Greater Cognitive Ability Research Articles

Diversity is strategy: the effect of R&D team diversity on innovative performance

Diversity in the workplace has attracted significant interest in organisations that want to attract and retain talented employees. Breakthrough innovation requires a wider knowledge base, and organisations increasingly rely on multidisciplinary R&D teams to identify scientific developments that bridge gaps and reduce time to market. However, research on the performance implications of R&D team diversity remains limited and the empirical evidence inconsistent. This paper investigates the impact of surface and deep‐level diversity on R&D teams’ innovative performance and how diversity dimensions interact to drive innovation. We find supportive evidence that R&D team characteristics influence innovation outcomes, confirming our hypothesising that diversity is a valuable strategy for an organisation to pursue as it provides greater cognitive ability. Each diversity facet however has its own distinct effects depending on the novelty of innovation and industry. Yet, diversity is not solely positive and excessive heterogeneity could be detrimental to R&D team performance. Our findings suggest that high diversity in gender or skills in cognitively diverse teams might be negative attributes to take into consideration. Senior managers and organisations should therefore consider the appropriate mix of capabilities to benefit from creativity in diverse R&D teams and avoid possible conflict and distrust associated with diversity.

Height and cognition at older ages: Irish evidence

Previous research suggests that taller individuals have greater cognitive ability. The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate whether the relationship between height and cognition holds in later-life using data from the first wave of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). Seven measures of cognition are used. These measures capture aspects of cognition which are more likely to decline in old age, such as cognitive flexibility, processing speed, concentration and attention. It is found that height is positively and significantly associated with cognition in later-life also when education and early-life indicators are controlled for. The finding that adult height is a marker for nutrition and health environment experienced in early-life is widely accepted in the literature. The findings of this paper suggest that height might have a greater value added, as it appears to be a useful measure of unobserved childhood experiences.

Attitudes of veterinary students in Croatia toward farm animal welfare

AbstractThis survey was undertaken to assess the attitudes of Croatian veterinary students regarding farm animal welfare issues. The study included students of all undergraduate years at the only Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Croatia. First-year students were surveyed twice, ie before and after attending the course on animal welfare, using a written questionnaire containing statements with a five-point Likert scale for choice of answers. Students consider good animal welfare necessary for sustainability of farming systems and food quality and safety, ranking particular issues in the following order, biological functioning > natural living > emotional states. Students also believe that cattle and pigs have greater cognitive abilities and that their welfare is less compromised in comparison with poultry, whereas standard management procedures performed in pig production are perceived as more humane than beak-trimming in poultry. In addtion, students tend to consider pain in farm animals caused by management procedures only when these procedures involved the affliction of significant pain. There were no differences between attitude scores on most of the statements from first-year students before and after the course. Furthermore, for the majority of statements, the mean responses were lower in final-year students, suggesting a lower level of empathy toward farm animals. Although similar results have also been recorded elsewhere in the world, these results raise concerns as to the ability of these future veterinarians to promote good farm animal welfare in the country and abroad. The results also suggest a need to modify veterinary student education in Croatia in the field of farm animal welfare.

The Role of Objective Numeracy and Fluid Intelligence in Sex-Related Protective Behaviors.

A wealth of studies has indicated that greater cognitive ability is related to healthier behaviors and outcomes throughout the lifespan. In the present paper, we focus on objective numeracy (ability with numbers) and present findings from a study conducted in the Peruvian Highlands that examines the relations among formal education, numeracy, other more general cognitive skills, and a sex-related protective behavior (condom use). Our results show a potential unique protective effect of numeracy on this healthprotective behavior even after accounting for measures of fluid intelligence and potential confounding factors. These results add to a growing literature highlighting the robust protective effect on health behaviors of greater cognitive skills that are enhanced through schooling. Challenges for future research will be identifying the causal mechanisms that underlie these effects and translating this knowledge into effective interventions for improving health.

More symmetrical children have faster and more consistent choice reaction times.

Greater cognitive ability in childhood is associated with increased longevity, and speedier reaction time (RT) might account for much of this linkage. Greater bodily symmetry is linked to both higher cognitive test scores and faster RTs. It is possible, then, that differences in bodily system integrity indexed by symmetry may underlie the associations of RT and intelligence with increased longevity. However, RT and symmetry have seldom been examined in the same study, and never in children. Here, in 2 large samples aged 4 to 15 (combined n = 856), we found that more symmetrical children had significantly faster mean choice RT and less variability in RT. These associations of faster and less variable RT with greater symmetry early in life raise the possibility that the determinants of longevity in part originate in processes influencing bodily system integrity early in the life-course.

Quality of life of elderly practitioners of physical activity in the context of the family health strategy

Cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational study with 107 elderly enrolled in two basic health units in Minas Gerais, in order to describe the sociodemographic profile and evaluate the interdependence of quality of life of the elderly and physical activity, in the face of possible factors. Initially we performed a descriptive analysis of the socioeconomic profile of the sample and the tests applied to the elderly. We sought to explore joint relationships between quality of life, physical activity and exploratory variables through principal component analysis. Three distinct profiles were identified in two dimensions that explained the relationship between quality of life and physical activity. We concluded that the quality of life for the elderly is good and is influenced by regular physical activity, absence of depression, greater cognitive ability and good family functioning.

The Role of Cognitive Ability, Personality Traits and Gender in Gift Exchange Outcomes

We examine the role of cognitive ability, personality traits and gender in a one-shot gift exchange experiment. Controlling for cognitive ability and personality characteristics, men offer higher wages than women do, as do agents with greater cognitive ability and those scoring higher on agreeableness on the Big Five personality scale. In turn, men provide greater effort than women do on average, and respond at higher wage rates with greater increases in effort. For both genders, a one standard deviation increase in agreeableness generates almost the same increase in effort as a comparable increase in wages. Omitting cognitive ability from the analysis, and pooling men and women, produces seriously biased parameter estimates.

The Impact of Cognitive Ability on Roth IRA Ownership

Roth IRAs were introduced in the late 1990s and provide another option for tax-sheltered retirement savings. Because determining the benefits of a Roth IRA is a complex decision, we hypothesize that cognitive ability and having a financial planner have significant impacts on the timing and likelihood of using a Roth IRA. Using data primarily from the 2004 and 2008 administrations of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), we find that greater cognitive ability and having a financial planner are both positively related to Roth IRA ownership and earlier adoption. If individuals with higher cognitive ability and/or a financial planner are better able to recognize and implement beneficial tax strategies, then tax policy will yield unintended distributional consequences. The complexity of a tax policy also limits its ability to modify individual behavior in the ways envisioned by policymakers.

Exploring the Association Between Leisure Time Digital Immersion, Attention and Reasoning Ability in Pre-Teens

Some researchers claim that digital natives are endowed with greater cognitive abilities than digital immigrants, due to the interactive nature of digital technologies. This study investigates relationships between different types of digital activity, reasoning ability and attention in a pre-teen population. Two hundred twenty-four participants (139 males, 85 females) aged 10-12 years completed a questionnaire measuring leisure time digital immersion. Factor analysis reveals 5 distinct types of users. Ninety-two participants completed tests of reasoning and attention to ascertain the relationship between type of digital user and cognitive ability. Results indicate that users who engaged in simple low level writing and drawing tasks with technology were inclined to have low literacy levels and poor concentration levels. In addition, users who engaged in computer mediated communication and content creation showed inconsistent and unstable attentional ability.

Multichannel Compression Hearing Aids: Perceptual Considerations

Multichannel Compression Hearing Aids: Perceptual Considerations

Assessment of distance to potential mates by female barking treefrogs (Hyla gratiosa).

This study investigated the cues used by female barking treefrogs, Hyla gratiosa, to assess distances to potential mates. Eight-speaker playback experiments were used to demonstrate that distance affects female choice in complex acoustic environments and to test 3 possible cues that females might use to assess distance: (a) degradation in spectral and temporal cues of calls, (b) relative call amplitude at the female's location, and (c) the rate at which the amplitude of calls increases as a female approaches a calling male. All 3 hypotheses were refuted, suggesting that females use a more complex mechanism, such as triangulation, to assess distance. Females preferred speakers with greater source amplitudes even when they had to travel further to reach those speakers. Determination of source amplitude is possible only if females can assess independently both the distance to sound sources and the amplitude of calls at the females' location. Hence, anuran amphibians may possess greater cognitive abilities than are generally attributed to them.

Vietnam Service, Combat, and Lifetime Educational Attainment

Combat experiences early in adulthood may have lifelong ramifications. In the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging (VETSA), the authors studied lifetime educational attainment (LEA) in 236 male twins from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry. Twins who served in Vietnam had completed significantly fewer years of education by their 50s. Level of combat exposure was negatively correlated with LEA. To control for variables that might confound the relationship between combat and LEA, the authors compared twin pairs discordant for Vietnam service ( n = 44 pairs); the twins who served in Vietnam had significantly lower LEA than their cotwins. Greater cognitive ability at military induction and older age at induction both predicted higher LEA, but after statistically controlling for these variables, the relationship between combat exposure and LEA remained significant. The VETSA results demonstrate that combat experience and entering military service at a younger age may reduce lifelong educational prospects, even after cognitive ability is controlled.

Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire: Indoor Tanning

Sources: (1) Hornung RL, Magee KH, Lee WJ, et al. Tanning facility use: are we exceeding Food and Drug Administration limits? J Am Acad Dermatol. 2003;49:655–661. (2) Demko CA, Borawski EA, Debanne SM, et al. Use of indoor tanning facilities by white adolescents in the United States. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003;157:854–860.Tanning facilities represent a fast-growing, multi-billion-dollar industry in the United States, attracting an increasing number of younger customers.1 Some states limit or prohibit indoor tanning by minors, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established recommended limits for ultraviolet light exposure at indoor tanning salons;2 however, few studies have evaluated compliance in these areas.The first study, by investigators from the University of Washington, Seattle, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., and Oregon Health and Science University, surveyed a convenience sample of tanning facilities in North Carolina to ascertain facility characteristics, patron exposure data, availability of FDA-recommended exposure schedules, and ultraviolet emissions from tanning lamps at each site. The majority of sites were combination hair and tanning salons (58%), 16% were primary tanning salons, 8% were health and fitness centers, and 18% were a variety of miscellaneous institutions including grocery and clothing stores. All sites provided recommended exposure schedules; however, patron records indicated that 95% of patrons exceeded recommended ultraviolet exposure limits. Tanning is typically initiated at a lower dose for the first week and a higher dose for maintenance during subsequent weeks. However, as many as one-third of patients started their first tanning visit at or above the maximum recommended exposure limit for maintenance tanning. Customers at dedicated tanning facilities had significantly lower overall weekly exposure times than those at mixed-use facilities (34.8 minutes versus 50.33 minutes, P<.05). Even so, all sites exceeded recommended weekly maintenance limits of 20.51 average minutes set by the FDA.2In the second study, researchers from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Study to determine the frequency of indoor tanning among adolescents within a national sample of 6,903 white adolescents between 13–19 years of age. Twenty-four percent of those surveyed had participated in indoor tanning at least once. Among female adolescents who had reported prior indoor tanning use, 76% reported tanning 3 or more times while 51% tanned 10 or more times. Statistically significant factors that predicted frequent users included being female, frequent sunbathers, polysubstance use (at least 2 of the following: alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana), residence in the South or Midwest, attendance at a rural high school, having a personal allowance or income, and active dieters. Factors that predicted lower odds of indoor tanning use included having greater cognitive ability, poor tanning ability, and a mother with a college degree.Despite widespread education about the risks of ultraviolet light in the pathogenesis of skin cancer and the recent classification of ultraviolet light produced by tanning lamps as a known carcinogen by the Department of Health and Human Services,3 tanning facilities continue to gain in popularity. Several recent studies have indicated that a sizable proportion (18–34%) of teenagers have used tanning beds at least once,4–6 and that many teens subsequently become frequent users. As documented in the first article, customers of indoor tanning facilities regularly exceed recommended federal guidelines for ultraviolet light exposure. Since ultraviolet light damage appears to be cumulative, early and frequent users of indoor tanning facilities should be especially worrisome since they are at the greatest risk for the development of actinic damage and skin cancer. A variety of measures have been proposed that may help limit the risk such as: increased education; minimum legal age limits for indoor tanning; parental supervision; use of new and improving topical self-tanning products; and taxes to increase the cost of indoor tanning, which could also provide funds to support education and enforcement of these measures.7 (See also AAP Grand Rounds, 2003;8:13).8As noted in the editorial accompanying the second report,6 skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer, and melanoma is the cancer most rapidly increasing in frequency. Yet, we continue to permit marketing of a known carcinogen, UV radiation, to teenagers and do not enforce FDA safety standards. Do we have to repeat the costly mistakes we made with regulating tobacco? It is beyond the pale that FDA standards are merely guidelines, not regulations.

Use of indoor tanning facilities by white adolescents in the United States.

Indoor tanning is a risk factor for skin cancer, but the population-based prevalence of this behavior among adolescents is not clearly known. To describe the prevalence of tanning booth use among white US adolescents and to assess its association with sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, and appearance. A nationally representative sample of 6903 non-Hispanic white adolescents, aged 13 to 19 years, who participated in Wave II (between April 1, 1996, and August 31, 1996) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Frequency of lifetime use of indoor artificial tanning facilities. With the data weighted to national levels, 36.8% of the white female adolescents and 11.2% of the white male adolescents have used a tanning booth at least once in their life, while 28.1% and 6.9% of the female and male adolescents, respectively, reported tanning booth use 3 or more times. The percentage of female adolescents using tanning booths 3 or more times increased with age, from 11.2% of the 13- to 14-year-olds to 47.0% of 18- to 19-year-olds and also increased with greater tanning ability, from 12.6% of the poor tanners to 38.1% of those with a strong tan response. After multivariate adjustment, those residing in the Midwest (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.38; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.53-3.68) or South (aOR, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.89-4.53), attending a rural high school (aOR, 1.80; 95% CI, 1.09-2.98), and reporting the use of 2 or 3 substances (aOR, 3.06; 95% CI, 2.44-3.82) were more likely to use indoor tanning facilities, as were dieters (aOR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.01-1.57) regardless of their body mass index. Decreased odds of indoor tanning were observed among those with a college-educated mother (aOR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.51-0.90) and greater cognitive ability (per 10-point score increase; aOR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.82-0.96) while routine participation in physical activity significantly lowered the odds of indoor tanning only among female adolescents. Indoor tanning is prevalent, particularly among female adolescents, and aligns with other risk behaviors, appearance-related factors, and intentional sunbathing. The risks of artificial tanning need increased emphasis among adolescents, especially in the Midwest and South where extremes in the availability of natural light appear to send intentional tanners indoors.

The influence of cognitive reserve on seizure-induced injury

Status epilepticus (SE) is associated with a significant risk of cognitive impairment. While many factors likely determine cognitive outcome following SE, there is evidence that cognitive ability prior to a neurological insult may be an important determinant of outcome. Patients with greater cognitive abilities or so-called cognitive reserve may be less vulnerable to injury than patients with limited cognitive ability. Here we tested the hypothesis that cognitive abilities prior to SE would be predictive of cognitive outcome. Immature rats were tested in the water maze, a test of visual–spatial memory, and divided into fast and slow learners. Animals were then subjected to SE and retested in the water maze 23 days later. Control rats were tested in the same manner but not subjected to SE. SE resulted in marked impairment in water maze performance. However, no statistical difference was noted in performance between slow and fast learners in either the SE or control group. Likewise, no differences were seen in the histopathology of the slow and fast learners. This study demonstrates that SE adversely effects visual–spatial memory equally in both fast and slow learners and does not support the theory that cerebral reserve plays a major role in cognitive function following a cerebral insult.

A Cognitive Theory of Corporate Disclosures

I analyze how disclosure policies and managerial attributes interact to influence stock prices, firm values, and the liquidity of financial markets. I adopt the reasonable premises that high cognitive ability assists in value-creation within private corporations, and psychic costs in the sense of Becker (1976) limit (but do not eliminate) the extent of misrepresentation in disclosures. Managerial cognitive ability, the attribute which facilitates the successful functioning of firms, also enhances the odds of success of strategies which mislead large numbers of agents who observe the firm's disclosure statements. Further, agents with greater cognitive ability have higher reservation wages which increases their incentives to overstate firm value. These features cause the equilibrium degree of misrepresentation in disclosures to increase with managerial cognitive capacity (or intellect). Equilibrium efforts at improving true expected values of firms are limited by expected gains from misrepresentation. In a setting where stock prices influence real investment, I show that such confounding disclosures may actually improve ex post firm values. I then argue that agents may have inadequate incentives to acquire information in firms run by managers who are effective at misrepresenting their firms in disclosure statements. This indicates that contrary to findings in the extant theoretical literature, there may be a positive relation between liquidity and the degree of information asymmetry between management and outside investors. Keywords: Disclosure, liquidity, information asymmetry

Benefits from hearing aids in relation to the interaction between the user and the environment

It is becoming increasingly recognized that, in addition to the influence of audiometric variables and associated psychoacoustic abilities, the benefits from and candidature for various signal-processing schemes in hearing aids are strongly influenced by listeners' characteristics (such as motivations, expectations, and personality), and also the auditory environments in which those listeners are required to function (i.e. their auditory ecology). We will report elsewhere an experiment on a group of 50 listeners in a within-subject, randomized, blind, crossover design of five different hearing aid rationales, of which two contained linear amplification and three contained non-linear amplification which differed only in release-time constant. This article reports the interaction between the audiometric and cognitive characteristics of listeners, and the test conditions under which speech identification procedures are conducted (presentation level, signal-to-noise ratio, and temporal characteristics of interfering noise). The analyses show significant interactions between hearing impairment and cognitive ability, and the extent to which, when tested unaided, listeners can derive advantage from temporal structure in a background noise. The analysis then addresses the benefits of amplification (defined as the difference between performance in the amplified and unaided conditions) and shows significant interactions between cognitive ability, the temporal characteristics of interfering noise, and the time constants of non-linear amplification rationales. The direction of the interaction is that listeners with greater cognitive ability derive greater benefit from temporal structure in background noise when listening via fast time constants, one of whose effects is to facilitate ‘listening in the gaps’.

Locating early Homo and Homo erectus tool production along the extractive foraging/cognitive continuum

This commentary contests Wynn's diagnosis of the cognitive implications of the earliest stone tools and Acheulian tools. I argue that the earliest stone tools imply greater cognitive abilities than those of great apes, and that Acheulian tools imply more than the preoperational cognitive abilities Wynn suggests. Finally, I suggest an alternative adaptive scenario for the evolution of hominid cognitive abilities.

Does Homeownership Affect Child Outcomes?

We study the impact of homeowning on the cognitive and behavioral outcomes of children. Using four waves of a comprehensive national panel data set, we control for many social, demographic and economic variables previously found to influence child outcomes. The data are a panel, allowing us to control for unobserved household– and child–specific factors. We use a treatment effects model to address the issue of possible sample selection bias caused by unobserved variables that influence both the parent’s choice of whether to own or rent and whether to invest in their children. We find that owning a home compared with renting leads to a 13 to 23% higher quality home environment, greater cognitive ability and fewer child behavior problems. For children living in owned homes, math achievement is up to 9% higher, reading achievement is up to 7% higher, and children’s behavioral problems are 1 to 3% lower.

The Impact of Home Ownership on Child Outcomes

We analyze the impact of home owning on the cognitive and behavioral outcomes of children. Our study controls for many social, demographic, and economic variables previously found to influence child outcomes. We also address the issue of possible sample selection bias caused by unobserved variables that influence both the parent's choice of whether to own or rent and parental investment in their children. The study uses four waves of a national data set, permitting a panel data analysis of the relationship of owning a home to three child outcomes: math achievement, reading recognition and behavior problems. Using panel data allows us to control for household and child-specific, unobserved, influential factors. We also use a treatment effects model to address the problem of sample selection bias. We find that owning a home compared with renting leads to a higher quality home environment, the improvement being 16 to 22 percent. Considering both the direct and indirect effects of home ownership on child outcomes, we find that for children living in owned homes math achievement is up to seven percent higher and reading achievement is up to six percent higher, ceteris paribus. We also find that the measure of a child's behavior problems is up to four percent lower if the child resides in an owned home. Existing literature suggests that these youths' greater cognitive abilities and fewer behavioral problems will result in higher educational attainment, greater future earnings, and a reduced tendency to engage in deviant behaviors.