Elementary Cognitive Processes Research Articles

Hybrid Artificial Intelligence Network in Taxation of Upheaval Damaged Structures

The knowledge base of the new ANN is reconstructed through the use of the Fuzzy Set Theory, which permits to formalization ion the procedures in a non-deterministic way. The uncertainty and the imprecision of the gathered data are managed with techniques topical to Fuzzy Logic. Moreover, the System permits the user to modify the same knowledge base or insert new basheadquartersd use the most appropriate one in specific situations. The gathered data and the evaluations' results are loaded on databases and databases, successively, for further elaborations and new evaluations with different knowledge bases. Implementing and fleshing out several psychological and neuroscience theories of cognition, the AI-ANN conceptual model aims at being a cognitive “theory of everything.” With modules or processes for perception, working memory, episodic memories, “consciousness,” procedural memory, action selection, perceptual learning, serial learning, deliberation, volition, and non-routine problem solving, the AI-ANN model is ideally suited to provide a functional ontology that would allow for the discussion, design, and comparison of AGI systems. The AI-ANN architecture is based on the cognitive cycle, a “cognitive atom.” The more elementary cognitive modules and processes play a role in each mental cycle. Higher-level functions are performed over multiple cycles. In addition to giving a quick overview of the AI-ANN conceptual model and its underlying computational technology, one can argue for the AI-ANN architecture’s role as a foundational architecture for an AGI. Finally, lessons For AGI researchers drawn from the model and its architecture are discussed.

Spatialization in working memory and its relation to math anxiety.

Working memory (WM) is one of the most important cognitive functions that may play a role in the relation between math anxiety (MA) and math performance. The processing efficiency theory proposes that rumination and worrisome thoughts (induced by MA) result in less available WM resources (which are needed to solve math problems). At the same time, high MA individuals have lower verbal and spatial WM capacity in general. Extending these findings, we found that MA is also linked to the spatial coding of serial order in verbal WM: subjects who organize sequences from left-to-right in verbal WM show lower levels of MA compared with those who do not spatialize. Furthermore, these spatial coders have higher verbal WM capacity, better numerical order judgment abilities, and higher math scores. These findings suggest that spatially structuring the verbal mind is a promising cognitive correlate of MA and opens new avenues for exploring causal links between elementary cognitive processes and MA.

FRAMEMIZATION OF LEARNING: OPPORTUNITIES FOR FORMATION OF STUDENTS CREATIVE ACTIVITY

The article reveals the topical issue of forming creative activity of students. The aim of the work is to draw the attention of the pedagogical community to such an issue as the framing of learning, which involves a variety of forms and methods of organizing the educational process by means of updating the self-correction of students' knowledge. It is established that the formation of creative activity of high school students by means of framing should be carried out on the basis of personal orientation, competence approach. In addition to the general characteristics, the specifics of creating frames with slots are revealed. The research is based on scientific works, which reveals the formation of creative activity of the younger generation in the process of learning and education, didactic foundations of these processes. The main results of the work determine the modern conditions in which the theoretically substantiated process of framing learning works in order to form the creative activity of students. We pay attention to the fact that the creative activity of high school students is most successfully manifested during their homework, self-correction of knowledge in the classroom, during extracurricular activities. Thus, the foundation for the formation of creative activity of high school students is, first of all, the level of formation of elementary cognitive processes and creativity of thinking received by them. Having these prerequisites, the teacher directs the student to cognition, perception, assimilation of information; forms the ability to cooperate and the ability to orient and self-regulate, independence, freedom of thought.
 Keywords: learning framing, slots, creative activity of the student, self-correction, creativity, self-assessment, tasks, actualization of knowledge.

Międzyosobowy poziom wyjaśniania umysłu i zdolności poznawczych

What is the influence of the social and (to a lesser extent) the cultural on mind and cognition? The question will concern: (i) the nature of the relation between what is social and cultural, on the one hand, and the mind, cognitive ability, and cognitive development on the other; (ii) aspects of the mind, cognitive ability, and cognitive development affected by what is social and cultural; (iii) processes in which what is social and cultural becomes a part of individual cognitive functioning. This paper attempts to provide a conceptual framework within which the above questions can be answered. In the literature concerning the explanation of mind and cognitive abilities, attention is drawn to the importance of distinguishing levels of explanation. One of such approaches to multi-level explanation of the mind and cognition is the distinction drawn by Daniel Dennett between the personal level of explanation (e.g., level of beliefs, desires) and the subpersonal level of explanation (e.g., neural or computational). The purpose of this article is to argue that — recognising that the social and the cultural are one of the constitutive conditions of mind and cognition — we should posit a third level: the interpersonal level of explanation (ILE). The reason for postulating ILE is that there are specific domains in which interpersonal interactions affect elementary cognitive abilities and processes, which may thus result in their transformation into higher cognitive abilities and processes. The entire group of such domains will be defined as ILE, and at the centre of its explanatory potential will be the different types and forms of the said transformation. One of the main research objectives pursued at the ILE is to identify and formulate a taxonomy of transformative features and processes. Two models of such processes will be presented: the Vygotsky model and the Tomasello model. In the final part of this paper, the basic methodological assumptions of the ILE will be presented: the relative autonomy of this level of explanation, multi-level analysis, and the mechanism-based explanation. These assumptions will also be used to formulate general theses of the ILE.

Elements of creative thought: Investigating the cognitive and neural correlates of association and bi-association processes

Creative thinking relies on the ability to make remote associations and fruitfully combine unrelated concepts. Hence, original associations and bi-associations (i.e., associations to one and two concepts, respectively) are considered elementary cognitive processes of creative cognition. In this work, we investigated the cognitive and brain mechanisms underlying these association processes with tasks that asked for original associations to either one or two adjective stimuli. Study 1 showed that the generation of more original associations and bi-associations was related to several indicators of creativity, corroborating the validity of these association performances as basic processes underlying creative cognition. Study 2 assessed brain activity during performance of these association tasks by means of fMRI. The generation of original versus common associations was related to higher activation in bilateral lingual gyri suggesting that cued search for remote representatives of given properties are supported by visually-mediated search strategies. Parametric analyses further showed that the generation of more original associations involved activation of the left inferior frontal cortex and the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which are consistently implicated in constrained retrieval and evaluation processes, and relevant for making distant semantic connections. Finally, the generation of original bi-associations involved higher activation in bilateral hippocampus and inferior parietal lobe, indicating that conceptual combination recruits episodic simulation processes. Together, these findings suggest that the generation of verbally cued, original associations relies not only on verbal semantic memory but involves mental imagery and episodic simulation, offering new insights in the nuanced interplay of memory systems in creative thought.

False memory for orthographically versus semantically similar words in adolescents with dyslexia: a fuzzy-trace theory perspective

The presented research was conducted in order to investigate the connections between developmental dyslexia and the functioning of verbatim and gist memory traces—assumed in the fuzzy-trace theory. The participants were 71 high school students (33 with dyslexia and 38 without learning difficulties). The modified procedure and multinomial model of Stahl and Klauer (simplified conjoint recognition model) was used to collect and analyze data. Results showed statistically significant differences in four of the model parameters: (a) the probability of verbatim trace recollection upon presentation of orthographically similar stimulus was higher in the control than dyslexia group, (b) the probability of verbatim trace recollection upon presentation of semantically similar stimulus was higher in the control than dyslexia group, (c) the probability of gist trace retrieval upon presentation of semantically similar stimulus was higher in the dyslexia than control group, and (d) the probability of gist trace retrieval upon target stimulus presentation (in the semantic condition) was higher in the control than dyslexia group. The obtained results suggest differences of memory functioning in terms of verbatim and gist trace retrieval between people with and without dyslexia on specific, elementary cognitive processes postulated by the fuzzy-trace theory. These can indicate new approaches in the education of persons with developmental dyslexia, focused on specific impairments and the strengths of their memory functioning.

Mediodorsal Thalamus Hypofunction Impairs Flexible Goal-Directed Behavior

BackgroundCognitive inflexibility is a core symptom of several mental disorders including schizophrenia. Brain imaging studies in schizophrenia patients performing cognitive tasks have reported decreased activation of the mediodorsal thalamus (MD). Using a pharmacogenetic approach to model MD hypofunction, we recently showed that decreasing MD activity impairs reversal learning in mice. While this demonstrates causality between MD hypofunction and cognitive inflexibility, questions remain about the elementary cognitive processes that account for the deficit. MethodsUsing the Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs system, we reversibly decreased MD activity during behavioral tasks assessing elementary cognitive processes inherent to flexible goal-directed behaviors, including extinction, contingency degradation, outcome devaluation, and Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (n = 134 mice). ResultsWhile MD hypofunction impaired reversal learning, it did not affect the ability to learn about nonrewarded cues or the ability to modulate action selection based on the outcome value. In contrast, decreasing MD activity delayed the ability to adapt to changes in the contingency between actions and their outcomes. In addition, while Pavlovian learning was not affected by MD hypofunction, decreasing MD activity during Pavlovian learning impaired the ability of conditioned stimuli to modulate instrumental behavior. ConclusionsMediodorsal thalamus hypofunction causes cognitive inflexibility reflected by an impaired ability to adapt actions when their consequences change. Furthermore, it alters the encoding of environmental stimuli so that they cannot be properly utilized to guide behavior. Modulating MD activity could be a potential therapeutic strategy for promoting adaptive behavior in human subjects with cognitive inflexibility.

Executive functions in borderline personality disorder

Different domains of executive function such as working memory and response inhibition were investigated together with elementary cognitive processes in borderline personality disorder (BPD). Patients with BPD (N=28) were compared to nonpatient controls (NP, N=28) on eight tasks (e.g. n-back, Go/NoGo, CPT-AX). In order to separate impairments in different cognitive domains and to assess the influence of more elementary cognitive processes on executive functioning, tasks were embedded in a reaction-time-decomposition approach. BPD patients solved tasks with accuracies comparable to those of nonpatients. The only exception was the n-back task, for which working memory is required: here, error rates were higher and increased more prominently in BPD patients depending on working memory load. In most tasks, movement times were shorter for BPD patients than for nonpatients, while the quality of task-solving was comparable. The faster processing in the BPD group was observable starting with the simplest task, i.e. a simple reaction-time task. These findings suggest that domains of executive functioning are differentially affected in BPD. In contrast to load-dependent deficits in working memory, response inhibition processes were unimpaired. Faster action-related processes could be observed in BPD patients in a variety of tasks; however, these did not influence executive functioning.

P-1260 - Neurochemical modulation of auditory processing in healthy controls stratified for low and high auditory hallucinatory experiences

Contributing to poor global functioning, auditory hallucinations (AH) also interfere with elementary cognitive processes, including auditory discrimination. This is evidenced in schizophrenic (SZ) hallucinators (vs. non-hallucinators) by a greater reduction of the MMN, an auditory event-related brain potential (ERP) generated in part by NMDA receptor activity and normalized with nicotinic (nACh) agonist treatment. To increase our understanding of NMDA-nACh interactions with auditory processing, using healthy young adults varying in their degree of experience with AH, thereby reducing the confounding influence of illness chronicity and medication associated with the study of SZ patients. To investigate MMN differences between low and high AH subjects during separate and combined administration of ketamine, an NMDA antagonist, and nicotine, an nACh agonist. In 40 healthy controls, all rated for AH with the Bell Object Relations and Reality Testing Inventory, MMN to frequency deviants was assessed in a randomized, placebo-controlled crossover design involving the separate and combined administration of a intravenous sub-psychotomimetic dose of ketamine (0.04 mg/kg) and a dose of nicotine gum (4 mg). In high AH subjects, ketamine reduced MMN, with the resulting amplitude being smaller than that of low AH subjects. This ketamine-induced MMN reduction was evident only with placebo gum; furthermore combined nicotine-ketamine treatment acted to increase MMN in high scorers. AH in otherwise healthy individuals is associated with heightened sensitivity to NMDA receptor blockade, the effects of which are moderated by nicotinic neurotransmission. Both neurotransmitters may interact to moderate auditory processing and AH in SZ.

Reconnecting cognition in the lab and cognition in real life: The role of compensatory social and motivational factors in explaining how cognition ages in the wild

ABSTRACT The papers in this Special Issue compellingly show that older adults' everyday cognitive life is governed not by the decline in elementary cognitive processes as measured in the lab, but by a multitude of compensatory mechanisms, most of which are of the social/motivational variety. Much of this compensatory behavior can be elicited with no or only little experimental prodding, underscoring the self-organizing or self-initiated nature of this type of behavior, even in advanced old age. We suggest that the study of compensation and the orchestration of cognitive, social, and motivational compensatory mechanisms in effective and healthy aging provides a meaningful challenge to traditional ways of examining developmental changes in cognitive performance.

A propositional representation model of anatomical and functional brain data

Networks can represent a large number of systems. Recent advances in the domain of networks have been transferred to the field of neuroscience. For example, the graph model has been used in neuroscience research as a methodological tool to examine brain networks organization, topology and complex dynamics, as well as a framework to test the structure–function hypothesis using neuroimaging data. In the current work we propose a graph-theoretical framework to represent anatomical, functional and neuropsychological assessment instruments information. On the one hand, interrelationships between anatomic elements constitute an anatomical graph. On the other hand, a functional graph contains several cognitive functions and their more elementary cognitive processes. Finally, the neuropsychological assessment instruments graph includes several neuropsychological tests and scales linked with their different sub-tests and variables. The two last graphs are connected by relations of type “explore” linking a particular instrument with the cognitive function it explores. We applied this framework to a sample of patients with focal brain damage. Each patient was related to: (i) the cerebral entities injured (assessed with structural neuroimaging data) and (ii) the neusopsychological assessment tests carried out (weight by performance). Our model offers a suitable platform to visualize patients’ relevant information, facilitating the representation, standardization and sharing of clinical data. At the same time, the integration of a large number of patients in this framework will make possible to explore relations between anatomy (injured entities) and function (performance in different tests assessing different cognitive functions) and the use of neurocomputational tools for graph analysis may help diagnostic and contribute to the comprehension of neural bases of cognitive functions.

Serotonin and early cognitive development: variation in the tryptophan hydroxylase 2 gene is associated with visual attention in 7-month-old infants

Allelic variation in the promoter region of a gene that encodes tryptophan hydroxylase isoform 2 (TPH2), a rate-limiting enzyme of serotonin synthesis in the central nervous system, has been associated with variations in cognitive function and vulnerability to affective spectrum disorders. Little is known about the effects of this gene variant on cognition during development and about possible intermediate developmental steps that lead to the adult phenotype. Here, we examined the hypothesis that the TPH2 -703 may act during early stages of development and bias the acquisition of elementary cognitive processes involved in attention and emotion regulation. Seven-month-old infants (n = 66) were genotyped for the TPH2 -703 G/T polymorphism (rs4570625) and tested for the efficiency of attention shifts from a stimulus at fixation to a new stimulus in the visual periphery. Compared to TPH2 G/G homozygotes, infants with the T-carrier genotype exhibited a significantly higher number of missing attention shifts. This genotype effect tended to be particularly pronounced when infants had to disengage from an affectively salient stimulus before shifting attention to the peripheral stimulus. The results also showed that TPH2 genotype was indirectly associated, via its effect on attention disengagement, with temperamental emotion regulation (soothability). Together, these results implicate serotonin system genes in early cognitive development and suggest variations in the early-emerging cognitive capacities as a potential developmental precursor of individual differences in emotion regulation and vulnerability to affective disorders.

SANLab-CM: A tool for incorporating stochastic operations into activity network modeling

The Stochastic Activity Network Laboratory for Cognitive Modeling (SANLab-CM) is a new tool that incorporates stochastic operations into activity network modeling (Schweickert, Fisher, & Proctor, 2003). In this article, we discuss the core functionality of SANLab-CM and walk through a case study that expands a previously published single, static path model of telephone operators interacting with customers via a workstation (from Gray, John, & Atwood, 1993) into a stochastic model that generates 55 unique paths with different frequencies and a variety of qualitative properties. Without SANLab-CM, it would have been easy to mistake some of the more frequent critical paths as evidence for alternative strategies for task completion. With SANLab-CM, these critical paths can be shown to be simple emergent properties of variability in elementary cognitive, perceptual, and motor processes.

Associative learning predicts intelligence above and beyond working memory and processing speed

Recent evidence suggests the existence of multiple cognitive mechanisms that support the general cognitive ability factor ( g). Working memory and processing speed are the two best established candidate mechanisms. Relatively little attention has been given to the possibility that associative learning is an additional mechanism contributing to g. The present study tested the hypothesis that associative learning ability, as assessed by psychometrically sound associative learning tasks, would predict variance in g above and beyond the variance predicted by working memory capacity and processing speed. This hypothesis was confirmed in a sample of 169 adolescents, using structural equation modeling. Associative learning, working memory, and processing speed all contributed significant unique variance to g, indicating not only that multiple elementary cognitive processes underlie intelligence, but also the novel finding that associative learning is one such process.

Executive functions and cognitive subprocesses in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea

In recent years, special interest has been focused on impairments of executive functions in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS). However, the majority of studies have not clearly separated deficits in executive functions from impairments in other cognitive processes involved in task solving. In the present study, working memory (WM) functions of 20 patients with OSAS were compared with those of 10 age-, sex- and education-matched healthy subjects. Cognitive functions were measured four times a day; each of these measurements was accompanied by an assessment of subjective and objective daytime sleepiness. To separate dysfunctions of WM from those of additionally involved processes, n-back tasks were applied embedded in a reaction-time-decomposition approach. Deficits in n-back tasks could be observed in OSAS patients in accuracy and reaction times. However, the slowing could already be observed in simple reaction time tasks. The drop in 1-back accuracy in the morning was related to daytime sleepiness. During the afternoon, accuracy of OSAS patients dropped in 2-back tasks, an effect which correlated neither with sleepiness nor with the extent of sleep apnoea or oxygen desaturation. In conclusion, our data reflect a complex perspective upon cognitive deficits in OSAS. Cross-group differences in processing time on the higher level WM task appeared to be attributable to slowing at a more elementary cognitive processing level. In contrast, reduced accuracy during the WM task in the OSAS group could not be explained by deficits in more elementary cognitive processes.

Spearman’s Hypothesis: Support from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition

'Spearman's hypothesis' states that Black-White differences in intelligence are largely a function of the demand of a test on the general factor, Spearman's g. The present study investigates Spearman's hypothesis using the standardization sample of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition (WISC-III, 1991). As additional comparison groups, data from two samples of children with sensory impairments were also analyzed. Findings support Spearman's hypothesis as an account of average Black-White differences in subtest performance. Differences on WISC-III in the disabled samples were not significantly related to Spearman's g despite these groups' experience of deprivation. Thus, the deprivation hypothesis is not affirmed, while Spearman's g gains further credibility as an explanation for observed racial differences on IQ-type tests. Key Words: Spearman's hypothesis; WISC-III; Race differences; Intelligence. No practice in psychology has inspired or endured more criticism than testing. Usually, die most strident attacks target the repeated finding that Blacks and Whites differ in varying degrees on tests of intellectual ability (Jensen, 1969, 1980, 1998; Naglieri & Jensen, 1987). These average group differences in America are substantial, of some 15-16 IQ points, and have been observed for more tiian a century, beginning with the widespread use of IQ testing (Ferguson, 1916; Jensen, 1969, 1980; Rushton & Jensen, 2005a; Shuey, 1966; Yerkes, 1921). While researchers generally agree tiiat these differences exist, there has been a massive debate about their origins (Devlin et al., 1997; Kamin, 1974; Mensh & Mensh, 1991; Miele, 1995). The unremitting controversy surrounding the issue of Black-White differences in IQ is fueled by the media and by social researchers who depict research on group differences in intelligence as fundamentally flawed, tacitly racist, and morally reprehensible (Fish, 2002; Gottfredson, 2005; Snyderman and Rothman, 1988; Williams, 1974). In reality, the available empirical research from various disciplines has converged on a portrait of intelligence that is the opposite of conventional wisdom. That is, intelligence is a highly reliable and predictive construct that is subject to developmental growth and decline and is substantially related to elementary cognitive processes, educational achievement, and earnings (Brand, 1996; Carroll, 2005; Gottfredson, 1997, 2002; Herrnstein & Murray, 1994; Legree et al., 1996; Lynn & Vanhanen, 2002; Neisser et al., 1996) and a heritability of around .60 (Jensen, 1998; Loehlin, 2000; Miele, 2002). Controversy about group differences in intellectual performance invariably concerns the general factor of intelligence, g, which was discovered by Charles Spearman in 1904 as part of an experiment to find out whether, as Galton [had] indicated, the abilities commonly taken to be intellectual correlated with each other or with sensory discrimination (Spearman, 1927, p. 322). Spearman obtained teacher evaluations of 36 students from a village school. Students were rated on the usual academic subjects (Latin, English, and Math) as well as Music and Pitch Discrimination. Spearman noticed immediately that all tests correlated positively. These observed linear correlations between the variables prompted Spearman to hypothesize that the variables shared a common source of variance (Spearman, 1927). Additionally, the fact that the correlations between tests differed from one another suggested to Spearman that each test sampled this common source of variance to a varying degree. In the same seminal article, Spearman developed the statistical method of factor analysis for estimating the general factor. He remarked that his variables had different levels of saturation with g, represented by different loadings on the general factor. Spearman devoted the rest of his academic career to explicating g, which he conceptualized as mental energy; he held g was the leading part of intelligence, and is displayed by the ability to handle not merely abstract ideas, but above all symbols (Spearman, 1927; p. …

Motivation towards closure and cognitive processes: An individual differences approach

Two studies ( N = 212) examined the relationships between elementary cognitive processes and individual differences in the need for cognitive closure. The results indicated that the need for closure is linked with certain cognitive deficits, specifically a restricted pool of cognitive resources allocated to a current activity. It was also found that these cognitive limitations tend to be compensated for by a particularly efficient process of information-selection from the environment. However, the selection process is costly, thus in a situation of drainage of cognitive resources its effectiveness also drops and the selection advantage of high (vs. low) need for closure individuals is eliminated.

Simon effect in the rat: A new model for studying the neural bases of the dual-route architecture

In humans, the Simon effect refers to the fact that choice reaction time (RT) is shorter when the stimulus corresponds spatially to the response than when it does not, albeit the location of the stimulus is irrelevant to the task. This effect has motivated innumerable empirical and theoretical studies and is considered to reflect elementary cognitive processes. We report an experiment demonstrating that rats also display a Simon effect, the dynamics of which – as assessed by factorial manipulations and RT distribution analyses – partly corresponds to those of the effect studied in human participants. The present results are consistent with the ideas that in rats, like in humans, (i) the information conveyed by the stimulus is processed via two parallel routes, one controlled and relatively slow, and one fast and automatic (dual-route architecture) and (ii) the dual-route processing is finished before the start of motor processes. The correspondence between these findings and those reported in humans open new perspectives for neurophysiological investigations of the dual-route architecture in an animal model routinely studied in neuroscience research.

Switch and maintenance of task set in schizophrenia

Task set maintenance and switching deficits are robust in schizophrenia. However, little is known about how these constructs are related to one another. The development of an improved understanding of set switching and maintenance deficits in schizophrenia requires that these constructs be explicated in terms of elementary cognitive processes rather than grouped into broad psychological concepts like executive functioning. A relevant dichotomy has been proposed in which sensory and perceptual (“attentional”) processes are distinguished from decisional (“intentional”) processes in task maintenance and switching; however, the contributions these processes make to performance deficits in schizophrenia is not known. In the present study, 30 participants with schizophrenia and 27 healthy comparisons completed a cued attentional set switching task. In addition to analyses of mean response times, the contributions of attentional and intentional processes to task performance were estimated using an ex-Gaussian distributional analysis. Schizophrenia was associated with a set maintenance deficit that was accounted for by an attentional, rather than intentional, dysfunction. Both groups showed significant switch costs that could be attributed to attentional processes, but there was no evidence for an attentional set switching deficit in schizophrenia. The findings suggest that set switching and set maintenance may reflect distinct cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and that they may be associated with unique information processing mechanisms.

What makes working memory spans so predictive of high-level cognition?

Working memory (WM) span tasks involving a complex activity performed concurrently with item retention have proven to be good predictors of high-level cognitive performance. The present study demonstrates that replacing these complex self-paced activities with simpler but computer-paced processes, such as reading successive letters, yields more predictive WM span measures. This finding suggests that WM span tasks evaluate a fundamental capacity that underpins complex as well as elementary cognitive processes. Moreover, the higher predictive power of computer-paced WM span tasks suggests that strategic factors do not contribute to the relationship between WM spans and high-level cognition.