Individual Differences In Learning Research Articles

Characterizing Individual Differences in a Dynamic Stabilization Task Using Machine Learning

INTRODUCTION: Being able to identify individual differences in skilled motor learning during disorienting conditions is important for spaceflight, military aviation, and rehabilitation.METHODS: Blindfolded subjects (N = 34) were strapped into a device that behaved like an inverted pendulum in the horizontal roll plane and were instructed to use a joystick to stabilize themselves across two experimental sessions on consecutive days. Subjects could not use gravitational cues to determine their angular position and many soon became spatially disoriented.RESULTS: Most demonstrated minimal learning, poor performance, and a characteristic pattern of positional drifting during horizontal roll plane balancing. To understand the wide range of individual differences observed, we used a Bayesian Gaussian Mixture method to cluster subjects into three statistically distinct groups that represent Proficient, Somewhat Proficient, and Not Proficient performance. We found that subjects in the Not Proficient group exhibited a suboptimal strategy of using very stereotyped large magnitude joystick deflections. We also used a Gaussian Naive Bayes method to create predictive classifiers. As early as the second block of experimentation (out of ten), we could predict a subject's final group with 80% accuracy.DISCUSSION: Our findings indicate that machine learning can help predict individual performance and learning in a disorienting dynamic stabilization task and identify suboptimal strategies in Not Proficient subjects, which could lead to personalized and more effective training programs.Vimal VP, Zheng H, Hong P, Fakharzadeh LN, Lackner JR, DiZio P. Characterizing individual differences in a dynamic stabilization task using machine learning. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2020; 91(6):479-488.

“You Can’t Hide Your Lyin’ Eyes”: Investigating the Relationship Between Associative Learning, Cue Awareness, and Decision Performance in Detecting Lies

Although skilled cue utilization is presumed to result primarily from domain-specific experience, individual differences in learning are theorized to play a significant role. Using a single-group correlational design, this study tested whether individuals’ domain-general associative learning capacity was related to performance in a complex real-world decision task presumed to rely heavily on cues: lie detection. A total of 21 participants completed an associative learning task in the form of a Space Invaders-like game. In the game, those who learn the cues are able to respond faster to the appearance of an enemy ship. Participants were also surveyed on their awareness of cues in the game. This was followed by a lie detection task. It was hypothesized that greater associative learning would be associated with greater awareness of cues in the learning task, and subsequently, superior accuracy in the lie detection task. Participants’ associative learning was correlated with their cue awareness ( r pb = .782, p < .001). Further, learning was associated with better performance in the lie detection task ( r = .544, p = .011); however, accuracy was found to be unrelated to the types of cues reportedly used during detection. These findings have implications for our understanding of cue acquisition and expertise development.

Individual Differences in Cue-Reward Learning are Mediated by “Stress” Hormones in a Sex-Dependent Manner

As a function of prior experience, cues in the environment can trigger maladaptive behaviors, as is often the case with impulse control disorders and addiction. The sign-tracker/goal-tracker animal model captures individual variation in cue-reward learning, enabling us to study the underlying neural processes. Here we investigate the role of “stress” hormones (i.e. corticosterone) and sex in mediating these individual differences.

Exploring and Exploiting Uncertainty: Statistical Learning Ability Affects How We Learn to Process Language Along Multiple Dimensions of Experience.

While the effects of pattern learning on language processing are well known, the way in which pattern learning shapes exploratory behavior has long gone unnoticed. We report on the way in which individual differences in statistical pattern learning affect performance in the domain of language along multiple dimensions. Analyzing data from healthy monolingual adults' performance on a serial reaction time task and a self-paced reading task, we show how individual differences in statistical pattern learning are reflected in readers' knowledge of linguistic co-occurrence patterns and in their exploration and exploitation of content-specific and task-general information. First, we investigated the extent to which an individual's pattern learning correlates with his orher sensitivity to systematic morphological and syntactic co-occurrences, as evidenced while reading authentic sentences. We found that the stream of morphological and syntactic information has a more pronounced effect on the reading speed of, as we will label them, content-sensitive learners in that the more probable the co-occurrence pattern, the faster their reading of that pattern will be. Next, we investigated how differences in pattern learning are reflected in the ways in which individuals approach the reading task itself and adapt to it. Casting this relation in terms of exploration/exploitation strategies, known from Reinforcement Learning, we conclude that content-sensitive learners are also more likely to initially probe (explore) a wider range of directly relevant patterns, which they can later use (exploit) to optimize their reading performance further. By affecting exploratory behavior, pattern learning influences the information that is gathered and becomes available for exploitation, thereby increasing the effect pattern learning has on language cognition.

What metaphors of learning can (and cannot) tell us about students' learning

Metaphors can help to express implicit beliefs about concepts such as teaching and learning. Metaphors have been, therefore, increasingly used in educational science. Little is known, however, about how metaphors relate to individual differences in learning. Therefore, in two studies (N = 129 high school students and N = 59 university students) we examined whether metaphors can be linked to students' approaches to learning. We found two types of metaphors: learning-oriented metaphors focusing on learning processes and outcomes, and self-referential metaphors solely focusing on motivational aspects of learning. Learning-oriented metaphors were associated with a deep approach in learning, and self-referential metaphors with a surface approach. There was no difference in cognitive ability between both groups, and no differences between students from different kinds of study programs. We conclude that metaphors indicate the general level of reflection about learning, which is a base for the adoption of a deep or a surface approach in learning.

First trial outcome but not training difficulty predicts performance in goldfish visual discrimination.

The easy-to-hard effect in perceptual learning shows that training with easier examples can facilitate initially difficult or impossible distinctions between very similar stimuli. This effect has been reported in humans and other species. We tested whether easy-to-hard training could facilitate visual discrimination in common goldfish (Carassius auratus). Fish (n = 6) performed a two-alternative forced choice discrimination task, which consisted of simultaneously presenting two striped patterns at a constant distance away on the outside of the tank. Fish were required to approach and bite a porthole corresponding to one of the stimuli for a food reward. Half of the fish were randomly assigned to a training schedule where stimuli became more similar as training progressed. The rest were trained only on the most difficult to distinguish version of the stimuli. All fish received a similar total amount of training regardless of the assigned schedule. We also examined whether performance on the first training trial for a given day was related to overall performance. Contrary to our hypothesis, fish in the easy-to-hard group did not perform significantly better than those in the constant-hard group. However, performance was found to be significantly higher on days when the first trial was correct compared to days on which it was incorrect, regardless of the type of training schedule. The current results contribute to understanding individual differences in perceptual learning in fish, and are consistent with research in humans, and other species, reporting better learning after initial reward.

Investigating individual trajectories in experiencing boredom in the language classroom: The case of 11 Polish students of English

Although boredom can be regarded as a ubiquitous emotion in most educational settings, including foreign and second language classrooms, and this condition can have a detrimental effect on the process of learning, it has to a large extent escaped the attention of second language acquisition researchers dealing with individual learner differences. The study reported in this article sought to fill this gap by investigating the trajectories of boredom exhibited in a practical English class by 11 Polish university students majoring in English. The data were collected by means of a background questionnaire, the Boredom in Practical English Language Classes Questionnaire (BPELC), and an in-class boredom questionnaire, including a self-report boredom grid, an open-ended query and an evaluation of the class based on a semantic differential scale. It was found that general proneness to experience boredom in practical English classes translated into distinct patterns of boredom in the class in question. At the same time, it turned out that the individual trajectories in experiencing boredom often deviated from the general patterns, being shaped by unpredictable constellations of individual and contextual factors.

Study on the English Learning Motivation and Learning Strategies

<p>Learning motivation and learning strategies are the important factors that affect English learning, which has an important impact on the students' learning English. In the 1970s, Chinese scholars mainly studied the transfer to students' autonomous learning, which resulted in individual differences of learners, such as age, gender, motivation, strategy, <em>etc</em>. However, learning motivation and strategy are the most important issues, which need our research. Based on the real data, this paper makes SPSS software statistics, which can analyze the correlation between learning motivation and learning strategy. Through the study of English learning motivation and Strategies of vocational college students, vocational college can better improve the quality of English teaching.</p>

Procedural and declarative memory brain systems in developmental language disorder (DLD)

The aim of the current study was to examine microstructural differences in white matter relevant to procedural and declarative memory between adolescents/young adults with and without Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The findings showed atypical age-related changes in white matter structures in the corticostriatal system, in the corticocerebellar system, and in the medial temporal region in individuals with DLD. Results highlight the importance of considering the age factor in research on DLD. Future studies are needed to examine the developmental relationship between long-term memory and individual differences in language development and learning.

Tracking the dynamic nature of learner individual differences: Initial results from a longitudinal study

Individual differences (IDs) have long been considered one of the most important factors explaining variable rates and outcomes in second language acquisition (Dewaele, 2013). While traditional operationalizations of IDs have, explicitly or implicitly, assumed that IDs are static traits that are stable through time, more recent research inspired by complex dynamic systems theory (Larsen-Freeman, 1997, 2020) demonstrates that many IDs are dynamic and variable through time and across contexts, a theme echoed throughout the current issue. This study reports the initial semester of a diachronic project investigating the dynamicity of four learner IDs: motivation, personality, learning and cognitive styles, and working memory. In the initial semester, data from 323 participants in their first year of university-level Spanish were collected and analyzed to determine what type of variability may be present across learners with respect to the four IDs studied at one time point and to discern possible learner profiles in the data or patterns via which the data may be otherwise meaningfully described. The results revealed four types of learner profiles present in the dataset.

Editorial

The goal of the special issue is to provide robust examples of how we as a field can research the dynamic nature of learner individual differences (IDs). The papers in this volume provide both a sound theoretical discussion of several IDs in relationship to their (posited or empirically attested) role(s) in L2 learning, as well as specific methodological ideas on how to best reveal the dynamic nature of IDs.

Individual Learner Differences in CALL

In Spring semester 2006, we conducted a study with 50 learners of German to investigate the use of a new measure (Cárdenas-Claros, 2005) for research on the field independent/dependent (FID) cognitive style and CALL use. After the measure was administered, students worked on a CALL program for German that logs interaction. This paper reports the reliability and item analysis of the FID-CALL measure in addition to its relationship with learners' behaviors in the CALL program. With the goal of understanding how FID intersects with satisfaction and success in learning through CALL, we suggest areas for future development of the measure.

Developing, Analyzing and Sharing Multivariate Datasets: Individual Differences in L2 Learning Revisited

AbstractFollowing the trends established in psychology and emerging in L2 research, we explain our support for an Open Science approach in this paper (i.e., developing, analyzing and sharing datasets) as a way to answer controversial and complex questions in applied linguistics. We illustrate this with a focus on a frequently debated question, what underlies individual differences in the dynamic system of post-pubertal L2 speech learning? We provide a detailed description of our dataset which consists of spontaneous speech samples, elicited from 110 late L2 speakers in the UK with diverse linguistic, experiential and sociopsychological backgrounds, rated by ten L1 English listeners for comprehensibility and nativelikeness. We explain how we examined the source of individual differences by linking different levels of L2 speech performance to a range of learner-extrinsic and intrinsic variables related to first language backgrounds, age, experience, motivation, awareness, and attitudes using a series of factor and Bayesian mixed-effects ordinal regression analyses. We conclude with a range of suggestions for the fields of applied linguistics and SLA, including the use of Bayesian methods in analyzing multivariate, multifactorial data of this kind, and advocating for publicly available datasets. In keeping with recommendations for increasing openness of the field, we invite readers to rethink and redo our analyses and interpretations from multiple angles by making our dataset and coding publicly available as part of our 40th anniversary ARAL article.

Character and child factors contribute to character recognition development among good and poor Chinese readers from grade 1 to 6.

In light of the dramatic growth of Chinese learners worldwide and a need for a cross-linguistic research on Chinese literacy development, this study investigated (a) the effects of character properties (i.e., orthographic consistency and transparency) on character acquisition, and (b) the effects of individual learner differences (i.e., orthographic awareness and phonological awareness) on character recognition. Chinese native-speaking children (over N = 100 for each of grade 1 to 6) completed a lexical decision task. Crossed random effects models suggested (a) character-level orthographic and phonological effects contributed to character recognition development in an asymptotic way from grade 1 to 6, with a moderate effect at earlier ages of acquisition and a stronger facilitation after grade 3; (b) child-level effects of orthographic awareness and character-reading level contributed to all types of characters; (c) the interaction between orthographic consistency and orthographic awareness grew more pronounced among typically developing children progressively from grade 1 to grade 6; and (d) this interaction of character- and child-level factors was not significantly associated with literacy development among children with poor reading skills. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for character development among typically and nontypically developing children.

Cockroaches Show Individuality in Learning and Memory During Classical and Operant Conditioning.

Animal personality and individuality are intensively researched in vertebrates and both concepts are increasingly applied to behavioral science in insects. However, only few studies have looked into individuality with respect to performance in learning and memory tasks. In vertebrates, individual learning capabilities vary considerably with respect to learning speed and learning rate. Likewise, honeybees express individual learning abilities in a wide range of classical conditioning protocols. Here, we study individuality in the learning and memory performance of cockroaches, both in classical and operant conditioning tasks. We implemented a novel classical (olfactory) conditioning paradigm where the conditioned response is established in the maxilla-labia response (MLR). Operant spatial learning was investigated in a forced two-choice task using a T-maze. Our results confirm individual learning abilities in classical conditioning of cockroaches that was reported for honeybees and vertebrates but contrast long-standing reports on stochastic learning behavior in fruit flies. In our experiments, most learners expressed a correct behavior after only a single learning trial showing a consistent high performance during training and test. We can further show that individual learning differences in insects are not limited to classical conditioning but equally appear in operant conditioning of the cockroach.

Brain Plasticity in Human Lifespan Development: The Exploration–Selection–Refinement Model

Plasticity can be defined as the brain's capacity to achieve lasting structural changes in response to environmental demands that are not fully met by the organism's current functional capacity. Plasticity is triggered when experiential forces interact with genetic programs in the maturation of species-common functions (e.g., vision), but it is also required for less universal forms of learning that sculpt individuals into unique members of their species. Hence, delineating the mechanisms that regulate plasticity is critical for understanding human ontogeny. Nevertheless, mechanisms of plasticity in the human brain and their relations to individual differences in learning and lifespan development are not well understood. Drawing on animal models, developmental theory, and concepts from reinforcement learning, we introduce the exploration–selection–refinement (ESR) model of human brain plasticity. According to this model, neuronal microcircuits potentially capable of implementing the computations needed for executing a task are, early in learning, widely probed and therefore structurally altered. This phase of exploration is followed by phases of experience-dependent selection and refinement of reinforced microcircuits and the concomitant gradual elimination of novel structures associated with unselected circuits. The ESR model makes a number of predictions that are testable in humans and has implications for the study of individual differences in lifespan development.

Measuring individual differences in cognitive abilities in the lab and on the web.

The present study compared lab-based and web-based versions of cognitive individual difference measures widely used in second language research (working memory and declarative memory). Our objective was to validate web-based versions of these tests for future research and to make these measures available for the wider second language research community, thus contributing to the study of individual differences in language learning. The establishment of measurement equivalence of the two administration modes is important because web-based testing allows researchers to address methodological challenges such as restricted population sampling, low statistical power, and small sample sizes. Our results indicate that the lab-based and web-based versions of the tests were equivalent, i.e., scores of the two test modes correlated. The strength of the relationships, however, varied as a function of the kind of measure, with equivalence appearing to be stronger in both the working memory and the verbal declarative memory tests, and less so in the nonverbal declarative memory test. Overall, the study provides evidence that web-based testing of cognitive abilities can produce similar performance scores as in the lab.

Assessing middle school dual language learners' and English-only students' motivation to participate in classroom discussion

This study investigated the constructs contributing to individual differences in Dual Language Learners' (DLL) and English-only (EO) students' (M age = 12.19; SD = 0.325) motivation to participate in classroom discussion. Study 1 describes the development of a 20-item measure, the Motivation for Classroom Discussion Questionnaire (MCD-Q). A focus group (Study 1a n = 11) evaluated the MCD-Q items. Data reduction techniques reduced the items to five motivational constructs (value, language-efficacy, extrinsic motivation, social motivation, and interest) for a sample of DLLs and EO students (Study 1b n = 208). Study 2 (n = 125) examined the relation between dimensions of students' motivation, language status (DLL, EO), and their audio-recorded amount of talk during English Language Arts. Study 2 demonstrated that of students who have high confidence in their language abilities (i.e., high language-efficacy), those who identified as EO students were more likely to engage in a greater amount of talk during classroom discussions than students who identified as DLLs.

Individual Differences in Verb Bias Sensitivity in Children and Adults With Developmental Language Disorder.

A number of experiments support the hypothetical utility of statistical information for language learning and processing among both children and adults. However, tasks in these studies are often very general, and only a few include populations with developmental language disorder (DLD). We wanted to determine whether a stronger relationship might be shown when the measure of statistical learning is chosen for its relevance to the language task when including a substantial number of participants with DLD. The language ability we measured was sensitivity to verb bias – the likelihood of a verb to appear with a certain argument or interpretation. A previous study showed adults with DLD were less sensitive to verb bias than their typical peers. Verb bias sensitivity had not yet been tested in children with DLD. In Study 1, 49 children, ages 7–9 years, 17 of whom were classified as having DLD, completed a task designed to measure sensitivity to verb bias through implicit and explicit measures. We found children with and without DLD showed sensitivity to verb bias in implicit but not explicit measures, with no differences between groups. In Study 2, we used a multiverse approach to investigate whether individual differences in statistical learning predicted verb bias sensitivity in these participants as well as in a dataset of adult participants. Our analysis revealed no evidence of a relationship between statistical learning and verb bias sensitivity in children, which was not unexpected given we found no group differences in Study 1. Statistical learning predicted sensitivity to verb bias as measured through explicit measures in adults, though results were not robust. These findings suggest that verb bias may still be relatively unstable in school age children, and thus may not play the same role in sentence processing in children as in adults. It would also seem that individuals with DLD may not be using the same mechanisms during processing as their typically developing (TD) peers in adulthood. Thus, statistical information may differ in relevance for language processing in individuals with and without DLD.

Functional connectivity in human auditory networks and the origins of variation in the transmission of musical systems.

Music producers, whether original composers or performers, vary in their ability to acquire and faithfully transmit music. This form of variation may serve as a mechanism for the emergence of new traits in musical systems. In this study, we aim to investigate whether individual differences in the social learning and transmission of music relate to intrinsic neural dynamics of auditory processing systems. We combined auditory and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with an interactive laboratory model of cultural transmission, the signaling game, in an experiment with a large cohort of participants (N=51). We found that the degree of interhemispheric rs-FC within fronto-temporal auditory networks predicts-weeks after scanning-learning, transmission, and structural modification of an artificial tone system. Our study introduces neuroimaging in cultural transmission research and points to specific neural auditory processing mechanisms that constrain and drive variation in the cultural transmission and regularization of musical systems.