The effect of spatial distance on numerical distance processing.

The close relationship between numerical and spatial representation has been widely studied. However, little is known regarding the influence of spatial distance on the processing of numerical distance. The purpose of this study was to examine this relationship by employing a modified numerical Stroop task, in which the spatial distance was either congruent or incongruent with the numerical distance.

The effect of background sounds on mind wandering.

Mind wandering (MW) reflects a situation in which the cognitive system is detached from the main task and involved with inner thoughts. It has been well document that music and other background sounds can have positive effects on number of cognitive functioning. In addition, other body of literature suggests that background sounds might have specifically positive effect on individuals with more attention deficiencies.

Intra-Subject Variability in Mathematical Learning Difficulties.

Objective: Mathematical learning difficulties (MLD) are characterized by difficulties in the understanding and processing of numbers and quantities. While MLD is related mainly to numerical deficits, studies show that this population has several other cognitive difficulties. The current study examined whether the cognitive deficits consisting of cognitive instability in the form of intra-subject variability (ISV) will also characterize the performance of individuals with MLD.

The relationship between sustained attention and automatic versus procedural arithmetic: The case of populations with typical development and subgroups of developmental dyscalculia.

Objective: The differentiation between automatic and procedural processing in arithmetic can be crucial when examining the links between arithmetic and sustained attention, as the latter is suggested to be particularly important in more automatic and monotonous situations. The present study examined the interrelations between sustained attention and arithmetic performance while differentiating, for the first time, between automatic and procedural arithmetic problem solving, and between various groups diagnosed with difficulties in the numerical domain.

Method: The data of 506 students from the national diagnostic system for learning disabilities were used in order to examine this relationship in typically developed population and different groups with developmental dyscalculia (DD): pure DD and DD with attention deficiency.

The effect of proportion manipulation on the size-congruency and distance effects in the numerical Stroop task.

In the numerical Stroop task, participants are presented with two digits that differ in their numerical and physical size and are requested to respond to which digit is numerically larger. Commonly, slower responses are observed when the numerical distance between the digits is small (the distance effect) and when the numerical and physical size are incongruent (the size-congruency effect). The current study will use proportion manipulation, which consists of two experimental lists with high versus low frequency of trials belonging to different conditions, as a tool to reduce these effects.

The perception of subset quantity and items in an environment with distractors in a population with mathematical learning difficulties.

Objective: People often perceive a quantity of specific objects that appear as part of an overall group of items (a subset). This study investigates this type of perception among a population with mathematical leaning difficulties (MLD).

Method: Sixty-two participants (mean age: 26.

ADHD and Interfering Thoughts in High and Low Conflict Conditions.

Background: Individuals with an ADHD diagnosis have increased levels of interfering thoughts, especially in the form of mind wandering. This was mostly investigated in sustained attention tasks; hence it is unclear whether the findings are only due to their difficulties in those types of tasks. Moreover, it is unclear how the amount of control invested in the task will affect those differences between control and ADHD groups.

Examining the effect of perceived performance-contingent gains, losses and errors on arithmetic.

Gains and losses have previously been found to differentially modulate Executive Functions and cognitive performance depending on performance contingency. Following recent findings suggesting that random gains and losses modulate arithmetic performance, the current study aimed to investigate the effect of perceived performance-contingent gains and losses on arithmetic performance. In the current study, an arithmetic equation judgment task was administered, with perceived performance-contingent gain, loss, and error feedback presented upon each trial.

The relationship between the height dimension and numerical processing.

It is well documented that the ability to perceive numbers depends on perception of size. However, size consists of two different dimensions: height and width. In previous size-congruency experiments, the changes in the size dimension were confounded by changes in both the height and width dimensions.

The Connection Between Mind Wandering, ADHD, and Level of Performance on an Attention Task.

ADHD is related to increased mind wandering (MW). However, it is not clear whether this is restricted by the methods used to measure MW in those studies. Moreover, it is not certain whether MW is an independent characteristic of people with ADHD or only due to their poor performance level in the primary task (the task from which attention wanders).

Mexican Hat Modulation of Visual Acuity Following an Exogenous Cue.

Classical models of exogenous attention suggest that attentional enhancement at the focus of attention degrades gradually with distance from the attended location. On the other hand, the Attentional Attraction Field (AAF) model (Baruch and Yeshurun, 2014) suggests that the shift of receptive fields toward the attended location, reported by several physiological studies, leads to a decreased density of RFs at the attentional surrounds and hence the model predicts that the modulation of performance by spatial attention may have the shape of a Mexican Hat. Motivated by these theories, this study presents behavioral evidence in support of a Mexican Hat shaped modulation in exogenous spatial tasks that appears only at short latencies.

Global and Local Visual Processing in Rate/Accuracy Subtypes of Dyslexia.

Words are processed in both a global and local manner. Studies on global versus local processing styles in individuals with and without dyslexia are inconclusive. In the present study, we investigated whether distinct patterns of global/local visual processing were associated with more precisely defined dyslexia profiles.

Accelerating reading via local priming.

Visual nonlinguistic local and global priming can change one's state of mind and influence other upcoming tasks. Reading involves both detailed and higher-level global processing. Little is known about the effects of visual non-linguistic priming on lower level processing of words, as well as about the potentially higher-level processing of written information.

The Influence of Gain and Loss on Arithmetic Performance.

Gain and loss modulation of different aspects of executive functions (EF) has been studied under changing conditions. However, the nature of this effect varies in different EF tasks, as both gain and loss were found to improve performance in specific EF tasks while hindering performance in others. The current study examines the influence of gain and loss stimuli on arithmetic performance.

Task conflict and proactive control: A computational theory of the Stroop task.

The Stroop task is a central experimental paradigm used to probe cognitive control by measuring the ability of participants to selectively attend to task-relevant information and inhibit automatic task-irrelevant responses. Research has revealed variability in both experimental manipulations and individual differences. Here, we focus on a particular source of Stroop variability, the reverse-facilitation (RF; faster responses to nonword neutral stimuli than to congruent stimuli), which has recently been suggested as a signature of task conflict.

Feedback-based probabilistic category learning is selectively impaired in attention/hyperactivity deficit disorder.

Although Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is closely linked to executive function deficits, it has recently been attributed to procedural learning impairments that are quite distinct from the former. These observations challenge the ability of the executive function framework solely to account for the diverse range of symptoms observed in ADHD. A recent neurocomputational model emphasizes the role of striatal dopamine (DA) in explaining ADHD's broad range of deficits, but the link between this model and procedural learning impairments remains unclear.

Cognitive and emotional empathy in typical and impaired readers and its relationship to reading competence.

Studies indicate a strong relationship between empathy and language skills, but the relationship between reading and empathy remains elusive, although a shared neural substrate (the temporoparietal junction; TPJ) has been implicated in both reading and empathy. Motivated by these observations, the purpose of the current study was to examine empathic skills in a large spectrum of reading abilities, including typical readers and individuals with dyslexia, and their relationship to reading competence. We administered the Intrapersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) test, which differentiates between two subscales of empathy (cognitive and emotional empathy), to a group of participants with dyslexia and typical readers.

Activation of the intermediate sum in intentional and automatic calculations.

Most research investigating how the cognitive system deals with arithmetic has focused on the processing of two addends. Arithmetic that involves more addends has specific cognitive demands such as the need to compute and hold the intermediate sum. This study examines the intermediate sums activations in intentional and automatic calculations.

Counting within the subitizing range: the effect of number of distractors on the perception of subset items.

When exploring the mechanisms involved in perceiving numbers we must distinguish between two types of numbers: subset numbers (e.g., perceiving "2" when two plates and one cup are displayed on a table) and the total number of items (e.

Abnormal attentional internetwork link in dyslexic readers.

Objective: Attention ability can be divided into three separate networks (executive, orienting, and alerting) that differ in their function and neurobiology. It has been suggested that the right temporal parietal junction (TPJ) can gate between the orienting and the alerting systems. Because there is converging evidence suggesting that the right TPJ functions abnormally in dyslexia, the current work examines behaviorally the independence of the orienting and the alerting systems in dyslexic readers.

The effect of a preceding cue on the conflict solving mechanism.

In everyday life cues and signs are used in order to improve our performance and to modify and control our behavior. This study examines whether cues can improve the performance of the mental mechanism in charge of solving conflicts when the nature of the irrelevant task remains constant. In two experiments participants performed the Stroop task in which they were asked to name the color of a stimulus while ignoring its meaning.

Counting multidimensional objects: implications for the neural-synchrony theory.

It has been suggested that a neural instantiation of the temporary multidimensional representations of objects might be synchrony of firing between the neurons representing the features that co-occur in a given location. In this article, we direct attention to a logical problem that arises when certain synchrony assumptions are applied to real situations in which multiple multidimensional objects are presented. We demonstrate a new behavioral effect that shows that this logical problem coincides with a genuine behavioral problem.

Stop interfering: Stroop task conflict independence from informational conflict and interference.

Performance of the Stroop task reflects two conflicts-informational (between the incongruent word and ink colour) and task (between relevant colour naming and irrelevant word reading). This is supported by findings showing that the anterior cingulate cortex is more activated by congruent and incongruent stimuli than by nonword neutral stimuli. Previously, researchers demonstrated behavioural evidence for task conflict-a reverse facilitation effect under a reduced task conflict control condition.