No evidence for cross-paradigm transfer of abstract task knowledge in adults and school-aged children.

Cognitive control is a hallmark of human cognition. A large number of studies have focused on the plasticity of cognitive control and examined how repeated task experience leads to the improvement of cognitive control in novel task environments. However, it has been demonstrated that training-induced changes are very selective and that transfer occurs within one task paradigm but not across different task paradigms. The current study tested the possibility that cross-paradigm transfer would occur if a common cognitive control strategy is employed across different task paradigms. Specifically, we examined whether prior experience of using reactive control in one task paradigm (i.e., either the cued task-switching paradigm or the AX-CPT) makes adults (N = 137) and 9- to 10-year-olds (N = 126) respond in a reactive way in a subsequent condition of another task paradigm in which proactive control could have been engaged. Bayesian generalized mixed-effects models revealed clear evidence of an absence of cross-paradigm transfer of reactive control in both adults and school-aged children. Based on these findings, we discuss to what extent learned control could be transferred across different task contexts and the task-specificity of proactive/reactive control strategies.

When stimulus variability accelerates the learning of task knowledge in adults and school-aged children.

Experience with instances that vary in their surface features helps individuals to form abstract task knowledge, leading to transfer of that knowledge to novel contexts. The current study sought to examine the role of this variability effect in how adults and school-aged children learn to engage cognitive control. We focused on the engagement of cognitive control in advance (proactive control) and in response to conflicts (reactive control) in a cued task-switching paradigm, and conducted four preregistered online experiments with adults (Experiment 1A: N = 100, Experiment 1B: N = 105) and 9- to 10-year-olds (Experiment 2A: N = 98, Experiment 2B: N = 97). It was shown that prior task experience of engaging reactive control makes both adults and 9- to 10-year-olds respond more slowly in a subsequent similar-structured condition with different stimuli in which proactive control could have been engaged. 9- to 10-year-olds (Experiment 2B) exhibited more negative transfer of a reactive control mode when uninformative cue and pre-target stimuli, which do not convey task-relevant information, were changed in each block, compared with when they were fixed. Furthermore, adults showed suggestive evidence of the variability effect both when cue and target stimuli were varied (Experiment 1A) and when uninformative cue and pre-target stimuli were varied (Experiment 1B). The collective findings of these experiments provide important insights into the contribution of stimulus variability to the engagement of cognitive control.

Age-related differences in the removal of information from working memory.

Removal has been assumed to be a core mechanism in working memory. However, it remains unclear whether children can actively remove outdated information from working memory and how this ability develops as children age. The current study aimed to examine age-related differences in removal ability and its relations with cognitive control and working memory capacity. Children aged 7, 9, and 11 years performed a modified working memory updating task assessing removal efficiency. In addition, a battery of cognitive control and working memory capacity tasks was administered. Results indicated that updating response times decreased considerably when a longer time was given for removal, suggesting that children aged 7 to 11 years can actively remove outdated items from working memory prior to encoding the new ones and that removal efficiency increased with age. More important, age-related increases in removal efficiency occurred concurrently with the development of working memory capacity. Proactive control predicted removal efficiency over and beyond age and working memory capacity. The findings shed new light on the mechanisms underlying the development of working memory updating.

Evidence for positive and negative transfer of abstract task knowledge in adults and school-aged children.

Engaging cognitive control is essential to flexibly adapt to constantly changing environments. However, relatively little is known about how prior task experience impacts on the engagement of cognitive control in novel task environments. We aimed to clarify how individuals learn and transfer the engagement of cognitive control with a focus on the hierarchical and temporal aspects of task knowledge. Highlighting two distinct cognitive control processes, the engagement of cognitive control in advance (proactive control) and in response to conflicts (reactive control), we conducted six preregistered online experiments with both adults (Experiment 1, 3, and 5: N = 71, N = 108, and N = 70) and 9- to 10-year-olds (Experiment 2, 4, 6: N = 69, N = 108, and N = 70). Using two different experimental paradigms, we demonstrated that prior task experience of engaging reactive control makes adults and 9-to 10-year-olds respond in a reactive way in a subsequent similar-structured condition with different stimuli in which proactive control could have been engaged. This indicates that individuals do learn knowledge about the temporal structure of task goal activation and, on occasion, negatively transfer this knowledge. Furthermore, individuals exhibited these negative transfer effects in a similar-structured condition with different task goals and stimuli, indicating that they learn hierarchically-structured task knowledge. The collective findings suggest a new way of understanding how hierarchical and temporal task knowledge influences the engagement of cognitive control and highlight potential mechanisms underlying the near transfer effects observed in cognitive control training.

Cross-sectional and longitudinal assessment of cognitive development in Williams syndrome.

Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic syndrome. As with all rare syndromes, obtaining adequately powered sample sizes is a challenge. Here we present legacy data from seven UK labs, enabling the characterisation of cross-sectional and longitudinal developmental trajectories of verbal and non-verbal development in the largest sample of individuals with WS to-date. In Study 1, we report cross-sectional data between N = 102 and N = 209 children and adults with WS on measures of verbal and non-verbal ability. In Study 2, we report longitudinal data from N = 17 to N = 54 children and adults with WS who had been tested on at least three timepoints on these measures. Data support the WS characteristic cognitive profile of stronger verbal than non-verbal ability, and shallow developmental progression for both domains. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal data demonstrate steeper rates of development in the child participants than the adolescent and adults in our sample. Cross-sectional data indicate steeper development in verbal than non-verbal ability, and that individual differences in the discrepancy between verbal and non-verbal ability are largely accounted for by level of intellectual functioning. A diverging developmental discrepancy between verbal and non-verbal ability, whilst marginal, is not mirrored statistically in the longitudinal data. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data are discussed with reference to validating cross-sectional developmental patterns using longitudinal data and the importance of individual differences in understanding developmental progression.

Investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adolescents' psychological wellbeing and self-identified cognitive difficulties.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic coincides with growing concern regarding the mental health of young people. Older adolescents have faced a particular set of pandemic-related challenges and demonstrate heightened vulnerability to affective disorders (particularly anxiety). Anxiety symptoms are associated with a range of cognitive difficulties. Older adolescents may therefore be susceptible to pandemic-related declines in wellbeing and associated cognitive difficulties. Methods: At three timepoints, independent samples of young people aged 16-18 years (N = 607, 242, 618 respectively) completed an online survey. Data collection coincided with periods of lockdown (timepoints 1 and 3) and young people returning to school (timepoint 2). The survey assessed subjective impacts of the pandemic on overall wellbeing, anxiety and cognitive function. Results: Findings demonstrated the detrimental impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adolescents' psychological wellbeing-a finding that was consistent across samples. The majority of young people at each timepoint experienced heightened anxiety. Crucially, pandemic-related anxiety was associated with self-identified cognitive difficulties, a pattern of association that was evident at all three timepoints. The nature and extent of these difficulties were predictive of specific pandemic-related concerns in this age group. Conclusions: Older adolescents' experiences of the pandemic are characterised by subjective declines in wellbeing and stable patterns of association between anxiety and self-identified cognitive difficulties. Implications are discussed with reference to future research and intervention.

Assessing the effectiveness of online emotion recognition training in healthy volunteers.

Facial emotion recognition (ER) difficulties are associated with mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism and poorer social functioning. ER interventions may therefore have clinical potential. We investigated the efficacy of ER training (ERT). We conducted three online studies with healthy volunteers completing one ERT session. Studies 1 and 2 included active and control/sham training groups and tested the efficacy of (i) four-emotion ERT (angry, happy, sad and scared) (n = 101), and (ii) six-emotion ERT (adding disgusted and surprised) (n = 109). Study 3 tested generalizability of ERT to non-trained stimuli with groups trained and tested on the same stimuli, or different stimuli (n = 120). Training effects on total correct hits were estimated using linear mixed effects models. We did not observe clear evidence of improvement in study 1 but note the effect was in the direction of improvement (b = 0.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -0.02 to 0.07). Study 2 indicated greater total hits following training (b = 0.07, 95% CI = 0.03-0.12). Study 3 demonstrated similar improvement across groups (b = -0.01, 95% CI = -0.05 to 0.02). Our results indicate improved ER (as measured by our task), which generalizes to different facial stimulus sets. Future studies should further explore generalizability, longer-term effects and ERT in populations with known ER difficulties.

To What Extent is the Contribution of Language to Learning via Instructions Modulated by the Expression of Autism Traits?

Language plays a fundamental role in enabling flexible, goal-directed behaviour. This study investigated whether the contribution of language to instruction encoding is modulated by the expression of autism traits, as measured by the Autism Spectrum Quotient (ASQ) questionnaire. Participants (N = 108) completed six choice reaction time tasks, with each task consisting of six stimulus-response mappings. During an instruction phase preceding each task, participants performed either a verbal, non-verbal or no distractor task. Participants made more errors in the verbal distractor task condition, but this detrimental effect did not differ significantly between the high (top 33%) and low (bottom 33%) ASQ groups. Hence, the contribution of language to instruction encoding does not appear to be modulated by the expression of autism traits.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder traits are a more important predictor of internalising problems than autistic traits.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are both linked to internalising problems like anxiety and depression. ASD and ADHD also often co-occur, making their individual statistical contributions to internalising disorders difficult to investigate. To address this issue, we explored the unique associations of self-reported ASD traits and ADHD traits with internalising problems using a large general population sample of adults from the United Kingdom (N = 504, 49% male). Classical regression analyses indicated that both ASD traits and ADHD traits were uniquely associated with internalising problems. Dominance and Bayesian analyses confirmed that ADHD traits were a stronger, more important predictor of internalising problems. However, brief depression and anxiety measures may not provide a comprehensive index of internalising problems. Additionally, we focused on recruiting a sample that was representative of the UK population according to age and sex, but not ethnicity, a variable that may be linked to internalising disorders. Nevertheless, our findings indicate that while ASD and ADHD uniquely predict internalising problems, ADHD traits are a more important statistical predictor than ASD traits. We discuss potential mechanisms underlying this pattern of results and the implications for research and clinical practice concerning neurodevelopmental conditions.

Evidence Against Novelty-Gated Encoding in Serial Recall.

Novelty-gated encoding is the assumption that events are encoded more strongly into memory when they are more novel in comparison to previously encoded events. It is a core assumption of the SOB model of serial recall (Farrell & Lewandowsky, 2002). We present three experiments testing some predictions from novelty-gated encoding. Experiment 1 shows that the probability of recalling the third item in a list correctly does not depend on whether it is preceded by phonologically similar or dissimilar items. Experiment 2 shows that in lists of items from three classes (nonwords, spatial locations, and abstract drawings) the probability of recalling an item does not depend on whether it is preceded by items from the same or another class. Experiment 3 used a complex-span paradigm varying the phonological similarity of words that are read aloud as distractors in between memory items. Contrary to a prediction from novelty-gated encoding, similar distractors did not impair memory more than dissimilar distractors. The results question the assumption of novelty-gated encoding in serial recall. We discuss alternative explanations for the phenomena that this assumption has previously helped to explain. The present evidence against novelty-gated encoding might point to boundary conditions for the role of prediction error in the acquisition of memories.

Articulatory suppression during instruction encoding impedes performance in choice reaction time tasks.

Theories of instruction following assume that language contributes to our ability to understand and implement instructions. The two experiments reported here investigated that assumption. Participants (total N = 96) were required to learn a series of novel tasks, with each task consisting of six arbitrary stimulus-response rules. All tasks were preceded by an instruction phase (a visual depiction of the correct stimulus-response rules for each task), during which participants performed a verbal distractor task (articulatory suppression), a non-verbal distractor task (foot tapping) or no distractor task. Additionally, the duration of the instruction phase was varied so that it was either long (60 s) or short (30 s in Experiment 1, or 10 s in Experiment 2). In both experiments participants made more errors when they had performed articulatory suppression during the instruction interval, compared to the foot tapping and no distractor task conditions. Furthermore, Experiment 2 found that this detrimental effect of articulatory suppression was especially pronounced with a very short instruction duration. These findings demonstrate that language plays a crucial role in the encoding of novel task instructions, especially when instructions are encoded under time pressure.

How does language support the acquisition of novel cognitive tasks? Investigating the role of task complexity and task instructions.

Recent findings have shown that language plays an important role in the acquisition of novel cognitive tasks (van 't Wout & Jarrold, 2020). The current study sought to elucidate the factors that influence the contribution of language to novel task learning, focusing specifically on the role of task complexity (defined by the number of stimulus-response [S-R] rules per task) and the role of task instructions (by comparing trial-and-error learning to instruction-based learning). In each experiment participants were required to learn the correct response to novel sets of picture stimuli. When analyzed as a function of stimulus occurrence within a task, both experiments found that initial performance was worse under articulatory suppression (AS; verbal distractor task) than under foot tapping (i.e., nonverbal distractor task), but only if the task was more complex (consisting of 6S-R rules) and not if it was less complex (consisting of three or four S-R rules), suggesting that the acquisition of a simpler task by trial and error might not require verbal mediation. Experiment 2 furthermore found that the role of language was modulated by the manner of acquisition: For trial-and-error learning, the detrimental effect of AS increased and then decreased again as a function of stimulus occurrence. Conversely, for instruction-based learning, AS exclusively affected the first few stimulus occurrences, suggesting that participants can create a verbal representation of the task during the instruction phase. Together, these experiments demonstrate that the role of language in novel task learning is modulated by task complexity and task instructions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Prior task experience increases 5-year-old children's use of proactive control: Behavioral and pupillometric evidence.

Children engage cognitive control reactively when they encounter conflicts; however, they can also resolve conflicts proactively. Recent studies have begun to clarify the mechanisms that support the use of proactive control in children; nonetheless, sufficient knowledge has not been accumulated regarding these mechanisms. Using behavioral and pupillometric measures, we tested the novel possibility that 5-year-old children (N = 58) learn to use proactive control via the acquisition of abstract task knowledge that captures regularities of the task. Participants were assigned to either a proactive training group or a control training group. In the proactive training group, participants engaged in a training phase where using proactive control was encouraged, followed by a test phase using different stimuli where both proactive and reactive control could be used. In the control training group, participants engaged in a training phase where both cognitive control strategies could be used, followed by a similarly-structured test phase using different stimuli. We demonstrated children in the control training group responded more quickly and accurately and showed greater cue-related pupil dilation in the test phase than in the training phase. However, there were no differences in response times, accuracies, and pupil dilation between the proactive and control training groups in the training and test phases. These findings suggest that prior task experience, that goes beyond specific knowledge about the timing of task goal activation, can lead children to engage more proactive control endogenously, even if they are not directly encouraged to do so.

Reading for Comprehension in Individuals with Down Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development: Similar or Different Patterns of Ability?

Reading for meaning is one of the most important activities in school and everyday life. The simple view of reading (SVR) has been used as a framework for studies of reading comprehension in individuals with Down syndrome (DS). These tend to show difficulties in reading comprehension despite better developed reading accuracy. Reading comprehension difficulties are influenced by poor oral language. These difficulties are common in individuals with DS and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but they have never been compared directly. Moreover, the components of reading for comprehension have rarely been investigated in these populations: a better understanding of the nature of reading comprehension difficulties may inform both theory and practice. The aim of this study was to determine whether reading comprehension in the two populations is accounted for by the same component skills and to what extent the reading profile of the two atypical groups differs from that of typically developing children (TD). Fifteen individuals with DS (mean age = 22 years 4 months, SD = 5 years 2 months), 21 with ASD (mean age = 13 years 2 months, SD = 1 year 6 months), and 42 TD children (mean age = 8 years 1 month, SD = 7 months) participated and were assessed on measures of receptive vocabulary, text reading and listening comprehension, oral language comprehension, and reading accuracy. The results showed similar levels in word reading accuracy and in receptive vocabulary in all three groups. By contrast, individuals with DS and ASD showed poorer non-word reading and reading accuracy in context than TD children. Both atypical groups showed poorer listening and reading text comprehension compared to TD children. Reading for comprehension, investigated through a homograph reading accuracy task, showed a different pattern for individuals with DS with respect to the other two groups: they were less sensitive to meaning while reading. According to the SVR, the current results confirm that the two atypical groups have similar profiles that overlap with that of poor comprehenders in which poor oral language comprehension constrains reading for comprehension.

Investigating the underlying mechanisms of the enactment effect: The role of action-object bindings in aiding immediate memory performance.

Previous research has established that enacted action-object phrases lead to superior immediate memory performance compared with purely verbal memory. In the current investigation, Experiment 1 examined how enactment separately affects immediate memory for actions and objects in 24 adults by presenting action-object phrases and asking participants to recall either the actions or the objects presented in correct serial order. The results showed that when employed at presentation, enactment led to superior recall performance compared with verbal repetition, but this effect was significant only for memory for actions and not objects. Enactment during immediate recall did not lead to better memory performance compared with verbal recall for either actions or objects. To examine whether the lack of an enactment at recall was due to the splitting of action-object phrases at retrieval, Experiment 2 (n = 24) examined memory for whole action-object phrases under enactment at recall. The results showed a typical enactment at recall benefit. Furthermore, a novel binding analysis suggested that enactment recall increased the likelihood of action features being remembered in a bound pair rather than alone. Together these findings suggest that action-object bindings play a crucial role in the manifestation of the enactment effect in immediate recall, especially when enactment is employed at the recall phase.

The role of language in novel task learning.

The ability to rapidly acquire novel cognitive skills is a hallmark of human cognition. Theories of skill acquisition assume that this process is reliant on language, but to date this assertion has not been conclusively supported by empirical evidence. In two experiments participants (total N = 68) were required to learn, by trial-and-error, the correct response to sets of five object stimuli. To investigate the contribution of language to this process, participants performed a verbal (articulatory suppression), a non-verbal (foot tapping), or no distractor task during the first or second half of each task. In both experiments, articulatory suppression resulted in increased error rates (compared to foot tapping), but only during the first (and not the second) half of each task. These results constitute the first convincing evidence for the diminishing role of language in novel task learning and are discussed in relation to theories of skill acquisition.

A Novel Framework to Measure Executive Function in Down Syndrome With Applications for Early Clinical Diagnosis of Dementia.

Executive function (EF) decline is a consistent early sign of Alzheimer's disease (AD) among adults with Down syndrome (DS), which means that baseline measures of EF for individuals with DS are vital to allow detection of meaningful decline. We developed a framework to extract measures of three core components of EF (memory updating, inhibitory, and temporal components) within one task. Increases in memory load, inhibitory load, and temporal demands led to significant increases in reaction times and significant decreases in accuracy among 18 adults with DS and 18 typically developing matched individuals; thus, the expected effects of all three manipulations were detected. Good test-retest reliability indicated that this framework has the potential to provide a simple, baseline EF measure for individuals with DS.

Impaired Recognition of Basic Emotions from Facial Expressions in Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Assessing the Importance of Expression Intensity.

It has been proposed that impairments in emotion recognition in ASD are greater for more subtle expressions of emotion. We measured recognition of 6 basic facial expressions at 8 intensity levels in young people (6-16 years) with ASD (N = 63) and controls (N = 64) via an Internet platform. Participants with ASD were less accurate than controls at labelling expressions across intensity levels, although differences at very low levels were not detected due to floor effects. Recognition accuracy did not correlate with parent-reported social functioning in either group. These findings provide further evidence for an impairment in recognition of basic emotion in ASD and do not support the idea that this impairment is limited solely to low intensity expressions.

Determining the developmental requirements for hebb repetition learning in young children: Grouping, short-term memory, and their interaction.

The Hebb repetition paradigm has recently attracted attention as a measure of serial order learning, which underlies word-form learning abilities. Although children are good vocabulary learners, it is surprising that previous Hebb learning studies with young children show rather weak Hebb effects. In this study, we conducted two experiments to identify developmental factors that drive an increase of the size of the Hebb effect in young children. Motivated by evidence from adult work, we focused on an ability to group a sequence into consistent subsequences and on phonological short-term memory (STM) capacity. In Experiment 1 (N = 98), it was shown that 3- to 5-year-old children with high phonological STM capacity showed a Hebb effect, particularly in the later experimental trials. In Experiment 2 (N = 97), temporal grouping of the sequences in 2-2 subsequences further encouraged children with high phonological STM capacity to show the Hebb effect even in the earlier experimental trials and children with low STM capacity to show a trend toward a Hebb effect in the later trials. Moreover, across Experiments 1 and 2 we found robust evidence of transfer of the Hebb effect to recall of new sequences that partially overlapped in item-by-item pairings with the Hebb sequence, indicating that children use consistent grouping strategies when learning above-span Hebb sequences. These findings indicate that phonological STM, grouping consistency, and their interaction are developmental requirements for the Hebb effect to emerge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessing pragmatic communication in children with Down syndrome.

PURPOSE: Successful communication depends on language content, language form, and language use (pragmatics). Children with Down syndrome (DS) experience communication difficulties, however little is known about their pragmatic profile, particularly during early school years. The purpose of the present study was to explore the nature of pragmatic communication in children with DS. METHOD: Twenty-nine six-year-old children with DS were assessed, in the areas of 1) initiation, 2) scripted language, 3) understanding context and 4) nonverbal communication, as reported by children's parents via the Children's Communication Checklist-2 (Bishop, 2003). Additionally, the relationships between pragmatics and measures of vocabulary, nonverbal mental ability and social functioning were explored. RESULTS: Children with DS were impaired relative to norms from typically developing children in all areas of pragmatics. A profile of relative strengths and weaknesses was found in the children with DS; the area of nonverbal communication was significantly stronger, while the area of understanding context was significantly poorer, relative to the other areas of pragmatics assessed in these children. Relationships between areas of pragmatics and other linguistic areas, as well as aspects of vocabulary and social functioning were observed. CONCLUSIONS: By the age of six children with DS experience significantly impaired pragmatic communication, with a clear profile of relative strengths and weaknesses. The study highlights the need to teach children with DS pragmatic skills as a component of communication, alongside language content and form.