Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity and Reading Comprehension of Electronic Texts

Technology is unquestionably changing the nature of education. Computers, tablets, e-readers, and cell phones are rapidly replacing print text and handwritten notes. These devices are not only the dominating sources of communication in current society; they also represent a connecting point between information and the minds of modern students. The term working memory refers to the immediate, transitory processing and storage that takes place as an individual completes higher-order cognitive tasks. Working memory has a clear relationship with learning, reasoning, and comprehension in the classroom (Baddeley, 1992). However, each individual has a working memory capacity (WMC) which limits how much information he or she can store and manipulate in a given period of time (Turner & Engle, 1989). Individuals with lower WMC, meaning the amount of simultaneous information they are able to process is limited, often have difficulties with reading comprehension (Daneman & Carpenter, 1980), are likely to experience distraction from extraneous information (Sanchez & Wiley, 2002), and are more prone to wind-wandering (McVay & Kane, 2009). At the same time, individuals with high WMC are less likely to experience these difficulties to such a debilitating degree. The majority of current research focuses on reading comprehension using print material. This study examines individual differences among WMC, reading duration, and comprehension using electronic texts in an effort to explore the role technology has on learning. An additional goal of this research is to determine if there is a relationship between WMC and eye fixation patterns while reading text, interacting with graphs, and viewing images. Participants first completed Operation Span to measure WMC, read selections from an electronic textbook while their eye fixations were monitored by a Tobii TX300 eye tracking system, answered questions about the material, and completed a demographics questionnaire. Data collection is ongoing

Videogame interventions and spatial ability interactions

Numerous research studies have been conducted on the use of videogames as tools to improve one’s cognitive abilities. While meta-analyses and qualitative reviews have provided evidence that some aspects of cognition such as spatial imagery are modified after exposure to videogames, other evidence has shown that matrix reasoning measures of fluid intelligence do not show evidence of transfer from videogame training. In the current work, we investigate the available evidence for transfer specifically to nonverbal intelligence and spatial ability measures, given recent research that these abilities may be most sensitive to training on cognitive and working memory tasks. Accordingly, we highlight a few studies that on the surface provide evidence for transfer to spatial abilities, but a closer look at the pattern of data does not reveal a clean interpretation of the results. We discuss the implications of these results in relation to research design and statistical analysis practices

Do European Union Non-Tariff Barriers Create Economic Nuisances in the United States?

The European Union\u27s new traceability system for biotech crops will lead to the proliferation of non-tariff barriers affecting biotech crops. This, in turn, will lead to economic dislocation and attendant liability in the United States, which is losing billions of dollars in export trade. A chain of complex legal problems will arise for United States-based companies as they strive to trace particular genetically modified (GM) events and avoid commingling. The European Union (E. U) tracing law for biotech crops applies at each stage of commodity commerce, from grain shippers leading back through elevators, growers, and seed companies. Warranty liability could arise from denial of entry in the ports of the E. U, and any trading partners following a similar zero tolerance approach (e.g., China, New Zealand, Japan, etc.) as shippers denied entry use the E. U-imposed tracing system to trace unapproved-in-E. U, biotech crops back to growers or biotech seed companies. Nuisance liability could arise as growers look to their neighbors for the source of their warranty violation. E. U-mandated documentation will expedite the process of establishing liability for commingling of the variety of biotech crop

Ultra-rapid development and deployment of a family resilience program during the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learned from Families Tackling Tough Times Together

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic brought uncertainty, anxiety, and stress into households; however, it also created an opportunity as many families, sequestered at home, found themselves spending much more time together. To support families and improve their ability to cope, recover, and build resilience amid the pandemic, Purdue University’s College of Health and Human Sciences (HHS) launched Families Tackling Tough Times Together (FT), a strength-based multi-week online program informed by scientific evidence about family resilience. Offered through a Facebook group, FT targeted parents or caregivers, children, youth, young adults, older adults, and helping professionals serving families. FT was designed to appeal to both military and civilian families, in part because both groups were experiencing similar challenges associated with the pandemic. This was not only an opportunity to bring civilian and military families together, but also for civilian families to learn from the experiences of military families in surmounting significant challenges. This article describes the development and implementation of the FT program, as well as lessons learned. Strategies highlighted in this article may be helpful to researchers or practitioners who wish to implement a rapid-response intervention aimed at building family resilience

When is working memory important for arithmetic?: the impact of strategy and age

Our ability to perform arithmetic relies heavily on working memory, the manipulation and maintenance of information in mind. Previous research has found that in adults, procedural strategies, particularly counting, rely on working memory to a greater extent than retrieval strategies. During childhood there are changes in the types of strategies employed, as well as an increase in the accuracy and efficiency of strategy execution. As such it seems likely that the role of working memory in arithmetic may also change, however children and adults have never been directly compared. This study used traditional dual-task methodology, with the addition of a control load condition, to investigate the extent to which working memory requirements for different arithmetic strategies change with age between 9-11 years, 12-14 years and young adulthood. We showed that both children and adults employ working memory when solving arithmetic problems, no matter what strategy they choose. This study highlights the importance of considering working memory in understanding the difficulties that some children and adults have with mathematics, as well as the need to include working memory in theoretical models of mathematical cognition

The development of route learning in Down syndrome, Williams syndrome and typical development: investigations with virtual environments

The ability to navigate new environments has a significant impact on the daily life and independence of people with learning difficulties. The aims of this study were to investigate the development of route learning in Down syndrome (N = 50), Williams syndrome (N = 19), and typically developing children between 5 and 11 years old (N = 108); to investigate use of landmarks; and to relate cognitive functions to route-learning ability in these groups. Overall, measures of attention and long-term memory were strongly associated with route learning, even once non-verbal ability was controlled for. All of the groups, including 5- to 6-year-old TD children, demonstrated the ability to make use of all landmark types to aid route learning; those near junctions, those further from junctions, and also distant landmarks (e.g. church spire, radio mast). Individuals with WS performed better than a matched subset of TD children on more difficult routes; we suggest that this is supported by relatively strong visual feature recognition in the disorder. Participants with DS who had relatively high levels of non-verbal ability performed at a similar level to TD participants