveying it more efficiently to the human observer. Here, we propose to rank order images fused by different methods according to the computational attention value of their regions of interest (ROI). To achieve this aim, we compute a multi-bitrate attention map for each of the fused images, following a rational model of computational attention. From this attention map, we then calculate the average attention score within areas of interest for each bitrate while using a prioritisation scheme. Here, the prioritisation protocol is used to simulate the basic cognitive process of visual information acquisition by human users. A huge computed mean attention value within the areas of interest at any reconstruction fidelity corresponds to a high-computational saliency of the areas of interest. The novelty of our approach to image fusion evaluation is the use of rate-attention curves, which are given by the normalised mean attention score within the areas of interest across bitrates while using a prioritisation protocol, and where the detection of ROI is achieved either interactively through human user intervention or by the use of automated detection.

Illuminating the dark matter of social neuroscience: Considering the problem of social interaction from philosophical, psychological, and neuroscientific perspectives.

Successful human social interaction depends on our capacity to understand other people's mental states and to anticipate how they will react to our actions. Despite its importance to the human condition, the exact mechanisms underlying our ability to understand another's actions, feelings, and thoughts are still a matter of conjecture. Here, we consider this problem from philosophical, psychological, and neuroscientific perspectives. In a critical review, we demonstrate that attempts to draw parallels across these complementary disciplines is premature: The second-person perspective does not map directly to Interaction or Simulation theories, online social cognition, or shared neural network accounts underlying action observation or empathy. Nor does the third-person perspective map onto Theory-Theory (TT), offline social cognition, or the neural networks that support Theory of Mind (ToM). Moreover, we argue that important qualities of social interaction emerge through the reciprocal interplay of two independent agents whose unpredictable behavior requires that models of their partner's internal state be continually updated. This analysis draws attention to the need for paradigms in social neuroscience that allow two individuals to interact in a spontaneous and natural manner and to adapt their behavior and cognitions in a response contingent fashion due to the inherent unpredictability in another person's behavior. Even if such paradigms were implemented, it is possible that the specific neural correlates supporting such reciprocal interaction would not reflect computation unique to social interaction but rather the use of basic cognitive and emotional processes combined in a unique manner. Finally, we argue that given the crucial role of social interaction in human evolution, ontogeny, and every-day social life, a more theoretically and methodologically nuanced approach to the study of real social interaction will nevertheless help the field of social cognition to evolve.

Political ideology as motivated social cognition: Behavioral and neuroscientific evidence

Ideology is a potent motivational force; human beings are capable of committing atrocities (as well as acts of generosity and courage) and sacrificing even their own lives for the sake of abstract belief systems. In this article, we summarize the major tenets of a model of political ideology as motivated social cognition (Jost et al. in Psychol Bull 129:339–375, 2003a, Psychol Bull 129:389–393, 2003b, Person Soc Psychol Bull 33:989–1007, 2007), focusing on epistemic, existential, and relational motives and their implications for left-right (or liberal-conservative) political orientation. We review behavioral evidence indicating that chronically and temporarily activated needs to reduce uncertainty, ambiguity, threat, and disgust are positively associated with conservatism (or negatively associated with liberalism). Studies from neuroscience and genetics suggest that right- (vs. left-) wing orientation is associated with greater neural sensitivity to threat and larger amygdala volume, as well as less sensitivity to response conflict and smaller anterior cingulate volume. These findings and others provide converging evidence for Jost and colleagues’ model of ideology as motivated social cognition and, more broadly, reflect the utility of an integrative political neuroscience approach to understanding the basic cognitive, neural, and motivational processes that give rise to ideological activity.

“Tell me how do I feel” – Emotion recognition and theory of mind in symptomatic mesial temporal lobe epilepsy

Specific interictal personality characteristics in epilepsy, sometimes referred to as “Waxman–Geschwind Syndrome”, have been recognized for centuries and extensively described. Despite the persevering clinical impression that patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsies (MTLE) suffer from problems in communication and interpersonal relations, uncertainties and controversies remain as to the precise origin of these psychosocial difficulties. Here, we investigated social-cognitive and decision-making abilities using a set of tasks that combine behavioural and psychological measures of social and emotional variables to answer the question of whether patients with MTLE are specifically impaired in social cognition compared to both an epilepsy and a healthy control group. MTLE patients, an epilepsy control group (extra-MTLE; patients with epilepsy, not originating within the frontal or mesial temporal lobe) and healthy controls (HC) were assessed according to their general cognitive status as well as with our Social Cognition Battery, which included tests of basic processes of social cognition, theory of mind, decision making, and various aspects of psychopathology and quality of life. MTLE patients were significantly impaired compared to HC on most measures of the Social Cognition Battery. MTLE patients were predominantly impaired in general emotion recognition compared to extra-MTLE patients. Performance in the epilepsy control group, although not significantly differing from performance in either the MTLE or the healthy control group, lay between these two groups. MTLE can be considered a significant risk factor for the development of deficits in social cognition beyond weaknesses that might be associated with epilepsy as a stigmatized chronic neurological disorder. The presence of deficits in social cognition may explain various behavioural symptoms that have historically driven concepts such as “epileptic personality” or “interictal personality disorder” and may indicate new routes for therapeutic interventions.

When the Brain Decides

Humans can make fast and highly efficient decisions by using simple heuristics that are assumed to exploit basic cognitive functions. In the study reported here, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to disclose the psychological mechanisms underlying one of the most frugal decision rules, namely, the recognition heuristic. According to this heuristic, whenever two objects have to be ranked by a specific criterion and only one object is recognized, the recognized object is ranked higher than the unrecognized object. Using a standard recognition-heuristic paradigm, we predicted participants’ decisions by analyzing an ERP correlate of familiarity-based recognition occurring 300 to 450 ms after stimulus onset. The measure remained a significant predictor even when later ERP correlates were taken into account. These findings are evidence for the thesis that simple heuristics exploit basic cognitive processes. Specifically, the findings show that familiarity—that is, recognition in the absence of recollection—contributes to decisions made on the basis of such heuristics.

Working memory and response selection: A computational account of interactions among cortico-basalganglio-thalamic loops

Cortico-basalganglio-thalamic loops are involved in both cognitive processes and motor control. We present a biologically meaningful computational model of how these loops contribute to the organization of working memory and the development of response behavior. Via reinforcement learning in basal ganglia, the model develops flexible control of working memory within prefrontal loops and achieves selection of appropriate responses based on working memory content and visual stimulation within a motor loop. We show that both working memory control and response selection can evolve within parallel and interacting cortico-basalganglio-thalamic loops by Hebbian and three-factor learning rules. Furthermore, the model gives a coherent explanation for how complex strategies of working memory control and response selection can derive from basic cognitive operations that can be learned via trial and error.

A cognitive account of discourse understanding and discourse interpretation: The Landscape Model of reading

Text interpretation – the main interest of discourse analysts – is a central component of the text understanding process. In this article we introduce the Landscape Model, which describes the cognitive processes underlying reading comprehension in a detailed and precise manner. Moreover, this model captures the interpretative processes in which the human mind engages during reading. Within the context of the Landscape Model, we describe the relation between discourse understanding and discourse interpretation, and explain some of the phenomena that are central to the field of discourse analysis as seen from a cognitive perspective. In the first section we describe the basic cognitive processes that underlie discourse understanding, as captured by the Landscape Model. In the following section we illustrate the way that the Landscape Model can be applied to the work of discourse analysts. We conclude by discussing the usefulness of the cognitive Landscape Model for the field of discourse analysis.

Similarity on the Rebound: Inhibition of Similarity Assessment Leads to an Ironic Postsuppressional Rebound

A widely held but rarely tested assumption among cognitive scientists is that different cognitive tasks may rely upon a single basic cognitive process. Using an established methodology to examine the suppression and subsequent rebound of mental operations, the present research indicates that suppressing use of similarity in one domain results in the subsequent rebound of similarity assessment in a different domain, suggesting that both domains rely on the same underlying cognitive process. In two studies, we demonstrate that leading people to suppress natural similarity assessment in one task produces increased reliance on similarity in subsequent, different, and apparently unrelated tasks. In Experiment 1, participants led to suppress similarity in a concentration task subsequently made more errors in a false-memory paradigm than did control participants. In Experiment 2, participants suppressing similarity in a categorization task made more false-memory errors and perceived more similarity between word pairs than participants who did not suppress. The findings suggest that the cognitive process of similarity assessment may be a domain-general process, such that it is widespread across a number of different mental tasks.

Genetic variation in CYP2D6 impacts neural activation during cognitive tasks in humans

The drug metabolizing cytochrome P450 2D6 enzyme (CYP2D6) is highly expressed in brain and potentially involved in neurotransmitter biotransformation. Here, we report the effect of the CYP2D6 genotype on brain activation during a working memory and an emotional face matching task measured with fMRI. Subjects were taken from an ongoing large scale multicenter imaging genetic study. CYP2D6 genotyping of the alleles *2, *3, *4, *5, *6, *9, *10, *17, *35, *41 and the duplication was performed in N=114 healthy drug free individuals. All individuals had completed two tasks in functional brain imaging: an n-back working memory task and an implicit emotional face matching task. Contrast images were analyzed in second-level random effects models with CYP2D6 enzyme activity levels as regressor of interest and age, sex and scanning site as covariates. In the working memory task, a significant effect of CYP2D6 genotype was found in the fusiform gyrus and the precuneus. In the emotional face matching task, an effect was detected in the cuneus. No significant activation results were found in the thalamus. A conjunction analysis confirmed a significant joint effect of the CYP2D6 association in both regions. In both tasks activation increased with increasing CYP2D6 activity. In conclusion, we confirmed a central nervous system effect of CYP2D6 activity in a large independent sample using a different imaging modality, and provide evidence that basic cognitive processes related to such as alertness may be impacted.

Mental abilities and school achievement: A test of a mediation hypothesis

This study analyzes the interplay of four cognitive abilities – reasoning, divergent thinking, mental speed, and short-term memory – and their impact on academic achievement in school in a sample of adolescents in grades seven to 10 ( N = 1135). Based on information processing approaches to intelligence, we tested a mediation hypothesis, which states that the complex cognitive abilities of reasoning and divergent thinking mediate the influence of the basic cognitive abilities of mental speed and short-term memory on achievement. We administered a comprehensive test battery and analyzed the data through structural equation modeling while controlling for the cluster structure of the data. Our findings support the notion that mental speed and short-term memory, as ability factors reflecting basic cognitive processes, exert an indirect influence on academic achievement by affecting reasoning and divergent thinking (total indirect effects: β = .22 and .24, respectively). Short-term memory also directly affects achievement (β = .22).

Functions of the Frontal Lobes: Relation to Executive Functions

Proceeding from the assumptions that specific frontal regions control discrete functions and that very basic cognitive processes can be systematically manipulated to reveal those functions, recent reports have demonstrated consistent anatomical/functional relationships: dorsomedial for energization, left dorsolateral for task setting, and right dorsolateral for monitoring. There is no central executive. There are, instead, numerous domain general processes discretely distributed across several frontal regions that act in concert to accomplish control. Beyond these functions, there are two additional "frontal" anatomical/functional relationships: ventral-medial/orbital for emotional and behavioral regulation, and frontopolar for integrative-even meta-cognitive-functions.

Female but not male dogs respond to a size constancy violation

Differences between sexes in cognitive processes are widespread in humans and permeate many, if not most, cognitive domains. In animal cognition research, however, possible sex differences are still often neglected. Here, we provide striking evidence for a sex-specific response in an object permanence task in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Female dogs responded with significantly increased looking times to a violation of expectancy--a ball 'magically' changing size while temporarily occluded. By contrast, male dogs, irrespective of their neuter status, did not respond to the size constancy violation. These results indicate that sex differences in basic cognitive processes may extend to mammals in general, and call for increased consideration of possible sex effects when analysing and interpreting data in animal cognition.

Development of the ability to inhibit a prepotent response: Influence of working memory and processing speed

This study aimed to examine developmental trends in response inhibition during childhood and to control for possible developmental influence of other basic cognitive processes (such as working memory and processing speed). In addition, we explored the relationships between response inhibition, working memory, and processing speed, as they are thought to be integral to cognitive control. Therefore, we assessed these three cognitive abilities in 159 children aged from 5 to 12. Results showed an improvement in response inhibition ability from 5 to 10 years of age. This improvement remained significant after controlling for the influence of working memory and processing speed. Furthermore, the developmental relationships showed an early differentiation between response inhibition, working memory, and processing speed. Thus, these processes were independent and need to be treated as such in further studies.