Reconsidering conceptual knowledge: Heterogeneity of its components.

Cognitive arithmetic classically distinguishes procedural and conceptual knowledge as two determinants of the acquisition of flexible expertise. Whereas procedural knowledge relates to algorithmic routines, conceptual knowledge is defined as the knowledge of core principles, referred to as fundamental structures of arithmetic. To date, there is no consensus regarding their number, list, or even their definition, partly because they are difficult to measure. Recent findings suggest that among the most complex of these principles, some might not be "fundamental structures" but rather may articulate several components of conceptual knowledge, each specific to the arithmetic operation involved. Here, we argue that most of the arithmetic principles similarly may rather articulate several core concepts specific to the operation involved. Data were collected during a national mathematics contest based on an arithmetic game involving a large sample of 9- to 11-year-old students (N = 11,243; 53.1% boys) over several weeks. The purpose of the game was to solve complex arithmetic problems using five numbers and the four operations. A principal component analysis (PCA) was performed. The results show that both conceptual and procedural knowledge were used by children. Moreover, the PCA sorted conceptual and procedural knowledge together, with dimensions being defined by the operation rather than by the concept. This implies that "fundamental structures" rather regroup different concepts that are learned separately. This opens the way to reconsider the very nature of conceptual knowledge and has direct pedagogical implications.

Toward the Use of Pupillary Responses for Pilot Selection.

OBJECTIVE: For selection practitioners, it seems important to assess the level of mental resources invested in order to perform a demanding task. In this study, we investigated the potential of pupil size measurement to discriminate the most proficient pilot students from the less proficient. BACKGROUND: Cognitive workload is known to influence learning outcome. More specifically, cognitive difficulties observed during pilot training are often related to a lack of efficient mental workload management. METHOD: Twenty pilot students performed a laboratory multitasking scenario, composed of several stages with increasing workload, while their pupil size was recorded. Two levels of pilot students were compared according to the outcome after 2 years of training: high success and medium success. RESULTS: Our findings suggested that task-evoked pupil size measurements could be a promising predictor of flight training difficulties during the 2-year training. Indeed, high-level pilot students showed greater pupil size changes from low-load to high-load stages of the multitasking scenario than medium-level pilot students. Moreover, average pupil diameters at the low-load stage were smallest for the high-level pilot students. CONCLUSION: Following the neural efficiency hypothesis framework, the most proficient pilot students supposedly used their mental resources more efficiently than the least proficient while performing the multitasking scenario. APPLICATION: These findings might introduce a new way of managing selection processes complemented with ocular measurements. More specifically, pupil size measurement could enable identification of applicants with greater chances of success during pilot training.

Using theta and alpha band power to assess cognitive workload in multitasking environments.

Cognitive workload is of central importance in the fields of human factors and ergonomics. A reliable measurement of cognitive workload could allow for improvements in human machine interface designs and increase safety in several domains. At present, numerous studies have used electroencephalography (EEG) to assess cognitive workload, reporting the rise in cognitive workload to be associated with increases in theta band power and decreases in alpha band power. However, results have been inconsistent with some failing to reach the required level of significance. We hypothesized that the lack of consistency could be related to individual differences in task performance and/or to the small sample sizes in most EEG studies. In the present study we used EEG to assess the increase in cognitive workload occurring in a multitasking environment while taking into account differences in performance. Twenty participants completed a task commonly used in airline pilot recruitment, which included an increasing number of concurrent sub-tasks to be processed from one to four. Subjective ratings, performances scores, pupil size and EEG signals were recorded. Results showed that increases in EEG alpha and theta band power reflected increases in the involvement of cognitive resources for the completion of one to three subtasks in a multitasking environment. These values reached a ceiling when performances dropped. Consistent differences in levels of alpha and theta band power were associated to levels of task performance: highest performance was related to lowest band power.