Hundred Days of Cognitive Training Enhance Broad Cognitive Abilities in Adulthood: Findings from the COGITO Study

We examined whether positive transfer of cognitive training, which so far has been observed for individual tests only, also generalizes to cognitive abilities, thereby carrying greater promise for improving everyday intellectual competence in adulthood and old age. In the COGITO Study, 101 younger and 103 older adults practiced six tests of perceptual speed (PS), three tests of working memory (WM), and three tests of episodic memory (EM) for over 100 daily 1-h sessions. Transfer assessment included multiple tests of PS, WM, EM, and reasoning. In both age groups, reliable positive transfer was found not only for individual tests but also for cognitive abilities, represented as latent factors. Furthermore, the pattern of correlations between latent change factors of practiced and latent change factors of transfer tasks indicates systematic relations at the level of broad abilities, making the interpretation of effects as resulting from unspecific increases in motivation or self-concept less likely

Studying within-person variation and within-person couplings in intensive longitudinal data. Lessons learned and to be learned

Intensive longitudinal designs (e.g., experience sampling methods, daily diary studies, or ambulatory assessments) continue to gain importance in sychological aging research. Empirical research using these designs has greatly facilitated our understanding of short-term within-person processes and has started to approach the question how these processes shape long-term development across the life span. The aim of this viewpoint article is to point out four key issues in intensive longitudinal designs that in our opinion require more attention than they are currently given: (a) improvement in measurement reliability, (b) the necessity to investigate inter-individual differences in short-term dynamics, (c) considerations of the time scale across which dynamic effects unfold, and (d) targeting causality by incorporating experimental methods in intensive longitudinal designs. We illustrate these four key issues by referring to a prominent example of within-person dynamics in prior empirical research: the within-person coupling of stressor occurrence and well-being stress reactivity). (DIPF/Orig.

Experiments in the wild. Introducing the within-person encouragement design

The within-person encouragement design introduced here combines methodological approaches from three research traditions: (a) the analysis of within-person couplings using multilevel models, (b) the experimental manipulation of a treatment variable at the within-person level, and (c) the use of random encouragements as instrumental variables to induce exogenous experimental variation when strict treatment adherence is unrealistic. The proposed combination of these approaches opens up new possibilities to study treatment effects of a broad range of behavioral variables in realistic everyday contexts. We introduce this new research design together with a corresponding data analysis framework: instrumental variable estimation with two-level structural equation models. Using simulations, we show that the approach is applicable with feasible design dimensions regarding numbers of measurement occasions and participants and realistic assumptions about adherence to the encouragement conditions. Possible applications and extensions, as well as potential problems and limitations are discussed. (DIPF/Orig.

Do higher educated people feel better in everyday life? Insights from a day reconstruction method study

Past research has shown a positive association between education and well-being. Much of this research has focused on the cognitive component of well-being (i.e., life satisfaction) as outcome. On the other hand, the affective component, that is, how often and intensively people experience positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) in their everyday lives, has received far less attention. Therefore, we examined the association between education and PA and NA in everyday life, with a particular focus on affective experiences at the sub-facet level (based on a structure of NA with multiple factors). We used data from a nationally representative sample (N = 1647) of the German Socioeconomic Panel Innovation Sample (SOEP-IS), employing the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) to capture affective experiences of everyday activities. Multilevel structural equation models revealed that (1) education was not related to PA, but (2) was positively associated with two sub-facets of NA (mourning/worries and loneliness/boredom); (3) income might in part explain the association between education and NA; (4) education does not particularly seem to serve as a resource in times of unemployment or retirement (i.e., there were no interactions between education and unemployment/retirement regarding well-being) In essence, higher educated people reported fewer negative emotions in everyday life than their lower educated counterparts, but not more positive emotions. The findings underline that different facets of NA, in addition to life satisfaction, are relevant variables related to education and should receive more attention in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of non-monetary correlates of education. (DIPF/Orig.

Developing personalized education. A dynamic framework

Personalized education—the systematic adaptation of instruction to individual learners—has been a long-striven goal. We review research on personalized education that has been conducted in the laboratory, in the classroom, and in digital learning environments. Across all learning environments, we find that personalization is most successful when relevant learner characteristics are measured repeatedly during the learning process and when these data are used to adapt instruction in a systematic way. Building on these observations, we propose a novel, dynamic framework of personalization that conceptualizes learners as dynamic entities that change during and in interaction with the instructional process. As these dynamics manifest on different timescales, so do the opportunities for instructional adaptations—ranging from setting appropriate learning goals at the macroscale to reacting to affective-motivational fluctuations at the microscale. We argue that instructional design needs to take these dynamics into account in order to adapt to a specific learner at a specific point in time. Finally, we provide some examples of successful, dynamic adaptations and discuss future directions that arise from a dynamic conceptualization of personalization. (DIPF/Orig.

Integrating state dynamics and trait change

Recent theoretical accounts on the causes of trait change emphasize the potential relevance of states. In the same vein, reactions to daily stress have been shown to prospectively predict change in well-being, speaking for the proposition that state dynamics can be a precursor to long-term change in more stable individual-differences characteristics. A common analysis approach towards linking state dynamics such as stress reactivity and change in some more stable individual differences characteristic has been a two-step approach, modeling state dynamics and trait change separately. In this paper, we elaborate on one-step procedures to simultaneously model state dynamics and trait change, realized in the multilevel structural equation modeling framework. We highlight three distinct advantages over the two-step approach which pre-exists in the methodological literature, and we disseminate these advantages to a larger audience. We target a readership of substantive researchers interested in the relationships between state dynamics and traits or trait change, and we provide them with a tutorial style paper on state-of-the-art methods on these topics.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschafthttps://doi.org/10.13039/501100001659Peer Reviewe

Characterizing lifespan development of three aspects of coherence in life narratives. A cohort-sequential study

The ability to narrate stories and a synchronic self-concept develop in the pre- and primary school years. Life story theory proposes that both developments extend to an even later developmental stage, that is, to adolescents\u27 acquisition of a coherent life story. Cross-sectional evidence supports the emergence of a life story in adolescence, but is mixed in terms of later life span development. The present study examines longitudinally the development of global coherence in life narratives across almost the entire life span. Starting in 2003, a total of 172 participants narrated their lives over the course of 8 years (aged 16, 20, 24, 28, 44, and 69 when last tested) resulting in up to 4 life narratives per person. Three aspects of global life narrative coherence-temporal, causal-motivational, and thematic coherence-were measured with global ratings and predicted by their respective textual indicators. Children lacked most aspects of global coherence. Almost all indicators of temporal and causal-motivational coherence increased substantially across adolescence up to early adulthood, as did thematic coherence, which continued to develop throughout middle adulthood. (DIPF/Orig.

Momentary working memory performance is coupled with different dimensions of affect for different children: A mixture model analysis of ambulatory assessment data.

Elementary schoolchildren\u27s working memory performance (WMP) fluctuates from moment to moment and day to day, yet the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. In the present study, affective states were investigated as predictors of these fluctuations. Interindividual differences in the intraindividual affect-WMP associations were expected, and their structure was explored. One hundred nine children (8-11 years) were investigated in an ambulatory assessment. Affective states (positive affect [PA], negative affect [NA], activation, deactivation) and WMP were assessed 3 times daily for up to 31 consecutive days. In the whole sample, WMP was lower at occasions with higher NA or deactivation, while there was no overall effect of PA or activation. Results of a mixture model analysis revealed meaningful heterogeneity in these effects: Approximately half of the children showed comparably weaker effects of affect on WMP, while the other three groups showed (1) comparably stronger negative effects of NA and deactivation; (2) a comparably stronger positive effect of activation; or (3) comparably stronger negative effects of NA and deactivation and stronger positive effects of PA and activation. Findings emphasize the importance of explicitly considering interindividual differences in intraindividual associations. They are discussed in the context of current frameworks of interindividual differences in environmental sensitivity. (DIPF/Orig.

Day-to-day variation in students\u27 academic success. The role of self-regulation, working memory, and achievement goals

Self-regulation was found to be positively associated with school performance. Interrelations between self-regulation, working memory (WM), and achievement goals, in particular mastery goals, have been established, as well as associations with academic outcomes. It stands to reason that self-regulation, WM, achievement goals, and academic success are related on a daily level. However, previous research rarely considered this level of analysis. Here, we therefore addressed the relations of daily self-regulation, WM, and achievement goals, and their relevance for daily and general academic success. Data were obtained through ambulatory assessments in 90 students before (Study 1; Mage = 9.83, SDage = 0.50) and 108 students after their transition to secondary school (Study 2; Mage = 10.12, SDage = 0.45) across 20 school days. Students reported about daily achievement goals prior to school, self-regulation at school, and perceived academic success after school, as well as report card grades. Daily WM was assessed at school. Study 1 showed positive associations between daily mastery goals and self-regulation, but not with WM.Together, daily performance-approach goals and self-regulation, but not other goals or WM uniquely contributed to daily perceived academic success. Study 2 showed positive associations between daily mastery goals and self-regulation, but not with WM. Average daily mastery goals predicted daily WM. Together, daily mastery goals and self-regulation, but not WM, uniquely contributed to daily perceived academic success. In both studies, average levels of WM, but not achievement goals or self-regulation predicted report card grades. Results thus corroborate theoretical considerations on the importance of distinguishing selfregulation processes at between- and within-person levels. (DIPF/Orig.

Evaluating sociometer theory in children\u27s everyday lives. Inclusion, but not exclusion by peers at school is related to within-day change in self-esteem

Sociometer theory proposes that a person\u27s self-esteem is a permanent monitor of perceived social inclusion and exclusion in a given situation. Despite this within-person perspective, respective research in children\u27s everyday lives is lacking. In three intensive longitudinal studies, we examined whether children\u27s self-esteem was associated with social inclusion and exclusion by peers at school. Based on sociometer theory, we expected social inclusion to positively predict self-esteem and social exclusion to negatively predict self-esteem on within- and between-person levels. Children aged 9-12 years reported state self-esteem twice per day (morning and evening) and social inclusion and exclusion once per day for two (Study 1) and four weeks (Studies 2-3). Consistently across studies, we found that social inclusion positively predicted evening self-esteem on within- and between-person levels. By contrast, social exclusion was not associated with evening self-esteem on the within-person level. On the between-person level, social exclusion was negatively linked to evening self-esteem only in Study 1. Multilevel latent change score models revealed that children\u27s self-esteem changed from mornings (before school) to evenings (after school) depending on their perceived daily social inclusion, but not exclusion. The findings are discussed in light of sociometer theory and the bad-is-stronger-than-good phenomenon. (DIPF/Orig.