Performance In Laboratory Tasks Research Articles

Prospective memories in the wild: Predicting memory for intentions in natural environments

Prospective memory, the ability to remember an intention at the appropriate future moment, is often investigated in the laboratory to maximize experimental control. However, demands of laboratory prospective memory tasks only partly map onto everyday demands. Therefore, it is an open question whether factors which predict prospective memory in the laboratory also predict prospective memory in the real world. We combined diary and ecological momentary assessment methods to investigate which factors, that have been repeatedly shown to predict prospective memory performance in laboratory tasks, are related to the fulfillment of everyday intentions. Results showed that substantial portions of variance in real-world prospective memory performance could be explained with the factors found to be significant in laboratory. The most powerful predictors were perceived intention importance, the use of external memory aids, delay interval, and conscientiousness. However, some meaningful laboratory predictors (e.g., working memory) played only a minor role in natural environments and a large portion of the variance in everyday intention fulfillment remained unexplained. The results substantially extend the understanding of conditions and personality variables most conducive to remembering intentions, but they also suggest that additional factors influencing real-world prospective memory remain to be discovered.

Partial agreement between task and BRIEF-P-based EF measures depends on school socioeconomic status.

Executive functions (EF), either conceptualized as skills involved in regulation of cognition and emotion in service of goal-oriented behavior, or reductively as working memory, flexibility and inhibitory control, are commonly invoked constructs in developmental science. Two main traditions on EFs measurement prevail, one consisting of ratings obtained through questionnaires that inquire on behavior in common situations, the other based on performance in laboratory tasks. Whether both types of assessment actually refer to the same constructs is not consensual. Further, the role of school context in the degree of correspondence between both types of measures remains largely unexplored. Here, we show in a sample of over 220 children (age M=5.6, SD = 0.4 years), by means of multilevel models, that whether EF tasks can predict BRIEF-P ratings and vice-versa, depends on the process considered and on the school SES. Inhibitory control, planning, and global executive functioning are associated with BRIEF-P ratings in all schools. In contrast, we found no association among measures of flexibility independently of school SES. For working memory, we found that questionnaire rating predicts span only in high SES schools, but span predicts behaviors across schools. Our findings contribute to a growing body of literature that proposes constructs assessed by questionnaires and tasks only partially overlap and suggests that school SES may be a relevant factor to consider when questionnaires are answered by teachers.

Confirmation bias is adaptive when coupled with efficient metacognition.

Biases in the consideration of evidence can reduce the chances of consensus between people with different viewpoints. While such altered information processing typically leads to detrimental performance in laboratory tasks, the ubiquitous nature of confirmation bias makes it unlikely that selective information processing is universally harmful. Here, we suggest that confirmation bias is adaptive to the extent that agents have good metacognition, allowing them to downweight contradictory information when correct but still able to seek new information when they realize they are wrong. Using simulation-based modelling, we explore how the adaptiveness of holding a confirmation bias depends on such metacognitive insight. We find that the behavioural consequences of selective information processing are systematically affected by agents' introspective abilities. Strikingly, we find that selective information processing can even improve decision-making when compared with unbiased evidence accumulation, as long as it is accompanied by good metacognition. These results further suggest that interventions which boost people's metacognition might be efficient in alleviating the negative effects of selective information processing on issues such as political polarization.This article is part of the theme issue ‘The political brain: neurocognitive and computational mechanisms’.

Changing Practice Patterns for Cytotechnologists: A Comparative Analysis of Data from the 2009 and 2015 ASCP BOC Practice Analysis Surveys.

The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Board of Certification (BOC) surveys US certified cytotechnologists (CTs) at approximately 5-year intervals to gain information about current practice patterns. Although the purpose of this survey is to inform valid content development for the BOC CT examination, comparative longitudinal analysis of the survey data provides information about changes in cytotechnology practice. BOC Practice Analysis Survey data for 2009 and 2015 were examined, comparing survey demographics and performance of laboratory tasks. The 2015 survey added tasks not previously surveyed and considered them emerging when performed by a majority of respondents. Two hundred thirty-five participants completed the survey in 2015 and 151 in 2009. Respondents reported an overall decrease in performing conventional Papanicolaou tests (-25.3%). Respondents reported increases in morphologic tasks such cytologyehistology correlation (17.5%), cell-block interpretation (17.5%), and preliminary interpretation of histochemical stains (e.g., mucin and Grocott's methenamine silver stain) (16.7%), as well as quality assurance tasks. Majority-performed, newly surveyed tasks included touch prep preparation (57.8%) and interpretation (59.2%) and ancillary test triage (59.6%). Molecular tasks such as tumor identification (6.8%) and preparation of cytology specimens for oncology molecular testing (9.4%) did not meet majority reporting thresholds. Although performance of the Papanicolaou test is declining, CTs report increases in additional morphologic as well as other laboratory tasks. Emerging tasks (2015) focus on FNA specimens. Knowledge of cytology practice patterns will help guide development of education and training resources toward maintaining an appropriately trained workforce.

Goal Management Training and Mindfulness Meditation improve executive functions and transfer to ecological tasks of daily life in polysubstance users enrolled in therapeutic community treatment

BackgroundWe have previously shown that Goal Management Training+Mindfulness Meditation (GMT+MM) improves executive functions in polysubstance users enrolled in outpatient treatment. The aim of this study was to establish if GMT+MM has similar positive effects on executive functions in polysubstance users in residential treatment, and if executive functions’ gains transfer to more ecologically valid goal-oriented tasks. MethodsThirty-two polysbustance users were randomly allocated to eight weeks of GMT+MM (n=16) or control, i.e., no-intervention (n=16); both groups received treatment as usual. Outcome measures included performance in laboratory tasks of basic and complex executive functions (i.e., basic: working memory and inhibition; complex: planning and self-regulation) and in an ecological task of goal-directed behavior (the Multiple Errands Test − contextualized version, MET-CV) measured post-interventions. ResultsResults showed that GMT+MM was superior to control in improving basic measures of working memory (Letter-number sequencing; F=4.516, p=0.049) and reflection impulsivity (Information Sampling Test; F=6.217, p=0.018), along with initial thinking times during planning (Zoo Map Test; F=8.143, p=0.008). In addition, GMT+MM was superior to control in improving performance in the MET-CV (task failures; F=8.485, p=0.007). ConclusionOur findings demonstrate that GMT+MM increases reflective processes and the achievement of goals in daily activities, furthermore ecological test can detects changes easily than laboratory tasks.

Self-Talk of Marathon Runners

Much of the research on self-talk in sport has focused on the effects of assigned self-talk (e.g., instructional self-talk, motivational self-talk) on the performance of laboratory tasks and/or tasks of short duration (Hatzigeorgiadis, Zourbanos, Galanis, & Theodorakis, 2011; Tod, Hardy, & Oliver, 2011). The purpose of this study was to explore more fully the self-talk of athletes involved in competition over an extended period of time. Marathon runners (N = 483) were surveyed. The majority (88%) of runners, those who indicated that they use self-talk during marathons, completed open-ended items describing their self-talk while competing. Runners reported using a rich variety of motivational self-talk as well as spiritual self-talk and mantras, types of self-talk less widely studied in the literature. Given the findings of this research, future studies exploring self-talk use during competition in sporting events of long duration seems warranted.

ADHD Dimensions and Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Symptoms in Relation to Self-Report and Laboratory Measures of Neuropsychological Functioning in College Students

Objective: This study examined ADHD and sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) symptoms in relation to self-report and laboratory measures of neuropsychological functioning in college students. Method: College students (N = 298, aged 17-25, 72% female) completed self-reports of ADHD, SCT, depression, sleep, functional impairment, and executive functioning (EF). Participants also completed a visual working memory task, a Stroop test, and the Conners’ Continuous Performance Test–II (CPT-II). Results: ADHD inattentive and SCT symptoms were strong predictors of self-reported EF, with inattention the strongest predictor of Time Management and Motivation and SCT the strongest predictor of Self-Organization/Problem Solving. SCT (but not inattention) was associated with Emotion Regulation. No relationships were found between self-reported symptoms and laboratory task performance. Between-group analyses were largely consistent with regression analyses. Conclusion: Self-reported ADHD and SCT symptoms are strongly associated with college students’ self-reported EF, but relationships with laboratory task measures of neuropsychological functioning are limited.

Review of the effects of fatigue on performance of laboratory tasks

Fatigue has been cited as a causal factor in industrial, medical and transportation accidents. A common theme in the accident analyses has been the lack of knowledge about fatigue effects. What types of tasks are most susceptible to fatigue? How are the effects manifested? To answer these questions this article reviews the basic research on fatigue effects on performance of laboratory tasks. Tasks were categorised as vigilance, cognitive or psychomotor. Fatigue (as induced by sleep loss) consistently degrades vigilance performance regardless of task. Decrements include increased reaction time and decreased accuracy. For cognitive tasks, however, some researchers have reported increased time and decreased accuracy associated with fatigue, but not on all tasks or not consistently. For example, categorisation tasks show both decrements and no effects. Similar inconsistency exists for math (decrements and no decrements) and logical reasoning. However, fatigue consistently degrades tracking performance either performed alone or in a battery of tasks. In summary the research supports that at least in some cases of fatigue, humans cannot ‘see straight’, cannot ‘think straight’, cannot ‘do anything right’, cannot ‘seem to pay attention’ and cannot ‘lift a finger’.

Regional differences in brain volume predict the acquisition of skill in a complex real-time strategy videogame

Previous studies have found that differences in brain volume among older adults predict performance in laboratory tasks of executive control, memory, and motor learning. In the present study we asked whether regional differences in brain volume as assessed by the application of a voxel-based morphometry technique on high resolution MRI would also be useful in predicting the acquisition of skill in complex tasks, such as strategy-based video games. Twenty older adults were trained for over 20 h to play Rise of Nations, a complex real-time strategy game. These adults showed substantial improvements over the training period in game performance. MRI scans obtained prior to training revealed that the volume of a number of brain regions, which have been previously associated with subsets of the trained skills, predicted a substantial amount of variance in learning on the complex game. Thus, regional differences in brain volume can predict learning in complex tasks that entail the use of a variety of perceptual, cognitive and motor processes.

3-D Telestration: A Teaching Tool for Robotic Surgery

Telestration is an important teaching tool in minimally invasive surgery (MIS). While robotic surgery offers the added benefit of three-dimensional (3-D) visualization, telestration technology does not currently exist for this modality. This project aimed to develop a video algorithm to accurately translate a mentor's two-dimensional (2-D) telestration into a 3-D telestration in the da Vinci visual field. A prototype 3-D telestration system was constructed to translate 2-D telestration from a mentor station into 3-D graphics for the trainee at the robotic console. This system uses fast image correlation algorithms to allow 2-D images to be placed over the same anatomic location in the two separate video channels of the stereoscopic robotic visualization system. Three subjects of varying surgical backgrounds, blinded to the mode of telestration (2-D vs. 3-D), were tested in the laboratory, using a simulated robotic task. There were few technologic errors (2), only one of which resulted in a task error, in 99 total trials. Only the experienced MIS staff surgeon had a significantly faster task time in 2-D than in 3-D (P < 0.05). The MIS fellow recorded the fastest task times in 2-D and 3-D (P < 0.05). There were nine task errors, six of which were committed by the MIS fellow. The nonsurgeon trainee had the least number of errors but also had the slowest times. Robotic telestration in 3-D is feasible and does not negatively impact performance in laboratory tasks. We plan to refine the prototype and investigate its use in vivo.

Response inhibition deficit is involved in poor decision making under risk in nonamnesic individuals with alcoholism.

Individuals with alcoholism exhibit poor decision making as reflected by their continued alcohol use despite encountering problems and by low performance in laboratory tasks of decision making. Here, the authors investigated the relative contribution of several distinct processes of executive functions in performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; A. Bechara, A. R. Damasio, H. Damasio, & S. W. Anderson, 1994) in recently detoxified individuals with alcoholism. Compared to matched healthy participants, individuals with alcoholism showed below-normal scores in the last 20 trials of the IGT as well as on other tasks of executive functions, specifically those assessing the capacity to manipulate information stored in working memory, detect abstract rules, or inhibit prepotent responses. Prepotent response inhibition best predicted performance in the late trials of the IGT, that is, when participants have likely acquired knowledge about the reward/punishment contingencies of the task. These results underline the important role that response inhibition plays in decision making, especially in risky situations, when knowledge of the probability of a given outcome becomes available (i.e. decisions under risk).

Perfectionism and aptitude test performance: Testees who strive for perfection achieve better test results

Positive conceptions of perfectionism ( Stoeber & Otto, 2006) suggest that perfectionistic strivings may form part of a healthy pursuit of excellence and are associated with higher academic achievement and higher performance in laboratory tasks. To extend such research findings, the present study explores if perfectionistic strivings also predict aptitude test performance, while controlling for conscientious achievement striving. A sample of 111 participants, who completed measures of perfectionistic strivings and conscientious achievement striving, were given a set of aptitude tests comprising reasoning, speed, and work sample tests. Results showed that, while conscientious achievement striving was unrelated to performance in all tests, perfectionistic strivings predicted higher performance in both reasoning tests and work sample tests. Apart from providing further support for the view that perfectionistic strivings are a positive personality characteristic, the findings may also have relevance for applied psychology, as they suggest that testees who strive for perfection may achieve better results in aptitude tests which are routinely used in personnel selection and assessment.

MDMA and alcohol effects, combined and alone, on objective and subjective measures of actual driving performance and psychomotor function

The party drug ecstasy is frequently used in combination with other drugs like marihuana and alcohol. In addition, a substantial proportion of the MDMA users has claimed to drive a car when under the influence of MDMA and/or other drugs. To assess the effects of MDMA and alcohol, combined and alone, on actual driving performance and laboratory tasks related to driving. Eighteen healthy subjects participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, six-way cross-over study. Treatments consisted of MDMA 0, 75, and 100 mg with and without alcohol, aiming at 0.06 mg/ml BAC. Laboratory tests (critical tracking task, object movement estimation task) were conducted between 1.5 and 2 h postdrug (0.5 and 1 h postalcohol). Actual driving tests (road tracking test, car-following test) were conducted between 3 and 5 h postdrug (2 and 4 h postalcohol). Subjects completed the addiction research center inventory (ARCI) and rated their driving quality and mental effort during driving. Alcohol alone impaired critical tracking performance, as well as a number of actual driving performance parameters [i.e., standard deviation of lateral position (SDLP), brake reaction time, and coherence]. MDMA alone reduced SDLP and standard deviation of speed. MDMA significantly moderated alcohol induced impairment of road tracking performance but did not affect alcohol impairments of car-following and laboratory task performance. Subjective data seemed to support objective data. MDMA moderated the impairing effects of a low dose of alcohol on road tracking performance but it could not overcome alcohol-induced impairment on other aspects of driving behavior or driving related performance.

Cerebral networks in sensorimotor disturbances

Increasing evidence suggests that the human brain employs multiple, interconnected brain areas for information processing and control of behavior, including the performance of laboratory tasks. Brain diseases are expected to affect these networks directly by interference and indirectly as a consequence of deficit compensation. Covariance analyses applied to functional brain imaging data open the opportunity to study neural networks and their disease-related changes in the human brain. Here, we review our analytic approach based on principal component analysis (PCA) to address such questions. We will discuss its methodological foundations and applications in patients with sensorimotor disorders. We will show that PCA in combination with, both, hypothesis-driven testing and correlation statistics provides a powerful tool for elucidating disease-related abnormalities and postlesional reorganization of neural networks in the human brain.

A Review of the Effects of Financial Incentives on Performance in Laboratory Tasks: Implications for Management Accounting

Management accounting information plays an important role in motivating individuals to improve performance (cf., Atkinson, Banker, Kaplan, and Young 1997). This role tends to be operationalized by linking compensation to performance, typically through the provision of financial incentives. Theoretically, financial incentives motivate people to exert additional effort, which in turn should improve task performance. However, a large body of empirical evidence indicates that financial incentives frequently do not lead to increased performance (e.g., Young and Lewis 1995; Jenkins et al. 1998). Consequently, it is important to examine variables that may interact with financial incentives in affecting task performance. This paper presents an extensive review of laboratory studies on financial incentives and examines the relations between type of task and type of incentive scheme, respectively, and task performance. We posit that performance in tasks of varying types (which we view as a surrogate for the gap between task complexity and skill) is differentially sensitive to the increases in effort induced by financial incentives and that not all incentive schemes elicit the same level of effort. Our review reveals that incentives improve performance in only about one half of the experiments. Further, as tasks become more cognitively complex, and thus as the average subject's skill level decreases, it is less likely that incentives improve performance. Finally, quota schemes have the highest likelihood of evincing positive incentive effects, followed by piece-rate schemes, tournament schemes, and fixed-rate schemes. Overall, our findings suggest that the type of task being performed and the type of incentive scheme being employed affect the efficacy of financial incentives and therefore may influence the design of management accounting and control systems.

The Cognitive Revolution in Children’s Understanding of Mind

Bruner, in reassessing the cognitive revolution, argues for the centrality of ‘meaning-making’ in human activity, claiming that children learn to give meaning to what people do as they learn the language and social practices of their culture. The role played by the attribution of mental states to others has been studied intensely in the past decade in a new research area that has come to be known as children’s ‘theory of mind’. Researchers in this field who, unlike Bruner, see psychology as a natural empirical science, view the child as constructing a causal theory to explain and predict human action. They base their arguments largely on experimental observation of children’s performance in laboratory tasks, especially the ‘false-belief’ task. In contrast, many researchers who take Bruner’s view study the development of social understanding in naturalistic observation of children’s interaction with peers and family members. In this article we examine the relations between these views and suggest that the real challenge of the cognitive revolution is to unite the two approaches, to achieve a causal, naturalistic account of the acquisition and elaboration of meaning-making.

Relations between performance and subjective ratings of sleepiness during a night awake.

The present study validated the nine-point Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) and the new Accumulated Time with Sleepiness (ATS) scale against performance of laboratory tasks. The ATS scale was designed as a method for integrating subjective sleepiness over longer time periods. The subjects were asked if certain symptoms of sleepiness had occurred and, if so, for how long. Six subjects participated twice. Each time they were kept awake during the night (except for a short nap occurring during one of the nights in a counterbalanced order) and were tested at 2200, 0200, 0400 and 0600 hours. The tests included a 10-minute rest period, a 28-minute visual vigilance task and an 11-minute single reaction time task. KSS and visual analogue scale (VAS) ratings were given before each test, and ATS ratings were given after. Performance deteriorated clearly, and all three rating scales reflected increased sleepiness with time of night. Scores on the KSS and VAS showed high correlations with performance tasks (mean intraindividual correlations were between 0.49 and 0.71). Performance correlated even higher with the ATS ratings (r = 0.73-0.79). Intercorrelations between rating scales were also high (r = 0.65-0.86). It was concluded that there were strong relations between ratings of sleepiness and performance, that the ATS rating scale was at least as good as the other scales and that the ratings were affected by type of task.

Discrimination of FM glide direction and slope

Transitions of the second formant in speech sounds have been called the single most important carrier of linguistic information in the speech signal [Liberman et al., Psychol. Rev. 74, 431–461 (1967)]. Both the direction and the slope of the formant transition may be essential in cuing place of articulation, for example. Attempts to study listener performance in laboratory tasks that use frequency‐modulated tones to “simulate” such formant transitions are often confounded by pitch differences between the signals to be discriminated. A procedure analogous to the “roving level” procedure used in profile analysis and intensity perception studies to counter the influence of this pitch artifact has been devised. In a two‐cue, two‐alternative forced‐choice (2Q, 2AFC) paradigm, listeners are asked to determine which FM glide differed either in direction or in rate of transition (slope). For each listening interval, the starting frequency of the glide is randomly chosen from a uniform rectangular distribution cen...

MEMORY IN MIDDLE‐AGED ADULTS

In this article we review the literature on memory in middle‐aged adults, focusing on the place of memory in development from young adulthood through old age. We examine the areas of free recall, cued recall, recognition, and prose recall as well as the issues of automaticity and strategy use. The overall findings reveal a steady decline in memory performance; some areas, such as recognition and prose recall, show less decline than others. Task variables that affect the middle‐aged adult's performance in laboratory tasks are noted, and some pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed. This review was supported by a grant from the College of Arts and Sciences of Florida International University to Gordon E. Finley.

Training and Contextual Interference Effects on Memory and Transfer

An experimental intervention program to train subjects on coincidence anticipation and prediction skills was administered to novice females. An attempt was undertaken to study the effects of this sports training and training on laboratory tasks. According to Battig's predictions on the structure of practice sessions, both random and blocked contexts were presented. These acquisition contexts were viewed as orienting tasks that preceded sports training. The effects of high-contextual interference and sports training on acquisition, retention, and transfer were investigated. Practice conditions in the intervention were selected because of processing demands similar to random acquisition. Other research has shown that acquisition in random is influenced by sport-skill expertise and further indicates that processing of events occurring outside the laboratory influences performance of laboratory tasks. Observed results supported prior theoretical predictions and empirical findings on contextual interference. Predicted hypotheses were supported, and the effects of sports training were most profound during retention and transfer if the acquisition context for the trained subjects was random. Supported by prior research, activities performed outside the laboratory influenced performance on laboratory tasks. These results shift more emphasis on the learner as an active processor of information, which relates to Lee's (1988) views on transfer-appropriate processing.