Reduced Working Memory Research Articles

When children forget to remember: Effects of reduced working memory availability on prospective memory performance.

The preparatory attentional and memory processes theory (PAM) of prospective memory (PM) proposes that prospective remembering is influenced by the variation in the availability of WM resources. Consequently, PM should be impaired when WM resources are reduced either by direct WM manipulation or by individual differences associated with restricted WM performance. Our study tested this prediction in school-age children by examining the independent and interactive effects of three factors known to deplete availability of WM resources: increased processing demands of a concurrent arithmetic task, additional WM span requirements, and high trait anxiety. A sample of 10-year-old children (N = 128) performed a PM task, embedded in an ongoing arithmetic task, which progressively imposed greater WM processing demands. Half of these participants also concurrently carried out an embedded WM span task. The results supported the PAM hypothesis, showing that children's PM was compromised by the restriction of WM resources, whether this resulted from increasing the processing demands on the ongoing task, from imposing additional WM span requirements, or from high trait anxiety. However, these WM-depleting factors exerted additive effects rather than an interactive impact, suggesting that they might each deplete different aspects of WM resource availability necessary for prospective remembering. Overall findings imply that children's PM success is not only associated to their WM capacity but it mostly depends upon how many of those WM resources are available to be devoted to the PM requirement.

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Subchronic metformin pretreatment enhances novel object recognition memory task in forebrain ischemia: behavioural, molecular, and electrophysiological studies.

Metformin exerts its effect via AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), which is a key sensor for energy homeostasis that regulates different intracellular pathways. Metformin attenuates oxidative stress and cognitive impairment. In our experiment, rats were divided into 8 groups; some were pretreated with metformin (Met, 200 mg/kg) and (or) the AMPK inhibitor Compound C (CC) for 14 days. On day 14, rats underwent transient forebrain global ischemia. Data indicated that pretreatment of ischemic rats with metformin reduced working memory deficits in a novel object recognition test compared to group with ischemia-reperfusion (I-R) (P < 0.01). Pretreatment of the I-R animals with metformin increased phosphorylated cyclic-AMP response element-binding protein (pCREB) and c-fos levels compared to the I-R group (P < 0.001 for both). The level of CREB and c-fos was significantly lower in ischemic rats pretreated with Met + CC compared to the Met + I-R group. Field excitatory postsynaptic potential (fEPSP) amplitude and slope was significantly lower in the I-R group compared to the sham operation group (P < 0.001). Data showed that fEPSP amplitude and slope was significantly higher in the Met + I-R group compared to the I-R group (P < 0.001). Treatment of ischemic animals with Met + CC increased fEPSP amplitude and slope compared to the Met + I-R group (P < 0.01). We unravelled new aspects of the protective role of AMPK activation by metformin, further emphasizing the potency of metformin pretreatment against cerebral ischemia.

Impaired Suppression of Delay-Period Alpha and Beta Is Associated With Impaired Working Memory in Schizophrenia

BackgroundAlthough patients with schizophrenia (PSZ) frequently exhibit reduced working memory capacity relative to healthy control subjects (HCS), the mechanisms that underlie this impairment are unknown. The present study aimed to assess one putative mechanism: impaired suppression of alpha and beta frequency bands during the delay period of a visual working memory task. MethodsAn electroencephalogram was recorded from 30 PSZ and 31 HCS while they completed a change detection task in which they were required to remember a briefly presented array of colored squares over an 1800-ms delay interval. ResultsPSZ had significantly reduced alpha- and beta-band suppression during the delay interval compared with HCS, and these significant differences emerged early (100–200 ms after onset of the memory array). Furthermore, the magnitude of suppression was significantly associated with task performance across both groups. Finally, the magnitude of suppression in alpha and beta frequency bands was significantly associated with a range of cognitive measures among HCS, but not PSZ. ConclusionsThese results implicate impaired alpha/beta suppression during the consolidation period of working memory tasks as a promising neural mechanism that constrains capacity in PSZ.

Mechanisms of memory impairment in epilepsy depend on age at disease onset.

In this study, we aimed to uncover distinct antecedents of autobiographic memory dysfunction in patients with epilepsy with early (childhood/adolescence) vs late (adulthood) disease onset. One hundred sixty-six adults participated: 92 patients with focal epilepsy, whose cognitive and psychiatric functioning were compared to that of 74 healthy controls. Predictors of autobiographic memory deficit were contrasted between patients with early-onset (n = 47) vs late-onset (n = 45) epilepsy. Overall, people with epilepsy performed significantly worse on measures of both semantic and episodic autobiographic memory and showed markedly high rates of depressive symptoms and disorders (p < 0.001). Reduced autobiographic memory in patients with early-onset epilepsy was associated with young age at onset, more frequent seizures, and reduced working memory. In contrast, the difficulty that patients with late-onset epilepsy had in recalling autobiographic information was linked to depression and the presence of an MRI-identified lesion. This study reveals that memory deficits in people with focal epilepsy have differing antecedents depending on the timing of the disease onset. While neurobiological factors strongly underpin reduced autobiographic function in patients with early-onset epilepsy, psychological maladjustment gives rise to the impairments seen in patients with late-onset epilepsy. More broadly, these findings support the practice of subtyping patients according to distinct clinical characteristics to find individualized predictors of cognitive dysfunction.

Schizophrenia and depression: The relation between sleep quality and working memory.

Sleep is known to be markedly disturbed in patients with depression, but in patients with schizophrenia these problems are underestimated. This research aimed to determine if a relationship existed between sleep problems in patients with schizophrenia and with depression and their reduced working memory (WM) performance. Thirty outpatients with schizophrenia, 30 outpatients with depression, and 30 healthy control participants were enrolled in this study. All participants completed a sleep questionnaire (i.e., Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)), two simple WM tasks tapping only its storage component (i.e., digit span forward and backward task), and two complex WM tasks tapping both its storage and processing components (i.e., letter-number sequencing and reading span task). The results showed that neither psychiatric group differed from the healthy controls on simple WM tasks. Patients with schizophrenia did not differ from those with depression in the performance of simple or complex WM tasks. However, patients with schizophrenia, and, to a lesser degree, patients with depression performed significantly worse than the healthy control participants on complex WM tasks, which was visible in lower WM scores for patients with depression and in slower information processing, as well, for patients with schizophrenia. Finally, a significant negative relationship was found between the PSQI score and the reading span task scores; thus, participants with worse performance tended to report more sleep problems. To conclude, sleep needs to receive more priority when treating patients with depression and especially patients with schizophrenia because better sleep improves (working) memory performance and daily functioning.

Effects of Information Visualization on Older Adults' Decision-Making Performance in a Medicare Plan Selection Task: A Comparative Usability Study.

BackgroundTechnology gains have improved tools for evaluating complex tasks by providing environmental supports (ES) that increase ease of use and improve performance outcomes through the use of information visualizations (info-vis). Complex info-vis emphasize the need to understand individual differences in abilities of target users, the key cognitive abilities needed to execute a decision task, and the graphical elements that can serve as the most effective ES. Older adults may be one such target user group that would benefit from increased ES to mitigate specific declines in cognitive abilities. For example, choosing a prescription drug plan is a necessary and complex task that can impact quality of life if the wrong choice is made. The decision to enroll in one plan over another can involve comparing over 15 plans across many categories. Within this context, the large amount of complex information and reduced working memory capacity puts older adults’ decision making at a disadvantage. An intentionally designed ES, such as an info-vis that reduces working memory demand, may assist older adults in making the most effective decision among many options.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to examine whether the use of an info-vis can lower working memory demands and positively affect complex decision-making performance of older adults in the context of choosing a Medicare prescription drug plan.MethodsParticipants performed a computerized decision-making task in the context of finding the best health care plan. Data included quantitative decision-making performance indicators and surveys examining previous history with purchasing insurance. Participants used a colored info-vis ES or a table (no ES) to perform the decision task. Task difficulty was manipulated by increasing the number of selection criteria used to make an accurate decision. A repeated measures analysis was performed to examine differences between the two table designs.ResultsTwenty-three older adults between the ages of 66 and 80 completed the study. There was a main effect for accuracy such that older adults made more accurate decisions in the color info-vis condition than the table condition. In the low difficulty condition, participants were more successful at choosing the correct answer when the question was about the gap coverage attribute in the info-vis condition. Participants also made significantly faster decisions in the info-vis condition than in the table condition.ConclusionsReducing the working memory demand of the task through the use of an ES can improve decision accuracy, especially when selection criteria is only focused on a single attribute of the insurance plan.

Analogy learning in Parkinson's disease: A proof-of-concept study

Background/Aims: Analogy learning is a motor learning strategy that uses biomechanical metaphors to chunk together explicit rules of a to-be-learned motor skill. This proof-of-concept study establishes the feasibility and potential benefits of analogy learning in enhancing stride length regulation in people with Parkinson's disease. Methods: Walking performance of thirteen individuals with Parkinson's disease was analysed using a Codamotion analysis system. An analogy instruction: ‘following footprints in the sand’ was practised over eight walking trials. Single- and dual-task (motor and cognitive) conditions were measured before training, immediately after training and 4 weeks post training. Finally, an evaluation form was completed to examine the intervention's feasibility. Findings: Data from 12 individuals (6 females and 6 males, mean age 70, Hoehn and Yahr grade I–III) were analysed; one person withdrew due to back problems. In the single-task condition, statistically and clinically relevant improvements were obtained. A positive trend towards reducing dual-task costs after the intervention was demonstrated, supporting the relatively implicit nature of the analogy. Participants reported that the analogy was simple to use and became easier over time. Conclusions: Analogy learning is a feasible and potentially implicit (i.e. reduced working memory demands) intervention to facilitate walking performance in people with Parkinson's disease.

Moderators of noise-induced cognitive change in healthy adults.

Environmental noise causes cognitive impairment, particularly in executive function and episodic memory domains, in healthy populations. However, the possible moderating influences on this relationship are less clear. This study assessed 54 healthy participants (24 men) on a cognitive battery (measuring psychomotor speed, attention, executive function, working memory, and verbal learning and memory) under three (quiet, urban, and social) noise conditions. IQ, subjective noise sensitivity, sleep, personality, paranoia, depression, anxiety, stress, and schizotypy were assessed on a single occasion. We found significantly slower psychomotor speed (urban), reduced working memory and episodic memory (urban and social), and more cautious decision-making (executive function, urban) under noise conditions. There was no effect of sex. Variance in urban noise-induced changes in psychomotor speed, attention, Trail Making B-A (executive function), and immediate recall and social noise-induced changes in verbal fluency (executive function) and immediate recall were explained by a combination of baseline cognition and paranoia, noise sensitivity, sleep, or cognitive disorganization. Higher baseline cognition (but not IQ) predicted greater impairment under urban and social noise for most cognitive variables. Paranoia predicted psychomotor speed, attention, and executive function impairment. Subjective noise sensitivity predicted executive function and memory impairment. Poor sleep quality predicted less memory impairment. Finally, lower levels of cognitive disorganization predicted slower psychomotor speed and greater memory impairment. The identified moderators should be considered in studies aiming to reduce the detrimental effects of occupational and residential noise. These results highlight the importance of studying noise effects in clinical populations characterized by high levels of the paranoia, sleep disturbances, noise sensitivity, and cognitive disorganization.

The Emotional Lexicon and Its Correlates Following Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can often influence the way subjects process and cope with their emotional life. In spite of the huge amount of studies investigating facial emotion recognition in subjects with traumatic brain injury, none of them has examined if their emotional lexicon, i.e. the ability to express emotions through words, may be affected. In this case-control study, we investigated the emotional lexicon of a group of 16 severe TBI subjects, comparing their performances with an healthy control group. A set of 25 visual stimuli (10 single picture images, 5 cartoon story pictures and 10 video clips) were selected. All the stimuli were chosen for their high emotional content by ten blind judges. The participants were asked to describe the stimuli, focusing on their emotional content. To get a better understanding of the correlates of emotional lexicon, all the participants were administered with the backward version of the Digit Span test, the Ekman and Friesen 60 Faces, the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Empathy Quotient. Results pointed out a significant difference between TBI subjects and healthy controls only for cartoon story and video clip description. Conversely, TBI subjects performed similarly to controls when asked to describe the single picture images. A significant correlation was found in TBI subjects between the results of the Digit Span and number of emotional words, while no correlation was detected between emotional terms and the three scales used to assess TBI subjects’ emotional profile. These outcomes highlight that, for more complex stimuli, difficulties in emotional lexicon may depend on factors other than empathy, alexythimia or emotion recognition. These difficulties seem to be related to reduced working memory capacity, which prevent the subjects from correctly processing the emotional content of stimuli.

Abstract 18689: Lower Carotid Artery Compliance and Greater Carotid β-stiffness Index are Associated With Slower Processing Speed and Reduced Working Memory Performance in Older Healthy Adults

Introduction: Higher central elastic artery stiffness is associated with greater brain white matter hyperintensity volume and lower cognitive performance in older adults. However, it is unknown if higher central artery stiffness is related to regional decreases in brain white matter integrity (WMI) and reductions in working memory or processing speed. We hypothesized that greater large elastic artery stiffness would be associated with lower working memory and slower processing speed as well as lower regional WMI in older adults. Methods: In young (n=19; 23.8 ± 0.7 yrs) and older (n=22; 64.4 ± 4.2 yrs; range 60-71 yrs) healthy adults, aortic stiffness (carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, cfPWV, via tonometry) and carotid artery compliance and β-stiffness index (carotid artery ultrasound and tonometry) were determined non-invasively. WMI was assessed by fractional anisotrophy (FA) (3T MRI) from diffusion tensor images. An N-Back task and letter and pattern comparison tests were performed as measures of working memory and processing speed, respectively. d’Prime, a measure of signal detection, was calculated on the N-Back task as a ratio of positive ‘hits’ to ‘false alarm’ responses. Results: cfPWV (8.4 ± 0.5 vs. 5.2 ± 0.2 m/sec, P&lt;0.01) and carotid β-stiffness (11.3 ± 0.9 vs. 6.1 ± 0.7 U, P&lt;0.01) were greater and carotid compliance (0.16 ± 0.02 vs. 0.07 ± 0.01 mm/mmHg, P&lt;0.01) was lower in older vs. young adults. Carotid β, but not aortic, stiffness was associated with slower processing speed on letter (10.7 ± 0.5 vs. 13.5 ± 0.6 units/ 30 sec, p&lt;0.01) and pattern (16.6 ± 0.6 vs. 22.0 ± 0.7 units/30 sec, p&lt;0.01) comparison tasks and reduced working memory (1.8 ± 0.2 vs. 3.1± 0.2, P&lt;0.01) in older vs. young adults. Lower carotid compliance was associated with slower performance on the letter (r=0.55, P&lt;0.01) and pattern (r=0.54, P&lt;0.01) tests and lower d’Prime (r=0.48, P&lt;0.05). Greater β-stiffness was related to pattern comparison scores only (r=-0.54, P&lt;0.01). Aortic stiffness, carotid compliance and β-stiffness were not related to WMI in any brain region. Conclusions: Our results suggest that lower carotid artery compliance and greater β-stiffness are associated with reduced working memory performance and slower processing speed but not regional WMI in older adults.

Neonatal MRI is associated with future cognition and academic achievement in preterm children.

School-age children born preterm are particularly at risk for low mathematical achievement, associated with reduced working memory and number skills. Early identification of preterm children at risk for future impairments using brain markers might assist in referral for early intervention. This study aimed to examine the use of neonatal magnetic resonance imaging measures derived from automated methods (Jacobian maps from deformation-based morphometry; fractional anisotropy maps from diffusion tensor images) to predict skills important for mathematical achievement (working memory, early mathematical skills) at 5 and 7 years in a cohort of preterm children using both univariable (general linear model) and multivariable models (support vector regression). Participants were preterm children born <30 weeks' gestational age and healthy control children born ≥37 weeks' gestational age at the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia between July 2001 and December 2003 and recruited into a prospective longitudinal cohort study. At term-equivalent age ( ±2 weeks) 224 preterm and 46 control infants were recruited for magnetic resonance imaging. Working memory and early mathematics skills were assessed at 5 years (n = 195 preterm; n = 40 controls) and 7 years (n = 197 preterm; n = 43 controls). In the preterm group, results identified localized regions around the insula and putamen in the neonatal Jacobian map that were positively associated with early mathematics at 5 and 7 years (both P < 0.05), even after covarying for important perinatal clinical factors using general linear model but not support vector regression. The neonatal Jacobian map showed the same trend for association with working memory at 7 years (models ranging from P = 0.07 to P = 0.05). Neonatal fractional anisotropy was positively associated with working memory and early mathematics at 5 years (both P < 0.001) even after covarying for clinical factors using support vector regression but not general linear model. These significant relationships were not observed in the control group. In summary, we identified, in the preterm brain, regions around the insula and putamen using neonatal deformation-based morphometry, and brain microstructural organization using neonatal diffusion tensor imaging, associated with skills important for childhood mathematical achievement. Results contribute to the growing evidence for the clinical utility of neonatal magnetic resonance imaging for early identification of preterm infants at risk for childhood cognitive and academic impairment.

Combining tDCS and Working Memory Training to Down Regulate State Rumination: A Single-Session Double Blind Sham-Controlled Trial

Rumination has been associated with reduced working memory and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity. This study explored whether single session anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and/or working memory training can transiently ameliorate working memory and down regulate state rumination. Sixty-six participants were randomly allocated to three conditions: (1) control training + tDCS, (2) working memory training + sham tDCS and (3) working memory training + tDCS. Before and after manipulation participants performed working memory tasks and state rumination was measured with self-report and heart rate variability. Participants who received real tDCS were significantly faster in switching between information in working memory than participants who received sham tDCS. No effects on self-reported state rumination were found. However, both groups receiving working memory training showed a higher increase in heart rate variability than the control training group, indicating more adaptive self-regulation.

Accumulation of murine amyloid-β mimics early Alzheimer’s disease

Amyloidosis mouse models of Alzheimer's disease are generally established by transgenic approaches leading to an overexpression of mutated human genes that are known to be involved in the generation of amyloid-β in Alzheimer's families. Although these models made substantial contributions to the current knowledge about the 'amyloid hypothesis' of Alzheimer's disease, the overproduction of amyloid-β peptides mimics only inherited (familiar) Alzheimer's disease, which accounts for <1% of all patients with Alzheimer's disease. The inherited form is even regarded a 'rare' disease according to the regulations for funding of the European Union (www.erare.eu). Here, we show that mice that are double-deficient for neprilysin (encoded by Mme), one major amyloid-β-degrading enzyme, and the ABC transporter ABCC1, a major contributor to amyloid-β clearance from the brain, develop various aspects of sporadic Alzheimer's disease mimicking the clinical stage of mild cognitive impairment. Using behavioural tests, electrophysiology and morphological analyses, we compared different ABC transporter-deficient animals and found that alterations are most prominent in neprilysin × ABCC1 double-deficient mice. We show that these mice have a reduced probability to survive, show increased anxiety in new environments, and have a reduced working memory performance. Furthermore, we detected morphological changes in the hippocampus and amygdala, e.g. astrogliosis and reduced numbers of synapses, leading to defective long-term potentiation in functional measurements. Compared to human, murine amyloid-β is poorly aggregating, due to changes in three amino acids at N-terminal positions 5, 10, and 13. Interestingly, our findings account for the action of early occurring amyloid-β species/aggregates, i.e. monomers and small amyloid-β oligomers. Thus, neprilysin × ABCC1 double-deficient mice present a new model for early effects of amyloid-β-related mild cognitive impairment that allows investigations without artificial overexpression of inherited Alzheimer's disease genes.

Unpacking the Complexity of Linear Equations from a Cognitive Load Theory Perspective

The degree of element interactivity determines the complexity and therefore the intrinsic cognitive load of linear equations. The unpacking of linear equations at the level of operational and relational lines allows the classification of linear equations in a hierarchical level of complexity. Mapping similar operational and relational lines across linear equations revealed that multi-step equations are derivatives of two-step equations, which in turn, are derivatives of one-step equations. Hence, teaching and learning of linear equations can occur in a sequential manner so that learning new knowledge (e.g. two-step equations) is built on learners’ prior knowledge (e.g. one-step equations), thus reducing working memory load. The number and nature of the operational line as well as the number of relational lines also affects the efficiency of instructional method for linear equations. Apart from the degree of element interactivity, the presence of complex element (e.g. fraction, negative pronumeral) also increases the complexity of linear equations and thus poses a challenge to the learners.

The Impact of Sleep on Neuropsychological Performance in Cognitively Intact Older Adults Using a Novel In-Home Sensor-Based Sleep Assessment Approach

The relationship between recent episodes of poor sleep and cognitive testing performance in healthy cognitively intact older adults is not well understood. In this exploratory study we examined the impact of recent sleep disturbance, sleep duration, and sleep variability on cognitive performance in 63 cognitively intact older adults using a novel unobtrusive in-home sensor-based sleep assessment methodology. Specifically, we examined the impact of sleep the night prior, the week prior, and the month prior to a neuropsychological evaluation on cognitive performance. Results showed that mildly disturbed sleep the week prior and month prior to cognitive testing was associated with reduced working memory on cognitive evaluation. One night of mild sleep disturbance was not associated with decreased cognitive performance the next day. Sleep duration was unrelated to cognition. In-home, unobtrusive, sensor monitoring technologies provide a novel method for objective, long-term, and continuous assessment of sleep behavior and other everyday activities that might contribute to decreased or variable cognitive performance in healthy older adults.

Visual encoding impairment in patients with schizophrenia: contribution of reduced working memory span, decreased processing speed, and affective symptoms.

Previous research has revealed the contribution of decreased processing speed and reduced working memory span in verbal and visual memory impairment in patients with schizophrenia. The role of affective symptoms in verbal memory has also emerged in a few studies. The authors designed a picture recognition task to investigate the impact of these factors on visual encoding. Two types of pictures (black and white vs. colored) were presented under 2 different conditions of context encoding (either displayed at a specific location or in association with another visual stimulus). It was assumed that the process of encoding associated pictures was more effortful than that of encoding pictures that were presented alone. Working memory span and processing speed were assessed. In the patient group, working memory span was significantly associated with the recognition of the associated pictures but not significantly with that of the other pictures. Controlling for processing speed eliminated the patients' deficit in the recognition of the colored pictures and greatly reduced their deficit in the recognition of the black-and-white pictures. The recognition of the black-and-white pictures was inversely related to anxiety in men and to depression in women. Working memory span constrains the effortful visual encoding processes in patients, whereas processing speed decrement accounts for most of their visual encoding deficit. Affective symptoms also have an impact on visual encoding, albeit differently in men and women.

Modeling managment of access to working memory as a self-evalution process for intrinsically motiveted prediction.

Event Abstract Back to Event Modeling managment of access to working memory as a self-evalution process for intrinsically motiveted prediction. Catherine Wacongne1, 2*, Stanislas Dehaene1, 2 and Jean-Pierre Changeux3 1 INSERM , U992, Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, France 2 Collège de France, France 3 Pasteur Institute, CNRS URA 2182, France Working memory offers the unique possibility to maintain information during an arbitrary long time. However, this possibility comes with the constraint that the number of items that can be maintained this way is very limited. This situation creates a computational problem of optimizing working memory content by choosing appropriately which items should be maintained and which items should be discarded. Previous work by O'Reilly (O'Reilly & Frank, 2006) showed that a reinforcement learning scheme could allow training of a basal ganglia dependent gating mechanism to successfully manage working memory content in order to complete diverse tasks. The predictive coding framework, proposes that one of the intrinsic purpose of the brain is the prediction of future events. Data (Bekinschtein et al., 2009) suggests that the involvment of working memory can be crucial, even in the absence of an explicit task to discover long distance temporal dependencies. We studied a simplified version of the working memory management problem by reducing working memory capacity to one slot. We show that using a value system that is sensitive to prediction accuracy, and a reinforcement learning algorithm, the brain can use self-evaluation to learn a successful gating policy to control the access to its working memory slot and optimize predictions. Specifically, we studied the performance of this value based working memory access (vbWMA) model on simple sequences of stimuli whose probability of occurrence was chosen independently of the past, except for one long distance predictive relation. The vbWMA model was able to learn to store the predictive stimulus for the appropriate duration. The dynamics of policy discovery was non-linear. Comparison with other models shows that this strategy offers an excellent trade-off between final performance and learning time. We also show that the vbWMA develops appropriate strategies in more complex situations with multiple long distance dependencies. Keywords: Dopamine, reinforcement learning, working memory, Gating, predictive coding, Self evaluation, self guided behavior Conference: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Memory and Learning Citation: Wacongne C, Dehaene S and Changeux J (2015). Modeling managment of access to working memory as a self-evalution process for intrinsically motiveted prediction.. Conference Abstract: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00066 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 19 Feb 2015; Published Online: 24 Apr 2015. * Correspondence: Ms. Catherine Wacongne, INSERM, U992, Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Gif/Yvette, France, catherine.waco@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Catherine Wacongne Stanislas Dehaene Jean-Pierre Changeux Google Catherine Wacongne Stanislas Dehaene Jean-Pierre Changeux Google Scholar Catherine Wacongne Stanislas Dehaene Jean-Pierre Changeux PubMed Catherine Wacongne Stanislas Dehaene Jean-Pierre Changeux Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Poor Sleep and Lower Working Memory in Grade 1 Children: Cross-Sectional, Population-Based Study

ObjectivePoor sleep and working memory difficulties are both associated with learning difficulties, but it is not known whether they are linked with each other in childhood. We aimed to determine, in a population-based sample of grade 1 children, whether poor sleep is associated with reduced working memory capacity. MethodsCross-sectional population-based study. All grade 1 children in 44 elementary schools in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia; 1749 children were included (participation rate 65%, mean age 6.9 years). Parents completed a written questionnaire at home, after which researchers administered one-on-one child computerized assessments at school. Predictor measures were parent-reported 1) perceptions of poor sleep, 2) regularity of bedtime, 3) sleep duration, and 4) sleep onset latency. Outcome measures were backward digit recall (verbal working memory) and Mister X (visuospatial working memory) subtests of the Automated Working Memory Assessment (AWMA). Associations were examined using linear regression, adjusted for duration of schooling, gender, age, and social status. ResultsIncreasing poor sleep (P = .03), less regularity of bedtime (P < .001), and shorter sleep duration (P = .03) were all associated with poorer verbal working memory, with effect sizes ranging from 0.3 to 1.2. Poor sleep was not associated with visuospatial working memory. ConclusionsAt a population level, poor sleep in early school-age children is associated with poorer verbal working memory, an important predictor of academic difficulties.

Investigating the Modality and Redundancy Effects for Learners with Persistent Pain

Two experiments were conducted to investigate how individuals with persistent pain would respond to instructional materials designed to promote the modality and redundancy effects. It was predicted that persistent pain would reduce the positive impact of narrated text due to reduced working memory capacity. One hundred thirty-seven full-time teachers from six schools in Australia participated in the study. Pain and pain-free participants were identified and matched through a demographics questionnaire before being randomly assigned to selected instructional formats. In both experiments, participants viewed system-paced multimedia presentations depicting how lightning works. In Experiment 1, it was found that for pain-free participants, illustrations plus narrated text led to significantly higher learning outcomes than illustrations plus written text (a modality effect). However, for pain participants, no advantage was found for the illustrations plus narrated text format. In Experiment 2, it was found that for pain-free participants, illustrations plus narrated text led to significantly higher learning outcomes than illustrations plus narrated text plus identical written text (a redundancy effect). For pain participants, a reverse effect was found, suggesting that the replicated written text format was not redundant but beneficial for these individuals. Furthermore, despite low scores on standardized pain measures, individuals with persistent pain achieved significantly lower learning outcomes than pain-free participants in both experiments. It was concluded that clinically low levels of pain could significantly interfere with information retention and transference. For individuals with persistent pain, the use of narrated explanatory text could be a disadvantage due to its transitory nature.