Cognitive Processing最新文献

Despite significant public concerns voiced about wearing face masks and reports from healthcare workers of adverse effects on cognition, research into potential adverse effects remains limited. The present trial investigated the effects of wearing a surgical face mask for prolonged periods on cognitive functioning and mood. We tested 42 university students (18-36 years old) using a controlled counterbalanced crossover design that involved a mask session and a control session, separated by 1 week. The two sessions were identical except that on the day of the mask session, participants were asked to wear a surgical mask for at least 8 h and to continue wearing it while visiting our laboratory, during which cognitive performance and mood were assessed as per the control session. Results showed that participants reported feeling less happy and more tense during the mask session compared to no-mask control. Additionally, cognitive performance differed between the two sessions for a selective attention task, reflecting slower response latencies during the mask session, which for the most part appeared to be driven by those who felt anxious wearing the mask. Although significant differences emerged for only two of six mood scales and one of eight cognitive tests, the evidence of adverse effects in a university population signals a need for research investigating vulnerable populations. Individuals with elevated anxiety may be particularly important to target.Trail Registration: This randomized controlled trial was retrospectively registered (ACTRN12620001215910). Date registered: 16/11/2020, retrospectively registered.

In this work, we propose a Distributional Semantic resource enriched with linguistic and lexical information extracted from electronic dictionaries. This resource is designed to bridge the gap between the continuous semantic values represented by distributional vectors and the discrete descriptions provided by general semantics theory. Recently, many researchers have focused on the connection between embeddings and a comprehensive theory of semantics and meaning. This often involves translating the representation of word meanings in Distributional Models into a set of discrete, manually constructed properties, such as semantic primitives or features, using neural decoding techniques. Our approach introduces an alternative strategy based on linguistic data. We have developed a collection of domain-specific co-occurrence matrices derived from two sources: a list of Italian nouns classified into four semantic traits and 20 concrete noun sub-categories and Italian verbs classified by their semantic classes. In these matrices, the co-occurrence values for each word are calculated exclusively with a defined set of words relevant to a particular lexical domain. The resource includes 21 domain-specific matrices, one comprehensive matrix, and a Graphical User Interface. Our model facilitates the generation of reasoned semantic descriptions of concepts by selecting matrices directly associated with concrete conceptual knowledge, such as a matrix based on location nouns and the concept of animal habitats. We assessed the utility of the resource through two experiments, achieving promising outcomes in both the automatic classification of animal nouns and the extraction of animal features.

As people commonly observe dog behaviors like the sudden bursts of physical movement colloquially known as "zoomies," and the canine penchant for sticking their nose out of car windows and for sniffing intently in dog parks, it is not surprising that people generally believe dogs learn and communicate by smell. While people generally discount their own olfactory sensitivity and the importance of smell overall, humans also learn and communicate by smell, in some cases even better than dogs. In this article, we discuss why this information exchange matters for learning and memory and why virtual meetings don't pass the sniff test.

Recent studies have shown that in some reasoning tasks people with Autism Spectrum Disorder perform better than typically developing people. This paper compares four such tasks, namely a syllogistic task, two decision-making tasks, and a task from the heuristics and biases literature, the aim being to identify common structure as well as differences. In the terminology of David Marr's three levels of cognitive systems, the tasks show commonalities on the computational level in terms of the effect of contextual stimuli, though an in-depth analysis of such contexts provides certain distinguishing features in the algorithmic level. We also make some general remarks on our approach, so as to set the stage for further studies in the area which could provide a better understanding of the reasoning process of ASD individuals.

This study explores the impact of inductive and deductive aural vocabulary pre-teaching on word recognition from speech (WRS) among 72 Iranian EFL intermediate learners from a language institute. Participants were randomly divided into three groups: Group A (inductive), Group B (deductive), and Group C (routine instruction of the language institute). Each group consisted of 24 participants, with 12 male and 12 female intermediate EFL learners. Assessments included pre-test, immediate post-test, and delayed post-test. Statistical analyses, including mixed ANOVA, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe tests, and paired samples t-tests, were conducted. Results indicated superior performance in experimental groups with no significant difference between inductive and deductive methods, showcasing lasting effects on WRS. This study provides valuable insights for language educators, learners, curriculum designers, and institutes to enhance EFL listening proficiency through aural vocabulary instructions.

Verification of the effectiveness of motor imagery (MI) has mainly focused on the method of implementing MI, and few studies have assessed individual factors. This study examined the individual differences in MI effects from the viewpoint of the multiple components of working memory. Forty-six healthy subjects (mean age 20.8 years) performed the Stroop Test (central executive within working memory) and reverse chanting (phonological loop within working memory). Then, F-waves were measured at rest for 30 s, the Purdue Pegboard was performed with the non-dominant hand to evaluate finger dexterity (Peg score) before MI, F-waves were measured during 30 s of kinesthetic MI, and the Peg score was evaluated after MI. For statistical analysis, the amplitude F/M ratio and Peg score were used as dependent variables, and the subjects were divided into Good and Poor groups according to cognitive function. The results showed an interaction for the amplitude F/M ratio and Peg score when grouped by reverse inverse chanting. In the subsequent simple main effect analysis, the Peg score was significantly improved after MI in both groups. The amplitude F/M ratio was significantly increased during MI compared to the resting state only in the Poor phonological loop group. Conversely, there was no interaction when the groups were divided by Stroop interference. No relationship was found between individual differences in central executive and changes in hand finger dexterity and spinal motor nerve excitability induced by MI. However, there may be a relationship between individual differences in phonological loops and changes in MI-induced finger dexterity and spinal motor nerve excitability.

This review explores the multifaceted nature of age-related decline in source memory and associative memory. The review highlights the potential effects of age-related decline in these types of memory. By integrating insights from behavioral, cognitive, and neuroscientific research, it examines how encoding, retrieval, and neural mechanisms influence this decline. Understanding these processes is critical to alleviate memory decline in older adults. Directing attention to source information during encoding, employing unitization techniques to strengthen memory associations, and utilizing metacognitive strategies to focus on relevant details show promise in enhancing memory retrieval for older adults. However, the review acknowledges limitations in processing resources and executive function, necessitating a nuanced approach to the complexities of age-related decline. In conclusion, this review underscores the importance of understanding the complexities of age-related source and associative memory decline and the potential benefits of specific cognitive strategies. It emphasizes the need for continued research on age-related memory function to improve the quality of life for aging populations.

The current study focuses on how autistic adults utilize context to determine whether ambiguous utterances (e.g., "I'm thirsty") are intended as indirect requests or as literal comment/questions. Two questions are addressed: (1) How do autistic adults compare to neurotypical adults in using context to interpret an utterance's intention as either literal or a request? (2) What cognitive mechanisms correlate with indirect request interpretation, and are these different for participants in each group? Twenty-six autistic and 26 neurotypical college students participated, engaging in an online experiment where they read narratives that ended with utterances open to literal or request interpretations, based on context. After each narrative, participants selected the best paraphrase of the utterance from two options, literal versus request. Following this task, participants completed two mentalizing measures (a false belief and emotion-identification task) and several executive functioning tests. The best model for predicting paraphrase choice included scores on the emotion-identification task and context as main effects, along with the interaction between both. Participants with higher emotion-identification test scores were more likely to provide correct paraphrases. Models including group as a main effect and/or interaction were not better at fitting the data, nor were any models that included executive functioning measures as main effects or interactions. Emotion-identification test scores, but not autism diagnosis, predict how adults infer whether an utterance is a request. Findings suggest that autistic adults use context similarly to neurotypical adults when interpreting requests, and that similar processes underlie performance for each group.

Retrieving information from memory enhances long-term retention. In this manuscript, we describe the dual-memory framework, which makes interval-scale predictions of the magnitude of this retrieval practice effect. After outlining the framework, we use data from our laboratory—both at the group level and at the distribution level—to fit the equations from the dual-memory framework. Overall, we successfully fitted the model predictions to the observed average data. In addition, we compared the predicted and the observed distributions of performance in the retrieval practice condition. More importantly, we introduce a useful approach to simulate empirical scenarios and test the relationship between individual-difference variables and the retrieval practice effect. We illustrate the application of this approach using data from a study that measured fluid intelligence. Future studies may benefit from contrasting different strength-based frameworks.

Dynamic assessment is an approach that aims to improve student performance through interventions. One of the important application areas of dynamic assessment is the assessment of intelligence. Within the scope of the study, after a Cognitive intervention program (CIP) was developed, its effects on intelligence scores were examined with a quasi-experimental research method. The CIP was prepared by adopting a dynamic assessment approach to improve the performance of students with expert support. This improvement would be provided by the clues and feedback given during the intervention within the scope of the CIP. The sample of the study included 173 students in the 5–6 age group (83 experimental group, 90 control group). The CIP developed by the researcher consisted of 54 worksheets and was applied to the experimental group for 9 weeks. The implementation of the worksheets was supervised by classroom teachers. The digital application of the Anadolu-Sak Intelligence Scale (d-ASIS) and Raven’s colored progressive matrices (RCPM) were applied to both the experimental and control groups as pretests and posttests. The increases in the intelligence scores of the experimental and control groups were analyzed by MANOVA. The analysis showed that the intelligence levels of the experimental group increased significantly more than the control group in terms of both d-ASIS and RCPM total gain scores (posttest to pretest). This result indicated that the CIP, which was developed by adopting a dynamic assessment approach, supported cognitive development.