The Role of Representations in Executive Function: Investigating a Developmental Link between Flexibility and Abstraction.

Young children often perseverate, engaging in previously correct, but no longer appropriate behaviors. One account posits that such perseveration results from the use of stimulus-specific representations of a situation, which are distinct from abstract, generalizable representations that support flexible behavior. Previous findings supported this account, demonstrating that only children who flexibly switch between rules could generalize their behavior to novel stimuli. However, this link between flexibility and generalization might reflect general cognitive abilities, or depend upon similarities across the measures or their temporal order. The current work examined these issues by testing the specificity and generality of this link. In two experiments with 3-year-old children, flexibility was measured in terms of switching between rules in a card-sorting task, while abstraction was measured in terms of selecting which stimulus did not belong in an odd-one-out task. The link between flexibility and abstraction was general across (1) abstraction dimensions similar to or different from those in the card-sorting task and (2) abstraction tasks that preceded or followed the switching task. Good performance on abstraction and flexibility measures did not extend to all cognitive tasks, including an IQ measure, and dissociated from children's ability to gaze at the correct stimulus in the odd-one-out task, suggesting that the link between flexibility and abstraction is specific to such measures, rather than reflecting general abilities that affect all tasks. We interpret these results in terms of the role that developing prefrontal cortical regions play in processes such as working memory, which can support both flexibility and abstraction

Cortical gray-matter thinning is associated with age-related improvements on executive function tasks

Across development children show marked improvement in their executive functions (EFs), including the ability to hold information in working memory and to deploy cognitive control, allowing them to ignore prepotent responses in favor of newly learned behaviors. How does the brain support these age-related improvements? Age-related cortical gray-matter thinning, thought to result from selective pruning of inefficient synaptic connections and increases in myelination, may support age-related improvements in EFs. Here we used structural MRI to measure cortical thickness. We investigate the association between cortical thickness in three cortical regions of interest (ROIs), and age-related changes in cognitive control and working memory in 5–10 year old children. We found significant associations between reductions in cortical thickness and age-related improvements in performance on both working memory and cognitive control tasks. Moreover, we observed a dissociation between ROIs typically thought to underlie changes in cognitive control (right Inferior Frontal gyrus and Anterior Cingulate cortex) and age-related improvements in cognitive control, and ROIs for working memory (superior parietal cortex), and age-related changes in a working memory task. These data add to our growing understanding of how structural maturation of the brain supports vast behavioral changes in executive functions observed across childhood

Role for Chromatin Remodeling Factor Chd1 in Learning and Memory

Precise temporal and spatial regulation of gene expression in the brain is a prerequisite for cognitive processes such as learning and memory. Epigenetic mechanisms that modulate the chromatin structure have emerged as important regulators in this context. While posttranslational modification of histones or the modification of DNA bases have been examined in detail in many studies, the role of ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factors (ChRFs) in learning- and memory-associated gene regulation has largely remained obscure. Here we present data that implicate the highly conserved chromatin assembly and remodeling factor Chd1 in memory formation and the control of immediate early gene (IEG) response in the hippocampus. We used various paradigms to assess short-and long-term memory in mice bearing a mutated Chd1 gene that gives rise to an N-terminally truncated protein. Our data demonstrate that the Chd1 mutation negatively affects long-term object recognition and short- and long-term spatial memory. We found that Chd1 regulates hippocampal expression of the IEG early growth response 1 (Egr1) and activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated (Arc) but not cFos and brain derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf), because the Chd1-mutation led to dysregulation of Egr1 and Arc expression in naive mice and in mice analyzed at different stages of object location memory (OLM) testing. Of note, Chd1 likely regulates Egr1 in a direct manner, because chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays revealed enrichment of Chd1 upon stimulation at the Egr1 genomic locus in the hippocampus and in cultured cells. Together these data support a role for Chd1 as a critical regulator of molecular mechanisms governing memory-related processes, and they show that this function involves the N-terminal serine-rich region of the protein

The Role of Representations in Executive Function: Investigating a Developmental Link between Flexibility and Abstraction.

Young children often perseverate, engaging in previously correct, but no longer appropriate behaviors. One account posits that such perseveration results from the use of stimulus-specific representations of a situation, which are distinct from abstract, generalizable representations that support flexible behavior. Previous findings supported this account, demonstrating that only children who flexibly switch between rules could generalize their behavior to novel stimuli. However, this link between flexibility and generalization might reflect general cognitive abilities, or depend upon similarities across the measures or their temporal order. The current work examined these issues by testing the specificity and generality of this link. In two experiments with 3-year-old children, flexibility was measured in terms of switching between rules in a card-sorting task, while abstraction was measured in terms of selecting which stimulus did not belong in an odd-one-out task. The link between flexibility and abstraction was general across (1) abstraction dimensions similar to or different from those in the card-sorting task and (2) abstraction tasks that preceded or followed the switching task. Good performance on abstraction and flexibility measures did not extend to all cognitive tasks, including an IQ measure, and dissociated from children's ability to gaze at the correct stimulus in the odd-one-out task, suggesting that the link between flexibility and abstraction is specific to such measures, rather than reflecting general abilities that affect all tasks. We interpret these results in terms of the role that developing prefrontal cortical regions play in processes such as working memory, which can support both flexibility and abstraction

The main features of the lingvo-cultural type “teacher” in the Russian and English lingvo-cultures

We study distinctive characteristics of lingvo-cultural type “teacher” in educational sphere in Russian and English lingvo-cultures. A comparative analysis of the given type on three linguistic levels is presented: conceptual, perceptual and associative fields. The choice of the lingvo-cultural type “teacher” for analysis is justified by the present global situation which highlights the importance of the profession regardless of time and place. The paper consists of the 6 main sections (abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references). The body of the research includes the experiment section. We conducted a survey: an internal (among the bachelor students of Moscow Region State University) as well as an external (administered via online among the English natives). All the respondents were offered a sample questionnaire (a set of questions and prompts to collect information about a “typical” teacher’s appearance, age, gender, family status, origin, occupation, communicative behavior, etc.) Analyzing survey experimental data we came to the conclusion that the typified personalities are socially significant and vital both in the English and Russian lingvo-cultures, have fixed conceptual characteristics, recognizable and easily identified on mental and linguistic levels. Though the existing and revealed due to the experiment differences in mentality, world-view and religion between the West and Russia find their expression in a certain aloofness and detachment of an American /British teacher / professor from social life. The overall positive attitude to the image of the teacher / professor in both lingvo-cultures is connected with a high social position of this type of personality and shows an everlasting respect to the status of the mentor in the mind of English or Russian speakers. The carried out research has shown the increasing interest in linguistic personology as a new branch of linguistics. The research can be continued and advanced from the point of view of lingvo-culturology, psychology and sociology