Structure and Invariance of Executive Functioning Tasks across Socioeconomic Status: Evidence from Spanish-Speaking Children

The factorial structure of executive functions in preschool and elementary school children and relations with intelligence

The timing of structural changes in executive functions (EFs) across development is a matter of controversy; whereas some studies suggest a uniform structure of EFs in early childhood, findings in middle and late childhood are mixed. There are results indicating uniformity of EFs as well as several studies suggesting multidimensionality of the construct. In addition, studies demonstrate an age-related differentiation of the relation between EFs and intelligence. We conducted a comparative analysis of the EF structure and relations with fluid intelligence in two distinct age groups. A sample of n = 145 preschool children (5.2-6.7 years of age) and n = 109 elementary school children (8.8-11.8 years) completed measures of working memory, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and fluid intelligence. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that a single-factor model best represented performance on EF tasks in both preschool and elementary school children. Multi-group CFA indicated equivalent and strong relations between EFs and intelligence across both age groups (r = .64 in preschool and elementary school children). Our results confirm that EFs are significantly related to fluid intelligence but might not underlie a uniform pattern of successive differentiation into multiple EF components in childhood. We discuss how methodological artifacts such as simultaneous interference might have contributed to previous findings on differentiation in middle and late childhood.

A Network Analysis of Executive Functions in Children and Adolescents With and Without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

This study applied network analysis to executive function test performances to examine differences in network parameters between demographically matched children and adolescents with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (n = 141 per group; M = 12.7 ± 2.9 years-old; 72.3% boys, 66.7% White, 65.2% ≥ 12 years maternal education). All participants completed the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery, including the Flanker, measuring inhibition, Dimensional Change Card Sort, measuring shifting, and List Sorting test, measuring working memory. Children with and without ADHD had comparable mean test performances (d range: .05-0.11) but presented with differences in network parameters. Among participants with ADHD, shifting was less central, had a weaker relationship with inhibition, and did not mediate the relationship between inhibition and working memory. These network characteristics were consistent with the executive function network structure of younger ages in prior research and may reflect an immature executive function network among children and adolescents with ADHD, aligning with the delayed maturation hypothesis.

Executive functions in mono- and bilingual children: Factor structure and relations with fluid intelligence

The effects of bilingualism on executive functions (EFs) and intelligence are still controversially discussed. Most studies have focused on performance differences without considering the underlying structure of cognitive abilities. Thus, we examined whether the structure of EFs and the relations of EFs with intelligence differ between mono- and bilingual children. A total of 240 elementary school children (mean age = 8 years 6 months; 133 monolinguals and 95 bilinguals) performed two tasks measuring working memory, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and fluid intelligence, respectively. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that one common EF factor provided the best fit to the data in both language groups, indicating that bilingualism is not associated with differences in the EF structure at this age. Moreover, there were no latent performance differences in either EFs or intelligence between mono- and bilingual children. However, we found a stronger relation between a common EF factor and fluid intelligence in bilingual children as compared with monolingual children, implying a closer coupling of EFs and intelligence abilities in bilingual children. This contributes to explaining the previous heterogeneous findings on the task level because more closely coupled cognitive functioning can be slightly beneficial for some tasks and irrelevant or even slightly obstructive for others.

How Cognitive Abilities May Support Children’s Bilingual Literacy Development in a Multilingual Society

Underprivileged but highly multilingual Indian children often show low literacy performance. As a complicating factor, these children are often expected to develop literacy not just in the regionally dominant language but also in English. As good literacy skills are crucial for later academic development, it is important to identify factors that could support these children’s literacy development. We, therefore, investigated whether cognitive abilities are associated with literacy development and whether they are so in the same way for both of these children’s languages. In a longitudinal design (Std. 4 and Std. 5), literacy data in Hindi and English were collected from 336 children in Delhi, India. In addition, three cognitive tasks (Raven’s, 2-back, Flanker) were performed. We found that bilingual literacy development is evident across children, although the starting point is low in some cases. Fluid intelligence (Raven’s) and working memory capacity (2-back) significantly positively related to literacy performance in Std. 4 and Std. 5 in both Hindi and English. Literacy improvement from Std. 4 to Std. 5 also related to cognitive abilities—working memory capacity (2-back) for Hindi and inhibitory skills (Flanker) for English—but in the opposite direction: Children who had lower scores on these cognitive tasks show more improvement, indicating that they are in the process of catching up with their higher-performing peers—although they have not fully managed to do so by Std. 5.

The association between socioeconomic disadvantage and children's working memory abilities: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Working memory is an essential cognitive skill for storing and processing limited amounts of information over short time periods. Researchers disagree about the extent to which socioeconomic position affects children's working memory, yet no study has systematically synthesised the literature regarding this topic. The current review therefore aimed to investigate the relationship between socioeconomic position and working memory in children, regarding both the magnitude and the variability of the association.

METHODS

The review protocol was registered on PROSPERO and the PRISMA checklist was followed. Embase, Psycinfo and MEDLINE were comprehensively searched via Ovid from database inception until 3rd June 2021. Studies were screened by two reviewers at all stages. Studies were eligible if they included typically developing children aged 0-18 years old, with a quantitative association reported between any indicator of socioeconomic position and children's working memory task performance. Studies were synthesised using two data-synthesis methods: random effects meta-analyses and a Harvest plot.

KEY FINDINGS

The systematic review included 64 eligible studies with 37,737 individual children (aged 2 months to 18 years). Meta-analyses of 36 of these studies indicated that socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with significantly lower scores working memory measures; a finding that held across different working memory tasks, including those that predominantly tap into storage (d = 0.45; 95% CI 0.27 to 0.62) as well as those that require processing of information (d = 0.52; 0.31 to 0.72). A Harvest plot of 28 studies ineligible for meta-analyses further confirmed these findings. Finally, meta-regression analyses revealed that the association between socioeconomic position and working memory was not moderated by task modality, risk of bias, socioeconomic indicator, mean age in years, or the type of effect size.

CONCLUSION

This is the first systematic review to investigate the association between socioeconomic position and working memory in children. Socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with lower working memory ability in children, and that this association was similar across different working memory tasks. Given the strong association between working memory, learning, and academic attainment, there is a clear need to share these findings with practitioners working with children, and investigate ways to support children with difficulties in working memory.

Could Physical Fitness Be Considered as a Protective Social Factor Associated with Bridging the Cognitive Gap Related to School Vulnerability in Adolescents? The Cogni-Action Project

The first aim was to compare differences between school vulnerability groups, fitness levels, and their combination in adolescent cognitive performance. The second aim was to determine the mediation role of fitness in the association between school vulnerability and cognitive performance. A total of 912 Chilean adolescents aged 10–14 years participated in this study. The school vulnerability index (SVI) assigned by the Chilean Government was categorized into high-, mid-, or low-SVI. Adolescents were classified as fit or unfit according to their global fitness z-score computed from their cardiorespiratory (CRF), muscular (MF), and speed/agility fitness (SAF) adjusted for age and sex. A global cognitive score was estimated through eight tasks based on a neurocognitive battery. Covariance and mediation analyses were performed, adjusted for sex, schools, body mass index, and peak high velocity. Independent analyses showed that the higher SVI, the lower the cognitive performance (F_(6,905) = 18.5; p < 0.001). Conversely, fit adolescents presented a higher cognitive performance than their unfit peers (F_(5,906) = 8.93; p < 0.001). The combined analysis found cognitive differences between fit and unfit adolescents in both the high- and mid-SVI levels (Cohen’s d = 0.32). No differences were found between fit participants belonging to higher SVI groups and unfit participants belonging to lower SVI groups. Mediation percentages of 9.0%, 5.6%, 7.1%, and 2.8% were observed for the global fitness score, CRF, MF, and SAF, respectively. The mediation effect was significant between low- with mid-high-SVI levels but not between mid- and high-SVI levels. These findings suggest that an adequate physical fitness level should be deemed a protective social factor associated with bridging the cognitive gap linked to school vulnerability in adolescents. This favourable influence seems to be most significant in adolescents belonging to a more adverse social background.

Emerging coherence and relations to communication among executive function tasks in toddlers: Evidence from a Latin American sample

Recent work within early executive function (EF) seems to suggest that toddlers show distinct patterns of development, involving poorly correlated performance across EF tasks and significant improvements over relatively short periods of time. The present study sought to extend these findings by investigating evidence for these patterns in toddlers and the existence of more traditional patterns of EF (e.g., correlations between tasks, links to language) when using the same tasks in a novel Latin American sample. Eighty toddlers (18-24 months) and sixty young preschoolers (30-36) months completed a battery of EF tasks, early social communication, and receptive and expressive language measures. Results indicated that toddlers showed similar distinct patterns of development (i.e., few relations between tasks and links to responding to joint attention), but by early preschool a more cohesive EF and links to language were present. Further, work demonstrated significant age (older children outperformed younger children), gender (girls outperformed boys), and socioeconomic differences (satisfied basic needs outperformed unsatisfied basic needs, but only on the snack delay). This work provides evidence for patterns of emerging EF development within this novel cultural sample (and evidence for group differences) that may be supported by communicative and representational development.

An Adaptable, Open-Access Test Battery to Study the Fractionation of Executive-Functions in Diverse Populations

The umbrella-term 'executive functions' (EF) includes various domain-general, goal-directed cognitive abilities responsible for behavioral self-regulation. The influential unity and diversity model of EF posits the existence of three correlated yet separable executive domains: inhibition, shifting and updating. These domains may be influenced by factors such as socioeconomic status (SES) and culture, possibly due to the way EF tasks are devised and to biased choice of stimuli, focusing on first-world testees. Here, we propose a FREE (Free Research Executive Function Evaluation) test battery that includes two open-access tasks for each of the three abovementioned executive domains to allow latent variables to be obtained. The tasks were selected from those that have been shown to be representative of each domain, that are not copyrighted and do not require special hardware/software to be administered. These tasks were adapted for use in populations with varying SES/schooling levels by simplifying tasks/instructions and using easily recognized stimuli such as pictures. Items are answered verbally and tasks are self-paced to minimize interference from individual differences in psychomotor and perceptual speed, to better isolate executive from other cognitive abilities. We tested these tasks on 146 early adolescents (aged 9-15 years) of both sexes and varying SES, because this is the age group in which the executive domains of interest become distinguishable and in order to confirm that SES effects were minimized. Performance was determined by Rate Correct Scores (correct answers divided by total time taken to complete blocks/trial), which consider speed-accuracy trade-offs. Scores were sensitive to the expected improvement in performance with age and rarely/inconsistently affected by sex and SES, as expected, with no floor or ceiling effects, or skewed distribution, thus suggesting their adequacy for diverse populations in these respects. Using structural equation modeling, evidence based on internal structure was obtained by replicating the three correlated-factor solution proposed by the authors of the model. We conclude that the FREE test battery, which is open access and described in detail, holds promise as a tool for research that can be adapted for a wide range of populations, as well as altered and/or complemented in coming studies.

The Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI) Parent and Teacher Form: Factor Structure and Cognitive Correlates in Spanish-speaking Children from Argentina

The aims of the present study were: (1) to explore the CHEXI factor structure parent (n = 183) and teacher (n = 206) forms in Spanish-speaking children aged 6 to 11  years, (2) to analyze the relationship between parent- and teacher-rated data and performance-based measures of EF (including working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility tasks) and academic achievement and (3) to examine the association between parents and teachers reports. Confirmatory Factor analysis (CFA) showed that the two-factor model including (1) Working memory and (2) Inhibition best fit the data. McDonald's Omega coefficient was adequate for both the total parents (ω = .98). and teachers' (ω = .98) scales. In addition, low and selective associations were found between performance and rater-based assessments. However, stronger associations were observed between CHEXI and academic performance with differences according to the informant (parents vs. teachers). Finally, low correlations were found between parents and teachers reports. Taken together, our results suggest that the CHEXI is a reliable measure to assess EF in Argentinean Spanish-speaking children, supporting existing evidence that proposes that ratings and performance-based measures would assess different underlying mental constructs. Clinical and educational implications for considering both perspectives during neuropsychological assessment, further including parent- and teacher-rated reports are discussed.

The Influence of Metacognitive Strategies on the Improvement of Reaction Inhibition Processes in Children with ADHD

Background: Low response inhibition underlies attention disorders and hyperactivity. The aim of this study is to check whether these processes will be strengthened by three months of training with metacognitive strategies. Methodology: Forty-five schoolchildren took part in an experimental study (M = 10.41; SD = 1.42). Each child had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The participants were randomly assigned into three groups: the first group was tested for the effect of Mind Maps; the second group, for the effect of Sketchnoting, while the third group was assigned the role of a Control group. All of the groups were examined with the Loud Subtraction 7 test (LS7T) with a distractor before and after the training. Results: Analysis with the Wilcoxon test showed that children with ADHD made significantly fewer errors in the LS7 Test in the second measurement in the Mind Maps group (M1 = 7.45; SD1 = 4.07; M2 = 5.76; SD2 = 4.68; p = 0.02). In the remaining groups, there were no statistically significant differences in the average number of errors made. Conclusions: Mind Maps are an effective metacognitive strategy. Regular use of this method strengthens the inhibition of children with ADHD in this study. It can complement the existing forms of support for the child.

Linguistic Diversity, Multilingualism, and Cognitive Skills: A Study of Disadvantaged Children in India

Multilingualism and linguistic diversity are the norm in India. Although studies have shown a relation between bilingualism and cognitive gains, linguistic diversity has so far been ignored as a potential factor affecting cognitive skills. This study aims to fill this gap by examining how cognitive skills—as measured by the n-back and Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices tasks—are affected by multilingualism and/or sociolinguistic diversity in a large cohort of socioeconomically disadvantaged primary school children in two urban sites of India: Delhi and Hyderabad. We present a questionnaire estimating sociolinguistic diversity and show that this measure assesses a distinct construct, as compared to a child’s multilingualism. Children were classified as growing up monolingually or bilingually, depending on whether they grew up with one or more languages in the home. Regarding cognitive performance, bilinguals were found to outperform monolinguals on the n-back task, as well as on the Raven’s task. In addition, a socially and linguistically diverse environment seems to enhance cognitive performance for children who are not multilingual themselves. Finally, several contextual factors such as city were found to influence cognitive performance. Overall, this shows that cognitive tasks are subject to contextual effects and that bilingualism and linguistic diversity can enhance cognitive performance of children in disadvantaged contexts.

Interaction between Socioeconomic Status and Cognitive Development in Children Aged 7, 9, and 11 Years: A Cross-Sectional Study

The socioeconomic status (SES) of parents has a crucial influence on the cognitive development of children, but it is not clear whether this effect varies as a function of the children's age. The objective of this study was to investigate the development of children aged 7, 9, and 11 years of parents with extremely low SES in a developing country (Ecuador). Participating children were divided between a medium-SES group and a low-SES group. Statistically significant differences were observed as a function of SES group and age in verbal memory, language, and executive function, observing wider between-group differences among the 11-year-olds.