Goal neglect and Spearman's g: Competing parts of a complex task.

Abstract

In goal neglect, a person ignores some task requirement though being able to describe it. Goal neglect is closely related to general intelligence or C. Spearman's (1904) g (J. Duncan, H. Emslie, P. Williams, R. Johnson, & C. Freer, 1996). The authors tested the role of task complexity in neglect and the hypothesis that different task components in some sense compete for attention. In contrast to many kinds of attentional limits, increasing the real-time demands of one task component does not promote neglect of another. Neither does neglect depend on preparation for different possible events in a block of trials. Instead, the key factor is complexity in the whole body of knowledge specified in task instructions. The authors suggest that as novel activity is constructed, relevant facts, rules, and requirements must be organized into a "task model." As this model increases in complexity, different task components compete for representation, and vulnerable components may be lost. Construction of effective task models is closely linked to g.

Fluid intelligence loss linked to restricted regions of damage within frontal and parietal cortex

“…In putative monkey homologs of MD regions, including posterolateral prefrontal cortex, neural activity is shaped strongly by cognitive context, adapting to code many different kinds of task-relevant information. Broad activity in many different kinds of behavior is a requirement for neural systems linked to g (13,14), and, indeed, functional imaging studies show strong MD activity during fluid intelligence tests (14,15).…”

La représentation du but dans le contrôle exécutif chez l’enfant

“…Ce phénomène correspond à la non prise en compte des consignes de la tâche à réaliser malgré une bonne connaissance et la compréhension de celles-ci (Duncan et al, 2008). On observe ce phénomène notamment dans les épreuves de contrôle exécutif telles que la tâche de Stroop dans laquelle les participants doivent dénommer la couleur de l'encre de noms de couleur présentés visuellement (par exemple, le mot « VERT » écrit en rouge).…”

Task structure complexity and goal neglect in typically developing children

“…Behavior will often manifest as disorganized and fragmentary, with sequences of action left incomplete and purposeless actions introduced (Duncan, 1986). Intriguingly the same chaotic behavior can be seen in people with intact frontal functioning when they are faced with novel tasks of high complexity (Duncan et al, 2008). The best predictors of this type of behavior are tests of fluid intelligence, such as Raven's Matrices or the Cattell Culture Fair test of g. These tests provide an excellent measure of Spearman's g, or general intelligence (Carroll, 1993).…”

“…There is evidence from adult samples to suggest that the initial planning for future action from the task instructions imposes constraints on future successful performance in the task (Cohen-Kdoshay & Meiran, 2009;Duncan et al, 2008). For example, using a Feature Matching task, Duncan et al (2008) presented half the participants with the standard rules to complete the task and the other participants with the standard rules plus an extra rule that related to a central stimulus feature that appeared on each individual trial. Even though participants were given practice with this task rule, they were not presented with any trials in the experimental sequence where it would actually apply.…”

“…Adult research regarding goal neglect has typically been conducted using two main experimental paradigms: the Letter Monitoring Task (Duncan et al, 1996) and the Feature Match Task (Duncan et al, 2008). These two experimental paradigms share several important characteristics that make them ideal for eliciting and measuring goal neglect.…”