3,889 research outputs found
Insensitivity of visual short-term memory to irrelevant visual information
Several authors have hypothesised that visuo-spatial working memory is functionally analogous to verbal working memory. Irrelevant background speech impairs verbal short-term memory. We investigated whether irrelevant visual information has an analogous effect on visual short-term memory, using a dynamic visual noise (DVN) technique known to disrupt visual imagery (Quinn & McConnell, 1996a). Experiment 1 replicated the effect of DVN on pegword imagery. Experiments 2 and 3 showed no effect of DVN on recall of static matrix patterns, despite a significant effect of a concurrent spatial tapping task. Experiment 4 showed no effect of DVN on encoding or maintenance of arrays of matrix patterns, despite testing memory by a recognition procedure to encourage visual rather than spatial processing. Serial position curves showed a one-item recency effect typical of visual short-term memory. Experiment 5 showed no effect of DVN on short-term recognition of Chinese characters, despite effects of visual similarity and a concurrent colour memory task that confirmed visual processing of the characters. We conclude that irrelevant visual noise does not impair visual short-term memory. Visual working memory may not be functionally analogous to verbal working memory, and different cognitive processes may underlie visual short-term memory and visual imagery
Integrated cross-domain object storage in working memory: Evidence from a verbal-spatial memory task
Working-memory theories often include domain-specific verbal and visual stores (e.g., the phonological and visuospatial buffers of Baddeley, 1986), and some also posit more general stores thought to be capable of holding verbal or visuospatial materials (Baddeley, 2000; Cowan, 2005). However, it is currently unclear which type of store is primarily responsible for maintaining objects that include components from multiple domains. In these studies, a spatial array of letters was followed by a single probe identical to an item in the array or differing systematically in spatial location, letter identity, or their combination. Concurrent verbal rehearsal suppression impaired memory in each of these trial types in a task that required participants to remember verbal-spatial binding, but did not impair memory for spatial locations if the task did not require verbal-spatial binding for a correct response. Thus, spatial information might be stored differently when it must be bound to verbal information. This suggests that a cross-domain store such as the episodic buffer of Baddeley (2000) or the focus of attention of Cowan (2001) might be used for integrated object storage, rather than the maintenance of associations between features stored in separate domain-specific buffers
Frequency of neurolopsychological deficits after traumatic brain injury
El traumatismo craneoencefĂĄlico (TCE) puede conllevar impactantes cambios en la vida cotidiana, que incluyen alteraciones a nivel social, profesional, comunicativo y cognitivo (dificultades atencionales, mnemĂłnicas y ejecutivas). Este estudio tuvo por objeto caracterizar la ocurrencia de dĂ©ficits neuropsicolĂłgicos post-TCE y constatar el impacto ocasionado por el nivel de severidad del trauma en el desempeño cognitivo de los pacientes. Participaron 96 adultos en la muestra total, que fue dividida en dos grupos para evaluar el nivel de severidad del trauma: TCE leve (n=39) y TCE grave (n=77). La gravedad de la lesiĂłn se clasificĂł por medio de la Escala de Coma de Glasgow, por la duraciĂłn de la pĂ©rdida de consciencia, o por la amnesia post-traumĂĄtica. No habĂa diferencias entre la edad y la escolaridad de los participantes. Para la comparaciĂłn entre los grupos en cuanto a la distribuciĂłn de ocurrencia de dĂ©ficits neuropsicolĂłgicos, se utilizĂł el Chi-cuadrado. Se utilizĂł una baterĂa de evaluaciĂłn neuropsicolĂłgica flexible conformada por tareas verbales y visoespaciales de habilidades lingĂŒĂsticas, mnemĂłnicas y ejecutivas. Los grupos no se diferenciaron en cuanto a las variables sociodemogrĂĄficas. Los pacientes con TCE leve tuvieron mejores puntajes comparados con los de TCE grave (nĂșmero de errores y categorĂas completadas del Test de clasificaciĂłn de tarjetas de Wisconsin- [WCST, por sus siglas en inglĂ©s]; errores en la parte B del Test de Hayling; y en la interferencia retro y proactiva del Test de aprendizaje auditivo verbal de Rey [RAVLT, por sus siglas en inglĂ©s]. El nivel de severidad del trauma parece mostrar diferencias en los individuos en cuanto al desempeño en memoria episĂłdica de informaciĂłn nueva y en el control de interferencia entre los recuerdos; lo mismo se aplica a las funciones de flexibilidad e inhibiciĂłn. Estos resultados sugieren que es necesaria una mayor inversiĂłn en acciones de polĂticas pĂșblicas, priorizando intervenciones neurocognitivas reeducativas y mĂ©todos de prevenciĂłn de accidentes relacionados con lesiones traumĂĄticas que tengan alta incidencia de secuelas.El traumatismo craneoencefĂĄlico (TCE) puede conllevar impactantes cambios en la vida cotidiana, que incluyen alteraciones a nivel social, profesional, comunicativo y cognitivo (dificultades atencionales, mnemĂłnicas y ejecutivas). Este estudio tuvo por objeto caracterizar la ocurrencia de dĂ©ficits neuropsicolĂłgicos post-TCE y constatar el impacto ocasionado por el nivel de severidad del trauma en el desempeño cognitivo de los pacientes. Participaron 96 adultos en la muestra total, que fue dividida en dos grupos para evaluar el nivel de severidad del trauma: TCE leve (n=39) y TCE grave (n=77). La gravedad de la lesiĂłn se clasificĂł por medio de la Escala de Coma de Glasgow, por la duraciĂłn de la pĂ©rdida de consciencia, o por la amnesia post-traumĂĄtica. No habĂa diferencias entre la edad y la escolaridad de los participantes. Para la comparaciĂłn entre los grupos en cuanto a la distribuciĂłn de ocurrencia de dĂ©ficits neuropsicolĂłgicos, se utilizĂł el Chi-cuadrado. Se utilizĂł una baterĂa de evaluaciĂłn neuropsicolĂłgica flexible conformada por tareas verbales y visoespaciales de habilidades lingĂŒĂsticas, mnemĂłnicas y ejecutivas. Los grupos no se diferenciaron en cuanto a las variables sociodemogrĂĄficas. Los pacientes con TCE leve tuvieron mejores puntajes comparados con los de TCE grave (nĂșmero de errores y categorĂas completadas del Test de clasificaciĂłn de tarjetas de Wisconsin- [WCST, por sus siglas en inglĂ©s]; errores en la parte B del Test de Hayling; y en la interferencia retro y proactiva del Test de aprendizaje auditivo verbal de Rey [RAVLT, por sus siglas en inglĂ©s]. El nivel de severidad del trauma parece mostrar diferencias en los individuos en cuanto al desempeño en memoria episĂłdica de informaciĂłn nueva y en el control de interferencia entre los recuerdos; lo mismo se aplica a las funciones de flexibilidad e inhibiciĂłn. Estos resultados sugieren que es necesaria una mayor inversiĂłn en acciones de polĂticas pĂșblicas, priorizando intervenciones neurocognitivas reeducativas y mĂ©todos de prevenciĂłn de accidentes relacionados con lesiones traumĂĄticas que tengan alta incidencia de secuelas.Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can lead to significant changes in daily life, as well as in social, labor, communicative, and cognitive domains (attention, memory and executive functions). This study aimed to characterize the occurrence of post-TBI neuropsychological deficits as well as to determine whether there is an impact related to the level of severity of the trauma on the patient's performance. Ninety-six adults participated in the study, who were divided in two groups to assess the trauma's level of severity: mild TBI (n=39) and severe TBI (n=57). This severity was classified by the Glasgow Coma Scale, by the duration of consciousness loss, or by post-traumatic amnesia. There were no differences between the groups regarding variables of age and years of schooling. A Chi- square test was used to do a comparison between the two groups in terms of occurrence of neuropsychological deficits. Verbal, visuospatial, mnemonic, linguistic and executive tests composed a flexible neuropsychological battery. Patients with mild TBI had better scores compared to those with severe TBI (number of errors and in completed categories of the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (MWCST); errors in Part B of The Hayling Test; and proactive and retroactive interference in the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). The severity of the trauma seems to differentiate individual's performance on episodic memory of new information and in the control of interference between memories; the same is applied to flexibility and inhibition functions. These results suggest the need for more investments in public health policy actions, prioritizing neurocognitive remedial intervention and prevention methods for such condition with high incidence of sequelae
Associating object names with descriptions of shape that distinguish possible from impossible objects.
Five experiments examine the proposal that object names are closely linked torepresentations of global, 3D shape by comparing memory for simple line drawings of structurally possible and impossible novel objects.Objects were rendered impossible through local edge violations to global coherence (cf. Schacter, Cooper, & Delaney, 1990) and supplementary observations confirmed that the sets of possible and impossible objects were matched for their distinctiveness. Employing a test of explicit recognition memory, Experiment 1 confirmed that the possible and impossible objects were equally memorable. Experiments 2â4 demonstrated that adults learn names (single-syllable non-words presented as count nouns, e.g., âThis is a daxâ) for possible objectsmore easily than for impossible objects, and an item-based analysis showed that this effect was unrelated to either the memorability or the distinctiveness of the individual objects. Experiment 3 indicated that the effects of object possibility on name learning were long term (spanning at least 2months), implying that the cognitive processes being revealed can support the learning of object names in everyday life. Experiment 5 demonstrated that hearing someone else name an object at presentation improves recognition memory for possible objects, but not for impossible objects. Taken together, the results indicate that object names are closely linked to the descriptions of global, 3D shape that can be derived for structurally possible objects but not for structurally impossible objects. In addition, the results challenge the view that object decision and explicit recognition necessarily draw on separate memory systems,with only the former being supported by these descriptions of global object shape. It seems that recognition also can be supported by these descriptions, provided the original encoding conditions encourage their derivation. Hearing an object named at encoding appears to be just such a condition. These observations are discussed in relation to the effects of naming in other visual tasks, and to the role of visual attention in object identification
Memory for pitch in congenital amusia: Beyond a fine-grained pitch discrimination problem
Congenital amusia is a disorder that affects the perception and production of music. While amusia has been associated with deficits in pitch discrimination, several reports suggest that memory deficits also play a role. The present study investigated short-term memory span for pitch-based and verbal information in 14 individuals with amusia and matched controls. Analogous adaptive-tracking procedures were used to generate tone and digit spans using stimuli that exceeded psychophysically measured pitch perception thresholds. Individuals with amusia had significantly smaller tone spans, whereas their digits spans were a similar size to those of controls. An automated operation span task was used to determine working memory capacity. Working memory deficits were seen in only a small subgroup of individuals with amusia. These findings support the existence of a pitch-specific component within short-term memory and suggest that congenital amusia is more than a disorder of fine-grained pitch discrimination
Using non-speech sounds to provide navigation cues
This article describes 3 experiments that investigate the possibiity of using structured nonspeech audio messages called earcons to provide navigational cues in a menu hierarchy. A hierarchy of 27 nodes and 4 levels was created with an earcon for each node. Rules were defined for the creation of hierarchical earcons at each node. Participants had to identify their location in the hierarchy by listening to an earcon. Results of the first experiment showed that participants could identify their location with 81.5% accuracy, indicating that earcons were a powerful method of communicating hierarchy information. One proposed use for such navigation cues is in telephone-based interfaces (TBIs) where navigation is a problem. The first experiment did not address the particular problems of earcons in TBIs such as âdoes the lower quality of sound over the telephone lower recall rates,â âcan users remember earcons over a period of time.â and âwhat effect does training type have on recall?â An experiment was conducted and results showed that sound quality did lower the recall of earcons. However; redesign of the earcons overcame this problem with 73% recalled correctly. Participants could still recall earcons at this level after a week had passed. Training type also affected recall. With personal training participants recalled 73% of the earcons, but with purely textual training results were significantly lower. These results show that earcons can provide good navigation cues for TBIs. The final experiment used compound, rather than hierarchical earcons to represent the hierarchy from the first experiment. Results showed that with sounds constructed in this way participants could recall 97% of the earcons. These experiments have developed our general understanding of earcons. A hierarchy three times larger than any previously created was tested, and this was also the first test of the recall of earcons over time
Further evidence that not all executive functions are equal
The current study presents a comparison of 2 structural equation models
describing the relationship between the executive functions of updating and
inhibiting. Although it has been argued that working memory capacity is defined
by oneâs ability to control the focus of attention, the findings of the current
study support a view of the executive control of attention that reflects
updating and inhibiting as not entirely dependent on the same resources
The development of reading tests for use in a regularly spelled language.
Data are presented on the development of tests of reading skill in rural Tanzanian primary school pupils. Instruction in these schools is in Kiswahili, a regularly spelt language. Using a translation of a standard reading test, children could read aloud all words once they had learnt sound-letter correspondences, regardless of comprehension. In addition, children can appear to pass traditional comprehension tasks by decoding only some of the words. Three graded tests were developed which allow testing of children who either have only some letter knowledge, can read single words, or are proficient readers. The tests require children to both decode and understand the reading material in order to achieve high scores. The tests correlated well with scores on other educational achievement tests, and showed age and school grade differences. It is suggested that these tests are useful measures of reading development in a regularly spelt language. Adaptation to English and validation against standardised instruments is planned
Facial first impressions from another angle: How social judgements are influenced by changeable and invariant facial properties
Funding Information: Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders. Grant Number: CE110001021 ARC Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award. Grant Number: DP130102300Peer reviewedPostprin
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