Talk Session I

Executive functions are a hallmark of human cognition. These functions, including working memory and cognitive control, rely upon a healthy, intact prefrontal cortex. Working memory and cognitive control deficits—along with frontal lobe dysfunction—are observed in diseases such as ADHD and autism, which are the developmental disorders most strongly associated with executive functioning (as indexed by brainSCANr.com). Despite decades of research on executive functioning little is known about its societal importance or relevance. Here we analyze data from Lumosity, an online suite of cognitive tasks. Using data from over 300,000 unique participants playing either an n-back working memory task or a Flanker cognitive control task, we examine how state-by-state differences in executive functioning relate to a variety of societal, cognitive, and mental health factors. We find that working memory from 314,893 unique participants clusters with IQ, health, high school graduation rate, and addiction levels whereas cognitive control and reaction time from 312,821 unique participants cluster with car accident fatalities and ADHD. These results demonstrate the potential for massive online data collection to bridge public health and policy, behavior, neuroscience, and psychology via population-wide inquiries into cognitive functioning.