Cognitive Process Model Research Articles

Using a false biofeedback methodology to explore relationships between learners’ affect, metacognition, and performance

We used a false-biofeedback methodology to manipulate physiological arousal in order to induce affective states that would influence learners’ metacognitive judgments and learning performance. False-biofeedback is a method used to induce physiological arousal (and resultant affective states) by presenting learners with audio stimuli of false heart beats. Learners were presented with accelerated, baseline, or no heart beat (control) while they completed a challenging learning task. We tested four hypotheses about the effect of false-biofeedback. The alarm vs. alert hypothesis predicted that false biofeedback would be appraised as either a signal of distress and would impair learning (alarm), or as a signal of engagement and would facilitate learning (alert). The differential biofeedback hypothesis predicted that the alarm and alert effects would be dependent on the type of biofeedback (accelerated vs. baseline). The question depth hypothesis predicted that these effects would be more pronounced for challenging inference questions. Lastly, the self vs. recording hypothesis predicted that effects would only occur if participants believed that false biofeedback was indicative of their own physiological arousal. In general, learners experienced more positive/activating affective states, made more confident metacognitive judgments, and achieved higher learning when they received accelerated or baseline biofeedback while answering a challenging inference question, irrespective of the perceived source of the biofeedback. Thus, our findings supported the alert and question depth hypotheses, but not the differential biofeedback or self vs. recording hypotheses. Implications of the findings for the integration of affective processes into models of cognitive and metacognitive processes during learning are discussed.

P1‐325: Relating memory to functional activities in normal aging, Alzheimer's disease and related disorders using hierarchical Bayesian cognitive processing models

P1‐325: Relating memory to functional activities in normal aging, Alzheimer's disease and related disorders using hierarchical Bayesian cognitive processing models

Communication Style Affects Physiological Response in Simulated Cancer Risk Reduction Interactions

Provider communication styles in health encounters have links to patient health outcomes. The Social Cognitive Processing Model (SCPM) is a framework to understand how communication facilitating processing may produce different outcomes than communication directing patient behavior. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the linkages between communication behaviors and patient outcomes. Participants engaged in simulated health care interviews with either a facilitative or directive provider. Heart rate (HR), skin conductance level (SCL), communication, and participant self‐report measures were analyzed. Compared with those communicating with directive providers, participants communicating with facilitative providers were more satisfied and had lower HR and SCL, indicating lowered stress response. Consistent with SCPM, findings have implications for improved processing, which may impact patient outcomes.

Effectiveness of Podcasts Delivered on Mobile Devices as a Support for Student Learning During General Chemistry Laboratories

Chemistry instructors in teaching laboratories provide expert modeling of techniques and cognitive processes and provide assistance to enrolled students that may be described as scaffolding interaction. Such student support is particularly essential in laboratories taught with an inquiry-based curriculum. In a teaching laboratory with a high instructor-to-student ratio, mobile devices can provide a platform for expert modeling and scaffolding during the laboratory sessions. This research study provides data collected on the effectiveness of podcasts delivered as needed in a first-semester general chemistry laboratory setting. Podcasts with audio and visual tracks covering essential laboratory techniques and central concepts that aid in experimental design or data processing were prepared and made available for students to access on an as-needed basis on iPhones® or iPod touches®. Research focused in three areas: the extent of podcast usage, the numbers and types of interactions between instructors and student laboratory teams, and student performance on graded assignments. Data analysis indicates that on average the podcast treatment laboratory teams accessed a podcast 2.86 times during the laboratory period during each week that podcasts were available. Comparison of interaction data for the lecture treatment laboratory teams and podcast treatment laboratory teams reveals that scaffolding interactions with instructors were statistically significantly fewer for teams that had podcast access rather than a pre-laboratory lecture. The implication of the results is that student laboratory teams were able to gather laboratory information more effectively when it was presented in an on-demand podcast format than in a pre-laboratory lecture format. Finally, statistical analysis of data on student performance on graded assignments indicates no significant differences between outcome measures for the treatment groups when compared as cohorts. The only statistically significant difference is between students who demonstrated a high level of class participation in the concurrent general chemistry lecture course; for this sub-group the students in the podcast treatment group earned a course average that was statistically significantly higher than those in the lecture treatment group.

An Affective–Cognitive Processing Model of Post‐Traumatic Growth

A topic that has begun to attract interest from clinical psychologists and psychotherapists is post-traumatic growth. First, we provide a general overview of the field, setting out the historical development, main concepts, measurement issues and research findings. Second, we review evidence showing that the relationship between post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth is likely curvilinear. Third, a new affective-cognitive processing model of post-traumatic growth will be introduced in which post-traumatic stress is understood to be the engine of post-traumatic growth. Fourth, points of clinical intervention are described showing the ways in which therapists can facilitate post-traumatic growth.

The devil without and within: A conceptual model of social cognitive processes whereby discrimination leads stigmatized minorities to become discouraged workers

SummaryIn contrast to the substantial literatures on job loss, underemployment, and re‐employment, management scholars have paid scant attention to “discouraged workers,” defined as those who want to work but have ceased looking for work because of labor market‐related reasons such as discrimination. Drawing together the labor economics category of discouraged workers, the diversity literature on employment discrimination, and social cognitive research on careers, we model social cognitive mechanisms whereby discrimination can lead stigmatized minorities to become discouraged workers. We show how direct effects of discrimination (the “devil without”) can be compounded by its indirect impacts—through minority socialization and identity, struggling role models, learned helplessness, and low job search self‐efficacy (collectively, the “devil within”)—to lead stigmatized minorities to become discouraged workers. Our model of insidious intra‐ and inter‐personal dynamics that can amplify and sustain the demoralization and exclusion that stems from discrimination has implications for researchers, organizations, and those concerned with helping discouraged workers. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

No fear, no panic: probing negation as a means for emotion regulation

This electroencephalographic study investigated if negating one's emotion results in paradoxical effects or leads to effective emotional downregulation. Healthy participants were asked to downregulate their emotions to happy and fearful faces by using negated emotional cue words (e.g., no fun, no fear). Cue words were congruent with the emotion depicted in the face and presented prior to each face. Stimuli were presented in blocks of happy and fearful faces. Blocks of passive stimulus viewing served as control condition. Active regulation reduced amplitudes of early event-related brain potentials (early posterior negativity, but not N170) and the late positive potential for fearful faces. A fronto-central negativity peaking at about 250 ms after target face onset showed larger amplitude modulations during downregulation of fearful and happy faces. Behaviorally, negating was more associated with reappraisal than with suppression. Our results suggest that in an emotional context, negation processing could be quite effective for emotional downregulation but that its effects depend on the type of the negated emotion (pleasant vs unpleasant). Results are discussed in the context of dual process models of cognition and emotion regulation.

Cognitive process modelling of controllers in en route air traffic control

In recent years, various efforts have been made in air traffic control (ATC) to maintain traffic safety and efficiency in the face of increasing air traffic demands. ATC is a complex process that depends to a large degree on human capabilities, and so understanding how controllers carry out their tasks is an important issue in the design and development of ATC systems. In particular, the human factor is considered to be a serious problem in ATC safety and has been identified as a causal factor in both major and minor incidents. There is, therefore, a need to analyse the mechanisms by which errors occur due to complex factors and to develop systems that can deal with these errors. From the cognitive process perspective, it is essential that system developers have an understanding of the more complex working processes that involve the cooperative work of multiple controllers. Distributed cognition is a methodological framework for analysing cognitive processes that span multiple actors mediated by technology. In this research, we attempt to analyse and model interactions that take place in en route ATC systems based on distributed cognition. We examine the functional problems in an ATC system from a human factors perspective, and conclude by identifying certain measures by which to address these problems. This research focuses on the analysis of air traffic controllers' tasks for en route ATC and modelling controllers' cognitive processes. Practitioner Summary: This research focuses on an experimental study to gain a better understanding of controllers' cognitive processes in air traffic control. We conducted ethnographic observations and then analysed the data to develop a model of controllers' cognitive process. This analysis revealed that strategic routines are applicable to decision making.

Why are written picture naming latencies (not) longer than spoken naming?

The comparison between spoken and handwritten production in picture naming tasks represents an important source of information for building models of cognitive processes involved in writing. Studies using this methodology systematically reported longer latencies for handwritten than for spoken production. To uncover the origin of this difference across modalities, we compared the latencies of spoken picture naming and two written picture naming conditions: one in which the participants could see and monitor their handwriting (visible-condition), and one in which they could not monitor their production (masked-condition). Previously reported differences between spoken and handwritten naming latencies were replicated in the standard visible-condition. By contrast, production latencies were faster in the written masked-condition than in the visible-condition and did not differ from spoken production latencies. These results suggest that longer handwriting latencies, in comparison with speaking latencies, are due to the delayed onset in handwriting in conditions where the sheet is visible. The implications of these results on both written production models and experimental methods are discussed.

Computerized video analysis of social interactions in mice

The study of social interactions in mice is used as a model for normal and pathological cognitive and emotional processes. But extracting comprehensive behavioral information from videos of interacting mice is still a challenge. We describe a computerized method and software, MiceProfiler, that uses geometrical primitives to model and track two mice without requiring any specific tagging. The program monitors a comprehensive repertoire of behavioral states and their temporal evolution, allowing the identification of key elements that trigger social contact. Using MiceProfiler we studied the role of neuronal nicotinic receptors in the establishment of social interactions and risk-prone postures. We found that the duration and type of social interactions with a conspecific evolves differently over time in mice lacking neuronal nicotinic receptors (Chrnb2-/-, here called β2(-/-)), compared to C57BL/6J mice, and identified a new type of coordinated posture, called back-to-back posture, that we rarely observed in β2(-/-) mice.

Researching the Autism Spectrum: Contemporary Perspectivesedited by RothIlona and RezaiePayam. Cambridge, United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, 2011, 418 pp., $59.00 (paper).

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Communications and UpdatesFull AccessResearching the Autism Spectrum: Contemporary PerspectivesSusan Hepburn, Ph.D.Susan HepburnSearch for more papers by this author, Ph.D.Published Online:1 Mar 2012https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.11101504AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail edited by RothIlona and RezaiePayam. Cambridge, United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, 2011, 418 pp., $59.00 (paper).This book presents an intriguing multidisciplinary anthology of research in autism spectrum disorders, highlighting the works of investigators from the United Kingdom. Originating from a series of conferences and from think tanks concerning the priorities and directions of autism research in the United Kingdom, this collection of 12 perspectives covers a vast amount of scientific ground in a readable fashion.Organized somewhat loosely into three sections, the content seems to unfold like a mosaic, as opposed to progressing in a linear fashion. The chapters are authored by highly accomplished scientists who eloquently synthesize research in their particular area, using clearly defined terms and providing illustrations of complex ideas. Some chapters are focused broadly and provide succinct and insightful overviews of current work in topics such as genetics, neuroimaging, biochemistry, cognition, and language. In my opinion, these reviews are well organized, clear, and concise. In fact, one of the unique strengths of this volume is its accessibility for informed, but not necessarily expert, readers. For example, the chapter on genetics by Sousa and colleagues integrates an elegant primer on genetic tools and approaches without condescending to or overwhelming the nonexpert reader. The chapter on neuroimaging by Spencer and colleagues also provides a brief review of current technologies while summarizing the outcomes attained thus far within each approach. Informative and interesting tables and figures are presented throughout the book, encouraging some active synthesis for the interested reader.Other chapters are specifically focused, highlighting areas of inquiry that the editors view as underrepresented in the published literature and as theoretically important for future study. Topics in these chapters include Gillberg and Neville's discussion of autism and epilepsy and a conceptually rich piece on memory in autism by Bowler, Gaig, and Lind. Among the more theoretical chapters in the book, Hobson and Hobson describe how core deficits in self-other awareness could affect cognitive flexibility over time, thus presenting a novel hypothesis for the co-occurrence of social reciprocity and executive function problems in many persons with variants of autism spectrum disorder. Although the coverage of topics can seem uneven at times and the change in scope from the macro- to the microlevel of analysis can be somewhat jolting from chapter to chapter, the overall picture that is created from this collection of perspectives reflects the current state of the field as a multilevel, multidisciplinary, highly complex endeavor.If approached as an anthology or a collection of works that more or less exist independently, this volume is consistently interesting and illuminating. It provides a helpful update for experienced professionals as well as a good starting point for scientists just entering the field. It is not a book I would recommend to most parents. However, I can certainly see some chapters as being interesting to scientifically minded parents who are curious about etiology. Similarly, some chapters would be excellent additions to the syllabi for graduate courses in developmental psychopathology, clinical research methods, or interdisciplinary science.If a reader is expecting a broad-based comprehensive compendium of science in autism, then this particular book may not satisfy all expectations. For example, cognitive and information processing models are presented in greater depth than developmental and behavioral models. Applied research, intervention science, and inquiries into education, policy, and epidemiology are not covered extensively. Although the editors mention the importance of studying comorbidity and taking a longitudinal approach to studying autism, these two themes are not well integrated into the present volume. Then again, no one book can cover every angle on such a complex disorder, and the synthesis presented in this particular volume is innovative and reflective of current international priorities in autism research. Most appropriate for researchers, especially those engaged in multidisciplinary science, this collection has much to offer those seeking scientifically robust reviews of the current state of several kinds of autism research.Denver, Colo.The author reports no financial relationships with commercial interests.Book review accepted for publication October 2011. FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByNone Volume 169Issue 3 March 2012Pages 337-337 Metrics PDF download History Accepted 1 October 2011 Published online 1 March 2012 Published in print 1 March 2012

Effects of Alcohol Availability, Access to Alcohol, and Naltrexone on Self-Reported Craving and Patterns of Drinking in Response to an Alcohol-Cue Availability Procedure

Craving has long been cited by patients and providers as a principal construct in alcohol use disorders and an essential target for treatment. The goal of the current study was to examine the effects of alcohol availability (20% vs. 80% availability), access to alcohol ("open" vs. "locked" trials), and medication (oral naltrexone [Revia] vs. placebo) on self-reported craving and two behavioral measures of drinking (latency of attempt to access alcohol, amount of alcohol consumed when access permitted) in response to an alcohol-cue availability procedure. Non-treatment-seeking, alcohol-dependent men and women (N = 58) self-referred for an alcohol administration study and were administered a modified alcohol-cue availability procedure under two medication conditions (naltrexone, placebo) using a within-subjects, repeated-measures design. Analyses demonstrated that the experimental manipulations used in this study had differential effects on craving and patterns of drinking. Specifically, reduced availability of alcohol (i.e., when alcohol was available in only 20% as opposed to 80% of trials) resulted in greater amounts of alcohol consumed per open trial; the unanticipated blocking of access to alcohol (i.e., a "locked" trial during the 80% availability condition) triggered more rapid attempts to obtain alcohol on subsequent trials. Naltrexone, relative to placebo, was associated with significant reductions in cravings for alcohol. Taken together, these findings offer partial support for the cognitive processing model and reinforce the utility of evaluating both self-report and behavioral indicators of motivation to drink in studies designed to identify factors associated with the construct of craving.

Observed Social Support Behaviors and Cancer-Related Cognitive Processing in Couples Coping with Head and Neck Cancer (HNC)

Abstract Given the disfiguring and debilitating nature of HNC and its treatment, patients and their spouses are at risk of experiencing trauma symptoms including cognitive intrusion and avoidance which may exacerbate psychological distress. Even though the Social Cognitive Processing Model (SCPM) posits that social support facilitates adaptive cognitive processing, recent literature has pointed to harmful effects of received support. Most studies use self-report measures of perceived as opposed to actual received support focusing on the patient as the recipient of support. In reality, the support process is reciprocal and interdependent involving both receiving and providing support in both patients and spouses. Further, self-reports of cognitive processing are susceptible to self-presentation and defensive biases. The purpose of this research was to examine the association between actual observed support behaviors and cognitive intrusion and avoidance in 60 newly diagnosed HNC patients (87% male) and their spouses using a multi-method approach. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, couples completed baseline questionnaires including an explicit measure of cognitive intrusion and avoidance (IES), completed a problem-solving discussion task in the laboratory immediately followed by an implicit assessment of cognitive intrusion (cancer Stroop task (CST)). We used the Social Support Interaction Coding System (SSICS) to code the video-recorded discussions. Dyadic analyses using multi-level modeling revealed that when patients and spouses received more (compared to less) positive support behaviors, they demonstrated slower reaction times (RT) on the CST (p < .01) indicating greater cognitive intrusion. The results were similar using the self-report method (IES; p < .05). No role differences (patients vs. spouses) were found. The current findings map on to recent literature suggesting that receiving support may be initially distressing in the acute phase of the traumatic event as it may elicit negative emotional responses, which are yet necessary to facilitate successful long-term adjustment. Thus, our next step in this ongoing longitudinal study is to examine long-term consequences of these findings as they will reveal clinical implications.

A Framework of Food Cravings and Weight Loss after Bariatric Surgery: Application of the Cognitive Processing Model

Obesity continues to be a significant public health issue. As the rates of obesity continue to rise, so in turn does the rate of weight loss surgery. While surgery is proven to achieve significant and long-term weight loss, not all patients sustain this weight loss. The causes for relapse are variable, and there have been no consistent findings in the literature to suggest specific causes for this recidivism. This paper seeks to explore a theoretical framework and apply research from the cravings and addiction field to suggest a potential future area of study in which cravings and binge eating may be worthwhile for study in patients to identify patterns of susceptibility to weight regain after weight loss surgery. It is proposed that cognitive processing theory of craving will improve prediction of the successful treatment of obesity through bariatric surgery, using models that have been studied in the drug and alcohol abuse population.

The Implicit Association Test and sociolinguistic meaning

The Implicit Association Test (IAT), designed to measure how strongly an individual implicitly aligns two dichotomies, such as male/female vs. home/career, is adapted in this study to analyze sociolinguistic variation. Three experiments test the IAT's ability to detect relationships between sociolinguistic variables and social categories and between related sociolinguistic variables. In Experiment 1, associations are shown between the English variable (ING) on the one hand and Northern/Southern states, blue collar/white collar professions and country singers/news anchors on the other, using written forms. In Experiment 2, associations are shown between audio tokens of (ING) and Northern/Southern states and between (ING) and /ay/ monophthongization, both tied to the ideologically well-defined Southern accent, but not between (ING) and /t/ release, which do not share an enregistered variety. Experiment 3 documents the lack of correlation between IAT measures and two more explicit measures of association: direct question and social evaluation. These results suggest that sociolinguists should take dual processing models of social cognition into account in considering the cognitive processing of socially loaded linguistic forms and that the IAT may be useful tool for the analysis of sociolinguistic meaning.

Lifecycle scenario design for product end-of-life strategy

This paper proposes a method for supporting the design of product lifecycles. The main approach involves supporting designers in determining a lifecycle strategy by describing lifecycle scenarios at an early stage of lifecycle design. The authors define a representational scheme for the lifecycle scenario and outline a support system based on the idea of the Cognitive Design Process model allowing the designers to examine various possibilities of lifecycle strategy. A number of alternative scenarios are managed by the Truth Maintenance System implemented in this approach. Finally, in order to embody the strategy in the later stages, the system derives requirements for product and process design. This paper outlines the lifecycle scenario of a cellular phone as a case study, which indicates the system's suitability for computer-aided description of scenarios and its facilitation of lifecycle strategy development.

Moral Reasoning on the Ground

We present a unified empirical and philosophical account of moral consistency reasoning, a distinctive form of moral reasoning that exposes inconsistencies among moral judgments about concrete cases. Judgments opposed in belief or in emotion and motivation are inconsistent when the cases are similar in morally relevant respects. Moral consistency reasoning, we argue, regularly shapes moral thought and feeling by coordinating two systems described in dual process models of moral cognition. Our empirical explanation of moral change fills a gap in the empirical literature, making psychologically plausible a defensible new model of justified moral change and a hybrid theory of moral judgment.

Toward an integrative account of social cognition: marrying theory of mind and interactionism to study the interplay of Type 1 and Type 2 processes.

Traditional theory of mind (ToM) accounts for social cognition have been at the basis of most studies in the social cognitive neurosciences. However, in recent years, the need to go beyond traditional ToM accounts for understanding real life social interactions has become all the more pressing. At the same time it remains unclear whether alternative accounts, such as interactionism, can yield a sufficient description and explanation of social interactions. We argue that instead of considering ToM and interactionism as mutually exclusive opponents, they should be integrated into a more comprehensive account of social cognition. We draw on dual process models of social cognition that contrast two different types of social cognitive processing. The first type (labeled Type 1) refers to processes that are fast, efficient, stimulus-driven, and relatively inflexible. The second type (labeled Type 2) refers to processes that are relatively slow, cognitively laborious, flexible, and may involve conscious control. We argue that while interactionism captures aspects of social cognition mostly related to Type 1 processes, ToM is more focused on those based on Type 2 processes. We suggest that real life social interactions are rarely based on either Type 1 or Type 2 processes alone. On the contrary, we propose that in most cases both types of processes are simultaneously involved and that social behavior may be sustained by the interplay between these two types of processes. Finally, we discuss how the new integrative framework can guide experimental research on social interaction.

Cognitive Aspects of Traffic Simulations in Virtual Environments

Using virtual environment systems for road safety education requires a realistic simulation of road traffic. Current traffic simulations are either too restricted in their complexity of agent behavior or focus on aspects not important in virtual environments. More importantly, none of them are concerned with modeling misbehavior of traffic participants which is part of every-day traffic and should therefore not be neglected in this context. We present a concept for a traffic simulation that addresses the need for more realistic agent behavior with regard to road safety education. The two major components of this concept are a simulation of persistent agents which minimizes computational overhead and a model of cognitive processes of human drivers combined with psychological personality profiles to allow for individual behavior and misbehavior.

Challenges of CAC in Heterogeneous Wireless Cognitive Networks

Abstract Call admission control (CAC) is known as an effective functionality in ensuring the QoS of wireless networks. The vision of next generation wireless networks has led to the development of new call admission control (CAC) algorithms specifically designed for heterogeneous wireless Cognitive networks. However, there will be a number of challenges created by dynamic spectrum access and scheduling techniques associated with the cognitive systems. In this paper for the first time, we recommend that the CAC policies should be distinguished between primary users and secondary users. The classification of different methods of cac policies in cognitive networks contexts is proposed. Although there have been some researches within the umbrella of Joint CAC and cross-layer optimization for wireless networks, the advent of the cognitive networks adds some additional problems. We present the conceptual models for joint CAC and cross-layer optimization respectively. Also, the benefit of Cognition can only be realized fully if application requirements and traffic flow contexts are determined or inferred in order to know what modes of operation and spectrum bands to use at each point in time. The process model of Cognition involved per-flow-based CAC is presented. Because there may be a number of parameters on different levels affecting a CAC decision and the conditions for accepting or rejecting a call must be computed quickly and frequently, simplicity and practicability are particularly important for designing a feasible CAC algorithm. In a word, a more thorough understanding of CAC in heterogeneous wireless cognitive networks may help one to design better CAC algorithms.