scholarly journals Individual differences in bilingual experience modulate executive control network and performance: behavioral and structural neuroimaging evidence

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Federico Gallo ◽  
Nikolay Novitskiy ◽  
Andriy Myachykov ◽  
Yury Shtyrov
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Continuous Variables ◽  
Executive Control Network ◽  
Functional Efficiency ◽  
Neural Substrate ◽  
And Performance

Abstract Dual/multiple language use has been shown to affect cognition and its neural substrate, although the replicability of such findings varies, partially due to neglecting the role of interindividual variability in bilingual experience. To address this, we operationalized the main bilingual experience factors as continuous variables, investigating their effects on executive control performance and neural substrate deploying a Flanker task and structural magnetic resonance imaging. First, higher L2 proficiency predicted better executive performance. Second, neuroimaging results indicated that bilingualism-related neuroplasticity may peak at a certain stage of bilingual experience and eventually revert, possibly following functional specialization. Importantly, experienced bilinguals optimized behavioral performance independently of volumetric variations, suggesting a degree of performance gain even with lower GMV. Hence, the effects of bilingualism on cognition may evolve with experience, with improvements in functional efficiency eventually replacing structural changes. We conclude that individual differences in bilingual experience modulate cognitive and neural consequences of bilingualism.

Interest as the Missing Motivator in Self-Regulation

2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Sansone ◽  
Dustin B. Thoman
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Goal Pursuit ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Goal Striving ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
And Performance

Abstract. Typically, models of self-regulation include motivation in terms of goals. Motivation is proposed to fluctuate according to how much individuals value goals and expect to attain them. Missing from these models is the motivation that arises from the process of goal-pursuit. We suggest that an important aspect of self-regulation is monitoring and regulating our motivation, not just our progress toward goals. Although we can regulate motivation by enhancing the value or expectancy of attaining the outcome, we suggest that regulating the interest experience can be just as, if not more, powerful. We first present our model, which integrates self-regulation of interest within the goal-striving process. We then briefly review existing evidence, distinguishing between two broad classes of potential interest-enhancing strategies: intrapersonal and interpersonal. For each class of strategies we note what is known about developmental and individual differences in whether and how these kinds of strategies are used. We also discuss implications, including the potential trade-offs between regulating interest and performance, and how recognizing the role of the interest experience may shed new light on earlier research in domains such as close relationships, psychiatric disorders, and females' choice to drop out of math and science.

scholarly journals Neurocognitive Psychometrics of Intelligence: How Measurement Advancements Unveiled the Role of Mental Speed in Intelligence Differences

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Schubert ◽  
Gidon T. Frischkorn
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Order Processing ◽  
The Relationship

More intelligent individuals typically show faster reaction times. However, individual differences in reaction times do not represent individual differences in a single cognitive process but in multiple cognitive processes. Thus, it is unclear whether the association between mental speed and intelligence reflects advantages in a specific cognitive process or in general processing speed. In this article, we present a neurocognitive-psychometrics account of mental speed that decomposes the relationship between mental speed and intelligence. We summarize research employing mathematical models of cognition and chronometric analyses of neural processing to identify distinct stages of information processing strongly related to intelligence differences. Evidence from both approaches suggests that the speed of higher-order processing is greater in smarter individuals, which may reflect advantages in the structural and functional organization of brain networks. Adopting a similar neurocognitive-psychometrics approach for other cognitive processes associated with intelligence (e.g., working memory or executive control) may refine our understanding of the basic cognitive processes of intelligence.

scholarly journals A world of differences: the role of individual differences in L2 vocabulary learning with clickers

2021 ◽  
pp. 261-266
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie Sénécal ◽  
Walcir Cardoso
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
And Performance ◽  
L2 Vocabulary ◽  
Enhanced Learning ◽  
Experimental Group

This study examined the acquisition of L2 English vocabulary with clickers, focusing on the role of individual differences. Following a pretest-posttest design, we measured perception and performance among 61 English learners who took part in a vocabulary acquisition treatment, in which they answered Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs) via clickers (experimental group) or hand-raising (control group). Findings show that students have positive perceptions of clickers across all analytical measures adopted and that clickers promote vocabulary learning. However, the differences in learning gains between the two groups were not significant, indicating individual differences among learners. Four of the learners who exhibited ‘extreme’ (lowest/highest) perception and performance scores were selected for further analyses. The presence of individual differences in clicker-enhanced learning suggests the technology should be carefully implemented to accommodate learners’ individual differences.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Relationship Between Organizational Entrepreneurship and the Performance of Qom Telecom Center with the Role of Moderating Perceived Environmental Factors

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Karehvand
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Corporate Entrepreneurship ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Moderating Variables ◽  
Spss Software ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship

Nowadays, environmental circumstances and business rules of organizations are complicate, active and uncertain, so, they cannot assurance their long- term survival through some actions such as, structural changes and methods or relying on creativity of some people in organization. Companies and organizations should prepare conditions to institutionalize entrepreneurial culture in their organization. Corporate entrepreneurship can improve the value of the organization. The entrepreneurial oriented organizations are more responsive for environment and market changes. Opportunity recognition is the base of being successful. The research is applied and in terms of method is descriptive. Data were analyzed, using Linear Regression and Multiple Moderated Regression (MMR) and SPSS software. In this research the effects of organizational entrepreneurship (innovation, proactiveness and risk-taking) on performance of the centers influenced by environmental factors (government’s strategies, competitiveness and technology) as moderating variables, were studied. Furthermore, the study presents that there is a significant positive relationship between organizational entrepreneurship and performance. Although the study does not show any significant moderating effect of environmental factors (Government’s strategies, competitiveness and technology) on the relationship between organizational entrepreneurship and performance, however, the result of the study manifests direct relationship between environmental factors and performance of such centers.

Threat Effects on Cognitive Systems: Testing Links to Aggression Proneness

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edelyn Verona ◽  
Julia Blayne McDonald ◽  
Melanie Bozzay
Keyword(s):  
Executive Control ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Cognitive Systems ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Behavioral Indices ◽  
Increase Risk ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Cognitive Alterations

The biobehavioral study of aggression has implications for expanding our understanding of transdiagnostic processes that increase risk for disinhibited behaviors. Towards this end, our study tested the process model of aggression (Verona & Bresin, 2015), examining whether threat-related changes in cognitive functioning are associated with self- and informant-reports of aggressive actions. Using event-related potential (ERP) measures of cognitive-attentional processes, 143 community participants were administered well-validated and translational laboratory manipulations of threat (NPU task; Schmitz & Grillon, 2012) and cognitive systems activation (Posner et al., 1980). Results confirmed the differential effects of threat predictability on ERP and behavioral indices of attentional alerting and executive control. More unpredictable threat enhanced alerting-related quicker responding, whereas more predictable threat interfered with processing of and performance on the flanker task. The results, however, failed to support the process model of aggression regarding threat-related cognitive alterations in aggression. The findings fit with a broader literature on cognitive and behavioral outputs of threat activation and provide fruitful avenues for better understanding threat-related aggression.

Age Differences in Complex Decision Making and Judgment

2021 ◽  
pp. 203-233
Author(s):  
Klara Rydzewska ◽  
Maciej Koscielniak ◽  
Bettina von Helversen ◽  
Grzegorz Sedek
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Motivational Factors ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Complex Decision Making ◽  
Complex Decision ◽  
And Performance

This chapter discusses age differences in complex decision making and judgment, particularly the role of motivational factors and individual differences. Literature on the influence of age-related changes in cognition and motivation on search and performance in complex decision making is reviewed. The role of financial incentives, need for cognition, and need for cognitive closure is discussed, including the age-related influence of motivational factors on the performance of sequential decision-making tasks. Additionally, the role of feedback as a factor producing superior performance of older adults in a decision-making task is introduced. Moreover, novel research findings regarding connections between intellectual helplessness and information and communication technologies in older adults are presented. Lastly, individual differences in numeracy and intellectual helplessness in mathematics as predictors of age-related differences in performance of multiattribute tasks are described.

Shiftwork and Performance

1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
SIMON FOLKARD ◽  
TIMOTHY H. MONK
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Task Type ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Descriptive Model ◽  
Shift Performance ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual

The recent increase in the incidence of shiftwork has been accompanied by a change in the type of task typically performed by the shiftworker. The technological advances which have produced both these effects have meant that the shiftworker is more likely to be engaged in cognitive, mentally taxing tasks than the predominantly perceptual-motor ones typical of earlier times. Contemporary research on time of day effects in performance efficiency has indicated that these task changes may be crucially important in determining on-shift performance, and hence the choice of the individual and shift system that is most suitable. Evidence is reviewed on task demands, the effects of different shift systems, and the role of individual differences. A descriptive model is proposed in which on-shift performance is seen to be dependent on the type of task, type of shift system, and type of person, with the three factors interacting via the worker's various circadian rhythms.

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