Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Lateralization

Lateralization

Brain lateralization refers to the division of mental processes and functions between the two hemispheres of the brain, a phenomenon that optimizes neural efficiency and underpins complex abilities in humans. This specialization allows each hemisphere to perform tasks where it has a comparative advantage, facilitating more refined cognitive capabilities across different domains.

Functionalism

Functionalism

William James, John Dewey, and Charles Sanders Peirce were instrumental in founding functional psychology, which draws heavily from Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. This theory suggests that individual traits, including behaviors, are adapted to their environments through natural selection. At the heart of functionalism is the concept of adaptation, meaning that a trait enhances an individual's chances of survival and reproduction.
James envisioned psychology's role as...

Case Studies

Case Studies

There are many research methods available to psychologists in their efforts to understand, describe, and explain behavior and the cognitive and biological processes that underlie it.

Cultural Influences on Personality

Cultural Influences on Personality

Individualist and collectivist cultures emphasize different core values, shaping personality in distinct ways. In individualist cultures, such as those in the United States, England, and Australia, people prioritize independence, competition, and personal achievement. These societies tend to promote self-focused traits, with individuals often reporting higher levels of self-esteem. In contrast, collectivist cultures, commonly found in regions like Asia, Africa, and South America, emphasize...

Language and Cognition

Language and Cognition

Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.

The Role of Culture

The Role of Culture

Culture plays a crucial role in shaping self-identity and influencing thought and behavior, a foundational interest within social psychology. The multicultural perspective recognizes that individuals do not exist in a vacuum; instead, their experiences, perceptions, and actions are deeply influenced by the intersecting dimensions of their cultural, ethnic, and social group affiliations.Cultural Influence on Self-Identity and Social PerceptionCultural frameworks inform how individuals define...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Knowing what you feel matters: Emotion differentiation impacts climate-related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.

Journal of environmental psychology·2026

Same author

Threats to sense of control: Triggers for acute emotional responses in obsessive-compulsive personality symptomatology.

Journal of affective disorders·2026

Same author

Age-related differences in the lexical priming effect can be predominantly attributed to differences in response bias.

Psychology and aging·2026

Same author

The Impact of Personality and Lifestyle Change on Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Collabra. Psychology·2026

Same author

Efficacy of Coping with Negative Affect via Alcohol Use Pre- and Post Acute Stress.

Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)·2025

Same author

Genetic risk for alcohol use disorder in relation to individual symptom criteria: Do polygenic indices provide unique information for understanding severity and heterogeneity?

Addiction (Abingdon, England)·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 26, 2026

Measuring the Functional Abilities of Children Aged 3-6 Years Old with Observational Methods and Computer Tools

Measuring the Functional Abilities of Children Aged 3-6 Years Old with Observational Methods and Computer Tools

Published on: June 20, 2020

What can individual differences tell us about the specialization of function?

Cristina D Rabaglia¹, Gary F Marcus, Sean P Lane

¹Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA. rabaglia@nyu.edu

Cognitive Neuropsychology

|December 22, 2011

Summary

Individual differences in cognitive abilities show a positive manifold, meaning they are positively correlated. This study suggests neural overlap, not a general factor, explains this, reconciling individual differences with cognitive modularity.

More Related Videos

Utilizing Electroencephalography Measurements for Comparison of Task-Specific Neural Efficiencies: Spatial Intelligence Tasks

Utilizing Electroencephalography Measurements for Comparison of Task-Specific Neural Efficiencies: Spatial Intelligence Tasks

Published on: August 9, 2016

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Published on: October 13, 2023

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 26, 2026

Measuring the Functional Abilities of Children Aged 3-6 Years Old with Observational Methods and Computer Tools

Measuring the Functional Abilities of Children Aged 3-6 Years Old with Observational Methods and Computer Tools

Published on: June 20, 2020

Utilizing Electroencephalography Measurements for Comparison of Task-Specific Neural Efficiencies: Spatial Intelligence Tasks

Utilizing Electroencephalography Measurements for Comparison of Task-Specific Neural Efficiencies: Spatial Intelligence Tasks

Published on: August 9, 2016

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Published on: October 13, 2023

Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Psychology
Neuroscience

Background:

Individual differences in cognitive abilities are consistently found to be positively intercorrelated, a phenomenon known as positive manifold.
This positive manifold has traditionally been interpreted as evidence for a domain-general cognitive factor, challenging theories of cognitive modularity.
Understanding the origins of positive manifold is crucial for debates on brain function specialization.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the underlying mechanisms of positive manifold in cognitive abilities.
To determine whether positive manifold challenges or can be reconciled with cognitive modularity theories.
To explore the role of neural overlap in explaining individual differences across cognitive domains.

Main Methods:

Meta-analysis of existing studies on individual cognitive differences.
Computer simulations to model the effects of neural overlap.
Analysis of intercorrelations between various cognitive tasks.

Main Results:

Positive manifold largely arises from between-task neural overlap, rather than a single domain-general factor.
Neural overlap provides a plausible explanation for the observed positive correlations across diverse cognitive domains.
The findings suggest that modularity of function is compatible with observed individual differences.

Conclusions:

The study reconciles the finding of positive manifold with theories of cognitive modularity.
Neural overlap is proposed as the primary driver of positive manifold.
Individual differences research can inform and coexist with modularity debates in cognitive science.