Unit 2 Multiple Choice and Short Answer

Question 1

What are the three main educationally relevant abilities, and how do they interact?

Answer 1

EF is a domain general ability, while math and reading are domain specific abilities, and EF drives specialization of neural circuits for math and reading

Question 2

domain general vs. domain specific

Answer 2

domain general areas (e.g., executive function) are applicable to many areas of life, whereas domain specific areas (e.g., math and reading) are applicable only in specific contexts

Question 3

What is “cool” cognition, and where does it occur?

Answer 3

refers to reasoning and planning, occurs in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)

Question 4

What is “hot” emotional regulation, and where does it occur?

Answer 4

refers to aspects of social cognition and selecting appropriate behaviors (inhibition of rash, unjustifiable actions), occurs in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC)

Question 5

What is attention?

Answer 5

the ability to focus awareness on one stimulus, thought, or action with ignoring others (like a filter); many models and theories for attention exist, and some overlap, so it gets confusing

Question 6

selective attention

Answer 6

what we attend to at any level of arousal…can be voluntary/endogenous (cued) or involuntary/exogenous (loud noise or flash of light)

Question 7

2 proposed pathways of attention

Answer 7

1. Bottom-up
2. Top-down

Question 8

Bottom-up pathway of attention

Answer 8

information from the world is filtered immediately and automatically at the level of perception before neural representations form (salience filters)

Question 9

Top-down pathway of attention

Answer 9

working memory uses conscious decision making to adjust control of what we focus on/attend to, and sensitivity control regulates signal strength based on this conscious allocation of attention

Question 10

sensitivity control (functional component of attention)

Answer 10

regulation of signal strength based on conscious allocation of attention by working memory; implicated in top-down pathway of attention

Question 11

salience filters (functional component of attention)

Answer 11

automatic filtering at the level of attention (i.e., ignoring things immediately without having process with our senses); heavily implicated in the bottom-up pathway of attention

Question 12

competitive selection (functional component of attention)

Answer 12

answers “What gains access to working memory?” We have limited resources and can’t pay attention to everything, which is where competitive selection comes into play

Question 13

What is the “spotlight” idea of attention?

Answer 13

the central visual field is often the focus of our attention, and we can move it around “like a spotlight,” ignoring or blurring out other peripheral inputs and enhancing visual processing of the spotlighted part of the scene; can be moved voluntarily or automatically drawn to salient stimuli

Question 14

4 different conceptions of attention

Answer 14

1. Overt vs. covert
2. Bottom-up vs. top-down
3. Exogenous vs. endogenous
4. Three attention networks

Question 15

overt vs. covert attention

Answer 15

1. Overt attention: turn your body/head/eyes towards the thing you are attending to; often measured via eye-tracking
2. Covert attention: location you are facing/looking at is different than where you are focusing your attention

Both are voluntary attention and implicated in the cocktail party effect

Question 16

cocktail party effect

Answer 16

phenomenon of the brain’s ability to focus attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, such as when a partygoer can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room; this is a direct implication of overt vs. covert attention - can attend to conversation across room without diverting eyes

Question 17

How is the cocktail party effect tested in the lab?

Answer 17

via dichotic listening, i.e., two different inputs are played into each ear, but listener is able to focus attention on one or the other and repeat the input; this is powerful because with limited attentional resources, we can tell that recital of input is directed by purposeful attention (overt or covert)

Question 18

spatial cueing paradigm

Answer 18

Keep your eyes focused on the + and you will see a cue telling you where the * will appear. The task is to raise the according hand (L or R) as quickly as you can when you see the target, which is a dot appearing.

80% of trials are “valid condition,” where the cue matches the target location, while 20% are “invalid condition,” where the cue does not match the target location.

Shows that responses to invalid trials take longer, indicating the need to move attentional spotlight.

Question 19

ERP analysis of spatial attention

Answer 19

1. In auditory tests, ERP shows increased neural response (larger N1 peak) to the attended location/auditory stream (L or R ear) relative to the unattended stream (other ear)
2. In spatial cueing paradigm tests (visual), spiking in occipital lobe contralateral to spotlight of attention is greater (larger P1 peak) than ipsilateral

Question 20

How does ERP P1 relate to perception?

Answer 20

P1 from visual stimulus is usually related to perception; notable in ERP analysis of spatial attention, which shows heightened P1 peak with attention

Question 21

Is spatial attention represented ipsilaterally or contralaterally in the brain?

Answer 21

contralaterally; seen in fMRI as well as ERP analysis of spatial cueing paradigm

Question 22

fMRI analysis of spatial attention

Answer 22

For visual attention (in spatial cueing paradigm), we see increased activity in areas contralateral to spotlight; this correlates with the larger P1 peak of ERP in occipital lobe contralateral to spotlight

Question 23

space-based attention

Answer 23

process that allocates attention to a specific region, or location(s), in the visual field, whereas object-based attention directs attention to coherent forms or objects in visual space; this is the process in the flashing trees from the Sphinx GIF in class

Question 24

What brain region is dedicated to attention?

Answer 24

no lone area of the brain specifically dedicated to attention, instead a distributed frontal-parietal network; no strict localization, more like nodes in a distributed network

Top-down and bottom-up attention have two unique neural representations within this frontal-parietal network (see other slides for the brain regions implicated in each)

Question 25

brain regions involved in the top-down attention network

Answer 25

1. IPS/superior parietal lobe
2. Frontal eye fields (FEF)

Question 26

brain regions involved in the bottom-up attention network

Answer 26

1. Ventral frontal cortex (VFC)
2. Temporal parietal junction (TPJ)

Question 27

attention network test (ANT)

Answer 27

Subjects in fMRI looking at a + in the middle of the screen. Cue (*) appears then disappears, then target (multiple pointing arrows) appears. The goal is to determine the direction of the middle arrow.

Can be heavily manipulated by researchers to include multiple cues, omit cues, or even change target types.

This was used to test/identify the three attention networks: Alerting and Orienting networks active during cue phase, but conflict during target phase.

Question 28

3 attention networks

Answer 28

As determined via attention networks test (ANT):
1. Alerting
2. Orienting
3. Executive

Question 29

brain regions involved in alerting attention network

Answer 29

1. TPJ
2. DLPFC
3. Insula
4. Thalamus
5. Locus coeruleus

Question 30

brain regions involved in orienting attention network

Answer 30

1. SPL/IPS
2. FEF
3. Cerebellum
4. Superior colliculus

Question 31

brain regions involved in executive attention network

Answer 31

1. PFC
2. Anterior cingulate (ACC)

Question 32

Can attention be trained in children?

Answer 32

Deployment of the attention networks test (ANT) using rubber duck targets was used as an intervention to attempt to train attention abilities in children: this study revealed a very limited ability to train attention in children, but revealed that orienting and executive attention naturally improve with age (but not alerting)

Question 33

How do the 3 attention networks change with age?

Answer 33

alerting network shows no improvement with age, but orienting and executive networks show natural improvement with age

Question 34

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Answer 34

disorder characterized by inappropriate impulsiveness, attention problems, and hyperactivity; there are 3 types of ADHD, and a slew of diagnostic critera (see other slides for these)

Question 35

3 types of ADHD

Answer 35

Nowadays, we don’t talk about ADD vs. ADHD, instead we lump types of attention disorders into “3 types of ADHD:”
1. Consistently inattentive (old ADD)
2. Hyperactive and compulsive
3. Combined

Question 36

diagnostic criteria of ADHD

Answer 36

1. Must be before age 7
2. Must continue for at least 6 months
3. Must be more frequent and severe than other children who are the same age
4. Must create handicap in at least two areas of the person’s life

Question 37

prevalence of ADHD

Answer 37

1. Identified in every country and culture studied, but rates vary
2. Between 1%-9% of all school-age children worldwide
3. ADHD males outnumber ADHD females 9 to 1
4. Symptoms typically emerge between 3 and 5 years of age
5. Persists into adulthood for up to 2/3 of those diagnosed as children

Question 38

risk factors of ADHD

Answer 38

combination of genetic and environmental interactons:
1. Environmental
- premature birth/low birth weight
- Maternal tobacco or alcohol use
- Lead exposure in childhood
- Brain injury
2. Genetic
- Heritability = 0.80
- Children w/ identical twin w/ ADHD 11-18x more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD
- Between 50%-92% of individuals with ADHD twins will eventually be diagnosed themselves

Question 39

structural neural correlates of ADHD

Answer 39

1. Slower brain growth (e.g., brains of 11 year olds’ with ADHD look like 8 year olds’)
2. Smaller PFC, cerebellum, and basal ganglia in young boys with ADHD
3. Reduced whole-brain working memory connectivity (measured via DTI)

Question 40

functional neural correlates of ADHD

Answer 40

1. Underactive PFC compared to neurotypical children of same age
2. Extra activation within DMN
3. Theta/beta ratio as FDA-approved EEG marker of ADHD

Question 41

chemical neural correlates of ADHD

Answer 41

dopamine insuffiency (too little DA or too few receptors)

Question 42

treatments for ADHD

Answer 42

Treatment of symptoms typically includes medication, along with psychosocial, behavioral, and educational interventions:
1. Medication
- Amphetamines (Adderall)
- Methylphenidate (Ritalin)
- Off-label (Wellbutrin, modafinil)
2. Therapy
- Family training (setting expectations, rewards)
- Cognitive/behavioral (in older children)

Question 43

brain regions involved in working memory

Answer 43

Frontal parietal network:
1. DLPFC (same as “cool” cognition)
2. Parts of parietal lobe (like PPC)

Question 44

long term memory vs. short term memory

Answer 44

1. LTM is more permanent, while STM is briefly held info
2. LTM has unlimited storage with lots of subcategories, while STM has limited capacity with different modalities

Question 45

2 types of long term memory

Answer 45

1. Declarative (explicit) - facts and events
2. Nondeclarative (implicit) - skills, conditioning, etc.

Question 46

learning vs. memory

Answer 46

learning is the acquisition of skills, etc., while memory is the storage of these acquired elements

Question 47

multi-store model of memory (aka the dual store model)

Answer 47

model that attempts to depict how memory is formed; implicates a “third” type of memory that is sensory memory, which is even shorter term than STM

Question 48

working memory (WM)

Answer 48

holds informaton for a brief time after it’s attended to so that it can be mentally processed when active thinking occurs (e.g., remembering a phone number); is multi-modal (visual + auditory) and has a duration of 10-15sec that can be extended via rehearsal

Question 49

What is the capacity of working memory (WM)?

Answer 49

5 to 9 items (avg. of 7), but strategies such as chunking (grouping info to reduce WM load) can improve the capacity

Question 50

components of working memory (WM) map

Answer 50

Question 51

How does distraction affect WM?

Answer 51

if we prevent rehearsal (remembering string of letters in class), WM capacity drops off very, very quickly

Question 52

N-back task

Answer 52

Raise your hand when you see a number that was shown exactly N numbers back; requires both manipulation and maintenance

Question 53

brain regions correlated with working memory (via N-back task)

Answer 53

As N-back gets harder, activity increases in the:
1. DLPFC
2. Parietal lobe (posterior parietal cortex, PPC)

Shows the parietal-frontal basis of working memory…frontal lobe lesion patients perform poorly for 2+ back tests

Question 54

What is the neural correlation between attention and WM?

Answer 54

DLFPC and posterior parietal cortex (PPC) recruited for both types of EF; shared mechanisms

Question 55

How do WM abilities change with development?

Answer 55

For both visual and auditory WM, adults do far better on WM tasks than children, and children’s performance drops off more rapidly as difficulty of task increases; the same fronto-parietal network is recruited in both adults and children, but children show less activity

Question 56

Can WM be trained (4 studies)?

Answer 56

1. 3 participants did three WM tasks over five months, pre/post MRI…results showed increased prefrontal and parietal activation after training.
2. 8 participants did WM tasks over five months, with fMRI scanned intermittently…results showed increased prefrontal, parietal, thalamic/caudate activation after training, and increased activity correlated with increased performance.
3. 42 children with poor WM were assigned to either an adaptive (became progressively harder) or non-adaptive (stayed at easy level of 2 items, like 2-back test) program, and in school, were trained on a battery of WM tasks that involved storage and manipulation of info for 20 days over 5-7 weeks…results showed improved STM and WM performance in adaptive group, showing that remediation of WM deficits is possible.

However,

4. Meta-analysis shows that music training, chess training, and WM training have very little effect sizes when there is an active control (like reading a crossword puzzle). This indicates that it’s not just WM training that yields benefits, but also other cognitively-demanding tasks, leading to the point below.

Current view is that we should move AWAY from WM training (and other far transfer approaches) and move toward specific study strategies for LTM (spaced vs. massed practice, testing vs. restudying, etc.)

Question 57

short term memory (STM) vs. working memory (WM)

Answer 57

often used interchangeably, but are defined in different contexts depending on the researcher…some believe STM is storing a memory for a short period of time (repeat words back to me), while WM is storing and manipulating/working with a memory that is stored for a short period of time (repeat words back to me backwards)

Question 58

Can WM training improve general intelligence?

Answer 58

2008 study seemed to show that WM training improved N-back level as well as gains on standard intelligence tests, but WM (esp. backwards digit span) strongly correlates to performance on an IQ test…that begs the question: is it really improved intelligence or is it just improvement on these tests? ties into the idea that WM training might be far transfer to general intelligence

Question 59

transfer

Answer 59

training on one skill/task impacts performance on other tasks; can be positive (skills in one domain help in the other), negative (skills in one domain interfere in the other), and near (trained and transfer tasks are similar, like skiing and snowboarding) or far (trained and transfer tasks are dissimilar)

Question 60

observational vs. experimental evidence of brain training programs

Answer 60

Observational: elderly people who are more cognitively active - less likely to become demented
Experimental: randomized groups, controls, blinded conditions

While observational evidence may provide a lead, we should use experimental evidence to assess efficacy.

Question 61

Lumosity observational study

Answer 61

Lumosity advertised that the app would prevent cognitive decline and improve daily function on EF

Question 62

Lumosity randomized control trial (RCT)

Answer 62

pre-test/Lumosity/post-test design showed significant post-test improvements on a variety of skills with Lumosity, but may just be improvement in the games played (limited real world insight)

not really far transfer, as the skills tested in pre/post-test were what the Lumosity games made you practice…i.e., training on Lumosity makes you great at Lumosity, showing small improvements in tasks that are similar (near transfer), but training on Lumosity shows zero improvement on tasks that are different from the tasks on the app (NO far transfer)

Question 63

How fast do we forget memories (1885 self-study)?

Answer 63

A self-test of memory showed that this specific individual lost ~70% of information within a day and ~80% after 31 days; shows that memory loss plateuas once the delay is greater than a day or two, and that about 20% of info became a long-term, stable type of memory

Question 64

free recall task

Answer 64

Test of memory in which subjects hear items (usually 10-40 words) then say or write all he/she can remember in any order. A serial position curve of this task shows a clear primacy effect and recency effect, where the first few terms and last few terms are remembered much more than the words in the middle.

Question 65

primacy effect and recency effect

Answer 65

phenomenon visible via the serial position curve (SPC) of the free recall task in which subjects are much more likely to recall the first few words and last few words in a list rather than words in the middle; list length (e.g., 20 words, 30 words, 40 words) does not affect the SPC, the primacy and recency effect persists

Question 66

Do the primacy and recency effects reflect short term memory (STM)?

Answer 66

A study showed that the inclusion of a distractor (30 sec filled delay) blunts the recency effect in the free recall task, showing that the recency effect relies on working or short term memory.

However, primacy effect was intact despite this distractor, showing that it does NOT rely on STM.

Question 67

Do the primacy and recency effects reflect long term memory (LTM)?

Answer 67

A study showed that allowing more time for rehearsal via a slower presentation of words in the free recall task does NOT extend/improve the primacy effect. This proves that rehearsal is necessary to get stuff into LTM, but not sufficient on its own. So primacy effect partially reflects LTM, but also depends on other factors.

Recency effects involve STM, not LTM (see other slides for this).

Question 68

levels of processing LTM model

Answer 68

model for how information enters into LTM that centers around levels of processing: states that the more elaborate the processing a stimulus receives, the more likely it is to later be remembered…these levels are:
1. Print - e.g., contains “a”
2. Sound - e.g., rhymes with dog
3. Meaning - e.g., a type of animal

From these levels above, meaning represents with deeper processing, and thus correlates with increased memory recall ability.

Question 69

Is rehearsal the mechanism by which information enters into LTM?

Answer 69

Not just rehearsal, as:
Increase rehearsal time –> Memory improves
Regulate rehearsal time –> Primacy effect disappears

Thought that levels of processing model of LTM plays greater role in LTM encoding than rehearsal alone.

Question 70

study of specificity (land vs. water memory test)

Answer 70

study showed that if the context in which you studied matches the context in which you are tested, you will remember more info (individuals studied/tested on land/water); shows that we should study material in the WAY it will be tested and in similar context to WHERE it will be tested for greatest memory recall ability

Question 71

How are we changing the way we think about memory (modern thinking vs. traditional thinking)

Answer 71

modern thinking views memory through a lens of reconstruction, interference, and dynamicity and as a distributed representation (across brain areas rather than localized), whereas traditional thinking focused on memory “traces” and retrieval like a filing cabinet (localized)

Question 72

Patient H.M.

Answer 72

Man who had entire medial temporal lobe, including hippocampus, removed, resulting in anterograde amnesia (old memory intact, can’t form new memories) but no impairments to perception and reasoning.

Specifically, declarative memory was lost, but nondeclarative/implicit memory (procedural memory) and STM/WM were intact. E.g., H.M. could learn new procedural implicit tasks, which was proven in that his performance on “star tracing” study in a mirror improved just as it did in control subjects; however, he could never remember having ever done the task before!

Question 73

brain regions involved in short term memory (STM)

Answer 73

frontal-parietal network, especially DLPFC

Makes sense given role of these regions in WM (which is often interchangeable with STM)

Question 74

brain regions involved in long term memory (LTM)

Answer 74

hippocampus and nearby regions in medial temporal lobe

Question 75

How does memory develop with age?

Answer 75

Study involving Hit/Miss/False Alarm etc. upon identification of old and new words showed that as you age, both memory and knowledge about how accurate your memory is improve. Moreover, there is more left and right PFC activation in adults than children correlated with this accuracy of memory (less “false memories,” more confidence in memory), but no changes in hippocampus between adults and children.

Question 76

PFC vs. hippocampus in development

Answer 76

PFC activity and changes in structure correlate to an increase in memory performance (more PFC activity = more accurate memory; not as many “false memories”) as one ages.

Hippocampus is critical for consolidation into LTM, but PFC gives confidence and context. Hippocampus activity does not change between children and adults.

Question 77

two-component model of LTM development and its lessons for education

Answer 77

Involves two distinct memory processes:
1. Associative - depends on hippocampus, adult-like by mid-childhood
2. Strategic - depends on PFC, develops much later

Study shows that training on strategies improves memory in children more than similar training in adults, revealing that children’s memory performance relies on hippocampus (associative), but KNOWING something is right rather than just “feeling something is right” relies on the PFC (strategic), which is more developed in adults.

This study provides lessons for education:
Children’s memory performance relies predominantly on associative component, so use of strategies needs to be explicitly instructed and supported in order to build the confidence that the PFC provides.

Question 78

What is problematic about our metacognitive intuitions about learning?

Answer 78

Our metacognitive intuitions about learning are often wrong!
1. Most students are very bad at predicting which study methods caused them to learn
2. Most students are very bad at realizing how much or how little they have learned or retained on a topic

Question 79

massed vs. spaced studying in an art history class study

Answer 79

Students were placed on two study schedules, massed or spaced. Students who studied in a spaced manner received much higher scores on the test than students who studied in a massed manner.

Question 80

How is the spacing effect tested, and what were the results?

Answer 80

Study something once —(spacing gap)—>Study it again—(test delay)—>Final test on information

Every student did well with a 1 week test delay, and a 1 week gap group performed almost as well as 4 week gap group, while the 0 day gap group did poorly.

For a short delay, cramming works OK! For retention and LTM, spaced study works much better

Question 81

benefits of the spacing effect (why is it so great?)

Answer 81

1. Highly replicable across timescales, learning tasks, and even species
   - it is the most highly replicated learning phenomenon in psychological science
2. Most promising body of work from psychological science for improving teaching practices

Question 82

What is the optimal length of delay in the spacing effect?

Answer 82

You should match the delay between study sessions to the amount of time tou want to retain the information; i.e., larger space for more long term consolidation

Question 83

model of how the spacing effect works

Answer 83

We think it works by interrupting memory decay…periodical review slows the delay: e.g., lose 20% of memory within one day of initial learning, but after reviewing content, it takes longer than one day to lose 20% again

Question 84

Everyday Mathematics

Answer 84

program implemented to apply the spacing effect to education (from lab to classroom)…problematic because if students don’t learn well the first time, they’ll have an errant foundation and will keep building upon mistakes, impeding the natural progression to complex topics

Question 85

Why is testing often considered a bad thing?

Answer 85

1. Can be stressful for test-takers
2. Takes substantial time away from teaching
3. Misses conceptual understanding (esp. MC problems)
4. Used to make policy/funding and other decisions (e.g., MAP tests)

Question 86

the testing effect (aka retrieval practice)

Answer 86

Two prose passages were each divided into 30 “idea units” for scoring purposes. There were two groups, a “study/study” group (e.g., study –> break –> study) and a “study/test” group (e.g., study –> break –> test). Each group took a test in break intervals of 5 min., 2 days, and 1 week.

The study/study group scored higher on the test after just a 5 min. delay, but the study/test group vastly outperformed them after 2 days and 1 week.

Moreover, subjects in the SSSS group (all studying, no test) had the greatest confidence in their knowledge and scored highest in the short term, but scored the lowest on the long term… this reveals our poor metacognition of learning, showing that we are poor predictors of our LTM.

Question 87

What does the testing effect reveal about metacognition?

Answer 87

Subjects in the SSSS group (all study, no test) were most confident in their abilities and scored the highest with a 5 min. retention interval, but scored the lowest (by far) with a 1 week retention interval.

This reveals that most of our intuition about how likely we are to remember something is based on shorter term memory, and that we are poor predictors of our long term memory.

Question 88

How does retrieval relate to the testing effect?

Answer 88

largely thought to be the mechanism behind the testing effect, it both…
1. Strengthens the memory, making it more accessible for the future
2. Interrupts forgetting and induces forgetting of irrelevant features

Question 89

How does retrieval relate to the spacing effect?

Answer 89

When you space out practice at a task, or interleave the practice of two or more subjects, retrieval is harder and feels less producting BUT that effort produces longer-lasting learning memory, enabling more versatile application of learned concepts later on.

Effort in retrieval is directly tied to memory consolidation.

Question 90

How does effort relate to memory consolidation?

Answer 90

effort produces longer-lasting learning memory, as seen in the spacing effect: when you space out practice at a task, or interleave the practice of two or more subjects, retrieval is harder and feels less producting BUT that effort produces longer-lasting learning memory

Question 91

brain systems involved in retrieval

Answer 91

1. DLPFC and VLPFC involved in learning something new (effortful action)
2. Temporal lobe and inferior parietal lobe (IPL) involved in “pulling out” previously stored info, and IPL similarly active for correctly remembered items and new items that were falsely remembered

Question 92

signficance of the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) in retrieval

Answer 92

1. Involved in “pulling out” previously stored info (along with temporal lobe)
2. Active for correctly remembered items and new items that were falsely remembered (confidence/familiarity…think fMRI study)
3. Angular gyrus of IPL is responsible for memorized verbal math facts

Question 93

fMRI activity during retrieval effect

Answer 93

1. PFC activity goes down after initial study session, where “putting info in” = feeling of effort
2. IPL activity goes up after initial study session, where studying previously tested items/”pulling info out” = feeling of familiarity

Question 94

applications of retrieval effect to education (formative vs. summative assessment)

Answer 94

1. Formative assessment: monitor learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning…e.g., quizzing each other, flash cards/study guides, project proposals/rough drafts
2. Summative assessment: evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark…e.g., mid-terms, final project, final presentation

Question 95

3 factors that are NOT predictive of successful learning

Answer 95

1. Ease of fluency
2. Rapid rate of mastery of skills or info
3. “Feeling of knowing”
   - we have poor metacognition

Question 96

misconception of massed practice

Answer 96

conventional wisdom is “practice-practice-practice!,” strategies that give rise to feelings of fluency that are taken to be signs of mastery…for true mastery or durability (which requires spaced practicing), these strategies are largely a waste of time

Question 97

“desirable difficulties” and their importance

Answer 97

Includes spacing, testing, interleaving, reduced feedback, contextual variation, etc…individuals mistakenly rely on the immediate access to knowledge in order to determine the long term memory retention and the transfer of such knowledge to different contexts, when these “desirable difficulties” that make practice more effortful are actually how we acheive this

Question 98

take home lessons for effective memory

Answer 98

1. Space practice out
   - may help because it provides more varied cues (encoding variability), semantic network activation, and retrieval strength
2. Testing (low stakes) helps
   - engages retrieval processes
   - identifies gaps in knowledge
   - prepares for future learning

Question 99

executive control attention network

Answer 99

relates to endogenous vs. exogenous attention and is active in the target analysis phase of ANT, helping us determine where to focus when there is a conflict (determing direction of middle arrow).

Question 100

orienting attention network

Answer 100

plays a role in the overt and covert attention processes and is also active in the cueing phase of ANT, but it provides directional information about where something is going to happen, orienting the participant. Typically works together with attention network for spatial cueing, with alerting providing the “something is happening” info and the orienting providing the directional info.

Question 101

alerting attention network

Answer 101

plays a role in the top-down and bottom-up pathways of attention and is active in the “cueing” phase of ANT when there is a center cue or double cue, quite literally alerting the participant that something is about to happen but without spatial direction.

Question 102

Why is defining intelligence as “the ability to solve problems well” flawed?

Answer 102

“Ability,” “solve,” “problems,” and “well” can all be interpreted differently; there are far too many potential meanings for each word

Question 103

Charles Spearman (1904) theory of general intelligence

Answer 103

Charles Spearman proposed idea that aptitude in one domain often translates to aptitude in other domains; he used factor analysis to examine many mental aptitude tests and proposed “g” (general intelligence) due to similarities between scores on these tests

Question 104

factor analysis

Answer 104

trying to explain variability in the world; there are correlated variables (things that change together), and factor analysis is positing factors behind these variables

E.g., Charles Spearman theorized that variability across knowledge/subject breadths can be explained by a single factor, which was intelligence in this case…used to form “g”

Question 105

Louis L. Thurstone (1938) Primary Mental Abilities theory of intelligence

Answer 105

instead of viewing intelligence as a single, general ability, Thurstone’s theory focused on seven different “primary mental abilities”…
1. Spatial visualization
2. Perceptual speed
3. Numberical ability
4. Verbal comprehension
5. Word fluency
6. Memory
7. Reasoning

Question 106

Howard Gardner (1983) Multiple Intelligences theory of intelligence

Answer 106

Instead of focusing on test scores (and not tested by neuroscience), used patient dissociations (loss of ability to perceive/do a certain thing) to describe 8 distinct intelligences that are based on skills and abilities that are valued within different cultures.

Argued that numerical expressions of human intelligence are not full and accurate depictions of people’s abilities.

Question 107

Robert Sternberg (1985) Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Answer 107

defined intelligence as “mental activity directed toward purposive adaptation to, selection and selecting of, real-world environments relevant to one’s life,” proposing that successful intelligence is comprised of 3 different factors:
1. Analytical intelligence
- problem-solving abilities
2. Creative intelligence
- ability to deal with new situations using past experiences and current skills
3. Practical intelligence - street smarts; ability to adapt to changing environment

Question 108

fluid intelligence (g or Gf) vs. crystallized intelligence (Gc)

Answer 108

• Fluid intelligence represents a person’s ability to think abstractly, reason, identify patterns, solve novel problems, and adapt to new situations.
• Crystallized intelligence refers to the knowledge and skills acquired through experience, education, and cultural exposure.

Question 109

How have IQ tests changed with time?

Answer 109

Early IQ tests placed heavy emphasis on crystallized intelligence (cultural, experience-based), but modern tests are often “culture-free” to avoid bias and make clearer distinctions (i.e., more fluid intelligence, or abstract thinking/reasoning).

Raven’s Progressive Matrices is an example of a culture-free test.

Question 110

How does culture bias flaw intelligence tests?

Answer 110

1. Across cultures, motivation for test-taking differs
   - Zambian cultures often don’t distinguish between intelligence and social responsibility
   - Kenyan children who score high on practical intelligence (cultural) do poorly on Raven’s matrices (fluid intelligence based)
   - Overall, lack of practice on timed, paper tests matters a lot
2. Some indigenous languages may not have specific words for particular shapes, position, etc.

There really isn’t such thing as a completely “culture free” test, we need different tests with cultural appropriate materials

Question 111

graph of IQ/”g” scores

Answer 111

About 68% of people score within 15 point above or below 100, and about 95% fall within 30 points of 100; bell curve

IQ = mental age/chronological age x 100

Question 112

How does IQ/”g” change with age?

Answer 112

generally remains stable with age, but its more rare for 80 year olds to reach scores of 120 (likely just due to natural decline)…this is shown in a very long-term study of the same subjects at age 11, then again at age 80

Question 113

Why does intelligence (scores) matter?

Answer 113

there are many correlations between IQ score and things such as adult income, occupation, SAT scores, etc.

Question 114

The Flynn Effect

Answer 114

graph that depicts that average IQ gains have been linearly increasing since WWII…this is true for overall IQ, Raven’s progressive matrices, and general info, arithmetic, and vocab

Question 115

How do dissociations in skills contribute to g with Raven’s matrices?

Answer 115

With Raven’s test, it is noted that individual differences in a particular breadth/skill contribute a small amount of variance compared to g…with Raven’s there is the triarchic theory of intelligence, so 3 components

Question 116

g as a predictor of intelligence components (and age tie-in)

Answer 116

g is able to highly predict reasoning, spatial ability, and vocabulary, but not as much for memory and processing speed; i.e., as intelligence goes up, reasoning ability goes up

age is related to this predictive system, as age goes up, vocab goes up (positive correlation), but spatial ability, memory, and processing speed are negatively correlated

Question 117

4 variables that correlate with intelligence

Answer 117

1. Genetics
   - intelligence of family members (high heritability(
2. Brain volume
   - head size (r~.20)
   - total brain volume (r~.30-.40)
   - Frontal, temporal, parietal, hippocampal volume (controlling for TBV, r~.25)
   - Gray matter (r~.31) and white matter (r~.27)
3. Brain activity
   - activity in PFC and parietal cortex
   - neural processing efficiency
4. Cognitive measures
   - WM capacity
   - Processing speed

Question 118

What is the basis of intelligence?

Answer 118

We should thing of the basis of intelligence with context, that is longer term and shorter term:
1. Behavioral: competences are LT, performance is ST
2. Biology (nature): genetic variation LT, brain activity and structure ST
3. Context (nurture): non-genetic variation LT, education, nutrition, motivation, etc. ST

Question 119

What is the role of the PFC in g?

Answer 119

individuals with damaged frontal lobes had generally lower g compared to control, indicating that the PFC is important for g

Question 120

calculating heritability of intelligence (twin studies)

Answer 120

Twin studies show that identical twins reared together had more similar intelligence scores than identical twins reared apart, showing some environmental effect…also had more similar intelligence scores than fraternal twins, showing genetic effect

Overall, the more genes you share, the more similar your intelligence.

Question 121

caveat in measuring heritability (g)

Answer 121

an important caveat in measuring heritability is that context matters a lot - we don’t do these studies in a vacuum, environments are not kept stable between individuals

Question 122

How is the heritability of intelligence represented in gray matter structure?

Answer 122

brain imaging of gray matter structure shows that there is both increased similarity and increased heritability in identical twins than fraternal twins…these similarities are potent in DLPFC, some parietal regions, and some anterior temporal regions

this is just another way of analyzing the other twin study on the heritability of intelligence

Question 123

The Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory (P-FIT) of Intelligence

Answer 123

Idea that intelligence is very reliant on the frontal parietal network…this is the same network involved in WM and attention, explaining behavioral links; Moreover, the parietal frontal integration of intelligence explains links between measured intelligence and cogntive processing speed.

Theory that intelligence relies on integration between these networks in the brain, but most of the brain is involved in intelligence with this model, making it hard to identify specific regions applicable to this role.

Question 124

parietal-frontal networks and domain general abilities

Answer 124

2013 study shows that the network of frontal and parietal regions comes up again and again as critical for domain general abilities such as attention, WM, and intelligence. The same brain regions are implicated in each, and the abilities correlate relatively well.

Question 125

Rote Memorization and neural correlates

Answer 125

Method of learning that is literally just memorizing something (you’re doing it right now!); relies heavily on verbal processing, becomes harder with age, and involves:
1. Premotor cortex
2. Left inferior frontal cortex (language)

Question 126

mental imagery

Answer 126

mental representation of an object or event that is not present, can involve all 5 senses

Question 127

concrete vs. abstract nouns imagery score

Answer 127

the more concrete the item you are trying to visualize, the easier it is to visualize; this is because mental imagery of concrete nouns involves the senses

Question 128

Kosslyn’s Zooming Study

Answer 128

Idea that people can zoom in or zoom out of their mental representations, similar to how we can zoom in and out of attention. E.g., imagine a bee next to a rabbit, then imagine an elephant next to a rabbit, people are faster at answering “Does the rabbit have eyebrows?” when they are zoomed in, proving this phenomenon. Also, zooming in and out takes time

Question 129

What brain areas are active during mental imagery?

Answer 129

via PET-scan studies…
1. Imagining small objects activates small part of occipital cortex
2. Imagining large objects activates large part of occipital cortex
3. FFA active when imagining faces
4. PPA active when imagining places (this area is normally active when we see buildings we know)

Activation of visual areas directly supports the idea that mental imagery involves “real” pictures in your head

Question 130

category selectivity of mental imagery neural correlates

Answer 130

Category selectivity is displayed in mental imagery:
1. FFA active when imagining faces
2. PPA active when imagining places (this area is normally active when we see buildings we know)

Question 131

using imagery for memory (memory palace, “Method of Loci”)

Answer 131

We can use mental imagery to walk a well known pathway (e.g., house) and leave each item you need to remember at each location. To remember the sequence of items, just walk the usual pathway and “pick up” each item you “left” in each location along the pathway.

Question 132

What is the role of the amygdala in memory?

Answer 132

Emotional memory is heavily reliant on the amygdala. Studies show increased amygdala activation when a memory is emotional rather than neutral.

Question 133

range of learning styles spectrum

Answer 133

on one end of the spectrum, learning style is interpreted as fixed (i.e., a part of your biology), while on the other end of the spectrum, learning style is flexible (i.e., a preferred approach)

Question 134

learning styles neuromyth

Answer 134

students benefit from information presented in all modalities, but MOST STUDENTS learn best from visual information, even if it’s not their preference; combining a variety of instructional approaches can help MOST STUDENTS synthesize concepts and improve understanding

Less a learning style and more of a preference!

Question 135

Meshing Hypothesis

Answer 135

if individuals are given instruction in their preferred modality (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic), they will experience enhanced learning outcomes

Question 136

designing an experiment to argue for the Meshing Hypothesis

Answer 136

To argue for Meshing Hypothesis, you must have data showing:
1. 2 different groups (e.g., visual vs. auditory)
2. Half of each group is assigned to learn via the other format
3. Visual learners assigned to learn from visual materials must significantly outperform visual learners assigned to learn from auditory materials
There must be a “crossover effect” in which the graphs literally cross over

Proper study design matters a lot, if the axes are flipped, we may not see a crossover effect, or we may see a crossover effect BUT not the one we want

Question 137

results of Meshing Hypothesis studies

Answer 137

only one study out of hundreds met the criteria to support the meshing hypothesis, and multiple studies with appropriate methods have found no evidence for meshing hypothesis

must be careful to not over interpret negative results, because maybe we simply need more well-designed studies…but for right now, evidence points towards the meshing hypothesis not being a real thing and that visual learning is most effective for all students

Question 138

The Conversion Hypothesis

Answer 138

It doesn’t matter how the information is presented, it matters what the brain does with that info/how it processes it regardless of how the info is presented…seeks to explain why visual learning is still modality for learning despite preferred learning styles, suggesting that people can have cognitive styles:
1. Verbal cognitive style
- generating verbal labels even when presented with pictures
2. Visual cognitive style
- generating mental images even when presented with words

Question 139

fMRI study of the conversion hypothesis

Answer 139

When presented with words that read “shiny red apple,” it is hypothesized that the visualizer (visual cognitive style) will make a mental image of a red apple, correlating with an increase in occipital lobe activity. However, when presented with a picture of a red apple, it is hypothesized that the verbalizer (verbal cognitive style) will generate a verbal label that reads “shiny red apple,” correlating with an increase in language activity on the left side of the brain

Question 140

conversion hypothesis experimental design and results

Answer 140

Design:
Person presented with a shape, and had to say which of the following shapes is most similar. The shapes had different colors, textures, shape, etc. and the correct answer would be the shape with the MOST similarities (2/3 things similar, etc.)

Person presented with words (such as red, triangle, stripes), then had to say which of the following sets of words is most similar. The correct answer would be the list of words with the MOST similarities (2/3 words identical, etc.)

If you are a visualizer, you most likely immediately convert words into pictures, and if you are a verbalizer, you most likely convert pictures into words.

fMRI analyzed brain activity.

Results:
Greater activity in left language areas (left SMG) when people who claimed to be verbalizers were given pictures, showing verbal activity in response to pictures, verifying the conversion hypothesis.

Similarly, greater activity in visual areas (right fusiform) when people who claimed to be visualizers were given words, showing visual activity in response to words, verifying the conversion hypothesis.

Shows that processing preference does not equal learning style.

Question 141

repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in conversion hypothesis experimental design and results

Answer 141

Design:
1. MRI scan to figure out the anatomy of each subject’s brain as well as which regions are active during visual/verbal (SMG) tasks
2. TMS Trial 1, given visual/verbal task (SMG) depending on person’s preference or control (Vertex)
3. TMS Trial 2, given visual/verbal task depending on person’s preference or control (Vertex)

Results:
The more verbal an individual claimed to be, the more activity in left supramarginal gyrus (SMG) went down with TMS compared to control.

Question 142

How are learning preferences (cognitive styles) reflected in neural activation?

Answer 142

1. Greater activity in specific brain regions relates to self-reported preference
   - Left SMG relates to verbalizer dimension but for visual stimuli
   - Right fusiform relates to visual dimension but for verbal stimuli

Question 143

neuroscience definition of cognitive control

Answer 143

refers to processes that allow information processing and behavior to vary adaptively…processes include goal or context representation and maintenance, as well as strategic processes such as attention allocation; not restricted to a particular cognitive domain

Question 144

The Marshmallow Task

Answer 144

delay of gratification task that measures cognitive control; can measure latency to eat marshmallow or % within a group that wait to eat

Question 145

How is strategy implicated in the marshmallow task?

Answer 145

Children who are able to direct focus elsewhere can often wait the full 15 min., but children who keep their focus on the marshmallow can only wait up to 5 min. on average before eating the marshmallow

Question 146

How is age implicated in the marshmallow task?

Answer 146

Social stimulus reward results in similar performance between children and adults, but teens perform much worse. E.g., when shown happy/neutral faces, most people view happy faces as more rewarding, but teens are especially responsive (correlated with ventral striatum activity in teens only)

Question 147

How is cognitive control a predictor of life outcomes?

Answer 147

Self-control in the marshmallow task in childhood is correlated with
1. Adult Health Outcomes
- Better physical health
- Less substance dependence
2. Adult Wealth Outcomes
- Higher SES
- Better financial planning
- Better income
- Lower financial struggles

Note: Hot/emotional CC better predictor than cool CC

Question 148

cognitive control vs. IQ in prediciting performance

Answer 148

CC is a better predictor of academic success than IQ…better predictor of GPA, HW hours, etc.

Question 149

“Cool” vs. “Hot” cognitive control

Answer 149

1. Cool pertains to the lab, hot pertains to life
2. Cool is alone, hot is in groups
3. Cool is hypothetical, hot involves real situations
4. Cool is low arousal, hot is high arousal

Question 150

types of tasks for measuring cognitive control

Answer 150

1. Hot/Emotion based: clicking a button when you see a happy face but not a neutral face
2. Cool/Non-emotion based: clicking a button when you see a ‘K’ but not an ‘X’

Question 151

Phineas Gage

Answer 151

Man who had a tamping iron go through his head, damaging the orbit of the left eye, left frontal lobe, and fracturing the skull over frontal parietal areas. Was conscious and communicative, and showed no mental deficits until 20 years later, when he was physically recovered but went “off the rails.”

In 1990s, scans showed that rod hit VMPFC (“hot” cogntition), which explains the change in personality at the end of his life.

Question 152

neural substrates of “cool” cognition

Answer 152

1. DLPFC
2. Parietal network
   Not as much the following:
3. Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
4. VMPFC/OFC

Question 153

neural substrates of “hot” cognition and accompanying study

Answer 153

1. VMPFC/OFC
2. MPFC/ACC
3. Ventral striatum - in nucleus accumbens
4. Limbic

These regions were active in the happy face study: When happy face shown, there was ventral striatum activity increases in teens only, verifying a CC difference in teens

Question 154

How does cognitive control change with age? (long term CC study)

Answer 154

A long term CC study divided adults into high delayers/low delayers based on CC results as a child.

Results:
1. Low delayers had less CC for hot tasks than high delayers
2. High delayers had increased PFC activity for “no go” (delay, don’t press button, more CC) trials
3. Low delayers had increased recruitment of ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens)

Shows that hot/emotional CC is a better predictor of future success than cool

Question 155

neural substrates of good CC vs. poor CC (high delayers vs. low delayers)

Answer 155

From long term CC study from childhood to adulthood…
1. Low delayers (poor CC) had increased recruitment of ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens)
2. High delayers (good CC) had increased PFC activity for “no go” (don’t press button) trials

Question 156

How does environmental reliability affect CC? (crayon/sticker study)

Answer 156

A reliable environment (following through on bringing children better stickers and crayons) led to significantly better performances on marshmallow task than unreliable environment, both in regard to wait time and proportion of children who waited.

Question 157

How does home environment affect CC? (study)

Answer 157

Waiting to eat marshmallow under controls in home environment resulted in better achievement at age 15…unsure causation of this, however

Question 158

Can cognitive control (CC) be trained?

Answer 158

1. Skin conductance (stress indicator) was reduced after a 7 week training in mindfulness meditation (which is CC training) 2. Focused meditation (CC training) reduces emotional interference
2. Gray matter density in hippocampus after 8 weeks of mindfulness based stress reduction training

Question 159

Mindfulness Awareness Program (MAPs) curriculum intervention study

Answer 159

Study of CC intervention/training. Children went through MAPs, and teachers rated the children on general executive control (GEC) before and after. For children who were already doing well or fairly well, MAPs had no effect, but for children who had a lot of problems controlling themselves (poor executive function), MAPs reduced the severity of executive function impairment compared to controls.

Question 160

Tools of the Mind curriculum intervention study

Answer 160

Study of CC intervention/training. Children who went through Tools of the Mind executive function training had improved academic performance. Tools of the Mind was both a student/teaching intervention.

Question 161

4 examples of curriculum interventions

Answer 161

1. Computerized training
   - WM, showed reliable gains in trained domains, but little transfer
2. Aerobic exercise
   - biggest effect for longest durations of exercise
3. Martial arts and mindfulness
   - e.g., Taekwondo, mindfulness, and yoga
4. Direct curriculum interventions
   - Tools of the Mind
   - Montessori method
   - PATHS add-on
   - CRSP add-on

Question 162

Is hot CC or cool CC more predictive of cognitive success?

Answer 162

Hot (emotional) CC

Question 163

2 types of mindsets

Answer 163

1. Fixed mindset - intelligence is a fixed trait
   - Entity theory
2. Growth mindset - intelligence is a malleable quality; a potential that can be developed
   - Incremental theory

Can be fixed in one area, growth in another, and can be higher or lower on growth mindset without being fixed mindset

Question 164

entity theory

Answer 164

pertains to fixed mindset and is the idea that intelligence is a fixed trait

Question 165

incremental theory

Answer 165

pertains to growth mindset and is the idea that intelligence is a maleable quality, or a potential that can be developed

Question 166

How prevalent is the incremental/growth mindset theory in the US?

Answer 166

about 40% of US students hold an incremental theory of ability

Question 167

What is the importance of “yet” in learning/growth?

Answer 167

We should say “yet” to emphasize the growth mindset over the fixed mindset; praise the process, not the product

Question 168

mindset induction experimental design and results

Answer 168

Design:
Experimenters gave 5th grade children difficult problems to solve (from Raven’s matrices), and provided three types of praise regardless of score:
1. Intelligence (Product) praise: “Wow, that’s a really good score. You must be smart at this.”
2. Effort (Process) praise: “Wow, that’s a really good score. You must have tried really hard.”
3. Control group: “Wow, that’s a really good score.”

After praise, children chose either:
1. Performance goals = try to get the most correct
2. Challenge/learning goals = try harder problems to learn more about how to solve them

And then a post-test was conducted.

Results:
About 70% of children given Intelligence Praise chose Performance Goals, compared to only 10% for Effort Praise (more chose Challenge Goals). Control 50%.

Children given Effort Praise scored MUCH better on post-test. Children given Intelligence Praise scored MUCH worse on post-test. Control had basically no difference.

Question 169

How do different mindsets in transition to junior high affect abilities?

Answer 169

Study following students from 7th to 8th grade showed that students with an incremental/growth mindset improved substantially on math tests, while students with an entity/fixed mindset scored the same/worse.

Question 170

How does parent effort/praise predict child motivation?

Answer 170

Study showed that young boys received more effort (process) praise than young girls, and more effort praise from parents led to more children with a growth mindset.

Shows that effort praise yields growth mindset.

Should be cautiously interpreted because most parents aren’t consciously focusing on directing praise like this.

Reminder: Effort (process) praise is like “Wow, that’s a really good score. You must have tried really hard.”

Question 171

How do teacher mindsets affect student learning?

Answer 171

1. Teachers with fixed/entity mindsets more readily judged student ability than teachers with growth mindset
2. Teachers with fixed/entity mindsets more likely to console students and adjust requirements - reduce challenges and create self-fulfilling prophecies
3. Entity views led to lower expectations, lower motivation, and lower achievement

see study on other slide for more info/evidence

Question 172

teacher’s entity views on student learning study

Answer 172

Teachers with fixed/entity mindsets were more likely to…
1. Judge student ability (labeled more students as ‘lacking in intelligence’)
2. Offer more comfort to children (this is fine, but what goes along with it is harmful, such as “it’s ok, not everyone is a math person”)
3. Lower challenges, hurting growth and leading to lower ability (they believe that mindset is fixed, and accomodations should be provided)

Question 173

How does teacher comfort feedback affect student motivation?

Answer 173

As we know, teachers with fixed mindsets are more likely to offer more comfort to children…this comfort feedback (as opposed to strategy feedback to encourage growth) causes children to:
1. Have greater belief in entity/fixed theory
2. Have lower expectations
3. Have reduced motivation

Strategy feedback fixes/does the opposite of these things, promoting growth.

Question 174

How do people respond to feedback, moment to moment, in a lab setting? (ERP analysis)

Answer 174

ERP shows sudden decrease in neural activity in the front of the brain if you even THINK you got a question wrong (error-related negativity), but in growth mindset only (not fixed mindset), there is an error-related positivity in the back of the brain after receiving feedback. This is thought to be “gearing up” to hear correct answer and prepare to grow and learn based on it. The more people rated themselves with a growth mindset, the more error-related positivity activity at back of brain after receiving feedback, and vice versa for fixed mindsets.

Question 175

How do mindsets modulate error-related positivity?

Answer 175

The more people rated themeselves as having a growth mindset, the more error-related positivity activity at the back of the brain in response to feedback. This is shown via ERP analysis. The vice versa is also true for those rating themsleves with a fixed mindset (less error-related positivity/mindset at back of brain).

Question 176

nationally representative intervention study of instilling growth mindset

Answer 176

Students randomly assigned to intervention/control groups in an attempt to instill growth mindset. After 9th grade, a professional data processing center (keeps blinding intact) tested whether school resources and climate affected results, and ultimately found that the growth mindset intervention improved GPAs, with the largest effects for (1) supportive norms (normal for people to be talking about growth mindset and be supportive) and (2) schools with low and medium achievement level.