Daniel B. Kaye

Action video games and informal education: Effects on strategies for dividing visual attention

Abstract Two experiments investigated the effects of video game expertise on divided visual attention in college students. Divided attention was measured by using response time to targets of varying probabilities at two locations on a computer screen. In one condition the target appeared 10% of the time in one location (low probability position), 80% of the time in the other location (high probability position), and 10% of the time in both locations. In the other condition the target appeared 45% of the time in each position (equiprobable or neutral positions) and 10% of the time in both positions. The subjects for Experiment 1 represented two extremes of video game skill (labeled experts, novices), whereas the subjects for Experiment 2 were an unselected group with a continuous distribution of video game performance (labeled more skillful, less skillful). Experiment 1 established that video game experts were similar to novices in manifesting an attentional benefit (manifested in faster response time) at the high probability position (relative to a neutral or equiprobable position). However, unlike novices, experts did not show an attentional cost (manifested as slower response time) at the low probability position (again relative to a neutral position). Experts also had significantly faster response times than novices at both the 10% and 80% positions, but not at the 45% position. Experiment 2 established that video game experience was a causal factor in improving strategies of divided attention. Five hours of play on a video game called Robotron produced a significant decrease in response time at the 10% location, the locus of the expert-novice difference in Experiment 1.

The development of mathematical cognition

Whereas descriptions of the developmental transition from slow, implicit counting to more rapid, effortless memory retrieval of simple addition problem solutions are available in the literature, it remains unclear what are the processing advantages of the shift from counting to retrieval. Studies within the psychometric tradition have pointed to the importance of the efficiency of basic computational processes in the development of mathematical ability, and the development of automatic routines for solving problems or retrieving declarative knowledge from memory are richly described in a variety of information processing theories. A theoretical account of the developmental transition from counting to retrieval based upon principles of attention theory is offered. Research using dual-task methods is described and a preliminary developmental model is outlined.

The development of letter processing efficiency

The development of efficiency in letter processing skills was studied using a letter search task. In two experiments, subjects searched for a target letter displayed with items varying in their visual featural or conceptual categorical similarity to the target. Accuracy and reaction time of search were evaluated for evidence of the visual search “category effect.” In order to determine if subjects could efficiently use knowledge of stimulus differences to facilitate search, conditions tested search time as a function of the amount of information to be processed both within the visual display and in short-term memory. In the two experiments, subjects of ages 6 years through adulthood showed the category effect; however, efficiency of letter processing was found to be related to the amount of information that had to be processed in memory. While there were drastic changes in search speed with increasing grade level, patterns of processing were consistent, leading to the conclusion that the knowledge required to process the letter information accurately is acquired very early. Results were discussed in terms of the distinctions among accuracy, automaticity, and efficiency of skill development and the relationship of these to general reading and intellectual development.

Levels and speed of processing effects on word analysis

Previous work on semantic priming effects has suggested that priming is contingent upon semantic analysis of the prime stimulus. In the present series of experiments, subjects in Grade 3, Grade 6, and college performed variants of a priming task in which semantic (lexical decision) as well as fast (case judgment) and slow (letter search) nonsemantic levels of processing were required for both prime and target stimuli. Contrary to a levels of processing hypothesis, context effects were not simple functions of the level at which the prime was processed. Priming effects were found with a slow nonsemantic prime task (letter search), but generally not with a fast nonsemantic analysis of the prime (case judgment). The form of the priming effect when the prime was processed semantically by a lexical decision depended on the relationship between prime and target processing: a switch from semantic prime processing to nonsemantic target processing produced Stroop-like interference, with other combinations of prime and target processing producing facilitation. By using a series of discrimination, focusing, and classification tasks in a Garner (1978) paradigm, it was possible to determine how subjects were processing the semantic and nonsemantic dimensions, and these perceptual strategies were compared across educational levels to account for the priming effects. Our results suggest that context effects need to be understood in terms of the speeds of processing of different codes of information inherent in words.

Developmental differences in visual processing: Strategy versus structure

The present study was an examination of two contrasting explanations for the finding that young children tend to classify objects according to similarity relations whereas adults emphasize dimensional structure. Subjects from three different age groups were given tasks that tapped different aspects of the visual process: Feature search, Conjunction search, and Restricted Classification tasks. In addition, three different stimulus objects (a highly separable, a highly integral, and an intermediate dimensional combination) were studied to explore the contribution of stimulus structure in dictating the nature of the processing mode. The results provided evidence against the view that children perceive objects according to a more primitive holistic structure. Rather, the results can be taken with past research to suggest that less efficient visual processing may lead the younger subjects to adopt a classification strategy that emphasizes similarity relations. In addition, the current research supported Garners (1974, The processing of information and structure, Potomac, MD: Erlbaum) suggestion that the nature of the processing mode is stimulus-driven.

The nature of verbal comprehension

Abstract We discuss the nature of verbal comprehension, emphasizing in particular the role in verbal comprehension of learning from context. Our discussion is divided into five parts. First, we provide a review of past literature dealing with learning from context. Second, we describe our own developing theory of learning from context, and attempt to relate our ideas to relevant earlier ones. Third, we summarize some empirical data that support our theoretical ideas. Fourth, we attempt to place our theory and data, and those of others, into a broader conceptual framwork for understanding verbal comprehension as a unitary construct. Finally, we discuss some of the psychological and educational implications of our theory and data.

Chapter 12 The Development of Attentional Control Mechanisms

Research on the development of selective attention in children has focused on the increased selectivity that children manifest as they grow older. Three studies were conducted to elucidate the contribution of two primary sources of age differences in attentional selectivity: (a) Stimulus factors involve the development of perceptual skills, particularly the skills required for stimulus differentiation. (b) Attentional efficiency involves the efficiency with which specific control mechanisms of selective attention are applied. This efficiency may improve as children have the opportunity to use these skills. The first two studies minimized the role of stimulus factors using stimulus materials and tasks that reduced the demands of stimulus differentiation and processing factors—emphasis was placed on mechanisms of visual attention shifts and deployment. In a third study, the interaction of stimulus factors and attentional efficiency was studied. Results demonstrated that a considerable source of developmental variance is attributable to the continuing development of efficient attentional control mechanisms.

Intelligence and Spontaneous Flexibility in Adulthood and Old Age

Abstract Interrelationships among measures of intelligence and spontaneous flexibility were examined at two age levels using a multitrait-multimethod matrix design and other multivariate procedures. Measures of intelligence were Ravens Matrices and WAIS Vocabulary, WAIS Digit Symbol, and WAIS Similarities. Blots, Hidden Pictures, Brick Uses, and Impossibilities were used as measures of spontaneous flexibility. Subjects were 100 younger (X¯= 19.54,S.D.= 1.23) and 100 older (X¯= 63.99,S.D.= 2.94) men and women tested at two occasions. Adult age differences in factor structure were explored using a maximum likelihood analysis; common variances among the measures were greater for the elderly compared to the younger adults. Findings supported a dedifferentiation hypothesis with regard to both intelligence and spontaneous flexibility.

Long-Term Stability of Intelligence and Achievement Scores in Specific-Learning-Disabilities Samples

To compile data useful for informed reevaluation decisions that concern specific-learning-disabled (SLD) children, the stability of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) scores was assessed over a period of approximately 3 years in two samples of SLD children. Both samples began in a part-time learning-disabilities program (SLD-P). At the second WISC-R testing, 68 students remained in the part-time program, and 31 students had been placed in a full-time SLD program (SLD-PF). The WISC-R IQ reliabilities were high with the exception of Verbal IQ(VIQ) in the SLD-PF group. WRAT scores were less reliable. For both groups, VIQs decreased and Performance IQs (PIQs) increased over time. In the SLD-P group WRAT-Math scores decreased over time, and in the SLD-PF group WRAT-Spelling scores decreased over time. Regression analyses that used time in program as a covariate revealed unimpressive effects of program on WISC-R and WRAT scores. Cautions about program placement and the experimental design are discussed.

INTRAINDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY IN DIVERGENT AND CONVERGENT THINKING: ADULT AGE DIFFERENCES

The purpose of this study was to examine (a) intraindividual variability in divergent and convergent thinking, (b) the relationship of intraindividual variability to self‐reported cognitive variation, and (c) the relationship of adult age to actual variability in cognitive performance across tasks. Young adults (M = 19.6 years of age) and older adults (M=64.0 years of age) were given eight tests of divergent and convergent thinking, followed by a questionnaire asking subjects to rate themselves along several dimensions of variability and level of cognitive flexibility. Variability was found to be a consistent individual difference characteristic for divergent and convergent thinking. Actual variability and level of performance were interrelated, but subjects were unable to estimate reliably their own variability and level of performance. The interrelationships among intraindividual variability and level of performance were ability‐specific and age‐specific, suggesting the usefulness of intraindividual var...