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Task Context (task + context)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Psychology	50%

Selected Abstracts

ADAPTABILITY TO CHANGING TASK CONTEXTS: EFFECTS OF GENERAL COGNITIVE ABILITY, CONSCIENTIOUSNESS, AND OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE

PERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2000
JEFFREY A. LEPINE
We examined the extent to which cognitive ability, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience predict decision-making performance prior to and after unforeseen changes in the task context. Seventy-three undergraduates made decisions on a series of 75 problems during a 3-hour computerized simulation. Unbeknownst to participants, the rules used in determining correct decisions changed after problems 25 and 50. Effects of the individual differences on decision-making performance became significantly stronger after the changes. Only cognitive ability explained variance in prechange performance. Individuals with higher cognitive ability made better decisions. After the change, the cognitive ability effect increased and the effects of Conscientiousness and Openness became statistically significant. As expected, those with high Openness made better decisions. Unexpectedly, those with low Conscientiousness made better decisions. Subsequent analyses revealed that this surprising effect for Conscientiousness was due to the traits reflecting dependability (i.e., order, dutiful-ness, deliberation) rather than volition (i.e., competence, achievement striving, self-discipline). [source]

Motor foundations of higher cognition: similarities and differences in processing regular and violated perceptual sequences of different specificity

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 12 2009
Andreja Bubic
Abstract Processing perceptual sequences relies on the motor system, which is able to simulate the dynamics of the environment by developing internal representations of external events and using them to predict the incoming stimuli. Although it has previously been demonstrated that such models may incorporate predictions based on exact stimulus properties and single stimulus dimensions, it is not known whether they can also support abstract predictions pertaining to the level of stimulus categories. This issue was investigated within the present event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study, which compared the processing of perceptual sequences of different specificity, namely those in which the sequential structure was based on the order of presentation of individual stimuli (token), and those in which such structure was defined by stimulus categories (type). The results obtained indicate a comparable engagement of the basic premotor,parietal network in processing both specific and categorical perceptual sequences. However, type sequences additionally elicited activations within the lateral prefrontal, occipital and posterior temporal regions that supported categorization in this task context. Introducing sequential deviants into token sequences activated parietotemporal and ventrolateral frontal cortices, whereas a less pronounced overall response, dominated by lateral prefrontal activation, was elicited by violations introduced into type sequences. Overall, the findings obtained suggest that, although forward models in perception may be able to incorporate expectations of lower specificity when compared to the motor domain, such processing is crucially dependent on additional contributions from lateral prefrontal as well as inferior occipital and temporal cortices that support categorization occurring in such a dynamic context. [source]

Tonically active neurons in the striatum differentiate between delivery and omission of expected reward in a probabilistic task context

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 3 2009
Paul Apicella
Abstract Tonically active neurons (TANs) in the primate striatum are responsive to rewarding stimuli and they are thought to be involved in the storage of stimulus,reward associations or habits. However, it is unclear whether these neurons may signal the difference between the prediction of reward and its actual outcome as a possible neuronal correlate of reward prediction errors at the striatal level. To address this question, we studied the activity of TANs from three monkeys trained in a classical conditioning task in which a liquid reward was preceded by a visual stimulus and reward probability was systematically varied between blocks of trials. The monkeys' ability to discriminate the conditions according to probability was assessed by monitoring their mouth movements during the stimulus,reward interval. We found that the typical TAN pause responses to the delivery of reward were markedly enhanced as the probability of reward decreased, whereas responses to the predictive stimulus were somewhat stronger for high reward probability. In addition, TAN responses to the omission of reward consisted of either decreases or increases in activity that became stronger with increasing reward probability. It therefore appears that one group of neurons differentially responded to reward delivery and reward omission with changes in activity into opposite directions, while another group responded in the same direction. These data indicate that only a subset of TANs could detect the extent to which reward occurs differently than predicted, thus contributing to the encoding of positive and negative reward prediction errors that is relevant to reinforcement learning. [source]

What's in View for Toddlers?

INFANCY, Issue 3 2008
Using a Head Camera to Study Visual Experience
This article reports 2 experiments using a new method to study 18-to 24-month-olds' visual experiences as they interact with objects. Experiment 1 presents evidence on the coupling of head and eye movements and thus the validity of the head camera view of the infant's visual field in the geometry of the task context. Experiment 2 demonstrates the use of this method in the naturalistic context of toy play with a parent. The results point to the embodied nature of toddlers' attentional strategies and to importance of hands and hand actions in their visual experience of objects. The head camera thus appears to be a promising method that, despite some limitations, will yield new insights about the ecology and content of young children's experiences. [source]

ADAPTABILITY TO CHANGING TASK CONTEXTS: EFFECTS OF GENERAL COGNITIVE ABILITY, CONSCIENTIOUSNESS, AND OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE

Interfacing mind and brain: A neurocognitive model of recognition memory

PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 5 2000
Axel Mecklinger
A variety of processes contribute to successful recognition memory, some of which can be associated with spatiotemporally distinct event-related potential old/new effects. An early frontal and a subsequent parietal old/new effect are correlated with the familiarity and recollection subcomponents of recognition memory, respectively, whereas a late, postretrieval old/new effect seems to reflect an ensemble of evaluation processes that are set by the task context in which retrieval occurs. Both the early frontal and the parietal old/new effects are differentially modulated by the informational content (e.g., object forms and spatial locations) of recognition and seem to rely on brain systems damaged in amnesia. The late frontal effect appears to reflect prefrontal cortex activation. A neurophysiologically based model of recognition memory retrieval is presented and it is shown that coupling recognition memory subprocesses with distinct old/new effects allow examination of the time course of the processes that contribute to correct and to illusory memories. In conjunction with event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging activation patterns the brain systems recruited by various aspects of episodic memory retrieval can be identified. [source]

Self in Context: Autonomy and Relatedness in Japanese and U.S. Mother,Preschooler Dyads

CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2002
Tracy A. Dennis
Cultural differences and similarities in socialization during two contrasting laboratory tasks were examined in 30 Japanese mothers and their preschoolers, both temporarily residing in the United States, and 30 U.S. mothers and their preschoolers (age: M= 55.8 months, SD= 4.9). Mother and child actions, speech, emotion, and attention were coded from videotaped observations during a free play task and waiting task. Cross,cultural comparisons showed that U.S. mothers had more conversations that emphasized individual experiences, more often acted as playmates and used joint attention, maintained more physical distance, showed more positive emotions, and made more positive responses to child accomplishment. In contrast, Japanese mothers had more conversations that emphasized shared experiences, showed more divided attention, and maintained social role distinctions. Similar, but fewer cultural differences emerged for children. However, maternal and child characteristics also varied by task context. The results suggested an emphasis on autonomy in U.S. dyads and an emphasis on relatedness in Japanese dyads, but the interactions with task context revealed the coexistence of autonomy and relatedness. [source]

Reasoning from data: How students collect and interpret data in science investigations

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 7 2004
Zoe Kanari
This study explored the understandings of data and measurement that school students draw upon, and the ways that they reason from data, when carrying out a practical science inquiry task. The two practical tasks used in the study each involved investigations of the relationships between two independent variables (IVs) and a dependent variable (DV); in both tasks, one IV covaried with the DV, whereas the other did not. Each was undertaken by 10 students, aged 10, 12, and 14 years (total n,=,60 students), working individually. Their actions were video-recorded for analysis. In a subsequent interview, each student was asked to discuss and interpret data collected by two other students, undertaking a similar (but different) practical task, shown on a video-recording. An analysis of the sample students' performance on the practical tasks and their interview responses showed few differences across task contexts, or with age, in students' reasoning, but significant differences in performance when investigating situations of covariation and non-covariation. Few students in the sample displayed sufficient understanding of measurement error to deal effectively with the latter. Investigations of non-covariation cases revealed, much more clearly than investigations of covariation cases, the students' ideas about data and measurement, and their ways of reasoning from data. Such investigations therefore provide particularly valuable contexts for teaching and research. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 748,769, 2004 [source]