Which "working memory" are we talking about? Complex span tasks versus N-back.

Psychologists and neuroscientists often use complex span tasks or the n-back to measure working memory capacity. At first glance, both tasks require many cognitive processes attributed to the construct, including the maintenance of information amidst interference. Nevertheless, evidence for their convergent validity is mixed.

Higher judgements of learning for emotional words: processing fluency or memory beliefs?

Previous research has shown that emotionally-valenced words are given higher judgements of learning (JOLs) than are neutral words. The current study examined potential explanations for this emotional salience effect on JOLs. Experiment 1 replicated the basic emotionality/JOL effect.

How do task characteristics affect learning and performance? The roles of simultaneous, interactive, and continuous tasks.

Why are some tasks more difficult to learn than others? Hoffman et al. (Accelerated expertise: training for high proficiency in a complex world. Psychology Press, New York, 2014) hypothesized that certain task characteristics-termed "dimensions of difficulty"-hindered learning and performance.

Retrieval shifts in spatial skill acquisition are collective rather than item-specific.

How do people improve their ability to intercept moving targets? Prior research and theories of skill acquisition suggest that individuals engage in item-specific retrieval shifts (Anglim & Wynton, 2015; Logan, 1988; Palmeri, 1997; Rickard, 1997, 2004; Touron, 2006; Wilkins & Rawson, 2010). However, this prior research examined performance on nonspatial, nondynamic tasks. In three experiments, we pitted four hypotheses against each other, to test skill acquisition for intercepting repeated trajectories in a spatial and dynamic task: the item-specific algorithmic speedup hypothesis, the item-specific retrieval shift hypothesis, the collective retrieval shift hypothesis, and the combined hypothesis (item-specific algorithmic speedup followed by a collective retrieval shift).

How do task characteristics affect learning and performance? The roles of variably mapped and dynamic tasks.

For well over a century, scientists have investigated individual differences in performance. The majority of studies have focused on either differences in practice, or differences in cognitive resources. However, the predictive ability of either practice or cognitive resources varies considerably across tasks.

Does the acquisition of spatial skill involve a shift from algorithm to memory retrieval?

Performance on verbal and mathematical tasks is enhanced when participants shift from using algorithms to retrieving information directly from memory (Siegler, 1988a). However, it is unknown whether a shift to retrieval is involved in dynamic spatial skill acquisition. For example, do athletes mentally extrapolate the trajectory of the ball, or do they retrieve the future location from memory? To examine this question, 2 experiments were conducted using a task paradigm similar to the game Pong-a ball was launched from 1 side of the screen and participants attempted to position a paddle to intercept the ball.

The Role of Task Understanding on Younger and Older Adults' Performance.

Objectives: Age-related performance decrements have been linked to inferior strategic choices. Strategy selection models argue that accurate task representations are necessary for choosing appropriate strategies. But no studies to date have compared task representations in younger and older adults.

Older Adults' Use of Retrieval Strategies in Everyday Life.

Background: Despite declines in cognitive abilities, older adults often perform comparable to younger adults in everyday tasks [J Am Geriatr Soc 1999;47:172-183]. Older adults may compensate for cognitive declines by using more efficient strategies. People often improve their efficiency by switching from an algorithmic strategy where information is computed or looked-up, to a strategy where the information is retrieved directly from memory [J Exp Psychol Gen 1988;117:258-275].

More than just beliefs: Experience and beliefs jointly contribute to volume effects on metacognitive judgments.

Experience-based cues, such as perceptual fluency, have long been thought to influence metacognitive judgments (Kelley & Jacoby, 1996; Koriat, 1997). Studies found that manipulations of perceptual fluency via changes in font and volume alter Judgments of Learning (JOLs) without influencing memory performance (Rhodes & Castel, 2008, 2009). Nonetheless, recent research (Mueller, Tauber, & Dunlosky, 2013; Mueller, Dunlosky, Tauber, & Rhodes, 2014, 2016) has challenged the notion that experience-based cues such as fluency are the primary basis for item-level JOLs, arguing instead that preexisting beliefs about these manipulations are responsible for these effects.

Validating older adults' reports of less mind-wandering: An examination of eye movements and dispositional influences.

The Control Failures × Concerns theory perspective proposes that mind-wandering occurs, in part, because of failures to inhibit distracting thoughts from entering consciousness (McVay & Kane, 2012). Despite older adults (OAs) exhibiting poorer inhibition, they report less mind-wandering than do young adults (YAs). Proposed explanations include (a) that OAs' thought reports are less valid due to an unawareness of, or reluctance to report, task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) and (b) that dispositional factors protect OAs from mind-wandering.

Switching of ferroelectric polarization in epitaxial BaTiO₃ films on silicon without a conducting bottom electrode.

Epitaxial growth of SrTiO₃ on silicon by molecular beam epitaxy has opened up the route to the integration of functional complex oxides on a silicon platform. Chief among them is ferroelectric functionality using perovskite oxides such as BaTiO₃. However, it has remained a challenge to achieve ferroelectricity in epitaxial BaTiO₃ films with a polarization pointing perpendicular to the silicon substrate without a conducting bottom electrode.

Age differences in strategy shift: retrieval avoidance or general shift reluctance?

Previous studies of metacognitive age differences in skill acquisition strategies have relied exclusively on tasks with a processing shift from an algorithm to retrieval strategy. Older adults' demonstrated reluctance to shift strategies in such tasks could reflect either a specific aversion to a memory retrieval strategy or a general, inertial resistance to strategy change. Haider and Frensch's (1999) alphabet verification task (AVT) affords a non-retrieval-based strategy shift.