Beyond orchids and dandelions: Susceptibility to environmental influences is not bimodal

This study focused on generality versus specificity of susceptibility of effects of eight family and child-care exposures measured between 3 and 54 months of age (e.g., sensitive parenting, child-care quality) on five child development outcomes assessed at age 4.5 years (e.g. behavior problems, preacademic skill), using data from The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n = 1,364, boys = 705; White = 1,097, Black = 176, other = 91), while applying a novel influence-statistics method. Results indicated that susceptibility across the environment-predictor:child-outcome associations is normally rather than bimodally (i.e., orchid–dandelion) distributed. Analysis of susceptibility documents both domain generality and specificity of developmental plasticity, with effect sizes proving small in the former case. As predicted, children who as infants had difficult temperaments or who scored higher on a polygenic-plasticity score (serotonin-transporter-linked promoter region [5-HTTLPR], dopamine receptor D4 [DRD4], brain-derived neurotrophic factor [BDNF]) proved somewhat more susceptible to some of the environmental effects investigated. Results lead to the recommendation that two-types-of-individuals vis-a-vis susceptibility to environmental influences be questioned and general-trait conceptions of susceptibility be further investigated.

Executive control in bilingual aphasia: a systematic review

Much research has been dedicated to the effects of bilingualism on executive control (EC). For bilinguals with aphasia, the interplay with EC is complex. In this systematic review, we synthesize research on this topic and provide an overview of the current state of the field. First, we examine the evidence for EC deficits in bilingual persons with aphasia (bPWA). We then discuss the domain generality of bilingual language control impairments. Finally, we evaluate the bilingual advantage hypothesis in bPWA. We conclude that (1) EC impairments in bPWA are frequently observed, (2) experimental results on the relationship between linguistic and domain-general control are mixed, (3) bPWA with language control problems in everyday communication have domain-general EC problems, and (4) there are indications for EC advantages in bPWA. We end with directions for experimental work that could provide better insight into the intricate relationship between EC and bilingual aphasia.

Language Dominance and Sociolinguistic Experience Are Related to Language Control and Domain-General Monitoring Control: An Investigation in Bilinguals Who Live in a Minority/Majority Sociolinguistic Setting

Bilingual language control in production tasks with language switches is supposed to be linked to domain-general cognitive control. In the present study, we investigated the role of language dominance, measured on a continuous scale, in the relationship between measures of language control elicited through language switching in a picture naming task and non-linguistic cognitive control induced by stimulus-response interference in a Simon task. In our sample of bilinguals who speak both a minority and majority language (language pair of Uyghur-Chinese), the results showed that as bilinguals were more L2-dominant, a pattern of reversed asymmetry switch costs in language control, i.e., larger L2 than L1 switch costs, was observed. Furthermore, the findings showed that recent exposure to the L1 minority language was associated with the change in language switch costs in terms of both response latencies and accuracy rates. This suggests a role for sociolinguistic context in bilingual language control. Concerning cross-domain generality, globally sustained language control was found to be correlated with domain-general monitoring control in response latencies for all bilingual participants. It lends support to the idea that bilinguals tap into monitoring control in the context of language switching. Additionally, the cross-domain overlap was found between two non-equivalent measures (global language control vs. cognitive inhibitory control) in response latencies, specifically for L1-dominant bilinguals. This suggests that language dominance may have an impact on cross-domain generality in language-switching processes.

Priming exploration across domains: does search in a spatial environment influence search in a cognitive environment?

Is there a general tendency to explore that connects search behaviour across different domains? Although the experimental evidence collected so far suggests an affirmative answer, this fundamental question about human behaviour remains open. A feasible way to test the domain-generality hypothesis is that of testing the so-called priming hypothesis: priming explorative behaviour in one domain should subsequently influence explorative behaviour in another domain. However, only a limited number of studies have experimentally tested this priming hypothesis, and the evidence is mixed. We tested the priming hypothesis in a registered report. We manipulated explorative behaviour in a spatial search task by randomly allocating people to search environments with resources that were either clustered together or dispersedly distributed. We hypothesized that, in a subsequent anagram task, participants who searched in clustered spatial environments would search for words in a more clustered way than participants who searched in the dispersed spatial environments. The pre-registered hypothesis was not supported. An equivalence test showed that the difference between conditions was smaller than the smallest effect size of interest ( d = 0.36). Out of several exploratory analyses, we found only one inferential result in favour of priming. We discuss implications of these findings for the theory and propose future tests of the hypothesis.

Using Differential Item Functioning to Analyze the Domain Generality of a Common Scientific Reasoning Test

A significant problem that assessments of scientific reasoning face at the level of higher education is the question of domain generality, that is, whether a test will produce biased results for students from different domains. This study applied three recently developed methods of analyzing differential item functioning (DIF) to evaluate the domain generality assumption of a common scientific reasoning test. Additionally, we evaluated the usefulness of these new, tree- and lasso-based, methods to analyze DIF and compared them with methods based on classical test theory. We gave the scientific reasoning test to 507 university students majoring in physics, biology, or medicine. All three DIF analysis methods indicated a domain bias present in about one-third of the items, mostly benefiting biology students. We did not find this bias by using methods based on classical test theory. Those methods indicated instead that all items were easier for physics students compared to biology students. Thus, the tree- and lasso-based methods provide a clear added value to test evaluation. Taken together, our analyses indicate that the scientific reasoning test is neither entirely domain-general, nor entirely domain-specific. We advise against using it in high-stakes situations involving domain comparisons.

Inconsistently consistent: Rationality is not reliable

Contemporarily, experimental investigations of revealed preference choice consistency utilize different tasks interchangeably. However, the reliability of choice consistency measurements among (inter-method) and within tasks (test-retest) has not been determined so far. Hence, it is unclear whether estimations of choice consistency fulfill a basic requirement of valid psychometric measures. Further, it is unclear how far results from different studies using different methodologies are comparable. In the study described here, we investigated the reliability of two established and one novel choice consistency tasks in an online-experiment under non-incentivized conditions in the choice domain of social decisions. Our results confidently indicate generally poor inter-method reliability and at best moderate test-retest reliability for the two indices, the Critical Cost Efficiency Index (CCEI) and the Houtman-Maks-Index (HMI), with the CCEI being the tentatively more reliable measure. This is especially concerning, since the full experiment (including test and retest measurement) lasted on average less than 45 minutes. Hence, it appears that estimations of choice consistency do not fulfill a basic requirement of valid psychometric measures. Further, results from different studies using different methodologies should not be compared without caution. Future work should investigate the impact of incentivization as well as the choice domain generality of our results.

Predicting confidence across observers and cognitive domains

Our perceptual system appears hardwired to exploit regularities of input features across space and time in seemingly stable environments. This can lead to serial dependence effects whereby recent perceptual representations bias current perception. Serial dependence has also been demonstrated for more abstract representations such as perceptual confidence. Here we ask whether temporal patterns in the generation of confidence judgments across trials generalize across observers and different cognitive domains. Data from the Confidence Database across perceptual, memory, and cognitive paradigms was re-analyzed. Machine learning classifiers were used to predict the confidence on the current trial based on the history of confidence judgments on the previous trials. Cross-observer and cross-domain decoding results showed that a model trained to predict confidence in the perceptual domain generalized across observers to predict confidence across the different cognitive domains. Intriguingly, these serial dependence effects also generalized across correct and incorrect trials, indicating that serial dependence in confidence generation is uncoupled to metacognition (i.e. how we evaluate the precision of our own behavior). We discuss the ramifications of these findings for the ongoing debate on domain-generality vs. specificity of metacognition.

Metacognition: ideas and insights from neuro- and educational sciences

Metacognition comprises both the ability to be aware of one’s cognitive processes (metacognitive knowledge) and to regulate them (metacognitive control). Research in educational sciences has amassed a large body of evidence on the importance of metacognition in learning and academic achievement. More recently, metacognition has been studied from experimental and cognitive neuroscience perspectives. This research has started to identify brain regions that encode metacognitive processes. However, the educational and neuroscience disciplines have largely developed separately with little exchange and communication. In this article, we review the literature on metacognition in educational and cognitive neuroscience and identify entry points for synthesis. We argue that to improve our understanding of metacognition, future research needs to (i) investigate the degree to which different protocols relate to the similar or different metacognitive constructs and processes, (ii) implement experiments to identify neural substrates necessary for metacognition based on protocols used in educational sciences, (iii) study the effects of training metacognitive knowledge in the brain, and (iv) perform developmental research in the metacognitive brain and compare it with the existing developmental literature from educational sciences regarding the domain-generality of metacognition.

Speech Perception under the Tent: A Domain-general Predictive Role for the Cerebellum

The role of the cerebellum in speech perception remains a mystery. Given its uniform architecture, we tested the hypothesis that it implements a domain-general mechanism whose role in speech is determined by connectivity. We collated all neuroimaging studies reporting cerebellar activity in the Neurosynth database (n = 8206). From this set, we found all studies involving passive speech and sound perception (n = 72, 64% speech, 12.5% sounds, 12.5% music, and 11% tones) and speech production and articulation (n = 175). Standard and coactivation neuroimaging meta-analyses were used to compare cerebellar and associated cortical activations between passive perception and production. We found distinct regions of perception- and production-related activity in the cerebellum and regions of perception–production overlap. Each of these regions had distinct patterns of cortico-cerebellar connectivity. To test for domain-generality versus specificity, we identified all psychological and task-related terms in the Neurosynth database that predicted activity in cerebellar regions associated with passive perception and production. Regions in the cerebellum activated by speech perception were associated with domain-general terms related to prediction. One hallmark of predictive processing is metabolic savings (i.e., decreases in neural activity when events are predicted). To test the hypothesis that the cerebellum plays a predictive role in speech perception, we examined cortical activation between studies reporting cerebellar activation and those without cerebellar activation during speech perception. When the cerebellum was active during speech perception, there was far less cortical activation than when it was inactive. The results suggest that the cerebellum implements a domain-general mechanism related to prediction during speech perception.

Metacognition: Ideas and Insights from Neuro- and Educational Sciences

Metacognition comprises both the ability to be aware of one’s cognitive processes (metacognitive knowledge) and to regulate them (metacognitive control). Research in educational sciences has amassed a large body of evidence on the importance of metacognition in learning and academic achievement. More recently, metacognition has been studied from experimental and cognitive neuroscience perspectives. This research has started to identify brain regions that encode metacognitive processes. However, the educational and neuroscience disciplines have largely developed separately with little crosstalk. In this article, we review the literature on metacognition in educational and cognitive neuroscience and identify entry points for synthesis. We argue that to improve our understanding of metacognition, future research needs to (i) investigate the degree to which different protocols relate to the similar or different metacognitive constructs and processes, (ii) implement experiments to identify neural substrates necessary for metacognition based on protocols used in educational sciences, (iii) study the effects of training metacognitive knowledge in the brain, and (iv) perform developmental research in the metacognitive brain and compare it with the existing developmental literature from educational sciences regarding the domain-generality of metacognition.