Executive functions in deaf and hearing children: The mediating role of language skills in inhibitory control

The relationship between executive functions and the perspective-taking skill of theory of mind: Insights from deaf and hard of hearing children with cochlear implants

Previous research in hearing children has consistently found theory of mind (ToM) is positively associated with executive functions (EF). However, this question has been far less examined in deaf and hard of hearing children (DHH) with cochlear implants. This may be because of the heterogeneity of developmental contexts and especially related to language that DHH children experience. The purpose of the study was to explore developmental differences in the perspective-taking skill of ToM and EF by using cluster analysis to compare groups of DHH adolescents who are CI users with typically developing hearing adolescents, aiming to identify subgroups with similar cognitive and processing profiles. Participants were 88 adolescents (12-16 years old) of which 34 were DHH with cochlear implants. The results showed that in the hearing group EF scores correlated positively with perspective-taking performance but not in the DHH group. The analysis of the hearing children's results revealed there were three clusters based on clear performance levels. In the DHH group, there was much variability and more complex relationships between both abilities. We conclude that DHH children's variable experience with early communication and access to language disrupts the typical coupling of ToM and EF.

"Cool" and "Hot" executive functions in deaf children: the executive brain battery (EBB)

Although previous studies have suggested that language deprivation may affect the development of executive functions (EFs), there are no assessment tools adapted to the language needs of deaf-and-hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. The present study had two objectives: (1) to examine the feasibility of the Executive Brain Battery in assessing 40 prelingually deaf-and-hard-of-hearing children between 6 and 12 years, and (2) to explore whether some sociodemographic and clinical variables could be associated with the performance of deaf children. The results showed that all tasks included in the Executive Brain Battery were practicable for more than 75% of participants, with the decision-making task being the only one that demonstrated an improvement in the performance of children between 6-8 and 9-12 years of age. Moreover, the 6-8 years group displayed a sex effect in inhibition and decision-making tasks. However, this effect disappears in the 9-12 years group, which showed only a negative effect of cochlear implants on the theory of mind task.

The effect of moral identity on facial emotion processing in adolescents with hearing loss: an event-related potentials study

Objective

This study investigates how the moral characters of others influence the recognition of facial emotional expressions in adolescents with hearing loss (HL), and compares these effects with those in adolescents with typical hearing (TH).

Methods

A moral priming paradigm was employed to explore the neural mechanisms underlying facial emotion perception (happy, neutral, and angry) in different moral contexts (high moral, low moral). Event-related potentials (ERP) were utilized to assess brain responses.

Results

Adolescents with TH evaluated emotional valence independently of moral context. In contrast, adolescents with HL judged faces with low moral levels more negatively. ERP analyses showed facial expression processing in adolescents with TH was not influenced by moral information, whereas adolescents with HL exhibited moral effects during both the middle (N2) and late stages (LPP) of processing.

Conclusion

These findings underscore distinct neurocognitive mechanisms of emotion recognition in adolescents with HL and highlight the significant influence of moral identity on their emotional judgments.

A Virtual Reality Platform for Evaluating Deficits in Executive Functions in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children-Relation to Daily Function and to Quality of Life

Background: Childhood hearing loss is a common chronic condition that may have a broad impact on children's communication and motor and cognitive development, resulting in functional challenges and decreased quality of life (QoL). Objectives: This pilot study aimed to compare executive functions (EFs) as expressed in daily life and QoL between deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) children and children with typical hearing. Furthermore, we examined the relationship between EFs and QoL in D/HH children. Methods: The participants were 76 children aged 7-11 yr: 38 D/HH and 38 with typical hearing. Parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), while the child performed a shopping task in the virtual action planning supermarket (VAP-S) to reflect the use of EFs in daily activity. Results: D/HH children showed significantly poorer EFs (as measured by BRIEF and VAP-S) and reduced QoL. Difficulties in EFs were correlated with lower QoL. BRIEF scores were significant predictors of QoL domains. Conclusions: Difficulties in EFs may characterize children with D/HH and reduce their QoL. Therefore, EFs should be screened and treated. VAP-S and BRIEF are feasible tools for evaluating EFs that reflect children's challenges due to EF difficulties in real-life contexts.

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.

The Impact of Executive Dysfunction on Anxiety in Hearing-Impaired College Students: Smartphone Addiction as a Mediator and Academic Procrastination as a Moderator

Purpose

Hearing-impaired college students often rely on smartphones for information exchange and social interaction due to their hearing limitations, which may increase their risk of smartphone addiction. This study aims to explore the impact of executive dysfunction on anxiety levels in hearing-impaired college students, investigating smartphone addiction as a mediator and academic procrastination as a moderator.

Methods

We conducted a questionnaire survey using the Executive Function Scale, the Anxiety Scale, the Smartphone Addiction Scale, and the Academic Procrastination Scale. The survey included 609 hearing-impaired college students from three universities in Jiangsu, Hunan, and Heilongjiang Provinces, China.

Results

After controlling for age, executive dysfunction was found to significantly predict higher anxiety levels in hearing-impaired college students. Additionally, smartphone addiction partially mediated the relationship between executive dysfunction and anxiety. Academic procrastination further moderated the relationship between smartphone addiction and anxiety.

Conclusion

This study enhances the understanding of the complex interactions between executive dysfunction, smartphone addiction, and academic procrastination in contributing to anxiety among hearing-impaired college students. The findings offer valuable insights for developing strategies to promote the mental health of this population.

The roles of language and executive function in Mandarin-speaking children's theory of mind development

Introduction

Research has indicated that language and executive function relate closely to first-order false belief reasoning, yet their roles in second-order false belief reasoning are under-explored, and their interplay in theory of mind development remains obscure.

Methods

This study assessed 160 Mandarin-speaking preschoolers' and early primary schoolers' language, executive function, and theory of mind abilities to examine the unique roles and interplay of language and executive function in first-order and second-order false belief reasoning.

Results

Results showed that language significantly uniquely predicted the children's first-order as well as second-order false belief reasoning when controlling for the effects of age and executive function. Although executive function significantly predicted first-order FB reasoning when controlling for age, it was no longer a significant predictor of first-order FB reasoning when language was included in the model. However, executive function played a significant unique role in second-order FB reasoning when controlling for the effects of age and language.

Discussion

The current findings suggest that language plays a greater role than executive function in Mandarin-speaking children's theory of mind development and the contributors to theory of mind development vary in different levels of false belief reasoning.

Research of visual attention networks in deaf individuals: a systematic review

The impact of deafness on visual attention has been widely discussed in previous research. It has been noted that deficiencies and strengths of previous research can be attributed to temporal or spatial aspects of attention, as well as variations in development and clinical characteristics. Visual attention is categorized into three networks: orienting (exogenous and endogenous), alerting (phasic and tonic), and executive control. This study aims to contribute new neuroscientific evidence supporting this hypothesis. This paper presents a systematic review of the international literature from the past 15 years focused on visual attention in the deaf population. The final review included 24 articles. The function of the orienting network is found to be enhanced in deaf adults and children, primarily observed in native signers without cochlear implants, while endogenous orienting is observed only in the context of gaze cues in children, with no differences found in adults. Results regarding alerting and executive function vary depending on clinical characteristics and paradigms used. Implications for future research on visual attention in the deaf population are discussed.

Behavioural evidence for enhanced olfactory and trigeminal perception in congenital hearing loss

Sensory deprivation, especially hearing loss (HL), offers a valuable model for studying neuroplasticity in the human brain and adaptive behaviours that support the daily lives of those with limited or absent sensory input. The study of olfactory function is particularly important as it is an understudied aspect of sensory deprivation. This study aimed to compare the effects of congenital HL on olfactory capacity by using psychophysical tasks. Methodological concerns from previous studies regarding the onset of HL and cognitive assessments were addressed. We recruited 11 individuals with severe-to-profound sensorineural HL (SNHL) since birth and 11 age- and sex-matched typical hearing non-signers. We used standardized neuropsychological tests to assess typical cognition among participants with SNHL. We evaluated olfactory functions by assessing olfactory detection threshold, odour discrimination and odour identification. Hearing-impaired participants outperformed their typical hearing counterparts in olfactory tasks. We further evaluated the accuracy and response time in identifying and localizing odours to disentangle olfactory sensitivity from trigeminal system sensitivity. Participants with SNHL demonstrated higher sensitivity to both the identification and localization tasks. These findings suggest that congenital SNHL is associated with enhanced higher-level olfactory processing and increased trigeminal sensitivity.

Specific Language Impairment and Executive Functions in School-Age Children: A Systematic Review

This systematic review examines the relationship between specific language impairment (SLI) and executive functions (EFs) in school-age children. The study investigates the impact of SLI on EF in comparison to children who develop normally. A total of 2,658 articles from three databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Virtual Health Library) were assessed for inclusion. Ultimately, 22 articles were selected for analysis, which contained information on both SLI and EF. The findings indicate that children diagnosed with SLI exhibit deficits, low performance, and, in some cases, significant deterioration in the development of EF when compared to typically developing children in 62%-91% of cases as early as three to four years of age; the most commonly found alterations were in working memory (including phonological, auditory, and visual/verbal memory), followed by deficits in attention, processing speed, inhibition, planning, cognitive flexibility, and internalized speech. We also discuss the close relationship and importance between language and EF in SLI children.

Executive Function in Deaf Native Signing Children

The aim of this study is twofold: To examine if deafness is invariably associated with deficits in executive function (EF) and to investigate the relationship between sign language proficiency and EF in deaf children of deaf parents with early exposure to a sign language. It is also the first study of EF in children acquiring Polish Sign Language. Even though the mothers of the deaf children (N = 20) had lower levels of education compared with the mothers of a hearing control group, the children performed similarly to their hearing peers (N = 20) on a variety of EF task-based assessments. Only in the Go/No-go task were weaker inhibition skills observed in younger deaf children (6-9 years) compared with hearing peers, and this difference was not seen in older children (10-12 years). Hence, deafness does not necessarily impair EF; however, attentional and inhibition abilities may be acquired via a different route in deaf children. Sign language receptive skills predicted EF in deaf children. In conclusion, we highlight the importance of deaf parenting building the scaffolding for EF in deaf children.

Inhibitory Control of Emotional Interference in Deaf Children: Evidence From Event-Related Potentials and Event-Related Spectral Perturbation Analysis

BACKGROUND

Impairment of interference control ability may reflect a more general deficit in executive functioning, and lead to an increase in internal-externalized problems such as impulsivity, which has been reported in deaf children. However, few researches have examined the neural mechanism of this impairment.

METHODS

This study applied the electroencephalogram (EEG) technique to investigate the interference control ability in 31 deaf children and 28 hearing controls with emotional face-word stroop task.

RESULTS

Results from behavioral task showed that deaf children exhibited lower accuracy compared to hearing controls. As for EEG analysis, reduced activation of ERP components in N1 and enhanced activation of ERP components in N450 have been found in deaf children. Besides, incongruent condition elicited larger N450 than congruent condition. Furthermore, for brain oscillation, alpha band (600-800 ms) revealed a reduced desynchronization in deaf children, while theta band (200-400 ms) revealed an enhanced synchronization in deaf children and incongruent condition, which were in line with ERP components.

CONCLUSION

The present findings seem to indicate that the deficit during emotional interference control ability among deaf children might be due to the impaired attention allocation ability and emotional cognitive monitoring function during emotional conflict detection process. Consequently, reduced N1 and enhanced N450 might be due to early attention impairment causing more effort of deaf children later in emotional cognitive monitoring.