Cognitive Task Analyses for Effective Communication Systems Using NIRS Measurement

芝浦工業大学2019年

Colour Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorders

The research described in this thesis investigated colour processing in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Although idiosyncratic responses to colour have been widely reported in autism (William, 1999; White & White, 1991), and therapeutic interventions involving colour are frequently used with individuals with this disorder (Howlin, 1996; Irlen, 1991), few controlled colour processing investigations have been carried out. The experiments reported in the thesis have two main points of focus. Firstly, the therapeutic effects of colour overlays on different aspects of cognition were tested, and secondly, studies into colour discrimination, memory, naming and categorisation were carried out in order to evaluate the role of language and perceptual processing in colour processing. In experiments one and two it was established that significantly more children with autism than age and intelligence matched controls improved their reading speed when using a colour overlay. In experiments three and four, these effects were further investigated using visual change detection and reading comprehension tasks with and without colour overlays. Again, a significant improvement in performance was noted in the autism group when using colour overlays. The results from experiments four to eleven, testing colour discrimination, memory and naming failed to confirm atypical colour processing in autism, although the findings did suggest that cognitively unimpaired children with autism showed sharper category boundaries than those with autism and cognitive impairment and typically developing controls. Finally data from a case study of a boy with Asperger Syndrome who showed highly idiosyncratic colour responses were presented. The findings from the studies are discussed within the context of current theories of visual cognition in autism and theories of colour perception

The relationship between second language acquisition and non-verbal cognitive abilities

We monitored the progress of 40 children when they first started to acquire a second language (L2) implicitly through immersion. Employing a longitudinal design, we tested them before they had any notions of an L2 (Time 0) and after 1 school year of L2 exposure (Time 1) to determine whether cognitive abilities can predict the success of L2 learning. Task administration included measures of intelligence, cognitive control, and language skills. Initial scores on measures of inhibitory control seemed predictive of L2 Dutch vocabulary acquisition. At the same time, progress on IQ, inhibitory control, attentional shifting, and working memory were also identified as contributing factors, suggesting a more intricate relationship between cognitive abilities and L2 learning than previously assumed. Furthermore, L1 development was mainly predicted by performance on inhibitory control and working memory

Change blindness: eradication of gestalt strategies

Arrays of eight, texture-defined rectangles were used as stimuli in a one-shot change blindness (CB) task where there was a 50% chance that one rectangle would change orientation between two successive presentations separated by an interval. CB was eliminated by cueing the target rectangle in the first stimulus, reduced by cueing in the interval and unaffected by cueing in the second presentation. This supports the idea that a representation was formed that persisted through the interval before being 'overwritten' by the second presentation (Landman et al, 2003 Vision Research 43149–164]. Another possibility is that participants used some kind of grouping or Gestalt strategy. To test this we changed the spatial position of the rectangles in the second presentation by shifting them along imaginary spokes (by ±1 degree) emanating from the central fixation point. There was no significant difference seen in performance between this and the standard task [F(1,4)=2.565, p=0.185]. This may suggest two things: (i) Gestalt grouping is not used as a strategy in these tasks, and (ii) it gives further weight to the argument that objects may be stored and retrieved from a pre-attentional store during this task

Adults can be trained to acquire synesthetic experiences

Synesthesia is a condition where presentation of one perceptual class consistently evokes additional experiences in different perceptual categories. Synesthesia is widely considered a congenital condition, although an alternative view is that it is underpinned by repeated exposure to combined perceptual features at key developmental stages. Here we explore the potential for repeated associative learning to shape and engender synesthetic experiences. Non-synesthetic adult participants engaged in an extensive training regime that involved adaptive memory and reading tasks, designed to reinforce 13 specific letter-color associations. Following training, subjects exhibited a range of standard behavioral and physiological markers for grapheme-color synesthesia; crucially, most also described perceiving color experiences for achromatic letters, inside and outside the lab, where such experiences are usually considered the hallmark of genuine synesthetes. Collectively our results are consistent with developmental accounts of synesthesia and illuminate a previously unsuspected potential for new learning to shape perceptual experience, even in adulthood

Optimal learning spaces: design implications for primary schools

Review guide of the design evidence for primary school

Devising and Assessing an Intervention to help Extend the Attention Span of a Child with Cerebral Palsy

Literature suggests that children with developmental impairment of motor skills may have an increased risk of disorders of learning, including attentional and working memory (WM) difficulties, which may remain undetected. Whilst there are many clinical studies which focus on limb function and movement, very few studies have explored the cognitive difficulties of children with cerebral palsy (CP). Among cognitive difficulties, working memory (WM) and attention seemed particularly important. In the present research, an extensive pilot focusing on working memory identified insuperable methodological difficulties. The study therefore focused instead on sustaining attention (readily identifiable from observed behaviours) and on testing the ability of an intervention to increase attention. The research consisted of close observation of a single individual with CP in a single-case study design. The present study, within the action research paradigm, incorporates some features of single case methodology; specifically, of the ABA withdrawal design. The design consisted of three phases: A no-intervention baseline phase (A), an intervention phase (B), and a no-intervention withdrawal phase, followed by return to a (new) baseline (A). The initial baseline assessment involved a series of observations during unstructured play sessions. This was to establish typical movement patterns for the participant with CP so that these could be distinguished from later movement patterns associated with the interventions. The idea of ‘pattern’ was the central concept chosen for the intervention because it is central to mathematical understanding and is part of the school curriculum. Activities were planned which were not being taught or practised at other times. Sustained improvement in attention in successive baselines would suggest the intervention programme was successful in effecting a stable change. Results demonstrate the intervention was successful in supporting a child with cerebral palsy to develop his attentional ability. This was evidenced through increased time on-task across the intervention. The child was able to choose what to pay attention to and what to ignore when undertaking adult-led learning tasks

Searching for e(xecutive control) in the strength model of self-reg-ulation: an examination into the letter-crossing task

Self-regulation is the effortful process of controlling the self in order to meet goals or standards. The strength model of self-regulation poses that the resource behind self-regulation is limited in processing capacity, resulting in failures over time (i.e. ego-depletion). This theory was generally accepted until recently, when the literature encountered a replication crisis with widespread re-ported difficulties in replicating the depletion effect. This led to a conceptual crisis questioning whether the effect is legitimate, and if so, what powers this limited reserve. This thesis aims to address three major problems that have arisen in the literature. Since the self-regulation reserve has not been defined beyond a global limited reserve, almost any task can then be employed to induce depletion, provided it is effortful and demanding enough. Because of this, broad defini-tions of self-regulation measures have been applied. These self-regulation tasks, such as the let-ter-crossing task, are rarely scored and analysed. Subsequently, there is no established scoring method or knowledge as to what these tasks are measuring. Following the strength model of self-regulation, which implies depletion effects increase with ongoing processing and time, depletion effects should be observable over time on the letter-crossing task and transfer onto an effortful follow-up task. Over three studies (eight experiments), performance under a modified letter-crossing task was scored, analysed, and compared to standardised executive measures (Stroop, OSPAN, ISR, PI-ISR tasks) to address these three problems. Scoring was formed to measure tar-get accuracy, slope of accuracy over time, task completion time, and self-regulation failures in errors on the letter-crossing task. This revealed that accuracy provided the best measure for de-tecting depletion effects. Direct markers of depletion (functional) provided evidence for deple-tion transfer effects, whereas indirect markers (cognitive) served as theoretical suggestions for the origin of the self-regulation reserve. A downward performance trend line, a functional marker representing depletion effects, was present across the letter-crossing task, however, this depletion effect did not transfer onto the follow-up tasks as initially predicted by the strength model of self-regulation. Individual differences in letter-crossing performance did predict execu-tive functioning on some (OSPAN and ISR), but not all of the follow-up tasks. These findings suggested that components under each of the executive measures (inhibition: Stroop; updating: OSPAN; binding: ISR; and binding with proactive interference: PI-ISR) were related with letter-crossing ability. While each of the executive functioning tasks were correlated to letter-crossing ability, one executive function did not comprehensively account for letter-crossing ability. In-stead, some elements of updating ability (OSPAN) and binding ability (ISR) may employ similar working memory processes to that of the letter-crossing task and, when letter-crossing failures occur, show accountability on these tasks. These findings suggested that a global executive ability can account for letter-crossing ability. The thesis then proposes that self-regulation, as measured by the letter-crossing task, could be explained through higher executive cognitions required for active goal-maintenance, executive control, and working memory