scholarly journals Current Understanding of the “Insight” Phenomenon Across Disciplines

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio J. Osuna-Mascaró ◽  
Alice M. I. Auersperg
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Conscious Experience ◽  
Comparative Cognition ◽  
Review Literature ◽  
Classical Approach ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Significant Challenge ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Human Neuroimaging

Despite countless anecdotes and the historical significance of insight as a problem solving mechanism, its nature has long remained elusive. The conscious experience of insight is notoriously difficult to trace in non-verbal animals. Although studying insight has presented a significant challenge even to neurobiology and psychology, human neuroimaging studies have cleared the theoretical landscape, as they have begun to reveal the underlying mechanisms. The study of insight in non-human animals has, in contrast, remained limited to innovative adjustments to experimental designs within the classical approach of judging cognitive processes in animals, based on task performance. This leaves no apparent possibility of ending debates from different interpretations emerging from conflicting schools of thought. We believe that comparative cognition has thus much to gain by embracing advances from neuroscience and human cognitive psychology. We will review literature on insight (mainly human) and discuss the consequences of these findings to comparative cognition.

Response Interference as a Mechanism Underlying Implicit Measures

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 218-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertram Gawronski ◽  
Roland Deutsch ◽  
Etienne P. LeBel ◽  
Kurt R. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Implicit Measures ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Response Interference ◽  
Relevant Evidence ◽  
Moderated Mediation Model ◽  
Stimulus Features ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

Over the last decade, implicit measures of mental associations (e.g., Implicit Association Test, sequential priming) have become increasingly popular in many areas of psychological research. Even though successful applications provide preliminary support for the validity of these measures, their underlying mechanisms are still controversial. The present article addresses the role of a particular mechanism that is hypothesized to mediate the influence of activated associations on task performance in many implicit measures: response interference (RI). Based on a review of relevant evidence, we argue that RI effects in implicit measures depend on participants’ attention to association-relevant stimulus features, which in turn can influence the reliability and the construct validity of these measures. Drawing on a moderated-mediation model (MMM) of task performance in RI paradigms, we provide several suggestions on how to address these problems in research using implicit measures.

Verbal statistical learning: Prior knowledge impacts word identification but not metacognition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laetitia Zmuda ◽  
Charlotte Baey ◽  
Paolo Mairano ◽  
Anahita Basirat
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Bayesian Approach ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Artificial Languages ◽  
Transitional Probabilities ◽  
Fully Bayesian

It is well-known that individuals can identify novel words in a stream of an artificial language using statistical dependencies. While underlying computations are thought to be similar from one stream to another (e.g. transitional probabilities between syllables), performance are not similar. According to the “linguistic entrenchment” hypothesis, this would be due to the fact that individuals have some prior knowledge regarding co-occurrences of elements in speech which intervene during verbal statistical learning. The focus of previous studies was on task performance. The goal of the current study is to examine the extent to which prior knowledge impacts metacognition (i.e. ability to evaluate one’s own cognitive processes). Participants were exposed to two different artificial languages. Using a fully Bayesian approach, we estimated an unbiased measure of metacognitive efficiency and compared the two languages in terms of task performance and metacognition. While task performance was higher in one of the languages, the metacognitive efficiency was similar in both languages. In addition, a model assuming no correlation between the two languages better accounted for our results compared to a model where correlations were introduced. We discuss the implications of our findings regarding the computations which underlie the interaction between input and prior knowledge during verbal statistical learning.

Unraveling What’s on Our Minds

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire M. Zedelius ◽  
Jonathan W. Schooler
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Positive Mood ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Different Types ◽  
And Behavior

Mind-wandering encompasses a variety of different types of thought, involving various different experiential qualities, emotions, and cognitive processes. Much is lost by simply lumping them together, as is typically done in the literature. The goal of this chapter is to explore the nuances that distinguish different types of mind-wandering. The chapter draws on research on mind-wandering as well as other literatures to gain a better understanding of how these different types of mind-wandering affect cognition and behavior. It specifically discusses the distinct effects of different types of mind-wandering on task performance, working memory, mood, and creativity. Finally, the chapter discusses the idea of deliberate engagement in particular types of mind-wandering as a way to achieve desirable outcomes, such as maintaining a positive mood, enhancing creativity, or aiding decision-making.

scholarly journals Cognitive task performance under (combined) conditions of a metabolic and sensory stressor

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charelle Bottenheft ◽  
Anne-Marie Brouwer ◽  
Ivo Stuldreher ◽  
Eric Groen ◽  
Jan van Erp
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Lower State ◽  
Subjective Data ◽  
Breakfast Skipping ◽  
Cognitive Task Performance ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Skipping Breakfast ◽  
Back Task

AbstractEffects of stressors on cognitive task performance have primarily been studied in isolation, and little is known about the combined effects of two or more stressors. This study examined how a metabolic stressor (skipping breakfast) and a sensory stressor (noise) affect cognitive task performance in isolation and combined. In addition to performance, we collected physiological and subjective data to get insight in the underlying mechanisms. Twenty participants came to the lab twice, once after skipping breakfast, and once after a standardized breakfast. They performed runs of the 2-back task and the International Shopping List Task, which were alternately presented with and without noise. During the 2-back task, electrocardiography (ECG), electrodermal activity (EDA), and electroencephalography (EEG) were recorded. Subjective ratings on effort and stress were also collected. No interaction effects between the two stressors on cognitive performance were found. Skipping breakfast did not cause hypoglycemia, but resulted in subjective discomfort and a lower state of arousal (as indicated by lower heart rate and EDA). These may underly the trend for more missed responses on the 2-back task after breakfast skipping. Noise appeared to generate arousal and increased attention (reflected in higher EDA and P300) in accordance with higher experienced load and stress. This is consistent with less missed 2-back responses in noise conditions. The results indicate that individuals spent extra effort to maintain task performance in the presence of noise. We propose to use a model that, besides additional effort, takes the effect of stressors on performance into account.

Comparative Cognition: Toward a General Understanding of Cognition in Behavior

1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 156-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward A. Wasserman
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Comparative Cognition ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
The Future

Human and nonhuman animals alike must adjust to complex and ever-changing circumstances if they are to survive and reproduce. Advanced neural mechanisms enable animals to remember the past, to act in the present, and to plan for the future. Exploring the species generality of cognitive processes in behavior is central to the field of comparative cognition. A comparative perspective may not only broaden but also deepen our understanding of cognition—both in human and in nonhuman animals.

Metalinguistic aspects of bilingual processing

2001 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 169-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Bialystok
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Metalinguistic Awareness ◽  
Syntactic Awareness ◽  
Alternate Conception ◽  
Bilingual Processing ◽  
And Control ◽  
Metalinguistic Ability

This chapter examines differences in metalinguistic development between monolingual and bilingual children in terms of three subcategories: word awareness, syntactic awareness, and phonological awareness. In each case, some studies have reported advantages for bilingual children, but equally, other studies have found either no difference between the groups, or, in some cases, monolingual advantages. In the discussion of each of these areas, the kinds of tasks for which bilingual and monolingual children perform differently are identified. In none of these three subcategories of metalinguistic awareness do bilingual children exhibit a uniform and consistent advantage over monolinguals. An alternate conception of metalinguistic ability is proposed in which two cognitive processes, analysis and control, are directly responsible for task performance. These processes are involved in all metalinguistic tasks but to different degrees. Re-examining the results in this way reveals that bilingual advantages occur reliably on tasks that make high demands on control but are not evident in tasks that make high demands on analysis. The implications of this pattern for metalinguistic ability are considered.

scholarly journals Online Transcranial Random Noise stimulation improves perception at high levels of visual white noise

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Melnick ◽  
Woon Ju Park ◽  
Sholei Croom ◽  
Shuyi Chen ◽  
Lorella Batelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Random Noise ◽  
External Noise ◽  
Orientation Discrimination ◽  
Perceptual Training ◽  
Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation ◽  
Perceptual Performance ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

AbstractTranscranial random noise stimulation (tRNS), a relatively recent addition to the field of non-invasive, electrical brain stimulation, has been shown to improve perceptual and cognitive functions across a wide variety of tasks. However, the underlying mechanisms of visual improvements caused by tRNS remain unclear. To study this question, we employed a well-established, equivalent-noise approach, which measures perceptual performance at various levels of external noise and is formalized by the Perceptual Template Model (PTM). This approach has been used extensively to infer the underlying mechanisms behind changes in visual processing, including those from perceptual training, adaptation and attention. Here, we used tRNS during an orientation discrimination task in the presence of increasing quantities of external visual white noise and fit the PTM to gain insights into the effects of tRNS on visual processing. Our results show that tRNS improves visual processing when stimulation is applied during task performance, but only at high levels of external visual white noise—a signature of improved external noise filtering. There were no significant effects of tRNS on task performance after the stimulation period. Of interest, the reported effects of tRNS on visual processing mimic those previously reported for endogenous spatial attention, offering a potential area of investigation for future work.

scholarly journals Developmental Computational Psychiatry

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias U. Hauser ◽  
Geert-Jan Will ◽  
Magda Dubois ◽  
Raymond J Dolan
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Brain Maturation ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Social Evaluation ◽  
Computational Psychiatry ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
The Brain

Most psychiatric disorders emerge during childhood and adolescence. This is also a period when the brain undergoes substantial growth and reorganisation. However, it remains unclear how a heightened vulnerability to psychiatric disorder relates to brain maturation, and what the underlying mechanisms might be. Here, we propose ‘developmental computational psychiatry’ as a framework for linking brain maturation to cognitive development. We propose that through modelling some of the brain’s fundamental cognitive computations and relating them to brain development, we can bridge the gap between brain and cognitive development. This in turn can lead to a richer understanding of the ontogeny of psychiatric disorders. We illustrate this perspective by taking examples from reinforcement learning (RL) and dopamine function, showing how computational modelling deepens an understanding of how cognitive processes, such as reward learning, effort learning, and social evaluation might go awry in psychiatric disorders. Finally, we formulate testable hypotheses and sketch the potential and limitations of developmental computational psychiatry.

scholarly journals Comparative cognition of number and space: the case of geometry and of the mental number line

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1740) ◽  
pp. 20170120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Vallortigara
Keyword(s):  
Hippocampal Formation ◽  
Comparative Cognition ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Geometric Information ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Numerical Experience ◽  
Surface Layout ◽  
Spatial Reorientation ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

Evidence is discussed about the use of geometric information for spatial orientation and the association between space and numbers in non-human animals. A variety of vertebrate species can reorient using simple Euclidian geometry of the environmental surface layout, i.e. in accord with metric and sense (right/left) relationships among extended surfaces. There seems to be a primacy of geometric over non-geometric information in spatial reorientation and, possibly, innate encoding of the sense of direction. The hippocampal formation plays a key role in geometry-based reorientation in mammals, birds, amphibians and fish. Although some invertebrate species show similar behaviours, it is unclear whether the underlying mechanisms are the same as in vertebrates. As to the links between space and number representations, a disposition to associate numerical magnitudes onto a left-to-right-oriented mental number line appears to exist independently of socio-cultural factors, and can be observed in animals with very little numerical experience, such as newborn chicks and human infants. Such evidence supports a nativistic foundation of number–space association. Some speculation about the possible underlying mechanisms is provided together with consideration on the difficulties inherent to any comparison among species of different taxonomic groups. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The origins of numerical abilities'.

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