About
207
Publications
69,553
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
11,589
Citations
Introduction
Wim Fias currently works at the Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University. Wim does research in Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology. Current project focus on numerical cognition, working memory and cognitive control.
Additional affiliations
October 2000 - present
January 1994 - September 1999
Publications
Publications (207)
How are arbitrary sequences of verbal information retained and manipulated in working memory? Increasing evidence suggests that serial order in verbal WM is spatially coded and that spatial attention is involved in access and retrieval. Based on the idea that brain areas controlling spatial attention are also involved in oculomotor control, we used...
How are arbitrary sequences of verbal information retained and manipulated in working memory? Increasing evidence suggests that serial order in verbal WM is spatially coded and that spatial attention is involved in access and retrieval. Based on the idea that brain areas controlling spatial attention are also involved in oculomotor control, we used...
Although numerous studies suggest that working memory (WM) and semantic long-term knowledge interact, the nature and underlying neural mechanisms of this intervention remain poorly understood. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this study investigated the extent to which neural markers of semantic knowledge in long-term memory (LTM...
Recognizing the activities being performed on a map is crucial for adaptive map design based on user context. Despite eye tracking (ET) demonstrating potential in recognizing map activities and electroencephalography (EEG) measuring map users' cognitive load, no studies have yet combined ET and EEG for recognition of the user's activity on maps. Ou...
The human eye scans visual information through scan paths, series of fixations. Analogous to these scan paths during the process of actual “seeing,” we investigated whether similar scan paths are also observed while subjects are “rehearsing” stimuli in visuospatial working memory. Participants performed a continuous recall task in which they rehear...
Arithmetic development is quintessential for learning more advanced mathematics. A key aspect of arithmetic development is a shift from calculation-based procedural strategies to memory-based fact retrieval. For example, children start to learn 3 × 4 by adding 4 + 4 + 4, which is an example of a procedure. After enough repetitions, this becomes an...
Coding serial order of information is a fundamental ability of our cognitive system, and still, little is known about its neural substrate. This study examined the neural substrates involved in the retrieval of information that is serially stored in verbal working memory task using a sensitive multivariate analysis approach. We compared neural acti...
Coding serial order of information is a fundamental ability of our cognitive system and still little is known about its neural substrate. The present study examined the neural substrates involved in the retrieval of information that is serially stored in verbal working memory (WM) task using a sensitive multivariate analysis approach. We compared n...
Working memory (WM) is one of the most important cognitive functions that may play a role in the relation between math anxiety (MA) and math performance. The processing efficiency theory proposes that rumination and worrisome thoughts (induced by MA) result in less available WM resources (which are needed to solve math problems). At the same time,...
Arithmetic learning is characterized by a change from procedural strategies to fact retrieval. fMRI training studies in adults have revealed that this change coincides with decreased activation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and that within the parietal lobe, a shift occurs from the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) to the angular gyrus (AG) during this c...
The current study focusses on the level of statistics anxiety and the motivation to learn statistics in Flanders (Belgium) and determined to what degree these factors and their interaction relates to statistical performance. For this purpose, the Statistics Anxiety Scale and the Statistics Motivation Scale were translated, validated, and administer...
This fMRI study aimed at unraveling the neural basis of learning alphabet arithmetic facts, as a proxy of the transition from slow and effortful procedural counting-based processing to fast and effortless processing as it occurs in learning addition arithmetic facts. Neural changes were tracked while participants solved alphabet arithmetic problems...
Si l’intervention de la mémoire à long terme (MLT) dans des tâches de mémoire de travail (MT) ne fait plus de débat, la nature de ces interactions reste encore peu comprise. L’objectif de cette étude IRMf était d’examiner dans quelle mesure le maintien temporaire de mots en MT utilise les mêmes représentations sémantiques que celles qui caractérise...
Working memory (WM) is one of the most important cognitive functions that may play a role in the relation between math anxiety (MA) and math performance. The processing efficiency theory proposes that the rumination and worrisome thoughts (induced by MA) result in less available WM resources (which are needed to solve math problems). At the same ti...
Both mathematics anxiety and metacognitive monitoring have been identified as associated with or predictive of individual differences in arithmetic achievement in primary school children. Although there are various theoretical reasons for an association between mathematics anxiety and metacognitive monitoring, it is unclear at the empirical level h...
The problem of how the mind can retain sequentially organized information has a long research tradition that remains unresolved. While various computational models propose a mechanism of binding serial order information to position markers, the representational nature and processes that operate on these position markers are not clear. Recent behavi...
Theoretical models explaining serial order processing link order information to specified position markers. However, the precise characteristics of position marking have remained largely elusive. Recent studies have shown that space is involved in marking serial position of items in verbal working memory (WM). Furthermore, it has been suggested, bu...
The mental representation of brief temporal durations, when assessed in standard laboratory conditions, is highly accurate. Here we show that adding or subtracting temporal durations systematically results in strong and opposite biases, namely over-estimation for addition and under-estimation for subtraction. The difference with respect to a baseli...
The ability to memorize arbitrary sequences contributes to cognitive faculties like language and mathematics. Research suggests that in literate adults, serial order in verbal working memory (WM) is grounded in spatial attention and is mentally organized according to our reading habits, that is, from left‐to‐right in Western cultures. Currently, it...
In contrast to a substantial body of research on the neural basis of cognitive performance in several academic domains, less is known about how the brain generates metacognitive (MC) awareness of such performance. The existing work on the neurobiological underpinnings of metacognition has almost exclusively been done in adults and has largely focus...
Metacognitive monitoring is a critical predictor of arithmetic in primary school. One outstanding question is whether this metacognitive monitoring is domain-specific or whether it reflects a more general performance monitoring process. To answer this conundrum, we investigated metacognitive monitoring in two related, yet distinct academic domains:...
Category selective recall in spontaneous speech after stroke has been reported only rarely. We recently described three cases demonstrating transient number speech in the acute stage of left hemispheric stroke and hypothesized a link with multilingualism and mathematical proficiency. In this report, we describe a similar case with a transient episo...
Not all researchers interested in human behavior remain convinced that modern neuroimaging techniques have much to contribute to distinguishing between competing cognitive models for explaining human behavior, especially if one removes reverse inference from the table. Here, we took up this challenge in an attempt to distinguish between two competi...
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0116469.].
Multiplication is thought to be primarily solved via direct retrieval from memory. Two of the main factors known to influence the retrieval of multiplication facts are problem size and interference. Because these factors are often intertwined, we sought to investigate the unique influences of problem size and interference on both performance and ne...
As in visual perception, information can be selected for prioritized processing at the expense of unattended representations in visual working memory (VWM). However, what is not clear is whether and how this prioritization degrades the unattended representations. We addressed two hypotheses. First, the representational quality of unattended items c...
Arithmetic is a major building block for children's development of more complex mathematical abilities. Knowing which cognitive factors underlie individual differences in arithmetic is key to gaining further insight into children's mathematical development. The current study investigated the role of executive functions and metacognition (domain-gen...
Preliminary results of study on neurobiological basis of metacognitive monitoring in children during arithmetic performance.
Currently dominant cognitive neuroscience theories of developmental dyscalculia (DD) suggest that it is related to the domain specific impairment of the simple number processing ability (number sense) of the brain, residing in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) (Piazza et al., 2010; Isaac et al., 2001). However, behavioral and neuroimaging research als...
This study aimed at establishing the neural basis of magnitude processing of multiple numbers from working memory. We designed a numerical landmark task and embedded it in a fragmented trial event-related fMRI design, allowing to separate encoding from decision processing. An attentional localiser task not involving numbers allowed further function...
Abstract Background Aging-related cognitive decline and cognitive impairment greatly impacts older adults’ daily life. The worldwide ageing of the population and associated wave of dementia urgently calls for prevention strategies to reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Physical activity (PA) is known to improve cognitive function at older age thr...
Spatial attention allows us to selectively process information within a certain location in space. Despite the vast literature on spatial attention, the effect of cognitive load on spatial processing is still not fully understood. In this study we added cognitive load to a spatial processing task, so as to see whether it would differentially impact...
Individual differences in arithmetic have been explained by differences in cognitive processes and by arithmetic strategy use and selection. In the present study, we investigated the involvement of reactive and proactive control processes. We explored how variation in proactive and reactive control was related to individual differences in strategy...
Heterogeneity of Function in Numerical Cognition presents the latest updates on ongoing research and discussions regarding numerical cognition. With great individual differences in the development or function of numerical cognition at neuroanatomical, neuropsychological, behavioral, and interactional levels, these issues are important for the achie...
The temporary storage of serial order informa-tion in working memory (WM) has been demonstrated tobe crucial to higher order cognition. The previous studieshave shown that the maintenance of serial order can be aconsequence of the construction of position markers towhich to-be-remembered information will be bound.However, the nature of these positi...
Background:
Working memory (WM) problems are commonly observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the affected mechanisms leading to impaired WM are still insufficiently understood. The ability to efficiently process serial order in WM has been demonstrated to be fundamental to fluent daily life functioning. The decreased capability to mentally proc...
The maintenance of serial order in verbal working memory (WM) is a major unsolved puzzle in cognitive science. Here we review a series of studies showing that serial order in verbal WM closely interacts with spatial processing. Accordingly, we outline the “mental whiteboard hypothesis,” which postulates that serial order in verbal WM is grounded in...
It is currently debated whether numbers are processed using a number-specific system or a general magnitude processing system, also used for non-numerical magnitudes such as physical size, duration, or luminance. Activation likelihood estimation (ALE) was used to conduct the first quantitative meta-analysis of 93 empirical neuroimaging papers exami...
The search for the cognitive determinants of mathematical skill has a long history. For some time it has been thought that mathematical proficiency is not determined by a single unique underlying cognitive factor but by multiple cognitive components such as memory, spatial processing, or executive function. Yet it remains unclear exactly what these...
Lexical access in bilinguals has been considered either selective or non-selective and evidence exists in favor of both hypotheses. We conducted a linguistic experiment to assess whether a bilingual’s language mode influences the processing of first language information. We recorded event related potentials during a semantic priming paradigm with a...
Target stimulus list of the experiment.
(DOCX)
View largeDownload slide
Connectomics has increasing clinical applications. Aerts et al. review computational lesion studies and empirical studies of network alterations in patients with brain tumours, stroke or TBI. Lesion effects depend critically on the topological position of the lesion, with damage to network hubs causing the largest disturba...
Number-space associations are a robust observation, but their underlying mechanisms remain debated. Two major accounts have been identified. First, spatial codes may constitute an intrinsic part of number representations stored in the brain – a perspective most commonly referred to as the Mental Number Line account. Second, spatial codes may be gen...
Although it has been proposed that inhibition is related to individual differences in mathematical achievement, it is not clear how it is related to specific aspects of mathematical skills, such as arithmetic fact retrieval. The present study therefore investigated the association between inhibition and arithmetic fact retrieval and further examine...
It is commonly accepted that the mental representation and processing of number and of space are tightly linked. This is evident from studies showing relations between math ability and visuo-spatial skill. Also, math instruction and education rely strongly on visuospatial tools and strategies. The dominant explanation for these number-space interac...
Acknowledgements Bonato, M. (2015). Unveiling residual, spontaneous recovery from subtle hemispatial neglect three years after stroke. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9:413.
Bonato, M., Priftis, K., Umiltà C. & Zorzi, M. (2013). Computer-based attention-demanding testing unveils severe neglect in apparently intact patients. Behavioural Neurology,...
The search for the cognitive determinants of mathematical skill has a long history. For some time it has been thought that mathematical proficiency is not determined by a single unique underlying cognitive factor but by multiple cognitive components such as memory, spatial processing or executive function. Yet it remains unclear exactly what these...
Selective attention is not limited to information that is physically present in the external world, but can also operate on mental representations in the internal world. However, it is not known whether the mechanisms of attentional selection operate in similar fashions in physical and mental space. We studied the spatial distributions of attention...
Selective attention is not limited to information that is physically present in the external world, but can also operate on mental representations in the internal world. However, it is not known whether the mechanisms of attentional selection operate in similar fashions in physical and mental space. We studied the spatial distributions of attention...
Working memory refers to an intriguing and essential problem in cognitive science: How does the brain succeed in maintaining information for certain duration and perform mental operations on the stored information? An important avenue in tackling this issue stems from the relatively well-defined domain of selective attention. The role of selective...
For statistical analysis of event related potentials (ERPs), there are convincing arguments against averaging across stimuli or subjects. Multivariate filters can be used to isolate an ERP component of interest without the averaging procedure. However, we would like to have certainty that the output of the filter accurately represents the component...
This book provides a comprehensive overview of numerical cognition by bringing together writing by leading researchers in psychology, neuroscience, and education, covering work using different methodological approaches in humans and animals. During the last decade there had been an explosion of studies and new findings with theoretical and translat...
Mechanisms of Selective Attention in Visual Working Memory:
Distributing Attention in Mental and Physical Space
Muhammet Ikbal Sahan 1*, Tom Verguts ¹, C N. Boehler ¹ and Wim Fias ¹
• 1 Ghent University, Experimental Psychology, Belgium
Selective attention is not limited to physical information in the external world, but it can also be employed o...
[1] Bullmore E, Sporns O. 2009 Complex brain networks: graph theoretical analysis of structural and functional systems. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 10, 186–198. (doi:10.1038/nrn2618)
[2] Honey CJ, Kötter R, Breakspear M, Sporns O (2007) Network structure of cerebral cortex shapes functional connectivity on multiple time scales. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104...
It has been proposed that the metrics of space, time and other magnitudes relevant for action are coupled through a generalized magnitude system that also contribute to number representation. Several studies capitalized on stimulus-response compatibility effects to show that numbers map onto left-right representations and grasp representations as a...
Most general theories on serial order working memory (WM) assume the existence of position markers that are bound to the to-be-remembered items to keep track of the serial order. So far, the exact cognitive/neural characteristics of these markers have remained largely underspecified, while direct empirical evidence for their existence is mostly lac...
Various prominent models on serial order coding in working memory (WM) build on the notion that serial order is achieved by binding the various items to-be-maintained to fixed position markers. Despite being relatively successful in accounting for empirical observations and some recent neuro-imaging support, these models were largely formulated on...
Inhibiting actions when they are no longer appropriate is essential for adaptive goal-directed behavior. In this study, we used high-density EEG and a standard flanker task to explore the spatiotemporal dynamics of cognitive control and inhibitory mechanisms aimed to prevent the commission of errors. By recording hand-related electromyographic acti...