A Novel Approach to Measuring an Old Construct: Aligning the Conceptualisation and Operationalisation of Cognitive Flexibility.

A successful adjustment to dynamic changes in one's environment requires contingent adaptive behaviour. Such behaviour is underpinned by cognitive flexibility, which conceptually is part of fluid intelligence. We argue, however, that conventional approaches to measuring fluid intelligence are insufficient in capturing cognitive flexibility.

Confidence judgments interfere with perceptual decision making.

Determining one's confidence in a decision is a vital part of decision-making. Traditionally, psychological experiments have assessed a person's confidence by eliciting confidence judgments. The notion that such judgments can be elicited without impacting the accuracy of the decision has recently been challenged by several studies which have shown reactivity effects-either an increase or decrease in decision accuracy when confidence judgments are elicited.

Within-Individual Variation in Cognitive Performance Is Not Noise: Why and How Cognitive Assessments Should Examine Within-Person Performance.

Despite evidence that it exists, short-term within-individual variability in cognitive performance has largely been ignored as a meaningful component of human cognitive ability. In this article, we build a case for why this within-individual variability should not be viewed as mere measurement error and why it should be construed as a meaningful component of an individual's cognitive abilities. We argue that in a demanding and rapidly changing modern world, between-individual analysis of single-occasion cognitive test scores does not account for the full range of within-individual cognitive performance variation that is implicated in successful typical cognitive performance.

Is cortical inhibition in primary motor cortex related to executive control?

Recent research using paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has shown that the speed with which people can stop an action is linked to GABAergic inhibitory activity in the motor system. Specifically, a significant proportion of the variance in stop signal reaction time (SSRT; a widely used measure of inhibitory control) is accounted for by short-interval cortical inhibition (SICI). It is still unclear whether this relationship reflects a broader link between GABAergic processes and executive functions, or a specific link between GABAergic processes and motor stopping ability.

Intelligence IS Cognitive Flexibility: Why Multilevel Models of Within-Individual Processes Are Needed to Realise This.

Despite substantial evidence for the link between an individual's intelligence and successful life outcomes, questions about what defines intelligence have remained the focus of heated dispute. The most common approach to understanding intelligence has been to investigate what performance on tests of intellect is and is not associated with. This psychometric approach, based on correlations and factor analysis is deficient.

Sophisticated Statistics Cannot Compensate for Method Effects If Quantifiable Structure Is Compromised.

Researchers rely on psychometric principles when trying to gain understanding of unobservable psychological phenomena disconfounded from the methods used. Psychometric models provide us with tools to support this endeavour, but they are agnostic to the meaning researchers intend to attribute to the data. We define method effects as resulting from actions which weaken the psychometric structure of measurement, and argue that solution to this confounding will ultimately rest on testing whether data collected fit a psychometric model based on a substantive theory, rather than a search for a model that best fits the data.

Experiential and Strategic Emotional Intelligence Are Implicated When Inhibiting Affective and Non-Affective Distractors: Findings from Three Emotional Flanker N-Back Tasks.

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to a set of competencies to process, understand, and reason with affective information. Recent studies suggest ability measures of experiential and strategic EI differentially predict performance on non-emotional and emotionally laden tasks. To explore cognitive processes underlying these abilities further, we varied the affective context of a traditional letter-based -back working-memory task.

Cognition-oriented treatments for older adults: A systematic review of the influence of depression and self-efficacy individual differences factors.

The increasing prevalence of cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia with the aging population has led to scrutiny of the efficacy of cognition-oriented treatments (COTs) aiming to maintain functioning, and delay or prevent further cognitive decline. However, little is known regarding the role of individual differences patient-variables (such as depression, self-efficacy, and motivation) in moderating the efficacy of COTs. This systematic review aimed to identify and analyze COT trials which investigated the relationship between differences in these patient-variables and intervention outcomes for older adults across healthy, MCI, and dementia populations.

The Confidence Database.

Understanding how people rate their confidence is critical for the characterization of a wide range of perceptual, memory, motor and cognitive processes. To enable the continued exploration of these processes, we created a large database of confidence studies spanning a broad set of paradigms, participant populations and fields of study. The data from each study are structured in a common, easy-to-use format that can be easily imported and analysed using multiple software packages.

Reactivity to Measures of Metacognition.

Metacognition is typically measured by collecting self-reported information from participants while they complete a cognitive task. Recent evidence suggests that eliciting such metacognitive information from participants can impact both their metacognitive processes and their cognitive performance. Although there are contradictory findings regarding the magnitude and even the direction of this effect, recent evidence has converged to provide a clearer picture of the mechanisms that determine reactivity.

The link between working memory and fluid intelligence is dependent on flexible bindings, not systematic access or passive retention.

Rather than working memory capacity acting as a distinct subordinate function of fluid intelligence, there is an emerging consensus that their relationship can be understood as an outcome of common functions dictated by the strength and flexibility of bindings which integrate representations relationally. The current study considers the Arithmetic Chain Task (Oberauer, Demmrich, Mayr, & Kliegl, 2001) which contrasts access (integrating previously stored information for use in the arithmetic processing) against mere retention (holding previously stored information for recall after the arithmetic processing). Participants (n = 122) completed the Arithmetic Chain Task (ACT) with a novel manipulation that split the access condition into fixed-order vs.

Validating the relation-monitoring task as a measure of relational integration and predictor of fluid intelligence.

The relation-monitoring task (RMT) has demonstrated a remarkable ability to predict higher-order cognitive abilities such as fluid intelligence, despite its apparent simplicity: It requires no storage over time and no advanced mental manipulation. Instead, the task is theorized to measure relational integration: the process of constructing mental relations between independent elements. Although several studies have established a link between the RMT and fluid intelligence, few studies have investigated the task parameters that contribute to the task's ability to predict higher-order performance.

Do confidence ratings prime confidence?

Confidence ratings (CR) are one of the most frequently used measures in psychological research. However, recent evidence has suggested that eliciting CR from participants may result in changes to cognitive performance, so called reactivity. Here, we examine whether reactivity to CR can be better explained by added task-relevant introspection, or, alternatively, the unintentional priming of confidence-related beliefs.

Correction: Relational encoding of objects in working memory: Changes detection performance is better for violations in group relations.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Relational encoding of objects in working memory: Change detection performance is better for violations in group relations.

Research has indicated that working memory is based on forming relations between individual elements. In this study, we considered the congruency of object clusters during a change detection task. We demonstrate that changes which violate the relational encoding of a probe display (single-object changes where one object shifts independently from its corresponding group) are more easily detected than changes that maintain group structure (cluster changes where all objects in the group shift in location together)-despite cluster changes involving more objects moving overall.

Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Computerized Cognitive Training on Executive Functions: a Cross-Disciplinary Taxonomy for Classifying Outcome Cognitive Factors.

The growing prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders associated with aging and cognitive decline has generated increasing cross-disciplinary interest in non-pharmacological interventions, such as computerized cognitive training (CCT), which may prevent or slow cognitive decline. However, inconsistent findings across meta-analytic reviews in the field suggest a lack of cross-disciplinary consensus and on-going debate regarding the benefits of CCT. We posit that a contributing factor is the lack of a theoretically-based taxonomy of constructs and representative tasks typically used.

The Structure of the FACT-Cog v3 in Cancer Patients, Students, and Older Adults.

Context: The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Cognitive (FACT-Cog) version 3 questionnaire is designed to assess perceived cognitive function and impact on quality of life in cancer patients.

Objectives: We examined the factor structure of the FACT-Cog version 3 in samples of cancer patients, older adults, and students.

Methods: Data from three populations were sourced.

A meta-analysis and systematic review of reactivity to judgements of learning.

Judgements of learning (JoL) are often used in memory research as a means for assessing an individual's metacognitive beliefs about their learning. JoL have been shown to reliably predict performance as well as learning behaviours and decisions . Participants may, however, modify their behaviour in response to performing JoL.

Beyond Psychometrics: The Difference between Difficult Problem Solving and Complex Problem Solving.

In this paper we argue that a synthesis of findings across the various sub-areas of research in complex problem solving and consequently progress in theory building is hampered by an insufficient differentiation of complexity and difficulty. In the proposed framework of person, task, and situation (PTS), complexity is conceptualized as a quality that is determined by the cognitive demands that the characteristics of the task and the situation impose. Difficulty represents the quantifiable level of a person's success in dealing with such demands.

Challenges for an interdisciplinary consideration of cognitive training.

Whether fluid cognitive functions are malleable has been a topic of ongoing debate for at least the past 100 years. Ever-evolving technology has led to new and diverse fields of investigation entering this debate. There are significant advantages to be gained by integrating different scientific paradigms, but there are also significant challenges.

Verbal learning and memory following stroke.

Objective: The research examined whether verbal learning and memory impairment previously observed 1 year after left hemisphere stroke endures over a longer period and whether stroke sufferers compensate for their impairments using working memory.

Methodology: Twenty-one persons with left hemisphere lesions; 20 with right hemisphere lesions only and 41 matched controls completed the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R), a working memory test (Letter-Number Sequencing, LNS) and the Boston Naming Test (BNT).

Results: Persons with left hemisphere damage performed more poorly on HVLT-R than controls.

Relational processing following stroke.

The research examined relational processing following stroke. Stroke patients (14 with frontal, 30 with non-frontal lesions) and 41 matched controls completed four relational processing tasks: sentence comprehension, Latin square matrix completion, modified Dimensional Change Card Sorting, and n-back. Each task included items at two or three levels of relational complexity.

Making instruction and assessment responsive to diverse students' progress: group-administered dynamic assessment in teaching mathematics.

This study entailed a 3 (instructional intervention) × 2 (assessment-type) between-subjects experimental design employing a pretest-intervention-posttest methodology. The instructional interventions were administered between subjects in three conditions: (a) dynamic instruction, (b) triarchic or theory of successful intelligence-control instruction, and (c) standard-control instruction. The assessment-type consisted between subjects of either (a) a group-administered dynamic posttest or (b) the same group-administered posttest interspersed with a control filler activity.

Relational processing and working memory capacity in comprehension of relative clause sentences.

Previous research has indicated that the cognitive load imposed by tasks in various content domains increases with the complexity of the relational information processed. Sentence comprehension entails processing noun-verb relations to determine who did what to whom. The difficulty of object-extracted relative clause sentences might stem from the complex noun-verb relations they entail.