A correlational analysis of skill specificity: Learning, abilities, and individual differences.

Skill specificity, the notion that task performance is based on unique underlying information-processing components at skilled levels of performance, is examined from the perspective of the ability determinants of individual differences in task performance during skill acquisition. The current investigation uses a dynamic ability-skill theoretical perspective to evaluate how individual differences in procedural learning for a complex criterion task relate to learning of procedures for other more basic tasks such as choice and simple reaction time (RT). An experiment with 86 college students was performed using a simulated Air Traffic Controller (ATC) task for assessment of procedural learning, along with practice on several perceptual speed measures and assessment of reference abilities. When Ss are allowed to practice tests of perceptual speed and psychomotor ability, some measures increase in their power to predict skilled performance on the complex ATC criterion task, a direct disconfirmation of the skill-specificity thesis. Discussion is devoted to the use of individual-differences approaches to address general transfer and skill specificity issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult sex differences on a decision-making task previously shown to depend on the orbital prefrontal cortex.

Monkeys and children show sex differences on tasks that depend on the orbital prefrontal cortex. To determine whether similar sex differences exist across the life span, adults were tested on an orbital-dependent decision-making task, the Iowa Card Task, as well as on a control task, the California Weather Task. In addition, estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone were assayed. The 6 groups of participants were college-age men, older men, young low-hormone (menstruating) women, young high-hormone (midluteal) women, older postmenopausal women on estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), and older postmenopausal women not on ERT. Results showed a male superiority on the Iowa Card Task. Among college-age men there was a negative correlation between performance and testosterone levels. There were no significant differences among groups of women on the card task. There were no significant sex differences or hormone correlations on the California Weather Task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impaired implicit learning in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia patients consistently show deficits on tasks of explicit learning and memory. In contrast, their performance on implicit processing tasks often appears to be relatively intact, although most studies have focused on implicit learning of motor skills. This study evaluated implicit learning in 59 medicated schizophrenia outpatients and 43 controls using 2 different cognitive skill tasks. Participants completed a probabilistic classification task to assess procedural habit learning and an artificial grammar task to assess incidental learning of complex rule-based knowledge, as well as an explicit verbal learning and memory task. In addition to performing worse than controls on the explicit learning task, patients showed worse overall performance on the probabilistic classification task, which involves gradual learning through trial-by-trial performance feedback. However, patients and controls showed similar levels of learning on the artificial grammar task, suggesting a preserved ability to acquire complex rule-based knowledge in the absence of performance feedback. Discussion focuses on possible explanations for schizophrenia patients' poor probabilistic classification task performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The cerebellum and cognitive functions in humans.

Recent neuropsychological studies have given rise to the hypothesis that the cerebellum is involved in nonmotor cognitive functions. The interpretation of these findings is, however, restricted by methodological problems, such as heterogenous patient samples. The present study compared patients with pathology confined to the cerebellum and patients with combined cerebellar and brainstem lesions to matched normal controls on a range of memory and learning tasks. Two procedural learning tasks were also conducted, involving perceptual (mirror reading) and conceptual (the Tower of Hanoi task) skill acquisition. Patients with damage to both cerebellum and brainstem, but not patients with cerebellar pathology alone, showed impairments on memory and visuoconstructive tasks and evidence of frontal lobe dysfunction. Cerebellar damage had no effect on skill acquisition. These results do not support the hypothesis of cerebellar involvement in procedural learning per se. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The stability of validity coefficients over time: Ackerman's (1988) model and the General Aptitude Test Battery.

This study examined P. L. Ackerman's (1988) model of skill acquisition within an applied setting. Differences were examined between jobs on the basis of task consistency: changes in performance variability across experience, learning curves, and stability of ability–performance correlations across experience. Results showed the degree of task consistency influenced the shape of learning curves, with jobs composed of primarily consistent tasks improving more rapidly and reaching asymptote sooner. In addition, trends in ability–performance correlations were moderated by the degree of task consistency within a job. Specifically, for jobs with primarily consistent tasks, general cognitive ability best predicted early performance whereas psychomotor ability best predicted later performance. In contrast, general cognitive ability was the strongest predictor across experience for jobs with primarily inconsistent tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Delayed nonmatch-to-sample performance in HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative polydrug abusers.

Working memory (WM) deficits are common in HIV-seropositive (HIV+) individuals and can be amplified by manipulating a variety of task parameters, such as increasing memory load or information complexity. The authors investigated the role of timing in HIV-associated WM defects by varying the amount of time required to maintain information online while holding memory load and information complexity constant. The authors studied 50 HIV+ and 35 HIV-seronegative (HIV-) polydrug abusers abstinent at testing and well-matched on demographic variables. The HIV- group outperformed the HIV+ group across all stimulus-response time delays. HIV-associated WM defects are not critically dependent on the amount of time stimulus representations must be maintained and might be attributed to impaired encoding or retrieval of stimulus representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion enhanced retention of cognitive skill learning.

Ample evidence suggests that emotional arousal enhances declarative/episodic memory. By contrast, there is little evidence that emotional enhancement of memory (EEM) extends to procedural skill based memory. We examined remote EEM (1.5-month delay) for cognitive skill learning using the weather prediction (WP) probabilistic classification task. Participants viewed interleaved emotionally arousing or neutral pictures during WP acquisition. Arousal retarded initial WP acquisition. While participants in the neutral condition showed substantial forgetting of WP learning across the 1.5-month delay interval, the arousal condition showed no evidence of forgetting across the same time period. Thus, arousal during encoding determined the mnemonic fate of cognitive skill learning. Emotional enhancement of WP retention was independent of verbally stated knowledge of WP learning and EEM for the picture contexts in which learning took place. These results reveal a novel demonstration of EEM for cognitive skill learning, and suggest that emotional arousal may in parallel enhance the neural systems that support procedural learning and its declarative context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Risky decision making assessed with the gambling task in adults with HIV.

Decision making was assessed using a laboratory gambling task in 67 adults with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV+) and in 19 HIV-seronegative (HIV-) control participants. Neurocognitive test performance across several domains was also analyzed to examine potential cognitive mechanisms of gambling task performance. As predicted, the HIV+ group performed worse on the gambling task, indicating greater risky decision making. Specifically, the HIV+ group selected more cards from the "risky" or disadvantageous deck that included relatively large payoffs but infrequent large penalties. The control group also selected such risky cards but quickly learned to avoid them. Exploratory analyses also indicated that in the HIV+ group, but not in the control group, gambling task performance was correlated with Stroop Interference performance and long delay free recall on the California Verbal Learning Test, suggesting the role of inhibitory processes and verbal memory in the poorer gambling task performance in HIV. These findings indicate the usefulness of the gambling task as a laboratory tool to examine risky decision making and cognition in the HIV population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences and a spatial learning factor in two strains of mice (Mus musculus).

Current theoretical approaches to animal intelligence either in the form of adaptive specializations or general processes make no explicit predictions nor do they provide substantial evidence concerning individual differences in problem solving. Two strains of mice (Mus musculus) were run through a battery of water escape tasks consisting of 4 spatial learning tasks, a visual discrimination task, and an activity control. The 2 strains were the second filial generation (F2) from a cross between C57BL/6 and DBA/2Js inbred strains and a CD-1 outbred strain. Results indicated positive correlations across all learning tasks in both strains for latency and error measures. Factor analysis revealed a significant first factor for these measures in both strains. These results suggest that at least some spatial and visual tasks in mice under this motivational condition share common properties. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early acquisition, but not retention, of the classically conditioned eyeblink response is N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor dependent

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists impair performance in some tasks, but whether they impair learning directly or through effects on sensorimotor performance remains controversial. Rats administered a competitive NMDA antagonist, CGP-39551, 24 hr before training could not acquire a classically conditioned eyeblink response. The associative deficit remained evident during training with a high-intensity conditioned stimulus, even though sensory reactivity was unaffected. The antagonist did not alter retention and thus did not affect motor performance of the task. These results extend and confirm studies that implicate NMDA-receptor activation in the acquisition of classically conditioned associations and specifically in tasks not dependent on the hippocampus for learning itself. Moreover, they substantiate recent claims that NMDA receptor activation (and by association, long-term potentiation) may be involved in early processes of procedural memory formation.     

Dimension-specific intertrial priming effects are task-specific: Evidence for multiple weighting systems.

Feature singleton search is faster when the target-defining dimension repeats across consecutive trials than when it changes (Found & Müller, 1996). However, this dimension repetition benefit (DRB) has also been demonstrated for the tasks with no search component (Mortier, Theeuwes, & Starreveld, 2005). If DRBs in the search and non-search tasks have the same origin, significant DRBs across trials of different tasks should rise. Two different tasks varied either in a predictable manner (Experiment 1) or randomly (Experiment 2) across trials. In detection task, search displays containing either color or orientation singletons were used. Discrimination task required identification of either color or orientation of a single presented item (non-search display). In Experiment 3, participants performed only the discrimination task, while the search and non-search displays varied randomly. There were significant DRBs for both tasks when the task repeated but not when the task changed (Experiments 1 and 2). DRBs were significant both when the display type repeated and when it changed (Experiment 3). Overall, the findings can be well explained by assuming multiple, independent dimension-weighting systems generating DRBs in different tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit and Explicit Memory in Children With Congenital and Acquired Brain Disorder.

Implicit and explicit memory were examined in 8- to 15-year-old children with myelomeningocele and shunted hydrocephalus, severe traumatic brain injuries, or orthopedic injuries. Each group included between 22 and 29 children. Children completed a fragmented picture identification task to assess perceptual priming and a semantic decision-making task to assess conceptual priming. Each task also assessed procedural learning as well as explicit recall and recognition. All 3 groups showed significant perceptual and semantic priming of similar magnitude. In contrast, both brain-disordered groups displayed poorer explicit memory than did the comparison group. No group showed significant procedural learning on either task. Age and IQ were stronger predictors of explicit recall than of implicit memory. The findings indicate that implicit memory is relatively intact in many children with congenital and acquired brain disorders, despite deficits in explicit memory, and support the existence of separate memory systems in children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ontogeny of place learning in children as measured in the Radial Arm Maze, Morris Search Task, and Open Field Task.

Children and adults were tested on 3 place learning tasks. Children under the age of 7 yrs were inferior to older Ss in solving the tasks by using spatial relational solutions, but Ss of all ages were equally proficient in solving the task by using simple stimulus-reward associations (cued solutions). Accurate performance on the cued versions suggests that neither the general response demands nor the large size of testing environments rendered the tasks differentially inappropriate for young children. Instead, the nature of the cognitive demands were responsible for different levels of performance across the age groups. Because, in animal studies, spatial relational solutions but not cued solutions of these tests require mature and undamaged medial temporal lobe structures, the results suggest that these systems are not fully developed in humans before approximately 7 yrs of age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impaired motor-skill learning, slowed reaction time, and elevated cerebrospinal-fluid quinolinic acid in a subgroup of HIV-infected individuals.

29 Ss infected with HIV were evaluated on a motor-skill learning task known to be sensitive to basal ganglia lesions. Reaction time (RT) and CSF concentrations of an endogenous neurotoxin, quinolinic acid, were also measured. In comparison with 15 HIV– controls, 7 of the HIV+ Ss (24%) showed minimal motor-skill learning. These HIV+ Ss were also slower and had higher concentrations of CSF quinolinic acid than did HIV+ Ss who performed normally on the motor skill task. Motor-skill learning and RT were significantly correlated with CSF quinolinic acid but not with peripheral markers of immune system status (e.g., CD4 cell counts). These findings suggest that the basal ganglia may be a prominent locus of pathology in a subgroup of HIV-infected individuals and that quinolinic acid may play an important role in the pathogenesis of HIV-related neuronal dysfunction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations Among the Structure of Learning Tasks, Achievement, and Changes in Self-Efficacy in Secondary Students.

Although much has been discovered about relations between self-efficacy and academic achievement, questions remain about links between achievement, the structure of learning tasks, and changes in students' self-efficacy as students engage with a single, complex authentic task. Students' self-efficacy for learning (SEL) and for performance (SEP) was tracked as they worked on well- and ill-structured tasks during their regular class. Students reported higher SEL and SEP for a well-structured task. Moderate achievers reported significantly more difficulty with the ill-structured task. SEP was higher and more stable than SEL, especially in early phases of both tasks. After accounting for overall academic achievement, self-efficacy was a negligible predictor of achievement. Students may perceive various features of each task's structure as difficult. Implications concerning relations among self-efficacy, task structure, and achievement are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing relational and item-specific information: Effects of aging and division of attention.

64 young adults (aged 18–21 yrs) and 32 older Ss (aged 65–83 yrs) encoded items from categorizable lists under incidental learning conditions. Two orienting tasks were used: a category sorting task and a pleasantness rating task. The number of items/category was varied (between 2 and 14) within each list. In addition, 24 young adults performed the orienting tasks while simultaneously engaged in an attention-demanding secondary task (divided-attention condition). Recall declined with both age and division of attention, while recall clustering was greatest for the older Ss and least for the young divided-attention Ss. The effects of category size and orienting task on recall did not vary across groups. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the relation between abilities, learning, and human performance.

Describes the author's research efforts to link basic and applied psychology concepts in each of the following areas: aptitude measurement, learning and training, and human task performance. Several studies are described in detail to illustrate a number of broad issues, particularly the possibility of using combinations of experimental and correlational methods for studying complex human behavior, and the need to develop concepts that allow more dependable generalization of research findings to new situations (particularly to new tasks). A taxonomy of human perceptual-motor abilities is described and related to more complex tasks. Other studies investigated the relationship between abilities and skill acquisition; individual differences in various learning phenomena (e.g., transfer of training); and whether the taxonomic categories are useful for standardizing laboratory tasks and for generalizing results of these tasks to new tasks. Results suggest that (a) experimental-correlational studies can be used to develop a body of principles relating task dimensions to ability requirements; (b) kinesthetic ability factors become more important than spatial ones as psychomotor learning progresses; and (c) it should be possible to develop a data base about human performance, indexed by type of task. (37 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

(De)stabilization of required and spontaneous postural dynamics with learning.

The present research examined how learning a new ankle-hip coordination influenced the preexisting postural repertoire. Standing participants learned a new ankle-hip coordination mode (relative phase of 90'). Before and after practice, postural patterns were evaluated in two different tasks. In the required task, specific ankle-hip patterns were requested (12 relative phases in multiples of 30'). In the spontaneous task, participants performed a tracking task in which no instructions about ankle-hip coordination were given. Learning induced changes in both required and spontaneous coordination dynamics. When ankle-hip patterns were required, learning led to improvement and homogenization in performance over the entire postural repertoire. When ankle-hip patterns emerged spontaneously, in-phase and antiphase preexisting patterns destabilized and changed toward the learned pattern of 90'. These findings demonstrate that learning a new coordination pattern can induce modifications of patterns that have not been practiced. The results also suggest that the consequences of learning do not generalize across different types of tasks, even when similar coordination modes are involved. We discuss implications of these findings for the generality of learning mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consequences of serial cortical, hippocampal, and thalamic lesions and of different lengths of overtraining on the acquisition and retention of learning tasks.

The ability of the rat brain to acquire or to retain specific learning tasks was tested under conditions of multiple lesions and widely varying amounts of practice in 53 male young adult rats. Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups in which lesions were made in 2 of 3 structural complexes (the medial prefrontal and cingulate cortex, the anterior and mediodorsal thalamus, and the dorsal and ventral hippocampus) or in all 3 before acquisition of the 2 learning tasks (Groups 1–4), or they were assigned to 1 of 3 groups in which lesions of all 3 structural complexes were made following the acquisition of the 2 learning tasks (Groups 5–7). Results question the assumption that serial lesions with intermittent training between lesions have beneficial effects and emphasize the importance of task practice (i.e., behavioral experience). It is argued that prolonged training will lead to a widely distributed storage of information within the brain. The process of wide diffusion of information will, however, be disturbed (or at least retarded) by lesions made shortly after task acquisition or task reacquisition (as was the case for Ss of Group 5). (159 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)