Domain-general Resources Research Articles

Domain-general and domain-specific functional networks of Broca's area underlying language processing.

Despite abundant research on the role of Broca's area in language processing, there is still no consensus on language specificity of this region and its connectivity network. The present study employed the meta-analytic connectivity modeling procedure to identify and compare domain-specific (language-specific) and domain-general (shared between language and other domains) functional connectivity patterns of three subdivisions within the broadly defined Broca's area: pars opercularis (IFGop), pars triangularis (IFGtri), and pars orbitalis (IFGorb) of the left inferior frontal gyrus. The findings revealed a left-lateralized frontotemporal network for all regions of interest underlying domain-specific linguistic functions. The domain-general network, however, spanned frontoparietal regions that overlap with the multiple-demand network and subcortical regions spanning the thalamus and the basal ganglia. The findings suggest that language specificity of Broca's area emerges within a left-lateralized frontotemporal network, and that domain-general resources are garnered from frontoparietal and subcortical networks when required by task demands.

Cognitive Resources in Working Memory: Domain-Specific or General?

An experiment in the dual-task paradigm was carried out to explore the nature of domain-specific and domain-general resource distribution in working memory. The subjects (N = 32) performed symmetry span and letter reading span tasks under visuospatial (tapping) and verbal (articulatory suppression) cognitive load. The effects of task type and cognitive load modality were analyzed. The results are described within the concentric model framework: significant distinctions in relative accuracy under visuospatial and verbal cognitive load in visuospatial and verbal tasks were observed when N elements in the set exceeded the region of direct access capacity, while no such effect was observed for 2-3 element sets. This is attributed to domain-general resources in the region of direct access, and domain-specific resources in the activated long-term memory. We also found evidence for the asymmetric distribution of visuospatial and verbal working memory resources in that the verbal component is more susceptible to cognitive load.

Storage and processing in working memory: A single, domain-general resource explains multitasking.

An ongoing major debate centers around whether multitasking in working memory, that is, performing several mental activities at once, is supported by multiple specialized domain-specific or by a single-purpose domain-general cognitive resources. Working memory theories differ in their explanations and predictions about when performing two mental tasks causes performance failures, versus when two processes can be carried out concurrently with negligible cognitive costs. In particular, the predictions of domain-specific and domain-general views on working memory are in conflict with one another when it comes to the cognitive cost associated with concurrent verbal and visuospatial processing and storage tasks. Previous tests of these predictions using traditional methods have led to ambiguous and inconsistent conclusions, however. To make critical progress in this theoretical debate, we used a radically different approach combining Bayesian state-trace analysis with an experimental design fully crossing processing and storage tasks differing only in the domain of representation (verbal vs. visuospatial). Across two experiments, we show unambiguously that a single, domain-general factor can account for briefly maintaining verbal and visuospatial information in a multitasking scenario. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Domain general and specific contributions to algebra: A sequenced longitudinal path model

Algebra I is critical for future STEM aspirations. However, current understanding of key predictors has focused on large-scale big data studies (which often lack a strong set of potential cognitive and mathematical predictors) or on individual differences or experimental studies (with relatively small sample sizes). The present study was designed with a strong set of theoretically and empirically motivated mathematical and cognitive predictors of algebra performance and large sample size: 532 students taking Algebra I in Grades 8 or 9. Students were evaluated at the beginning and end of their course. Results revealed direct and indirect effects for an array of domain-general and domain-specific factors, with the most robust effects for language, whole number arithmetic, arithmetic concept understanding, and fractions competency. General patterns held in the context of a variety of demographic covariates though more generally for students taking Algebra I at the standard time relative to those taking it earlier. To prepare students for algebra, and while considering a host of contextual factors, results support the need to build direct and indirect supports for domain-general resources at younger ages, and to provide practice with domain-specific skills.

Supplemental Material for Storage and Processing in Working Memory: A Single, Domain-General Resource Explains Multitasking

Supplemental Material for Storage and Processing in Working Memory: A Single, Domain-General Resource Explains Multitasking

The Not-So-Simple View of Writing in Struggling Readers/Writers

Research suggests that executive function, motivation, transcription and composition processes are implicated in the writing quality and productivity of children with and without learning difficulties. However, numerous components embedded within these constructs create both conceptual and empirical challenges to the study of written expression. These challenges are reflected in the writing research by way of poor delineation of constructs and insufficient distinction among domain general resources (e.g. working memory) versus processes related to the academic domain of writing (e.g. pre-planning), as well as among lower- (e.g. handwriting) and higher-order (e.g. editing) writing-specific processes. The current study utilizes the Not-so-Simple View of Writing (NSVW) as an organizing framework for examining the relations among multiple components, correlates and attributes of writing in a sample of struggling readers/writers (n = 402) in grades 3–5. Data were collected on measures of (a) handwriting, spelling, planning, revision, and editing, derived from the Test of Oral Written Language (TOWL-4), (b) executive function derived from the NIH Examiner, and (c) motivation/self-efficacy derived from the Student Contextual Learning Scale. Structural equation modeling was utilized to test direct and indirect relations in the NSVW model. Results showed generally moderate correlations among observed/latent variables and found support for relations among writing-specific processes. Domain-general resources (executive function and motivation/self-efficacy) were related to spelling directly and indirectly to writing. Domain-specific processes (handwriting, spelling, planning, editing and revision) were related to writing. The results have implications for explicit instruction of writing processes and for future research on empirical models.

Specifying the domain-general resources that contribute to conceptual construction: Evidence from the child’s acquisition of vitalist biology

There are two dissociable processes that underlie knowledge acquisition: knowledge enrichment, which involves learning information that can be represented with one’s current conceptual repertoire; and conceptual construction, which involves acquiring knowledge that can only be represented in terms of concepts one does not yet possess. Theory changes involving conceptual change require conceptual construction. The cognitive mechanisms underlying conceptual change are still poorly understood, though executive function capacities have been implicated. The present study concerns the domain-general resources drawn upon in one well-studied case of the construction of a new framework theory in early childhood: the framework theory of vitalist biology, the ontogenetically earliest theory in which the concepts life and death come to have biological content shared with adults. Eighty-three five- and six-year-old children were tested on a battery of tasks that probe central concepts of the vitalist theory, as well as on a battery of tests of domain-general capacities that may be implicated in development in this domain, including measures of knowledge enrichment, executive function, and fluid IQ. With variance in accumulated knowledge and in knowledge enrichment capacity controlled, two specific executive functions, shifting and inhibition, predicted children’s progress in constructing the vitalist theory. In contrast, working memory and fluid IQ were not associated with the acquisition of vitalist biology. These results provide further evidence for the distinction between knowledge enrichment and conceptual construction and impose new constraints on accounts of the mechanisms underlying conceptual construction in this domain.

The interplay between control processes and feature relevance: Evidence from dual-task methodology.

Neuropsychological studies suggest a distinction between (a) semantic knowledge and (b) control processes that shape the retrieval of conceptual information to suit the task or context. These aspects of semantic cognition are specifically impaired in patients with semantic dementia and semantic aphasia, respectively. However, interactions between the structure of knowledge and control processes that are expected during semantic retrieval have not been fully characterised. In particular, domain-general executive resources may not have equal relevance for the capacity to promote weak yet task relevant features (i.e., "controlled retrieval) and to ignore or suppress distracting information (i.e., "selection"). Here, using a feature selection task, we tested the contribution of featural relevance to semantic performance in healthy participants under conditions of divided attention. Healthy participants showed greater dual-task disruption as the relevance value of the distractor feature linearly increased, supporting the emerging view that semantic relevance is one of the organising principles of the structure of semantic representation. Moreover, word frequency, and inter-correlational strength affected overall performance, but they did not show an interaction with dual-task conditions. These results suggest that domain-general control processes, disrupted by divided attention, are more important to the capacity to efficiently avoid distracting information during semantic decision-making than to the promotion of weak target features. The present study therefore provides novel information about the nature of the interaction between structured conceptual knowledge and control processes that support the retrieval of appropriate information and relates these results to a new theoretical framework, termed controlled semantic cognition.

Cognitive Control Facilitates Attentional Disengagement during Second Language Comprehension.

Bilinguals learn to resolve conflict between their two languages and that skill has been hypothesized to create long-term adaptive changes in cognitive functioning. Yet, little is known about how bilinguals recruit cognitive control to enable efficient use of one of their languages, especially in the less skilled and more effortful second language (L2). Here we examined how real-time cognitive control engagement influences L2 sentence comprehension (i.e., conflict adaptation). We tested a group of English monolinguals and a group of L2 English speakers using a recently-developed cross-task adaptation paradigm. Stroop sequences were pseudo-randomly interleaved with a visual-world paradigm in which participants were asked to carry out spoken instructions that were either syntactically ambiguous or unambiguous. Consistent with previous research, eye-movement results showed that Stroop-related conflict improved the ability to engage correct-goal interpretations, and disengage incorrect-goal interpretations, during ambiguous instructions. Such cognitive-to-language modulations were similar in both groups, but only in the engagement piece. In the disengagement portion, the modulation emerged earlier in bilinguals than in monolinguals, suggesting group differences in attentional disengagement following cognitive control recruitment. Additionally, incorrect-goal eye-movements were modulated by individual differences in working memory, although differently for each group, suggesting an involvement of both language-specific and domain-general resources.

Understanding How Language-Specific and Domain-General Resources Support Comprehension

ABSTRACT A large body of work has demonstrated that reader resources influence inference processes and comprehension, but few models of comprehension have accounted for such resources. The Direct and Mediational Inference model of comprehension (DIME) assumes that general inference processes mediate the effects of reader resources on general comprehension proficiency. The current study proposes an extension of DIME, the Inferential Mediation Model (IMM), to account for comprehension as it occurs while reading a particular text. College students were administered a battery of reader resource measures. In addition, they completed a think-aloud tool that measured comprehension and readers’ inference processes while reading specific texts. A path analysis revealed that inference processes partially mediate the relationships between reader resources and comprehension performance. These results support the DIME and IMM, and suggest that inference processes that support mental model construction mediate the impact of reader resources on comprehension.

Spatial attention and feature-based attention are differentially sensitive to individual working memory capacity and perceptual load

ABSTRACTA central and long-standing topic of interest to both psychologists and neuroscientists has been the capacity limited nature of perception, cognition and action. Most often, attention is the term invoked to label the mechanism by which a limited cognitive system can prioritize and select a subset of task-relevant sensory inputs and actions amongst a seemingly unbounded set of possible representations and behaviour. This selective mechanism is often modelled as a unitary and domain-general capacity-limited resource that is dynamically shifted to meet the processing demands invoked by the context. The present work offers a test of the unitary attention hypothesis using a variant of a classic validity manipulation [(Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32, 3–25)] and the inferential logic of Sternberg (2001. Separate modifiability, mental modules, and the use of pure and composite measures to reveal them. Acta Psychologica, 106, 147–246). The results stand as evidence for at least two modular visual attention systems split according to a spatial and feature-based reference.

Lexical accent perception in highly-proficient L2 Japanese learners: The roles of language-specific experience and domain-general resources

This article reports empirical findings on the roles of domain-general resources and language-specific experience in the second language (L2) acquisition of Japanese lexical pitch accent. Sixty-one advanced-proficiency L2 Japanese learners from two first languages (L1s), Mandarin Chinese and Korean, identified and categorized Japanese nouns embedded in short sentences in two aurally-presented tasks. Mixed effects models showed that although the tonal-language Chinese group outperformed non-tonal Korean speakers, L2 lexical knowledge, but not overall proficiency or learning experience, predicted performance on both perception tasks regardless of L1, suggesting that long-term knowledge of L2 phonological structure facilitates perception of lexical-level prosody. Domain-general resources, however, played no predictive role in advanced learners’ accent perception. A decision-tree analysis then revealed further divergence in perception accuracy by accent pattern, L1, and task type. Taken together, the results establish a close connection between language learning experience and L2 speech perception at the advanced level, and highlight the complexity inherent in the learning of non-native prosodic categories.

Domain-General and Domain-Specific Patterns of Activity Supporting Metacognition in Human Prefrontal Cortex.

Metacognition is the capacity to evaluate the success of one's own cognitive processes in various domains; for example, memory and perception. It remains controversial whether metacognition relies on a domain-general resource that is applied to different tasks or if self-evaluative processes are domain specific. Here, we investigated this issue directly by examining the neural substrates engaged when metacognitive judgments were made by human participants of both sexes during perceptual and memory tasks matched for stimulus and performance characteristics. By comparing patterns of fMRI activity while subjects evaluated their performance, we revealed both domain-specific and domain-general metacognitive representations. Multivoxel activity patterns in anterior prefrontal cortex predicted levels of confidence in a domain-specific fashion, whereas domain-general signals predicting confidence and accuracy were found in a widespread network in the frontal and posterior midline. The demonstration of domain-specific metacognitive representations suggests the presence of a content-rich mechanism available to introspection and cognitive control.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We used human neuroimaging to investigate processes supporting memory and perceptual metacognition. It remains controversial whether metacognition relies on a global resource that is applied to different tasks or if self-evaluative processes are specific to particular tasks. Using multivariate decoding methods, we provide evidence that perceptual- and memory-specific metacognitive representations coexist with generic confidence signals. Our findings reconcile previously conflicting results on the domain specificity/generality of metacognition and lay the groundwork for a mechanistic understanding of metacognitive judgments.

Human metacognition across domains: insights from individual differences and neuroimaging.

Metacognition is the capacity to evaluate and control one's own cognitive processes. Metacognition operates over a range of cognitive domains, such as perception and memory, but the neurocognitive architecture supporting this ability remains controversial. Is metacognition enabled by a common, domain-general resource that is recruited to evaluate performance on a variety of tasks? Or is metacognition reliant on domain-specific modules? This article reviews recent literature on the domain-generality of human metacognition, drawing on evidence from individual differences and neuroimaging. A meta-analysis of behavioral studies found that perceptual metacognitive ability was correlated across different sensory modalities, but found no correlation between metacognition of perception and memory. However, evidence for domain-generality from behavioral data may suffer from a lack of power to identify correlations across model parameters indexing metacognitive efficiency. Neuroimaging data provide a complementary perspective on the domain-generality of metacognition, revealing co-existence of neural signatures that are common and distinct across tasks. We suggest that such an architecture may be appropriate for "tagging" generic feelings of confidence with domain-specific information, in turn forming the basis for priors about self-ability and modulation of higher-order behavioral control.

A pre-registered naturalistic observation of within domain mental fatigue and domain-general depletion of self-control.

Self-control is often believed to operate as if it were a finite, domain-general resource. However, recent attempts to demonstrate this under transparent conditions have failed to yield positive results. In the current study, we monitor two groups of students (N1 = 8,867, N2 = 8,754) over separate 17-week intervals with 24-hour coverage, as they engage in voluntary learning and self-testing using an online program. We use daily behavior to assess whether time-of-day effects support domain-general theories of self-control. Additionally, we assess whether mental fatigue emerges within task during prolonged persistent effort. Results reveal within-task fatigue emerges within an hour on-task. However, there is a negligible effect on ability throughout the day. Additionally, time-of-day has no detrimental effect on motivation; rather there is a strong tendency to increase learning time at night. Results are consistent with theories indicating people lose motivation within a specific task, but at odds with theories that argue for a domain-general self-control resource.

Speech segmentation by statistical learning is supported by domain-general processes within working memory.

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which working memory resources are recruited during statistical learning (SL). Participants were asked to identify novel words in an artificial speech stream where the transitional probabilities between syllables provided the only segmentation cue. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that segmentation performance improved when the speech rate was slowed down, suggesting that SL is supported by some form of active processing or maintenance mechanism that operates more effectively under slower presentation rates. In Experiment 3 we investigated the nature of this mechanism by asking participants to perform a two-back task while listening to the speech stream. Half of the participants performed a two-back rhyme task designed to engage phonological processing, whereas the other half performed a comparable two-back task on un-nameable visual shapes. It was hypothesized that if SL is dependent only upon domain-specific processes (i.e., phonological rehearsal), the rhyme task should impair speech segmentation performance more than the shape task. However, the two loads were equally disruptive to learning, as they both eradicated the benefit provided by the slow rate. These results suggest that SL is supported by working-memory processes that rely on domain-general resources.

Mindreading in adults: evaluating two-systems views

A number of convergent recent findings with adults have been interpreted as evidence of the existence of two distinct systems for mindreading that draw on separate conceptual resources: one that is fast, automatic, and inflexible; and one that is slower, controlled, and flexible. The present article argues that these findings admit of a more parsimonious explanation. This is that there is a single set of concepts made available by a mindreading system that operates automatically where it can, but which frequently needs to function together with domain-specific executive procedures (such as visually rotating an image to figure out what someone else can see) as well as domain-general resources (including both long-term and working memory). This view, too, can be described as a two-systems account. But in this case one of the systems encompasses the other, and the conceptual resources available to each are the same.

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.

Eyes and IQ: A meta-analysis of the relationship between intelligence and “Reading the Mind in the Eyes”

Although the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET; Baron-Cohen et al. 1997, 2001) has been used as a measure of mental state understanding in over 250 studies, the extent to which it correlates with intelligence is seldom considered. We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate whether or not a relationship exists between intelligence and performance on the RMET. The analysis of 77 effects sizes with 3583 participants revealed a small positive correlation (r=.24) with no difference between verbal and performance abilities. We conclude that intelligence does play a significant role in performance on the RMET and that verbal and performance abilities contribute to this relationship equally. We discuss these findings in the context of the theory of mind and domain-general resources literature.

The need for central resources in answering questions in different domains: Folk psychology, biology, and economics

This study examined whether, when lay people reason about everyday domains, they do so in a slow, serial, deliberate process or using an automatic, effortless, associative process, and whether there are differences in this respect between content domains. The cognitive resources used by lay persons in reasoning about everyday domains were investigated using a dual task methodology. Fifty-eight adult participants answered computer-administered questions on folk biology (ToB), folk economics (ToE), and folk psychology, where the latter included questions requiring participants to infer an emotion from a verbally presented situation (ToP) and false-belief tasks (ToM). Each domain was tested with questionnaires at two levels of difficulty. Half the participants concurrently performed the 2-back task. Cognitive load reduced accuracy on the main task for ToM tasks (especially for second-order false-belief items) but not for the other domains. Performing the main tasks reduces accuracy and increases latencies on the secondary task for all domains. These findings suggest that the appropriate generalisation does not relate to content domains (such as folk psychology vs. folk biology), but rather to the nature of the task under consideration. For ToE, ToB, and ToP, the relevant inference questions appear to be processed mainly by the associative systems in LTM, and the process is not affected by a concurrent secondary task. For ToM, the response generation processing occurs in the analytic subsystem, and is therefore affected by cognitive load. Further, the more difficult set of questions impaired the secondary task more than the simpler set, in every domain and in terms of both accuracy and latency. This suggests that the processing involved in the associative system consumes domain-general resources too.