Sunday, October 29, 2017

Is “g” overemphasized in intelligence research—commentary by Stankov

Commentary: Overemphasized “g”

Lazar Stankov

Abstract: In this paper I argue that the emphasis on “g” has become a hindrance to the study of broadly defined human cognitive abilities. Abilities captured by the first- and second-stratum factors in the Cattel-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory have been neglected. The focus has been on a narrow range of cognitive processes that excludes those common to some sensory modalities and a host of new tasks and constructs that have become available through recent conceptual analyses and technological developments. These new areas have emerged from psychology itself (complex problem solving tasks and emotional intelligence) and from disciplines related to psychology like education and economics (economic games and cognitive biases in decision-making).

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Meta-analysis supports cognitive ability differentiation hypotheses (SLODOR)

A B S T R A C T

The cognitive ability differentiation hypothesis, which is also termed Spearman's Law of Diminishing Returns, proposes that cognitive ability tests are less correlated and less g loaded in higher ability populations. In ad-dition, the age differentiation hypothesis proposes that the structure of cognitive ability varies across respondent age. To clarify the literature regarding these expectations, 106 articles containing 408 studies, which were published over a 100-year time span, were analyzed to evaluate the empirical basis for ability as well as age differentiation hypotheses. Meta-analyses provide support for both hypotheses and related expectations. Results demonstrate that the mean correlation and g loadings of cognitive ability tests decrease with increasing ability, yet increase with respondent age. Moreover, these effects have been nearly constant throughout the century of analyzed data. These results are important because we cannot assume an invariant cognitive structure for dif-ferent ability and age levels. Implications for practice as well as drawbacks are further discussed.

Article link.





Saturday, October 28, 2017

Concept maps effective instructional method: A meta-analysis

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Abstract

A concept map is a node-link diagram in which each node represents a concept and each link identifies the relationship between the two concepts it connects. We investigated how using concept maps influences learning by synthesizing the results of 142 independent effect sizes (n = 11,814). A random-effects model meta-analysis revealed that learning with concept and knowledge maps produced a moderate, statistically significant effect (g = 0.58, p < 0.001). A moderator analysis revealed that creating concept maps (g = 0.72, p < 0.001) was associated with greater benefit relative to respective comparison conditions than studying concept maps (g = 0.43, p < 0.001). Additional moderator analyses indicated learning with concept maps was superior to other instructional comparison conditions, and was effective across science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and non-STEM knowledge domains. Further moderator analyses, as well as implications for theory and practice, are provided.

The following text is a direct quote from the conclusion section.

Nesbit and Adesope (2013) proposed seven cognitively oriented hypotheses that could explain the advantages of using concept maps for teaching and learning in comparison with reading text, listening to lectures, participating in discussions, writing summaries, and other instructional activities. First, using concept maps may enable dual coding of information in verbal and visual components of longer-term memory and thereby support more effective retrieval. Second, in comparison with text, they may allow cognitive load to be distributed across the visual and verbal channels of working memory, thus avoiding an overload of verbal working memory. Third, concept maps tend to consolidate multiple references to a concept at a single point in space, while in text, audio or other sequential formats the references would be spread over the sequence. Consolidating all relationships to a concept around a single point, a kind of spatial contiguity, may promote a more semantically integrated understanding of the concept. Fourth, in some types of concept maps, particularly those specified by Novak and Cañas (2008), superordinate and subordinate semantic relationships (e.g., mammal-squirrel) are signaled more strongly than they typically are in text. Fifth, the noun-verb-noun syntax used to express propositions in concept maps is much simpler and more accessible to poor readers and writers than the typical prose of expository text. Sixth, the decisions required to construct a concept map (e.g., determining which nodes should be placed close together) entail greater elaborative or germane processing than the decisions required to construct expository text. Finally, because concept maps take up more space than text, they may demand a greater degree of concision or summarization which in turn prompts greater elaborative processing.



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Friday, October 27, 2017

Table of contents : Nature Neuroscience— issue on Spatial cognition



Table of contents : Nature Neuroscience

From Twitter, a Flipboard magazine by Hugo Spiers

Current issue ISSUE Previous November 2017, Volume 20No11pp1431-1653 Editorial • Obituary • Q&A • Commentary • Perspectives • Reviews • News and Views •…

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Thursday, October 26, 2017

DARPA's new brain device increases learning speed by 40%



DARPA's new brain device increases learning speed by 40%

Cheap and Non-Invasive New research funded by the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) has…

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******************************************************
Kevin McGrew, PhD
Educational Psychologist
Director, Institute for Applied Psychometrics
IAP
******************************************************

Musicians have better memory than nonmusicians: A meta-analysis

More research, this time a meta-analysis, documenting the cognitive benefits of musical training. I better not show this to my mother who never liked the fact that I only took one year of piano:)

Musicians have better memory than nonmusicians: A meta-analysis

Francesca Talamini, Gianmarco Altoè, Barbara Carretti, Massimo Grassi

Abstract

The three meta-analyses revealed a small effect size for long-term memory, and a medium effect size for short-term and working memory, suggesting that musicians perform better than nonmusicians in memory tasks. Moreover, the effect of the moderator suggested that, the type of stimuli influences this advantage.

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Topics in Cognitive Science - Volume 9, Issue 4 - Sketching and Cognition: Edited by Kenneth D. Forbus and Shaaron Ainsworth



Topics in Cognitive Science - Volume 9, Issue 4 - Sketching and Cognition: Edited by Kenneth D. Forbus and Shaaron Ainsworth

You have free access to this content Kenneth D. Forbus and Shaaron…

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Wednesday, October 25, 2017

CFA of WISC-V: A five factor CHC battery

There are dueling factor study articles regarding the WISC-V in the research literature. Here is the take of Reynolds and Keith, who, IMHO, tend to do some of the best factor structure research in intelligence testing.

The five factors look like clear Gc, Gv, Gf, Gwm and Gs CHC factors.

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to test the consistency in measurement of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Chil-dren-Fifth Edition (WISC-V; Wechsler, 2014) constructs across the 6 through 16 age span and to understand the constructs measured by the WISC-V. First-order, higher-order, and bifactor confirmatory factor models were used. Results were compared with two recent studies using higher-order and bifactor exploratory factor analysis (Canivez, Watkins, & Dombrowski, 2015; Dombrowski, Canivez, Watkins, & Beaujean, 2015) and two using con-firmatory factor analysis (Canivez, Watkins, & Dombrowski, 2016; Chen, Zhang, Raiford, Zhu, & Weiss, 2015). We found evidence of age-invariance for the constructs measured by the WISC-V. Further, both g and five distinct broad abilities (Verbal Comprehension, Visual Spatial Ability, Fluid Reasoning, Working Memory, and Processing Speed) were needed to explain the covariances among WISC-V subtests, although Fluid Reasoning was nearly equivalent to g. These findings were consistent whether a higher-order or a bifactor hierarchical model was used, but they were somewhat inconsistent with factor analyses from the prior studies. We found a correlation between Fluid Reasoning and Visual Spatial factors beyond a general factor (g) and that Arithmetic was primarily a direct indicator of g. Composite scores from the WISC-V correlated well with their corresponding underlying factors. For those concerned about the fewer numbers of subtests in the Full Scale IQ, the model implied relation between g and the FSIQ was very strong.

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More support for P-FIT model of intelligence

Abstract

The authors describe the brain regions involved in the process of intelligence using as a basis, the models of the theory of frontoparietal integration (P-FIT Model). They also correlate the model described with functional areas of Brodmann, integrating them into the tertiary brain areas and address the subcortical structures involved in cognitive processes, including the memory. The studies performed by functional magnetic resonance, also unmask various regions related with intelligence, neither previously described by Brodmann nor even in conventional models of learning. The anterior insular cortex presents itself as the most recent tertiary area to be considered. Subcortical structures, when injured, mimick injuries to the cerebral cortex, demonstrating their great participation in cognition. The topographies of aphasia and the functioning mechanisms of the bearers of learning disorders, including dyslexic, dysgraphia and dyscalculic should be reconsidered. A better understanding of this topographic anatomy may clarify the mechanisms used in those individuals with cerebral lesions.

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An Analysis of the CHC model for Comparing Cognitive Architectures

From the computer science literature

An Analysis of the CHC model for Comparing Cognitive Architectures


Abstract There are many cognitive architectures available nowadays, and each architecture has its own different mechanisms. Therefore, we need to identify the advantages and disadvantages of these architectures in order to improve upon them. In this paper, we propose new metrics for comparing cognitive architectures based on the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model, which is used in psychology to explain factors of intelligence. Here, we analyze factors of intelligence in the CHC model and interpret them as elements of a new cognitive architecture. Then, the CHC model is investigated with respect to “data” and “processing” to obtain a metric for each component. We present examples using Soar and LIDA to illustrate comparing different cognitive architectures and demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

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Monday, October 23, 2017

The Evolution of the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Theory of Intelligence: Schneider & McGrew 2018 summary


The Evolution of the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Theory of Intelligence: Schneider & McGrew 2018 summary from Kevin McGrew

This presentation includes a portion of key material to be published in a forthcoming CHC update/revision chapter--In D. P. Flanagan & Erin M .McDonough (Eds.), Contemporary intellectual assessment: Theories, tests and issues (4thed.,) New York: Guilford Press.

This is only a small amount of the chapter. Also, I have inserted some new material related to test interpretation that is not included in the to-be-published chapter. The tentative date for publication of the Flanagan book is spring 2018. The majority, but not all, of this SlideShare presentation was originally presented at the 2017 NYASP conference October 19,2017.

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Elsevier Neuroscience Books Win BMA Book Awards | SciTech Connect



Elsevier Neuroscience Books Win BMA Book Awards | SciTech Connect

We are proud to announce that several Elsevier neuroscience books were honored at the British Medical Association (BMA) annual 2017…

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Tuesday, October 17, 2017

PsycTESTS



PsycTESTS

Database Type Bibliographic, plus full text and multimedia. (76% of test records contain the actual test or test items.) Record Types Descriptive summaries of the test and its development…

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Sunday, October 15, 2017

What Is Your Mental Lexicon?



What Is Your Mental Lexicon?

From Psychology, a Flipboard magazine by Birgit

"The fact that a speaker can mentally find the word that he/she wants in less than 200 milliseconds, and in certain cases, even before it is heard, is proof that the…

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Monday, October 09, 2017

Predicting when a sound will occur relies on the brain's motor system - Scienmag: Latest Science and Health News



Predicting when a sound will occur relies on the brain's motor system - Scienmag: Latest Science and Health News

Whether it is dancing or just tapping one foot to the beat, we all experience how…

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Sunday, October 01, 2017