Effects of task structure and group composition on elaboration and metacognitive activities of high-ability students during collaborative learning

Collaborative learning tasks may represent an effective way to stimulate higher-order processes among high-ability students in regular classrooms. This study investigated the effects of task structure and group composition on the elaboration and metacognitive activities of 11th grade pre-university students during a collaborative learning task: 102 students worked in small groups. On an ill-structured or moderately structured task. Differential effects for cognitive ability were investigated using a continuous measure. Likewise, the effects of group composition were examined using a continuous measure of the cognitive heterogeneity of the group. The group dialogues were transcribed and coded. Analysis revealed an interaction effect between task structure and cognitive ability on students' elaboration and metacognitive activities. Task structure had a negative effect on the elaborative contributions of high-ability students. For students with lower abilities, task structure had a positive effect on elaboration and metacognitive activities. No effects were found of the cognitive heterogeneity of the group. Group composition seemed not to be related to group interaction among 11th grade pre-university students. The results indicate that open-ended collaborative tasks with little guidance and directions on how to handle them, can stimulate higher-order processes among high-ability students and may offer them the challenge they need

A Matter of Memory? Sentence Comprehension in Healthy Aging

The study of sentence processing in aging has generally resulted in theories that suggest age related declines and deficits. However, most studies of sentence processing in older adults have conflated cognitive function and memory demands with processing itself. The current project aimed to use implicit, non-declarative methods to investigate whether sentence processing declines with age. Additionally, this project examined memory and processing speed dynamics during sentence processing by recording and manipulating memory demands and taking tests of processing speed. Three studies of syntactic priming (Studies 1, 3, and 4) and one study of relative clause disambiguation (Study 2) with older and younger adults are presented. In Studies 1 and 3,reliable syntactic priming was recorded in older and younger adults, suggesting sensitivity to syntax remains stable in older adulthood. Intact syntactic priming in older adults further suggests a non-declarative basis for syntactic priming in general, and similar mechanisms underlying syntactic and lexical effects. Study 4 reports a further analysis of syntactic priming patterns across intervening fillers, the persistence of which has important implications for theories of syntactic priming. Study 2 reports similar patterns of relative clause disambiguation in older and younger adults, and equal susceptibility to memory interference manipulations. Effects of Working Memory and Processing Speed were generally minor and did not relate to implicit processing measures. Taken together, the presented Studies contradict traditional accounts of sentence processing and aging which have described processing impairments. Instead, this project suggests sentence processing itself remains intact with age, and observed deficits in the past are likely the result of explicit memory demands. All studies stress the value of implicit, non-declarative measures of sentence processing to research with older adults, and provide evidence for implicit causes underlying syntactic priming effects

Het krimpende brein: normale veroudering of een gevolg van selectiebias in het onderzoek?

Het volume van ons brein neemt af naarmate we ouder worden. Dat is door verschillende grootschalige studies naar normale veroudering aangetoond. Een recent onderzoek wijst er echter op dat de mate van deze krimp bij normale veroudering waarschijnlijk overschat wordt doordat deze studies proefpersonen met een preklinisch ziektebeeld hebben geïncludeerd. In dit artikel wordt vanuit een voorbeeld uit de wetenschap beschreven welk effect selectiebias kan hebben op ons model van het verouderende brein

Smoking and alcohol consumption in relation to cognitive performance at middle age.

In the elderly, cigarette smoking has been related to reduced cognitive performance and moderate alcohol consumption to increased cognitive performance. It is not clear whether these associations also exist in middle age. The authors examined these relations in a population-based cohort study of 1,927 randomly selected, predominantly middle-aged subjects aged 45-70 years at the time of cognitive testing and living in the Netherlands. From 1995 until 2000, an extensive cognitive battery was administered, and compound scores were calculated. Risk factors had been assessed approximately 5 years previously. Multiple linear regression analyses (in which one unit of the cognitive score = one standard deviation) showed that, after the authors adjusted for age, sex, education, alcohol consumption, and cardiovascular risk factors, current smokers had reduced psychomotor speed (beta = -0.159, 95% confidence interval: -0.071, -0.244; p = 0.0003) and reduced cognitive flexibility (beta = -0.133, 95% confidence interval: -0.035,-0.230; p = 0.008) compared with never smokers. This effect was similar to that of being approximately 4 years older. Alcohol consumption was related to increased speed and better flexibility, especially among women who drank 1-4 alcoholic beverages a day. In conclusion, among middle-aged subjects, current smoking was inversely and alcohol consumption positively related to psychomotor speed and cognitive flexibility. This finding suggests that actions to prevent cognitive decline can be taken in middle age

In the prime of life: ERP evidence for syntactic comprehension priming in older adults

Background: Recent studies suggest older adults’ implicit learning of syntactic patterns remains largely intact. Syntactic priming has proven to be a sensitive tool to examine this implicit sensitivity. However, most priming studies with older adults have focused on production, and none have included an electrophysiological component. This study explores the neural correlates of syntactic priming in older adults’ comprehension. Method: We used a self-paced reading and event-related potential paradigm with groups of older and younger adults. Reduced Relative targets were primed, unprimed, or lexically boosted, while reading times and EEG recordings were obtained. Pre-tests of Working Memory and Processing Speed were also recorded. Results: Older adults showed intact priming and lexical boost on reading times, while lexical facilitation was dependent on syntactic overlap in the older but not the younger group. Syntactic priming was evident on N400 and P600 modulations on verbs and nouns in Reduced Relatives, and generally did not differ by age group. This suggests older and younger adults are equally susceptible to syntactic facilitation, and makes the case for more non-declarative, electrophysiological measurements of older adults’ sentence processing ability in future studies

Syntactic comprehension priming and lexical boost effects in older adults

The extent to which syntactic priming in comprehension is affected by ageing has not yet been extensively explored. It is further unclear whether syntactic comprehension priming persists across fillers in older adults. This study used a self-paced reading task and controlled for syntactic and lexical overlap, to (1) discover whether syntactic comprehension priming exists in older adults, across fillers, (2) to uncover potential differences between older and younger adults on priming measures, and (3) identify whether Working Memory or Processing Speed affect priming in older adults. Both older (Formula presented.) and Younger adults (Formula presented.) showed effects of syntactic priming and lexical boost. This suggests syntactic processing does not decline with age, and that abstract priming and the lexical boost are not dependent on residual activation or explicit retention in memory