A nuanced view of the extent to which samples from narrow populations are scientifically problematic.

Psychologists have a traditional concern with participant samples from narrow populations and deleterious effects on researchers' ability to generalize findings. Recently, both individuals and authoritative organizations, such as the American Psychological Association, have merged this external validity concern with diversity and inclusion concerns. The American Psychological Association directive for researchers to include diverse samples seems obviously well-taken as it purports to mitigate these problems at once; it simultaneously increases external validity and promotes diversity and inclusion.

The Structure of Cognitive Abilities and Associations with Problem Behaviors in Early Adolescence: An Analysis of Baseline Data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study.

Using baseline data ( = 9875) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study examining children aged 9 to 10 years, the current analyses included: (1) exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of neurocognitive measures administered during baseline collection, and (2) linear regression analyses on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors. The neurocognitive tasks measured episodic memory, executive function (EF; attention), language skills, processing speed, working memory, visuospatial ability, and reasoning. The CBCL included composite scores of parent-reported internalizing, externalizing, and stress-related behavior problems.

An item response theory approach to the measurement of working memory capacity.

Complex span tasks are perhaps the most widely used paradigm to measure working memory capacity (WMC). Researchers assume that all types of complex span tasks assess domain-general WM. However, most research supporting this claim comes from factor analysis approaches that do not examine task performance at the item level, thus not allowing comparison of the characteristics of verbal and spatial complex span tasks.

On the psychometric evaluation of cognitive control tasks: An Investigation with the Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMCC) battery.

The domain of cognitive control has been a major focus of experimental, neuroscience, and individual differences research. Currently, however, no theory of cognitive control successfully unifies both experimental and individual differences findings. Some perspectives deny that there even exists a unified psychometric cognitive control construct to be measured at all.

The Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMCC) project: Validation of an online behavioural task battery.

Cognitive control serves a crucial role in human higher mental functions. The Dual Mechanisms of Control theoretical framework provides a unifying account that decomposes cognitive control into two qualitatively distinct mechanisms-proactive control and reactive control. Here, we describe the Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMCC) task battery, which was developed to probe cognitive control modes in a theoretically targeted manner, along with detailed descriptions of the experimental manipulations used to encourage shifts to proactive or reactive mode in each of four prototypical domains of cognition: selective attention, context processing, multitasking, and working memory.

Working memory capacity and dual mechanisms of cognitive control: An experimental-correlational approach.

Working memory is thought to be strongly related to cognitive control. Recent studies have sought to understand this relationship under the prism of the dual mechanisms of control (DMC) framework, in which cognitive control is thought to operate in two distinct modes: proactive and reactive. Several authors have concluded that a high working memory capacity is associated with a tendency to engage the more effective mechanism of proactive control.

From the Incoming Editor.

First, let me say that I am honored to take on the role of Editor in Chief at the [...

The impact of auditory distraction on reading comprehension: An individual differences investigation.

Background noise disrupts auditory selective attention and impairs performance on cognitive tasks, but the degree to which it is disruptive depends on the task and the individual. According to the load theory of attention and cognitive control, selective attention is influenced by both the perceptual load and the cognitive load of the primary task. Recent studies suggest that hard-to-read font in a reading task may shield attention against background noise and auditory distraction.

Individual Differences in Attention and Intelligence: A United Cognitive/Psychometric Approach.

Process overlap theory (POT) is a new theoretical framework designed to account for the general factor of intelligence (). According to POT, does not reflect a general cognitive ability. Instead, is the result of multiple domain-general executive attention processes and multiple domain-specific processes that are sampled in an overlapping manner across a battery of intelligence tests.

Adult bilinguals outperform monolinguals in theory of mind.

Theory of mind (ToM) is an essential ability for social competence and communication, and it is necessary for understanding behaviours that differ from our own. Research on bilingual children has reported that 3- and 4-year-old bilinguals outperform monolinguals in ToM tasks. Research suggests that adult bilinguals also might outperform monolinguals; nevertheless, this effect has yet to be established.

The Relationship between Theory of Mind and Intelligence: A Formative Approach.

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability understand that other people's mental states may be different from one's own. Psychometric models have shown that individual differences in ToM can largely be attributed to general intelligence () (Coyle et al. 2018).

Investigating the Structure of Intelligence Using Latent Variable and Psychometric Network Modeling: A Commentary and Reanalysis.

In a recent publication in the Dennis McFarland mischaracterized previous research using latent variable and psychometric network modeling to investigate the structure of intelligence. Misconceptions presented by McFarland are identified and discussed. We reiterate and clarify the goal of our previous research on network models, which is to improve compatibility between psychological theories and statistical models of intelligence.

The Role of Non-Cognitive Factors in the SAT Remains Unclear: A Commentary on Hannon (2019).

In the current issue of the , Hannon (2019) reports a novel and intriguing pattern of results that could be interpreted as evidence that the SAT is biased against Hispanic students. Specifically, Hannon's analyses suggest that non-cognitive factors, such as test anxiety, contribute to SAT performance and the impact of test anxiety on the SAT is stronger among Hispanic students than European-American students. Importantly, this pattern of results was observed after controlling for individual differences in cognitive abilities.

Psychometric Network Analysis of the Hungarian WAIS.

The positive manifold-the finding that cognitive ability measures demonstrate positive correlations with one another-has led to models of intelligence that include a general cognitive ability or general intelligence (). This view has been reinforced using factor analysis and reflective, higher-order latent variable models. However, a new theory of intelligence, Process Overlap Theory (POT), posits that is not a psychological attribute but an index of cognitive abilities that results from an interconnected network of cognitive processes.

The evolution of fluid intelligence meets formative g.

The argument by Burkart et al. in the target article relates to fluid (not general) intelligence: a domain-general ability involved in complex, novel problem solving, and strongly related to working memory and executive functions. A formative framework, under which the general factor of intelligence is the common consequence, not the common cause of the covariance among tests is more in line with an evolutionary approach.

Inducing Proactive Control Shifts in the AX-CPT.

The Dual Mechanisms of Control (DMC) account (Braver, 2012) proposes two distinct mechanisms of cognitive control, proactive and reactive. This account has been supported by a large number of studies using the AX-CPT paradigm that have demonstrated not only between-group differences, but also within-subjects variability in the use of the two control mechanisms. Yet there has been little investigation of task manipulations that can experimentally modulate the use of proactive control in healthy young adults; such manipulations could be useful to better understand the workings of cognitive control mechanisms.

Phonological similarity in working memory span tasks.

In a series of four experiments, we explored what conditions are sufficient to produce a phonological similarity facilitation effect in working memory span tasks. By using the same set of memoranda, but differing the secondary-task requirements across experiments, we showed that a phonological similarity facilitation effect is dependent upon the semantic relationship between the memoranda and the secondary-task stimuli, and is robust to changes in the representation, ordering, and pool size of the secondary-task stimuli. These findings are consistent with interference accounts of memory (Brown, Neath, & Chater, Psychological Review, 114, 539-576, 2007; Oberauer, Lewandowsky, Farrell, Jarrold, & Greaves, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19, 779-819, 2012), whereby rhyming stimuli provide a form of categorical similarity that allows distractors to be excluded from retrieval at recall.

New and emerging models of human intelligence.

In the last decade, new models of human intelligence have altered the theoretical landscape in psychometrics and cognitive science. In the current article, we provide an overview of key distinguishing features of these new models. Compared to 20th century models of intelligence, the new models proposed in the 21st century are unique for three primary reasons; (1) new models interpret the general factor, or g, as an emergent property reflecting the pattern of positive correlations observed among test scores, not as a causal latent variable, and therefore challenge the notion of general ability, (2) new models bridge correlational and experimental psychology and account for inter-individual differences in behavior in terms of intra-individual psychological processes, and (3) new models make novel predictions about the neural correlates of intelligent behavior.

An ecological approach to cognitive enhancement: complex motor training.

Cognitive training has received a lot of attention recently, yielding findings that can be conflicting and controversial. In this paper, we present a novel approach to cognitive training based on complex motor activities. In a randomized controlled design, participants were assigned to one of three conditions: aerobic exercise, working memory training or designed sport--an intervention specifically tailored to include both physical and cognitive demands.

The scope and control of attention: Sources of variance in working memory capacity.

Working memory capacity is a strong positive predictor of many cognitive abilities, across various domains. The pattern of positive correlations across domains has been interpreted as evidence for a unitary source of inter-individual differences in behavior. However, recent work suggests that there are multiple sources of variance contributing to working memory capacity.

Sequential dynamics in visual short-term memory.

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) is thought to help bridge across changes in visual input, and yet many studies of VSTM employ static displays. Here we investigate how VSTM copes with sequential input. In particular, we characterize the temporal dynamics of several different components of VSTM performance, including: storage probability, precision, variability in precision, guessing, and swapping.

The case for an ecological approach to cognitive training.

Strong claims have been made about the efficacy of cognitive training. In particular, the idea that working memory (WM) training enhances intelligence initially generated enthusiasm but, on further inspection, is now met with skepticism. In our view, this is an unfortunate setback due to inappropriate task design and does not refute the core idea of cognitive enhancement.

Primacy and recency effects as indices of the focus of attention.

Ongoing debate surrounds the capacity and characteristics of the focus of attention. The present study investigates whether a pattern of larger recency effects and smaller primacy effects reported in previous working memory studies is specific to task conditions used in those studies, or generalizes across manipulations of task-demand. Two experiments varied task-demands by requiring participants to remember lists of letters and to then respond to a subsequent two-item probe by indicating either the item that was presented later in the list (judgment of recency) or the item was presented earlier (judgment of primacy).

Capacity estimates in working memory: Reliability and interrelationships among tasks.

The concept of capacity has become increasingly important in discussions of working memory (WM), in so far as most models of WM conceptualize it as a limited-capacity mechanism for maintaining information in an active state, and as capacity estimates from at least one type of WM task-complex span-are valid predictors of real-world cognitive performance. However, the term capacity is also often used in the context of a distinct set of WM tasks, change detection, and may or may not refer to the same cognitive capability. We here develop maximum-likelihood models of capacity from each of these tasks-as well as from a third WM task that places heavy demands on cognitive control, the self-ordered WM task (SOT)-and show that the capacity estimates from change detection and complex span tasks are not correlated with each other, although capacity estimates from change detection tasks do correlate with those from the SOT.

Novel evidence in support of the bilingual advantage: influences of task demands and experience on cognitive control and working memory.

The bilingual advantage-enhanced cognitive control relative to monolinguals-possibly occurs due to experience engaging general cognitive mechanisms in order to manage two languages. Supporting this hypothesis is evidence that bimodal (signed language-spoken language) bilinguals do not demonstrate such an advantage, presumably because the distinct language modalities reduce conflict and control demands. We hypothesized that the mechanism responsible for the bilingual advantage is the interplay between (a) the magnitude of bilingual management demands and (b) the amount of experience managing those demands.