Evidence in Support of Analogical Reasoning Improvements with Executive Attention Intervention in Healthy Young Adults
Yixuan Lin1 · Qing Li1 · Mengke Zhang1 · Yujie Su1 · Xiangpeng Wang2 · Hong Li3 · Antao Chen41 Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality of Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
2 Collaborative Innovation Center for Language Ability, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Language and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Linguistic Sciences and Arts, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China
3 Key Laboratory of Brain Cognition and Educational Science, Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
4 School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai 200438, China
Abstract
Analogical reasoning improvement is important in educational outcome improvement. Inspired by recent ideas and evidence, we applied anti-saccade task training as an executive attention intervention and tested whether it could improve analogical reasoning performance. A serial-task paradigm was applied where participants performed an anti-saccade followed by an analogical reasoning task including a perception condition. The experimental group finished the anti-saccade task in which the ratio of anti-saccade trials to pro-saccade trials was 5:1 while the counterpart was 1:1 in the active control group. Also, a blank control group was established where participants merely finished the analogical reasoning task. Event-related electroencephalographic (EEG) data were recorded when participants were performing the executive attention and analogical reasoning tasks. In addition, their resting state EEG was collected before and after the executive attention intervention. Behaviorally, the experimental group reacted significantly faster than the other two groups in analogical reasoning but not in perception. At the neural level, in the experimental group alone, the anti-saccade trials elicited a smaller N2 than pro-saccade trials and the resting alpha power was improved after executive attention intervention. No significant difference in P2 was found between the two groups in analogical reasoning or perception but the experimental group showed a larger late positive component than the active control group in analogical reasoning. We also found that the late positive component mediated the relationship between the N2 of anti-saccade trials and analogical reasoning reaction times in the experimental group. We further discussed the role of executive attention in the analogical reasoning process, which may pave the way for the future reliable improvement of fluid intelligence.
Keywords
Analogical reasoning; Executive attention; Cognitive intervention; Anti-saccade task; Electroencephalography
