Cognitive Task Demands Research Articles

Digital antianxiety treatment and cognitive performance: An experimental study

We study the impact of an innovative antianxiety digital treatment on performance in a cognitive demanding task using a randomized control trial design. We exogenously manipulate a cognitive bias associated with anxiety – the tendency to disproportionately allocate attention to negative stimuli – in a group of young males and females. We observe that the treatment reduces the cognitive bias of treated females and significantly improves their performance in the cognitive task. Evidence from university examination results taken three months after the intervention suggests that the digital treatment may generate long-lasting benefits.

Unpacking teacher challenges in understanding and implementing cognitively demanding tasks in secondary school mathematics classrooms

ABSTRACT Literature suggests that students need to be exposed to cognitively demanding tasks (CDT). In this qualitative study, we examined in-service secondary school teachers’ challenges in understanding (e.g. recognizing, solving, and designing) and implementing cognitively demanding tasks in mathematics classrooms. Purposive sampling consisted of eleven teachers who completed the cognitive demand survey. Qualitative data sources included semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. Data analysis consisted of open and focused coding based on which the following main challenges were reported: challenges related to students’ knowledge, challenges related to English language learners (ELL), challenges related to teachers’ knowledge, and challenges related to curriculum. The study results suggest that teachers may need a support system built to address the challenges and to assist in implementing CDT in their classrooms.

The psychological correlates of distinct neural states occurring during wakeful rest

When unoccupied by an explicit external task, humans engage in a wide range of different types of self-generated thinking. These are often unrelated to the immediate environment and have unique psychological features. Although contemporary perspectives on ongoing thought recognise the heterogeneity of these self-generated states, we lack both a clear understanding of how to classify the specific states, and how they can be mapped empirically. In the current study, we capitalise on advances in machine learning that allow continuous neural data to be divided into a set of distinct temporally re-occurring patterns, or states. We applied this technique to a large set of resting state data in which we also acquired retrospective descriptions of the participants’ experiences during the scan. We found that two of the identified states were predictive of patterns of thinking at rest. One state highlighted a pattern of neural activity commonly seen during demanding tasks, and the time individuals spent in this state was associated with descriptions of experience focused on problem solving in the future. A second state was associated with patterns of activity that are commonly seen under less demanding conditions, and the time spent in it was linked to reports of intrusive thoughts about the past. Finally, we found that these two neural states tended to fall at either end of a neural hierarchy that is thought to reflect the brain’s response to cognitive demands. Together, these results demonstrate that approaches which take advantage of time-varying changes in neural function can play an important role in understanding the repertoire of self-generated states. Moreover, they establish that important features of self-generated ongoing experience are related to variation along a similar vein to those seen when the brain responds to cognitive task demands.

Effect of standing desk use on cognitive performance and physical workload while engaged with high cognitive demand tasks

It is clear that the cognitive resources invested in standing are greater than in sitting, but six of eight previous studies suggested that there is no difference in cognitive performance. This study investigated the effects of sitting and standing workstations on the physical workload and cognitive performance under variable cognitive demand conditions. Fifteen participants visited two times for testing sitting and standing workstations, and were asked to play two difficulty levels of Tetris game for 40 min while kinematic variables, CoP regularity, CoP SD, and cognitive performances were captured every 5 min. Results revealed a more neural posture in standing than in sitting, but using the standing workstation degraded attention and executive function. The CoP SD was 7 times greater in standing, but the CoP regularity was 1/4 in sitting, denoting greater attentional investment while engaged at the standing workstation.

Oscillation-Based Connectivity Architecture Is Dominated by an Intrinsic Spatial Organization, Not Cognitive State or Frequency.

Functional connectivity of neural oscillations (oscillation-based FC) is thought to afford dynamic information exchange across task-relevant neural ensembles. Although oscillation-based FC is classically defined relative to a prestimulus baseline, giving rise to rapid, context-dependent changes in individual connections, studies of distributed spatial patterns show that oscillation-based FC is omnipresent, occurring even in the absence of explicit cognitive demands. Thus, the issue of whether oscillation-based FC is primarily shaped by cognitive state or is intrinsic in nature remains open. Accordingly, we sought to reconcile these observations by interrogating the ECoG recordings of 18 presurgical human patients (8 females) for state dependence of oscillation-based FC in five canonical frequency bands across an array of six task states. FC analysis of phase and amplitude coupling revealed a highly similar, largely state-invariant (i.e., intrinsic) spatial component across cognitive states. This spatial organization was shared across all frequency bands. Crucially, however, each band also exhibited temporally independent FC dynamics capable of supporting frequency-specific information exchange. In conclusion, the spatial organization of oscillation-based FC is largely stable over cognitive states (i.e., primarily intrinsic in nature) and shared across frequency bands. Together, our findings converge with previous observations of spatially invariant patterns of FC derived from extremely slow and aperiodic fluctuations in fMRI signals. Our observations indicate that "background" FC should be accounted for in conceptual frameworks of oscillation-based FC targeting task-related changes.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A fundamental property of neural activity is that it is periodic, enabling functional connectivity (FC) between distant regions through coupling of their oscillations. According to task-based studies, such oscillation-based FC is rapid and malleable to meet cognitive task demands. Studying distributed FC patterns instead of FC in a few individual connections, we found that oscillation-based FC is largely stable across various cognitive states and shares a common layout across oscillation frequencies. This stable spatial organization of FC in fast oscillatory brain signals parallels the known stability of fMRI-based intrinsic FC architecture. Despite the observed spatial state and frequency invariance, FC of individual connections was temporally independent between frequency bands, suggesting a putative mechanism for malleable frequency-specific FC to support cognitive tasks.

Spatial-temporal aspects of continuous EEG-based neurorobotic control

Objective. The goal of this work is to identify the spatio-temporal facets of state-of-the-art electroencephalography (EEG)-based continuous neurorobotics that need to be addressed, prior to deployment in practical applications at home and in the clinic. Approach. Nine healthy human subjects participated in five sessions of one-dimensional (1D) horizontal (LR), 1D vertical (UD) and two-dimensional (2D) neural tracking from EEG. Users controlled a robotic arm and virtual cursor to continuously track a Gaussian random motion target using EEG sensorimotor rhythm modulation via motor imagery (MI) commands. Continuous control quality was analyzed in the temporal and spatial domains separately. Main results. Axis-specific errors during 2D tasks were significantly larger than during 1D counterparts. Fatigue rates were larger for control tasks with higher cognitive demand (LR, left- and right-hand MI) compared to those with lower cognitive demand (UD, both hands MI and rest). Additionally robotic arm and virtual cursor control exhibited equal tracking error during all tasks. However, further spatial error analysis of 2D control revealed a significant reduction in tracking quality that was dependent on the visual interference of the physical device. In fact, robotic arm performance was significantly greater than that of virtual cursor control when the users’ sightlines were not obstructed. Significance. This work emphasizes the need for practical interfaces to be designed around real-world tasks of increased complexity. Here, the dependence of control quality on cognitive task demand emphasizes the need for decoders that facilitate the translation of 1D task mastery to 2D control. When device footprint was accounted for, the introduction of a physical robotic arm improved control quality, likely due to increased user engagement. In general, this work demonstrates the need to consider both the physical footprint of devices, the complexity of training tasks, and the synergy of control strategies during the development of neurorobotic control.

Task demands modulate the effects of speech on text processing.

Task-irrelevant background sound can disrupt performance of visually based cognitive tasks. The cross-modal breakdown of attentional selectivity in the context of reading was addressed using analyses of eye movements. Moreover, the study addressed whether task-sensitivity to distraction via background speech on reading was modulated by the cognitive demands of the focal task. Two randomly-assigned groups of native Chinese participants read the same set of Chinese experimental sentences while being exposed to meaningful speech, meaningless (foreign) speech, or silence. For one group, participants were instructed to judge whether the sentences made sense (i.e., semantic acceptability task); for another, participants were instructed to detect whether the sentences contained a noncharacter (i.e., noncharacter detection task). Results showed no significant effect across sound conditions for the noncharacter detection task. For the semantic acceptability task, however, there was a substantial disruptive effect of the meaningfulness of the speech. Compared with reading with meaningless speech or reading in silence, the meaningful speech increased numbers of fixations, regressions, regression path, and total reading times. These results suggest that the disruption of reading by background speech is jointly dependent on the nature of the speech and the task process deployed, thereby favoring an Interference-by-Process account over Interference-by-Content and Attentional Diversion accounts of distraction to reading by background sound. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Preservice Secondary Science Teachers’ Implementation of an NGSS Practice: Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking

ABSTRACT We investigated six preservice secondary science teachers’ implementation of reform-based science, in particular, their teaching of the Next Generation Science Standards’ (NGSS) science and engineering practice of using mathematics and computational thinking. A modified version of the Task Analysis Guide in Science served as our conceptual framework: It assesses both the integration of practices and content (i.e., the kind of thinking required), and the cognitive demand of tasks (i.e., the level of thinking required) in teachers’ lessons. We used this framework to qualitatively analyze our preservice teacher participants’ edTPA (teacher performance assessment) lessons—including their written commentaries, video-recorded lesson excerpts, and student work samples—for their implementation of the NGSS using mathematics and computational thinking practice. We examined (1) the integration of the mathematical content and practices outlined in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics within the target NGSS practice, and (2) the cognitive demand of the mathematics in relation to science and mathematical practices. We found that four of our six preservice teachers implemented lessons that were integrated and cognitively demanding: These participants used the mathematics to move students’ understanding of the science phenomena forward. However, the other two participants implemented lessons that integrated mathematical content and practices but were low in cognitive demand. We conclude with implications for how teacher education programs can better support preservice teachers’ implementation of lessons that are both integrated and cognitively demanding so as to promote students’ mathematical reasoning and scientific sensemaking.

The ups and downs of relating nondrug reward activation to substance use risk in adolescents.

A wealth of epidemiological and cohort research, together with a healthy dose of anecdote, has characterized late-adolescence and emerging adulthood as a time of increased substance use and other risky behaviors. This review will address whether differences between adolescents or between adolescents and other age groups in dopaminergic mesolimbic recruitment by (non-drug) rewards inferred from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) could partially explain morbidity and mortality from risky-behavior-related causes in adolescents. Recent findings do not suggest a definitive directionality with regard to whether increased vs decreased mesolimbic responsiveness to nondrug rewards correlates with real-world risk-taking. Inconsistent relationships between reward-activation and real-world risky behavior in these reports reflect in part methodological differences as well as conceptual differences between populations in terms of whether tepid mesolimbic recruitment by rewards is a marker of psychiatric health. There are several potential reasons why the directionality of relationships between reward-elicited brain activation and substance use risk (specifically) might differ. These factors include differences between adolescents in histories/exposure of substance use, motivation for substance use, the component of the instrumental behavior being studied, and the cognitive demands of the incentive tasks. Systematic manipulation of these discrepant study factors might offer a way forward to clarify how motivational neurocircuit function relates to addiction risk in adolescents.

The effects of cognitive abilities and task demands on tonic and phasic pupil sizes

Previous studies on individual differences in pupil size of healthy individuals and their relation to performance have been inconclusive. Using a novel approach, we tested the effect of general cognitive abilities and level of task performance on pretrial baseline and task-evoked pupil (TEP) sizes (N = 116) while we manipulated the level of task demands using a multiple object tracking task. Results did not reveal an effect of general cognitive abilities, estimated by working memory capacity and gF scores, on either baseline or TEP sizes. In contrast, we found an interaction in TEP sizes between level of overall MOT performance and task demands. We propose that individual differences in TEP sizes are related to state-specific level of task performance and task demands, probably in combination with other factors like age, personality traits, and state-specific level of motivation and arousal. We also suggest methodological confounds that may cause the previous inconclusive findings.

The Case of the Cognitive (Opti)miser: Electrophysiological Correlates of Working Memory Maintenance Predict Demand Avoidance.

People are often considered cognitive misers. When given a free choice between two tasks, people tend to choose tasks requiring less cognitive effort. Such demand avoidance (DA) is associated with cognitive control, but it is still not clear to what extent individual differences in cognitive control can account for variations in DA. We sought to elucidate the relation between cognitive control and cognitive effort preferences by investigating the extent to which sustained neural activity in a task requiring cognitive control is correlated with DA. We hypothesized that neural measures of efficient filtering will predict individual variations in demand preferences. To test this hypothesis, we had participants perform a delayed-match-to-sample paradigm with their ERPs recorded, as well as a separate behavioral demand-selection task. We focused on the ERP correlates of cognitive filtering efficiency (CFE)-the ability to ignore task-irrelevant distractors during working memory maintenance-as it manifests in a modulation of the contralateral delay activity, an ERP correlate of cognitive control. As predicted, we found a significant positive correlation between CFE and DA. Individuals with high CFE tended to be significantly more demand avoidant than their low-CFE counterparts. Low-CFE individuals, in comparison, did not form distinct cognitive effort preferences. Overall, our results suggest that cognitive control over the contents of visual working memory contribute to individual differences in the expression of cognitive effort preferences. This further implies that these observed preferences are the product of sensitivity to cognitive task demands.

The role of chronotype in the interaction between the alerting and the executive control networks

Chronotype refers to the time of day preferred by individuals to perform daily activities according to their circadian rhythm. We asked whether synchrony effects, that is, the difference in performance between the optimal and non-optimal time of day as a function of chronotype, are observed in two tasks that differently involve the endogenous component of the alerting network, the psychomotor visual task (PVT) and the flanker task. From an initial sample of 132 students that filled in the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), 18 were classified as Morning-types and 16 as Evening-types. Evening-types showed synchrony effects in both tasks, whereas Morning-types failed to show synchrony effects in the flanker task and when the PVT was first performed at the non-optimal time of day. Thus, Morning-types might have seen increased their vigilant attention at their non-optimal time of day due to the cognitive demands of the flanker task and to the novelty with the PVT. Phasic alerting generated by alerting tones increased conflict score in the flanker task, but time of day did not modulate the congruence effect. Chronotype determines vigilant attention more decisively in Evening-types than in Morning-types individuals. Also, exogenous but not endogenous alerting exerts a deleterious effect on conflict resolution.

The relationship between language ability and brain activity across language processes and modalities

Existing neuroimaging studies on the relationship between language ability and brain activity have found contradictory evidence: On the one hand, increased activity with higher language ability has been interpreted as deeper or more adaptive language processing. On the other hand, decreased activity with higher language ability has been interpreted as more efficient language processing. In contrast to previous studies, the current study investigated the relationship between language ability and neural activity across different language processes and modalities while keeping non-linguistic cognitive task demands to a minimum. fMRI data were collected from 22 healthy adults performing a sentence listening task, a sentence reading task and a phonological production task. Outside the MRI scanner, language ability was assessed with the verbal scale of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI-II) and a verbal fluency task. As expected, sentence comprehension activated the left anterior temporal lobe while phonological processing activated the left inferior frontal gyrus. Higher language ability was associated with increased activity in the left temporal lobe during auditory sentence processing and with increased activity in the left frontal lobe during phonological processing, reflected in both, higher intensity and greater extent of activations. Evidence for decreased activity with higher language ability was less consistent and restricted to verbal fluency. Together, the results predominantly support the hypothesis of deeper language processing in individuals with higher language ability. The consistency of results across language processes, modalities, and brain regions suggests a general positive link between language abilities and brain activity within the core language network. However, a negative relationship seems to exist for non-linguistic cognitive functions located outside the language network.

Specifying and Mitigating Thermal Stress Effects on Cognition During Personal Protective Equipment Use.

To report present understanding concerning selected task and environmental factors influencing the changing performance capacity associated with use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Much knowledge is available concerning change in complex cognitive capacities under the effects of thermal stress. Our science can inform critical care facilities as to remediation strategies such as work-rest schedules to minimize performance error in highly cognitively demanding circumstances such as intensive care units. The present exposition draws from the state-of-the-art understanding concerning thermal stress effects on cognition and workload in complex and demanding tasks. The summation and synthesis of HF/E findings provides important insights into combinatorial effects of forms of stress, typically dealt with only as discrete sources in traditional standards and regulations. The identified interaction between ascending thermal stress and cognitive task demand provides an instance of the plurality of ways HF/E can specify performance limitations in safety-critical circumstances, as witnessed in the current pandemic. Accumulated HF/E insights provide systematic ways in which to address and ameliorate the combined forces of physical and cognitive stress on medical personnel constrained to use varying forms of PPE. These principles extend beyond this specific domain to all who are required to work in differential and isolated microclimates. To minimize the possibility of critical and life-threatening error in intensive care facilities which necessitate PPE use, we need principled work-rest ratio and heat stress mitigation guidance. To promote health, we need to champion healthy work practices in our health workers. HF/E insights can help achieve this important goal.

Computer-Based and Paper-and-Pencil Tests: A Study in Calculus for STEM Majors

Computer-based testing is an expanding use of technology offering advantages to teachers and students. We studied Calculus II classes for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors using different testing modes. Three sections with 324 students employed: paper-and-pencil testing, computer-based testing, and both. Computer tests gave immediate feedback and allowed multiple submissions and pooling. Paper-and-pencil tests (PPTs) required work and explanation allowing inspection of high cognitive demand tasks. Each test mode used the strength of its method. Students were given the same lecture by the same instructor on the same day and the same homework assignments and due dates. The design is quasi-experimental, but students were not aware of the testing mode at registration. Two basic questions examined were as follows: (a) Do paper-and-pencil and computer-based tests (CBTs) measure knowledge and skill in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Calculus II in a consistent manner? (b) How does the knowledge and skill gained by students in a fully computer-based Calculus II class compare to students in a class requiring pencil-and-paper tests and hence some paper-and-pencil work. These results indicate that CBTs are as consistent with PPTs as CBTs are with themselves. Results are also consistent with classes using PPTs having slightly better outcomes than fully computer-based classes using only computer assessments.

Purposeful Questioning with High Cognitive–Demand Tasks

We share ideas for preparing for and enacting high-cognitive demand tasks in ways that support students in articulating and justifying their ideas. We offer strategies for developing and posing several types of purposeful questions: (1) eliciting thinking, (2) generating ideas, (3) clarifying explanations, and (4) justifying claims.

A cognitively demanding working-memory intervention enhances extinction

Improving extinction learning has the potential to optimize psychotherapy for persistent anxiety-related disorders. Recent findings show that extinction learning can be improved with a cognitively demanding eye-movement intervention. It is, however, unclear whether [1] any cognitively-demanding task can enhance extinction, or whether it is limited to eye movements, and [2] the effectiveness of such an intervention can be enhanced by increasing cognitive load. Participants (n = 102, n = 75 included in the final sample) completed a Pavlovian threat conditioning paradigm across two days. One group underwent standard extinction (Control), a second group underwent extinction paired with a 1-back working memory task (Low-Load), and a third group underwent extinction paired with a 2-back working memory task (High-Load). We found that the conditioned response during extinction was reduced for both the Low-Load and the High-Load groups compared to the Control group. This reduction persisted during recovery the following day when no working memory task was executed. Finally, we found that within the High-Load group, participants with lower accuracy scores on the 2-back task (i.e., for who the task was more difficult) had a stronger reduction in the conditioned response. We did not observe this relationship within the Low-Load group. Our findings suggest that cognitive load induced by a working memory intervention embedded during extinction reduces persistent threat responses.

Investigating Elementary School Teachers’ Development of Mathematical Task Implementation Quality

This mixed-method study investigates the quality of teachers’ implementation of mathematical tasks and the nature of changes that occurred during an academic year with the support of a professional development program. Task implementation quality consists of three dimensions: total cognitive demand, attention to student thinking and intellectual authority. The study took place in the context of a 1-year professional development program, with the participation of four teachers in a private school. Data were gathered from class observations and interviews with teachers. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated changes in the teachers’ practice. The major change was in the total cognitive demand in the implementation of tasks. An analysis of changes in cognitive demand level revealed fluctuations in the total cognitive demand of mathematical tasks, indicating that changes in teaching practice are complex and often nonlinear. The findings are discussed along with potential teacher-related factors. Recommendations are made for future research on professional development programs.

Intellectual Work Required of Students in Science Classrooms: Students’ Opportunities to Learn Science

Students’ opportunities to learn science are shaped by the intellectual work in which they engage in science classrooms. By considering the opportunity to learn as a more nuanced and complex concept than simply as exposure to the subject matter, we argue that the kind of tasks that teachers assign to students presents an important element to understand how students are positioned to learn in science classrooms. Teachers, undoubtedly, play a critical role in the selection of these instructional tasks. This study aims to investigate the cognitive demand of science tasks and teachers’ reasoning for what makes these tasks cognitively demanding. Guided by a framework, which was designed to classify science tasks according to cognitive demand and the integration of science content and practices, we analyzed 224 science tasks shared by 125 teachers through a statewide survey. The analyses revealed many of the science tasks, which were identified by teachers as demanding high-level intellectual work from students and were classified into low-level categories of this framework. The qualitative analyses of teachers’ responses to survey questions revealed the factors that influenced science teachers’ decisions about the cognitive demand of instructional tasks.

The Emergence of Inner Speech and Its Measurement in Atypically Developing Children.

Inner speech (IS), or the act of silently talking to yourself, occurs in humans regardless of their cultural and linguistic background, suggesting its key role in human cognition. The absence of overt articulation leads to methodological challenges to studying IS and its effects on cognitive processing. Investigating IS in children is particularly problematic due to cognitive demands of the behavioral tasks and age restrictions for collecting neurophysiological data [e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) or electromyography (EMG)]; thus, the developmental aspects of IS remain poorly understood despite the long history of adult research. Studying developmental aspects of IS could shed light on the variability in types and amount of IS in adults. In addition, problems in mastering IS might account for neuropsychological deficits observed in children with neurodevelopmental conditions. For example, deviance in IS development might influence these children’s general cognitive processing, including social cognition, executive functioning, and related social–emotional functioning. The aim of the present paper is to look at IS from a developmental perspective, exploring its theory and identifying experimental paradigms appropriate for preschool and early school-aged children in Anglophone and Russian literature. We choose these two languages because the original work carried out by Vygotsky on IS was published in Russian, and Russian scientists have continued to publish on this topic since his death. Since the 1960s, much of the experimental work in this area has been published in Anglophone journals. We discuss different measurements of IS phenomena, their informativeness about subtypes of IS, and their potential for studying atypical language development. Implications for assessing and stimulating IS in clinical populations are discussed.