Working memory and attention interactions with complexity and difficulty levels in task performance

MUSSO, M. F.; CASCALLAR, E. C.

Cape Town

Congreso; XXX International Congress of Psychology; 2012

International Union of Psychological Science

Basic cognitive processes such as executive attention (ExAtt) and working memory (WM) have been shown to be quite significant in the explanation of performance in various tasks.This study extends the analysis to determine the interaction of those individual cognitive processing characteristics with tasks of high and low levels of complexity and difficulty.>These effects were studied in a mathematics test administered upon entry to higher education. A total of 850 students participated in the study and they were divided into four cognitive groups corresponding to high and low levels of each cognitive resource, using results from two online instruments, the Attentional Networks Test, and the AOSPAN (an automated test measuring working memory capacity). Tasks were categorized in high and low for levels of complexity and difficulty, as determined by TIMSS descriptors, and difficulty obtained with an item-response theory analysis. Results comparing performance between the four cognitive ability groups with the four task characteristics groupings clearly show significant interactions of cognitive resources with the two task characteristics. They establish the independent effect of working memory and executive attention on complexity and difficulty, the two latter constructs also being differentially affected by the cognitive resources.While WM accounts for an overall stronger effect, high ExAtt levels increase the performance of low WM subjects for complex and difficult tasks, as well as for easy and simple ones. These and other results show a clear pattern of interactions with significant implications for cognitive theory as well as for the study of performance conditions.