Janice Johnson

Executive Functions Underlying Multiplicative Reasoning: Problem Type Matters.

We investigated the extent to which inhibition, updating, shifting, and mental-attentional capacity (M-capacity) contribute to childrens ability to solve multiplication word problems. A total of 155 children in Grades 3-6 (8- to 13-year-olds) completed a set of multiplication word problems at two levels of difficulty: one-step and multiple-step problems. They also received a reading comprehension test and a battery of inhibition, updating, shifting, and M-capacity measures. Structural equation modeling showed that updating mediated the relationship between multiplication performance (controlling for reading comprehension score) and latent attentional factors M-capacity and inhibition. Updating played a more important role in predicting performance on multiple-step problems than did age, whereas age and updating were equally important predictors on one-step problems. Shifting was not a significant predictor in either model. Implications of proposing executive function updating as a mediator between mathematical cognition and chronological age and attention resources are discussed.

Relation of Cognitive Style to Metaphor Interpretation and Second Language Proficiency.

This study examined relationships among measures of language proficiency, cognitive style, and metaphor comprehension. Subjects were university students who were native English speakers or who were enrolled in a course on English as a second language (ESL). Consistent with predictions, native English speakers scored better than ESL students on academic measures of English proficiency, but there were no group differences on level of cognitive sophistication in English metaphor interpretation or on a measure of metaphor fluency (number of metaphor interpretations produced). For ESL students, metaphor fluency was positively related to a measure of English communicative proficiency, whereas a measure of field independence was negatively related with both metaphor fluency and communicative proficiency. These findings on cognitive style are consistent with theoretical predictions that have heretofore found little empirical support in the second language literature.

Developmental levels of processing in metaphor interpretation

We outline a theory of metaphor interpretation. The theory posits varying levels of semantic processing and formalizes them in terms of kinds of semantic-mapping operators that transform properties of the metaphoric vehicle (i.e., predicate) into properties of the metaphoric topic (i.e., subject). We used cognitive-developmental theory to estimate the mental-processing complexity of the various mapping operators, and thereby to predict the timing of their emergence in childhood, and to construct a measure of the metaphoric-processing levels. Metaphor interpretations collected from children (aged 6-12 years) and adults were coded and scored according to the processing levels. In two separate developmental studies, processing score increased with age in a predictable way. Growth in a mental-attentional resource accounted for much of the developmental variance in metaphor interpretation. Possible moderating effects of knowledge and context are discussed.

Quantitative Hardware Stages That Constrain Language Development

We argue the case for general cognitive-processing constraints on, and cognitive-developmental stages in, linguistic performance. We use the theory of constructive operators of Pascual-Leone to analyze the sorts of’software’ (i.e., content-bound) and ‘hardware’ (i.e., content-free organismic) processes relevant for a cognitive developmental model of language. Emphasis is placed on the hardware: mental-attentional capacity as a limit on linguistic competence. We describe types of situations in which the effects of such capacity should be clearly manifest in performance and support our claims with results of two studies on language development, one on comprehension and production of subordinate conjunctions and the other on metaphor interpretation. Various linguistic performance scores in the two studies increased with age in steps that correspond to theory-predicted stages in the growth of mental-attentional capacity; a similar stage-bound developmental pattern is reported for a visual information-processing task. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.

A balancing act of the brain: activations and deactivations driven by cognitive load

The majority of neuroimaging studies focus on brain activity during performance of cognitive tasks; however, some studies focus on brain areas that activate in the absence of a task. Despite the surge of research comparing these contrasted areas of brain function, their interrelation is not well understood. We systematically manipulated cognitive load in a working memory task to examine concurrently the relation between activity elicited by the task versus activity during control conditions. We presented adults with six levels of task demand, and compared those with three conditions without a task. Using whole‐brain analysis, we found positive linear relations between cortical activity and task difficulty in areas including middle frontal gyrus and dorsal cingulate; negative linear relations were found in medial frontal gyrus and posterior cingulate. These findings demonstrated balancing of activation patterns between two mental processes, which were both modulated by task difficulty. Frontal areas followed a graded pattern more closely than other regions. These data also showed that working memory has limited capacity in adults: an upper bound of seven items and a lower bound of four items. Overall, working memory and default‐mode processes, when studied concurrently, reveal mutually competing activation patterns.

Developmental and Task Factors in Logo Programming

Ninety children (7 to 12 years) were taught simplified Logo programming commands, which they used to solve computer mazes. Mazes were solved under conditions of either immediate—each command entered had an immediate, visible effect on the movement of the turtle—or delayed-feedback—the invisible turtle moved with each command, but showed its current position only after every six commands. These conditions were designed to model programming interactively versus in the editor. All children solved a final maze with no-feedback (i.e., the turtle moved invisibly, but never showed its position). It was hypothesized that experience in immediate mode would facilitate learning in younger children, but that experience in delayed mode would lead to equal or better learning in older children. Performance was scored for programming errors. Older children performed better than younger children on all mazes; performance with immediate feedback was better than that with delayed; and more difficult mazes tended to elicit higher error rates or longer latencies. On the final no-feedback maze, prior experience in delayed mode led to poor performance for seven-eight-year olds, but not for older children. Near transfer of programming performance was examined with two off-computer tasks (i.e., command generation and command interpretation). In correlational analyses measures of mental capacity (i.e., working memory) and analytical-ability/field-independence were found to relate to programming performance. Findings have implications for the timing of introduction of the editor in the Logo curriculum.

The mental-attention Tai Chi effect with older adults.

BackgroundTai Chi practice has some fitness, wellness, and general cognitive effects in older adults. However, benefits of Tai Chi on specific mental-attentional executive processes have not been investigated previously. We studied older Canadian adults of Chinese and non-Chinese origin and from low socioeconomic areas.MethodsSixty-four adults (51–87 years old) took part in a 16-week Tai Chi program. There were two groups: Chinese-background (n = 35) and Non-Chinese-background (n = 29). They received four mental-attention executive tasks before and after the 16-week period. These tasks measured visuospatial reasoning, mental-attentional activation (working memory), attentional inhibition, and balance between these attention factors (field-dependence-independence).ResultsChinese participants showed significant gain on Figural Intersections Task (mental-attentional capacity), Antisaccade (attentional inhibition), and Matrix Reasoning (fluid intelligence measure). Both groups evidenced gain on the Water Level Task (attentional balance).ConclusionsThese gains suggest that Tai Chi can improve mental-attentional vigilance and executive control, when practitioners are sufficiently motivated to pursue this practice, and apply themselves (as our Chinese participants seem to have done). We found that Tai Chi enhanced mental attentional executives in the Chinese sample. The largely negative results with Non-Chinese participants might be explained by less strong motivation and by the relatively short Tai Chi practice period, which contrasts with the prior familiarity with Tai Chi of the Chinese participants.

Mental Attention, Multiplicative Structures, and the Causal Problems of Cognitive Development

We illustrate, theoretically and empirically, the dialectical relationship between learning and development. We do so in the context of children’s understanding of multiplication concepts. We briefly summarize the Theory of Constructive Operators and examine an important correspondence between the theory’s stages of growth in mental-attentional (M-) capacity and Case’s staircase model of development. We present task analyses of concepts underlying various kinds of multiplication word problems. These analyses lead to predictions about the mental (M-) demand of understanding multiplication concepts. There is a predicted trade-off between a child’s M-capacity and a task’s M-demand, such that a child should not be able to pass a task if its M-demand exceeds the child’s M-capacity. We test this prediction in a study in which children received training in the target multiplication concepts. Results show that children benefit from brief training only when their M-capacity is at least equal to the M-demand of the concept in question. To conclude, we briefly relate our theory to the developing brain.

Inhibition: Mental Control Process or Mental Resource?

The current study tested 2 models of inhibition in 45 children with language impairment and 45 children with normally developing language; children were aged 7 to 12 years. Of interest was whether a model of inhibition as a mental-control process (i.e., executive function) or as a mental resource would more accurately reflect the relations among mental-attentional (M) capacity, inhibition, updating, shifting, and language competence. Children completed measures of M-capacity (in the verbal and nonverbal domains), inhibition, updating, shifting, and language. Path analyses showed the data provided a poor fit to the model of inhibition as a mental-control process but a good fit to the model of inhibition as a mental resource. Results are consistent with the theory of constructive operators and suggest inhibition is a mental resource rather than a mental-control process.

Logic: Development of Logical Operations

Logical operations serve to investigate truth with the help of systems of signs. We analyze signs to show how two developmentally important kinds, signals versus symbols, can be defined in terms of schemes (psychological units of processing in the organism). Schemes are naturally organized into levels of abstraction. We present an overview of these levels and analyze logical-problem tasks to illustrate, in task-misleading situations, how developmental growth of mental attention (working memory) enables higher levels of abstraction. We relate neo-Piagetian concepts to current research on logical reasoning, in children and adolescents. Basic neo-Piagetian methods for assessing logical complexity converge with current logical research.