Journal of cognitive enhancement : towards the integration of theory and practice最新文献

Visual discrimination training can restore visual functions in the blind field of participants with stroke-induced V1 damage. However, single-stimulus training in this population is limited by spatial specificity. Thus, it requires iterative training over several months to achieve improvement at more than one blind-field location, particularly at sites further from the blind field border (i.e., deeper in the blind field). With neurotypical observers, exogenous spatial attention (SA) facilitates transfer of learning to untrained locations. Here, we asked if SA pre-cues could induce transfer of training deeper into cortically blinded (CB) fields. Twenty CB participants trained on a global motion discrimination task either using a single [primary] stimulus and no cues (Task 1), a single primary stimulus with a large pre-cue deep in the blind field (Task 2), two identical stimuli (primary and deep) with small pre-cues just above them (Task 3), or a single stimulus randomly alternating at a primary and deep blind-field location, forewarned by a small pre-cue above them on each trial (Task 4). Training on Task 1 induced reliable improvements at the primary location, but no transfer of learning deeper in the blind field. The addition of SA pre-cues in Tasks 2-4 induced transfer in more than half the participants, although threshold improvements at primary locations were smaller than for Task 1. We conclude that directing exogenous SA deep in the blind field attracts attention automatically in CB patients and facilitates transfer of learning towards cued locations, even without V1 processing for those regions of space.

Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) allow for investigating the functional involvement of specific brain areas in mental arithmetic. In this study, we employed for the first time high-definition (HD)-tDCS, which offers enhanced spatial precision, to explore the functional roles of the left and right intraparietal sulcus (IPS) in mental arithmetic. A total of 25 participants underwent anodal left IPS, anodal right IPS, and sham stimulation in separate sessions in counterbalanced order while solving single- and multi-step addition and subtraction problems. We found that stimulation of the left IPS, but not the right IPS or sham stimulation, improved arithmetic performance speed. These results provide further evidence for the functional involvement of the left IPS in a broad range of arithmetic tasks and highlight the potential of NIBS for cognitive enhancement.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41465-024-00314-0.

Performance on visual tasks can be improved by practice, a process called visual perceptual learning. However, learning-induced performance improvements are often limited to the specific stimuli and visual field locations used during training. Recent research has shown that variability along task-irrelevant stimulus dimensions during training can reduce this specificity. This has been related to higher stages of visual processing that harbor neurons that are invariant to the task-irrelevant dimension. Here, we test whether task-irrelevant trial-by-trial variability in two visual features for which invariances arise at different stages of processing, contrast, and spatial phase results in different degrees of generalization in space in an orientation discrimination task. We find that randomizing spatial phase results in complete generalization of learning to a new spatial location, contrary to randomizing contrast. Our results thus suggest that the neural population undergoing plasticity in visual perceptual learning is determined by the training task, which, in turn, affects generalization. This lends further support to the hypothesis that task-irrelevant variability is an independent factor in determining the specificity of perceptual learning.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41465-025-00329-1.

Children's ability to accurately monitor their performance is crucial for self-regulated learning and academic achievement, but interventions are rare. We aimed to improve young primary school childrens' (N = 127; M = 7.45 years) uncertainty monitoring with feedback. Participants attended six training sessions in which they received either metacognitive feedback, performance feedback or were assigned to an active control group. In the metacognitive feedback group, children received feedback on the correspondence between their accuracy in a memory task and their uncertainty monitoring (confidence judgments). In the performance feedback group, children received solely feedback on their accuracy in a memory task. In the active control group, children solved attention control tasks. Pre- and post-training, we assessed participants' memory performance in a recognition test and uncertainty monitoring with confidence judgments. Results revealed that metacognitive, but not performance feedback, improved children's uncertainty monitoring from pre- to posttest. However, metacognitive and performance feedback did not improve memory accuracy. The number of required sessions and items per session might be one of the most important aspects to be clarified in future studies.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41465-025-00322-8.

Ethical judgments require clinicians, researchers, research participants, and patients to weigh risks and benefits. Novel treatments for cognitive deficits are rapidly emerging, but little is known about how individual differences in risk and benefit sensitivity influence ethical judgments to administer treatments. The public plays important roles as citizens, taxpayers, and consumers of cognitive treatments, yet little is known about how they evaluate risks and benefits in ethical judgments. We examined the influence of risk and benefit sensitivity on the public's choices about treating cognitive dysfunction. We administered surveys, cognitive measures, and an ethical judgment paradigm to 425 participants recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants were asked to choose whether to recommend a hypothetical cognitive treatment with varying degrees of risks and benefits across seven different cognitive domains. We expected participants to be more risk-sensitive than benefit-sensitive, especially when evaluating treatments that influence cognitive functions central to personal identity such as mood, self-control, and long-term memory. Unexpectedly, participants were slightly more sensitive to benefits and showed inter-domain stability across cognitive dysfunctions. Our results suggest that risks and benefits influence whether the public might recommend cognitive treatments. The relatively higher weight placed on benefits could be explained by prominent theories of decision-making under risk. Overall, this study suggests that judgment tasks can be adapted to study psychological ethical choices about treatments for cognitive deficits. Further study of individual variation in risk and benefit sensitivity and their influence on real-world ethical choices about cognitive repair could inform frameworks to enhance optimal neuroethical decision-making.

During the summer months, school aged children experience a loss in academic gains made over the course of the school year, as well as engage in poorer health behaviors such as decreased physical activity and poor diet that can lead to excess weight gain. This study aimed to assess changes in body composition, fitness, and cognitive abilities in children from low-income households after a summer physical activity program and explored whether time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was related to these changes. Participant's (N = 77) body composition, aerobic fitness (i.e., PACER), and cognitive function (i.e., modified flanker task) were measured during week 1 and week 3. MVPA was collected via hip accelerometer worn during program hours. Paired t-tests and regression analyses were conducted to determine changes between week 1 and 3, whether participation was related to changes in fitness, adiposity, and cognitive function. T-tests revealed significant changes in PACER score (10.71 ± 7.72 to 13.301 ± 10.68; p < 0.001) and incongruent accuracy on the flanker task (65.94% ± 23.83 to 69.00% ± 21.89; p < 0.006), however no significant change in BMI-for-age percentile or body fat percentage was detected. Additionally, regression analyses revealed no significant relationship between change in MVPA or attendance, and changes in PACER, flanker task performance, BMI, or body fat percentage. Children that participated in a summer physical activity program targeted toward children affected by poverty exhibited significant improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive abilities, and no changes in body composition.