scholarly journals Opportunity or Risk? Appraisal and Affect Mediate the Effect of Task Framing on Working Memory Performance in University Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luxi Chen ◽  
Li Qu
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
University Students ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Cognitive Appraisals ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Threat Appraisal ◽  
Threat Appraisals ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Challenge Appraisal

Working memory (WM) is crucial for reasoning, learning, decision-making and academic achievement. In diverse contexts, how a task is framed pertaining to its demands and consequences can influence participants' task performance by modifying their cognitive appraisals. However, less is known about the effect of task framing on WM performance and the mechanisms. This study examined whether opportunity- and risk-focused task framing would influence university students' WM performance by altering their cognitive appraisals and affective experiences. Ninety-seven university students were randomly assigned to one of the three framing conditions (Opportunity, Risk, vs. Null), and received instructions that differed in consequences (gain for top performers, loss for poor performers, vs. null), goals (approach, avoidance, vs. neutral), and feedback on personal competence (adequate, inadequate, vs. null). Challenge and threat appraisals, affect, and WM performance were measured before and after task framing. Results showed that opportunity-focused task framing improved students' WM performance, whilst risk-focused task framing increased threat appraisal and decreased positive affect, and that challenge appraisal was not altered in any condition. Female students were influenced by task framing to a greater extent than were male students. Mediation analysis revealed that the alteration of threat appraisal and the change in positive affect mediated the effect of task framing on WM performance. Findings highlight the important role of modifying cognitive appraisals and affective responses in optimizing cognitive performance.

Visuospatial Working Memory Capacity in the Brain After Working Memory Training in College Students With ADHD: A Randomized Controlled Trial

2019 ◽  
pp. 108705471987948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Woltering ◽  
Chao Gu ◽  
Zhong-Xu Liu ◽  
Rosemary Tannock
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Training ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Students With Adhd ◽  
The Brain

Objective: ADHD has been associated with persistent problems of working memory. This study investigated the efficacy of an intensive and adaptive computerized working memory treatment (CWMT) at behavioral and neural levels. Method: College students ( n = 89; 40 females) with ADHD were randomized into a standard-length CWMT (45 min/session, 25 sessions, n = 29), shortened-length CWMT (15 min/session, 25 sessions, n = 32), and a waitlist group ( n = 28). Both CWMT groups received treatment for 5 days a week for 5 weeks. Lab sessions before and after CWMT assessed electroencephalography (EEG) indicators of working memory, behavioral indicators of working memory performance, and ADHD symptomatology. Results: No evidence was found for neural or any other behavioral transfer effects of improvement for the CWMT treatment groups over the active control or waitlist group. Conclusion: Our study does not provide evidence for the benefits of CWMT at neural or behavioral levels.

scholarly journals Subjective Uncontrollability over Aversive Events Reduces Working Memory Performance and Related Large-Scale Network Interactions

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 3116-3129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Wanke ◽  
Lars Schwabe
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Learned Helplessness ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Large Scale Network ◽  
Aversive Events ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Affective Deficits ◽  
Objective Control ◽  
Scale Network

Abstract Lack of control over significant events may induce a state of learned helplessness that is characterized by cognitive, motivational, and affective deficits. Although highly relevant in the pathogenesis of several mental disorders, the extent of the cognitive deficits induced by experiences of uncontrollability and the neural mechanisms underlying such deficits in humans remain poorly understood. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we tested here whether uncontrollability over aversive events impairs subsequent working memory performance and, if so, which neural processes are involved in such deficits. We assessed working memory and the involved neurocircuitry in the MRI scanner before and after participants underwent a task in which they could either learn to avoid electric shocks or had no instrumental control over shocks. Our results show that subjective, but not objective, uncontrollability over aversive events impaired working memory performance. This impact of subjective uncontrollability was linked to altered prefrontal and parahippocampal activities and connectivity as well as decreased crosstalk between frontoparietal executive and salience networks. Our findings show that the perceived uncontrollability over aversive events, rather than the aversive events themselves or the actual, objective control over them, disrupts subsequent working memory processes, most likely through altered crosstalk between prefrontal, temporal, and parietal areas.

scholarly journals Working Memory Performance Under Stress

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-139
Author(s):  
Petra Luers ◽  
Malgorzata Schloeffel ◽  
Jens C. Prüssner
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Function

Abstract. Acute stress and chronic stress change the physiology and function of the individual. As one facet, stress and its neuroendocrine correlates – with glucocorticoids in particular – modulate memory in a concerted action. With respect to working memory, impairing effects of acute stress and increased levels of glucocorticoids could be expected, but empirical evidence on moderating effects of cortisol on working memory is ambiguous in human studies. In the current study, we thus aimed to investigate cortisol stress responses and memory performance. Older men and women (32 men, 43 women, aged 61–67 years) underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and performed the 2-back task before and after exposure to acute stress. In line with theoretical assumptions, we found that higher cortisol stress responses led to a decline of working memory performance in men. However, the opposite was evident for women, who appeared to benefit from higher stress responses. This effect was evident for accuracy, but not for reaction time. In conclusion, cortisol might mediate working memory alterations with stress in a sex-specific manner in older people. Possible mechanisms and causes for these sex differences put a focus on endocrine changes in the aging population that might lead to differential effects across the lifespan.

scholarly journals Applying the Silent Way in Teaching Japanese Language to University Students in Taiwan

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 160
Author(s):  
Abolfazl Shirban Sasi ◽  
Toshinari Haga ◽  
Heng Yu Chen
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Paired Sample ◽  
Class Time ◽  
Oral Test ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Central Taiwan

The present study investigated the feasibility of applying the Silent Way in teaching Japanese to Taiwanese university students. A total of 168 (96 female and 72 male) students in a university in central Taiwan were the subjects of this study. They were studying Japanese as a general course, and were grouped in five classes ranging from freshmen to juniors. Some basic principles and techniques of the Silent Way were adopted in teaching them some vocabulary and 50 Japanese Hiragana sounds during six successive sessions in three weeks. Each administration took about 20 minutes embedded in the normal class time. A 25-item Hiragana sounds oral test was used as the pre-test and post-test in order to examine the effects of applying this method. Using a paired sample T-test (α ≤.05) significant difference between students’ knowledge of the Japanese sounds before and after the experiment was observed. However, comparing female and male students’ gained scores via applying a Mann Whitney U-test, no significant difference was observed. Thus, this study shows that the Silent Way can be used in teaching Japanese sounds and vocabulary, and that the effects for both females and males seem to be the same.

scholarly journals (Lack of) Effects of noradrenergic stimulation on human working memory performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 237 (10) ◽  
pp. 3033-3046
Author(s):  
Nadine Wanke ◽  
Jana Christina Müller ◽  
Klaus Wiedemann ◽  
Lars Schwabe
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Healthy Humans ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Human Participants

Abstract Rationale Working memory depends on prefrontal cortex functioning, which is particularly sensitive to levels of noradrenaline. Studies in non-human primates have shown that modest levels of noradrenaline improve working memory, and that higher levels of noradrenaline impair working memory performance. However, research in humans provided inconsistent findings concerning noradrenergic effects on working memory. Objective The present study aimed at assessing dose-dependent effects of yohimbine, an alpha-2 adrenoceptor antagonist, on working memory performance in healthy humans. We further aimed to explore a potential interactive effect between noradrenergic arousal and lack of control over aversive events on working memory performance. Methods We used a double-blind, fully crossed, placebo-controlled, between-subject design. Participants (N = 121) performed an adaptive n-back task before and after oral administration of either a placebo, 20 mg, or 40 mg yohimbine and a manipulation of controllability, during which participants could either learn to avoid electric shocks (controllability groups), had no instrumental control over shock administration (uncontrollability groups), or did not receive any shocks (no-shock control group). Results While no significant results of noradrenergic stimulation through yohimbine were obtained using conventional frequentist analyses, additional Bayesian analyses provided strong evidence for the absence of an association between pharmacological treatment and working memory performance. We further observed no effect of controllability and no interaction between noradrenergic stimulation and the manipulation of controllability. Conclusions Our results suggest that noradrenergic stimulation through yohimbine does not affect (non-spatial) working memory in healthy human participants.

Training of Attentional Filtering, but Not of Memory Storage, Enhances Working Memory Efficiency by Strengthening the Neuronal Gatekeeper Network

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 636-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlen Schmicker ◽  
Melanie Schwefel ◽  
Anne-Katrin Vellage ◽  
Notger G. Müller
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Deficits ◽  
Irrelevant Information ◽  
Memory Storage ◽  
Memory Training ◽  
Transfer Effects ◽  
Healthy Humans ◽  
Before And After

Memory training (MT) in older adults with memory deficits often leads to frustration and, therefore, is usually not recommended. Here, we pursued an alternative approach and looked for transfer effects of 1-week attentional filter training (FT) on working memory performance and its neuronal correlates in young healthy humans. The FT effects were compared with pure MT, which lacked the necessity to filter out irrelevant information. Before and after training, all participants performed an fMRI experiment that included a combined task in which stimuli had to be both filtered based on color and stored in memory. We found that training induced processing changes by biasing either filtering or storage. FT induced larger transfer effects on the untrained cognitive function than MT. FT increased neuronal activity in frontal parts of the neuronal gatekeeper network, which is proposed to hinder irrelevant information from being unnecessarily stored in memory. MT decreased neuronal activity in the BG part of the gatekeeper network but enhanced activity in the parietal storage node. We take these findings as evidence that FT renders working memory more efficient by strengthening the BG–prefrontal gatekeeper network. MT, on the other hand, simply stimulates storage of any kind of information. These findings illustrate a tight connection between working memory and attention, and they may open up new avenues for ameliorating memory deficits in patients with cognitive impairments.

scholarly journals Daily fluctuations in positive affect positively co-vary with working memory performance.

Emotion ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Brose ◽  
Martin Lövdén ◽  
Florian Schmiedek
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Memory Performance

Relationship between Relaxation by Guided Imagery and Performance of Working Memory

2000 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith A. Hudetz ◽  
Anthony G. Hudetz ◽  
Jill Klayman
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Guided Imagery ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Human Information Processing ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Mean ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Healthy Participants

This study tested the hypothesis that relaxation by guided imagery improves working-memory performance of healthy participants. 30 volunteers (both sexes, ages 17–56 years) were randomly assigned to one of three groups and administered the WAIS–III Letter-Number Sequencing Test before and after 10-min. treatment with guided imagery or popular music. The control group received no treatment. Groups' test scores were not different before treatment. The mean increased after relaxation by guided imagery but not after music or no treatment. This result supports the hypothesis that working-memory scores on the test are enhanced by guided imagery and implies that human information processing may be enhanced by prior relaxation.

scholarly journals Evidence Against Combined Effects of Stress and Brain Stimulation on Working Memory

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-56
Author(s):  
Maximilian A. Friehs ◽  
Christian Frings
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Psychosocial Stress ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Correct Reaction ◽  
Bayes Analysis ◽  
Back Task

AbstractThe effect of stress on working memory has been traced back to a modulation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). We investigated the effects of neuromodulation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC) after exposure to psychosocial stress through the Socially Evaluated Cold Pressure Test (SECPT). The hypothesis was that neuromodulation interacts with the stress intervention, to either boost performance even under stressed conditions or compensate negative stress effects. Fifty-nine participants were randomly divided into two groups. One group received active, anodal, offline transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the lDLPFC while the other group received sham stimulation. Participants performed a lexical n-back task, before and after the SECPT and tDCS intervention. The first n-back task was used as a baseline measurement and the second n-back task was performed during recovery from stress when cortisol levels are at their peak, but still under the influence of tDCS aftereffects. Additionally, after the psychosocial stress phase participants were post-hoc divided into cortisol responders and nonresponders. Results showed that generally stress increased lexical n-back task performance as indicated by faster correct reaction times and higher accuracy but that this was not modulated by tDCS. Crucially, using Bayes analysis we obtained evidence against the influence of anodal tDCS on stressed individual’s working memory performance.

scholarly journals Ambulatory Assessment of Rumination and Worry: Capturing Perseverative Cognitions in Children’s Daily Life

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea C. Kramer ◽  
Andreas B. Neubauer ◽  
Anja Leonhardt ◽  
Judith Dirk ◽  
Annette Brose ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Ambulatory Assessment ◽  
Measurement Instruments ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Unidimensional Structure

Rumination and worry are common forms of perseverative cognitions in children. Research has started to target perseverative cognitions in the everyday life of children, however, valid measurement instruments reliably capturing rumination and worry in children’s daily life are still missing. We conducted two ambulatory assessment studies validating short scales suitable for the measurement of rumination and worry in children’s daily life. Results of the first study (N = 110, 8 – 11-year olds, 31 days, up to 4 daily measurements) supported a unidimensional structure of the rumination scale with high levels of reliability. Rumination was associated with negative affect (but not positive affect) on the within- and on the between-person level. On the between-person level, children who ruminated more showed poorer working memory performance. In the second study (N = 84, 8 – 10-year olds, 21 days, up to 3 daily measurements), findings of Study 1 were largely replicated. Moreover, we established a unidimensional worry scale in Study 2 reliably capturing worry in children’s daily life. Importantly, Study 2 showed that worry and rumination can be differentiated in children. On the within-person level, higher levels of worry were associated with higher levels of negative affect and lower levels of positive affect. On the between-person level, worry was associated with higher levels of negative affect and lower working memory performance. Altogether, findings of both studies demonstrated that the short scales had excellent psychometric properties suggesting that they are helpful tools for the assessment of rumination and worry in children’s daily life.

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