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Field-independent and field-dependent individuals have different reference patterns and cognitive processing preferences. Field-independent individuals tend to rely on internal capabilities and use internal references to process information, while field-dependent individuals mainly rely on external references and focus on external information. Individuals with two cognitive styles have different attention patterns to perform time-based prospective memory (TBPM) tasks, with different effects on their TBPM performance. This study explored the influence of field-independent and field-dependent cognitive styles on TBPM. In Experiment 1, the attention load was manipulated by the difficulty of the ongoing task. The results showed that the field-independent individuals performed better than the field-dependent individuals only under a low-difficulty condition, indicating that the field-independent individuals had advantages in TBPM but were easily affected by the attention load. Experiment 2 further introduced external reminders to provide individuals with more external information and reduce individual attention consumption in internal time information processing to manipulate attention load. The results showed that external cues eliminated the difference between field-independent and field-dependent individuals in TBPM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop and validate a self-report measure of intrinsic and extrinsic cognitive load suitable for measuring the constructs in a variety of learning contexts. Data were collected from three independent samples of college students in the U.S. (N total = 513; M age = 21.13 years). Kane's (2013) framework was used to validate the measure. Three types of validity evidence were presented: scoring, generalization, extrapolation. After establishing evidence of validity, especially measurement invariance, we then compared group mean differences based on students' demographic characteristics. These findings support the psychometric integrity of this measure of cognitive load, which may be used to investigate cognitive load in various learning contexts, particularly examining factors that may perpetuate or mitigate differences in cognitive load between students. Such a measure could be useful in educational and clinical settings as a mechanism for early identification of potential learning challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speech perception performance for degraded speech can improve with practice or exposure. Such perceptual learning is thought to be reliant on attention and theoretical accounts like the predictive coding framework suggest a key role for attention in supporting learning. However, it is unclear whether speech perceptual learning requires undivided attention. We evaluated the role of divided attention in speech perceptual learning in two online experiments (N = 336). Experiment 1 tested the reliance of perceptual learning on undivided attention. Participants completed a speech recognition task where they repeated forty noise-vocoded sentences in a between-group design. Participants performed the speech task alone or concurrently with a domain-general visual task (dual task) at one of three difficulty levels. We observed perceptual learning under divided attention for all four groups, moderated by dual-task difficulty. Listeners in easy and intermediate visual conditions improved as much as the single-task group. Those who completed the most challenging visual task showed faster learning and achieved similar ending performance compared to the single-task group. Experiment 2 tested whether learning relies on domain-specific or domain-general processes. Participants completed a single speech task or performed this task together with a dual task aiming to recruit domain-specific (lexical or phonological), or domain-general (visual) processes. All secondary task conditions produced patterns and amount of learning comparable to the single speech task. Our results demonstrate that the impact of divided attention on perceptual learning is not strictly dependent on domain-general or domain-specific processes and speech perceptual learning persists under divided attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speech perception performance for degraded speech can improve with practice or exposure. Such perceptual learning is thought to be reliant on attention and theoretical accounts like the predictive coding framework suggest a key role for attention in supporting learning. However, it is unclear whether speech perceptual learning requires undivided attention. We evaluated the role of divided attention in speech perceptual learning in two online experiments (N=336). Experiment 1 tested the reliance of perceptual learning on undivided attention. Participants completed a speech recognition task where they repeated forty noise-vocoded sentences in a between-group design. Participants performed the speech task alone or concurrently with a domain-general visual task (dual task) at one of three difficulty levels. We observed perceptual learning under divided attention for all four groups, moderated by dual-task difficulty. Listeners in easy and intermediate visual conditions improved as much as the single-task group. Those who completed the most challenging visual task showed faster learning and achieved similar ending performance compared to the single-task group. Experiment 2 tested whether learning relies on domain-specific or domain-general processes. Participants completed a single speech task or performed this task together with a dual task aiming to recruit domain-specific (lexical or phonological), or domain-general (visual) processes. All secondary task conditions produced patterns and amount of learning comparable to the single speech task. Our results demonstrate that the impact of divided attention on perceptual learning is not strictly dependent on domain-general or domain-specific processes and speech perceptual learning persists under divided attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effect of negative and positive stereotypes on the strength produced by older adults at different perceived effort intensities, reflecting different levels of task difficulty. Fifty older women were randomly assigned to a positive stereotype, a negative stereotype, or a control condition. Before (T1) and after (T2) the stereotype manipulation, they were asked to perform a voluntary isometric contraction at a level of muscular effort that corresponded to four perceived effort intensities ("easy," "moderate," hard" and "very hard"). Results showed that participants attained greater strength during the easy and hard tasks after exposure to both positive and negative stereotypes. At the moderate and very hard intensities, stereotype induction did not significantly change the strength from the baseline performance. While these results are not fully in line with the stereotype threat theory, they provide evidence that task difficulty could modulate the effect of aging stereotypes during physical tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-regulated learning (SRL) promotes both current and future academic achievement and must be adapted based on task demands. To develop SRL, gifted students must have opportunities to experience optimally challenging tasks. Gifted students' past experiences (or lack thereof) with challenging tasks affects how they approach current tasks, which affects how they will approach challenges in the future. The current study used a two-stage approach to examine the extent to which Honors College students are able to adjust their SRL approaches based on task demands. Stage 1 provided baseline data on which types of Graduate Record Examination data analysis problems each student found to be difficult or easy. Then, in Stage 2, students were provided individually designed, easy and difficult problems. The students reported their SRL processes while engaging with the problems. When students were solving difficult problems, they demonstrated lower self-efficacy, lower performance evaluations, and lower effort. Furthermore, students reported using more surface level strategies when solving a difficult task, compared with their deeper strategic approach employed when engaging with the easy task. These findings suggest that, although gifted students may be aware of deeper, more effective strategies, they may not transfer these skills to difficult learning tasks. Thus, one recommendation would be to provide gifted students with more opportunities to practice building and transferring adaptive SRL processes when faced with a challenging task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compelling evidence suggests observing iconic gestures benefits learning. While emerging evidence suggests typical iconic gestures benefit comprehension to a greater extent than atypical iconic gestures, it is unclear precisely when and for whom these gestures will be most helpful. The current study investigated factors that may moderate when and for whom gesture benefits narrative comprehension most, including the type of gesture, task difficulty, and individual differences in cognitive ability. Participants were shown a video narrative in which they observed either typical gestures (commonly produced gestures, highly semantically related to accompanying speech), atypical gestures (gestures that are seldom produced), or no gestures. The video narrative was either viewed with interference (background noise to increase task difficulty) or no interference (no background noise). To determine whether the effects of gesture observation and externally imposed task difficulty on narrative comprehension further depend on an individual's cognitive abilities, participants completed four measures of cognitive abilities (immediate and delayed non-verbal memory, attention, and intellectual ability). Observing typical gestures significantly benefitted narrative comprehension compared with atypical and no gestures combined, which did not differ significantly. Participants with below average and average levels of delayed non-verbal memory benefitted more from typical gestures than atypical or no gestures compared with those with an above average level of delayed non-verbal memory. However, this interaction was only significant when the task was difficult (i.e., with interference) but not when the task was simple (i.e., no interference). This finding suggests that the type of iconic gesture observed may affect gesture's beneficial effect on narrative comprehension, and that such gestures may be more beneficial in difficult tasks, but only for certain individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive task performance is a dynamic process that evolves over time, starting from the first encounters with a task. An important aspect of these task dynamics is the employment of strategies to support successful performance and task acquisition. Focusing on episodic memory performance, we: (1) tested two hypotheses on the effects of novelty and task difficulty on strategy use, (2) replicated our previous results regarding strategy use in a novel memory task, and (3) evaluated whether repeated open-ended strategy queries affect task performance and/or strategy use. The present pre-registered online study comprised 161 adult participants who were recruited through the Prolific crowdsourcing platform. We employed two separate 5-block list learning tasks, one with 10 pseudowords and the other with 18 common nouns, and collected recall performance and strategy reports for each block. Using Bayesian linear mixed effects models, the present findings (1) provide some support for the hypothesis that task-initial strategy development is not triggered only by task novelty, but can appear also in a familiar, moderately demanding task; (2) replicate earlier findings from an adaptive working memory task indicating strategy use from the beginning of a task, associations between strategy use and objective task performance, and only modest agreement between open-ended versus list-based strategy reports; and (3) indicate that repeated open-ended strategy reports do not affect objective recall. We conclude that strategy use is an important aspect of memory performance right from the start of a task, and it undergoes development at the initial stages depending on task characteristics. In a larger perspective, the present results concur with the views of skill learning and adaptivity in cognitive task performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To be able to solve complex information problems in a digital environment is a key 21st century skill. Technology users usually expect to achieve their goals in a fast and accurate way. However, the actual relationship between time-on-task and task outcome is currently not well understood. We analyzed data from a large-scale international study in which representative samples of adults had to solve more or less complex problems using standard computer applications. Our results indicate that different task characteristics influence the relationship between problem-solving performance and time-on-task in specific ways. Spending more time on a task is more likely to compensate an average problem solver when task complexity can be attributed to intrinsic task and technology drivers than when complexity stems from the cognitive/metacognitive activities belonging to information problem-solving processes per se, especially acquiring and evaluating information. Thus, the interpretation of time-on-task should take the source of difficulty into consideration. Implications for personal and professional development are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We used this experiment to determine the degree to which cues to difficulty are used to make judgments of difficulty (JODs).Background: Traditional approaches involve seeking to standardize the information people used to evaluate subjective workload; however, it is likely that conscious and unconscious cues underlie peoples' JODs.Method: We designed a video game task that tested the degree to which time-on-task, performance-based feedback, and central cues to difficulty informed JODs. These relationships were modeled along five continuous dimensions of difficulty.Results: Central cues most strongly contributed to JODs; judgments were supplemented by peripheral cues (performance-based feedback and time-on-task) even though these cues were not always valid. In addition, participants became more likely to rate the task as "easier" over time.Conclusion: Although central cues are strong predictors of task difficulty, people confuse task difficulty (central cues), effort allocation and skill (performance-based feedback), and proxy cues to difficulty (time) when making JODs.Application: Identifying the functional relationships between cues to difficulty and JODs will provide valuable insight regarding the information that people use to evaluate tasks and to make decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the hypothesis that people can modulate their mind wandering on the basis of their expectations of upcoming challenges in a task. To this end, we developed a novel paradigm in which participants were presented with an analog clock, via a computer monitor, and asked to push a button every time the clock's hand was pointed at 12:00. Importantly, the time at which the clock's hand was pointed at 12:00 was completely predictable and occurred at 20-s intervals. During some of the 20-s intervals, we presented thought probes to index participants' rates of mind wandering. Results indicated that participants decreased their levels of mind wandering as they approached the predictable upcoming target. Critically, these results suggest that people can and do modulate their mind wandering in anticipation of changes in task demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective An experiment used workload capacity analysis to quantify automation usage strategy across different task difficulty and display format types in a speeded task. Background Workload capacity measures the efficiency of concurrent information processing and can serve as a gauge of automation usage strategy in speeded decision tasks. The present study used workload capacity analysis to investigate automation usage strategy while information display format and task difficulty were manipulated. Method Subjects performed a speeded judgment task assisted by an automated aid that issued decision cues at varying onset times. Response time distributions were converted to measures of workload capacity. Results Two variants of a workload capacity measure, CzOR and CzAND, gave evidence that operators moderated their own decision times both in anticipation of and following the arrival of the aid's diagnosis under difficult task conditions regardless of display format. Conclusion Assistance from an automated decision aid may cause operators to delay their own responses in a speeded decision task, producing joint response time distributions that are slower than optimal. Application Even when it renders its own judgments quickly and with high accuracy, an automated decision aid may slow responses from a user. Automation designers should consider the relative costs and benefits of response accuracy and time when choosing whether and how to implement an automated decision aid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated interactive effects of stress and task difficulty on working memory and cortico-cortical communication during memory encoding. Thirty-eight adolescent participants (mean age of 15.7 ± 1.5 years) completed easy and hard working memory tasks under low- and high-stress conditions. We analyzed the accuracy and reaction time (RT) of working memory performance and inter- and intrahemispheric electroencephalogram coherences during memory encoding. Working memory accuracy was higher, and RT shorter, in the easy versus the hard task. RT was shorter under the high-stress (TENS) versus low-stress (no- TENS) condition, while there was no difference in memory accuracy between the two stress conditions. For electroencephalogram coherence, we found higher inter-hemispheric coherence in all bands but only at frontal electrode sites in the easy versus the hard task. On the other hand, intrahemispheric coherence was higher in the left hemisphere in the easy (versus hard task) and higher in the right hemisphere (with one exception) in the hard (versus easy task). Inter- and intracoherences were higher in the low- versus high-stress condition. Significant interactions between task difficulty and stress condition were observed in coherences of the beta frequency band. The difference in coherence between low- and high-stress conditions was greater in the hard compared with the easy task, with lower coherence under the high-stress condition relative to the low-stress condition. Stress seemed to cause a decrease in cortical network communications between memory-relevant cortical areas as task difficulty increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: Following reports showing bilingual advantages in executive control (EC) performance, the current study investigated the role of selective attention as a foundational skill that might underlie these advantages. Design/Methodology/Approach: Bilingual and monolingual young adults performed a visual search task by determining whether a target shape was present amid distractor shapes. Task difficulty was manipulated by search type (feature or conjunction) and by the number and discriminability of the distractors. In feature searches, the target (e.g., green triangle) differed on a single dimension (e.g., color) from the distractors (e.g., yellow triangles); in conjunction searches, two types of distractors (e.g., pink circles and turquoise squares) each differed from the target (e.g., turquoise circle) on a single but different dimension (e.g., color or shape). Data and Analysis: Reaction time and accuracy data from 109 young adults (53 monolinguals and 56 bilinguals) were analyzed using a repeated-measures analysis of variance. Group membership, search type, number and discriminability of distractors were the independent variables. Findings/Conclusions: Participants identified the target more quickly in the feature searches, when the target was highly discriminable from the distractors and when there were fewer distractors. Importantly, although monolinguals and bilinguals performed equivalently on the feature searches, bilinguals were significantly faster than monolinguals in identifying the target in the more difficult conjunction search, providing evidence for better control of visual attention in bilinguals. Originality: Unlike previous studies on bilingual visual attention, the current study found a bilingual attention advantage in a paradigm that did not include a Stroop-like manipulation to set up false expectations. Significance/Implications: Thus, our findings indicate that the need to resolve explicit conflict or overcome false expectations is unnecessary for observing a bilingual advantage in selective attention. Observing this advantage in a fundamental skill suggests that it may underlie higher order bilingual advantages in EC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we outline our view of how concentration shields against distraction. We argue that higher levels of concentration make people less susceptible to distraction for two reasons. One reason is that the undesired processing of the background environment is reduced. For example, when people play a difficult video game, as opposed to an easy game, they are less likely to notice what people in the background are saying. The other reason is that the locus of attention becomes more steadfast. For example, when people are watching an entertaining episode of their favorite television series, as opposed to a less absorbing show, attention is less likely to be diverted away from the screen by a ringing telephone. The theoretical underpinnings of this perspective, and potential implications for applied settings, are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This was a cross-sectional study of storytelling development in French–English bilinguals between four and 10 years in both languages. Measures of both spoken and gestural use were examined as a function of age. The results showed that the children’s spoken narrative abilities were related to age in both languages while their rates of gestures were not. The relationship between gesture use and narrative abilities was, at best, weak. These results suggest that fluent bilinguals develop narrative abilities in both languages simultaneously. We discussed the results of the present study in the light of ongoing research on the developmental relationship between speech and gesture in childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we used an affective priming task to address the issue of whether the processing of emotional facial expressions occurs automatically independent of attention or attentional resources. Participants had to attend to the emotion expression of the prime face, or to a nonemotional feature of the prime face, the glasses. When participants attended to glasses (emotion unattended), they had to report whether the face wore glasses or not (the glasses easy condition) or whether the glasses were rounded or squared (the shape difficult condition). Affective priming, measured on valence decisions on target words, was mainly defined as interference from incongruent rather than facilitation from congruent trials. Significant priming effects were observed just in the emotion and glasses tasks but not in the shape task. When the key–response mapping increased in complexity, taxing working memory load, affective priming effects were reduced equally for the three types of tasks. Thus, attentional load and working memory load affected additively to the observed reduction in affective priming. These results cast some doubts on the automaticity of processing emotional facial expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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The results of three experiments explore the role of familiarity in face processing. Using the complete-over-part advantage (Experiment 1) and the chimeric faces task (Experiment 2), the results revealed evidence for what may be termed “holistic processing” of unfamiliar, newly learned, and famous faces. Notably, the extent of holistic processing on both tasks was not moderated by the familiarity of the stimuli. Experiment 3 replicated this pattern using a simultaneous chimeric task to rule out a simple explanation through memory demands. Taken together, these three experiments provide robust and convergent evidence to suggest that all faces regardless of familiarity can be processed in a holistic fashion. On the basis of these results, discussion is presented regarding the value of considering different “types” of facial processing over and above a more simple consideration of task difficulty. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

When switching between tasks of unequal difficulty, there is often a larger switch cost for the easy task than for the difficult task. The authors propose a new account of these asymmetric switch costs based on sequential difficulty effects. They argue that the asymmetry arises from impaired performance after a difficult trial regardless of whether the task switches or repeats. Empirical support for this idea is provided in two experiments on arithmetic task switching in which asymmetries are observed for secondary difficulty manipulations, even in the context of arithmetic task repetitions. The authors discuss how their sequential difficulty account might explain asymmetric restart costs in addition to asymmetric switch costs and how sequential difficulty effects might be explained by resource depletion involving executive control or working memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper overviews a framework for motor learning and uses this framework to suggest efficient means to practice golf. The framework, known as the Challenge Point Framework, was built from years of laboratory and field studies that have been shown to enhance learning. Throughout the paper, the relationship between practice protocols and the learning that results from them are discussed and where appropriate golf-related examples are provided for the reader to be able to translate from motor learning and neuroscience research to the application of golf. Ultimately, the aim of the article is to show how the Challenge Point Framework can be used to enhance golf performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research on factors that influence divided attention have focused on resource allocation, age of participants, task difficulty and familiarity, practice effects as well as brain areas that control dual task performance. The present study examined the effects of task difficulty and stimulus similarity on dual-task performance. One hundred and twenty participants, divided into four equal groups were asked to read a typewritten passage and at the same time to listen to an auditory message. The tasks for each group differed in terms of similarity and difficulty. The results showed no significant main effect of task difficulty (F(1.116) = 1.36, p>0.05) and a signify cant main effect of stimulus similarity (F(1.116) = 51.51, p<0.05). Performance in the conditions was dependent on stimulus similarity and information type. In terms of significant interaction effects, interference effects were observed more in the easy-dissimilar and difficult-dissimilar conditions than in the easy-similar and difficult-similar conditions. The results are discussed in the context of language processing and dual-task processing. Suggestions for future research are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]