Practice or retest effects in measures of working memory capacity (Gwm): A meta-analysis

Retest effects in working memory capacity tests: A meta-analysis
Jana Scharfen, Katrin Jansen, Heinz Holling. Article link

© Psychonomic Society, Inc. 2018

Abstract

The repeated administration of working memory capacity tests is common in clinical and research settings. For cognitive ability tests and different neuropsychological tests, meta-analyses have shown that they are prone to retest effects, which have to be accounted for when interpreting retest scores. Using a multilevel approach, this meta-analysis aims at showing the reproducibility of retest effects in working memory capacity tests for up to seven test administrations, and examines the impact of the length of the test-retest interval, test modality, equivalence of test forms and participant age on the size of retest effects. Furthermore, it is assessed whether the size of retest effects depends on the test paradigm. An extensive literature search revealed 234 effect sizes from 95 samples and 68 studies, in which healthy participants between 12 and 70 years repeatedly performed a working memory capacity test. Results yield a weighted average of g = 0.28 for retest effects from the first to the second test administration, and a significant increase in effect sizes was observed up to the fourth test administration. The length of the test-retest interval and publication year were found to moderate the size of retest effects. Retest effects differed between the paradigms of working memory capacity tests. These findings call for the development and use of appropriate experimental or statistical methods to address retest effects in working memory capacity tests.

Keywords Meta-analysis · Retest effect · Practice effect · Working memory



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Research byte: The influence of working memory and cognitive load on police shooting decisions, interrogation, and jury decisions

Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition

Available online 22 July 2016

In Press, Corrected Proof — Note to users

Working Memory and Cognitive Load in the Legal System: Influences on Police Shooting Decisions, Interrogation and Jury Decisions ^☆

• Heather M. Kleider-Offutt,
• Amanda M. Clevinger,
• Alesha D. Bond

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doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2016.04.008

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The ability of police and jurors to make informed, unbiased decisions is paramount to the integrity of the legal system. Police and jurors as decision-makers follow procedures ensuring that individuals receive a fair trial from the time of arrest to sentencing. However this process has come under public scrutiny with recent negative media attention focused on police shootings, aggressive handling or interrogation of suspects, and jurors’ seemingly biased treatment of minority group members. Most researchers studying factors that motivate police and juror behavior focus on the external influences of decision-making, such as the climate of violence in a neighborhood, or culturally-entrenched criminal stereotypes. Fewer have focused on the cognitive factors that impact the internal decision-making processes. In this review we compile the research on individual differences in cognitive ability (e.g., working memory capacity) and event circumstances (e.g., high emotion, attention load), that influence police and jury decision-making. The majority of studies in this area are laboratory-based which may attenuate the transfer of findings to real-world settings, but cognitive mechanisms engaged in the field are likely similar. Overall, this review suggests that overload of cognitive capacity reduces controlled processing ability, which may work to undermine the reliability of decision-making at all phases of the legal process. Field studies are needed to better understand when decision-makers may be overburdened, and what interventions are most appropriate.

Research Byte: The relations between CHC cognitive abilities and aspects of social support

Which aspects of social support are associated with which cognitive abilities for which people?

Article in The Journals of Gerontology Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences · January 2016 with 12 Reads

Impact Factor: 3.21 · DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbv119

Abstract

Objectives.
To assess the relations between 11 aspects of social support and five cognitive abilities (vocabulary, reasoning, spatial visualization, memory, and speed of processing) and to determine whether these relations between social support and cognition are moderated by age or sex.

Method.
A sample of 2,613 individuals between the ages of 18 and 99 years completed a battery of cognitive tests and a questionnaire assessing aspects of social support. A measure of general intelligence was computed using principal components analysis. Multiple regressions were used to evaluate whether each aspect of support and/or its interactions with age or sex predicted each cognitive ability and g.

Results.
Several aspects of social support were significantly related to all five cognitive abilities and to g. When g was included as a predictor, there were few relations with specific cognitive abilities. Age and sex did not moderate any of the relations.

Discussion.
These results suggest that contact with family and friends, emotional and informational support, anticipated support, and negative interactions are related to cognition, whereas satisfaction with and tangible support were not. In addition, these aspects of support were primarily related to g, with the exception of family contact. Social support– cognition relations are comparable across the life span and the sexes.

Dissertation Dish: Cognitive efficiency (Gsm+Gs) trait stability across time: Scores can and will change

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Differential Ability Scales (DAS-II): General factor loadings and specificity - article "in press"

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intelligence IQ tests IQ testing IQ scores CHC intelligence theory CHC theory Cattell-Horn-Carroll human cognitive abilities psychology school psychology individual differences cognitive psychology neuropsychology psychology special education educational psychology psychometrics psychological assessment psychological measurement IQs Corner general intelligence working memory DAS-II Differential Abilities Scales

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