Effects of practice on individual difference in tasks employed to assess cognitive abilities
Main Article Content
Abstract
The study examines the influence of the format and features e of tasks employed to assess cognitive abilities. Three experiments investigated the effect of practice on performance differences between performers of these tasks. Two experiments were conducted on a computerized, demanding task, developed to assess attention management and multitask performance. The third experiment examined practice effects in six replications of a five tasks battery, consisting of tasks commonly used in the evaluation of cognitive functions. Significant individual differences were observed in all experiments, within and across tasks. However, practicing differentially affects tasks and components within tasks.
Three types of practice effects on performance were identified: (1) Performance levels did not change and did not benefit from practice in components which mainly draw upon the operation of bottom-up, exogenous attention systems; (2) Practice had strong asymmetric effects on performance when performance required to resolve a conflict between two automatically attended elements. In these tasks, performers with lower initial performance scores benefited more from practice than those with higher initial performance levels. (3) For tasks in which executive control and working memory were called upon but there was no conflict to resolve, significant practice effects were obtained with equal gains for performers differing in initial performance levels.
The important implication of the obtained results is that when a task is developed as test to evaluate a cognitive ability, its format and features may affect first session performance and only clarified with practice. The contribution of format and components are discussed with reference to research on the evaluation of individual differences in cognitive abilities, types of attention demand and working memory requirements.
Keywords:
Practice effects, cognitive tasks, Individual differences, attention systems
Article Details
How to Cite
GOPHER, Daniel; BEN-ELIEZER, Daniel; FEIGIN, Paul D..
Effects of practice on individual difference in tasks employed to assess cognitive abilities.
Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 14, n. 1, jan. 2026.
ISSN 2375-1924.
Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/7058>. Date accessed: 03 feb. 2026.
doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v14i1.7058.
Section
Research Articles
The Medical Research Archives grants authors the right to publish and reproduce the unrevised contribution in whole or in part at any time and in any form for any scholarly non-commercial purpose with the condition that all publications of the contribution include a full citation to the journal as published by the Medical Research Archives.
References
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35. Verhaeghen, P., & Marcoen, A. (1996). On the mechanisms of plasticity in young and older adults after instruction in the method of loci: evidence for an amplification model. Psychology and Aging, 11 (1), 164–178.
36. Craik, F. I., & Bialystok, E. (2006). Planning and task management in older adults: cooking breakfast. Memory & Cognition, 34(6), 1236-1249.
37. Posner, M. I., & Rothbart, M. K. (2007). Research on attention networks as a model for the integration of psychological science. Anu. Rev. Psychol., 58, 1-23.
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39 Jaeggi, S. M., Buschkuehl, M., Perrig, W.J. & Meier, B. (2010). The concurrent validity of the N-back task as a working memory measure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 2007, Vol. 33, No. 3, 615– 62.
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47. Gopher D, Ben-Eliezer D, Levine A (2022). Imposed load versus voluntary investment: Executive control and attention management in dual-task performance. Acta Psychologica, 227 103591. doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103591
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49. Carrasco, M. (2011). Visual attention: The past 25 years. Vision research, 51(13), 1484-1525.
50. Kurtz, P., Shapcott, K. A., Kaiser, J., Schmiedt, J. T., & Schmid, M. C. (2017). The Influence of Endogenous and Exogenous Spatial Attention on Decision Confidence. Scientific Reports, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-06715-
51. Kahneman Daniel: (2011), Thinking fast and Slow, Penguin Books.
52. Inquisitr 5 [Computer software]. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.millisecond.com.
53. Petersen, S. E., & Posner, M. I. (2012). The attention system of the human brain: 20 years after. Annual review of neuroscience, 35, 73-89.
54. MacLeod, J. W., Lawrence, M. A., McConnell, M. M., Eskes, G. A., Klein, R. M., & Shore, D. I. (2010). Appraising the ANT: Psychometric and theoretical considerations of the Attention Network Test. Neuropsychology, 24(5), 637.
55. Fan, J., McCandliss, B. D., Sommer, T., Raz, A., & Posner, M. I. (2002). Testing the efficiency and independence of attentional networks. Journal Cognitive Neuroscience, 14(3), 340-7.
56. Gaudino, E. A., Geisler, M. W., & Squires, N. K. (1995). Construct validity in the Trail Making Test: what makes Part B harder? Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology, 17(4), 529-535.
57. Wechsler, D. (1997). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Third Edition (WAIS-III).
2. Kleper, D. & Seka, N. (2017). General Ability or Distinct Scholastic Aptitudes? A Multidimensional Validity Analysis of a Psychometric Higher-Education Entrance Test. Journal of Applied Measurement. http://jampress.org/abst.htm
3. Gopher, D. (1982). A selective attention test as a predictor of success in flight training, Human Factors 24, 173-183.
4. Charles, B. K., & Florah, O. M. (2021). A Critical Review of Literature on Employment Selection Tests. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 9, 451-469.
https://doi.org/10.4236/jhrss.2021.93029
5. Friedman, N. & Miyake, A. (2017). Unity and diversity of executive functions: Individual differences as a window on cognitive structure. Cortex 86, 186 -204.
6. Karbach, J., Könen, T., & Spengler, M. (2017). Who benefits the most? Individual differences in the transfer of executive control training across the lifespan. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 1, 394–405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-017-0054-z
7. Salthouse, T. A., & Ferrer-Caja, E. (2003). What needs to be explained to account for age-related effects on multiple cognitive variables? Psychology and Aging, 18, 91–110.
8. Eich S.T, MacKay-Brandt A, Stern Y, Gopher D (2016). Age-Based Differences in Task Switching Are Moderated by Executive Control Demands. J Gerontology B: Psychol Sci Soc Sci.
9. Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I., & Stefurak, T. (2008). Planning and task management in Parkinson's disease: differential emphasis in dual-task performance. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 14(2), 257-265.
10. Tanguay, A. N., Davidson, P. S. R., Nuñez, K. V. G., & Ferland, M. B. (2014). Cooking breakfast after a brain injury. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8, 272.
11. Folstein MF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR. (1975). ‘Mini-Mental Stat”: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatry Res.; 12:189–198.
12. Lucas J, Ivnik R, Smith G, et al. 1998; Mayo’s older Americans normative studies: category fluency norms. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 20:194–200. 20.
13. Salthouse. T. A. Relations Between Cognitive Abilities and Measures of Executive Functioning. (2005) Neuropsychology, 19, 4, 532–545.
14. Rose, N. S., Luo, L., Bialystok, E., Hering, A., Lau, K., & Craik, F. I. M. (2015). Cognitive processes in the Breakfast Task: Planning and monitoring. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale, 69(3), 252–263. https://doi.org/10.1037/cep0000054
16. Kabat, M. H., Kane, H.M., Jefferson, L.R., A. L. & DiPino, R. K (2001). Construct Validity of Selected Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM) Battery Measures. The Clinical Neuropsychologist Volume 15, 498-507.
17. Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology,41, 49-100
18. Ackerman, P. L., & Cianciolo, A. T. (2000). Cognitive, perceptual speed, and psychomotor determinants of individual differences in skill acquisition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 6, 259 –290.
19. Salthouse, T. A. (2004). Localizing age-related individual differences in a hierarchical structure. Intelligence, 32, 541–561.
20. Miyake, A., & Friedman, N. P. (2012). The nature and organization of individual differences in executive functions: four general conclusions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 8-14.
21. Friedman, N. P., Miyake, A., Altamirano, L. J., Corley, R. P., Young, S. E., Rhea, S. A., et al. (2016). Stability and change in executive function abilities from late adolescence to early adulthood: a longitudinal twin study. Developmental Psychology, 52, 326-340.
22. Frederiksen, J.R. & White, B.Y. (1989). “An Approach to Training Based Upon Principal-Task Decomposition”, Acta Psychologica, 71, 89-146
23. Gopher, D., Weil, M., & Siegel, D. (1989). "Practice under changing priorities: An approach to training of complex skills". Acta Psychologica, 71, 147-179.
24. Zinke, K., Zeintl, M., Eschen, A., Herzog, C., & Kliegel, M. (2012). Potentials and limits of plasticity induced by working memory training in old-old age. Gerontology, 58, 79–87.
25. Zinke, K., Zeintl, M., Rose, N. S., Putzmann, J., Pydde, A., & Kliegel, M. (2014). Working memory training and transfer in older adults: effects of age, baseline performance, and training gains. Developmental Psychology, 50, 304–315.
26. Karbach, J., & Kray, J. (2009). How useful is executive control training? Age differences in near and far transfer of task-switching training. Developmental Science, 12, 978–990.
27. Bherer, L., Kramer, A. F., Peterson, M. S., Colcombe, S., Erickson, K., & Becic, E. (2008). Transfer effects in task-set cost and dual-task cost after dual-task training in older and younger adults: further evidence for cognitive plasticity in attentional control in late adulthood. Experimental Aging Research, 34, 188–219.
28. Cepeda, N. J., Kramer, A. F., & Gonzalez de Sather, J. (2001). Changes in executive control across the life span: examination of task-switching performance. Developmental Psychology, 37, 715–730.
29. Konen, T. & Karbach, J. Analyzing differences in intervention-related changes, (2021). Advances Methodsand Practices in Psychological Science, 4,1, 1-19.
30. Baltes, P. B., & Kliegl, R. (1992). Further testing of limits of cognitive plasticity: negative age differences in a mnemonic skill are robust. Developmental Psychology, 28, 121–125.
31. Brehmer, Y., Li, S. C., Mueller, V., von Oertzen, T. V., & Lindenberger, U. (2007). Memory plasticity across the life span: uncovering children’s latent potential. Developmental Psychology, 43, 465–477.
32. Foster, J. L., Harrison, T. L., Hicks, K. L., Draheim, C., Redick, T. S., & Engle, R. W. (2017). Do the effects of working memory training depend on baseline ability level? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43(11), 1677–1689. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000426
33. Lindenberger, U., Kliegl, R., & Baltes, P. B. (1992). Professional expertise does not eliminate age differences in imagery-based performance during adulthood. Psychology & Aging, 7, 585–593.
34. Lövdén, M., Brehmer, Y., Li, S. C., & Lindenberger, U. (2012). Training- induced compensation versus magnification of individual differences in memory performance. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 141.
35. Verhaeghen, P., & Marcoen, A. (1996). On the mechanisms of plasticity in young and older adults after instruction in the method of loci: evidence for an amplification model. Psychology and Aging, 11 (1), 164–178.
36. Craik, F. I., & Bialystok, E. (2006). Planning and task management in older adults: cooking breakfast. Memory & Cognition, 34(6), 1236-1249.
37. Posner, M. I., & Rothbart, M. K. (2007). Research on attention networks as a model for the integration of psychological science. Anu. Rev. Psychol., 58, 1-23.
38. Kane, M. J., Conway, A. R., Miura, T. K., & Colflesh, G. J. (2007). Working memory, attention control, and the N-back task: a question of construct validity. Journal of Experimental psychology: learning, memory, and cognition, 33(3), 615.
39 Jaeggi, S. M., Buschkuehl, M., Perrig, W.J. & Meier, B. (2010). The concurrent validity of the N-back task as a working memory measure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 2007, Vol. 33, No. 3, 615– 62.
40. Kessels, R. P., Van Zandvoort, M. J., Postma, A., Kappelle, L. J., & De Haan, E. H. (2000). The Corsi block-tapping task: standardization and normative data. Applied neuropsychology, 7(4), 252-258.
41. Arbuthnot, K., & Frank, J. (2000). Trail making test, part B as a measure of executive control: validation using a set-switching paradigm. Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology, 22 (4), 518-528.
42. Baddeley Alan Working Memory: Theories, Models, and Controversies Annual Review of Psychology (2012)63, pp. 1 – 29
43. Salthouse, T. A. (2011). What cognitive abilities are involved in trail-making performance? Intelligence, 39(4): 222–232.
44. SÁNCHEZ-CUBILLO, J.A. PERIÁÑEZ, D. ADROVER-ROIG, J.M. RODRÍGUEZ-SÁNCHEZ, M. RÍOS-LAGO, J. TIRAPU, BARCELÓ F. (2009): Task-switching, working memory, inhibition/interference control, and visuomotor abilities. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.15, 438–450. doi:10.1017/S1355617709090626
45. Hoyer, W. J. Stawski, R. S. Wasylyshyn C, Verhaeghen P. (2004): Adult Age and Digit Symbol Substitution Performance: A Meta-Analysis. Psychology and Aging Inc. 19(1), 211–214.
46. Jaeger j. (2018): Digit Symbol Substitution Test. J Clin Psychopharmacol 38: 513–519.
47. Gopher D, Ben-Eliezer D, Levine A (2022). Imposed load versus voluntary investment: Executive control and attention management in dual-task performance. Acta Psychologica, 227 103591. doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103591
48. Bonder, T., & Gopher, D. (2019). The effect of confidence rating on a primary visual task. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2674.
49. Carrasco, M. (2011). Visual attention: The past 25 years. Vision research, 51(13), 1484-1525.
50. Kurtz, P., Shapcott, K. A., Kaiser, J., Schmiedt, J. T., & Schmid, M. C. (2017). The Influence of Endogenous and Exogenous Spatial Attention on Decision Confidence. Scientific Reports, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-06715-
51. Kahneman Daniel: (2011), Thinking fast and Slow, Penguin Books.
52. Inquisitr 5 [Computer software]. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.millisecond.com.
53. Petersen, S. E., & Posner, M. I. (2012). The attention system of the human brain: 20 years after. Annual review of neuroscience, 35, 73-89.
54. MacLeod, J. W., Lawrence, M. A., McConnell, M. M., Eskes, G. A., Klein, R. M., & Shore, D. I. (2010). Appraising the ANT: Psychometric and theoretical considerations of the Attention Network Test. Neuropsychology, 24(5), 637.
55. Fan, J., McCandliss, B. D., Sommer, T., Raz, A., & Posner, M. I. (2002). Testing the efficiency and independence of attentional networks. Journal Cognitive Neuroscience, 14(3), 340-7.
56. Gaudino, E. A., Geisler, M. W., & Squires, N. K. (1995). Construct validity in the Trail Making Test: what makes Part B harder? Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology, 17(4), 529-535.
57. Wechsler, D. (1997). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Third Edition (WAIS-III).