The relationship between executive functioning and language: Examining vocabulary, syntax, and language learning in preschoolers attending Head Start

Executive functions in children with developmental language disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

The purpose of the current study was to assess the differences between children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and typically developing (TD) children in their performance of executive functions from working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility.

Methods

We performed a systematical search of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, and Web of Science for case control studies (published in English between January 1, 1950, and October 11, 2023) comparing the differences in the performance of executive functions between DLD and TD children.

Results

Forty eligible studies were included in the present study (N = 3,168 participants). In comparison with TD children, DLD children exhibited significantly poorer performances in all six verbal working memory tasks (backward digit recall task, SMD -1.4321, 95% CI -2.2692 to -0.5950; listening recall task, SMD -1.4469, 95% CI -1.7737 to -1.1202; counting recall task, SMD -0.9192, 95% CI -1.4089 to -0.4295; digit recall task, SMD -1.2321, 95% CI -1.4397 to -1.0244; word list recall task, SMD -1.1375, 95% CI -1.5579 to -0.7171; non-word recall task, SMD -1.5355, 95% CI -1.8122 to -1.2589). However, regarding inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility, the differences between DLD and TD children depended on specific circumstances. In subgroup analyses of all verbal working memory tasks, DLD children presented notably lower performance than TD children in both the monolingual English and monolingual non-English groups, and in both the preschooler and school-aged groups.

Conclusion

This study proves that verbal working memory deficits can be seen as a marker for children with DLD and are not affected by age or language type.

Systematic Review Registration

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=391070, CRD42023391070.

Cognitive Distancing Language in Parent-Child Book Sharing Among Low-Income Mexican American and Chinese American Families: Cultural Group Comparisons and Links to Children's Executive Functions

Research Findings

In the context of parent-child book sharing, cultural influences on cognitive distancing language and its associations with child executive function (EF) have been understudied. This study examined cultural group similarities/differences in parent and child book-sharing distancing language among preschool-aged dual language learners from low-income Mexican American (MA) and Chinese American (CA) families. We further tested concurrent relations between parent/child distancing language and children's EF. The sample consisted of 88 children (45 MAs, 43 CAs, age = 38-68 months) enrolled in Head Start preschools and their parents. To assess distancing language, utterances were coded for cognitive demand and classified as referential (low demand), behavioral (moderate demand), or inferential (high demand). Cognitive tasks tapping inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility were used to assess child EF. Results showed parents and children from both cultural groups produced comparable numbers of story-related utterances. MA dyads used higher proportions of parent/child inferential statements and a lower proportion of parent referential questions. The proportions of parent behavioral questions and child behavioral statements were positively related to child cognitive flexibility.

Practice or Policy

Findings highlight heterogeneity in parent-child verbal interactions among low-income multilingual families and have implications for promoting preschoolers' cognitive/language development in diverse populations.

[Formula: see text] Environmental predictors of children's executive functioning development

Executive functioning (EF) abilities develop through childhood, but this development can be impacted by various psychosocial environmental influences. Using longitudinal data from the Health Outcome and Measures of the Environment (HOME) Study, a prospective pregnancy and birth cohort study, we examined if psychosocial environmental factors were significant predictors of EF development. Study participants comprised 271 children and their primary caregivers (98.5% mothers) followed from birth to age 12. We identified four distinct EF developmental trajectory groups comprising a consistently impaired group (13.3%), a descending impairment group (27.7%), an ascending impairment group (9.95%), and a consistently not impaired group (49.1%). Higher levels of maternal ADHD and relational frustration appear to be risk factors for increased EF difficulty over time, while higher family income may serve as a protective factor delaying predisposed EF impairment. Important intervention targets might include teaching positive and effective parenting strategies to mothers whose children are at risk for EF dysfunction.

From terrible twos to sassy sixes: The development of vocabulary and executive functioning across early childhood

Across the early childhood period of development, young children exhibit considerable growth in their executive functioning (EF) and vocabulary abilities. Understanding the developmental trajectory of these seemingly interrelated processes is important as both early vocabulary and EF have been shown to predict critical academic and socio-emotional outcomes later in childhood. Although previous research suggests that EF and vocabulary are correlated in early childhood, much of the existing longitudinal research has focused on unidirectional relations among preschool child samples. The current large-scale study, therefore, sought to examine whether children's vocabulary and EF abilities are bidirectionally related over time across four measurement waves in early childhood (i.e., at ages 2, 3, 4, and 6). At each timepoint, children's vocabulary skills were positively correlated with their concurrent EF abilities. After controlling for child sex and maternal education status, the best-fitting, cross-lagged panel model was a unidirectional model whereby children's early vocabulary scores predicted their later EF performance at each timepoint. Although age 2 EF significantly predicted age 3 vocabulary size, this association was no longer significant after accounting for maternal education status. Our results illustrate that vocabulary size plays an important role in predicting children's later EF performance across various timepoints in early childhood, even after controlling for children's initial EF scores. These findings have important implications for intervention research as fostering early vocabulary acquisition may serve as a possible avenue for improving EF outcomes in young children. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Children's vocabulary size is positively correlated with their concurrent executive functioning skill at ages 2, 3, 4, and 6 Young children's early vocabulary scores predict their later EF performance across measurement waves, even after controlling for initial EF skill There is stability in children's relative vocabulary size and executive functioning performance over time in early childhood.

Nonverbal Executive Functioning in Relation to Vocabulary and Morphosyntax in Preschool Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder

PURPOSE

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is characterized by persistent and unexplained difficulties in language development. Accumulating evidence shows that children with DLD also present with deficits in other cognitive domains, such as executive functioning (EF). There is an ongoing debate on whether exclusively verbal EF abilities are impaired in children with DLD or whether nonverbal EF is also impaired, and whether these EF impairments are related to their language difficulties. The aims of this study were to (a) compare nonverbal performance of preschoolers with DLD and typically developing (TD) peers, (b) examine how nonverbal EF and language abilities are related, and (c) investigate whether a diagnosis of DLD moderates the relationship between EF and language abilities.

METHOD

A total of 143 children (nDLD = 65, nTD = 78) participated. All children were between 3 and 6.5 years old and were monolingual Dutch. We assessed nonverbal EF with a visual selective attention task, a visuospatial short-term and working memory task, and a task gauging broad EF abilities. Vocabulary and morphosyntax were each measured with two standardized language tests. We created latent variables for EF, vocabulary, and morphosyntax.

RESULTS

Analyses showed that children with DLD were outperformed by their TD peers on all nonverbal EF tasks. Nonverbal EF abilities were related to morphosyntactic abilities in both groups, whereas a relationship between vocabulary and EF skills was found in the TD group only. These relationships were not significantly moderated by a diagnosis of DLD.

CONCLUSIONS

We found evidence for nonverbal EF impairments in preschool children with DLD. Moreover, nonverbal EF and morphosyntactic abilities were significantly related in these children. These findings may have implications for intervention and support the improvement of prognostic accuracy.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24121287.

The Language-Cognition Interface in Atypical Development: Support for an Integrative Approach

BACKGROUND

Links between the mastery of complex syntax and more general cognitive abilities (e.g., working memory [WM] and attention) are widely reported for both typically developing children and children with atypical language development, such as developmental language disorder (DLD). These observations have resulted in debates about whether the locus of breakdown in populations with known syntactic impairment is situated in a specific language system or a more general cognitive system. Recently, a hybrid model of language acquisition, the parallel combination approach (PCA), in which both domain-specific and domain-general processes contribute to language development, was put forward.

SUMMARY

Our review, which is the first to examine the validity of the PCA, compares a body of our own work investigating the language-cognition interface in various populations: children with specific learning difficulties, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and DLD. We report findings from two cross-sectional studies (studies 1 and 2), one priming study (study 3), and two training studies (studies 4 and 5). The results confirm a close link between WM, attention, and syntax, in line with domain-general approaches to language impairment. However, certain findings within this review also reveal that impaired general skills can be found alongside intact syntax, providing support for domain-specific approaches. While these results may initially appear contradictory, we argue that they are perfectly in line with the predictions made by the PCA.

KEY MESSAGES

Study 1 confirms that clinicians should assess syntax in children with specific learning difficulties to avoid the missed diagnosis of comorbid DLD. Studies 2 and 3 offer perspectives on the differential diagnosis of ADHD and DLD and highlight the advantages of using probe tests and dynamic assessment when evaluating children with suspected syntactic impairment. Studies 4 and 5 describe a novel, empirically validated WM training program that has been shown to lead to syntactic improvements in clinical markers of DLD. Finally, the PCA is also clinically relevant as it underscores that children with the same diagnostic label can present dissimilar cognitive profiles with different sources of breakdown. Collectively, the various studies highlight the intricacy of the relationship between syntax and cognition, which cannot be easily described by traditional single-disciplinary frameworks.

The longitudinal contributions of child language, negative emotionality, and maternal positive affect on toddler executive functioning development

Executive functions (EF) develop rapidly across early childhood and play a prominent role in promoting adaptive outcomes later in development. Although the existing literature suggests that the development of early EF is sensitive to the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, limited research has examined the joint contributions of multiple child and contextual factors in infancy/toddlerhood. The purpose of our longitudinal study was therefore to identify early environmental, behavioral, biologically-based factors that influence children's EF outcomes in late toddlerhood. Participants included 409 mother-child dyads (209 girls) and the data was collected across children's first three postnatal years. Parent-report measures were used to assess infant negative affectivity (5-months; IBQ-R) and toddler language (age 2; MCDI), and both maternal positive affect (5-months) and toddler frustration (age 2) were coded during mother-child interaction tasks. A battery of behavioral tasks was used to measure child EF in late toddlerhood (age 3). After controlling for maternal education (a proxy for children's socio-economic environment), path analysis indicated that both infant and maternal affect at 5-months directly predicted toddlers' language skills and frustration expression at age 2. Toddler language (but not frustration) also predicted child performance on multiple EF tasks at age 3. Finally, 5-month infant and maternal affect indirectly predicted age 3 EF via age 2 language. Our results identify language as a mechanism through which children's early caregiving environment influences their EF development. Taken together, these findings illustrate the importance of applying a biopsychosocial perspective to the examination of early childhood EF development.

How household chaos affects social withdrawal of rural children: the indirect role of executive function and receptive language ability

Executive function (EF) and receptive language ability play an important role in the relationship between household chaos and social withdrawal. Young children are neglected in household chaos research and suffer from the negative outcomes of households in China. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between household chaos and social withdrawal in young Chinese children and the chain mediating effect of EF and receptive language ability. This study included 922 preschool-age children (62.58 ± 8.03 months) and their primary caregivers and their teachers were recruited from 21 rural preschools in Guangdong Province in China. Our results show a positive direct effect of household chaos and social withdrawal. Furthermore, an indirect sequential effect of household chaos and social withdrawal on EF and receptive language ability was found. Our findings (a) highlight the significance of paying more attention to household chaos and revealing a better understanding of the effect of EF and receptive language ability on households at an early age and (b) indicate that interventions should be provided to improve the home environment when children are young.

Executive function skills account for a bilingual advantage in English novel word learning among low-income preschoolers

The current study compared economically disadvantaged bilingual and monolingual preschoolers' performance on an English novel word learning task and examined whether children's executive function (EF) skills account for differences in novel word learning performance across groups. In total, 39 English monolinguals and 35 Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers from low-income homes completed a battery of EF measures and the Quick Interactive Language Screener to gauge English novel word learning ability. Within a poverty context, bilingual preschoolers performed significantly better on measures of English novel word learning as compared with their monolingual peers. This bilingual advantage in novel word learning ability was mediated by short-term memory, but not inhibition or attention shifting, which indicates that gains in short-term memory may facilitate word learning in English for bilingual preschoolers from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. These findings have important practical implications for interventions designed to promote English vocabulary growth for low-income bilingual children.

Genome-wide association study of population-standardised cognitive performance phenotypes in a rural South African community

Cognitive function is an indicator for global physical and mental health, and cognitive impairment has been associated with poorer life outcomes and earlier mortality. A standard cognition test, adapted to a rural-dwelling African community, and the Oxford Cognition Screen-Plus were used to capture cognitive performance as five continuous traits (total cognition score, verbal episodic memory, executive function, language, and visuospatial ability) for 2,246 adults in this population of South Africans. A novel common variant, rs73485231, reached genome-wide significance for association with episodic memory using data for ~14 million markers imputed from the H3Africa genotyping array data. Window-based replication of previously implicated variants and regions of interest support the discovery of African-specific associated variants despite the small population size and low allele frequency. This African genome-wide association study identifies suggestive associations with general cognition and domain-specific cognitive pathways and lays the groundwork for further genomic studies on cognition in Africa.

Syntactic Network Analysis in Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders

BACKGROUND

Language anomalies are a hallmark feature of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD). Here, we used network analysis to examine possible differences in syntactic relations between patients with SSD and healthy controls. Moreover, we assessed their relationship with sociodemographic factors, psychotic symptoms, and cognitive functioning, and we evaluated whether the quantification of syntactic network measures has diagnostic value.

STUDY DESIGN

Using a semi-structured interview, we collected speech samples from 63 patients with SSD and 63 controls. Per sentence, a syntactic representation (ie, parse tree) was obtained and used as input for network analysis. The resulting syntactic networks were analyzed for 11 local and global network measures, which were compared between groups using multivariate analysis of covariance, considering the effects of age, sex, and education.

RESULTS

Patients with SSD and controls significantly differed on most syntactic network measures. Sex had a significant effect on syntactic measures, and there was a significant interaction between sex and group, as the anomalies in syntactic relations were most pronounced in women with SSD. Syntactic measures were correlated with negative symptoms (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale) and cognition (Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia). A random forest classifier based on the best set of network features distinguished patients from controls with 74% cross-validated accuracy.

CONCLUSIONS

Examining syntactic relations from a network perspective revealed robust differences between patients with SSD and healthy controls, especially in women. Our results support the validity of linguistic network analysis in SSD and have the potential to be used in combination with other automated language measures as a marker for SSD.

Executive Function and Narrative Language Abilities in Emergent Bilingual Preschoolers: An Exploratory Study

PURPOSE

In light of the importance of preschool oral narrative skills as precursors to literacy, this exploratory study examined expressive language skills among emergent bilingual Latine preschoolers using a naturalistic personal narrative task. To understand the factors that support language use in the personal narrative context for this population, we examined the contribution of children's executive function (EF) skills to their narrative language abilities.

METHOD

Children completed two subtests from the Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment to measure EF and produced two personal narratives in response to conversational prompts. A series of linear regressions were used to evaluate the relation between children's EF skills and their narrative production ability, narrative organization, and expressive language skills derived from automated analyses of narrative samples.

RESULTS

EF was found to predict children's ability to produce a personal narrative but not the language skills children demonstrated in these narratives.

CONCLUSIONS

The current findings suggest that EF is implicated in emergent bilingual Latine children's narrative abilities. At the preschool age, the contribution of EF to narrative language production is apparent in the global task of producing a narrative, rather than in the organizational or linguistic features of the narrative. As such, supporting both EF and narrative skills might be an important means of facilitating preliteracy among bilingual children.

Associations among teacher-child interaction, children's executive function and children's comprehensible vocabulary

Objective

To understand the working mechanism and the relationships among the quality of teacher-child interaction (TCI), children's comprehensible vocabulary (CV) and executive function (EF).

Methods

Using stratified sampling, 900 children (boys 50.2%) and 60 preschool teachers were recruited from 4 places in China for testing, and five measurement tools, including the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-R), the Stroop test, a card sorting task, and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV), were used.

Results

For every additional unit of TCI, EF increases by 0.55 units; For every additional unit of EF, CV increases by 0.55 units; For every additional unit of CV, EF increases by 0.55 units; For every additional unit of CV, TCI increases by 0.38 units; For every additional unit of TCI, CV increases by 0.38 units. In the Model of TCI-EF-CV, the estimated value of TCI and the total effect of comprehensible vocabulary is 0.18; Z = 9.84, which is significantly greater than 1.96 at the bias-corrected 95% confidence interval and at the percentile 95% confidence interval (0.15, 0.23), both of which do not contain 0. The direct effect of TCI and CV is significant and indirect effects account for 39%. In the Model of TCI-CV-EF, the total effect of TCI on executive function is 0.09 (Z = 6.14), the direct effect is not significant with bias-corrected 95% confidence interval and 95% confidence interval (-0.01, 0.03), both of which include 0.

Conclusion

There are two-way effects among children's EF and CV, TCI and CV. EF plays a mediating role in the influence of TCI on CV. TCI positively predicts children's EF, but this mainly depends on CV. Therefore, TCI plays a positive role in the development of children's CV and EF.

Working memory training improves children's syntactic ability but not vice versa: A randomized control trial

We tested several hypotheses about the relation between syntax and working memory (WM). In a pretest/posttest randomized control trial, 104 native Cuban Spanish-speaking children (M_age = 7 years 2 months; 54 girls) took part in syntax training in their first language, syntax training in their second language, WM training, or no training (control). Compared with the control, children in the training conditions showed cognitive transfer from WM to syntax but not from syntax to WM. The result was most striking in the case of their first language, where WM training was as effective as language training in boosting syntactic performance. As well as establishing cognitive transfer at the group level, we also found that individual differences in WM performance, both at baseline and in training, predicted the extent to which children's syntax improved. The directionality of transfer, the group-level and individual-level results, established in the context of a randomized control design, all point to a strong causal role for domain-general cognition in the processes of language acquisition.

An intricate relationship between executive function and second-language ability in a cohort of Uyghur-Chinese bilingual children

The relationship between executive function and second-language ability remains contentious in bilingual children; thus, the current study focused on this issue. In total, 371 Uyghur-Chinese bilingual children ranging from 3 to 6 years old were assessed by a battery of tasks measuring language ability (expressive vocabulary tests, receptive vocabulary tests, and phonological awareness of both their first-language and second-language) and executive function (working memory, inhibition, and switching). Our results indicated that age is a crucial moderator of the relationship between second-language ability and executive function. Specifically, executive function unilaterally predicted second-language ability in children who were 3-4 years old, whereas second-language ability and executive function bilaterally influenced each other in children who were 4-5 and 5-6 years old. These findings suggest that executive function and second-language ability have an intertwined and causal relationship among preschool children during development. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: A counterfactual model showed causality between executive function and second language ability in Uyghur-Chinese bilingual children. Executive function unilaterally predicted second language ability in the 3- to 4-year-old age group. Executive function and second language ability bilaterally influenced each other in the 4- to 5 and 5- to 6-year-old age groups.

Working memory training in children with developmental language disorder: Effects on complex syntax in narratives

This study assesses the impact of a working memory training program on the syntactic complexity of the spontaneous speech of French-speaking children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Thirty-nine 6- to 12-year-old children with DLD were allocated to a WM training (DLD^MM, N = 20) or an active control group (DLD^SQULA, N = 19). The computerized training sessions took place three times a week, yielding 12 training hours per participant. Syntactic complexity was assessed in storytelling, measuring mean length of utterances, use of embedded clauses and rate of errors in complex utterances. The performance of participants with DLD was first compared to previous spontaneous data of 40 typically-developing (TD) children of the same age. Then, intragroup (pre- vs. post-test) and intergroup (DLD^MM vs. DLD^SQULA) comparisons were made to assess the impact of the working memory training on the language measures. Global results confirmed syntactic impairment in children with DLD, as opposed to TD children, with large differences for the use of embedded clauses. Findings also suggested gains in the mastery of embedded clauses in children who participated in the WM training, whereas no gains were observed in the DLD control group. These findings confirm deficits in complex syntax in children with DLD, in particular in embedded clauses, and may encourage the clinical use of language sample analysis, which provides an ecological account of children's language performance. While our results should be replicated on a larger scale, they also suggest positive transfer effects of working memory training on the capacity of participants with DLD to produce embedded clauses, in line with previous studies showing a positive effect of WM training on tasks of expressive syntax. It thus seems that working memory training can yield benefits for language, which leaves open the door to new therapeutic approaches for children with DLD.

“Hot” executive functions are comparable across monolingual and bilingual elementary school children: Results from a study with the Iowa Gambling Task

Past research found performance differences between monolingual and bilingual children in the domain of executive functions (EF). Furthermore, recent studies have reported advantages in processing efficiency or mental effort in bilingual adults and children. These studies mostly focused on the investigation of “cold” EF tasks. Studies including measures of “hot” EF, i.e., tasks operating in an emotionally significant setting, are limited and hence results are inconclusive. In the present study, we extend previous research by investigating performance in a task of the “hot” EF domain by both behavioral data and mental effort via pupillary changes during task performance. Seventy-three monolingual and bilingual school children (mean age = 107.23 months, SD = 10.26) solved the Iowa Gambling Task in two different conditions. In the standard task, characterized by constant gains and occasional losses, children did not learn to improve their decision-making behavior. In a reversed task version, characterized by constant losses and occasional gains, both monolinguals and bilinguals learned to improve their decision-making behavior over the course of the task. In both versions of the task, children switched choices more often after losses than after gains. Bilinguals switched their choices less often than monolinguals in the reversed task, indicating a slightly more mature decision-making strategy. Mental effort did not differ between monolinguals and bilinguals. Conclusions of these findings for the bilingual advantage assumption will be discussed.

Language development as a mechanism linking socioeconomic status to executive functioning development in preschool

Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is related to disparities in the development of both language and executive functioning (EF) skills. Emerging evidence suggests that language development may precede and provide necessary scaffolding for EF development in early childhood. The present preregistered study investigates how these skills co-develop longitudinally in early childhood and whether language development explains the relationship between SES and EF development. A socioeconomically diverse sample of 305 children completed repeated assessments of language (sentence comprehension) and EF (cognitive flexibility, behavioral inhibition, and cognitive inhibition) at four waves spaced 9 months apart from ages 3 to 5 years. Bivariate latent curve models with structured residuals were estimated to disaggregate between-person and within-person components of stability and change. Results revealed bidirectional relationships between language and EF across all waves. However, at 3 years, language comprehension more strongly predicted EF than the reverse; yet by 5 years, the bidirectional effects across domains did not significantly differ. Children from higher-SES backgrounds exhibited higher initial language and EF skills than children from lower-SES families, though SES was not associated with either rate of growth. Finally, early language-mediated the association between SES and early EF skills, and this model outperformed a reverse direction mediation. Together, results suggest that EF development is driven by early language development, and that SES disparities in EF are explained, at least in part, by early differences in language comprehension. These findings have implications for early interventions to support children's language skills as a potential pathway to improving early EF development.

The Directionality of the Relationship Between Executive Functions and Language Skills: A Literature Review

It has been demonstrated that executive functions play a significant role in different aspects of the development of children. Development of language is also one of the most important accomplishments of the preschool years, and it has been linked to many outcomes in life. Despite substantial research demonstrating the association between executive function and language development in childhood, only a handful of studies have examined the direction of the developmental pathways between EF skills and language skills, therefore little is known about how these two constructs are connected. In this review paper, we discuss three possible directional relationships between EFs and language development throughout childhood. First, we discuss how EF might affect language functioning. Next, we discuss how language functioning might affect EF. Lastly, we consider other possible relationships between EF and language. Given that children with better EF and language skills are more likely to succeed in educational settings and demonstrate greater social–emotional competencies, investigating the relationship between EF and language in the preschool period provides insight into mechanisms that have not been extensively studied. Furthermore, it could create new opportunities for designing effective and efficient interventions aimed at addressing EF and language deficits during the preschool period which could in turn influence later development.

Examining the relationship between oral language skills and executive functions: Evidence from Greek-speaking 4-5-year-old children with and without Developmental Language Disorder

BACKGROUND

Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) have been found to demonstrate low performance in Executive Functions (EFs). However, the evidence-based data is so far scarce, especially for 4-5-year-old children. Most of the existing research involves English-speaking populations, while very few studies have been carried out with non-English-speaking populations. Nevertheless, it is documented that possible differences in the language-cognition relations may exist due to the specific characteristics of each language, and studies across different languages could contribute to the above.

AIMS

The present study aimed to systematically investigate the profile of oral language and EF skills (verbal and nonverbal) and the way these skills are related with each other in 4-5-year-old Greek-speaking children with and without DLD.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

Fifty-three 4-5-year-old children (age range: 51- 57 months) with DLD, and 62 Typically Developing (TD) peers (age range: 51- 57 months) were assessed on a standardized psychometric battery for oral language skills (phonological and morphological awareness, oral language comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, narrative speech and pragmatics) and on a series of verbal (v) and nonverbal (nv) tasks tapping EFs skills (updating-accuracy, inhibition -accuracy and reaction time-, and cognitive flexibility).

OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

Children with DLD demonstrated statistically significant lower performance across all oral language measures in comparison to their TD peers. Additionally, they performed significantly lower in the updating (nv) task, as well as in cognitive flexibility (v & nv) in comparison to the TD group. Further regression analyses demonstrated that updating (nv), inhibition (nv) and cognitive flexibility (v) predicted oral language comprehension in children with DLD while updating (v & nv), inhibition-reaction time (nv) and cognitive flexibility (v & nv) predicted phonological and morphological awareness, oral language comprehension, narrative speech as well as total language score in TD children.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

These results provide important information about the profile of oral language and EF skills in children with DLD compared to their TD peers as well as on the relationship of these skills in both groups. The findings also suggest that improving EFs skills may be a possible way for improving oral language skills in young children with DLD. Our findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical as well as practical implications regarding the diagnostic and intervention procedures for children with DLD.

The assessment of executive functioning in pediatric patients with posterior fossa tumors: A recommendation to combine caregiver-based ratings and performance-based tests

OBJECTIVE

This study addresses the issue of drawing valid conclusions about the assessment of executive functioning (EF) in long-term survivors of pediatric posterior fossa tumors (PPFT).

METHOD

All 44 patients (females = 18, mean age = 11 years) were treated consecutively at our department for PPFTs (medulloblastomas, ependymomas, low-grade-gliomas). Four years after diagnosis, their EF was investigated, considering age at diagnosis and treatment type. The validity, sensitivity, and specificity of different EF measures (TMT-B, Number Repetition, WCST, BRIEF) were compared and Strengths-and-Difficulties-Questionnaire was incorporated as a potential screening for EF issues.

RESULTS

EF impairments were found, especially in patients with chemo-/radiotherapy. Caregiver-ratings and performance-based-EF-tests identified different patients as below average. Sensitivity was highest in TMT-B. Strengths-and-Difficulties-Questionnaire was not an adequate screening for EF.

CONCLUSION

It is essential to assess patients with PPFT with performance-based-tests as well as caregiver-questionnaires, since EF impairments are not always visible at the behavioral level but may still influence everyday life.

La bioética en la investigación de funciones ejecutivas en niños con trastorno específico del lenguaje

En la actualidad, mucho se habla sobre bioética. Desafortunadamente, en lo que respecta a los lineamientos que deben regular y velar por la dignidad y los derechos de los niños, no existe una coherencia con el nivel de desarrollo técnico contemplado en las investigaciones en el área de los trastornos específicos del lenguaje y las funciones ejecutivas. Para esta investigación se realizaron tres búsquedas diferenciadas en bases de datos de Web of Science, Scopus, Scielo, Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile y fuentes grises con los descriptores “specific language impairment”, “sli”, “executive functions”, “memory”, “attention”, “inhibition”, “bioética”, “principios de bioética”, “bioética infantil”, “investigación científica” y “derechos del niño”, reparando, específicamente, en la presencia o ausencia de lineamientos éticos declarados en su metodología o procedimiento de trabajo para analizar de forma crítica su progresión desde los años ochenta hasta la actualidad. En las conclusiones se ha evidenciado que los principios bioéticos generales no son demasiado pertinentes si no se acompañan por políticas nacionales e internacionales que velen por la dignidad de los niños. Por este motivo, contar con disposiciones bioéticas específicas y sistematizadas para la población pediátrica, en la que se incluyen los estudios de FE y TEL, es fundamental. Así es posible abolir todos los dilemas bioéticos que puedan surgir de los vacíos que las actuales leyes presentan. Por esta razón, es indispensable un replanteamiento de principios para este rango etario.

A Preliminary Examination of the Impact of Working Memory Training on Syntax and Processing Speed in Children with ASD

In addition to deficits in pragmatics, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have weaknesses in complex syntax and working memory (WM). These two deficits may be closely related. Previous work investigated the effects of WM training in developmental language disorders and showed significant improvement in both WM and syntax. The current study tests the impact of 12 h of WM training across 8 weeks in 30 children with ASD, aged 5 to 11. Results showed direct improvements on untrained WM tasks, as well as transfer effects to syntax and processing speed. Stronger WM led to better syntactic abilities. While they must be replicated, these exciting results provide impetus for further studies of WM interventions.

Prenatal drug exposure and executive function in early adolescence

PURPOSE

Study of the relationship between prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) and executive function (EF) has yielded inconsistent results. The purpose of the current study is to examine whether PCE, biological sex, environmental risk, and their interaction predicted EF in early adolescence.

METHODS

135 12-year-old adolescents (40.7% with PCE), who were followed prospectively from birth, attempted up to 8 Tower of Hanoi (ToH) puzzle trials of increasing complexity. The number of correctly completed puzzles served as the main outcome measure. Survival analysis was used to examine predictors of the number of successfully completed trials.

RESULTS

As trial difficulty increased, fewer adolescents were able to solve the TOH puzzle. Adolescents from high risk environments and with either prenatal alcohol or prenatal cannabis exposure completed fewer puzzles (p < .05). In addition, a hypothesized 3-way interaction of PCE x sex x environmental risk was found such that cocaine-exposed males with high environmental risk had the worst performance (p < .01).

CONCLUSIONS

The current findings are consistent with prior research indicating that males with PCE may be at particular risk of poorer functioning and highlight the potential importance of examining adolescent's sex and environmental risk as moderators of PCE effects.

Differences in cognitive processing? The role of verbal processes and mental effort in bilingual and monolingual children's planning performance

Past research documents a bilingual advantage in the domain of executive functions (EFs). However, controversial debates have questioned the robustness of those behavioral differences. The current study aimed to better understand the underlying cognitive prerequisites in bilingual students as compared with monolingual students and focused on two processes: the role of verbal processes, on the one hand, and mental effort during task execution, on the other. The use of self-regulatory speech has been found to be related to performance in tasks requiring EFs. For bilinguals who have grown up with two language systems from an early age, those relations are not fully understood. Furthermore, results from neuroimaging studies have shown that bilinguals might exhibit less mental effort in EF tasks. We investigated both processes in German-speaking monolingual elementary school students (n = 33; M_age = 8.78 years) and German-Russian bilingual elementary school students (n = 34; M_age = 8.88 years) solving a planning task. Results showed that monolinguals were impaired by a verbal secondary task in comparison with a motor control condition, whereas bilinguals performed in both tasks at an equal level, indicating a differential role of self-regulatory speech in both language groups. Analyses of changes in pupil diameter revealed less mental effort during task execution for bilingual children as compared with monolingual children. The current study adds to the existing literature by supplying further evidence for cognitive differences between monolingual and bilingual children.

Does Language Make a Difference? A Study of Language Dominance and Inhibitory Control

Although extensive research has been done to compare monolingual and bilingual children’s executive function, there are fewer studies that look at the relation between bilingual children’s languages and executive function. The purpose of this study was two-fold; first, to compare inhibitory control (executive function) in monolingual and bilingual children and second, to determine what vocabulary measure (dominant vs. non-dominant language) was related to inhibitory control in bilingual children. Twenty monolingual (English) and 20 bilingual (English-Spanish) children between the ages of 8 and 12 completed a vocabulary test (in English and Spanish) and an inhibitory control task (the flanker task). Analysis of Covariances (ANCOVAs) revealed no significant differences between monolingual and bilingual children in reaction time (RT) or accuracy in the flanker task after controlling for maternal education. Partial correlations controlling for age showed that English expressive vocabulary (dominant language), but not Spanish, was positively correlated with inhibitory control (larger vocabulary and better inhibitory control), suggesting that bilingual children may use their dominant language to self-regulate over their non-dominant language, increasing the inhibitory control associated to the dominant language.

Home Language Environment and Executive Functions in Mexican American and Chinese American Preschoolers in Head Start

Research Findings

Using two groups of dual language learners (DLLs), the current study examined links between two developmental constructs closely linked to school readiness: the home language environment (HLE) and executive function (EF). In a sample of 90 children (age range = 38-70 months, 59% girls) from either Mexican American (MA, N = 46) or Chinese American (CA, N = 44) low-income families enrolled in Head Start preschool programs, parents reported on their HLE (home language balance, home English/heritage language activities) and children's EF (inhibitory control and attention shifting) was measured by cognitive tasks. Findings showed preschool-aged DLLs in low-income immigrant families received more heritage language exposure relative to English language exposure at home. Several demographic variables (parental education, per capita income, DLL group, child age of English acquisition, child generation, child English receptive vocabulary) were related to various aspects of HLE. Controlling for covariates, the amount of heritage language activities at home was uniquely and positively related to children's attention shifting.

Practice or Policy

The findings underscore the importance of incorporating language background considerations when designing intervention programs that target HLE and EF in low-income DLLs.

What you say, and how you say it: Preschoolers' growth in vocabulary and communication skills differentially predict kindergarten academic achievement and self-regulation

The idea that language skills support school readiness, predicting later self-regulation and academic success, is widely accepted. Although vocabulary is often emphasized in the developmental literature, the ability to use language appropriately in the classroom, or social communication skills, may also be critical. This paper examined longitudinal contributions of children's vocabulary and social communication skills, from preschool to kindergarten, to kindergarten academic achievement (reading and math) and self-regulation (executive functions and learning behaviors). Participants were 164 children (14% Latinx, 30% Black, 56% White; 57% girls) enrolled in Head Start programs. Results revealed that initial levels and growth in vocabulary and communication skills predicted better academic achievement. Social communication skills uniquely predicted self-regulation, after accounting for vocabulary. We discuss potential mechanisms for these links and recommend that strategies to build social communication skills be incorporated in preschool interventions promoting school readiness.

The Relationship Between Word Learning and Executive Function in Preschoolers With and Without Developmental Language Disorder

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between executive functioning and word learning among preschoolers with and without developmental language disorder (DLD). Method Forty-one preschool-age children with DLD were matched to typically developing children on age and sex. Participants were exposed to 10 novel pseudowords, half of which referred to familiar objects and half of which referred to unfamiliar objects. Their ability to produce, recognize, and comprehend the novel words was tested, and they completed executive function tasks measuring sustained selective attention, short-term memory, working memory, inhibition, and shifting. Results Preschoolers with DLD performed worse compared to typically developing peers on all measures of executive function and novel word learning. Both groups showed a relative weakness in producing pseudowords that corresponded with familiar objects versus pseudowords for unknown objects. Executive function accounted for statistically significant variance in word learning beyond group membership, with inhibition as a significant predictor of all word learning outcomes and short-term memory as a significant predictor of novel word comprehension. Executive function explained significant variance in novel word production and recognition even after accounting for variance explained by group differences in IQ and receptive vocabulary. Conclusion Findings replicate previous research reporting deficits in word learning and executive function in children with DLD, indicate that preschoolers are disadvantaged in learning new words for familiar objects, and support a relationship between executive function and word learning for children with and without DLD. Future research should examine the directionality of the relationship between these variables.

The effects of dual language exposure on executive function in Spanish-English bilingual children with different language abilities

The current study examined the effects of dual language exposure on executive function in 5- to 11-year-old Spanish-English bilingual children with different language skills. Dual language exposure was measured via parent report and was operationalized as the proportion of time spent in an environment where both English and Spanish were present. Executive function was measured via the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task. Shifting costs, switching costs, and mixing costs were derived to index executive function performance. A significant interaction between extent of dual language exposure and language skills was observed such that children showed smaller shifting and mixing costs with increased dual language input as their language skills increased. The results suggest a graded effect of dual language exposure on executive function, where a robust language system may be required for dual language exposure to influence executive function.

Maternal Language and Child Vocabulary Mediate Relations Between Socioeconomic Status and Executive Function During Early Childhood

This article examined longitudinal relations among socioeconomic risk, maternal language input, child vocabulary, and child executive function (EF) in a large sample (N = 1,009) recruited for a prospective longitudinal study. Two measures of maternal language input derived from a parent-child picture book task, vocabulary diversity (VOCD), and language complexity, showed variation by socioeconomic risk at child ages 15, 24, and 36 months. Maternal VOCD at child age 24 months and maternal language complexity at child age 36 months mediated the relation between socioeconomic risk and 48-month child EF, independent of parenting sensitivity. Moreover, 36-month child vocabulary mediated the relation between maternal language input and child EF. These findings provide novel evidence about mechanisms linking socioeconomic risk and child executive function.

Iconicity affects children's comprehension of complex sentences: The role of semantics, clause order, input and individual differences

Complex sentences involving adverbial clauses appear in children's speech at about three years of age yet children have difficulty comprehending these sentences well into the school years. To date, the reasons for these difficulties are unclear, largely because previous studies have tended to focus on only sub-types of adverbial clauses, or have tested only limited theoretical models. In this paper, we provide the most comprehensive experimental study to date. We tested four-year-olds, five-year-olds and adults on four different adverbial clauses (before, after, because, if) to evaluate four different theoretical models (semantic, syntactic, frequency-based and capacity-constrained). 71 children and 10 adults (as controls) completed a forced-choice, picture-selection comprehension test, providing accuracy and response time data. Children also completed a battery of tests to assess their linguistic and general cognitive abilities. We found that children's comprehension was strongly influenced by semantic factors - the iconicity of the event-to-language mappings - and that their response times were influenced by the type of relation expressed by the connective (temporal vs. causal). Neither input frequency (frequency-based account), nor clause order (syntax account) or working memory (capacity-constrained account) provided a good fit to the data. Our findings thus contribute to the development of more sophisticated models of sentence processing. We conclude that such models must also take into account how children's emerging linguistic understanding interacts with developments in other cognitive domains such as their ability to construct mental models and reason flexibly about them.