Mathematics students demonstrate superior visuo-spatial working memory to humanities students under conditions of low central executive processing load

Previous research has demonstrated that working memory performance is linked to mathematics achievement. Most previous studies have involved children and arithmetic rather than more advanced forms of mathematics. This study compared the performance of groups of adult mathematics and humanities students. Experiment 1 employed verbal and visuo-spatial working memory span tasks using a novel face-matching processing element. Results showed that mathematics students had greater working memory capacity in the visuospatial domain only. Experiment 2 replicated this and demonstrated that neither visuo-spatial short-term memory nor endogenous spatial attention explained the visuo-spatial working memory differences. Experiment 3 used working memory span tasks with more traditional verbal or visuo-spatial processing elements to explore the effect of processing type. In this study mathematics students showed superior visuo-spatial working memory capacity only when the processing involved had a comparatively low level of central executive involvement. Both visuo-spatial working memory capacity and general visuo-spatial skills predicted mathematics achievement

Probing the relationship between late endogenous ERP components with fluid intelligence in healthy older adults

The world population is rapidly aging, bringing together the necessity to better understand the advancing age. This characterization may be used to aid early diagnosis and to guide individually-tailored interventions. While some event-related potential (ERP) components, such as the P300 and late positive complex (LPC), have been associated with fluid intelligence (Gf) in young population; little is known whether these associations hold for older people. Therefore, the main goal of this study was to assess whether these ERP components are associated with Gf in the elderly. Fifty-seven older adults performed a continuous performance task (CPT) and a visual oddball paradigm while EEG was recorded. Participants were divided into two groups, according to their performance in the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices test: high-performance (HP) and low-performance (LP). Results showed that the HP group, compared to the LP group, had higher LPC amplitudes in the CPT and shorter P300 latencies in the oddball task, highlighting the role of ERP components as a potential electrophysiological proxy of Gf abilities in the elderly.We thank Camara Municipal de Vila Nova de Famalicao (Dr. Rui Baptista and Bruno Gomes), Associacao Geracoes (Dr. Cristiana Oliveira, Clara and Daniela Silva), Santa Casa da Misericordia de Barcelos (Dr. Ricardo Vieira and Dr. Helder Longras), and Fundacao Bomfim (Dr. Raquel Polonia) for hosting the study; all the volunteers for their participation, as well as, Silvia Alves, Carla Barros, Anabela Fernandes and our colleagues from the Psychological Neuroscience Laboratory for all the help during data collection and recruitment. This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) [Doctoral Grants No. SFRH/BD/80965/2011 (awarded to ACT) and No. PD/BD/105964/2014 (awarded to DRP)] and by the Bial Foundation (Grant Number #286/16). It was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (Grant Number UID/PSI/01662/2019), through the national funds (PIDDAC). DP was supported by FCT (Grant Number SFRH/BPD/120111/2016). SC was funded by the FCT (Grant Number IF/00091/2015) and COMPETE 2020 (Grant Number PTDC/PSI-ESP/29701/2017)

Age-dependent Skill Formation and Returns to Education

In this study, we try to connect the economic literature on human capital formation with findings from neurobiology and psychology on early childhood development and self-regulation. Our basic framework for assessing the distribution of agespecific returns to investment in skills is an elaboration of the model of skill formation from Cunha, Heckman et al. (2006) over the life cycle. Our simulation based evidence illustrates the cumulative and synergetic nature of skill formation, the skill multiplier and the shaping role early childhood has for human capital formation, growth and inequality. --Intelligence,self-regulation,human capital,returns to education,life span

Development of an educational overburden index for New Mexico schools

The purpose of this study was to develop an educational overburden index (EOI) as a component in the New Mexico Public School Funding Formula. This is part of an ongoing research effort to develop a methodology for the distribution of funds based on the unique characteristics and needs of individual school districts. Research indicated that measuring and predicting populations containing at-risk students can be accomplished through application of multiple variables which reflect home, school, and community concerns. The study initially began with a selection of indicators from data provided by the New Mexico State Department of Education and the U.S. Census Bureau. According to current literature, these indicators supported predictions of students most likely to be at-risk. A total of 11 variables were analyzed for eighty-nine school districts. The variables were: Chapter 1 funds, free and reduced price lunch participation, dropout rate, ITBS and High School Competency Exam scores, pupils per square miles, teacher salary, training and experience, student mobility, limited English proficiency, special education, and gifted and talented; School districts were classified into clusters based on relative need using an unsupervised learning neural network computer analysis that recognized patterns of variables of need across districts. The clusters were verified through a feedforward neural net computing program and the districts were assigned a numerical weight ordering them from districts with highest to lowest need. The numerical weights comprised the Educational Overburden Index (EOI) that was applied in a simulation to each New Mexico school district\u27s share of the state funding formula. Use of the EOI in funding programs fosters local program flexibility, avoids labeling students and targets funds for districts with the highest incidence of youth in need

The Behavioral and Electrophysiological Effects of Discrimination and Inhibition Training on Visual Selective Attention: an ERP and Time-Frequency Analysis

Enhancement of task relevant information and the suppression of task irrelevant information are the two co-occurring mechanisms of selective attention. Studies have shown that ERP components (specifically N2, P3, and RP) and the alpha band (8-14 Hz) rhythm correspond to neural mechanisms and processes of visual selective attention, especially conflict resolution. Tested by a modified version of the visual flanker task, a conflict task employing inhibitory control, two groups of healthy adults were exposed to three weeks of cognitive training; either discrimination training (trained to discriminate target orientation) or inhibition training (trained to ignore interfering distractors) to investigate whether training impacts behavioral and neural correlates associated with stimuli processing. Behavioral analysis revealed a reduction in both Garner interference [F(1,33)=6.85, p=0.01] and Congruity effect [F(2,66)= 4.35, p=.02] after inhibition training, indicating better conflict resolution. Neural analyses revealed that the amplitude of N2 to target stimuli increased equally for both congruent and incongruent trials, albeit to a larger degree after inhibition training compared to discrimination training [F(1,32)= 5.18, pF(1,32)= 5.69, pF(1,32)= 4.87,

Fluid Intelligence Allows Flexible Recruitment of the Parieto-Frontal Network in Analogical Reasoning

Fluid intelligence is the ability to think flexibly and to understand abstract relations. People with high fluid intelligence (hi-fluIQ) perform better in analogical reasoning tasks than people with average fluid intelligence (ave-fluIQ). Although previous neuroimaging studies reported involvement of parietal and frontal brain regions in geometric analogical reasoning (which is a prototypical task for fluid intelligence), however, neuroimaging findings on geometric analogical reasoning in hi-fluIQ are sparse. Furthermore, evidence on the relation between brain activation and intelligence while solving cognitive tasks is contradictory. The present study was designed to elucidate the cerebral correlates of geometric analogical reasoning in a sample of hi-fluIQ and ave-fluIQ high school students. We employed a geometric analogical reasoning task with graded levels of task difficulty and confirmed the involvement of the parieto-frontal network in solving this task. In addition to characterizing the brain regions involved in geometric analogical reasoning in hi-fluIQ and ave-fluIQ, we found that blood oxygenation level dependency (BOLD) signal changes were greater for hi-fluIQ than for ave-fluIQ in parietal brain regions. However, ave-fluIQ showed greater BOLD signal changes in the anterior cingulate cortex and medial frontal gyrus than hi-fluIQ. Thus, we showed that a similar network of brain regions is involved in geometric analogical reasoning in both groups. Interestingly, the relation between brain activation and intelligence is not mono-directional, but rather, it is specific for each brain region. The negative brain activation–intelligence relationship in frontal brain regions in hi-fluIQ goes along with a better behavioral performance and reflects a lower demand for executive monitoring compared to ave-fluIQ individuals. In conclusion, our data indicate that flexibly modulating the extent of regional cerebral activity is characteristic for fluid intelligence

Individual variation in EEG spectral power enhancement and intelligence

This study tested the relationship between short-term neuroplasticity and individual differences in intelligence. Twenty-two participants completed cognitive testing and a visual EEG experiment involving exposures to repeated and novel stimuli. Time-frequency analyses of phase-locked (evoked) and non-phase-locked (induced) power showed a small effect of decreasing evoked/induced theta (4-8 Hz) ratios over stimulus exposures, irrespective of condition. Hypotheses that intelligence would relate to an increase in this ratio over exposures were not supported. However, the magnitude of the ratio positively correlated with intelligence; while the amount of induced gamma (30-50Hz) activation pre- to post-stimulus was highly inversely related to g. Results suggest that transient changes in neural network phase strongly relate to intelligence in physiological measurements acquired over brief intervals

Production Deficiency vs. Processing Dysfunction: An Experimental Assessment

This research was published by the KU Center for Research on Learning, formerly known as the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities.According to Torgesen (1977), LD students deficient performance is not reflective of cognitive processing deficits but of a production deficiency. The student is capable of satisfactory achievement, but does not achieve at such a level due to a passive approach to learning. This study evaluated these hypotheses using a discrimination learning task and varied reinforcement . LD students were matched with nonhandicapped peers and administered discrimination learning problems with treatment (reinforcement, response cost) and control conditions . Torgesen's hypothesis was not supported. Processing deficits were identified in the LD students ability to code, recode, and recall information compared to regular class students. They also were deficient in benefiting from explicit feedback. All students in the control group demonstrated overall superior performance to those in the reinforcement, response cost condition. The findings were related to influencing behavioral traits and cognitive deficits