Impacts of early deprivation on behavioral and neural measures of executive function in early adolescence

The First Digital Strategy-Based Method for Training of Executive Functions: Impact on Cognition and Behavioral and Emotional Regulation, and Academic Success in Children With and Without Psychosocial Risk

STap2Go is the first purely digital strategy-based method for the training of executive functions, making its evaluation relevant. This study assesses the effectiveness of this intervention in children with (at risk) and without (no-risk) psychosocial risk, which refers to socio-educational vulnerability, and examines whether its impact differs between groups. A total of 124 children (9-12 years old) were randomly assigned to either an experimental or an active control group. Individual assessments and family questionnaires were administered (FDT, WISC-V, RIST, BRIEF-2). Both groups received a 12-week intervention. The experimental group showed significant improvements in executive functions, processing speed, IQ, academic performance, and emotional and behavioral regulation compared to the controls. Notably, IQ, metacognition, and working memory continued improving at follow-up, suggesting lasting effects. While both groups benefited, the effects were more pronounced in at-risk children, particularly in BRIEF-2 (Inhibition, Metacognition, Behavioral Regulation) and academic performance in mathematics and language. Moreover, the psychosocial risk control group showed a trend toward deterioration over time. The far transfer achieved thanks to digital strategy-based training seems to have a greater effect on at-risk children, and can be used to compensate for their difficulties.

The impact of early life experiences on inhibitory control and working memory

Introduction

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a general term for a large group of nonequivalent situations that have the potential to traumatise a child. This risk factor is caused by a sensitive period of brain development, which is based on myelination, creation of synaptic connections and pruning. Dramatic environmental events during this period, such as history of institutionalisation, can disrupt optimal developmental pathways, leaving biological scars for life.

Methods

The focus of this study was to investigate the impact of institutionalisation on the development of inhibitory control and working memory in three groups of children matched for age (n = 130; 7.1 ± 2.0 years): (1) early institutionalised (n = 35; age of placement: 6.9 ± 10.6 months; duration of placement: 14.6 ± 10.4 months); (2) late institutionalised (n = 29; age of placement: 49.3 ± 30.6 months; the duration of placement: 16.0 ± 19.4 months); (3) never institutionalised (n = 66).

Results

Results showed that the early institutionalised group had the lowest scores on tests of inhibitory control (p = 0.03), working memory (p = 0.03) and retrieval-based learning (p = 0.04), while the results of the group of late institutionalised children do not differ significantly from never institutionalised.

Discussion

The existence of a sensitive period during the first 18 months of a child's life is discussed, which determines the formation of the retrieval-based learning mechanism and of inhibiting ineffective experience, for which executive functions are responsible.