Low Working Memory Research Articles

Load-dependent alpha suppression is related to working memory capacity for numbers

Alpha suppression is proposed to reflect a surge in cortical excitability to enhance stimulus processing in working memory. The attenuated state of alpha might reflect the prioritisation of behaviourally relevant information, making it a proxy for working memory functioning. Despite the growing interest in utilising the advancement of brain-based measures to evaluate individuals’ cognitive processes, there was a lack of consistent evidence on the relationship between alpha suppression and working memory performance. To investigate whether interindividual differences in alpha suppression might be related to variability in working memory capacity, we recorded participants’ electroencephalography (EEG) while they performed an arithmetic task of either low or high working memory load. Participants were required to calculate either the product of digits (i.e., low-load condition) or the difference between the product of digits (i.e., high-load condition). We found alpha suppression at parietal regions, which became more prominent as working memory load increased. The pattern was present in approximately 80% of the participants. Importantly, the more the alpha suppressed as working memory load increased, the larger the drops in behavioural performance and the lower the Digit Span score. That is, alpha suppression was more prominent in participants of poor working memory capacity. Our findings suggest that alpha activity, subject to interindividual differences in sensitivity, could serve as a brain-based measure of an individual’s working memory functioning.

The "Ifs" and "Hows" of the Role of Music on the Implementation of Emotional Regulation Strategies.

Music is believed to aid the implementation of emotion regulation strategies like distraction or reappraisal, but empirical studies have shown null results. However, the moderating role of one’s relation with music (musical sophistication) and/or executive functioning skills has not been considered yet. In addition, little is known about how music acts. In the present study, we induced anger in a group of participants characterized by musical sophistication and executive functioning. We asked them to regulate their emotional state and measured regulation efficacy. Participants were split into four groups, defined by regulation strategy (distraction vs. reappraisal) and music (with vs. without). Results indicated music effects in higher, but not in lower musical sophistication participants. In the former, music benefitted from reappraisal but was an impaired distraction. Two different executive functions—working memory and affective flexibility—had opposite effects: higher, but not lower working memory participants benefited from music; lower, but not higher, effective flexibility participants took advantage of music. Reports of subjective experience suggested that music favors more empathic reappraisals, and that these may be more long-lasting. Our findings support the idea that music effects depend on listeners’ characteristics, and they raise new hypotheses concerning the specificity of emotional regulation aided by music.

Interhemispheric Connectivity Supports Load-Dependent Working Memory Maintenance for Complex Visual Stimuli.

Abstract Introduction: One manipulation used to study the neural basis of working memory (WM) is to vary the information load at encoding, then measure activity and connectivity during maintenance in the delay period. A hallmark finding is increased delay activity and connectivity between frontoparietal brain regions with increased load. Most WM studies, however, employ simple stimuli during encoding and unfilled intervals during the delay. In this study, we asked how delay period activity and connectivity change during low and high load maintenance of complex stimuli. Methods: Twenty-two participants completed a modified Sternberg WM task with two or five naturalistic scenes as stimuli during scalp electroencephalography (EEG). On each trial, the delay was filled with phase-scrambled scenes to provide a visual perceptual control with similar color and spatial frequency as presented during encoding. Functional connectivity during the delay was assessed by the phase-locking value (PLV). Results: Results showed reduced theta/alpha delay activity amplitude during high compared with low WM load across frontal, central, and parietal sources. A network with higher connectivity during low load consisted of increased PLV between (1) left frontal and right posterior temporal sources in the theta/alpha bands, (2) right anterior temporal and left central sources in the alpha and lower beta bands, and (3) left anterior temporal and posterior temporal sources in the theta, alpha, and lower beta bands. Discussion: The findings suggest a role for interhemispheric connectivity during WM maintenance of complex stimuli with load modulation when limited attentional resources are essential for filtering. Impact statement The patterns of brain connectivity subserving working memory (WM) have largely been investigated to date using simple stimuli, including letters, digits, and shapes and during unfilled WM delay intervals. Fewer studies describe functional connectivity changes during the maintenance of more naturalistic stimuli in the presence of distractors. In the present study, we employed a scene-based WM task during electroencephalography in healthy humans and found that during low-load WM maintenance with distractors increased interhemispheric connectivity in frontotemporal networks. These findings suggest a role for increased interhemispheric connectivity during maintenance of complex stimuli when attentional resources are essential for filtering.

Psychological Coping and Behavioral Adjustment Among Older Adults in Times of COVID-19: Exploring the Protective Role of Working Memory and Habit Propensity

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, well-being, and behavior is likely influenced by individual characteristics that determine one’s capacity for resilience. In this exploratory study, we examined whether individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity and habit propensity (HP), measured before the outbreak, could predict variation in subsequent psychological coping efficacy (as operationalized by measures of depression, mental well-being, perceived stress, and loneliness) and behavioral adjustment (by evaluating compliance and self-reported automaticity of four COVID-19 guidelines) among Dutch older adults (n = 36) during the pandemic (measured April 25 to May 6, 2020). While we found elevated levels of depression and emotional loneliness, overall mental well-being, and perceived stress were not affected by the pandemic. Contrary to our expectations, we found no robust evidence for a protective role of WM in predicting these outcomes, although our findings hint at a positive relationship with perceived change in mental well-being. Interestingly, WM and HP were found to affect the self-reported automaticity levels of adherence to behavioral COVID-19 guidelines (i.e., washing hands, physical distancing), where a strong HP appeared beneficial when deliberate resources were less available (e.g., low WM capacity). These novel and preliminary findings offer new potential avenues for investigating individual differences in resilience in times of major life events or challenges.

Attentional Competition and Semantic Integration in Low- and High-Span Readers.

The goal of the current study is to investigate the effects of the distractive textual information on the activation of predictive inference online, and how the readers with high or low working memory capacity (WMC) differ in their online activation and text memory. To test the two hypothesis of attentional competition (AC) and semantic integration (SI), we conducted three experiments to investigate whether a local prediction (e.g., “The vase broke”) and a global prediction (e.g., “The wife left her husband”), both of which could be derived from the description of a critical event (e.g., “The angry husband throws the delicate porcelain vase against the brick wall”), are generated in the mind of the reader, and how this generation process is influenced by contextual and cognitive factors of the reader (e.g., working memory capacity). The results of Experiment 1 and 2 suggest that the elaboration of the global aspects in the narrative reduces the local prediction, but makes the global prediction more salient to occur. The evidence from Experiment 3 confirms the hypothesis that even automatic processes are constrained by distant contextual factors, in combination with differences in working memory, and examines how referentially local and global predictions are intertwined in text comprehension. Overall, these data support the immediate integration hypothesis across sentence boundaries at different representation levels (cf. Schmalhofer and Perfetti, 2007), as well as interaction assumptions of different processing levels within referentially local and referentially global processing contexts (cf. Yang et al., 2005).

Music, Math, and Working Memory: Magnetoencephalography Mapping of Brain Activation in Musicians.

Musical transposing is highly demanding of working memory, as it involves mentally converting notes from one musical key (i.e., pitch scale) to another key for singing or instrumental performance. Because musical transposing involves mental adjustment of notes up or down by a specific amount, it may share cognitive elements with arithmetical operations of addition and subtraction. We compared brain activity during high and low working memory load conditions of musical transposing versus math calculations in classically trained musicians. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was sensitive to differences of task and working memory load. Frontal-occipital connections were highly active during transposing, but not during math calculations. Right motor and premotor regions were highly active in the more difficult condition of the transposing task. Multiple frontal lobe regions were highly active across tasks, including the left medial frontal area during both transposing and calculation tasks but the right medial frontal area only during calculations. In the more difficult calculation condition, right temporal regions were highly active. In coherence analyses and neural synchrony analyses, several similarities were seen across calculation tasks; however, latency analyses were sensitive to differences in task complexity across the calculation tasks due to the high temporal resolution of MEG. MEG can be used to examine musical cognition and the neural consequences of music training. Further systematic study of brain activity during high versus low memory load conditions of music and other cognitive tasks is needed to illuminate the neural bases of enhanced working memory ability in musicians as compared to non-musicians.

Perceptual Decision Impairments Linked to Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms are Substantially Driven by State-Based Effects.

Computational models of decision making have identified a relationship between obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS), both in the general population and in patients, and impairments in perceptual evidence accumulation. Some studies have interpreted these deficits to reflect global disease traits which give rise to clusters of OCS. Such assumptions are not uncommon, even if implicit, in computational psychiatry more broadly. However, it is well established that state- and trait-symptom scores are often correlated (e.g., state and trait anxiety), and the extent to which perceptual deficits are actually explained by state-based symptoms is unclear. State-based symptoms may give rise to information processing differences in a number of ways, including the mechanistically less interesting possibility of tying up working memory and attentional resources for off-task processing. In a general population sample (N = 150), we investigated the extent to which previously identified impairments in perceptual evidence accumulation were related to trait vs stated-based OCS. In addition, we tested whether differences in working memory capacity moderated state-based impairments, such that impairments were worse in individuals with lower working memory capacity. We replicated previous work demonstrating a negative relationship between the rate of evidence accumulation and trait-based OCS when state-based symptoms were unaccounted for. When state-based effects were included in the model, they captured a significant degree of impairment while trait-based effects were attenuated, although they did not disappear completely. We did not find evidence that working memory capacity moderated the state-based effects. Our work suggests that investigating the relationship between information processing and state-based symptoms may be important more generally in computational psychiatry beyond this specific context.

Individual Differences in Dealing With Classroom Noise Disturbances

ABSTRACTClassrooms are noisy: when children are engaged in solo work, they also hear background babble, noise from outdoor, and people moving around. Few studies investigating the effects of noise on academic tasks use naturalistic stimuli. Questions also remain regarding why some children are more impaired by noise than others. This study compared primary school children's performance at three academic tasks (text recall, reading comprehension, mathematics) in silence, and while hearing irrelevant verbal noise (storytelling, n = 33) or mixed noise (outdoor noise, movement, babble, n = 31). We found that noise does not impair overall performance. Children might use compensatory strategies (e.g., re‐reading) to reach the same level of performance in silence and noise. Individual differences in selective attention and working memory were not related to the impact of noise, with one exception: children with lower working memory were more impaired by noise when doing mathematics. Replication on a larger sample is needed.

Neurocognitive effects of repeated ketamine infusions in comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder

BackgroundThe glutamate N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist ketamine rapidly ameliorates posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms in individuals with comorbid PTSD and major depressive disorder (MDD). However, concerns over ketamine's potential neurocognitive side effects have yet to be assessed in this population. The current study investigated 1) changes in neurocognitive performance after a repeated ketamine dosing regimen and 2) baseline neurocognitive performance as a predictor of ketamine treatment effect. MethodVeterans with comorbid PTSD and MDD (N = 15) received six infusions of 0.5 mg/kg ketamine over a 12-day period. Neurocognitive and clinical outcomes assessments occurred at baseline and within 7 days of infusion-series completion using the CogState battery. ResultsRepeated ketamine infusions did not significantly worsen any measures of cognition. Rather, significant improvement was observed in working memory following completion of the infusion series. In addition, greater improvements in PTSD and MDD symptoms were associated with lower working memory, slower processing speed and faster set shifting at baseline. Lower verbal learning was also predictive of improvement in depression. LimitationsThis study applied an open-label design without a placebo control. As such, it is not known to what extent the correlations or improvement in neurocognitive performance may have occurred under placebo conditions. ConclusionThis is the first study to examine the neurocognitive effects of repeated ketamine in participants with comorbid PTSD and MDD. Our findings suggest potential baseline neurocognitive predictors of ketamine response for comorbid PTSD and MDD symptoms.

One Size Does Not Fit All: Examining the Effects of Working Memory Capacity on Spoken Word Recognition in Older Adults Using Eye Tracking.

Difficulties understanding speech form one of the most prevalent complaints among older adults. Successful speech perception depends on top-down linguistic and cognitive processes that interact with the bottom-up sensory processing of the incoming acoustic information. The relative roles of these processes in age-related difficulties in speech perception, especially when listening conditions are not ideal, are still unclear. In the current study, we asked whether older adults with a larger working memory capacity process speech more efficiently than peers with lower capacity when speech is presented in noise, with another task performed in tandem. Using the Eye-tracking of Word Identification in Noise Under Memory Increased Load (E-WINDMIL) an adapted version of the “visual world” paradigm, 36 older listeners were asked to follow spoken instructions presented in background noise, while retaining digits for later recall under low (single-digit) or high (four-digits) memory load. In critical trials, instructions (e.g., “point at the candle”) directed listeners’ gaze to pictures of objects whose names shared onset or offset sounds with the name of a competitor that was displayed on the screen at the same time (e.g., candy or sandal). We compared listeners with different memory capacities on the time course for spoken word recognition under the two memory loads by testing eye-fixations on a named object, relative to fixations on an object whose name shared phonology with the named object. Results indicated two trends. (1) For older adults with lower working memory capacity, increased memory load did not affect online speech processing, however, it impaired offline word recognition accuracy. (2) The reverse pattern was observed for older adults with higher working memory capacity: increased task difficulty significantly decreases online speech processing efficiency but had no effect on offline word recognition accuracy. Results suggest that in older adults, adaptation to adverse listening conditions is at least partially supported by cognitive reserve. Therefore, additional cognitive capacity may lead to greater resilience of older listeners to adverse listening conditions. The differential effects documented by eye movements and accuracy highlight the importance of using both online and offline measures of speech processing to explore age-related changes in speech perception.

The effect of non-verbal working memory on graphic symbol selection

To identify the relationship between non-verbal working memory and graphic symbol selection, this study examined whether the response time to select target symbols in a sentence construction task differed between two groups: a high non-verbal working memory group and a low non-verbal working memory group. The interaction effect between non-verbal working memory skills and the degree of exposure to graphic symbols was also examined. Thirty-two non-disabled young adults participated in this study. Based on the quartile of the participants’ scores on the non-verbal working memory task (i.e., the backward matrix task), data were selected from the sentence construction task completed by seven participants who belonged to the 25%ile and less and seven who belonged to the 75%ile and more; these data were used to examine group differences. A Mann–Whitney U test showed that non-verbal working memory skills had a significant effect on graphic symbol selection, as the high non-verbal working memory group combined three symbols faster than did the low memory group. No significant interaction effect was found between non-verbal working memory skills and the degree of exposure to symbols. The theoretical and clinical implications of the research findings are discussed.

Neuroanatomical correlates of working memory performance in Neurofibromatosis 1.

IntroductionNeurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) is a single-gene disorder associated with cognitive impairments, particularly with deficits in working memory. Prior research indicates that brain structure is affected in NF1, but it is unclear how these changes relate to aspects of cognition.Methods29 adolescents aged 11-17 years were compared to age and sex-matched controls. NF1 subjects were assessed using detailed multimodal measurements of working memory at baseline followed by a 3T MR scan. A voxel-based morphometry approach was used to estimate the total and regional gray matter(GM) volumetric differences between the NF1 and control groups. The working memory metrics were subjected to a principal component analysis (PCA) approach.ResultsThe NF1 groups showed increased gray matter volumes in the thalamus, corpus striatum, dorsal midbrain and cerebellum bilaterally in the NF1 group as compared to controls. Principal component analysis on the working memory metrics in the NF1 group yielded three independent factors reflecting high memory load, low memory load and auditory working memory. Correlation analyses revealed that increased volume of posterior cingulate cortex, a key component of the default mode network (DMN) was significantly associated with poorer performance on low working memory load tasks.ConclusionThese results are consistent with prior work showing larger subcortical brain volumes in the NF1 cohort. The strong association between posterior cingulate cortex volume and performance on low memory load conditions supports hypotheses of deficient DMN structural development, which in turn may contribute to the cognitive impairments in NF1.

ERP Evidence of Working Memory Capacity and Signal-to-Noise Ratio Effects on Sentence Plausibility Tasks in Elderly Adults

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and working memory capacity on the auditory processing of the elderly by comparing the average amplitude of event-related potentials (ERP) between groups in the sentence plausibility judgment task under the control of SNR.Methods: A total of 26 elderly people participated in this study, and based on the results of the working memory test, were divided into high a working memory (high WM) group (N= 13) and a low working memory (low WM) group (N= 13). The sentence stimuli consisted of plausible and implausible sentences. Implausible sentences were manipulated to cause a semantic violation in the verb. A white noise was added to the portion of the predicate to be –5 dB, 0 dB, and 5 dB SNR in the recorded sentence.Results: In the behavioral analysis, differences between the SNRs were significant. –5 dB SNR conditions revealed inactive performance, confirming that noise is a variable that increases cognitive load and difficulty in auditory processing. In the ERP analysis, the mean amplitude of the high WM group was significantly greater than the low WM group, and a distinct difference in N400 components between the groups was also observed in the grand average waveform graph.Conclusion: Intergroup differences were more evident in the conditions of SNR, which requires more listening effort. However, this may show that the low WM group had an inferior ability to detect the cognition of semantic implausibility in real time compared to the high WM group.

RNA modification writers influence tumor microenvironment in gastric cancer and prospects of targeted drug therapy.

Background: RNA adenosine modifications are crucial for regulating RNA levels. N6-methyladenosine (m6A), N1-methyladenosine (m1A), adenosine-to-inosine RNA editing, and alternative polyadenylation (APA) are four major RNA modification types. Methods: We evaluated the altered mRNA expression profiles of 27 RNA modification enzymes and compared the differences in tumor microenvironment (TME) and clinical prognosis between two RNA modification patterns using unsupervised clustering. Then, we constructed a scoring system, WM_score, and quantified the RNA modifications in patients of gastric cancer (GC), associating WM_score with TME, clinical outcomes, and effectiveness of targeted therapies. Results: RNA adenosine modifications strongly correlated with TME and could predict the degree of TME cell infiltration, genetic variation, and clinical prognosis. Two modification patterns were identified according to high and low WM_scores. Tumors in the WM_score-high subgroup were closely linked with survival advantage, CD4- T-cell infiltration, high tumor mutation burden, and cell cycle signaling pathways, whereas those in the WM_score-low subgroup showed strong infiltration of inflammatory cells and poor survival. Regarding the immunotherapy response, a high WM_score showed a significant correlation with PD-L1 expression, predicting the effect of PD-L1 blockade therapy. Conclusion: The WM_scoring system could facilitate scoring and prediction of GC prognosis.

Anthropometric Parameters, Physical Activity, Physical Fitness, and Executive Functions among Primary School Children.

Physical activity during childhood and adolescence favors brain development and cognitive functioning, particularly the executive functions. This study aimed to assess potential associations between anthropometric parameters, physical activity, physical fitness, and executive functions among elementary school children returning to school after the COVID-19 lockdown in Chile. School-age male and female participants (n = 90; age, 10–12 years) participated in the study. To determine the association between variables, a multivariable linear regression analysis was performed. Higher fat-related anthropometric indexes were associated with lower working memory, cognitive flexibility, planning, and attention (r = −0.55 to −0.22; p = 0.031 to <0.001). In contrast, higher physical activity levels, better sprint performance, higher lower-body muscular power, and greater upper-body muscular strength were associated with better working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibition, planning, and/or attention (r = 0.19 to −0.54; p = 0.04 to <0.001). Current results consistently suggest the need for adequate levels of physical activity, physical fitness, and anthropometric parameters among the school-age population to promote healthy and adequate executive functions.

The effect of working memory load on feedback processing: Evidence from an event-related potentials (ERP) study

<p id=C2>Feedback processing plays an important role in behavior modification and knowledge acquisition. Previous research has explored the neurophysiological basis and psychological functions of feedback processing and proposed corresponding theoretical models, but little is known about how working memory (WM) load affects feedback processing. Studies have reported electrophysiological indicators, such as the reward positivity (RewP) and the related theta and delta oscillations, the P3 and the late positive potential (LPP), during brain processing feedback. This study will further examine how WM load modulates these electrophysiological components and their corresponding cognitive functions. <break/>In the present study, we used a dual-task paradigm to investigate feedback processing under different WM load conditions. This study included 25 healthy college students and used a 3 (WM load: baseline vs. low WM load vs. high WM load) by 2 (feedback valence: positive vs. negative) within-participant factorial design. During the experiment, participants were asked to perform a simple gambling task and a spatial memory task simultaneously, and the magnitude of the WM load included three conditions: baseline, low WM load and high WM load. The RewP generated in the early stage of feedback processing and the LPP generated in the late stage of feedback processing, as well as the delta and theta oscillations related to feedback evaluation, were analyzed. <break/>The behavioral results showed that the accuracy of the low WM load condition was significantly higher than that of the high WM load condition. The electrophysiological results showed that the amplitudes of the RewP were sensitive to feedback valence, with positive feedback evoking larger RewP than negative feedback, but the RewP was not affected by the WM load. There was no difference in the P3 amplitude under the different WM load conditions. For the LPP, there was a significant interaction between the WM load and feedback valence. Further analysis revealed that, in the high WM load condition, the LPP amplitude was larger for positive feedback than for negative feedback. The theta power differences between negative feedback and positive feedback were larger in the low WM load condition than in the high WM load condition. For delta oscillation, the power was increased after positive feedback compared to after negative feedback, but there was no difference at different WM load levels. <break/>The RewP results indicate that the participants process feedback valence information well under all three WM load conditions in the experiment. The LPP results suggest that the participants assigned additional emotional motivation to the feedback outcome as a result of their cognitive efforts under high WM load conditions. The ERP results for the time domain dimension showed that the effect of the WM load on feedback processing was most noticeable in the later stages of feedback processing. Moreover, these observations support the argument that the RewP and theta power reflect distinct cognitive phenomena; namely, the RewP reflects the processing of feedback valence in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), whereas theta oscillations reflect the role of the ACC in cognitive control. The WM load selectively modulates the cognitive control process in the ACC.

How low working memory demands and reduced anticipatory attentional gating contribute to impaired inhibition during acute alcohol intoxication

High-dose alcohol intoxication is commonly associated with impaired inhibition, but the boundary conditions, as well as associated neurocognitive/neuroanatomical changes have remained rather unclear. This study was motivated by the counterintuitive finding that high-dose alcohol intoxication compromises response inhibition performance when working memory demands were low, but not when they were high. To investigate whether this is more likely to be caused by deficits in cognitive control processes or in attentional processes, we examined event-related (de)synchronization processes in theta and alpha-band activity and performed beamforming analyses on the EEG data of previously published behavioral findings. This yielded two possible explanations: There may be a selective decrease of working memory engagement in case of relatively low demand, which boosts response automatization, ultimately putting more strain on the remaining inhibitory resources. Alternatively, there may be a decrease in proactive preparatory and anticipatory attentional gating processes in case of relatively low demand, hindering attentional sampling of upcoming stimuli. Crucially, both of these interrelated mechanisms reflect differential alcohol effects after the actual motor inhibition process and therefore tend to be processes that serve to anticipate future response inhibition affordances. This provides new insights into how high-dose alcohol intoxication can impair inhibitory control.

The influence of socioeconomic status, working memory and academic self-concept on academic achievement

There is today ample evidence that academic achievement depends on individual disparities in socioeconomic status (SES), working memory (WM) and academic self-concept (ASC). However, because these factors were investigated intensively but in separate fields of research in the past four to six decades, their relationships remain largely unknown. The present study investigated whether SES, WM and ASC interact with each other or represent independent contributions to academic achievement in 2379 adolescents in middle and high schools. The findings confirmed previous results showing that students with lower SES, lower WM and lower ASC perform less well on academic tests. Above all, they revealed subtle patterns of mediating processes. Specifically, individual differences in WM processing, and to a lesser extent in ASC, accounted for most part of the negative impact of low SES on academic achievement. These findings indicate that being a member of disadvantaged groups impair both WM processing and ASC and provide a clearer picture of the complex involvements of socioeconomic, cognitive and self-perception factors in academic achievement.

Use of Parsing Heuristics in the Comprehension of Passive Sentences: Evidence from Dyslexia and Individual Differences.

This study examined the comprehension of passive sentences in order to investigate whether individuals with dyslexia rely on parsing heuristics in language comprehension to a greater extent than non-dyslexic readers. One hundred adults (50 dyslexics and 50 controls) read active and passive sentences, and we also manipulated semantic plausibility. Eye movements were monitored, while participants read each sentence, and afterwards, participants answered a comprehension question. We also assessed verbal intelligence and working memory in all participants. Results showed dyslexia status interacted with sentence structure and plausibility, such that participants with dyslexia showed significantly more comprehension errors with passive and implausible sentence. With respect to verbal intelligence and working memory, we found that individuals with lower verbal intelligence were overall more likely to make comprehension errors, and individuals with lower working memory showed particular difficulties with passive and implausible sentences. For reading times, we found that individuals with dyslexia were overall slower readers. These findings suggest that (1) individuals with dyslexia do rely on heuristics to a greater extent than do non-dyslexic individuals, and (2) individual differences variables (e.g., verbal intelligence and working memory) are also related to the use of parsing heuristics. For the latter, lower ability individuals tended to be more consistent with heuristic processing (i.e., good-enough representations).

The Identification of Two RNA Modification Patterns and Tumor Microenvironment Infiltration Characterization of Lung Adenocarcinoma.

Background: RNA modification plays an important role in many diseases. A comprehensive study of tumor microenvironment (TME) characteristics mediated by RNA modification regulators will improve the understanding of TME immune regulation. Methods: We selected 26 RNA modification “writers” of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) samples and performed unsupervised clustering analysis to explore RNA modification patterns in LUAD. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with RNA modification patterns were screened to develop a “writers” of RNA modification score (WM score) system. The infiltration ratio of TME cell subsets was analyzed by CIBERSORT. Results: We identified two RNA modification modes showing different characteristics of overall survival (OS) and TME cell infiltration. According to WM score, LUAD patients were divided into a high-WM score group and a low-WM score group. High-scored patients had a poor prognosis and higher tumor mutation burden (TMB), they were more sensitive to four LUAD therapies (erlotinib, XA V939, gefitinib, and KU-55933) and more clinically responsive to PD-L1 treatment. Those with a low WM score showed higher stromal scores, ESTIMATE scores, and survival chance. Conclusion: Our work revealed the potential role of RNA modification patterns in TME, genetic variation, targeted inhibitor therapy, and immunotherapy. Identifying RNA modification pattern of LUAD patients help understand the characteristics of TME and may promote the development of immunotherapy strategies.