State of Mind
Does Retirement Affect Cognitive Functioning?
Eric Bonsang, Stéphane Adam & Sergio Perelman
Journal of Health Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper analyses the effect of retirement on cognitive functioning using a longitudinal survey among older Americans, which allows controlling for individual heterogeneity and endogeneity of the retirement decision by using the eligibility age for social security as an instrument. The results highlight a significant negative effect of retirement on cognitive functioning. Our findings suggest that reforms aimed at promoting labour force participation at an older age may not only ensure the sustainability of social security systems but may also create positive health externalities for older individuals.
----------------------
Executive Functions Predict the Success of Top-Soccer Players
Torbjörn Vestberg et al.
PLoS ONE, April 2012
Abstract:
While the importance of physical abilities and motor coordination is non-contested in sport, more focus has recently been turned toward cognitive processes important for different sports. However, this line of studies has often investigated sport-specific cognitive traits, while few studies have focused on general cognitive traits. We explored if measures of general executive functions can predict the success of a soccer player. The present study used standardized neuropsychological assessment tools assessing players' general executive functions including on-line multi-processing such as creativity, response inhibition, and cognitive flexibility. In a first cross-sectional part of the study we compared the results between High Division players (HD), Lower Division players (LD) and a standardized norm group. The result shows that both HD and LD players had significantly better measures of executive functions in comparison to the norm group for both men and women. Moreover, the HD players outperformed the LD players in these tests. In the second prospective part of the study, a partial correlation test showed a significant correlation between the result from the executive test and the numbers of goals and assists the players had scored two seasons later. The results from this study strongly suggest that results in cognitive function tests predict the success of ball sport players.
----------------------
Socioeconomic status modifies interest-knowledge associations among adolescents
Elliot Tucker-Drob & Daniel Briley
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Researchers have recently taken a renewed interest in examining the patterns by which noncognitive traits and cognitive traits relate to one another. Few researchers, however, have examined the possibility that such patterns might differ according to environmental context. Using data from a nationally representative sample of approximately 375,000 students from 1300 high schools in the United States, we examined the relations between socioeconomic status (SES), interests, and knowledge in eleven academic, vocational/professional, and recreational domains. We found little support for the hypothesis that SES-related differences in levels of interest mediate SES-related differences in levels of knowledge. In contrast, we found robust and consistent support for the hypothesis that SES moderates interest-knowledge associations. For 10 out of 11 of the knowledge domains examined, the interest-knowledge association was stronger for individuals living in higher SES contexts. Moderation persisted after controlling for an index of general intelligence. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that low SES inhibits individuals from selectively investing their time and attention in learning experiences that are consistent with their interests.
----------------------
Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient Noise on Creative Cognition
Ravi Mehta, Rui (Juliet) Zhu & Amar Cheema
Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper examines how ambient noise, an important environmental variable, can affect creativity. Results from five experiments demonstrate that a moderate (70 dB) versus low (50 dB) level of ambient noise enhances performance on creative tasks and increases the buying likelihood of innovative products. A high level of noise (85 dB), on the other hand, hurts creativity. Process measures reveal that a moderate (vs. low) level of noise increases processing difficulty, inducing a higher construal level and thus promoting abstract processing, which subsequently leads to higher creativity. A high level of noise, however, reduces the extent of information processing and thus impairs creativity.
----------------------
R.T. Pivik et al.
Physiology & Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
To determine the influence of a morning meal on complex mental functions in children (8-11 y), time-frequency analyses were applied to electroencephalographic (EEG) activity recorded while children solved simple addition problems after an overnight fast and again after having either eaten or skipped breakfast. Power of low frequency EEG activity [2 Hertz (Hz) bands in the 2-12 Hz range] was determined from recordings over frontal and parietal brain regions associated with mathematical thinking during mental calculation of correctly answered problems. Analyses were adjusted for background variables known to influence or reflect the development of mathematical skills, i.e., age and measures of math competence and math fluency. Relative to fed children, those who continued to fast showed greater power increases in upper theta (6-8 Hz) and both alpha bands (8-10 Hz; 10-12 Hz) across sites. Increased theta suggests greater demands on working memory. Increased alpha may facilitate task-essential activity by suppressing non-task-essential activity. Fasting children also had greater delta (2-4 Hz) and greater lower-theta (4-6 Hz) power in left frontal recordings-indicating a region-specific emphasis on both working memory for mental calculation (theta) and activation of processes that suppress interfering activity (delta). Fed children also showed a significant increase in correct responses while children who continued to fast did not. Taken together the findings suggest that neural network activity involved in processing numerical information is functionally enhanced and performance is improved in children who have eaten breakfast, whereas greater mental effort is required for this mathematical thinking in children who skip breakfast.
----------------------
An increase of intelligence measured by the WPPSI in China, 1984-2006
Jianghong Liu et al.
Intelligence, March-April 2012, Pages 139-144
Abstract:
Normative data for 5-6 year olds on the Chinese Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) are reported for samples tested in 1984 and 2006. There was a significant increase in Full Scale IQ of 4.53 points over the 22 year period, representing a gain of 2.06 IQ points per decade. There were also significant increases in Verbal IQ of 4.27 points and in Performance IQ of 4.08 points.
----------------------
Ageing, cognitive abilities and retirement
Fabrizio Mazzonna & Franco Peracchi
European Economic Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
We investigate the relationship between ageing, cognitive abilities and retirement using the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), a household panel that offers the possibility of comparing several European countries using nationally representative samples of the population aged 50+. The human capital framework suggests that retirement may cause an increase in cognitive decline, since after retirement individuals lose the market incentive to invest in cognitive repair activities. Our empirical results, based on an instrumental variable strategy to deal with the potential endogeneity of retirement, confirm this key prediction. They also indicate that education plays a fundamental role in explaining heterogeneity in the level of cognitive abilities.
----------------------
The moderating role of executive functioning in older adults' responses to a reminder of mortality
Molly Maxfield et al.
Psychology and Aging, March 2012, Pages 256-263
Abstract:
In previous research, older adults responded to mortality salience (MS) with increased tolerance, whereas younger persons responded with increased punitiveness. One possible explanation for this is that many older adults adapt to challenges of later life, such as the prospect of mortality, by becoming more flexible. Recent studies suggest that positively oriented adaptation is more likely for older adults with high levels of executive functioning. Thus, we hypothesized that the better an older adult's executive functioning, the more likely MS would result in increased tolerance. Older and younger adults were randomly assigned to MS or control conditions, and then evaluated moral transgressors. As in previous research, younger adults were more punitive after reminders of mortality; executive functioning did not affect their responses. Among older adults, high functioning individuals responded to MS with increased tolerance rather than intolerance, whereas those low in functioning became more punitive.
----------------------
Rapidly Measuring the Speed of Unconscious Learning: Amnesics Learn Quickly and Happy People Slowly
Zoltan Dienes, Roland Baddeley & Ashok Jansari
PLoS ONE, March 2012
Background: We introduce a method for quickly determining the rate of implicit learning.
Methodology/Principal Findings: The task involves making a binary prediction for a probabilistic sequence over 10 minutes; from this it is possible to determine the influence of events of a different number of trials in the past on the current decision. This profile directly reflects the learning rate parameter of a large class of learning algorithms including the delta and Rescorla-Wagner rules. To illustrate the use of the method, we compare a person with amnesia with normal controls and we compare people with induced happy and sad moods.
Conclusions/Significance: Learning on the task is likely both associative and implicit. We argue theoretically and demonstrate empirically that both amnesia and also transient negative moods can be associated with an especially large learning rate: People with amnesia can learn quickly and happy people slowly.
----------------------
IQ tests are not for machines, yet
David Dowe & José Hernández-Orallo
Intelligence, March-April 2012, Pages 77-81
Abstract:
Complex, but specific, tasks - such as chess or Jeopardy! - are popularly seen as milestones for artificial intelligence (AI). However, they are not appropriate for evaluating the intelligence of machines or measuring the progress in AI. Aware of this delusion, Detterman has recently raised a challenge prompting AI researchers to evaluate their artefacts against IQ tests. We agree that the philosophy behind (human) IQ tests is a much better approach to machine intelligence evaluation than these specific tasks, and also more practical and informative than the Turing test. However, we have first to recall some work on machine intelligence measurement which has shown that some IQ tests can be passed by relatively simple programs. This suggests that the challenge may not be so demanding and may just work as a sophisticated CAPTCHA, since some types of tests might be easier than others for the current state of AI. Second, we show that an alternative, formal derivation of intelligence tests for machines is possible, grounded in (algorithmic) information theory. In these tests, we have a proper mathematical definition of what is being measured. Third, we re-visit some research done in the past fifteen years for effectively measuring machine intelligence - since some assumptions about the subjects and their distribution no longer hold.
----------------------
Most Reported Genetic Associations with General Intelligence Are Probably False Positives
Christopher Chabris et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
General intelligence (g) and virtually all other behavioral traits are heritable. Associations between g and specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in several candidate genes involved in brain function have been reported. We sought to replicate published associations between 12 specific genetic variants and g using three independent, longitudinal datasets of 5571, 1759, and 2441 well-characterized individuals. Of 32 independent tests across all three datasets, only one was nominally significant at the p < .05 level. By contrast, power analyses showed that we should have expected 10-15 significant associations, given reasonable assumptions for genotype effect sizes. As positive controls, we confirmed accepted genetic associations for Alzheimer disease and body mass index, and we used SNP-based relatedness calculations to replicate estimates that about half of the variance in g is accounted for by common genetic variation among individuals. We conclude that different approaches than candidate genes are needed in the molecular genetics of psychology and social science.
----------------------
Classical pattern recall tests and the prospective nature of expert performance
Adam Gorman, Bruce Abernethy & Damian Farrow
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
It is well established that experts are particularly adept at recalling and/or recognizing the key features of domain-relevant patterns. We compared the recall performance of expert and novice basketball players when viewing static and moving patterns. A novel method of analysis was used where the accuracy of the participants in recalling player positions was compared to actual player positions both at the final frame of pattern presentation and at 50 successive 40 ms increments thereafter. Experts encoded the locations of the players in both the static and moving patterns significantly further in advance of their actual finishing point than did nonexperts. Experts' use of an anticipatory encoding process, which was of a magnitude unmatched by nonexperts, suggests that many previous investigations may have underestimated the extent of the expert advantage in pattern recall.
----------------------
The Power of Diversity over Large Solution Spaces
Marco LiCalzi & Oktay Surucu
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
We consider a team of agents with limited problem-solving ability facing a disjunctive task over a large solution space. We provide sufficient conditions for the following four statements. First, two heads are better than one: a team of two agents will solve the problem even if neither agent alone would be able to. Second, teaming up does not guarantee success: if the agents are not sufficiently creative, even a team of arbitrary size may fail to solve the problem. Third, defendit numerus: when the agent's problem-solving ability is adversely affected by the complexity of the solution space, the solution of the problem requires only a mild increase in the size of the team. Fourth, groupthink impairs the power of diversity: if agents' abilities are positively correlated, a larger team is necessary to solve the problem.
----------------------
Working memory training: Improving intelligence - Changing brain activity
Norbert Jaušovec & Ksenija Jaušovec
Brain and Cognition, July 2012, Pages 96-106
Abstract:
The main objectives of the study were: to investigate whether training on working memory (WM) could improve fluid intelligence, and to investigate the effects WM training had on neuroelectric (electroencephalography - EEG) and hemodynamic (near-infrared spectroscopy - NIRS) patterns of brain activity. In a parallel group experimental design, respondents of the working memory group after 30 h of training significantly increased performance on all tests of fluid intelligence. By contrast, respondents of the active control group (participating in a 30-h communication training course) showed no improvements in performance. The influence of WM training on patterns of neuroelectric brain activity was most pronounced in the theta and alpha bands. Theta and lower-1 alpha band synchronization was accompanied by increased lower-2 and upper alpha desynchronization. The hemodynamic patterns of brain activity after the training changed from higher right hemispheric activation to a balanced activity of both frontal areas. The neuroelectric as well as hemodynamic patterns of brain activity suggest that the training influenced WM maintenance functions as well as processes directed by the central executive. The changes in upper alpha band desynchronization could further indicate that processes related to long term memory were also influenced.
----------------------
Anders Ericsson & Jerad Moxley
Applied Cognitive Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In this issue Howard reported that the effect of chess study is surprisingly small among elite chess players, who continue playing more games in international chess tournaments. In contrast, we show that individual differences in chess study are the likely causes of both higher chess ratings and more chess games played in international tournaments, which is often very costly and includes airfare, hotel, and tournament registration fees. The low correlation between his estimates of study time and chess rating is shown to be a consequence of his methodology of relying on a couple of questions in an internet survey rather than the standard methodology in expert performance research involving a 30-minute interview tracing yearly engagement in many different practice activities.
----------------------
Jessica Payne et al.
PLoS ONE, March 2012
Abstract:
Numerous studies have examined sleep's influence on a range of hippocampus-dependent declarative memory tasks, from text learning to spatial navigation. In this study, we examined the impact of sleep, wake, and time-of-day influences on the processing of declarative information with strong semantic links (semantically related word pairs) and information requiring the formation of novel associations (unrelated word pairs). Participants encoded a set of related or unrelated word pairs at either 9am or 9pm, and were then tested after an interval of 30 min, 12 hr, or 24 hr. The time of day at which subjects were trained had no effect on training performance or initial memory of either word pair type. At 12 hr retest, memory overall was superior following a night of sleep compared to a day of wakefulness. However, this performance difference was a result of a pronounced deterioration in memory for unrelated word pairs across wake; there was no sleep-wake difference for related word pairs. At 24 hr retest, with all subjects having received both a full night of sleep and a full day of wakefulness, we found that memory was superior when sleep occurred shortly after learning rather than following a full day of wakefulness. Lastly, we present evidence that the rate of deterioration across wakefulness was significantly diminished when a night of sleep preceded the wake period compared to when no sleep preceded wake, suggesting that sleep served to stabilize the memories against the deleterious effects of subsequent wakefulness. Overall, our results demonstrate that 1) the impact of 12 hr of waking interference on memory retention is strongly determined by word-pair type, 2) sleep is most beneficial to memory 24 hr later if it occurs shortly after learning, and 3) sleep does in fact stabilize declarative memories, diminishing the negative impact of subsequent wakefulness.
----------------------
Why Do People Move Their Eyes When They Think?
Howard Ehrlichman & Dragana Micic
Current Directions in Psychological Science, April 2012, Pages 96-100
Abstract:
The saccadic eye movements that people make when thinking have been largely ignored in the eye-movement literature. Nevertheless, there is evidence that such eye movements are systematically related to internal thought processes. On average, people move their eyes about twice as often when searching through long-term memory as they do when engaged in tasks that do not require such search. This pattern occurs when people are in face-to-face situations, when they are in the dark, and when they have their eyes closed. Because these eye movements do not appear to serve visual processing, we refer to them as "nonvisual" eye movements and discuss why the eyes move during thinking that does not involve vision.
----------------------
Gummed-up memory: Chewing gum impairs short-term recall
Michail Kozlov, Robert Hughes & Dylan Jones
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, March 2012, Pages 501-513
Abstract:
Several studies have suggested that short-term memory is generally improved by chewing gum. However, we report the first studies to show that chewing gum impairs short-term memory for both item order and item identity. Experiment 1 showed that chewing gum reduces serial recall of letter lists. Experiment 2 indicated that chewing does not simply disrupt vocal-articulatory planning required for order retention: Chewing equally impairs a matched task that required retention of list item identity. Experiment 3 demonstrated that manual tapping produces a similar pattern of impairment to that of chewing gum. These results clearly qualify the assertion that chewing gum improves short-term memory. They also pose a problem for short-term memory theories asserting that forgetting is based on domain-specific interference given that chewing does not interfere with verbal memory any more than tapping. It is suggested that tapping and chewing reduce the general capacity to process sequences.