Synopses & Reviews
Exceptionality in cognition has typically been understood in terms of general intelligence, as an over-arching factor of cognitive aptitude. However, information-processing analyses of human performance suggest a more differentiated view of individual variation in cognitive aptitude and competencies. The proposed book aims to explore exceptionality in two key cognitive functions: attention and working memory. There are pronounced individual differences in attentional selectivity, dual task performance, endurance, and other aspects of attention as well as in memory span, search strategies, and other aspects of working memory. At least in part, differences between people in these facets of attention and memory may relate to cognitive control. Evidence from experimental and neuroscience studies increasingly suggests that an executive control system or systems localized in the frontal lobes is critical for effortful processing in both task domains.
Individual differences in attention, working memory and control may be important in accounting for human performance in a variety of cognitive tasks. Also, one can ask whether or not people a who are characterized by different levels of intelligence, cognitive styles, extraversion, neuroticism, and other dimensions of individual differences a differ in the specificity of functioning of their attentional and memory mechanisms. Knowledge of such relationships should increase our understanding of the cognitive mechanisms of human intelligence and personality. It should also be helpful in creating integrated models of performance, which take into account both general principles of cognition and their inter-individual variability.
A review of research in this area is timely for the following reasons:
- Cognitive models of individual differences in complex behavior are becoming more sophisticated, because of the progressive refinement of existing models as well as the influx of ideas and data from neurological studies.
- For a long time, psychobiological theories of personality and intellectual traits have aimed to address specific biological mechanisms for individual differences in performance. Only recently, though, has such theory engaged with cognitive neuroscience, and a synthesis of approaches is urgently needed.
- Recent work on mechanisms for executive control may provide an important unifying principle for interrelating the often rather fragmented and disconnected data from studies of personality and diverse information-processing tasks.
The proposed book aims to review recent research on individual differences in attention and memory and to assess the prospects for an integrated theory of individual differences in this field. To do so, the book will integrate contributions from cognitive psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists and personality and intelligence researchers. Research on temperament provides a developmental perspective. To date, reviews in this area have focused on the attentional, working memory, and other information processing correlates of single individual differences factors such as general intelligence and anxiety. What is lacking from the research literature is a more comprehensive survey that would relate multiple individual difference factors to a well-defined set of information-processing mechanisms (i.e., executive control). Furthermore, such a survey needs to interrelate cognitive mechanisms with existing knowledge of the biological bases for intelligence and personality traits.
This project is unique in that it aims to publish in the same volume chapters on recent achievements of North American and European research teams fostering innovative experimental investigations, at the frontier of two scientific paradigms: cognition and individual differences. The idea of publishing this volume was inspired by the recent small group conference in KrakA3w (Poland, September 15-17, 2006) entitled Individual Differences in Cognition that brought together most authors of the planned volume.
Several advantages of the presented project that should help to establish its high potential include: (1) mutual insights from comparing recent research findings from the different domains of cognitive and personality psychology; (2) a review of modern and innovative research methods; (3) an emerging agenda for future research projects and attempts at theoretical integration. It is emphasized that the proposed book is not a conference proceedings volume. Prospective authors are chosen on the basis of the relevance of their research to the themes of the book, and the authorship contains both additions and omissions in relation to the presenters at the conference. However, most of the keynote presenters at the conference are willing to supply a chapter, and we aim to include contributions from the United States and Western and Eastern Europe.
Review
From the reviews: "This handbook, part of the Springer Series on Human Exceptionality, looks at exceptionality in terms of cognition, specifically attention and working memory. ... The target audience includes 'researchers, clinicians, and graduate students in psychology and cognitive sciences, including clinical psychology and neuropsychology, personality and social psychology, neuroscience, and education.' ... It is fairly comprehensive and contains hundreds of references so readers can follow up on topics of interest. ... If you love cognitive science and neuroscience ... this is the book for you." (Gary B. Kaniuk, Doody's Review Service, January, 2011)
Synopsis
General Models of Individual Differences in Cognition.- Individual Differences in Cognition: in Search of a General Model of Behaviour Control.- Individual Differences in Cognition: New Methods for Examining the Personality-Cognition Link.- The Relationship Between Intelligence and Pavlovian Temperament Traits: The Role of Gender and Level of Intelligence.- General Models of Individual Differences in Cognition: The Commentaries.- Individual Differences in Cognition from a Neurophysiological Perspective.- Neuroscientific Approaches to the Study of Individual Differences in Cognition and Personality.- Cognitive Neuroscience Approaches to Individual Differences in Working Memory and Executive Control: Conceptual and Methodological Issues.- Emotional Intelligence and Gender: A Neurophysiological Perspective.- Learned Irrelevance Revisited: Pathology-Based Individual Differences, Normal Variation and Neural Correlates.- Post-Soviet Psychology and Individual Differences in Cognition: A Psychophysiological Perspective.- Individual Differences in Cognition from a Neurophysiological Perspective: The Commentaries.- Individual Differences in Attentional Mechanisms.- Psychopathology and Individual Differences in Latent Inhibition: Schizophrenia and Schizotypality.- Attentional Control Theory of Anxiety: Recent Developments.- Task Engagement, Attention, and Executive Control.- Individual Differences in Resource Allocation Policy.- The Relationship of Attention and Intelligence.- Intelligence and Cognitive Control.- Individual Differences in Attention: The Commentaries.- Individual Differences in Working Memory Functioning and Higher-Order Processing.- Trait and State Differences in Working Memory Capacity.- Adrift in the Stream of Thought: The Effects of Mind Wandering on Executive Control and Working Memory Capacity.- The Unique Cognitive Limitation in Subclinical Depression: The Impairment of Mental Model Construction.- Working Memory Capacity and Individual Differences in Higher-Level Cognition.- Motivation Towards Closure and Cognitive Resources: An Individual Differences Approach.- Mood as Information: The Regulatory Role of Personality.- Autobiographical Memory: Individual Differences and Developmental Course.- Individual Differences in Working Memory and Higher-Ordered Processing: The Commentaries.- Conclusion: The State of the Art in Research on Individual Differences in Executive Control and Cognition.
Synopsis
As cognitive models of behavior continue to evolve, the mechanics of cognitive exceptionality, with its range of individual variations in abilities and performance, remains a challenge to psychology. Reaching beyond the standard view of exceptional cognition equaling superior intelligence, the Handbook of Individual Differences in Cognition examines the latest findings from psychobiology, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience, for a comprehensive state-of-the-art volume. Breaking down cognition in terms of attentional mechanisms, working memory, and higher-order processing, contributors discuss general models of cognition and personality. Chapter authors build on this foundation as they revisit current theory in such areas as processing effort and general arousal and examine emerging methods in individual differences research, including new data on the role of brain plasticity in cognitive function. The possibility of a unified theory of individual differences in cognitive ability and the extent to which these variables may account for real-world competencies are emphasized, and commentary chapters offer suggestions for further research priorities. Researchers, clinicians, and graduate students in psychology and cognitive sciences, including clinical psychology and neuropsychology, personality and social psychology, neuroscience, and education, will find the Handbook of Individual Differences in Cognition an expert guide to the field as it currently stands and to its agenda for the future.
Synopsis
Presenting a unique approach to the subject of cognition, this volume reaches beyond the standard view of exceptional cognition equaling superior intelligence. It examines the latest findings from psychobiology, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience.
About the Author
Aleksandra Gruszka, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, and a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, United Kingdom. She has a particular interest in psychology of creativity and neuropsychology of Parkinson's disease. In 2004, Dr Aleksandra Gruszka was awarded a Wellcome Travelling Fellowship by the Wellcome Trust, which enabled her to spend two years at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom. As a result, a number of collaborative projects with Dr. Adrian Owen were undertaken, including behavioral testing of novel psychological paradigms, functional neuroimaging studies of attentional mechanisms and clinical investigations in Parkinson's disease using both techniques. She has published in the field of individual differences in cognition (Creativity Research Journal), and she has co-authored several books and chapters on creativity (Creativity Training, International Handbook of Creativity, Creativity's Global Correspondents, 2002) and neuropsychology (Neuropsychology, Neuropsychologia). Gerald Matthews, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology at the University of Cincinnati. His research focuses on human performance, cognitive models of personality, the assessment of acute states of stress and emotion, and emotional intelligence. He has published more than 200 journal articles and book chapters on these topics. He has co-authored books on Attention and Emotion: A Clinical Perspective, Personality Traits, Human Performance: Cognition, Stress and Individual Differences and Emotional Intelligence: Science and Myth. His book on Attention and Emotion won the 1998 British Psychological Society Book Award, and the book on Emotional Intelligence was commended by the Association of American Publishers in their 2002 awards. He is also editor of Cognitive Science Perspectives on Personality and Emotion. He is the elected Secretary-Treasurer of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences. He has acted as a consultant for several organizations, including Procter and Gamble and the MIT Electronics Research Lab. He is also an associate editor for Personality and Individual Differences, and a consulting editor for Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. Blazej Szymura, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland and Warsaw School for Social Psychology, Poland. The main areas of his research interests are: preattentional and attentional mechanisms, unconscious information processing, cognitive correlates of temperamental and personality traits, creativity and innovation. He has co-authored books on Cognitive Psychology, Individual Differences Psychology, Creativity Training and published as first author or as co-author nearly 30 journal articles (Neuropsychology, Personality and Individual Differences, Polish Psychological Bulletin) as well as book chapters (Advances in Personality Studies). He was honored by Jagiellonian University (1999) and Warsaw University (2006) for the best publication of the year. He has acted as an associate editor for the special issue of Studia Psychologiczne on Aspects of Attention. He has also lead many creativity training and invention sessions for managers and employees of several major organizations (Leroy Merlin, Motorola and Masterfood).
Table of Contents
Introduction.- Individual Differences in Cognition: In Search of a General Theory of Behavioral Control.- Individual Differences in Cognition: The Personality-Cognition Link.- Is Intelligence Related to Configurations of Temperament Traits? A Developmental Approach.- Conducting the Train of Thought: Variation in Working Memory Capacity, Attention Control, and Mind Wandering.- The Cognitive and Neural Bases of Attentional Set-Shifting in Humans.- Post-Soviet Psychology and Individual Differences in Cognition: A Psychophysiological Perspective.- Processing Efficiency Theory and Beyond.- Individual Differences in Task Engagement and Attention.- Intelligence and Cognitive Control.- Individual Differences in the Dual Task Coordination.- The Specific Influence of Subclinical Depression on Attention, Working Memory, and Reasoning Processes.- Working Memory Capacity and individual Differences in Higher-Level Cognition.- Motivation Toward Closure and Cognitive processes: An Individual Differences Approach.- Mood as Information: The Regulatory Role of Personality .- Author Commentaries on. Summary.