Distraction during relational reasoning: The role of prefrontal cortex in interference control

Krawczyk, Daniél C.; Morrison, Robert; Viskontas, Indre V.; Holyoak, Keith J.; Chow, Tiffany W.; Mendez, Mario F.; Miller, Bruce L.; Knowlton, Barbara J.

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.02.001

Cited by 103 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 52 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The current findings indicate that the odors were not integrated into a relational network that enabled the flexible memory expression in the form of transitive inference. Damage to the prefrontal cortex may result in a greater susceptibility to interference, which might lead to impairment in the networking process, as suggested by previous studies that have reported that the degree of impairment in relational reasoning is dependent on increasing memory load or number of distracters (Feredoes et al 2006;Krawczyk et al 2008). This would suggest that the prefrontal cortex supports the establishment of a highly integrated network of related information.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Prefrontal cortex: Role in acquisition of overlapping associations and transitive inference

DeVito¹,

Lykken²,

Kanter³

et al. 2010

Learn. Mem.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“Transitive inference” refers to the ability to judge from memory the relationships between indirectly related items that compose a hierarchically organized series, and this capacity is considered a fundamental feature of relational memory. Here we explored the role of the prefrontal cortex in transitive inference by examining the performance of mice with selective damage to the medial prefrontal cortex. Damage to the infralimbic and prelimbic regions resulted in significant impairment in the acquisition of a series of overlapping odor discrimination problems, such that animals with prefrontal lesions required twice as many trials to learn compared to sham-operated controls. Following eventually successful acquisition, animals with medial prefrontal lesions were severely impaired on a transitive inference probe test, whereas they performed as well as controls on a test that involved a nontransitive judgment from a novel odor pairing. These results suggest that the prefrontal cortex is part of an integral hippocampal–cortical network essential for relational memory organization.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Prefrontal cortex: Role in acquisition of overlapping associations and transitive inference

DeVito¹,

Lykken²,

Kanter³

et al. 2010

Learn. Mem.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The first two pedagogical strategies reduce processing demands on learners. Dual task and cognitive neuropsychological methodologies have produced evidence that analogical reasoning imposes high processing demands on the working memory and central executive systems for two aspects of analogical reasoning: representing and integrating relevant relations, and controlling attention to competitive, irrelevant information (e.g., Cho, Holyoak & Cannon, 2007;Halford, 1993;Halford, Wilson & Phillips, 1998;Krawczyk, Morrison et al, 2008;Richland, Morrison & Holyoak, 2006). In mathematics education, therefore, the instructor must be cognizant of children's developing working memory capacity that limits their ability to hold and manipulate complex representations in mind (English & Halford, 1995).…”

Section: Strategies For Supporting Mathematical Instructional Analogiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing Cognitive Load in Learning by Analogy

Richland

Hansen²

2013

IJPS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The ability to draw connections between concepts, problems, or representations is crucial to mathematical proficiency, though teachers face challenges in capitalizing on classroom opportunities to develop such connected thinking. An experiment with fifth-grade students tests theoretically grounded cuing strategies for supporting learning from instructional analogies. Posttest results indicate that an analogy between division of natural numbers and rational numbers improved students' proficiency in dividing fractions regardless of the addition of analogical cuing strategies, but that the additional cuing led to more conceptual, flexible problem solving. These cuing strategies may be effective ways to enhance students' ability to draw connections across mathematics and capitalize on classroom learning opportunities.

show abstract

“…Inhibition-related functions are known to play an important role in the development of cognitive abilities such as fluid intelligence (Burgess and Braver, 2010), reasoning (Krawczyk et al, 2008), and problem solving (Passolunghi et al, 1999). One type of inhibition, interference control, is the ability to select task-relevant information while simultaneously suppressing the influence of distracting information that conflicts with task demands, such as for example in Stroop tasks (Stroop, 1935).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrophysiological evidence for different effects of working memory load on interference control in adolescents than adults

Spronk¹,

Jonkman²

2012

International Journal of Psychophysiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present study investigated how the development of interference control is influenced by the development of working memory (WM) capacity during adolescence. In a dual-task, 17 adolescents (12-16 years) and 19 adults (18-48 years) performed a gender word-face Stroop task, while WM-capacity was manipulated by a concurrently performed N-back task. Behavior (reaction times, % errors and % misses) and event-related potentials associated with the detection (N450) of the Stroop conflict and response selection (sustained positivity; SP) were measured without or with a concurrent WM load. Adolescents had lower accuracy on N-back and Stroop trials than adults. N450 results showed Stroop conflict above temporal-occipital cortex which was suggested to be caused by processing of distracter faces. This N450 conflict response was smaller in adults and only present when holding a simultaneous WM-load, whereas adolescents' N450 conflict responses were already present without a concurrent WM-load and did not further increase with load. These N450 results indicate poorer distracter suppression in adolescence which is suggested to be due to insufficient attentional resources for top-down control. Irrespective of WM-load, adolescents also had larger parietal SP conflict responses than adults, suggesting inefficient response selection in case of activation of two conflicting responses. The main conclusion is that adolescents have worse distracter suppression than adults, caused by lower availability of resources for top-down control.

show abstract

Distraction during relational reasoning: The role of prefrontal cortex in interference control

Cited by 103 publications

References 52 publications

Prefrontal cortex: Role in acquisition of overlapping associations and transitive inference

Prefrontal cortex: Role in acquisition of overlapping associations and transitive inference

Reducing Cognitive Load in Learning by Analogy

Electrophysiological evidence for different effects of working memory load on interference control in adolescents than adults

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About