Pupillary dilation to simple vs. complex tasks and its relationship to thought disturbance in schizophrenia patients

Minassian, Arpi; Granholm, Eric; Verney, Steven P.; Perry, William

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2003.12.008

Cited by 40 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In healthy participants, an increase in task complexity elicited more dilatation than a low cognitive load task did (Hyona, Tommola, & Alaja, 1995). Patients with schizophrenia showed larger pupil dilatation in the low-load condition but significantly reduced dilatation in the high processing load condition as compared to nonpatients (Granholm et al, 2000;Minassian, Granholm, Verney, & Perry, 2004). The authors concluded that attentional resources of patients with schizophrenia are reduced.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Attentional capture in schizophrenia and schizotypy: Effect of attentional load

Ducato

Thomas

Monestès

et al. 2008

Cognitive Neuropsychiatry

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Attentional capture in schizophrenia and schizotypy: Effect of attentional load

Ducato

Thomas

Monestès

et al. 2008

Cognitive Neuropsychiatry

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“…The use of pupillary dilation for cognitive load is based on the assumption that the diameter of the pupil increases with increasing load (Minassian et al 2004;Van Gerven et al 2004). The advantages and disadvantages of this method are similar to those of the GSR.…”

Section: Measuring Cognitive Loadmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Reconsideration of Cognitive Load Theory

2007

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Cognitive load theory has been very influential in educational psychology during the last decade in providing guidelines for instructional design. Whereas numerous empirical studies have used it as a theoretical framework, a closer analysis reveals some fundamental conceptual problems within the theory. Various generalizations of empirical findings become questionable because the theory allows different and contradicting possibilities to explain some empirical results. The article investigates these theoretical problems by analyzing the conceptual distinctions between different kinds of cognitive load. It emphasizes that reduction of cognitive load can sometimes impair learning rather than enhancing it. Cognitive load theory is reconsidered both from the perspective of Vygotski's concept of the zone of proximal development and from the perspective of research on implicit learning. Task performance and learning are considered as related, but nevertheless fundamentally different processes. Conclusions are drawn for the further development of the theory as well as for empirical research and instructional practice.Questions of central importance are: What goes on in the mind of the learner when spoken or written texts with or without static or animated pictures or graphs are presented to him or her? How can the displayed information be adapted to the limitations of the cognitive system?The necessity of adapting instruction to the constraints of the learner's cognitive system has been the main concern of cognitive load theory, which has been developed by John Sweller and his colleagues and which has become increasingly influential in instructional psychology (cf. Sweller et al. 1998). The fundamental claim of this theory is that without knowledge about the human cognitive architecture the effectiveness of instructional design is likely to be random. More specifically, cognitive load theory argues that many traditional instructional techniques do not adequately take into account the limitations of the human cognitive architecture, as they unnecessarily overload the learner's working memory, the central "bottleneck" of his/her cognitive system. Accordingly, cognitive load theory tries to integrate knowledge about the structure and functioning of the human cognitive system with principles of instructional design.Numerous empirical studies have demonstrated that traditional instruction can and should be re-designed according to principles of cognitive load theory, and that this re-design results in better learning. However, there are also numerous conceptual problems related to cognitive load theory, which sometimes make interpretation of empirical findings difficult. Although the concept of cognitive load has been frequently described in general terms and although definitions have been provided for different kinds of cognitive load, a closer look reveals that the exact nature of these different kinds of load is not sufficiently clear yet. Further clarification is needed regarding the relations between different kinds of ...

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“…For instance, pupillary dilations have been shown to be greater when performing a modified digit span task requiring participants to add 1 to each digit at recall than when detecting a single letter among other letters (Kahneman, Beatty, & Pollack, 1967), greater on phonemic than on semantic fluency tasks (Granholm, Chock, & Morris, 1998), and greater when processing chronologically ordered compared to reverse items (Nuthmann & van der Meer, 2005). Pupillary dilations have also been found to be greater to higher than to lower visual processing loads (Granholm, Morris, Asarnow, Chock, & Jeste, 2000), to incongruent than to congruent Stroop stimuli (Brown et al, 1999;Siegle, Steinhauer, & Thase, 2004), to musical pitches that are harder to label than to those that are easier to label (Schlemmer, Kulke, Kuchinke, & van der Meer, 2005), and to complex than to simple pictures matched on perceptual characteristics (Minassian, Granholm, Verney, & Perry, 2004). Pupillary dilations also show reliable increases with each increase in memory load on a task of verbal working memory (digit span), reaching a peak just before participants begin to report the digits and leveling off if the memory load exceeds participants' memory span (e.g., Granholm, Morris, Sarkin, Asarnow, & Jeste, 1997;Kahneman, Onuska, & Wolman, 1968;Karatekin, Couperus, & Marcus, 2004;Peavler, 1974).…”

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confidence: 97%

Regulation of cognitive resources during sustained attention and working memory in 10‐year‐olds and adults

2006

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We examined differences between 10-year-olds and young adults in resource recruitment and regulation during tasks of sustained attention and spatial working memory. We administered participants spatial 0- and 1-back tasks and used pupillary dilation as a measure of resource recruitment. Repeated administration of 0-back led to smaller pupillary dilations and greater response time (RT) variability, revealing a vigilance decrement. Effects of repeated administration of 0-back and differences between 0- and 1-back in d' and RTs were similar between ages. Results further suggested that the children may not have been as effective as adults in extracting frequency information. Thus, on simple tasks of sustained attention and working memory, children recruit resources in a manner similar to adults. Finally, d' was correlated with RT variability on both tasks at both ages, highlighting the role of attentional fluctuations on both tasks.

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Pupillary dilation to simple vs. complex tasks and its relationship to thought disturbance in schizophrenia patients

Cited by 40 publications

References 30 publications

Attentional capture in schizophrenia and schizotypy: Effect of attentional load

Attentional capture in schizophrenia and schizotypy: Effect of attentional load

A Reconsideration of Cognitive Load Theory

Regulation of cognitive resources during sustained attention and working memory in 10‐year‐olds and adults

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