Mind wandering greater during massed practice (cramming) vs spaced-out practice

People Mind Wander More During Massed Than Spaced Inductive Learning.Metcalfe, Janet; Xu, Judy Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Nov 30 , 2015, No Pagination Specified. http://dx.doi.org.ezp1.lib.umn.edu/10.1037/xlm0000216

Abstract

This article investigates the relation between mind wandering and the spacing effect in inductive learning. Participants studied works of art by different artists grouped in blocks, where works by a particular artist were either presented all together successively (the massed condition), or interleaved with the works of other artists (the spaced condition). The works of 24 artists were shown, with 12, 15, or 18 works by each artist being provided as exemplars. Later, different works by the same artists were presented for a test of the artists’ identity. During the course of studying these works, participants were probed for mind wandering. It was found that people mind wandered more when the exemplars were presented in a massed rather than in a spaced manner, especially as the task progressed. There was little mind wandering and little difference between massed and spaced conditions toward the beginning of study. People were better able to correctly attribute the new works to the appropriate artist (inductive learning) when (a) they were in the spaced condition and (b) they had not been mind wandering. This research suggests that inductive learning may be influenced by mind wandering and that the impairment in learning with massed practice (compared to spaced practice) may be attributable, at least in part, to attentional factors—people are “on task” less fully when the stimuli are massed rather than spaced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)

Attentional control (Posner, 2007 review): Executive attention may be trainable

A recent Annual Review of Psychology had a nice overview article (by Posner and Rothbart..click here to view) dealing with research on the cognitive construct of attention. I found Figure 2 and Table 1 (above) particularly informative. Below are some key quotes from the article. Given my prior reading and posts regarding the importance of executive attention, I was particularly interested in Posner and Rothbart's suggestion that executive attention may be a domain general learning mechanism that may be trainable. The italics and/or underlining below were added by this blogmaster.

• In recent years, attention has been one of the fastest growing of all fields within cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience.
• Certainly many, perhaps even most, imaging studies have been concerned with anatomical issues. As Figure 2 illustrates, several functions of attention have been shown to involve specific anatomical areas that carry out important functions.
• Imaging data have supported the presence of three networks related to different aspects of attention (Fan et al. 2005). These networks carry out the functions of alerting, orienting, and executive attention (Posner & Fan 2007). A summary of the anatomy and chemical modulators involved in the three networks is shown in Table 1. Alerting is defined as achieving and maintaining a state of high sensitivity to incoming stimuli; orienting is the selection of information from sensory input; and executive attention involves mechanisms for monitoring and resolving conflict among thoughts, feelings, and responses.
• ..we have argued that the executive attention network is involved in self-regulation of positive and negative affect as well as a wide variety of cognitive tasks underlying intelligence (Duncan et al. 2000). This idea suggests an important role for attention in moderating the activity of sensory, cognitive, and emotional systems.
• There is considerable evidence that the executive attention network is of great importance in the acquisition of school subjects such as literacy (McCandliss et al. 2003) and in a wide variety of other subjects that draw upon general intelligence (Duncan et al.2000).
• It has been widely believed by psychologists that training involves only specific domains, and that more general training of the mind, for example, by formal disciplines like mathematics or Latin, does not generalize beyond the specific domain trained (Thorndike 1903, Simon 1969). However, attention may be an exception to this idea. Attention involves specific brain mechanisms, as we have seen, but its function is to influence the operation of other brain networks (Posner & Rothbart 2007). Anatomically, the network involving resolution of conflict overlaps with brain areas related to general intelligence (Duncan et al. 2000). Training of attention either explicitly or implicitly is sometimes a part of the school curriculum (Posner&Rothbart 2007), but additional studies are needed to determine exactly how and when attention training can best be accomplished and its long-lasting importance.
• Executive attention represents a neurodevelopmental process in children and adolescents, the alteration which could affect the propensity for the development of a number of disorders.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, intelligence, IQ, cognition, executive attention, attention, domain general, learning, education, ADHD

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I Think...Therefore IM: Keynote at IM conference in October

"I think...therefore IM"

Yes..this is me. Conflict of interest disclosure--I am external consultant to IM and serve in the role as the Director of Research and Science.

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Research byte: Video games, life-long learning and brain plasticity

Very thought provoking review in the prestigious Annual Review of Neuroscience that provides insights into the possible domain-general learning that may occur during some video games that may generalize to other learning domains and brain plasticity.

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Research byte: Psychological effects of meditation--a meta-analysis

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An interesting research synthesis that helps sort out the positive impact of different types of psychological mediation on different outcomes. I am particularly interested in the support for meditation techniques that emphasis control of attention (e.g., focusing on breathing; a tone; etc.) given the parallels I have written about with regard to the Interactive Metronome neurotechnology.














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EDDA 2012 ADHD newsletter article

Newsletter article regarding 2012 Las Vegas conference available here.

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Research byte: Another study suggesting attentional control and working memory highly related

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Research continues to accumulate suggesting that the control of attention (attentional control; focus) of material in working memory is critical to efficient working memory. Maybe attentional control = working memory? Also, continued supported for the role of the prefrontal and parietal brain regions in these functions...which is additional support for the P-FIT theory of intelligence (see link to P-FIT article in annotated copy of article as per IQs Reading feature).


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The Time Doc IM-Home bog posts re: brain-clock based Interactive Metronome

Most of my readers are aware of my interest in brain-clock based neurotechnologies, particularly as they relate to improving cognitive functioning. All posts related to this area of interest, as well as posts linking readers to other neuroscience developments, can be found here at the Brain Clock blog.

A few years back I made a number of guest blog posts at the Interactive Metronome-HOME (IM-HOME) blog.  I find frequently find myself directing people to some of those posts.  Thus, I am now provided access to all of those posts via a single link (click here).  I drill down deeper into Interactive Metronome as a guest blogger at the IM-Home blog. Now all my IM-related posts can be viewed via one URL. I hope readers check out these posts and become more aware of the exciting neurotechnologies that are emerging based on the concept of temporal processing and the human brain clock.

Dr. Kevin McGrew (aka, The Time Doc; IQ McGrew) on Voice of America this Friday--don't touch that dial

Little ole' me (Kevin McGrew; aka "IQ McGrew" and "The Time Doc") will be talking on Voice of America radio (Focus Point Review) this Friday re: my interests and research-based explanations of brain-clock based brain fitness technologies (Interactive Metronome in particular). Please tune in.

After the shows are completed they are available for later listening as MP3 files or free Podcasts from iTunes. I will share this off-line URL information later.


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Don't think...your performance may stink: Choking under pressure --"be the ball"

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Very interesting article (Gray, 2011; Links Between Attention, Performance Pressure, and Movement in Skilled Motor Action) that explains why some individuals motor or athletic performance may suffer when under pressure. The classic "choking" problem. Bottom line is that if you have attained a solid level of proficiency on a task...when under pressure don't revert to focusing inward...focus outward and "quiet your busy mind'"

This study is very consistent with the Kahneman's highly acclaimed and recent book on the two systems of the brain - Thinking Fast and Slow.

It reminds me of Chevy Chase in Caddyshack where his advice to the young golfer was to "be the ball"

The article, as per IQ's Reading feature, can be found here.



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Interactive Metronome neurotechnology measurement system developmental validity evidence

I just guest posted some material at the IM-HOME blog re: developmental validity evidence for the timing measurement system that is at the core of the Interactive Metronome neurotechnology. There is clear validity evidence that the IM technology is measuring a valid construct of human cognitive abilities, which I have hypothesized to be in the domain of executive functions (esp. controlled attention and working memory). Interested readers should click here.





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Research bytes: ADHD diagnosis--gender and adolescence

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Quieting the unquiet wandering mind

My recent post regarding large scale brain networks and how neurotechnology and mediation may facilitate the silencing of the default brain network, to allow better on-demand controlled focus, has been reposted at the IM-HOME blog.

The brain beat matters: Neural mechanisms of beat perception.

A very interesting video from the Science Network of the Neural Mechanisms of Beat Perception.  The video is self-explanatory.  This research fits within the temporal processing or brain clock/neural timing framework that is the primary driving force of the Brain Clock blog.  Additional informaiton re: beat production is available here.  I resonate to the concept that temporal processing provides scaffolding for rhythm perception and, in turn, memory, attention, auditory imagery and processing, and rhythm-based rehabilitation of various brain disorders.  Finally, I have been blogging about a specific rhythm-based neurotechnology at the IM-HOME blog that is relevant to this video.

The brain as a set of networks: Fine tunning your networks

Man has always known that the brain is the center of human behavior.  Early attempts at understanding which locations in the brain controlled different functions were non-scientific and included such practices as phrenology.  This pseudoscience believed that by feeling the bumps of a persons head it was possible to draw conclusions about specific brain functions and traits of the person.

(double click on any image to enlarge)

Eventually brain science revealed that different regions of the brain where specialized for different specific cognitive processes (but it was not related to the phrenological brain bump maps).  This has been called the modular or functional specialization view of the brain, which is grounded in the conclusion that different brain areas acted more-or-less as independent mechanisms for completing specific cognitive functions.

One of the most exciting developments in contemporary neuroscience is the recognition that the human brain processes information via different brain circuits or loops which at a higher level can be studied as large scale brain networks. Although the modular view still provides important brain insights, the accumulating evidence suggests that it has serious limitations and might in fact be misleading (Bresslor and Menon, 2010).  One of the best summaries of this cutting edge research is that by Bresslor and Menon.

Large scale brain network research suggests that congitive functioning is the result of interactions or communication between different brain systems distributed throughout the brain. That is, when performing a particular task, just one isolated brain area is not working alone.  Instead, different areas of the brain, often far apart from each other within the geogrpahic space of the brain, are communicating through a fast-paced sychronized set of brain signals.  These networks can be considered preferred pathways for sending signals back and forth to perform a specific set of cognitive or motor behaviors. 

To understand preferred neural pathways, think of walking on a college campus where there are paved sidewalks connecting different buildings that house specialized knowledge and activities.  If you have spent anytime on a college campus, one typically finds foot-worn short cuts in the grass that are the preferred (and more efficient) means by which most people move between building A and B.  The combined set of frequently used paved and unpaved pathways are the most efficient or preferred pathways for moving efficiently between buildings.  The human brain has developed preferred communication pathays that link together different brain circuits or loops in order to quickly and efficiently complete specific tasks. 

According to Bresslor and Menon (2010), “a large-scale functional network can therefore be defined as a collection of interconnected brain areas that interact to perform circumscribed functions.”  More importantly, component brain areas in these large-scale brain networks perform different roles.  Some act as controllers or task switchers that coordinate, direct and synchronize the involvement of other brain networks.  Other brain networks handle the flow of sensory or motor information and engage in concious manipulation of the information in the form of “thinking.” 

As illustrated in the figure above, neuroscientists have identified a number of core brain network nodes or circuits.  The important new insight is that these various nodes or circuits are integrated together into a grander set of higher-level core functional brain networks.  Three important core networks are receiving considerable attention in explaining human beavhior. 

Major functional brain networks

The default mode (DMN) or default brain network (shown in blue) is what your brain does when not engaged in specific tasks.  It is the busy or active part of your brain when you are mentally passive.  According to Bresslor and Brennon the “DMN is seen to collectively comprise an integrated system for autobiographical, self-monitoring and social cognitive functions.”  It has also been characterized as responsible for REST (rapid episodic spontaneous thinking).  In other words, this is the spontaneous mind wandering and internal self-talk and thinking we engage in when not working on a specific task or, when completing a task that is so automatized (e.g., driving a car) that our mind starts to wander and generate spontaneous thoughts.  As I have discussed previously (at IM-HOME blog), the default network is responsible for the unquiet or noisy mind.  And, it is likely that people differ in amount of spontaneous mind wandering (which can be both positive creative thinking or distracting thoughts), with some having a very unquiet mind that is hard to turn off, while others can turn off the inner thought generation and self-talk and display tremendous self-focus or controlled attention to perform a cognitively or motorically demanding task.  A very interesting discussion of the serendipitous discovery and explanation of the default brain network is in the following soon to be published scientific article.

The salience network (shown in yellow) is a controllor or network switcher.  It monitors information from within (internal input) and from the external world arounding us, which is constantly bombarding us with information.  Think of the salience network as the air traffic controllor of the brain.  Its job is to scan all information bombarding us from the outside world and also that from within our own brains.  This controller decides which information is most urgent, task relevant, and which should receive priority in the que of sending brain signals to areas of the brain for processing.  This controlling network must suppress either the default or executive networks depending on the task at hand.  It must supress one, and activiate the other.  Needless to say, this decision making and distribution of information must require exquisite and efficienct neural timing as regulated by the brain clock(s).

Finally, the central-executive network (CEN; shown in red) “is engaged in higher-order cognitive and attentional control.”  In other words, when you must engage your concious brain to work on a problem, place information in your working memory as you think, focus your attention on a task or problem, etc., you are  “thinking” and must focus your controlled attention.  As I understand this research, the salience or controller network is a multi-switching mechanism that is constantly initiating dynamic switching between the REST (sponatenous and often creative unquie mind wandering) and thinking networks to best match the current demands you are facing.

According to Bresslor and Melon, not only is this large scale brain network helping us better understand normal cognitive and motor behavior, it is providing insights into clinical disorders of the brain.  Poor synchronization between the three major brain networks has been implicated in Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, autism, the manic phase of biploar and Parkinson’s (Bresslor and Melon, 2010), disorders that have all been linked to a brain or neural timing (i.e, the brain clock or clocks).  I also believe that ADHD would be implicated.  If the synchronized milli-second based communicaiton between and within these large networks is compromised, and if the network traffic controller (the salience network) is disrupted in particular, efficient and normal cognition or motor behavior can be compromised.

I find this emerging research fascinating.  I believe it provides a viable working hypothesis to explain why different brain fitness or training neurotechnologies have shown promise in improving cognitive function in working memory, ADHD, and other clinical disorders.  It is my current hypothesis that various brain training technologies may focus on different psychological constructs (e.g., working memory; planning; focus or controlled attention), but their effectiveness may all be directly or indirectly facilitating the sychronization between the major brain networks.  More specifically, by strengthing the ability to invoke the salience or controller network, a person can learn to supress, inhibit or silence the REST-producing default brain network more efficiently, long enough to exert more controlled attention or focus when invoking the thinking central executive network.  Collectively these brain fitness techonologies may all improving the use of those abilities called executive function, or what I have called the personal brain manager.  Those technologies that focus on rhythm or brain timing are those I find most fascinating.  For example, the recent example of the use of melodic intonation therapy with Congresswoman Gabby Giffords (she suffered serious brain trauma due to a gun shot) demonstrates how rhythm-based brain timing therapies may help repair destroyed preferred and efficient neural pathways or, develop new pathways, much like the development of a new foot worn pathway in the grass on a college campus if a preferred pathway is disrupted by a new building, temporary work or rennovation, or some other destruction of a preferred and efficient network of movement path.

To understand the beauty of the synchronized brain, it is best to see the patterns of brain network connections in action.  Below is a video called the “Meditating Mind.”  I urge you to view the video for a number of reasons.  

A number of observations should be clear.  First, during the first part of the video the brain is seen as active even during a resting state.  This is visual evidence of the silent private dialouge (REST) of the default mode or network of the brain.  Next, the video mentions the rhythm of increased and decreased neural activation as the brain responds to no visual information or presentation of a video.  The changes in color and sound demonstrate the rich rhthymic sychronization of large and different parts of the brain, depending on whether the brain is engaged in a passive or active cognitive task.  The beauty of the rapidly changing and spreading communication should make it obvious that efficient rhythmic synchronization of timing of brain signals to and from different networks or ciruits is critical to efficient brain functioning.

Finally, the contrast between the same brain under normal conditions and when engaged in a form of meditation is striking.  Clearly when this person’s brain is mediating, the brain is responding with a change in rates and frequency of brain network activation and synchrony.  As I described in my personal IM-HOME based experience post, mastering Interactive Metronome (IM) therapy requires “becoming one with the tone”…which sounds similar to the language of those who engage in various forms of meditation.  Could it be that the rhythmic demans of IM, which require an individual to “lock on” to the auditory tone and stay in that synchronized, rhythmic and repetitive state for as long as possible, might be similar to the underlying mechanics of some forms of meditation, which also seek to suppress irrelevant and distracting thoughts and eventually “let the mind go"---posibbly to follow a specific train of thought with complete and distraction free focus. 

Yes…this is speculation.  I am trying to connect research-based and personal experience dots.  It is exciting.  My IM-HOME based induce personal focus experience  makes sense from the perspective of the function and interaction between the three major large scale brain networks.

Silencing the unquiet mind: Interactive Metronome and controlled attention

See my task analysis (based on pesonal experience) of the brain clock based Interactive Metronome neurotechology at the following link. Using focus or controlled attention to silence the default brain network that produces REST (rapid episodic spontaneous thinking)

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Miyake and Shah's (1999) book on models of working memory

The complete PDF copy of this chapter is available at Dr. Miyake's web page (link below).

http://psych-www.colorado.edu/~miyake/MWM%20Chapter%201.pdf

Info regarding the book is available at the followowing link.

http://www.amazon.com/Models-Working-Memory-Mechanisms-Maintenance/dp/0521587212









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Can musical experience make you attend better? Can you hear me know?

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Book nook: Klingberg's Overflowing Brain

If I were to recommend one book written for the lay person re: the critical importance of attention/focus and working memory to everyday cognition, and the promise of neurotech products to stretch these capacities, I would recommend Klingberg's The Overflowing Brain, SharpBrians 2008 book of the year.

Reviews of the book have generally positive, but there have been some criticisms in some journal reviews (click here for more info at IQs Corner)

The brain clock (mental timing) and clinical disorders

The human brain clock is intimately involved in wide array of human cognitive and motor behaviors.  At this blog a number of clincal disorders have been associated with some degree of disturbance or damage to brain mechanisms related to mental timing.  This informaiton is scattered across a variety of posts.  I decided to pull it all together (as of today's date) in this post.

Mental timing (brain clock) has been implicated via research reported at this blog in:

ADHD and attention

Autismhttp://www.brainclock.net/search/label/autism

Various speech and language disorders

• Aphasia
• Apraxia
• Speech and language

Tourette's syndrome

Cerbral palsy

Central auditory processing disorders (CAPD)

Reading disabilities/dyslexia (click here, here and here)

Various dopaminegeric-based disorders

• Huntington's 
• Schizophrenia
• Parkinson's

Gate disorders

Stroke related dysfunction

A more detailed reference list of timing-related dysfunctions/disorder (e.g., aging related disorders--Alzheimer's, dementia; ADHD, motor coordination/timing disorders--gait, stroke,swallowing;  speech and language disorders--aphasia/stroke/apraxia/speech; TBI) can be found in special white paper regarding the efficacy of various rhythm-based interventions.