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Aleksandra Gruszka
Gerald Matthews
Błażej Szymura
Editors
Attention, Memory, and
Executive Control
The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality
Series Editors
Donald H. Saklofske, Ph.D.
Division of Applied Psychology
University of Calgary, Canada
Moshe Zeidner, Ph.D.
Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Emotions
Department of Human Development and Counseling
Haifa University, Israel
For other titles published in this series, go to
www.springer.com/series/6450
Aleksandra Gruszka Gerald Matthews
(cid:76)
Bła(cid:313)ej Szymura
Editors
Handbook of Individual
Differences in Cognition
Attention, Memory, and Executive Control
Editors
Aleksandra Gruszka Gerald Matthews
Institute of Psychology Department of Psychology
Jagiellonian University University of Cincinnati
Cracow Cincinnati, OH
Poland USA
rusalka@apple.phils.uj.edu.pl gerald.matthews@uc.edu
Błazej Szymura
Institute of Psychology
Jagiellonian University
Cracow
Poland
ISBN 978-1-4419-1209-1 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-1210-7
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-1210-7
Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010925383
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It was a beautiful sunny September day, when some of the
authors of the chapters of this book met up in Krakow dur-
ing the conference on Individual Differences in Cognition
(IDIC: Kraków, Poland, September 15–17, 2006). Bła(cid:313)ej
Szymura, an assistant professor at the time, initiated and
organized this meeting and managed to convince the Polish
Scientific Research Committee (KBN) to grant financing of
a research program to study the individual differences in
cognition, of which the conference was an integral part.
The meeting was a great success, for it is rare that such a
high number of world experts in a specific field gather
together in conditions that are so conducive to the sincere
and stimulating exchange of thoughts and ideas as was the
case here. It was then that the idea of the book that you have
in front of you was born. The book turned out to be an under-
taking on a still larger scale than the Krakow get-together.
To obtain systematic coverage of the field, new experts work-
ing on individual differences in cognition were drafted in to
contribute to the project. Throughout the process the driving
force was Bła(cid:313)ej, who in the meantime obtained his “habili-
tation” to the role of Principal Investigator.
Bła(cid:313)ej had the central role in the IDIC project. So, it has
been very difficult for us to come to terms with the tragic
event that occurred when we were finalizing editorial
works before sending the book off to the Publishers – unex-
pectedly Bła(cid:313)ej passed away.
Our friend and colleague was a special person.
Intellectually very gifted, he was full of energy, eagerness
and motivation for work that allowed him to undertake
remarkable projects. His work ethos and intrinsic scien-
tific curiosity lead him to perform experiments involving
large number of studied groups and many research proce-
dures. Obviously, the questions that he tried to answer had
a universal dimension and importance. He was interested
in cognitive psychology, psychology of individual differ-
ences and psychology of creativity. Despite his young age,
he was well recognized in the field, he won many grants,
published or contributed to numerous books, and peer-
reviewed scientific articles.
Bła(cid:313)ej was a talented organizer characterized by an
extraordinary sense of duty and responsibility. Hence, at a
relatively early point of his career, he found himself
involved in many administrative functions. Since 1998, he
was an assistant professor in the Laboratory of Experimental
Psychology at Jagiellonian University in Krakow and
(since 2008) a chair of the Department of Psychology of
Individual Differences and Personality at the Warsaw
School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Faculty in
Sopot. He was a member of many associations: European
Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCoP), European
Association of Personality Psychology (EAPP) and
International Society for the Study of Individual
Differences (ISSID). In recognition to his contribution,
ISSID founded ‘The Bła(cid:313)ej Szymura ISSID Conference
Travel Award’.
Bła(cid:313)ej was a very generous man, generous in his con-
tacts with others, regardless of who they were: colleagues
or collaborators, friends or mere students. The teaching of
psychology constituted a very important part of his work.
Bła(cid:313)ej was very well-liked and respected by all of the
students, who felt inspired to fulfill his high expectations.
Here we are, left by Bła(cid:313)ej. We will always miss his
creative imagination, energy and friendship. He left us
with a list of tasks to complete necessary to conclude this
handbook. We have followed his directions step by step as
witnessed by the existence of this book.
This book is dedicated to Professor Bła(cid:313)ej Szymura.
Contents
Part I General Models of Individual Differences in Cognition
1 Individual Differences in Cognition: in Search of a General
Model of Behaviour Control .............................................................................................. 3
Philip J. Corr
2 Individual Differences in Cognition: New Methods for Examining
the Personality-Cognition Link ......................................................................................... 27
William Revelle, Joshua Wilt, and Allen Rosenthal
3 The Relationship Between Intelligence and Pavlovian
Temperament Traits: The Role of Gender and Level of Intelligence ............................. 51
Magdalena Kaczmarek, Jan Strelau, and Agnieszka Miklewska
4 General Models of Individual Differences in Cognition: The Commentaries ............... 63
Philip Corr, William Revelle, Joshua Wilt, and Allen Rosenthal
Part II Individual Differences in Cognition from a Neurophysiological
Perspective
5 Neuroscientific Approaches to the Study of Individual
Differences in Cognition and Personality ......................................................................... 73
Aljoscha C. Neubauer and Andreas Fink
6 Cognitive Neuroscience Approaches to Individual Differences in Working
Memory and Executive Control: Conceptual and Methodological Issues..................... 87
Tal Yarkoni and Todd S. Braver
7 Emotional Intelligence and Gender: A Neurophysiological Perspective........................ 109
Norbert Jaušovec and Ksenija Jaušovec
8 Learned Irrelevance Revisited: Pathology-Based Individual
Differences, Normal Variation and Neural Correlates .................................................... 127
Aleksandra Gruszka, Adam Hampshire, and Adrian M. Owen
9 Post-Soviet Psychology and Individual Differences in Cognition:
A Psychophysiological Perspective .................................................................................... 145
Almira Kustubayeva
vii
viii Contents
10 Individual Differences in Cognition from a Neurophysiological
Perspective: The Commentaries ...................................................................................... 169
Todd S. Braver, Tal Yarkoni, Aleksandra Gruszka, Adam Hampshire,
Adrian M. Owen, Norbert Jaušovec, Almira Kustubayeva,
Aljoscha C. Neubauer, and Andreas Fink
Part III Individual Differences in Attentional Mechanisms
11 Psychopathology and Individual Differences in Latent Inhibition:
Schizophrenia and Schizotypality ................................................................................... 181
R.E. Lubow and Oren Kaplan
12 Attentional Control Theory of Anxiety: Recent Developments .................................... 195
Michael W. Eysenck
13 Task Engagement, Attention, and Executive Control .................................................... 205
Gerald Matthews, Joel S. Warm, Lauren E. Reinerman, Lisa K. Langheim,
and Dyani J. Saxby
14 Individual Differences in Resource Allocation Policy .................................................... 231
Bła(cid:313)ej Szymura
15 The Relationship of Attention and Intelligence .............................................................. 247
Karl Schweizer
16 Intelligence and Cognitive Control .................................................................................. 263
Adam Chuderski and Edward N(cid:214)cka
17 Individual Differences in Attention: The Commentaries .............................................. 283
Michael W. Eysenck, Gerald Matthews, Edward N(cid:214)cka, Adam Chuderski,
Karl Schweizer, and Bła(cid:313)ej Szymura
Part IV Individual Differences in Working Memory
Functioning and Higher-Order Processing
18 Trait and State Differences in Working Memory Capacity .......................................... 295
Małgorzata Ilkowska and Randall W. Engle
19 Adrift in the Stream of Thought: The Effects of Mind
Wandering on Executive Control and Working Memory Capacity ............................. 321
Jennifer C. McVay and Michael J. Kane
20 The Unique Cognitive Limitation in Subclinical Depression:
The Impairment of Mental Model Construction ........................................................... 335
Grzegorz Sedek, Aneta Brzezicka, and Ulrich von Hecker
21 Working Memory Capacity and Individual Differences
in Higher-Level Cognition ................................................................................................ 353
Jarosław Orzechowski
Contents ix
22 Motivation Towards Closure and Cognitive Resources:
An Individual Differences Approach ............................................................................... 369
Małgorzata Kossowska, Edward Orehek, and Arie W. Kruglanski
23 Mood as Information: The Regulatory Role of Personality .......................................... 383
Magdalena Marszał-Wi(cid:280)niewska and Dominika Zajusz
24 Autobiographical Memory: Individual Differences
and Developmental Course .............................................................................................. 403
Mary L. Courage and Mark L. Howe
25 Individual Differences in Working Memory
and Higher-Ordered Processing: The Commentaries ................................................... 419
Mary L. Courage, Mark L. Howe, Małgorzata Ilkowska, Randall W. Engle,
Małgorzata Kossowska, Edward Orehek, Arie W. Kruglanski, Jennifer C. McVay,
Michael J. Kane, Magdalena Marszał-Wi(cid:280)niewska, Dominika Zajusz,
Jarosław Orzechowski, Grzegorz Sedek, and Aneta Brzezicka
26 Conclusion: The State of the Art in Research on Individual
Differences in Executive Control and Cognition ............................................................ 437
Gerald Matthews, Aleksandra Gruszka, and Bła(cid:313)ej Szymura
Author Index ............................................................................................................................. 463
Subject Index ............................................................................................................................. 487
Introduction
Aleksandra Gruszka, Gerald Matthews, and Bła(cid:313)ej Szymura
Aims of This Volume
Exceptionality in cognition has typically been understood in terms of general intelligence, as an
overarching factor of cognitive aptitude. However, information-processing analyses of human per-
formance suggest a more differentiated view of individual variation in cognitive aptitude and com-
petencies. This 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 strate-
gies, 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. Converging evidence from experi-
mental and neuroscientific 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, including real-world skills. Also, one can ask
whether people who are characterized by different levels of intelligence, cognitive styles, extraver-
sion, neuroticism, and other dimensions of individual differences differ in the specificity of func-
tioning of their attentional and memory mechanisms. Knowledge of such relationships increases our
understanding of the cognitive mechanisms of human intelligence and personality. It is also helpful
in creating integrated models of performance, which take into account both general principles of
cognition and their interindividual variability.
A review of research in this area is timely for the three following reasons. Firstly, cognitive
models of individual differences in complex behavior are becoming more sophisticated, due to both
the progressive refinement of existing models, and to the influx of ideas and data from neurological
studies. Secondly, psychobiological theories of personality and intellectual traits have for a long
time been directed toward specific biological mechanisms for individual differences in performance.
Only recently though have such theories engaged with cognitive neuroscience, and a synthesis of
approaches is urgently needed. Thirdly, recent work on mechanisms for executive control may pro-
vide an important unifying principle for interrelating the often rather fragmented and disconnected
data from studies of personality and diverse information-processing tasks.
Thus, the present 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 integrates contributions from cognitive psychologists, cognitive neuro-
scientists, and personality and intelligence researchers. Research on temperament also provides a
developmental perspective. Reviews in this area have so far focused on the attentional working
memory and other information processing correlates of single individual difference factors such
as general intelligence or anxiety. What is lacking from the research literature is a more compre-
hensive 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
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