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A theoretical analysis of the relationship between social structure and cognitive structure is presented. Based upon this analysis, a study was done in which the cognitive activity of high and low self-esteem (SE) women was assessed under some particular social conditions. The factors manipulated were: focus of attention on either orientation toward a career or on orientation toward family; activation (via priming) of either the cognitive structure encoding masculine tendencies or that containing information on feminine tendencies; and perceptions of how well family and career functions fit together for most women. The primary dependent measures used were tests of hand-eye coordination, of creativity, of memory and of level of negative emotion. The results partially supported the hypotheses. They indicated four-way interactions for the recall measure and for one measure of use of defense mechanisms. Two three-way interactions were observed in the analysis of the measure of creativity. The measure of emotion showed only a main-effect of the focus-of-attention manipulation, such that women in the family-focus condition exhibited significantly more emotion. There were no significant effects on the measure of hand-eye coordination. High self-esteem subjects were much more likely to use defense mechanisms, including repression of threatening information. Conflict increased creativity only when focus of attention was congruent with chronic or situationally-induced (masculine or feminine) tendencies. The applicability to this data of both cognitive-psychological and psychodynamic concepts and mechanisms is assessed. It is concluded that neither theory can completely account for the data. Some practical implications of the findings are discussed.

As the number of information system users increases, we are witnessing a related increase in the complexity and the diversity of their applications. The increasing functional complexity amplifies the degree of functional and technical understanding required of the user to make productive use of the application tools. Emerging technologies, increased and varied user interests and radical changes in the nature of applications give rise to the opportunity and necessity to re-examine the proper apportionment of cognitive responsibilities in human-system interaction. We present a framework for the examination of the allocation of cognitive responsibilities in information systems. These cognitive tasks involve skills associated with the models and tools that are provided by information systems and the domain knowledge and problem knowledge that are associated with the user. The term cognitor is introduced to refer to a cognitive capacity for assuming such responsibilities. These capacities are resident in the human user and they are now feasible in information system architectures. Illustrations are given of how this framework can be used in understanding and assessing the apportionment of responsibilities. Implications of shifting and redistributing cognitive task from the system-user environment to the system environment are discussed. Metrics are provided to assess the degree of change under alternative architectures. An architecture for the design of alternative responsibility allocations, named Reapportionment of Cognitive Activities, (RCA), is presented. The architecture describes knowledge and responsibilities associated with facilitating dynamic allocation of cognitive responsibilities. Knowledge bases are used to support and describe alternative apportionments. RCA illustrates how knowledge representations, search techniques and dialogue management can be combined to accommodate multiple cooperating cognitors, each assuming unique roles, in an effort to share the responsibilities associated with the use of an information system. A design process for responsibility allocation is outlined. Examples of alternative responsibility allocation feasible within this architecture are provided. Cases implementing the architecture are described. We advocate treating the allocation of cognitive responsibilities as a design variable and illustrate through the architecture and the cases the elements necessary in reapportioning these responsibilities in information systems dialogues.

This study explored the effects of metacognitive strategies on expository writing performance and metacognitive awareness of sixth graders. Metacognitive knowledge refers to students' ability to talk and write about the variables operating in expository tasks, the availability and appropriateness of strategies for producing expository text and how aspects of writing interact with the appropriateness of strategies available to the writer. High and low ability students were assigned to an experimental group who received instruction in metacognitive awareness strategies or to a control group. Three different types of measures included writing performance measures of syntax, mechanics and semantics/pragmatics; metacognitive awareness measures; and individual differences measures. The syntax and mechanics measures and the individual differences measures were standardized by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Results indicated no significant differences in either writing performance or metacognitive awareness for the two groups. Possible causal factors emerged: Expository writing performance was shown to be situation specific; a group design did not allow for a clear description of what factors contributed to the uneven performances; writers may not have performed well since a functional context and a source of motivation were lacking. Writing assessment and research design became the central issues of this study. Any comparison of two pieces of writing cannot reflect a writer's competence. Contextual factors influence the writer's performance on any task and a research design needs to allow for description of those factors.

Children and adolescents with Down Syndrome (DS) have a high incidence of sleep problems, including Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS). They are also likely to have deficits in neuropsychological tasks tapping prefrontal function and hippocampal function. There has recent revival of literature suggesting an active role for sleep in memory consolidation and problem-solving in both children and adults. Furthermore, given the cognitive and behavioral sequellae of OSAS in typically developing children it is logical to test if the hypoxemia and increased sleep fragmentation, the two major pathophysiological mechanisms of OSAS, seen in children with DS and OSAS may exacerbate learning or behavior disorders.Forty children with DS aged 7-18 were administered the Arizona Cognitive Test Battery (ACTB) for DS (Edgin et al., 2010), and in-home ambulatory polysomnography. Their parents were asked to complete several questionnaires assessing their child's sleep and behavior. Seventy-seven percent (n = 40) of our sample met criteria for pediatric sleep apnea (AHI>1.5), and the mean apnea hypoppnea index (AHI) was 8.4 events per hour. Our sample had a mean arousal index of 10.3, a respiratory arousal index of 3.2, and a SaO2 nadir of 86.9%. Over 70% of our sample had a SaO2 nadir below 90%. We examined the relationship between OSAS severity and cognitive and behavioral outcomes. We found that children with DS with a lower apnea hypopnea index (AHI) attained a greater number of stages on the CANTAB PAL task compared to chronologically age-matched children with higher AHI, and the variance in performance was partially explained by sleep fragmentation (i.e., the arousal index) and experimenter-rated "attention" but not hypoxemia. In addition, we also found that the low apnea group showed a trend toward outperforming the high apnea group on the KBIT-II Verbal IQ scale and DAS-2 Pattern Construction subtest.These findings have important clinical implications. First, these results suggest that early screening for OSAS in DS is important, as OSAS severity seems to explain some of the variance in cognitive functioning. Second, these findings suggest that an early intervention for OSAS might be warranted.

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Definition of neurodevelopmental outcome from early brain imaging remains a priority for survivors of very preterm (VPT) birth given their persistently high rates of cognitive and motor difficulties. Volumes of the deep grey matter (DGM) structures were measured longitudinally using magnetic resonance imaging from 96 VPT infants studied within 2 weeks of birth and 70 at term-equivalent age. At 4 years of age, 36 children returned for neuropsychological assessments evaluating IQ, language function, and visual motor integration. Multiple hierarchical regressions examined associations of DGM growth with neuropsychological measures. Overall DGM growth, primarily attributed to the caudate and thalamus, predicted Full Scale IQ, core language and VMI scores after controlling for sex and total brain volume. Thalamic growth was additionally associated with measures of neonatal clinical severity, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and white matter lesions. Longitudinal growth of the DGM, particularly the caudate and thalamus were established as early markers of long-term outcomes.