Got brains
Big data and the well-being nexus: Tracking Google search activity by state IQ
Michael McDaniel, Bryan Pesta & Allison Gabriel
Intelligence, May–June 2015, Pages 21–29
Abstract:
In the era of “big data,” internet search activity can provide interesting insight into human behavior. Here we used the Google Correlate algorithm (a database tracking billions of user searches) to identify search terms that co-varied most strongly with U.S. state-level IQ and well-being (see Pesta, McDaniel, & Bertsch, 2010). First, we identified the 100 strongest positive (e.g., crock pot applesauce, custom woodworking) and negative (e.g., ASVAB for Dummies, Hello Kitty) search term covariates for state IQ. We then rationally clustered search terms into composites (e.g., “food,” “job seeking activity”) based on similarity of concept. Thereafter, we correlated the composite scores with other well-being variables (e.g., crime, health). Search-term composite scores correlated strongly with all well-being variables. We offer post-hoc explanations for the various composite-score correlations, showing how state differences in internet search activity fit within the “well-being nexus” for the U.S. Moreover, we explore how the use of Google Correlate can inform additional research inquires in this domain.
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Michael Woodley of Menie et al.
Personality and Individual Differences, November 2015, Pages 266–270
Abstract:
The relationship between IQ and completed fertility among a sample of 3520 Americans from MIDUS II (1960's birth cohorts) is examined using a common factor comprised of eight cognitive ability measures, in order to determine the rate of phenotypic IQ loss due to genetic selection. Negative correlations are present in both the male and female subsamples, and are associated with a predicted loss in heritable g (g.h) of − .262 points per decade, increasing to − 1.072 points when the additive effect of mutation accumulation is considered. The ability–fertility associations showed Jensen effects at the level of the whole sample (.167), and also separately for each sex (.185 and .147 for the females and males respectively). The magnitude of the expected g.h loss in this cohort due to selection is comparable to that derived from a meta-analysis of disattenuated decadal g.h declines from eight US studies (− .44 points per decade; N = 127,389). There is a Flynn effect in the US amounting to gains of 3.6 points per decade, which are concentrated on more environmentally plastic and specialized sources of ability variance (s.e) suggesting co-occurrent socio-ecological specialization with respect to narrower cognitive abilities in the present cohort.
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Michael Woodley et al.
Frontiers in Psychology, April 2015
Abstract:
It has been theorized that declines in general intelligence (g) due to genetic selection stemming from the inverse association between completed fertility and IQ and the Flynn effect co-occur, with the effects of the latter being concentrated on less heritable non-g sources of intelligence variance. Evidence for this comes from the observation that 19th century populations were more intellectually productive, and also exhibited faster simple reaction times than modern ones, suggesting greater information-processing ability and therefore higher g. This co-occurrence model is tested via examination of historical changes in the utilization frequencies of words from the highly g-loaded WORDSUM test across 5.9 million texts spanning the period 1850–2005. Consistent with predictions, words with higher difficulties (δ parameters from Item Response Theory) and stronger negative correlations between pass rates and completed fertility declined in use over time whereas less difficult and less strongly selected words, increased in use over time, consistent with a Flynn effect stemming in part from the vocabulary enriching effects of increases in population literacy. These findings persisted when explicitly controlled for word age, changing literacy rates and temporal autocorrelation. These trends constitute compelling evidence for the co-occurrence model.
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When Higher Working Memory Capacity Hinders Insight
Marci DeCaro, Charles Van Stockum & Mareike Wieth
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, forthcoming
Abstract:
Higher working memory capacity (WMC) improves performance on a range of cognitive and academic tasks. However, a greater ability to control attention sometimes leads individuals with higher WMC to persist in using complex, attention-demanding approaches that are suboptimal for a given task. We examined whether higher WMC would hinder insight problem solving, which is thought to rely on associative processes that operate largely outside of close attentional control. In addition, we examined whether characteristics of the insight problems influence whether this negative relationship will be revealed. In Experiment 1, participants completed matchstick arithmetic problems, which require a similar initial problem representation for all problems. Higher WMC was associated with less accurate insight problem solving. In Experiment 2, participants completed insight word problems, which require substantially different representations for each problem. Higher WMC was again negatively associated with insight, but only after statistically controlling for shared variance between insight and incremental problem-solving accuracy. These findings suggest that WMC may benefit performance on fundamental processes common to both incremental and insight problem solving (e.g., initial problem representation), but hinder performance on the processes that are unique to insight (e.g., solution and restructuring). By considering the WMC of the individual, and the nature of the insight task, we may better understand the process of insight and how to best support it.
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Soledad Ballesteros et al.
Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, April 2015
Abstract:
This randomized controlled study (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02007616) investigated the maintenance of training effects of 20 1-hr non-action video game training sessions with selected games from a commercial package on several age-declining cognitive functions and subjective wellbeing after a 3-month no-contact period. Two groups of cognitively normal older adults participated in both the post-training (posttest) and the present follow-up study, the experimental group who received training and the control group who attended several meetings with the research team during the study but did not receive training. Groups were similar at baseline on demographics, vocabulary, global cognition, and depression status. Significant improvements in the trained group, and no variation in the control group had been previously found at posttest, in processing speed, attention and visual recognition memory, as well as in two dimensions of subjective wellbeing. In the current study, improvement from baseline to 3 months follow-up was found only in wellbeing (Affection and Assertivity dimensions) in the trained group whereas there was no change in the control group. Previous significant improvements in processing speed, attention and spatial memory become non-significant after the 3-month interval. Training older adults with non-action video games enhanced aspects of cognition just after training but this effect disappeared after a 3-month no-contact follow-up period. Cognitive plasticity can be induced in older adults by training, but to maintain the benefits periodic boosting sessions would be necessary.
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Emma Wightman et al.
Physiology & Behavior, October 2015, Pages 149–158
Abstract:
Nitrate derived from vegetables is consumed as part of a normal diet and is reduced endogenously via nitrite to nitric oxide. It has been shown to improve endothelial function, reduce blood pressure and the oxygen cost of sub-maximal exercise, and increase regional perfusion in the brain. The current study assessed the effects of dietary nitrate on cognitive performance and prefrontal cortex cerebral blood-flow (CBF) parameters in healthy adults. In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-groups study 40 healthy adults received either placebo or 450 ml beetroot juice (~ 5.5 mmol nitrate). Following a 90 minute drink/absorption period, participants performed a selection of cognitive tasks that activate the frontal cortex for 54 min. Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to monitor CBF and hemodynamics, as indexed by concentration changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated-haemoglobin, in the frontal cortex throughout. The bioconversion of nitrate to nitrite was confirmed in plasma by ozone-based chemi-luminescence. Dietary nitrate modulated the hemodynamic response to task performance, with an initial increase in CBF at the start of the task period, followed by consistent reductions during the least demanding of the three tasks utilised. Cognitive performance was improved on the serial 3s subtraction task. These results show that single doses of dietary nitrate can modulate the CBF response to task performance and potentially improve cognitive performance, and suggest one possible mechanism by which vegetable consumption may have beneficial effects on brain function.
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The effect of implementation intentions on transfer of training
Shlomit Friedman & Simcha Ronen
European Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Two experiments investigated the effect of forming implementation intentions on transfer of training in two training programs. In the first experiment (N = 37), trainees who formed implementation intentions implemented active listening skills sooner, and to a greater degree, than those in the control group. In the second experiment (n = 28), conducted in the field, trainees who formed implementation intentions received a higher performance score for implementing the trained behavior compared with those in the control condition. Results from both experiments provide empirical evidence suggesting that forming implementation intentions at the end of a training program increases the likelihood of using the newly acquired skills.
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Comparing the developmental genetics of cognition and personality over the lifespan
Daniel Briley & Elliot Tucker-Drob
Journal of Personality, forthcoming
Objective: Empirical studies of cognitive ability and personality have tended to operate in isolation of one another. We suggest that returning to a unified approach to considering the development of individual differences in both cognition and personality can enrich our understanding of human development.
Method: We draw on previous meta-analyses of longitudinal, behavior genetic studies of cognition and personality across the lifespan, focusing particular attention on age trends in heritability and differential stability.
Results: Both cognition and personality are moderately heritable and exhibit large increases in stability with age; however, marked differences are evident. First, the heritability of cognition increases substantially with child age, while the heritability of personality decreases modestly with age. Second, increasing stability of cognition with age is overwhelmingly mediated by genetic factors, whereas increasing stability of personality with age is entirely mediated by environmental factors. Third, the maturational time-course of stability differs: Stability of cognition nears its asymptote by the end of the first decade of life, whereas stability of personality takes three decades to near its asymptote.
Conclusions: We discuss how proximal gene-environment dynamics, developmental processes, broad social contexts, and evolutionary pressures may intersect to give rise to these divergent patterns.