Predictors Of Individual Differences Research Articles

The role of executive functions in numerical magnitude skills

Executive functions (EF) are closely related to math performance. Little is known, however, about the role of EF in numerical magnitude skills (NS), although these skills are widely acknowledged to be important precursors of math learning. The current study focuses on the different roles of updating, shifting, and inhibition in NS.EF and NS were assessed in 47 five-year old children. Furthermore, 21 children were presented with six training sessions aimed at improving NS. Both pre-test and improvement scores were used to investigate the role of EF in NS.Bayesian analyses show that updating is a more important predictor of individual differences in NS than shifting and inhibition. Moreover, children with better updating skills showed more improvement in number line estimation after the training. It is argued that NS rely on the processing of multiple sources of information and, therefore, may be dependent on updating skills.

A Dispositional Approach to Personality Development: Self-Development Trait (SDT) & Organizations

Recent evidence in personality psychology reveals that people differ in their rate of personality (trait) development, while a general factor of personality (GFP) occupies the apex of both normal and abnormal hierarchy. Some individuals become generally more adaptive and functional in the situations they engage, while others just remain roughly stable-stagnant, or even regress. This evidence has face-valid implications for subjective well-being, motivation and performance and consequently is of utmost importance for management in general and especially for multi-level organizational behavior research. In light of this evidence and in an effort to expand personality development research into organizations and beyond various types of situational factors, while attempting to define the GFP, I propose the higher-order construct self-development trait (SDT). I propose that SDT defines the GFP and has causal precedence in the prediction of individual differences in the rate of personality development and the goals dominating person-environment fit perception. Additionally I put forward propositions and research questions concerning the structure of SDT. Finally I discuss the importance of SDT research for people selection and development and I suggest future directions.

Supernatural Agency: Individual Difference Predictors and Situational Correlates

Barrett (2004) proposed that belief in God, ghosts, and other supernatural agents is cross-culturally ubiquitous because of a cognitive Hypersensitive Agency Detection Device with the propensity to find agents in the environment. However, supernatural agency experiences are not reported by all religious believers. A survey explored individual differences between those reporting never having had a spiritual, religious, supernatural, or paranormal (SRSP) experience (n = 284) and those who reported at least one (n = 299). SRSP experiences were associated with a distinct psychological profile, including higher scores on measures of positive schizotypy, thinner mental boundaries, and empathy; however, the difference in psychological profile was not specific to agentic SRSP experience. Experiences of nonreligious supernatural agency (n = 80) were more likely than other types of SRSP experiences to have occurred in a threatening and ambiguous environment and to be accompanied by increased negative affect, thus providing initial support for Barrett's hypothesis that the threshold for agency detection is lowered under such conditions.

A developmental perspective on neuroeconomic mechanisms of contingency management.

This paper provides a developmental overview of relevant theory and research on delay discounting and neuroeconomics, and their implications for contingency management (CM) approaches to treatment. Recent advances in the neuroscience of decision making have the potential to inform treatment development for adolescent substance use in general, and CM treatments in particular. CM interventions may be informed by research on delay discounting, a type of decision making that reflects how individuals value immediate versus delayed rewards. Delay discounting reliably distinguishes substance abusers from nonabusers and is a significant predictor of individual differences in response to substance use treatments. Discounting may also be important in predicting response to CM, as CM attempts to directly influence this decision-making process, shifting the preference from the immediate rewards of use to delayed rewards for choosing not to use. Multiple neural processes underlie decision making, and those processes have implications for adolescent substance abuse. There are significant neurodevelopmental processes that differentiate adolescents from adults. These processes are implicated in delay discounting, suggesting that adolescence may reflect a period of plasticity in temporal decision making. Understanding the neural mechanisms of delay discounting has led to promising working memory interventions directly targeting the executive functions that underlie individual choices. These interventions may be particularly helpful in combination with CM interventions that offer immediate rewards for brief periods of abstinence, and may show particular benefit in adolescence due to the heightened neural plasticity of systems that underlie temporal discounting in adolescence.

The dynamic still-face effect: Do infants decrease bidding over time when parents are not responsive?

The still-face paradigm (SFP) was designed to assess infant expectations that parents will respond to infant communicative signals. During the still-face (SF) episode, the parent ceases interaction and maintains a neutral expression. Original, qualitative descriptions of infant behavior suggested changes within the SF episode: infants decrease bidding and disengage from their impassive parent. Research has documented changes in mean levels of infant behavior between episodes of the SFP. The hypothesis that infant behavior changes within the SF episode has not been empirically tested. In this study, hierarchical linear modeling indicated that infant gazing at the parent, smiling, and social bidding (smiling while gazing at the parent) decreased with time in the SF episode, while infant cry-face expressions increased. Changes in infant behaviors within the SF episode were associated with infant attachment and infant internalizing problems. The dynamic still-face effect quantifies infant initiation of interaction in the face of parental unresponsiveness and is a potential predictor of individual differences in development.

Cognitive Inconsistency and Practice-Related Learning in Older Adults

The current study examined predictors of individual differences in the magnitude of practice-related improvements achieved by 87 older adults (meanage 63.52 years) over 18-weeks of cognitive practice. Cognitive inconsistency in both baseline trial-to-trial reaction times and week-to-week accuracy scores was included as predictors of practice-related gains in two measures of processing speed. Conditional growth models revealed that both reaction time and accuracy level and rate-of-change in functioning were related to inconsistency, even after controlling for mean-level, but that increased inconsistency was negatively associated with accuracy versus positively associated with reaction time improvement. Cognitive inconsistency may signal dysregulation in the ability to control cognitive performance or may be indicative of adaptive attempts at functioning.

Individual differences in adult foreign language learning: The mediating effect of metalinguistic awareness

In this study, we sought to identify cognitive predictors of individual differences in adult foreign-language learning and to test whether metalinguistic awareness mediated the observed relationships. Using a miniature language-learning paradigm, adults (N = 77) learned Russian vocabulary and grammar (gender agreement and case marking) over six 1-h sessions, completing tasks that encouraged attention to phrases without explicitly teaching grammatical rules. The participants' ability to describe the Russian gender and case-marking patterns mediated the effects of nonverbal intelligence and auditory sequence learning on grammar learning and generalization. Hence, even under implicit-learning conditions, individual differences stemmed from explicit metalinguistic awareness of the underlying grammar, which, in turn, was linked to nonverbal intelligence and auditory sequence learning. Prior knowledge of languages with grammatical gender (predominantly Spanish) predicted learning of gender agreement. Transfer of knowledge of gender from other languages to Russian was not mediated by awareness, which suggests that transfer operates through an implicit process akin to structural priming.

Mechanisms of change in psychosocial interventions for autism spectrum disorders

Research into psychosocial interventions (particularly cognitive-behavior therapies and social skills training) for social-communication deficits among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has proliferated over the past decade. While this research has provided some empirical support for the efficacy of these interventions, little work has begun to elucidate therapeutic mechanisms-the when, why, how, for whom, and under what conditions an intervention may produce change, identification of mechanisms underlying these effects should help advance ASD intervention research. This article describes methods for assessing such mechanisms (ie, mediators and moderators) and presents promising candidates for common mechanisms impacting treatment response: behavior modification, therapeutic relationship, social knowledge, social motivation, social information processing, executive functioning, and internalizing comorbidities. Finally, future directions are discussed as a program of psychosocial intervention research designed to identify predictors of individual differences in treatment response (including biomarkers), isolate active therapeutic ingredients, and promote dissemination of optimized interventions.

Regional Frontal Gray Matter Volume Associated with Executive Function Capacity as a Risk Factor for Vehicle Crashes in Normal Aging Adults

Although low executive functioning is a risk factor for vehicle crashes among elderly drivers, the neural basis of individual differences in this cognitive ability remains largely unknown. Here we aimed to examine regional frontal gray matter volume associated with executive functioning in normal aging individuals, using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). To this end, 39 community-dwelling elderly volunteers who drove a car on a daily basis participated in structural magnetic resonance imaging, and completed two questionnaires concerning executive functioning and risky driving tendencies in daily living. Consequently, we found that participants with low executive function capacity were prone to risky driving. Furthermore, VBM analysis revealed that lower executive function capacity was associated with smaller gray matter volume in the supplementary motor area (SMA). Thus, the current data suggest that SMA volume is a reliable predictor of individual differences in executive function capacity as a risk factor for vehicle crashes among elderly persons. The implication of our results is that regional frontal gray matter volume might underlie the variation in driving tendencies among elderly drivers. Therefore, detailed driving behavior assessments might be able to detect early neurodegenerative changes in the frontal lobe in normal aging adults.

Determinants of Success in Native and Non‐Native Listening Comprehension: An Individual Differences Approach

The goal of this study was to explain individual differences in both native and non‐native listening comprehension; 121 native and 113 non‐native speakers of Dutch were tested on various linguistic and nonlinguistic cognitive skills thought to underlie listening comprehension. Structural equation modeling was used to identify the predictors of individual differences in listening comprehension and to test for differences between the native and non‐native participants. Listening comprehension for native speakers was found to be a function of knowledge of the language and the efficiency with which one can process linguistic information, while listening comprehension for non‐native speakers was a function of knowledge and reasoning ability. Working Memory did not explain unique variance in listening comprehension in either group. Differences in experience with the Dutch language are likely to explain the observed pattern of results for both groups.

Birth timing and behavioral responsiveness predict individual differences in the mother-infant relationship and infant behavior during weaning and maternal breeding.

There is a great deal of variability in mother-infant interactions and infant behavior across the first year of life in rhesus monkeys. The current article has two specific aims: (1) to determine if birth timing predicts variability in the mother-infant relationship and infant behavior during weaning and maternal breeding, and (2) to identify predictors of infant behavior during a period of acute challenge, maternal breeding. Forty-one mother-infant pairs were observed during weaning when infants were 4.5 months old, and 33 were followed through maternal breeding. Subjective ratings of 16 adjectives reflecting qualities of maternal attitude, mother-infant interactions, and infant attitude were factor analyzed to construct factors relating to the mother-infant relationship (Relaxed and Aggressive) and infant behavior (Positive Engagement and Distress). During weaning, late born infants were more Positively Engaged than peak born infants (ANOVA, P < 0.05); however, birth timing did not affect the mother-infant relationship factors Relaxed and Aggressive or the infant attitude factor Distress. During maternal breeding, early born infants had less Relaxed relationships with their mothers than peak or late born infants, higher Positive Engagement scores than peak or late born infants, and tended to have higher Distress scores than peak born infants (repeated-measures ANOVA, P < 0.05). In addition, Distress scores were higher during maternal breeding than during the pre- and postbreeding phases. Finally, multiple regression (P < 0.05) indicated that while infant behavioral responsiveness predicted infant Positive Engagement during the acute challenge of maternal breeding, qualities of the mother-infant relationship predicted infant Distress. These data suggest that birth timing influences the patterns of mother-infant interactions during weaning and maternal breeding. Additionally, infant behavioral responsiveness and mother-infant relationship quality impact infant social engagement and affect expression, respectively.

Individual differences and predictors of forgetting in old age: The role of processing speed and working memory

ABSTRACT The goal of the present study was to examine whether individual differences in basic cognitive abilities, processing speed, and working memory, are reliable predictors of individual differences in forgetting rates in old age. The sample for the present study comprised 364 participants aged between 65 and 80 years from the Zurich Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Aging. The impact of basic cognitive abilities on forgetting was analyzed by modeling working memory and processing speed as predictors of the amount of forgetting of 27 words, which had been learned across five trials. Forgetting was measured over a 30-minute interval by using parceling and a latent change model, in which the latent difference between recall performance after five learning trials and a delayed recall was modeled. Results implied reliable individual differences in forgetting. These individual differences in forgetting were strongly related to processing speed and working memory. Moreover, an age-related effect, which was significantly stronger for forgetting than for learning, emerged even after controlling effects of processing speed and working memory.

Sleep restriction and emotion, electroencephalography (EEG) and dream recall, and insomnia and punctuality

Sleep restriction and emotion, electroencephalography (EEG) and dream recall, and insomnia and punctuality

Separating the Fish From the Sharks: A Longitudinal Study of Preschool Response Inhibition

The development of response inhibition was investigated using a computerized go/no-go task, in a lagged sequential design where 376 preschool children were assessed repeatedly between 3.0 and 5.25 years of age. Growth curve modeling was used to examine change in performance and predictors of individual differences. The most pronounced change was observed between 3 and 3.75 years. Better working memory and general cognitive ability were related to more accurate performance at all ages, but relations with speed changed with age, where better cognitive skills were initially related to slower responding, but faster responding at later ages. Boys responded more quickly and were more accurate on go trials, whereas girls were better able to withhold responding on no-go trials.

Trait Empathy as a Predictor of Individual Differences in Perceived Loneliness

Loneliness has been shown to be inversely correlated with empathy in younger adults. The present study extends previous research by investigating the association between empathy and loneliness across the adult lifespan and examining the role of relevant demographic and personality factors. 110 community-dwelling adults (18 to 81 years old) completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Empathy Quotient. Empathy scores were inversely associated with rated loneliness and predicted 8.7% of variance in loneliness scores after accounting for sex, age, relationship status, education, and neuroticism. The Social Skills factor of the Empathy Quotient was the strongest predictor of the association between perceived empathy and loneliness. Previous research is extended by the finding that rated loneliness was inversely associated with empathy scores across the adult lifespan. Underlying this relationship may be negative perceptions of personal social proclivity as a function of difficulty in understanding the mental states of others and high trait neuroticism.

Phonological skills and their role in learning to read: A meta-analytic review.

The authors report a systematic meta-analytic review of the relationships among 3 of the most widely studied measures of children's phonological skills (phonemic awareness, rime awareness, and verbal short-term memory) and children's word reading skills. The review included both extreme group studies and correlational studies with unselected samples (235 studies were included, and 995 effect sizes were calculated). Results from extreme group comparisons indicated that children with dyslexia show a large deficit on phonemic awareness in relation to typically developing children of the same age (pooled effect size estimate: -1.37) and children matched on reading level (pooled effect size estimate: -0.57). There were significantly smaller group deficits on both rime awareness and verbal short-term memory (pooled effect size estimates: rime skills in relation to age-matched controls, -0.93, and reading-level controls, -0.37; verbal short-term memory skills in relation to age-matched controls, -0.71, and reading-level controls, -0.09). Analyses of studies of unselected samples showed that phonemic awareness was the strongest correlate of individual differences in word reading ability and that this effect remained reliable after controlling for variations in both verbal short-term memory and rime awareness. These findings support the pivotal role of phonemic awareness as a predictor of individual differences in reading development. We discuss whether such a relationship is a causal one and the implications of research in this area for current approaches to the teaching of reading and interventions for children with reading difficulties.

Phoneme Awareness, Visual-Verbal Paired-Associate Learning, and Rapid Automatized Naming as Predictors of Individual Differences in Reading Ability

This study examines the concurrent relationships between phoneme awareness, visual-verbal paired-associate learning, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and reading skills in 7- to 11-year-old children. Path analyses showed that visual-verbal paired-associate learning and RAN, but not phoneme awareness, were unique predictors of word recognition, whereas visual-verbal paired-associate learning, RAN, and phoneme awareness were predictors of nonword reading. These results suggest that visual-verbal paired-associate learning, RAN, and phoneme awareness tap related but far-from-identical processes and are important predictors of different aspects of reading skills in children.

Dopamine and the Management of Attentional Resources: Genetic Markers of Striatal D2 Dopamine Predict Individual Differences in the Attentional Blink

The attentional blink (AB)--a deficit in reporting the second of two target stimuli presented in close succession in a rapid sequence of distracters--has been related to processing limitations in working memory. Given that dopamine (DA) plays a crucial role working memory, the present study tested whether individual differences in the size of the AB can be predicted by differences in genetic predisposition related to the efficiency of dopaminergic pathways. Polymorphisms related to mesocortical and nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathways were considered, as well as polymorphisms related to norepinephrine (NE), a transmitter system that has also been suspected to play a role in the AB. In a sample of 157 healthy adults, we studied the dependency of the individual magnitude of the AB and the C957T polymorphism at the DRD2 gene (associated with striatal DA/D2 receptors), the DARPP32 polymorphism (associated with striatal DA/D1), the COMT Val(158)Met polymorphism (associated with frontal DA), DBH444 g/a and DBH5'-ins/del polymorphisms (polymorphisms strongly correlated with DA beta hydroxylase, the enzyme catalyzing the DA-NE conversion) and NET T-182C (a polymorphism related to the NE transporter). DRD2 C957T T/T homozygotes showed a significantly smaller AB, whereas polymorphisms associated with frontal DA and NE were unrelated to performance. This outcome pattern suggests a crucial role of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway and of nigrostriatal D2 receptors, in particular, in the management of attentional resources.

Domain-specificity and individual differences in worry

Worrying is generally perceived to be an undesirable mental state. An evolutionary approach suggests, however, despite the potential distress, worry may function to focus individuals’ attention on evolutionarily-relevant tasks. In the current study ( N = 193), we demonstrated that participants’ primary worries were focused within domains central to reproductive success and mate-value. Furthermore, mating strategy predicted worries in the domains of social status and mating. Neuroticism, as an individual difference reflecting vigilance to threats, was correlated with worry about fitness-relevant but not fitness-irrelevant domains. The current study documents the first domain-specific assessment of worries and complements this analysis with intriguing individual difference predictors of worry.

A phenotype of early infancy predicts reactivity of the amygdala in male adults.

One of the central questions that has occupied those disciplines concerned with human development is the nature of continuities and discontinuities from birth to maturity. The amygdala plays a central role in the processing of novelty and emotion in the brain. While there is considerable variability among individuals in the reactivity of the amygdala to novel and emotional stimuli, the origin of these individual differences is not well understood. Four month old infants called high reactive (HR) demonstrate a distinctive pattern of vigorous motor activity and crying to specific unfamiliar visual, auditory, and olfactory stimuli in the laboratory. Low-reactive infants show the complementary pattern. Here we demonstrate that the HR infant phenotype predicts greater amygdalar reactivity to novel faces almost two decades later in adults. A prediction of individual differences in brain function at maturity can be made on the basis of a single behavioural assessment made in the laboratory at four months of age. This is the earliest known human behavioural phenotype that predicts individual differences in patterns of neural activity at maturity. These temperamental differences rooted in infancy may be relevant to understanding individual differences in vulnerability and resilience to clinical psychiatric disorder. Males who were HR infants showed particularly high-levels of reactivity to novel faces in the amygdala that distinguished them as adults from all other sex/temperament subgroups, suggesting that their amygdala is particularly prone to engagement by unfamiliar faces. These findings underline the importance of taking gender into account when studying the developmental neurobiology of human temperament and anxiety disorders. The genetic study of behavioral and biologic intermediate phenotypes (or “endophenotypes”) indexing anxiety-proneness offers an important alternative to examining phenotypes based on clinically-defined disorder. Because the HR phenotype is characterized by specific patterns of reactivity to elemental visual, olfactory, and auditory stimuli, well before complex social behaviors such as shyness or fearful interaction with strangers can be observed, it may be closer to underlying neurobiological mechanisms than behavioral profiles observed later in life. This possibility, together with the fact that environmental factors have less time to impact the four-month phenotype, suggests that this temperamental profile may be a fruitful target for high-risk genetic studies.