STUDY ALERT: The Nature and Organization of Individual Differences in Executive Functions
The Nature and Organization of Individual Differences in Executive Functions : Four General Conclusions
Akira Miyake and Naomi P. Friedman
Executive functions (EFs)—a set of general-purpose control processes that regulate one’s thoughts and behaviors—have become a popular research topic lately and have been studied in many subdisciplines of psychological science. This article summarizes the EF research that our group has conducted to understand the nature of individual differences in EFs and their cognitive and biological underpinnings. In the context of a new theoretical framework that we have been developing (the unity/diversity framework), we describe four general conclusions that have emerged. Specifically, we argue that individual differences in EFs, as measured with simple laboratory tasks, (a) show both unity and diversity (different EFs are correlated yet separable), (b) reflect substantial genetic contributions, (c) are related to various clinically and societally important phenomena, and (d) show some developmental stability.
STUDY ALERT: Shaping achievement goal orientations and changes in self-worth
Shaping achievement goal orientations in a mastery-structured environment and concomitant changes in related contingencies of self-worth
Paul A. O’Keefe • Adar Ben-Eliyahu • Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia
Across three time-points spanning 9 months, changes in achievement goal orientations and contingencies of self-worth were assessed as a function of participating in a mastery-structured academic program for high-ability adolescents (N = 126). Endorsement of mastery goal orientations increased during the program and remained high even after students returned to their home learning environments. In contrast, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientations decreased during the summer program, but returned to previous levels when assessed 6 months later. Latent growth curve models assessed the covariation of performance goal orientations and two contingencies of self-worth (outperforming others and others’ approval) hypothesized to represent elements of performance goal orientations. Changes in the contingency of self-worth based on outperforming others positively covaried with observed changes in both performance goal orientations; however, changes in self-worth contingent on others’ approval did not. Results are discussed in terms of mastery-structured environments’ potential to alter achievement goal orientations via their underlying psychological processes. Implications for achievement goal theory and the design of achievement-oriented environments are discussed.
STUDY ALERT: Does Personal Intelligence Exist?
Does Personal Intelligence Exist? Evidence From a New Ability-Based Measure
John D. Mayer, A.T. Panter, and David Caruso
Personal intelligence has been defined as the ability to reason about personality and personality-relevant information and to use that information to guide one’s actions and more generally, one’s life. We constructed an initial version of an ability-based measure to test whether personal intelligence can be measured and whether it exists as a unitary intelligence. In 3 studies (N = 241, 308, and 385), we administered this Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI), composed of 4 sections, to undergraduates along with criterion measures. Results suggested that a personal intelligence can be measured, that it might exist as a unified area of mental abilities, and that it represents psychological qualities that have intriguing predictive aspects.
STUDY ALERT: Dopamine, Working Memory, and Training Induced Plasticity: Implications for Developmental Research
STUDY ALERT: Dopamine, Working Memory, and Training Induced Plasticity: Implications for Developmental Research
Stina Söderqvist, Sissela Bergman Nutley, Myriam Peyrard-Janvid, Hans Matsson, Keith Humphreys, Juha Kere, Torkel Klingberg
Cognitive deficits and particularly deficits in working memory (WM) capacity are common features in neuropsychiatric disorders. Understanding the underlying mechanisms through which WM capacity can be improved is therefore of great importance. Several lines of research indicate that dopamine plays an important role not only in WM function but also for improving WM capacity. For example, pharmacological interventions acting on the dopaminergic system, such as methylpheni- date, improve WM performance. In addition, behavioral interventions for improving WM perfor- mance in the form of intensive computerized training have recently been associated with changes in dopamine receptor density. These two different means of improving WM performance— pharmacological and behavioral—are thus associated with similar biological mechanisms in the brain involving dopaminergic systems. This article reviews some of the evidence for the role of dopamine in WM functioning, in particular concerning the link to WM development and cognitive plasticity. Novel data are presented showing that variation in the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) influences improvements in WM and fluid intelligence in preschool-age children following cognitive training. Our results emphasize the importance of the role of dopamine in determining cognitive plasticity.
STUDY ALERT: Robots, men and sex tourism
Robots, men and sex tourism
Ian Yeoman, Michelle Mars
In 2050, Amsterdam’s red light district will all be about android prostitutes who are clean of sexual transmitted infections (STIs), not smuggled in from Eastern Europe and forced into slavery, the city council will have direct control over android sex workers controlling prices, hours of operations and sexual services. This paper presents a futuristic scenario about sex tourism, discusses the drivers of change and the implications for the future. The paper pushes plausibility to the limit as boundaries of science fiction and fact become blurred in the ever increasing world of technology, consumption and humanity, a paradigm known as liminality.
STUDY ALERT: An integrative architecture for general intelligence and executive function
An integrative architecture for general intelligence and executive function revealed by lesion mapping
Aron K. Barbey, Roberto Colom, Jeffrey Solomon, Frank Krueger, Chad Forbes, and Jordan Grafman10
Although cognitive neuroscience has made remarkable progress in understanding the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in executive control, the broader functional networks that support high-level cognition and give rise to general intelligence remain to be well characterized. Here, we investigated the neural substrates of the general factor of intelligence (g) and executive function in 182 patients with focal brain damage using voxel-based lesion–symptom mapping. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System were used to derive measures of g and executive function, respectively. Impaired performance on these measures was associated with damage to a distributed network of left lateralized brain areas, including regions of frontal and parietal cortex and white matter association tracts, which bind these areas into a coordinated system. The observed findings support an integrative framework for understanding the architecture of general intelligence and executive function, supporting their reliance upon a shared fronto-parietal network for the integration and control of cognitive representations and making specific recommendations for the application of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System to the study of high-level cognition in health and disease.
STUDY ALERT: Does BDNF genotype influence creative output in bipolar I manic patients?
Does BDNF genotype influence creative output in bipolar I manic patients?
Márcio Gerhardt Soeiro-de-Souza a,⁎, Robert M. Post b, Mario Lucio de Sousa c, Giovani Missio a, Carolina Martins do Prado d, Wagner F. Gattaz d, Ricardo A. Moreno a, Rodrigo Machado-Vieira d
Introduction: Creativity is a complex human ability influenced by affective and cognitive com- ponents but little is known about its underlying neurobiology. Bipolar Disorder (BD) is highly prevalent among creative individuals. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is the most widely distributed neurotrophic factor, and has been implicated in the pathophysiology of BD. In contrast to the better functioning of the BDNF polymorphism (Val66Met) Val allele, the Met allele decreases BDNF transport and has been associated with worsened performance on several cognitive domains in euthymic BD subjects and controls. We hypothesized that the Val allele is associated with increased creativity in bipolar disorder.
Materials and methods: Sixty-six subjects with BD (41 in manic and 25 in depressive episodes) and 78 healthy volunteers were genotyped for BDNF Val66Met and tested for creativity using the Barrow Welsh Art Scale (BWAS) and neuropsychological tests.
Results: Manic patients with the Val allele (Met−) had higher BWAS scores than Met+ carriers. This relationship was not observed among patients in depressive episodes or among control subjects. BDNF Met allele status showed no association with cognitive function in any of the groups.
Conclusion: As postulated, these findings suggest that the better functioning allele of BDNF may selectively facilitate creative thinking in subjects with manic episodes, but not in controls or depressives. Further studies exploring the role of BDNF in the neurobiology of creativity in BD and in euthymic phases are warranted.
STUDY ALERT: Core self-evaluation compared to fluid intelligence and personality traits in decision-making
Incremental variance of the core self-evaluation construct compared to fluid intelligence and personality traits in aspects of decision-making
Annamaria Di Fabio, Letizia Palazzeschi
This study investigated the role of fluid intelligence, personality traits and core self-evaluation in relation to aspects of decision-making (career decision-making difficulties, decisional styles, indecisiveness). The Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM), the Big Five Questionnaire (BFQ), the Core Self-Evaluation Scale (CSES), the Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ), the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (MDMQ), and the Indecisiveness Scale (IS) were administered to 143 Italian high school students. The study revealed that the core self-evaluation construct added a significant percentage of incremental variance compared to variances due to fluid intelligence and personality traits with respect to aspects of decision-making. The results highlight the role of the core self-evaluation construct and its relationship with aspects of decision-making thereby offering new research and intervention perspectives.
