Program in Behavioral Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Curr Biol. 2010 Apr 27;20(8):777-82. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.02.034. Epub 2010 Mar 25.
In both humans and mice, the efficacy of working memory capacity and its related process, selective attention, are each strongly predictive of individuals' aggregate performance in cognitive test batteries [1-9]. Because working memory is taxed during most cognitive tasks, the efficacy of working memory may have a causal influence on individuals' performance on tests of "intelligence" [10, 11]. Despite the attention this has received, supporting evidence has been largely correlational in nature (but see [12]). Here, genetically heterogeneous mice were assessed on a battery of five learning tasks. Animals' aggregate performance across the tasks was used to estimate their general cognitive abilities, a trait that is in some respects analogous to intelligence [13, 14]. Working memory training promoted an increase in animals' selective attention and their aggregate performance on these tasks. This enhancement of general cognitive performance by working memory training was attenuated if its selective attention demands were reduced. These results provide evidence that the efficacy of working memory capacity and selective attention may be causally related to an animal's general cognitive performance and provide a framework for behavioral strategies to promote those abilities. Furthermore, the pattern of behavior reported here reflects a conservation of the processes that regulate general cognitive performance in humans and infrahuman animals.
在人类和老鼠中,工作记忆能力及其相关过程选择性注意的效果都强烈预测了个体在认知测试组合中的综合表现[1-9]。由于工作记忆在大多数认知任务中都被消耗,工作记忆的效果可能对个体在“智力”测试中的表现有因果影响[10,11]。尽管对此已经引起了关注,但支持性证据在很大程度上是相关的(但见[12])。在这里,遗传上具有异质性的老鼠在五项学习任务中进行了评估。动物在任务中的综合表现用于估计它们的一般认知能力,这一特征在某些方面类似于智力[13,14]。工作记忆训练促进了动物选择性注意的提高和它们在这些任务中的综合表现。如果降低工作记忆的选择性注意要求,这种对一般认知表现的增强就会减弱。这些结果提供了证据,证明工作记忆能力和选择性注意的效果可能与动物的一般认知表现有因果关系,并为促进这些能力的行为策略提供了一个框架。此外,这里报告的行为模式反映了调节人类和类人动物一般认知表现的过程的保守性。