1
|
Wagovich SA, Threlkeld K, Tigner L, Anderson JD. Mental state verb use in play by preschool-age children who stutter and their mothers. JOURNAL OF FLUENCY DISORDERS 2024; 80:106059. [PMID: 38640516 DOI: 10.1016/j.jfludis.2024.106059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2024] [Revised: 03/24/2024] [Accepted: 04/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/21/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Preschool-age children use mental state verbs (MSVs; e.g., think, know) to reference thoughts and other cognitive states. In play-based language, MSV use requires conversational flexibility, as speakers shift from discussion of actions happening in the here-and-now to more abstract discussion of mental states. Some evidence suggests that children who stutter (CWS) demonstrate subtle differences in shifting on experimental tasks of cognitive flexibility, differences which may extend to conversational flexibility. This study explored MSV use in conversational language between CWS and their mothers. METHODS Thirty-five preschool-age CWS and 35 age- and gender-matched children who do not stutter (CWNS), all performing within the typical range on standardized language testing, conversed with their mothers during play. Samples were transcribed and coded for MSV use. RESULTS No between-group differences were observed in MSV use, either between the CWS and CWNS or between the groups of mothers. Age and language skills were positively associated with MSV use in the CWNS group only. For both groups of dyads, mothers' MSV use corresponded at least to some extent to their children's language skills. Finally, correspondence between CWNS and their mothers was observed for two conversational language measures, representing lexical diversity and morphosyntax; this overall pattern was not observed in the CWS dyad group. CONCLUSIONS Although these findings point to similar use of MSVs among the groups of children and their mothers, for the CWS group, the patterns of use in relation to age and language skills are somewhat different from developmental expectations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Stacy A Wagovich
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, USA; Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Missouri, USA.
| | - Katie Threlkeld
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Missouri, USA
| | - Lauren Tigner
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Missouri, USA
| | - Julie D Anderson
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Patwardhan I, Gordon C, Mason WA. Trajectories of cognitive flexibility through kindergarten and first grade: Implications for externalizing and internalizing behavior problems in the second grade. Dev Psychol 2023; 59:1794-1806. [PMID: 37768615 PMCID: PMC10544856 DOI: 10.1037/dev0001597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/29/2023]
Abstract
Developmental delays in cognitive flexibility early in elementary school can potentially increase vulnerability for subsequent externalizing and internalizing psychopathology. The first goal of the current study was to identify latent subgroups of children characterized by different developmental trajectories of cognitive flexibility throughout kindergarten and first grade using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 dataset. The second goal was to examine whether identified longitudinal developmental trajectories of cognitive flexibility could be associated with internalizing and externalizing behaviors in the second grade, while accounting for background child (age, gender, and Spanish-speaking) and family (family income and mother's education) covariates. The analytic sample consisted of 15,827 kindergarteners (51.20% male; 48.50% White, 13.5% Black/African American, 24.3% Hispanic/Latino, 7.60% Asian, and 6.1% other), who were approximately 5.62 years old (SD = 4.48 months) at the study's outset. Most children lived in households with medium family income of approximately $50,000-$55,000. Using a growth mixture modeling approach, our analyses identified normative (91.05%; 50.4% male) and delayed (8.95%; 59.4% male) cognitive flexibility groups and demonstrated that delayed developers have higher levels of externalizing and internalizing behaviors in the second grade, even after adjusting for background covariates. Our findings, in conjunction with research on cognitive flexibility training, suggest that caregivers may lower the risk for externalizing and internalizing behaviors in delayed developers by correcting inflexible thinking, encouraging alternative solutions, and providing emotional support when children face challenging problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Irina Patwardhan
- Boys Town Translational Research Center for Child and Family Studies, 14015 Flanagan Blvd #202, Boys Town, NE 68010 US
| | - Chanelle Gordon
- Boys Town Translational Research Center for Child and Family Studies, 14015 Flanagan Blvd #202, Boys Town, NE 68010 US
| | - W. Alex Mason
- Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 66 N. Pauline St., suite 637, Memphis, TN, 38163
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Niebaum JC, Munakata Y. Why doesn't executive function training improve academic achievement? Rethinking individual differences, relevance, and engagement from a contextual framework. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2022; 24:241-259. [PMID: 37457760 PMCID: PMC10348702 DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2022.2160723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Performance on lab assessments of executive functions predicts academic achievement and other positive life outcomes. A primary goal of research on executive functions has been to design interventions that improve outcomes like academic achievement by improving executive functions. These interventions typically involve extensive practice on abstract lab-based tasks and lead to improvements on these practiced tasks. However, interventions rarely improve performance on non-practiced tasks and rarely benefit outcomes like academic achievement. Contemporary frameworks of executive function development suggest that executive functions develop and are engaged within personal, social, historical, and cultural contexts. Abstract lab-based tasks do not well-capture the real-world contexts that require executive functions and should not be expected to provide generalized benefits outside of the lab. We propose a perspective for understanding individual differences in performance on executive function assessments that focuses on contextual influences on executive functions. We extend this contextual approach to training executive function engagement, rather than training executive functions directly. First, interventions should incorporate task content that is contextually relevant to the targeted outcome. Second, interventions should encourage engaging executive functions through reinforcement and contextual relevance, which may better translate to real-world outcomes than training executive functions directly. While such individualized executive functions interventions do not address systemic factors that greatly impact outcomes like academic achievement, given the extensive resources devoted to improving executive functions, we hypothesize that interventions designed to encourage children's engagement of executive functions hold more promise for impacting real-world outcomes than interventions designed to improve executive function capacities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Yuko Munakata
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Global Cognitive Functioning versus Controlled Functioning throughout the Stages of Development. Symmetry (Basel) 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/sym12121952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
According to the All or None Hypothesis (Diamond, 2009), the cognitive system can operate in a global manner that is not very discriminate or in a more discriminate mode that demands greater precision, control, and cognitive effort. There are five corollaries to this hypothesis that describe, in an operative way, the conditions under which the controlled mode of functioning in the cognitive domain can be activated and thus tested. Given the impact this theory has generated and the absence of studies analyzing the corollaries in a collective and systematic way at different stages of development, this study was proposed, first of all, to test three of these corollaries in children, adolescents and adults and, secondly, to analyze the changes in the controlled mode of functioning during these three stages of development. To this end, the Fingers Task, a modified version of Arrows Task (with two rules: response ipsilateral where the stimulus is presented, symmetry; and response contralateral, asymmetry), was administered to a sample of 123 participants (43 children, 44 adolescents, and 36 adults). In general, the results verify the corollaries and identify the changes that the controlled mode of functioning experiences at different stages of development.
Collapse
|
5
|
Anderson JD, Wagovich SA, Ofoe L. Cognitive Flexibility for Semantic and Perceptual Information in Developmental Stuttering. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2020; 63:3659-3679. [PMID: 33108236 PMCID: PMC8582833 DOI: 10.1044/2020_jslhr-19-00119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2019] [Revised: 02/13/2020] [Accepted: 08/16/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine cognitive flexibility for semantic and perceptual information in preschool children who stutter (CWS) and who do not stutter (CWNS). Method Participants were 44 CWS and 44 CWNS between the ages of 3;0 and 5;11 (years;months). Cognitive flexibility was measured using semantic and perceptual categorization tasks. In each task, children were required to match a target object with two different semantic or perceptual associates. Main dependent variables were reaction time and accuracy. Results The accuracy with which CWS and CWNS shifted between one semantic and perceptual representation to another was similar, but the CWS did so significantly more slowly. Both groups of children had more difficulty switching between perceptual representations than semantic ones. Conclusion CWS are less efficient (slower), though not less accurate, than CWNS in their ability to switch between different representations in both the verbal and nonverbal domains.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julie D. Anderson
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington
| | - Stacy A. Wagovich
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia
| | - Levi Ofoe
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Fitamen C, Blaye A, Camos V. Five-Year-Old Children's Working Memory Can Be Improved When Children Act On A Transparent Goal Cue. Sci Rep 2019; 9:15342. [PMID: 31653944 PMCID: PMC6814763 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-51869-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Working memory is a key component of human cognition and its development throughout childhood a major predictor of cognitive development and school achievement. Noticeably, preschoolers exhibit poor performance in working memory tasks. The present study aimed at testing different means to improve working memory performance in preschoolers. To this aim, we tested the effect of abstract and transparent goal cues in a Brown-Peterson task performed by 4- and 5-year-old preschoolers. If the transparent goal cue helps to better maintain the instructions, it should lead to better memory performance. Moreover, preschoolers had to track, either visually or with their fingers, the goal cue during the retention interval. If the motor activity favors the active engagement of the children in the task, the finger tracking should lead to improvement in memory performance. Our findings were that 5-year-old children benefitted from a transparent goal cue when they acted on it, while 4-year-old children did not show any improvement. These results suggest that working memory performance can be improved in 5-year-old children when the task embeds elements that can scaffold the task goal.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Fitamen
- Université de Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland. .,Université d'Aix-Marseille & CNRS-LPC, Marseille, France.
| | - Agnès Blaye
- Université d'Aix-Marseille & CNRS-LPC, Marseille, France
| | | |
Collapse
|
7
|
Anderson JD, Ofoe LC. The Role of Executive Function in Developmental Stuttering. Semin Speech Lang 2019; 40:305-319. [PMID: 31311055 DOI: 10.1055/s-0039-1692965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Developmental stuttering is a complex disorder and children who stutter form a heterogeneous group. Most contemporary researchers would agree that multiple factors, including those associated with linguistic, motor, sensory, and emotional processes, are likely involved in its development and/or maintenance. There is growing evidence, however, that cognitive processes also play a role. In this article, we briefly review behavioral and parent-report studies of executive function in children who stutter, the findings of which have generally suggested that these skills may be challenging for at least some children who stutter. We then consider how deficits in executive function could provide an explanatory account for not only the multifactorial nature of developmental stuttering but also the considerable amount of variability that exists among individuals who stutter.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julie D Anderson
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
| | - Levi C Ofoe
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Lange F, Kip A, Klein T, Müller D, Seer C, Kopp B. Effects of rule uncertainty on cognitive flexibility in a card-sorting paradigm. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2018; 190:53-64. [PMID: 30015136 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2018] [Revised: 07/03/2018] [Accepted: 07/04/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive flexibility has been studied in two separate research traditions. Neuropsychologists typically rely on rather complex assessment tools such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). In contrast, task-switching paradigms are used in experimental psychology to obtain more specific measures of cognitive flexibility. We aim to contribute to the integration of these research traditions by examining the role of the key factor that differs between the WCST and experimental task-switching paradigms: rule uncertainty. In two experimental studies, we manipulated the degree of rule uncertainty after rule switches in a computerized version of the WCST. Across a variety of task parameters, reducing rule uncertainty consistently impaired the speed and accuracy of responses when the rule designated to be more likely turned out to be incorrect. Other performance measures such as the number of perseverative errors were not significantly affected by rule uncertainty. We conclude that a fine-grained analysis of WCST performance can dissociate behavioural indicators that are affected vs. unaffected by rule uncertainty. By this means, it is possible to integrate WCST results and findings obtained from task-switching paradigms that do not involve rule uncertainty.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Florian Lange
- Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; Behavioral Engineering Research Group, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Ahlke Kip
- Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Tabea Klein
- Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Dorothea Müller
- Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Caroline Seer
- Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; Movement Control & Neuroplasticity Research Group, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Bruno Kopp
- Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Effect of Mini-Trampoline Physical Activity on Executive Functions in Preschool Children. BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2018; 2018:2712803. [PMID: 29862258 PMCID: PMC5971292 DOI: 10.1155/2018/2712803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2018] [Revised: 03/18/2018] [Accepted: 04/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The study investigated the effect of mini-trampoline physical activity on the development of executive functions (EF) in Chinese preschool children. Fifty-seven children aged 3–5 were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 29) and a control group (n = 28). The children in the intervention and control group had the same classes and care service in the preschool, but children in the intervention group had an extra 20 min of trampoline training after school for 5 school days per week in the 10-week intervention. Spatial conflict arrow (SCA), animal Go/NoGo (GNG), working memory span (WMS), and flexible item selection (FIS) were used to assess children's EF before and after the intervention. Results revealed that no significant differences emerged in the SCA, GNG, WMS, and FIS tests between two groups postintervention. Findings indicated that a 10-week trampoline PA training may not be sufficient to trigger the improvement of preschool children's EF. Future research with larger representative samples is warranted to discern the dose-response evidence in enhancing young children's EF through physical activity.
Collapse
|
10
|
Peng A, Kirkham NZ, Mareschal D. Task switching costs in preschool children and adults. J Exp Child Psychol 2018; 172:59-72. [PMID: 29587131 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.01.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2017] [Revised: 01/25/2018] [Accepted: 01/29/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Past research investigating cognitive flexibility has shown that preschool children make many perseverative errors in tasks that require switching between different sets of rules. However, this inflexibility might not necessarily hold with easier tasks. The current study investigated the developmental differences in cognitive flexibility using a task-switching procedure that compared reaction times and accuracy in 4- and 6-year-olds with those in adults. The experiment involved simple target detection tasks and was intentionally designed in a way that the stimulus and response conflicts were minimal together with a long preparation window. Global mixing costs (performance costs when multiple tasks are relevant in a context), and local switch costs (performance costs due to switching to an alternative task) are typically thought to engage endogenous control processes. If this is the case, we should observe developmental differences with both of these costs. Our results show, however, that when the accuracy was good, there were no age differences in cognitive flexibility (i.e., the ability to manage multiple tasks and to switch between tasks) between children and adults. Even though preschool children had slower reaction times and were less accurate, the mixing and switch costs associated with task switching were not reliably larger for preschool children. Preschool children did, however, show more commission errors and greater response repetition effects than adults, which may reflect differences in inhibitory control.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anna Peng
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck University of London, London WC1E 7HX, UK.
| | - Natasha Z Kirkham
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck University of London, London WC1E 7HX, UK
| | - Denis Mareschal
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck University of London, London WC1E 7HX, UK
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Ansell JM, Wouldes TA, Harding JE. Executive function assessment in New Zealand 2-year olds born at risk of neonatal hypoglycemia. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0188158. [PMID: 29166407 PMCID: PMC5699811 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2017] [Accepted: 11/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A growing number of babies are born with perinatal risk factors that may impair later development. These children are often assessed at 2 years to help predict outcome and direct support services. Executive function is an important predictor of academic achievement and behavior, but there are limited assessments of executive function in 2-year-olds and few have been tested in at-risk populations. Therefore, we developed a battery of four age-appropriate tasks to assess executive function in 2-year-olds. At 24 months’ corrected age 368 children completed tasks assessing attention, inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility. Scores on different tasks were weakly correlated, suggesting that they measured separate aspects of executive function, with combined scores for this cohort approximating a normal distribution. Significantly more boys (67%) than girls (57%) were unable to inhibit their behavior on the Snack Delay Task and girls (M = 3.24, SD = 2.4) had higher mean scores than boys (M = 2.7, SD = 2.7) on the Ducks and Buckets Reverse Categorization Task of working memory. Performance was significantly affected by family socioeconomic status. Mean scores were lower on all four individual tasks and on the global score of overall performance in children from a low household income (<$40,000) compared to those from medium ($40,001-$70,000) and high income households (>$70,001). Maternal education was only associated with scores on the working memory task and the global score; and a measure of neighborhood deprivation was only associated with scores on the two inhibitory tasks and the global score. Our findings confirm the feasibility of assessing executive function in 2-year-olds, and its ability to discriminate effects of socioeconomic status, a common confounder in child development research. Further development and standardization of this test battery comparing at-risk children with a normative population would provide a much-needed measure of executive function in early childhood.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Judith M. Ansell
- Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Trecia A. Wouldes
- Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- * E-mail:
| | - Jane E. Harding
- Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | | |
Collapse
|
12
|
Gohil K, Bluschke A, Roessner V, Stock A, Beste C. Sensory processes modulate differences in multi-component behavior and cognitive control between childhood and adulthood. Hum Brain Mapp 2017; 38:4933-4945. [PMID: 28660637 PMCID: PMC6867046 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2017] [Revised: 06/09/2017] [Accepted: 06/18/2017] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Many everyday tasks require executive functions to achieve a certain goal. Quite often, this requires the integration of information derived from different sensory modalities. Children are less likely to integrate information from different modalities and, at the same time, also do not command fully developed executive functions, as compared to adults. Yet still, the role of developmental age-related effects on multisensory integration processes has not been examined within the context of multicomponent behavior until now (i.e., the concatenation of different executive subprocesses). This is problematic because differences in multisensory integration might actually explain a significant amount of the developmental effects that have traditionally been attributed to changes in executive functioning. In a system, neurophysiological approach combining electroencephaloram (EEG) recordings and source localization analyses, we therefore examined this question. The results show that differences in how children and adults accomplish multicomponent behavior do not solely depend on developmental differences in executive functioning. Instead, the observed developmental differences in response selection processes (reflected by the P3 ERP) were largely dependent on the complexity of integrating temporally separated stimuli from different modalities. This effect was related to activation differences in medial frontal and inferior parietal cortices. Primary perceptual gating or attentional selection processes (P1 and N1 ERPs) were not affected. The results show that differences in multisensory integration explain parts of transformations in cognitive processes between childhood and adulthood that have traditionally been attributed to changes in executive functioning, especially when these require the integration of multiple modalities during response selection. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4933-4945, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Krutika Gohil
- Department of Child and Adolescent PsychiatryFaculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Cognitive NeurophysiologyGermany
| | - Annet Bluschke
- Department of Child and Adolescent PsychiatryFaculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Cognitive NeurophysiologyGermany
| | - Veit Roessner
- Department of Child and Adolescent PsychiatryFaculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Cognitive NeurophysiologyGermany
| | - Ann‐Kathrin Stock
- Department of Child and Adolescent PsychiatryFaculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Cognitive NeurophysiologyGermany
| | - Christian Beste
- Department of Child and Adolescent PsychiatryFaculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Cognitive NeurophysiologyGermany
- Experimental Neurobiology, National Institute of Mental HealthKlecanyCzech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Abstract
Emerging executive function in childhood, one of the main predictors of major life success, is goal-directed in nature. Yet children’s ability to identify goals (i.e., what should be done) has been underresearched, often because of implicit assumptions that it is trivial even in early childhood. In contrast, I review evidence for goal identification as a major force behind developing executive function. Both increasing attention to environmental cues and increased goal inferencing from these cues drive goal-identification improvement with age. This framework has important implications for assessing and supporting executive function in childhood.
Collapse
|
14
|
Chevalier N. The Development of Executive Function: Toward More Optimal Coordination of Control With Age. CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/cdep.12138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
|
15
|
Barker JE, Semenov AD, Michaelson L, Provan LS, Snyder HR, Munakata Y. Less-structured time in children's daily lives predicts self-directed executive functioning. Front Psychol 2014; 5:593. [PMID: 25071617 PMCID: PMC4060299 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2014] [Accepted: 05/27/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Executive functions (EFs) in childhood predict important life outcomes. Thus, there is great interest in attempts to improve EFs early in life. Many interventions are led by trained adults, including structured training activities in the lab, and less-structured activities implemented in schools. Such programs have yielded gains in children's externally-driven executive functioning, where they are instructed on what goal-directed actions to carry out and when. However, it is less clear how children's experiences relate to their development of self-directed executive functioning, where they must determine on their own what goal-directed actions to carry out and when. We hypothesized that time spent in less-structured activities would give children opportunities to practice self-directed executive functioning, and lead to benefits. To investigate this possibility, we collected information from parents about their 6–7 year-old children's daily, annual, and typical schedules. We categorized children's activities as “structured” or “less-structured” based on categorization schemes from prior studies on child leisure time use. We assessed children's self-directed executive functioning using a well-established verbal fluency task, in which children generate members of a category and can decide on their own when to switch from one subcategory to another. The more time that children spent in less-structured activities, the better their self-directed executive functioning. The opposite was true of structured activities, which predicted poorer self-directed executive functioning. These relationships were robust (holding across increasingly strict classifications of structured and less-structured time) and specific (time use did not predict externally-driven executive functioning). We discuss implications, caveats, and ways in which potential interpretations can be distinguished in future work, to advance an understanding of this fundamental aspect of growing up.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jane E Barker
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Andrei D Semenov
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Laura Michaelson
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Lindsay S Provan
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Hannah R Snyder
- Department of Psychology, University of Denver Denver, CO, USA
| | - Yuko Munakata
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO, USA
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Lucenet J, Blaye A. Age-related changes in the temporal dynamics of executive control: a study in 5- and 6-year-old children. Front Psychol 2014; 5:831. [PMID: 25120523 PMCID: PMC4114259 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2014] [Accepted: 07/12/2014] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Based on the Dual Mechanisms of Control theory (Braver et al., 2007), this study conducted in 5- and 6-year-olds, tested for a possible shift between two modes of control, proactive vs. reactive, which differ in the way goal information is retrieved and maintained in working memory. To this end, we developed a children-adapted version of the AX-Continuous-Performance Task (AX-CPT). Twenty-nine 5-year-olds and 28-6-year-olds performed the task in both low and high working-memory load conditions (corresponding, respectively, to a short and a long cue-probe delay). Analyses suggested that a qualitative change in the mode of control occurs within the 5-year-old group. However, quantitative, more graded changes were also observed both within the 5-year-olds, and between 5 and 6 years of age. These graded changes demonstrated an increasing efficiency in proactive control with age. The increase in working memory load did not impact the type of dynamics of control, but had a detrimental effect on sensitivity to cue information. These findings highlight that the development of the temporal dynamics of control can be characterized by a shift from reactive to proactive control together with a more protracted and gradual improvement in the efficiency of proactive control. Moreover, the question of whether the observed shift in the mode of control is task dependant is debated.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joanna Lucenet
- CNRS, Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, UMR 7290, Aix-Marseille UniversitéMarseille, France
| | | |
Collapse
|
17
|
Chevalier N, Blaye A, Maintenant C. La représentation du but dans le contrôle exécutif chez l’enfant. PSYCHOLOGIE FRANCAISE 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.psfr.2013.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
|
18
|
Chevalier N, Huber KL, Wiebe SA, Espy KA. Qualitative change in executive control during childhood and adulthood. Cognition 2013; 128:1-12. [PMID: 23562979 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.02.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2012] [Revised: 02/17/2013] [Accepted: 02/19/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Executive control development typically has been conceptualized to result from quantitative changes in the efficiency of the underlying processes. In contrast, the present study addressed the possibility of qualitative change with age by examining how children and adults detect task switches. Participants in three age groups (5- and 10-year-old children, young adults) completed two conditions of a cued task-switching paradigm where task cues were presented either in isolation or in conjunction with transition cues. Five-year-olds performed better with transition cues, whereas the reverse effect was observed at age 10 and with adults. Unlike 5-year-olds who detect switches after semantically processing cues, older participants strategically detect switches based on perceptual processing only. Age-related qualitative changes promote increasingly optimal adjustment of executive resources with age.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Chevalier
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0345, United States.
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
19
|
Chatham CH, Yerys BE, Munakata Y. Why won't you do what I want? The informative failures of children and models. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2012; 27:349-366. [PMID: 24453404 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2012.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Computational models are powerful tools - too powerful, according to some. We argue that the idea that models can "do anything" is wrong, and describe how their failures have been informative. We present new work showing surprising diversity in the effects of feedback on children's task-switching, such that some children perseverate despite this feedback, other children switch as instructed, and yet others play an "opposites" game without truly switching to the newly-instructed task. We present simulations that demonstrate the failure of an otherwise-successful neural network model to capture this failure of children. Simulating this pattern motivates the inclusion of updating mechanisms that make contact with a growing literature on frontostriatal function, despite their absence in extant theories of the development of cognitive flexibility. We argue from this and other examples that computational models are more constrained than is typically acknowledged, and that their resulting failures can be theoretically illuminating.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christopher H Chatham
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence RI, USA
| | - Benjamin E Yerys
- Department of Neurosciences, Children's National Medical Center, George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington DC, USA
| | - Yuko Munakata
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder CO, USA
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Dauvier B, Chevalier N, Blaye A. Using finite mixture of GLMs to explore variability in children's flexibility in a task-switching paradigm. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2012.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
|