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This study explored developmental and individual differences in intellectual humility (IH) among 127 children ages 6-8. IH was operationalized as children's assessment of their knowledge and willingness to delegate scientific questions to experts. Children completed measures of IH, theory of mind, motivational framework, and intelligence, and neurophysiological measures indexing early (error-related negativity [ERN]) and later (error positivity [Pe]) error-monitoring processes related to cognitive control. Children's knowledge self-assessment correlated with question delegation, and older children showed greater IH than younger children. Greater IH was associated with higher intelligence but not with social cognition or motivational framework. ERN related to self-assessment, whereas Pe related to question delegation. Thus, children show separable epistemic and social components of IH that may differentially contribute to metacognition and learning.

The present study investigated the relative contributions of experiential and ability factors to second language (L2) passage comprehension and L2 vocabulary retention. Participants included a cross section of 99 adult learners of Spanish as a foreign language enrolled in beginning through advanced level university Spanish courses. Participants completed a standardized reading proficiency test (Adult Basic Learning Examination, Spanish version) to verify a range in proficiency, a checklist and translation "passage sight vocabulary" test, and a written recall in the native language of the 4 passages that were read. Vocabulary retention was measured at 2 time intervals by a multiple-choice test of receptive retention of meaning of targeted vocabulary. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results revealed consistent support for the following model: (a) Language processing experience positively influenced L2 passage sight vocabulary; (b) L2 passage sight vocabulary positively influenced narrative passage comprehension; and (c) L2 comprehension positively influenced L2 vocabulary growth. (Contains 5 tables, 3 figures, and 5 notes.)

In a previous study, Mix et al. (2016) reported that spatial skill and mathematics were composed of 2 highly correlated, domain-specific factors, with a few cross-domain loadings. The overall structure was consistent across grade (kindergarten, 3rd grade, 6th grade), but the cross-domain loadings varied with age. The present study sought to replicate these patterns. Using the data from Wave 1 (n = 854) and data collected from a 2nd sample of kindergarten (n = 251), 3rd-grade (n = 247), and 6th-grade students (n = 241) with the same measures as in Wave 1, we carried out a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis to compare the 2 waves. We also completed several analyses of the Wave 2 data alone. The overall pattern obtained in Wave 1-2 highly correlated domain-specific factors--was clearly replicated in Wave 2. However, more subtle effects involving cross-domain loading were only partially replicated and generally appear fragile and context-specific. In Wave 2, we also included 2 new measures (i.e., proportion matching and fraction identification) that were analyzed in a separate model. Including these new measures did not change the overall pattern of factors and domain-specific factor loadings but did alter some of the cross-domain loadings.

Scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) predict military job (and training) performance better than any single variable so far identified. However, it remains unclear what factors explain this predictive relationship. Here, we investigated the contributions of fluid intelligence (Gf) and two executive functions—placekeeping ability and attention control—to the relationship between the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) score from the ASVAB and job-relevant multitasking performance. Psychometric network analyses revealed that Gf and placekeeping ability independently contributed to and largely explained the AFQT–multitasking performance relationship. The contribution of attention control to this relationship was negligible. However, attention control did relate positively and significantly to Gf and placekeeping ability, consistent with the hypothesis that it is a cognitive "primitive" underlying the individual differences in higher-level cognition. Finally, hierarchical regression analyses revealed stronger evidence for the incremental validity of Gf and placekeeping ability in the prediction of multitasking performance than for the incremental validity of attention control. The results shed light on factors that may underlie the predictive validity of global measures of cognitive ability and suggest how the ASVAB might be augmented to improve its predictive validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circumvention-of-limits hypothesis holds that the more skilled and knowledgeable the task performer, the less it matters for task performance whether that person has limited general cognitive ability. We tested this hypothesis using a knowledge activation approach to manipulate knowledge experimentally. The criterion task, which we designed to capture a fundamental requirement of a broad class of real-world tasks, was a placekeeping task in which participants had to perform a sequence of operations in a specified order, applying 7 different 2-alternative decision rules to a series of randomly generated stimuli. The measures of interest in this task were response time and accuracy, as well as frequency of use of a help function to recall the correct sequence of steps. In the knowledge-activated condition, we gave participants a mnemonic in which the first letters of the decision rules spelled the English word unravel. In the knowledge-not-activated condition, no mnemonic was given, and the use and discovery of mnemonics was frustrated by reversal of the terms of some decision rules so that their first letters spelled the difficult to pronounce nonword unrbcel. The predictor tasks, which we used to predict performance in the placekeeping task, were standard tests of cognitive ability, which have been shown to predict performance differences in a wide range of complex tasks. Inconsistent with the circumvention-of-limits hypothesis, the positive effect of cognitive ability on placekeeping performance did not differ across conditions. This finding adds to previous evidence that it may not always be possible to overcome limitations on cognitive ability through extensive training. KEYWORDS: expertise, knowledge, cognitive ability, intelligence, placekeeping, The question of what role, if any, general cognitive ability plays in skilled performance is the subject of vigorous debate in the literature on expertise (see Hambrick et al., 2014). [...]

Numerous recent studies seem to provide evidence for the general intellectual benefits of working memory training. In reviews of the training literature, Shipstead, Redick, and Engle (2010, 2012) argued that the field should treat recent results with a critical eye. Many published working memory training studies suffer from design limitations (no-contact control groups, single measures of cognitive constructs), mixed results (transfer of training gains to some tasks but not others, inconsistent transfer to the same tasks across studies), and lack of theoretical grounding (identifying the mechanisms responsible for observed transfer). The current study compared young adults who received 20 sessions of practice on an adaptive dual "n"-back program (working memory training group) or an adaptive visual search program (active placebo-control group) with a no-contact control group that received no practice. In addition, all subjects completed pretest, midtest, and posttest sessions comprising multiple measures of fluid intelligence, multitasking, working memory capacity, crystallized intelligence, and perceptual speed. Despite improvements on both the dual n-back and visual search tasks with practice, and despite a high level of statistical power, there was no positive transfer to any of the cognitive ability tests. We discuss these results in the context of previous working memory training research and address issues for future working memory training studies. (Contains 7 tables, 6 figures and 7 footnotes.)

Sources of individual differences in scientific problem solving were investigated. Participants representing a wide range of experience in geology completed tests of visuospatial ability and geological knowledge, and performed a geological bedrock mapping task, in which they attempted to infer the geological structure of an area in the Tobacco Root Mountains of Montana. A Visuospatial Ability x Geological Knowledge interaction was found, such that visuospatial ability positively predicted mapping performance at low, but not high, levels of geological knowledge. This finding suggests that high levels of domain knowledge may sometimes enable circumvention of performance limitations associated with cognitive abilities. (Contains 3 figures, 4 tables and 4 footnotes.)

Decades of research have established that "online" cognitive processes, which operate during conscious encoding and retrieval of information, contribute substantially to individual differences in memory. Furthermore, it is widely accepted that "offline" processes during sleep also contribute to memory performance. However, the question of whether individual differences in these two types of processes are related to one another remains unanswered. We investigated whether working memory capacity (WMC), a factor believed to contribute substantially to individual differences in online processing, was related to sleep-dependent declarative memory consolidation. Consistent with previous studies, memory for word pairs reliably improved after a period of sleep, whereas performance did not improve after an equal interval of wakefulness. More important, there was a significant, positive correlation between WMC and increase in memory performance after sleep but not after a period of wakefulness. The correlation between WMC and performance during initial test was not significant, suggesting that the relationship is specific to change in memory due to sleep. This suggests a fundamental underlying ability that may distinguish individuals with high memory capacity. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)

This study examined the relationship between child symptom severity, parent broader autism phenotype (BAP), and stress and depression in parents of children with ASD. One hundred and forty-nine parents of children with ASD completed a survey of parenting stress, depression, broader autism phenotype, coping styles, perceived social support, and child symptom severity. Parents reported elevated parenting stress and depression relative to normative samples. A path analysis indicated that both child symptom severity and parent BAP were positively correlated with these outcomes. The relationship between BAP and the outcome measures was partially mediated by maladaptive coping and social support and the relationship between child symptom severity and outcomes was partially mediated by social support. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)