Past research often found that older adults searched less in terms of browsing and generating keywords; few studies examined the processes and underlying mechanism that caused the age-related reduction on search. In the current study, about 20 younger and 20 older adults performed ill-defined search tasks with a search box we implemented. In addition to the age differences in the quantities of search, results showed that there were qualitative age differences in allocating resources to exploration and exploitation across tasks varying in the accessibility of target information. Older adults were found to do more exploitation in terms of spending longer time and viewing more information before initiating a new search. However, older adults were adaptive to task environments in terms of reducing the number of websites viewed before revising a keyword and increasing the time spent on initiating a new search in the low accessible task, in which more exploration was preferred. The links between difference in search process and the age differences in cognitive abilities were also discussed. INTRODUCTIONWith the rise of information technology, people can be faced with an overwhelming amount of information. As a consequence, search has become an important cognitive process to study for understanding how humans regulate their efforts across different resources to achieve their goals. We can think of search as entailing two phases, exploration and exploitation. Exploitation involves uptake and engagement of current information, and exploration involves navigation through the environment to locate resources. During search, people make decisions about when to stop exploiting the current resource and to explore for other resources. For example, in web search, users may use search engines to learn a new topic. After obtaining the search results from the search engines, users may follow the suggested search results and browse the information on the website, or refine the keywords to obtain different information. While viewing a website, users also face the decision to continue reading the information on the current website, browse other webpages following the links on the current website, or even go back to the search engines to refine their search. Thus, users need to decide when to switch from exploitation to exploration to take the best advantage of the information resource under the constraints of time and efforts. Information ForagingThe tradeoff between exploration and exploitation has been studied in many areas of research, such as decision making and web information search. Pirolli and Card (1999) proposed the information foraging theory using the analogue of how animals forage for food among patches in the wild to explain how people find information among multiple information resources, such as the WWW. There are some similarities between food foraging and web information search. First, information is distributed in clusters, such as websites, like patches in the wild. Unlike food, information cannot be depleted. Howev...
Achieving military mission objectives requires high levels of performance from Airmen who operate under extreme physical and cognitive demands. Thus, there is a critical need to establish scientific interventions to enhance physical fitness and cognitive performance—promoting the resilience of Airmen and aiding in mission success. We therefore conducted a comprehensive, 12-week randomized controlled trial in active-duty Air Force Airmen (n = 148) to compare the efficacy of a multimodal intervention comprised of high-intensity interval aerobic fitness and strength training paired with a novel nutritional supplement [comprised of β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate (HMB), lutein, phospholipids, DHA and selected micronutrients including B12 and folic acid] to high-intensity interval aerobic fitness and strength training paired with a standard of care placebo beverage. The exercise intervention alone improved several dimensions of physical fitness [strength and endurance (+ 8.3%), power (+ 0.85%), mobility and stability (+ 22%), heart rate (− 1.1%) and lean muscle mass (+ 1.4%)] and cognitive function [(episodic memory (+ 9.5%), processing efficiency (+ 7.5%), executive function reaction time (− 4.8%) and fluid intelligence accuracy (+ 19.5%)]. Relative to exercise training alone, the multimodal fitness and nutritional intervention further improved working memory (+ 9.0%), fluid intelligence reaction time (− 7.7%), processing efficiency (+ 1.8%), heart rate (− 2.4%) and lean muscle mass (+ 1.5%). These findings establish the efficacy of a multimodal intervention that incorporates aerobic fitness and strength training with a novel nutritional supplement to enhance military performance objectives and to provide optimal exercise training and nutritional support for the modern warfighter.
This paper summarizes the findings of several case studies on the long-term performance of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP). The goal of these studies was to provide the paving community with documentation on the long-term performance of roadway sections with a high amount of RAP compared with virgin sections on the basis of available information. Roadway sections that contained more than 20% RAP and that had been in place for at least 10 years were identified across the United States with the help of local agencies. The long-term performances of these various recycled sections were compared directly with mixtures made with similar virgin materials via measurements of distress criteria. These distress criteria included rutting, cracking, ride quality, and any overall performance rating that the local agencies used to evaluate their pavement sections. The virgin sections were placed in the same general location and time frame as the recycled sections. The sections with high RAP content, on average, tended to exhibit a lower ride quality, more cracking, and better rutting resistance than the virgin sections, but the differences were not always statistically significant. The differences between the performance ratings for RAP and virgin pavements were within 5% to 10%. Overall, pavement sections with a high RAP content performed at a level comparable to that of virgin sections in these case studies.
Central to modern neuroscientific theories of human intelligence is the notion that general intelligence depends on a primary brain region or network, engaging spatially localized (rather than global) neural representations. Recent findings in network neuroscience, however, challenge this assumption, providing evidence that general intelligence may depend on system‐wide network mechanisms, suggesting that local representations are necessary but not sufficient to account for the neural architecture of human intelligence. Despite the importance of this key theoretical distinction, prior research has not systematically investigated the role of local versus global neural representations in predicting general intelligence. We conducted a large‐scale connectome‐based predictive modeling study ( N = 297), administering resting‐state fMRI and a comprehensive cognitive battery to evaluate the efficacy of modern neuroscientific theories of human intelligence, including spatially localized theories (Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Theory, Parieto‐Frontal Integration Theory, and Multiple Demand Theory) and recent global accounts (Process Overlap Theory and Network Neuroscience Theory). The results of our study demonstrate that general intelligence can be predicted by local functional connectivity profiles but is most robustly explained by global profiles of whole‐brain connectivity. Our findings further suggest that the improved efficacy of global theories is not reducible to a greater strength or number of connections, but instead results from considering both strong and weak connections that provide the basis for intelligence (as predicted by the Network Neuroscience Theory). Our results highlight the importance of considering local neural representations in the context of a global information‐processing architecture, suggesting future directions for theory‐driven research on system‐wide network mechanisms underlying general intelligence.
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