Exhaustion of the Executive Control Capacity Eliminates Retrieval Induced Forgetting

Retrieval Induced Forgetting (RIF) demonstrates that retrieval of information can lead to forgetting of related information. The standard RIF paradigm involves studying a certain number of category-exemplar pairs; thereafter, half of the exemplars from half of the categories are retrieved. Finally, all studied pairs are recalled. RIF is revealed when unretrieved exemplars from the retrieved categories are more poorly recalled than exemplars from the unretrieved categories. One explanation for RIF asserts that inhibition prevents interference from the exemplars of the same category during the interpolated retrieval practice phase, which leads to forgetting of these items at final recall. An ongoing debate concerns whether this inhibition requires executive control or whether it is automatic. If inhibition in RIF involves executive control, then a task that will exhaust this limited capacity should reduce or eliminate the RIF effect. The effects of concurrent tasks during the retrieval practice phase have been shown to reduce or eliminate RIF, however, to our knowledge, the effects of prior tasks on RIF has not been investigated. In the present study, in one condition, we conducted an exhaustive inhibition task before the retrieval practice phase and compared this condition to the one in which the prior task was non-exhaustive. Results showed that the RIF effect was eliminated when the prior task was exhaustive. The results supported the executive control view for the inhibition mechanism behind RIF and further showed that exhaustion of the executive control capacity can impair inhibition in subsequent tasks.

How Diverse Task Experience Affects Both Group and Subsequent Individual Performance

Task demonstrability defines the criteria that, when met, facilitate the effective exchange of knowledge within a problem-solving group. The extent to which those criteria are met should vary as a consequence of the relevant experiences that members have prior to entering the group. We investigate whether group members’ ability to coordinate with one another is facilitated by their prior task-related experiences. Participants worked individually, then in groups, and then individually again to complete a series of circuit board assembly tasks. Groups in which all members had pre-task experience performed significantly better than groups with even a single member lacking task experience, or individuals. Mediation analysis showed that prior task experience helps group members coordinate by improving task demonstrability. Group experience composition also affected post-group individual performance. Groups with diverse task experience produced individuals who performed better solo but only after working on an unstructured task that allowed for greater exploration.

THE MODERN STATUS OF THE HISTORICAL BUILDING IN THE CITY OF ODESSA. THE PROBLEMATIC ISSUES AND THE WAYS OF RESOLUTION

The article considers the main points on the decaying and dilapidated historical building in the city of Odessa. The city developed from the typical Empire style of the residential and the public buildings in the beginning of the nineteenth century to the replacing of the style for 70 % with eclecticism and modernism presented in the apartment buildings, railway stations, educational facilities and medical building complexes. The research of the current condition of the buildings and constructions in the historical area of the city is presented by the author in order to provide changes in the field given. The retrospective review of the historical building formation and the problematic issues of the historical urban fabric as well as the ways of solving the problem are clearly defined in the article. A specific separate paragraph is dedicated to the importance of the issues above¬-mentioned not only in the constructive and art-architectural destination, but also in finding the beneficial solutions on functional occupancy rate of the historical building in a state of constantly changing conditions of the extensively developing city. It is recommended that the scientific production groups are to be made in order to define, to systemize and to calibrate the parts of the historical range of the city. The groups are to include the experts in different fields such as the architects, the technologists, the constructors or the designers, the historians of a local lore as well as sculptors, marketers, the economists, the builders and the students, of course. The most appropriate way to make such a group is to create it based upon the Odessa State Academy of the Architecture, where the scientific and the laboratory bases are concentrated. The only thing needed to get out of the suspended animation is the State support. The author suggests using some methods of the rehabilitation of the historical city heritage: the so called facadization (the Leningrad method) and the method of scientific restoration. It is necessary to note that the integrated scientific investigations on the issue are to be fulfilled before taking any practical decision as for the further fate of the historical building heritage. Taking into account the fact that the image of the city is represented both by the number of parks, squares and by its buildings and their facades, the only thing is to save it and to set it a goal, a prior task to preserve that heritage. The state program or the private business can be leading in solving the problem. One must keep to the “L and K” rule: the Law and the Knowledge. It is advisably necessary to invent or to find a new typology for the architecture of the past centuries and the functional filling, relevant to the 21st century.

Nested Repetitive Structure Techniques in Examination Seating Number Allocation Process at UiTM Pulau Pinang Branch

Preparation of examination seating numbers during the final examination at UiTM Pulau Pinang branch is manually drafted and written by the examination unit staff on the class lists printed through the Student Integrated Managements Systems (SIMs). Process of assigning the seating number for each student takes couple of weeks and this task has become a challenging part for examination unit. Since the students’ enrolments are linearly increasing every semester, the workloads among Examination Unit staffs become very burdensome in assigning the seating number. To automate the process of assigning the seating numbers, an algorithm was designed and constructed using the nested repetitive or looping structure techniques with JAVA programming language. Two tasks were identified in assigning the seating numbers; the first task was to set the examination seating number range with start and end numbers for each group of courses registered by the students and the subsequent task was to assign the seating number for each student accordingly by group seating number range as specified during the prior task without the violation or overlapping of seating numbers. The algorithm was tested using real data enrolments taken from SIMs for two semesters and resulted in positive effect especially on the reduction of stressfulness and zero erroneous allocation of the seating numbers.

Implementation-independent representation for deep convolutional neural networks and humans in processing faces

Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN) nowadays can match and even outperform human performance in challenging complex tasks. However, it remains unknown whether DCNNs achieve human-like performance through human-like processes; that is, do DCNNs use similar internal representations to achieve the task as humans? Here we applied a reverse-correlation method to reconstruct the internal representations when DCNNs and human observers classified genders of faces. We found that human observers and a DCNN pre-trained for face identification, VGG-Face, showed high similarity between their “classification images” in gender classification, suggesting similar critical information utilized in this task. Further analyses showed that the similarity of the representations was mainly observed at low spatial frequencies, which are critical for gender classification in human studies. Importantly, the prior task experience, which the VGG-Face was pre-trained for processing faces at the subordinate level (i.e., identification) as humans do, seemed necessary for such representational similarity, because AlexNet, a DCNN pre-trained to process objects at the basic level (i.e., categorization), succeeded in gender classification but relied on a completely different representation. In sum, although DCNNs and humans rely on different sets of hardware to process faces, they can use a similar representation, possibly from similar prior task experiences, to achieve the same computation goal. Therefore, our study provides the first empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis of implementation-independent representation.

Learning Experience Reverses Catecholaminergic Effects on Adaptive Behavior

Background Catecholamines are important for cognitive control and the ability to adapt behavior (e.g., after response errors). A prominent drug that modulates the catecholaminergic system is methylphenidate. On the basis of theoretical consideration, we propose that the effects of methylphenidate on behavioral adaptation depend on prior learning experience. Methods In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover study design, we examined the effect of methylphenidate (0.25 mg/kg) on post error behavioral adaptation processes in a group of n = 43 healthy young adults. Behavioral adaptation processes were examined in a working memory, modulated response selection task. The focus of the analysis was on order effects within the crossover study design to evaluate effects of prior learning/task experience. Results The effect of methylphenidate/placebo on post-error behavioral adaptation processes reverses depending on prior task experience. When there was no prior experience with the task, methylphenidate increased post-error slowing and thus intensified behavioral adaptation processes. However, when there was prior task experience, (i.e., when the placebo session was conducted first in the crossover design), methylphenidate even decreased post-error slowing and behavioral adaptation. Effect sizes were large and the power of the observed effects was higher than 95%. Conclusions The data suggest that catecholaminergic effects on cognitive control functions vary as a function of prior learning/task experience. The data establish a close link between learning/task familiarization and catecholaminergic effects for executive functions, which has not yet been studied, to our knowledge, but is of considerable clinical relevance. Theoretical implications are discussed.