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Yeshua M, Berger A. The Development of Cognitive Control in Preschoolers and Kindergarteners: The Case of Post-Error Slowing and Delayed Disinhibition. J Intell 2024; 12:41. [PMID: 38667708 PMCID: PMC11051561 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence12040041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2024] [Revised: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 03/30/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate two specific behavioral manifestations of the executive attention systems in preschoolers and kindergarteners, beyond the unique contribution of intelligence. We tested post-error slowing [RT¯Post-error trial-RT¯Not post-error trial] as a marker of reactive control and delayed disinhibition as a novel marker for proactive control. One hundred and eighty preschool- and kindergarten-aged children, as well as their mothers (final sample: 155 children and 174 mothers), performed an adapted task based on Go/NoGo and Stroop-like paradigms-the emotional day-night task. The children showed reliable post-error slowing and delayed disinhibition (mean size effects of 238.18 ms and 58.31 ms, respectively), while the adult size effects were 40-50% smaller. The post-error slowing effect was present for both sexes in all the tested ages, while the delayed disinhibition effect was present only for girls. Both effects showed large individual differences that became smaller in adulthood. Our findings emphasize the earlier maturation of reactive control compared to proactive control, and the earlier maturation of proactive cognitive control in girls compared to boys.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maor Yeshua
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel;
| | - Andrea Berger
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel;
- School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
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2
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Leclercq M, Mombo WT, Clerc J. Judgments of relevance in preschoolers: a study of training and transfer of self-cueing strategies. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1341572. [PMID: 38352031 PMCID: PMC10863624 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1341572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction When facing a task, children must analyze it precisely to fully identify what its goal is. This is particularly difficult for young children, who mainly rely on environmental cues to get there. Research suggests that training children to look for the most relevant perceptual cues is promising. Furthermore, as transferring skills to a new task is difficult, the question of whether young children are able to transfer such training remains open. The aim of this study was to test the extent to which two strategies of goal self-cueing-labeling and pointing-can help 4-year-old children to identify the relevant cues to clearly identify the goal of the task. The effects of explicit strategy training were tested in a near transfer task. Method Ninety-nine typically developing 4 year olds took part in the study. They were divided into three groups: two were trained collectively in one of the two strategies and the third group as a control group with no strategy training. All children performed a cued card-sorting task four times: Pre-test, Collective training, Post-test, and Transfer with new cards. Results Results confirmed the beneficial effect of strategy training on goal identification, particularly after training (Post-test). In the transfer phase, all three groups performed equally well. Discussion This study contributes to our understanding of how young children seek information when they look for the most relevant cues for identifying the goal of a task, and the benefits they may derive in a transfer task. It seems that the use of visual cues and self-cueing strategies helps preschoolers to clearly identify the goal of a task. Results are discussed in the light of the self-regulated learning framework. Some possible classroom applications are suggested.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marion Leclercq
- Univ Lille, ULR 4072 – PSITEC: Psychologie: Interactions, Temps, Emotions, Cognition, Composante INSPE Academie de Lille HdF, Lille, France
| | - Wilfried T. Mombo
- Univ Tours, EA 2114 – PAVeA: Psychologie des Âges de la Vie et Adaptation, Tours, France
| | - Jérôme Clerc
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, Grenoble, France
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3
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Gredebäck G, Lindskog M, Hall J. Poor maternal mental health is associated with a low degree of proactive control in refugee children. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2023:17470218231211573. [PMID: 37897067 DOI: 10.1177/17470218231211573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/29/2023]
Abstract
This study assesses the development of proactive control strategies in 100 Syrian refugee families (394 individuals) with 6- to 18-year-old children currently living in Turkish communities. The results demonstrate that children's age and their mothers' post-traumatic stress symptoms were associated with the degree of proactive control in their children, with worse mental health being associated with a larger reliance on reactive control and lesser reliance on proactive, future-oriented, control (measured via d' in the AX-CPT task). None of the following factors contributed to children's performance: fathers' experience with post-traumatic stress, parents' exposure to potentially traumatic war-related events, perceived discrimination, a decline in socio-economic status, religious beliefs, parents' proactive control strategies, or the education or gender of the children themselves. The association between mothers' mental health and proactive control strategies in children was large (in terms of effect size), suggesting that supporting mothers' mental health might have clear effects on the development of their children.
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4
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Zhuang W, Niebaum J, Munakata Y. Changes in adaptation to time horizons across development. Dev Psychol 2023; 59:1532-1542. [PMID: 37166865 PMCID: PMC10524449 DOI: 10.1037/dev0001529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
When making decisions, the amount of time remaining matters. When time horizons are long, exploring unknown options can inform later decisions, but when time horizons are short, exploiting known options should be prioritized. While adults and adolescents adapt their exploration in this way, it is unclear when such adaptation emerges and how individuals behave when time horizons are ambiguous, as in many real-life situations. We examined these questions by having 5- to 6-year-olds (N = 43), 11- to 12-year-olds (N = 40), and adult college students (N = 49) in the United States complete a Simplified Horizons Task under short, long, and ambiguous time horizons. Adaptation to time horizons increased with age: older children and adults explored more when horizons were long than when short, and while some younger children adapted to time horizons, younger children overall did not show strong evidence of adapting. Under ambiguous horizons, older children and adults preferred to exploit over explore, while younger children did not show this preference. Thus, adaptation to time horizons is evident by ages 11-12 and may begin to emerge around 5-6 years, and children decrease their tendencies to explore under short and ambiguous time horizons with development. This developmental shift may lead to less learning but more adaptive decision making. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Winnie Zhuang
- Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder
| | - Jesse Niebaum
- Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
| | - Yuko Munakata
- Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder
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5
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Tam JS, Hershfield JA. Cognitive development and the effectiveness of patient education. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2023; 131:139-140. [PMID: 37536871 DOI: 10.1016/j.anai.2023.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Revised: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 08/05/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan S Tam
- Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California, 4650 Sunset Blvd. MS #75, Los Angeles, California.
| | - Jennifer A Hershfield
- Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California, 4650 Sunset Blvd. MS #75, Los Angeles, California
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6
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Planckaert N, Duyck W, Woumans E. Is there a cognitive advantage in inhibition and switching for bilingual children? A systematic review. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1191816. [PMID: 37397328 PMCID: PMC10313409 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1191816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Several studies have pointed to beneficial effects of bilingualism on executive functioning. However, observations of these beneficial effects have at times proven difficult to reproduce. Moreover, findings of studies on cognitive effects of bilingualism have been contested altogether. These contradictory outcomes leave the research field of bilingualism at unease. In the present review article, we aim to give a systematic overview of previous research on bilingual advantages in inhibition and switching in children up to the age of 12. Particular attention is paid to the experimental tasks that have been applied and the persistence of possible effects throughout critical and post-critical periods for cognitive development in children. In doing so, the review gives an insight in both the validity and robustness of possible domain-general cognitive effects of bilingualism in children. Terminological issues are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niels Planckaert
- Department of Translation, Interpreting, and Communication, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Wouter Duyck
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- The Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO), Den Haag, Netherlands
| | - Evy Woumans
- Department of Translation, Interpreting, and Communication, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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7
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Niebaum J, Munakata Y. The Development of Relational Reasoning: An Eyetracking Analysis of Strategy Use and Adaptation in Children and Adults Performing Matrix Completion. Open Mind (Camb) 2023; 7:197-220. [PMID: 37416068 PMCID: PMC10320822 DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Relational reasoning is a key component of fluid intelligence and an important predictor of academic achievement. Relational reasoning is commonly assessed using matrix completion tasks, in which participants see an incomplete matrix of items that vary on different dimensions and select a response that best completes the matrix based on the relations among items. Performance on such assessments increases dramatically across childhood into adulthood. However, despite widespread use, little is known about the strategies associated with good or poor matrix completion performance in childhood. This study examined the strategies children and adults use to solve matrix completion problems, how those strategies change with age, and whether children and adults adapt strategies to difficulty. We used eyetracking to infer matrix completion strategy use in 6- and 9-year-old children and adults. Across ages, scanning across matrix rows and columns predicted good overall performance, and quicker and higher rates of consulting potential answers predicted poor performance, indicating that optimal matrix completion strategies are similar across development. Indices of good strategy use increased across childhood. As problems increased in difficulty, children and adults increased their scanning of matrix rows and columns, and adults and 9-year-olds also shifted strategies to rely more on consulting potential answers. Adapting strategies to matrix difficulty, particularly increased scanning of rows and columns, was associated with good overall performance in both children and adults. These findings underscore the importance of both spontaneous and adaptive strategy use in individual differences in relational reasoning and its development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesse Niebaum
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
| | - Yuko Munakata
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
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8
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Fox NA, Zeytinoglu S, Valadez EA, Buzzell GA, Morales S, Henderson HA. Annual Research Review: Developmental pathways linking early behavioral inhibition to later anxiety. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2023; 64:537-561. [PMID: 36123776 PMCID: PMC10690832 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Behavioral Inhibition is a temperament identified in the first years of life that enhances the risk for development of anxiety during late childhood and adolescence. Amongst children characterized with this temperament, only around 40 percent go on to develop anxiety disorders, meaning that more than half of these children do not. Over the past 20 years, research has documented within-child and socio-contextual factors that support differing developmental pathways. This review provides a historical perspective on the research documenting the origins of this temperament, its biological correlates, and the factors that enhance or mitigate risk for development of anxiety. We review as well, research findings from two longitudinal cohorts that have identified moderators of behavioral inhibition in understanding pathways to anxiety. Research on these moderators has led us to develop the Detection and Dual Control (DDC) framework to understand differing developmental trajectories among behaviorally inhibited children. In this review, we use this framework to explain why and how specific cognitive and socio-contextual factors influence differential pathways to anxiety versus resilience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan A. Fox
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Selin Zeytinoglu
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Emilio A. Valadez
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - George A. Buzzell
- Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Santiago Morales
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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9
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Lucenet J, Blaye A. Contextual adaptation of cognitive flexibility in kindergartners and fourth graders. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 227:105586. [PMID: 36413870 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2022] [Revised: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 10/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated the development of children's ability to find the optimal balance between flexibility and stability as a function of the frequency of required task switches. This question was addressed in two situations contrasting the dynamics of engagement of reconfiguration processes (reactive vs. proactive). A cued task-switching paradigm was presented to kindergartners and fourth graders, who are known to differ in their preferential mode of control engagement. Flexibility adaptation was examined through the modulation of switching costs by switch proportion, the so-called list-wide switch proportion (LWSP) effect. When the situation forced the use of reactive control (Experiment 1: simultaneous presentation of the cue and the stimulus), we found the LWSP effect with a greater magnitude in kindergartners than in fourth graders. In the situation inducing proactive control (Experiment 2: task cue presented before and until the stimulus), flexibility adaptation was obtained when error rates were considered but not response times. By demonstrating that even young children are capable of flexibility adaptation to contextual demands, these findings support the hypothesis that implicitly triggered adaptation of control may develop as early as the end of the preschool years despite the immaturity of cognitive control during this period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joanna Lucenet
- Laboratoire de Psychologie, EA 4139, University of Bordeaux, 33076 Bordeaux, France.
| | - Agnès Blaye
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, UMR CNRS 7290, University of Aix-Marseille, 13331 Marseille, France
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10
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Kostyrka-Allchorne K, Wass SV, Yusuf H, Rao V, Bertini C, Sonuga-Barke EJS. Inhibitory deficits and symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: How are they related to effortful control? BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2023; 41:50-65. [PMID: 36127834 PMCID: PMC10087402 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2022] [Revised: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Separate studies with clinical and community-based samples have identified an association between symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and inhibitory control deficits and ADHD and weak effortful control. We tested whether differences in effortful control explained the associations between ADHD symptoms and inhibitory control deficits, controlling for conduct problems. In a community sample, parents rated ADHD symptoms, conduct problems, effortful control, surgency and negative affect in 77 4-7-year-olds (47 girls), who performed an inhibitory control task. ADHD symptoms, deficient inhibitory control and low effortful control were correlated. Controlling for conduct problems, path analysis showed the ADHD symptoms - inhibitory control link was mediated statistically by effortful control. This focuses attention on cognitive-energetic factors associated with ADHD-related executive deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna Kostyrka-Allchorne
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Sam V Wass
- School of Psychology, University of East London, London, UK
| | - Hodo Yusuf
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Vidya Rao
- School of Psychology, University of East London, London, UK
| | - Chloé Bertini
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Edmund J S Sonuga-Barke
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.,Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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11
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Leclercq M, Gimenes G, Maintenant C, Clerc J. Goal choice in preschoolers is influenced by context, cognitive flexibility, and metacognition. Front Psychol 2023; 13:1063566. [PMID: 37006717 PMCID: PMC10052421 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1063566] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Accepted: 12/08/2022] [Indexed: 02/25/2023] Open
Abstract
IntroductionGoal choice is one of the first, and most important, steps in self-regulated learning (SRL). It is particularly challenging for young children (before 5–6 years), who tend to rely on available environmental cues, which makes their goals fragile because of the instability and variability of the environment. Therefore, it can be assumed that the conditions under which a task is performed may influence a child’s learning goal choice. Moreover, adapting to constraints involves control capacities provided by executive functions (EF) and metacognition.MethodsThe main purpose of this study was to determine factors that influence the way preschoolers choose a learning goal during the first step of SRL. We tested whether adding constraints to perform a task may influence the choice of the procedure that a child aims to learn to perform this task. We also examined the role of cognitive flexibility and metacognition in goal selection in the face of these changes, and tested the influence of change over time, comparing participants’ performance at two points in the school year. One hundred 4-year-olds were asked to perform a jigsaw puzzle task under two conditions: predictable vs. unpredictable environmental change. Individual levels of cognitive flexibility and metacognition were also measured.ResultsThe results show that only a predictable change, but not an unpredictable one, leaded children to change their learning goals. Furthermore, when participants were faced with an unpredictable change, metacognition and cognitive flexibility significantly predicted learning goal change. Results are discussed regarding the development of SRL, flexibility, and metacognition. Educational suggestions are proposed.Highlights– The choice of a learning goal by a preschooler is influenced by the conditions of task performance and environmental cues. Facing a predictable change is more disruptive to children before the age of 4.5, and more likely to cause them to change their goal.– A shift is observed, from age 4 and during the school year, from a perceptual to a conceptual level of processing.– Cognitive flexibility and metacognition also determine learning goal choice in preschoolers, but only in front of unpredictable changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marion Leclercq
- Univ. Lille, ULR 4072 – PSITEC – Psychologie: Interactions, Temps, Emotions, Cognition, Lille, France
- *Correspondence: Marion Leclercq, ✉
| | - Guillaume Gimenes
- Univ. Lille, ULR 4072 – PSITEC – Psychologie: Interactions, Temps, Emotions, Cognition, Lille, France
| | - Célia Maintenant
- Laboratory PAVeA, Department of Psychology, University of Tours, Tours, France
| | - Jérôme Clerc
- Laboratory CNRS LPNC, Department Psychology, University of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
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12
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Valadez EA, Morales S, Buzzell GA, Troller-Renfree SV, Henderson HA, Chronis-Tuscano A, Pine DS, Fox NA. Development of Proactive Control and Anxiety Among Behaviorally Inhibited Adolescents. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2022; 61:1466-1475. [PMID: 35490841 PMCID: PMC9613813 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2022.04.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2021] [Revised: 01/26/2022] [Accepted: 04/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Behavioral inhibition (BI) is an infant temperament characterized by heightened reactivity and negative affect in response to novel people and situations. BI is among the earliest and strongest predictors of future anxiety problems. However, not all children with a history of BI will manifest anxiety problems. A growing body of evidence suggests that proactive control skills may help buffer youth with BI from future anxiety difficulties; yet, it remains unclear how temperament may interact with the development of cognitive control to influence anxiety risk. The present study tested whether enhancements in proactive control occurring during adolescence may reduce risk for anxiety among youth with a history of BI. METHOD Participants included 185 adolescents (56% female) whose temperament was assessed during toddlerhood. In adolescence, participants completed anxiety assessments and an AX Continuous Performance Test (AX-CPT) to assess cognitive control strategy. Both assessments were administered at age 13 years and again at 15 years. RESULTS Latent change score modeling revealed that, on average, participants increasingly used proactive control strategies and experienced worsening anxiety from age 13-15 years. Early BI was associated with a smaller anxiety increase from 13-15 years, but only among participants whose proactive control skills improved at mean or greater rates. CONCLUSION The present findings suggest that greater proactive control development during adolescence protects youth with high BI from age-related increases in anxiety. Results support a framework that highlights cognitive control as a key moderator of anxiety risk among children with a history of high BI.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Daniel S Pine
- National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland
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13
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Guo D, Wang Y, Liao Y, Li J, Zhang X, Gao Z, Shen M, He J. Development of information integration in the visual working memory of preschoolers. Child Dev 2022; 93:1793-1803. [PMID: 35726966 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13820] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Visual working memory (WM) plays a pivotal role in integrating fragments into meaningful units, but no study has addressed how visual WM integration takes place in children. The current study examined whether WM integration emerges once preschoolers master Gestalt cue and can retain two representations in WM (automatic integration hypothesis), or still needs time to mature (maturation-of-integration hypothesis). Four experiments (N = 168, 81 females, 4- to 6-year-olds, Chinese, in Hangzhou, China, from 2016.10 to 2021.11) were conducted. Although 4-year-olds can retain two objects in WM and benefit from Gestalt cues in simultaneous display (Cohen's ds >1.00), they failed when memory arrays were presented sequentially. Meanwhile, 5- and 6-year-olds consistently demonstrated WM integration ability (all Cohen's ds >0.69), supporting the maturation-of-integration hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dong Guo
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China.,Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yudan Wang
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China.,Publicity and Education Department, Palace Museum, Beijing, China
| | - Yifan Liao
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China
| | - Jiaofeng Li
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China
| | | | - Zaifeng Gao
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China
| | - Mowei Shen
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China
| | - Jie He
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China
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14
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Hayre RK, Cragg L, Allen HA. Endogenous control is insufficient for preventing attentional capture in children and adults. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2022; 228:103611. [PMID: 35724537 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Revised: 04/24/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Adults are known to have developed the ability to selectively focus their attention in a goal-driven (endogenous) manner but it is less clear at what stage in development (5-6 & 9-11 years) children can endogenously control their attention and whether they behave similarly to adults when managing distractions. In this study we administered a child-adapted cued visual search task to three age-groups: five- to six-year-olds (N = 45), nine- to eleven-year-olds (N = 42) and adults (N = 42). Participants were provided with a cue which either guided their attention towards or away from an upcoming target. On some trials, a singleton distracter was presented which participants needed to ignore. Participants completed three conditions where the cues were: 1) usually helpful (High Predictive), 2) usually unhelpful (Low Predictive) and 3) never helpful (Baseline) in guiding attention towards the target. We found that endogenous cue-utilisation develops with increasing age. Overall, nine- to eleven-year-olds and adults, but not five- to six-year-olds, utilised the endogenous cues in the High Predictive condition. However, all age-groups were unable to ignore the singleton distracter even when using endogenous control. Moreover, we found better cue-maintenance ability was related to poorer distracter-inhibition ability in early-childhood, but these skills were no longer related further on in development. We conclude that overall endogenous control is still developing in early-childhood, but an adult-like form of this skill has been acquired by mid-childhood. Furthermore, endogenous cue-utilisation was shown as insufficient for preventing attentional capture in both children and adults.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lucy Cragg
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Harriet A Allen
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
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15
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Zhou H, Li Z, Wang C. Development of proactive control in school-age children and its relationship with working memory. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03260-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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16
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Filippi CA, Subar A, Ravi S, Haas S, Troller-Renfree SV, Fox NA, Leibenluft E, Pine DS. Developmental Changes in the Association Between Cognitive Control and Anxiety. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 2022; 53:599-609. [PMID: 33738691 PMCID: PMC9107422 DOI: 10.1007/s10578-021-01150-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Anxiety has been associated with reliance on reactive (stimulus-driven/reflexive) control strategies in response to conflict. However, this conclusion rests primarily on indirect evidence. Few studies utilize tasks that dissociate the use of reactive ('just in time') vs. proactive (anticipatory/preparatory) cognitive control strategies in response to conflict, and none examine children diagnosed with anxiety. The current study utilizes the AX-CPT, which dissociates these two types of cognitive control, to examine cognitive control in youth (ages 8-18) with and without an anxiety diagnosis (n = 56). Results illustrate that planful behavior, consistent with using a proactive strategy, varies by both age and anxiety symptoms. Young children (ages 8-12 years) with high anxiety exhibit significantly less planful behavior than similarly-aged children with low anxiety. These findings highlight the importance of considering how maturation influences relations between anxiety and performance on cognitive-control tasks and have implications for understanding the pathophysiology of anxiety in children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Courtney A Filippi
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742, USA.
| | - Anni Subar
- Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, CO, 80208, USA
| | - Sanjana Ravi
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742, USA
| | - Sara Haas
- Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Sonya V Troller-Renfree
- Department of Biobehavioral Sciences, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Nathan A Fox
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742, USA
| | - Ellen Leibenluft
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Daniel S Pine
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
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17
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Rosenbaum J, Hascoët JM, Hamon I, Petel A, Caudron S, Ceyte H. Body Mobility and Attention Networks in 6- to 7-Year-Old Children. Front Psychol 2021; 12:743504. [PMID: 34777134 PMCID: PMC8579035 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.743504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Learning in 6- to 7-year-old children is strongly influenced by three functions of attention: alertness, orienting, and executive control. These functions share a close relationship with body mobility, such as the posture adopted or a request to stay still during tasks. The aim of this study (ClinicalTrials.gov) was to analyze the influence of body posture (standing versus sitting) and the influence of these imposed postures compared to a free body mobility on attention functions in 6- to 7-year-old children. Twenty-one children (11 girls) with a mean age of 6.7±0.6years performed the Attention Network Test for Children in three-body mobility conditions: sitting still, standing still, and free to move. Three attentional scores were calculated which would separately reflect performance of alertness, orienting, and executive control. Overall, no difference in alertness performance was found between the three bodily mobility conditions. In addition, our results suggest a general poor orienting performance in children, whatever the body mobility condition, which might be related to their young age. Finally, children improved their executive control performance when they stood still, probably due to an improvement in arousal and mental state.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jean-Michel Hascoët
- Université de Lorraine, DevAH, Nancy, France.,Université de Lorraine, CHRU, Maternité Régionale, Département de Néonatologie, Nancy, France
| | - Isabelle Hamon
- Université de Lorraine, DevAH, Nancy, France.,Université de Lorraine, CHRU, Maternité Régionale, Département de Néonatologie, Nancy, France
| | | | - Sébastien Caudron
- Université Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, Grenoble, France
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18
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Bølstad E, Havighurst SS, Tamnes CK, Nygaard E, Bjørk RF, Stavrinou M, Espeseth T. A Pilot Study of a Parent Emotion Socialization Intervention: Impact on Parent Behavior, Child Self-Regulation, and Adjustment. Front Psychol 2021; 12:730278. [PMID: 34721193 PMCID: PMC8554311 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.730278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Accepted: 09/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Adequate emotion regulation in children is crucial for healthy development and is influenced by parent emotion socialization. The current pilot study aimed to test, for the first time in a Scandinavian population, whether an emotion-focused intervention, Tuning in to Kids (TIK), had positive effects on parent emotion-related socialization behaviors (ERSBs), and children's self-regulation, anxiety, and externalizing behavior problems. We conducted a controlled trial of the 6-week evidence-based TIK parenting program with 20 parents of preschool children aged 5–6 years and 19 wait-list controls. Assessments at baseline and 6 months after the intervention included parent-report questionnaires on parent ERSBs and child adjustment, as well as aspects of children's self-regulation assessed with two behavioral tasks, the Emotional Go/No-Go task (EGNG) and the AX-Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT). Results showed a significant increase in reported parent emotion coaching behavior and an uncorrected significant decrease in parents' report of child externalizing problems in intervention participants compared to controls. The behavioral data showed an uncorrected significant improvement in child emotion discrimination in the control condition compared to the intervention condition, while measures of children's executive control improved from baseline to follow-up for both conditions but were not significantly different between conditions. These findings suggest that this emotion-focused parenting intervention contributed to improvement in parents' emotion coaching and their appraisal of child externalizing problems, while children's self-regulation showed mainly normative developmental improvements. Further research with a larger sample will be the next step to determine if these pilot findings are seen in an adequately powered study.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sophie S Havighurst
- Mindful: Centre for Training and Research in Developmental Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Christian K Tamnes
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,NORMENT, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,Department of Psychiatric Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Egil Nygaard
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | | | - Maria Stavrinou
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,Division of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Department of Diagnostic Physics, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Thomas Espeseth
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,Department of Psychology, Bjørknes College, Oslo, Norway
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19
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Yanaoka K, Van't Wout F, Saito S, Jarrold C. Prior task experience increases 5-year-old children's use of proactive control: Behavioral and pupillometric evidence. Dev Sci 2021; 25:e13181. [PMID: 34623719 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2021] [Revised: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 10/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Children engage cognitive control reactively when they encounter conflicts; however, they can also resolve conflicts proactively. Recent studies have begun to clarify the mechanisms that support the use of proactive control in children; nonetheless, sufficient knowledge has not been accumulated regarding these mechanisms. Using behavioral and pupillometric measures, we tested the novel possibility that 5-year-old children (N = 58) learn to use proactive control via the acquisition of abstract task knowledge that captures regularities of the task. Participants were assigned to either a proactive training group or a control training group. In the proactive training group, participants engaged in a training phase where using proactive control was encouraged, followed by a test phase using different stimuli where both proactive and reactive control could be used. In the control training group, participants engaged in a training phase where both cognitive control strategies could be used, followed by a similarly-structured test phase using different stimuli. We demonstrated children in the control training group responded more quickly and accurately and showed greater cue-related pupil dilation in the test phase than in the training phase. However, there were no differences in response times, accuracies, and pupil dilation between the proactive and control training groups in the training and test phases. These findings suggest that prior task experience, that goes beyond specific knowledge about the timing of task goal activation, can lead children to engage more proactive control endogenously, even if they are not directly encouraged to do so.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaichi Yanaoka
- Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.,Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | - Satoru Saito
- Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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20
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Traut HJ, Chevalier N, Guild RM, Munakata Y. Understanding and Supporting Inhibitory Control: Unique Contributions From Proactive Monitoring and Motoric Stopping to Children's Improvements With Practice. Child Dev 2021; 92:e1290-e1307. [PMID: 34339051 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Children struggle to stop inappropriate behaviors. What interventions improve inhibitory control, for whom, and why? Prior work suggested that practice proactively monitoring for relevant signals improved children's inhibitory control more than practice with motoric stopping. However, these processes were not clearly dissociated. This study tested 162 seven- to nine-year-old children (89 female, 72 male, 1 unreported; 82% White) on the stop-signal task, following monitoring or stopping-focused practice. Both methods improved inhibitory control, supported generalization, and interacted ( η p 2 = .20-.73). Practice approaches differentially impacted variability ( η p 2 = .01-.09). Only monitoring benefits showed signs of depending upon proactive control ( η p 2 = .02). These findings highlight unique contributions of attentional and stopping processes to inhibitory control, suggesting possibilities for tailored interventions.
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21
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Pomper R, Kaushanskaya M, Saffran J. Change is hard: Individual differences in children's lexical processing and executive functions after a shift in dimensions. LANGUAGE LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT 2021; 18:229-247. [PMID: 35600505 PMCID: PMC9122267 DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2021.1947289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Language comprehension involves cognitive abilities that are specific to language as well as cognitive abilities that are more general and involved in a wide range of behaviors. One set of domain-general abilities that support language comprehension are executive functions (EFs), also known as cognitive control. A diverse body of research has demonstrated that EFs support language comprehension when there is conflict between competing, incompatible interpretations of temporarily ambiguous words or phrases. By engaging EFs, children and adults are able to select or bias their attention towards the correct interpretation. However, the degree to which language processing engages EFs in the absence of ambiguity is poorly understood. In the current experiment, we tested whether EFs may be engaged when comprehending speech that does not elicit conflicting interpretations. Different components of EFs were measured using several behavioral tasks and language comprehension was measured using an eye-tracking procedure. Five-year-old children (n=56) saw pictures of familiar objects and heard sentences identifying the objects using either their names or colors. After a series of objects were identified using one dimension, children were significantly less accurate in fixating target objects that were identified using a second dimension. Further results reveal that this decrease in accuracy does not occur because children struggle to shift between dimensions, but rather because they are unable to predict which dimension will be used. These effects of predictability are related to individual differences in children's EFs. Taken together, these findings suggest that EFs may be more broadly involved when children comprehend language, even in instances that do not require conflict resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ron Pomper
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 West Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, USA
| | - Margarita Kaushanskaya
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, USA
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Goodnight Hall, 1975 Willow Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Jenny Saffran
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 West Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, USA
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22
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Zheng A, Church JA. A Developmental Eye Tracking Investigation of Cued Task Switching Performance. Child Dev 2021; 92:1652-1672. [PMID: 33417266 PMCID: PMC8451801 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Children perform worse than adults on tests of cognitive flexibility, which is a component of executive function. To assess what aspects of a cognitive flexibility task (cued switching) children have difficulty with, investigators tested where eye gaze diverged over age. Eye-tracking was used as a proxy for attention during the preparatory period of each trial in 48 children ages 8-16 years and 51 adults ages 18-27 years. Children fixated more often and longer on the cued rule, and made more saccades between rule and response options. Behavioral performance correlated with gaze location and saccades. Mid-adolescents were similar to adults, supporting the slow maturation of cognitive flexibility. Lower preparatory control and associated lower cognitive flexibility task performance in development may particularly relate to rule processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annie Zheng
- Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
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23
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Wang C, Li B, Yao Y. Proactive Control Mediates the Relationship Between Working Memory and Math Ability in Early Childhood. Front Psychol 2021; 12:611429. [PMID: 34025497 PMCID: PMC8137833 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.611429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Accepted: 04/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Based on the dual mechanisms of control (DMC) theory, there are two distinct mechanisms of cognitive control, proactive and reactive control. Importantly, accumulating evidence indicates that there is a developmental shift from predominantly using reactive control to proactive control during childhood, and the engagement of proactive control emerges as early as 5–7 years old. However, less is known about whether and how proactive control at this early age stage is associated with children’s other cognitive abilities such as working memory and math ability. To address this issue, the current study recruited 98 Chinese children under 5–7 years old. Among them, a total of 81 children (mean age = 6.29 years) contributed useable data for the assessments of cognitive control, working memory, and math ability. The results revealed that children at this age period predominantly employed a pattern of proactive control during an AX-Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT). Moreover, the proactive control index estimated by this task was positively associated with both working memory and math performance. Further regression analysis showed that proactive control accounted for significant additional variance in predicting math performance after controlling for working memory. Most interestingly, mediation analysis showed that proactive control significantly mediated the association between working memory and math performance. This suggests that as working memory increases so does proactive control, which may in turn improve math ability in early childhood. Our findings may have important implications for educational practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunjie Wang
- Institute of Brain Science and Department of Psychology, School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Baoming Li
- Institute of Brain Science and Department of Psychology, School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yuan Yao
- Department of Psychology, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, China
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24
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Hoyer RS, Elshafei H, Hemmerlin J, Bouet R, Bidet-Caulet A. Why Are Children So Distractible? Development of Attention and Motor Control From Childhood to Adulthood. Child Dev 2021; 92:e716-e737. [PMID: 33825204 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Distractibility is the propensity to behaviorally react to irrelevant information. Although children are more distractible the younger they are, the precise contribution of attentional and motor components to distractibility and their developmental trajectories have not been characterized yet. We used a new behavioral paradigm to identify the developmental dynamics of components contributing to distractibility in a large cohort of French participants balanced, between age groups, in gender and socioeconomic status (N = 352; age: 6-25). Results reveal that each measure of these components, namely voluntary attention, distraction, impulsivity, and motor control, present a distinct maturational timeline. In young children, increased distractibility is mostly the result of reduced sustained attention capacities and enhanced distraction, whereas in teenagers, it is the result of decreased motor control and increased impulsivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roxane S Hoyer
- INSERM, CNRS, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and Université de Lyon
| | - Hesham Elshafei
- INSERM, CNRS, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and Université de Lyon
| | - Julie Hemmerlin
- INSERM, CNRS, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and Université de Lyon
| | - Romain Bouet
- INSERM, CNRS, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and Université de Lyon
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25
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Singh L, Moh Y, Ding X, Lee K, Quinn PC. Cognitive flexibility and parental education differentially predict implicit and explicit racial biases in bilingual children. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 204:105059. [PMID: 33387897 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2020] [Revised: 11/12/2020] [Accepted: 11/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Prior research has suggested that bilingual children demonstrate reduced social bias relative to their monolingual peers. In particular, they exhibit less implicit bias against racial outgroups. However, the cognitive determinants of racial bias in bilingual children remain unclear. In the current study, relationships between racial bias and three cognitive factors (inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and perspective-taking ability), along with language proficiency and parental education, were investigated in a sample of bilingual preschoolers (N = 55). Children were bilingual learners of English and Mandarin. Results demonstrated that implicit bias was predicted by cognitive flexibility, independent of variation in inhibitory control, second language vocabulary, perspective taking, and parental education. In contrast, explicit bias was predicted by parental education alone and not by cognitive or linguistic factors. Findings suggest that increased cognitive flexibility, often thought to be an outgrowth of bilingual experience, may also be associated with a reduction in implicit bias. Findings are discussed in terms of specific mechanisms that may link cognitive factors, bilingualism, and racial bias.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leher Singh
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
| | - Yvonne Moh
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore
| | - Xiaopan Ding
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore
| | - Kang Lee
- Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6, Canada
| | - Paul C Quinn
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
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26
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Developing adaptive control: Age-related differences in task choices and awareness of proactive and reactive control demands. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2020; 21:561-572. [PMID: 33009653 PMCID: PMC10162508 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-020-00832-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Developmental changes in executive function are often explained in terms of core cognitive processes and associated neural substrates. For example, younger children tend to engage control reactively in the moment as needed, whereas older children increasingly engage control proactively, in anticipation of needing it. Such developments may reflect increasing capacities for active maintenance dependent upon dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. However, younger children will engage proactive control when reactive control is made more difficult, suggesting that developmental changes may also reflect decisions about whether to engage control, and how. We tested awareness of temporal control demands and associated task choices in 5-year-olds and 10-year-olds and adults using a demand selection task. Participants chose between one task that enabled proactive control and another task that enabled reactive control. Adults reported awareness of these different control demands and preferentially played the proactive task option. Ten-year-olds reported awareness of control demands but selected task options at chance. Five-year-olds showed neither awareness nor task preference, but a subsample who exhibited awareness of control demands preferentially played the reactive task option, mirroring their typical control mode. Thus, developmental improvements in executive function may in part reflect better awareness of cognitive demands and adaptive behavior, which may in turn reflect changes in dorsal anterior cingulate in signaling task demands to lateral prefrontal cortex.
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27
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Task context load induces reactive cognitive control: An fMRI study on cortical and brain stem activity. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2020; 19:945-965. [PMID: 30659515 PMCID: PMC6711881 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-019-00691-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive control is a highly dynamic process that relies on flexible engagement of prefrontal areas and of neuromodulatory systems in order to adapt to changing demands. A range of internal and external factors come into play when individuals engage in a task requiring cognitive control. Here we investigated whether increased working memory (WM) demands would induce a flexible change in cognitive control mode in young healthy individuals. We developed a novel variant of the well-known AX–continuous performance task (AX-CPT). We manipulated the cognitive demands of maintaining task-relevant contextual information and studied the impact of this manipulation on behavior and brain activity. We expected that low WM load would allow for a more effortful, proactive strategy, while high WM load would induce a strategy of less effortful, stimulus-driven reactive control. In line with our hypothesis, a web-based experiment revealed that increased load was associated with more reactive behavioral responses, and this finding was independently replicated in behavioral data acquired in the MRI scanner. The results from brain activity showed that the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was activated by cues in the proactive mode and by probes in the reactive mode. The analysis of task-induced brain stem activity indicated that both the dopaminergic and noradrenergic systems are involved in updating context representations, and that, respectively, these systems mediate a gating signal to the control network and are involved in the dynamic regulation of task engagement.
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28
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Jin X, Auyeung B, Chevalier N. External rewards and positive stimuli promote different cognitive control engagement strategies in children. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2020; 44:100806. [PMID: 32716851 PMCID: PMC7327410 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100806] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2020] [Revised: 06/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
In everyday life, children often need to engage control in emotionally or motivationally relevant contexts. This study disentangled and directly compared the respective influences of external rewards and positive stimuli on childhood cognitive control. We expected external rewards to promote proactive cognitive control and positive stimuli to impair proactive control, especially in younger age. EEG data were recorded while children (5-6 years old and 9-10 years old) and adults completed a cued task-switching paradigm in three conditions: positive-stimulus, external-reward and control conditions. Provision of reward resulted in more accurate but slower responses, and more pronounced cue-locked posterior positivity, potentially suggesting general proactive mobilisation of attention (i.e., readiness). Despite no effects on behaviour, the presentation of positive stimuli was unexpectedly associated with a greater cue-locked extended slow-wave when task cues were presented ahead of targets (i.e. proactive-control possible) in younger children, suggesting greater proactive cue preparation. In contrast to our hypothesis, both external rewards and positive stimuli seem to promote different types of proactive approaches in children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyu Jin
- Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK.
| | - Bonnie Auyeung
- Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK; Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, 18b Trumpington Road, Cambridge, CB2 8AH, UK
| | - Nicolas Chevalier
- Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK
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29
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Freier L, Gupta P, Badre D, Amso D. The value of proactive goal setting and choice in 3- to 7-year-olds' use of working memory gating strategies in a naturalistic task. Dev Sci 2020; 24:e13017. [PMID: 32654276 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2019] [Revised: 03/05/2020] [Accepted: 06/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Rule-guided behavior depends on the ability to strategically update and act on content held in working memory. Proactive and reactive control strategies were contrasted across two experiments using an adapted input/output gating paradigm (Neuron, 81, 2014 and 930). Behavioral accuracies of 3-, 5-, and 7-year-olds were higher when a contextual cue appeared at the beginning of the task (input gating) rather than at the end (output gating). This finding supports prior work in older children, suggesting that children are better when input gating but rely on the more effortful output gating strategy for goal-oriented action selection (Cognition, 155, 2016 and 8). A manipulation was added to investigate whether children's use of working memory strategies becomes more flexible when task goals are specified internally rather than externally provided by the experimenter. A shift toward more proactive control was observed when children chose the task goal among two alternatives. Scan path analyses of saccadic eye movement indicated that giving children agency and choice over the task goal resulted in less use of a reactive strategy than when the goal was determined by the experimenter.
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Affiliation(s)
- Livia Freier
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Science, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
| | - Pankaj Gupta
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Science, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
| | - David Badre
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Science, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.,Brown Institute for Brain Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
| | - Dima Amso
- Psychology Department, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
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30
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Yanaoka K, Moriguchi Y, Saito S. Cognitive and neural underpinnings of goal maintenance in young children. Cognition 2020; 203:104378. [PMID: 32585457 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2019] [Revised: 06/10/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Active maintenance of goal representations is an integral part of our mental regulatory processes. Previous developmental studies have highlighted goal neglect, which is the phenomenon caused by a failure to maintain goal representations, and demonstrated developmental changes of the ability to maintain goal representations among preschoolers. Yet, few studies have explored the cognitive mechanisms underlying preschoolers' development of goal maintenance. The first aim of this study was to test whether working memory capacity and inhibitory control contribute to goal maintenance using a paradigm for measuring goal neglect. Moreover, although recent studies have shown that preschoolers recruit lateral prefrontal regions in performing executive functions tasks, they could not specify the neural underpinnings of goal maintenance. Thus, the second aim was to examine whether lateral prefrontal regions played a key role in maintaining goal representations using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Our results showed that developmental differences in inhibitory control predicted the degree of goal neglect. It was also demonstrated that activation in the right prefrontal region was associated with children's successful avoidance of goal neglect. These findings offer important insights into the cognitive and neural underpinnings of goal maintenance in preschoolers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaichi Yanaoka
- Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Chiyoda-ku, 5-3-1 Kojimachi, Tokyo 102-0083, Japan.
| | - Yusuke Moriguchi
- Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Yoshidahonmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
| | - Satoru Saito
- Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University, Yoshidahonmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
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Kubota M, Hadley LV, Schaeffner S, Könen T, Meaney JA, Auyeung B, Morey CC, Karbach J, Chevalier N. Consistent use of proactive control and relation with academic achievement in childhood. Cognition 2020; 203:104329. [PMID: 32526518 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2019] [Revised: 05/10/2020] [Accepted: 05/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
As children become older, they better maintain task-relevant information in preparation of upcoming cognitive demands. This is referred to as proactive control, which is a key component of cognitive control development. However, it is still uncertain whether children engage in proactive control consistently across different contexts and how proactive control relates to academic abilities. This study used two common tasks-the AX Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) and the Cued Task-Switching Paradigm (CTS)-to examine whether proactive control engagement in 102 children (age range: 6.91-10.91 years) converges between the two tasks and predicts academic abilities. Proactive control indices modestly correlated between tasks in higher but not lower working-memory children, suggesting that consistency in proactive control engagement across contexts is relatively low during childhood but increases with working memory capacity. Further, working memory (but not verbal speed) predicted proactive control engagement in both tasks. While proactive control as measured by each task predicted math and reading performance, only proactive control measured by CTS additionally predicted reasoning, suggesting that proactive control can be used as a proxy for academic achievements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maki Kubota
- Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, EH8 9JZ Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
| | - Lauren V Hadley
- Hearing Sciences - Scottish Section, University of Nottingham, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 10 16 Alexandra Parade, G31 2ER, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
| | - Simone Schaeffner
- Department of Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau, Campus Landau Fortstraße 7, D-76829 Landau, Pfalz, Germany.
| | - Tanja Könen
- Department of Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau, Campus Landau Fortstraße 7, D-76829 Landau, Pfalz, Germany.
| | - Julie-Anne Meaney
- Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, EH8 9JZ Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
| | - Bonnie Auyeung
- Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, EH8 9JZ Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
| | - Candice C Morey
- School of Psychology, College of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Cardiff University, 70 Park Place, CF10 3AT Cardiff, United Kingdom.
| | - Julia Karbach
- Department of Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau, Campus Landau Fortstraße 7, D-76829 Landau, Pfalz, Germany.
| | - Nicolas Chevalier
- Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, EH8 9JZ Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
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Giovannetti F, Pietto ML, Segretín MS, Lipina SJ. Impact of an Individualized Cognitive Training Intervention in Preschoolers from Poor Homes. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2020; 17:ijerph17082912. [PMID: 32340155 PMCID: PMC7215356 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17082912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2020] [Revised: 04/17/2020] [Accepted: 04/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Over the last few decades, different interventions were shown to be effective in changing cognitive performance in preschoolers from poor homes undertaking tasks with executive demands. However, this evidence also showed that not all children included in the intervention groups equally increased their performance levels, which could be related to individual and contextual variability. The present study aimed to explore the impact of a computerized cognitive training intervention with lab-based tasks in preschoolers from Unsatisfied Basic Needs (UBN) homes under the consideration of their baseline performance. In the context of a randomized controlled trial design, different interventions were administered to children according to their baseline performance in a variety of cognitive tasks (i.e., executive attention, inhibitory control, working memory, and planning demands). The results showed different patterns of impact on performance depending on the experimental group, supporting the importance of considering individual and contextual differences in the design of interventions aimed at optimizing executive functions in poverty-impacted sample populations in early stages of development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Giovannetti
- Unidad de Neurobiología Aplicada (UNA), CEMIC-CONICET, Buenos Aires C1431FWO, Argentina; (M.L.P.); (M.S.S.)
- Correspondence: (F.G.); (S.J.L.)
| | - Marcos Luis Pietto
- Unidad de Neurobiología Aplicada (UNA), CEMIC-CONICET, Buenos Aires C1431FWO, Argentina; (M.L.P.); (M.S.S.)
- Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificial Aplicada, Instituto de Ciencias de la Computación, FCEyN-UBA- CONICET, Buenos Aires C1428EGA, Argentina
| | - María Soledad Segretín
- Unidad de Neurobiología Aplicada (UNA), CEMIC-CONICET, Buenos Aires C1431FWO, Argentina; (M.L.P.); (M.S.S.)
| | - Sebastián Javier Lipina
- Unidad de Neurobiología Aplicada (UNA), CEMIC-CONICET, Buenos Aires C1431FWO, Argentina; (M.L.P.); (M.S.S.)
- Correspondence: (F.G.); (S.J.L.)
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Roquet A, Poletti C, Lemaire P. Sequential modulations of executive control processes throughout lifespan in numerosity comparison. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2020.100884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
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Troller-Renfree SV, Buzzell GA, Fox NA. Changes in working memory influence the transition from reactive to proactive cognitive control during childhood. Dev Sci 2020; 23:e12959. [PMID: 32141641 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2019] [Revised: 02/06/2020] [Accepted: 02/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive control develops rapidly over the first decade of life, with one of the dominant changes being a transition from reliance on 'as-needed' control (reactive control) to a more planful, sustained form of control (proactive control). Although the emergence of proactive control is important for mature behavior, we know little about how this transition takes place, the neural correlates of this transition, and whether development of executive functions influences the ability to adopt a proactive control strategy. This study addresses these questions, focusing on the transition from reactive to proactive control in a cross-sectional sample of 79 children-forty-one 5-year-olds and thirty-eight 9-year-olds. Children completed an adapted version of the AX-Continuous Performance Task while electroencephalography was recorded and a standardized executive function battery was administered. Results revealed 5-year-olds predominantly employed reactive strategies, whereas 9-year-olds used proactive strategies. Use of proactive control was predicted by working memory ability, above and beyond other executive functions. Moreover, when enacting proactive control, greater increases in neural activity underlying working memory updating were observed; links between working memory ability and proactive control strategy use were mediated by such neural activity. These results provide convergent evidence that the transition from reactive to proactive control may be dependent on age-related changes in neurocognitive indices of working memory and that working memory may influence adopting a proactive control strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonya V Troller-Renfree
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - George A Buzzell
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Nathan A Fox
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
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Śmigasiewicz K, Ambrosi S, Blaye A, Burle B. Inhibiting errors while they are produced: Direct evidence for error monitoring and inhibitory control in children. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2020; 41:100742. [PMID: 31999563 PMCID: PMC6994603 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2019] [Revised: 10/14/2019] [Accepted: 11/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The maturation of processes involved in performance monitoring, crucial for adaptive behavior, is a core aspect of developmental changes. Monitoring processes are often studied through the analysis of error processing. Previous developmental studies generally focused on post-error slowing and error-related EEG activities. Instead, the present study aims at collecting indicators of error monitoring processes occurring within trials that is, before the erroneous response is produced. Electromyographic (EMG) activity and force produced during responding were registered in 6 to 14-year-olds performing a choice-response task. As already reported in adults, force produced was weaker, EMG bursts were smaller, and motor times (interval between EMG onsets and responses) were longer during errors compared to correct responses. In contrast, the rising part of EMG burst, reflecting the initial motor command, was the same for both response outcomes. This suggests that error inhibition was applied online after the response was triggered but before the actual key was pressed. This error correction was already present in children as young as 6 years old. The effects of reduced EMG and force amplitudes remained stable across childhood. However, the prolonged motor times in young children suggests that they need more time to implement motor inhibition than their older peers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kamila Śmigasiewicz
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, France.
| | - Solène Ambrosi
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, France
| | - Agnès Blaye
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, France
| | - Boris Burle
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, France.
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Fitamen C, Blaye A, Camos V. The role of goal cueing in kindergarteners’ working memory. J Exp Child Psychol 2019; 187:104666. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2019] [Revised: 06/14/2019] [Accepted: 07/11/2019] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
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Troller-Renfree SV, Buzzell GA, Pine DS, Henderson HA, Fox NA. Consequences of Not Planning Ahead: Reduced Proactive Control Moderates Longitudinal Relations Between Behavioral Inhibition and Anxiety. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2019; 58:768-775.e1. [PMID: 30768398 PMCID: PMC7351028 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2018.06.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2018] [Revised: 05/07/2018] [Accepted: 06/21/2018] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Children with the temperament of behavioral inhibition (BI) face increased risk for developing an anxiety disorder later in life. However, not all children with BI manifest anxiety symptoms, and use of a cognitive control strategy could moderate the pathway between BI and anxiety. Individuals vary widely in the strategy used to instantiate control. The present study examined whether a more planful style of cognitive control (ie, proactive control) or a more impulsive strategy of control (ie, reactive control) would moderate the association between early BI and later anxiety symptoms. METHOD Participants were part of a longitudinal study examining the relations between BI (measured at 2-3 years of age) and later anxiety symptoms (measured at 13 years). Use of a cognitive control strategy was assessed at 13 years using the AX variant of the continuous performance task. RESULTS BI in toddlerhood significantly predicted increased use of a more reactive cognitive control style in adolescence. In addition, cognitive control strategy moderated the relation between BI and anxious symptoms, such that reliance on a more reactive strategy predicted higher levels of anxiety for children high in BI. CONCLUSION The present study is the first to identify the specific control strategy that increases risk for anxiety. Thus, it is not cognitive control per se, but the specific control strategy children adopt that could increase risk for anxiety later in life. These findings have important implications for future evidence-based interventions because they suggest that an emphasis on decreasing reactive cognitive control and increasing proactive cognitive control might decrease anxious cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Daniel S. Pine
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Bethesda, MD
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Hadley LV, Acluche F, Chevalier N. Encouraging performance monitoring promotes proactive control in children. Dev Sci 2019; 23:e12861. [PMID: 31108017 PMCID: PMC6916639 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2018] [Revised: 05/02/2019] [Accepted: 05/09/2019] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Monitoring progression towards one's goals is essential for efficient cognitive control. Immature performance monitoring may contribute to suboptimal cognitive control engagement in childhood, potentially explaining why children engage control reactively even when proactive control would be more effective. This study investigated whether encouraging children to actively monitor their performance results in more mature control engagement. Electroencephalography data were collected while children and adults performed a flanker task in three conditions in which they were provided no feedback, standard feedback, or were asked to estimate their own feedback. Both age groups accurately estimated their own feedback. Critically, feedback estimation promoted online performance monitoring and proactive engagement of attention and inhibition during the flanker period in children. These findings indicate that proactive control engagement in childhood can be effectively supported by encouraging performance monitoring.
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What do I do next? The influence of two self-cueing strategies on children’s engagement of proactive control. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2019.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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40
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Immediate versus delayed control demands elicit distinct mechanisms for instantiating proactive control. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2019; 19:910-926. [PMID: 30607833 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-018-00684-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive control is critical for dynamically guiding goal-directed behavior, particularly when applying preparatory, or proactive, control processes. However, it is unknown how proactive control is modulated by timing demands. This study investigated how timing demands may instantiate distinct neural processes and contribute to the use of different types of proactive control. In two experiments, healthy young adults performed the AX-Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) or Dot Pattern Expectancy (DPX) task. The delay between informative cue and test probe was manipulated by block to be short (1s) or long (~3s). We hypothesized that short cue-probe delays would rely more on a rapid goal updating process (akin to task-switching), whereas long cue-probe delays would utilize more of an active maintenance process (akin to working memory). Short delay lengths were associated with specific impairments in rare probe accuracy. EEG responses to control-demanding cues revealed delay-specific neural signatures, which replicated across studies. In the short delay condition, EEG activities associated with task-switching were specifically enhanced, including increased early anterior positivity ERP amplitude (accompanying greater mid-frontal theta power) and a larger late differential switch positivity. In the long delay condition, we observed study-specific sustained increases in ERP amplitude following control-demanding cues, which may be suggestive of active maintenance. Collectively, these findings suggest that timing demands may instantiate distinct proactive control processes. These findings suggest a reevaluation of AX-CPT and DPX as pure assessments of working memory and highlight the need to understand how presumably benign task parameters, such as cue-probe delay length, significantly alter cognitive control.
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41
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Zhang Q, Wang C, Zhao Q, Yang L, Buschkuehl M, Jaeggi SM. The malleability of executive function in early childhood: Effects of schooling and targeted training. Dev Sci 2018; 22:e12748. [PMID: 30171785 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2016] [Accepted: 08/21/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Executive function (EF), its importance for scholastic achievement and the question of whether or not EF is malleable, have become a topic of intense interest. Education or schooling is often seen as effective approaches to enhance EF due to the specific school-related requirements as compared to kindergarten or pre-school. However, no study to date has investigated whether targeted training focusing on those domains might be comparable with regular schooling in improving EF and fluid intelligence (Gf). The aim of the present study was to replicate and extend the previously demonstrated schooling effects on EF by using a school-cutoff design, and to further investigate whether a theoretically motivated intervention targeting specific EF, i.e., working memory (WM) or inhibitory control (IC), could achieve comparable effects with schooling in both, WM and IC, as well as Gf. 91 6-year-old kindergarteners and first-graders with similar chronological age participated the study. We compared the performance of a first-grade schooling group with that of two kindergarten training groups as well as a business-as-usual kindergarten control group. Participants were assessed in WM, IC and Gf at baseline, immediately after the intervention (posttest), as well as 3 months after training completion (follow-up). The results showed that the schooling group indeed outperformed the kindergarten groups at baseline in several cognitive tasks. Furthermore, both the WM and IC training showed pronounced gains in the trained tasks, as well as varying degrees of improvement in non-trained outcome measures. Most importantly, both training groups achieved comparable performance with the schooling group, which was especially apparent in Gf at follow-up. Our findings provide further evidence for the malleability of EF demonstrating that both, long-term and short-term interventions can facilitate the acquisition of those important skills, and as such, our work has important implications for educational practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiong Zhang
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Cuiping Wang
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | | | - Ling Yang
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | | | - Susanne M Jaeggi
- School of Education, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California
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Fischer P, Camba L, Ooi SH, Chevalier N. Supporting cognitive control through competition and cooperation in childhood. J Exp Child Psychol 2018; 173:28-40. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.03.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2017] [Revised: 02/18/2018] [Accepted: 03/19/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
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Gonthier C, Zira M, Colé P, Blaye A. Evidencing the developmental shift from reactive to proactive control in early childhood and its relationship to working memory. J Exp Child Psychol 2018; 177:1-16. [PMID: 30165288 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2018] [Revised: 07/02/2018] [Accepted: 07/03/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
As they age, children tend to get more effective at regulating their behavior in complex situations; this improvement in cognitive control is often interpreted as a shift from predominantly reactive control to proactive control. There are three issues with this interpretation. First, hard evidence is lacking that younger children actually rely on reactive control. Second, the precise age range when such a shift would occur is still unclear. Third, the reasons for this shift have not been explored. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that children under 5 years of age do rely on reactive control, that they progressively shift to proactive control with age, and that this shift is related to increases in working memory capacity (which is necessary for proactive control). Children aged 4 to 7 years performed a cognitive control task, the AX-CPT (AX-Continuous Performance Task), as well as verbal and visuospatial working memory tasks. Using the paradigmatic AX-CPT in this age range allowed us to observe, for the first time, an actual reactive pattern in children under 5 years of age. There was a progressive shift from reactive control to proactive control, with an estimated turning point between 5 and 6 years of age. The effect of age on proactive control was essentially shared with working memory capacity, confirming that these two cognitive processes develop in tandem.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corentin Gonthier
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, LP3C EA 1285, University of Rennes, 35000 Rennes, France
| | - Melody Zira
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, CNRS, LPC, UMR 7290, Aix Marseille University, 13331 Marseille, France
| | - Pascale Colé
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, CNRS, LPC, UMR 7290, Aix Marseille University, 13331 Marseille, France
| | - Agnès Blaye
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, CNRS, LPC, UMR 7290, Aix Marseille University, 13331 Marseille, France.
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Using language to get ready: Familiar labels help children engage proactive control. J Exp Child Psychol 2017; 166:147-159. [PMID: 28898678 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2017] [Revised: 08/02/2017] [Accepted: 08/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
A key developmental transition is the ability to engage executive functions proactively in advance of needing them. We tested the potential role of linguistic processes in proactive control. Children completed a task in which they could proactively track a novel (target) shape on a screen as it moved unpredictably amid novel distractors and needed to identify where it disappeared. Children almost always remembered which shape to track, but those who learned familiar labels for the target shapes before the task had nearly twice the odds of tracking the target compared with those who received experience with the targets but no labels. Children who learned labels were also more likely to spontaneously vocalize labels when the target appeared. These findings provide the first evidence of a causal role for linguistic processes in proactive control and suggest new ideas about how proactive control develops, why language supports a variety of executive functions, and how interventions might best be targeted.
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Doebel S, Barker JE, Chevalier N, Michaelson LE, Fisher AV, Munakata Y. Getting ready to use control: Advances in the measurement of young children's use of proactive control. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0175072. [PMID: 28419099 PMCID: PMC5395143 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2016] [Accepted: 03/19/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A key developmental transition in executive function is in the temporal dynamics of its engagement: children shift from reactively calling to mind task-relevant information as needed, to being able to proactively maintain information across time in anticipation of upcoming demands. This transition is important for understanding individual differences and developmental changes in executive function; however, methods targeting its assessment are limited. We tested the possibility that Track-It, a paradigm developed to measure selective sustained attention, also indexes proactive control. In this task children must track a target shape as it moves unpredictably among moving distractors, and identify where it disappears, which may require proactively maintaining information about the target or goal. In two experiments (5-6 year-olds, Ns = 33, 64), children's performance on Track-It predicted proactive control across two established paradigms. These findings suggest Track-It measures proactive control in children. Theoretical possibilities regarding how proactive control and selective sustained attention may be related are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabine Doebel
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado—Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Jane E. Barker
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado—Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Nicolas Chevalier
- School of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
| | - Laura E. Michaelson
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado—Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Anna V. Fisher
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Yuko Munakata
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado—Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
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Chevalier N. Willing to Think Hard? The Subjective Value of Cognitive Effort in Children. Child Dev 2017; 89:1283-1295. [DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Chevalier N, Dauvier B, Blaye A. From prioritizing objects to prioritizing cues: a developmental shift for cognitive control. Dev Sci 2017; 21. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.12534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2016] [Accepted: 10/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Bruno Dauvier
- Centre PsyCLE; Aix-Marseille Université; Aix-en-Provence France
| | - Agnès Blaye
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive; Aix-Marseille Université; Marseille France
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Unger K, Ackerman L, Chatham CH, Amso D, Badre D. Working memory gating mechanisms explain developmental change in rule-guided behavior. Cognition 2016; 155:8-22. [PMID: 27336178 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2016.05.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2015] [Revised: 05/24/2016] [Accepted: 05/30/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive control requires choosing contextual information to update into working memory (input gating), maintaining it there (maintenance) stable against distraction, and then choosing which subset of maintained information to use in guiding action (output gating). Recent work has raised the possibility that the development of rule-guided behavior, in the transition from childhood to adolescence, is linked specifically to changes in the gating components of working memory (Amso, Haas, McShane, & Badre, 2014). Given the importance of effective rule-guided behavior for decision making in this developmental transition, we used hierarchical rule tasks to probe the precise developmental dynamics of working memory gating. This mechanistic precision informs ongoing efforts to train cognitive control and working memory operations across typical and atypical development. The results of Experiment 1 verified that the development of rule-guided behavior is uniquely linked to increasing hierarchical complexity but not to increasing maintenance demands across 1st, 2nd, and 3rd order rule tasks. Experiment 2 then investigated whether this developmental trajectory in rule-guided behavior is best explained by change in input gating or output gating. Further, as input versus output gating also tend to correlate with a more proactive versus reactive control strategy in these tasks, we assessed developmental change in the degree to which these two processes were deployed efficiently given the task. Experiment 2 shows that the developmental change observed in Experiment 1 and in Amso et al. (2014) is likely a result of increased efficacy of output gating processes, as well as greater strategic efficiency in that adolescents opt for this costly process less often than children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kerstin Unger
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, & Psychological Sciences, Brown University, United States.
| | - Laura Ackerman
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, & Psychological Sciences, Brown University, United States
| | - Christopher H Chatham
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, & Psychological Sciences, Brown University, United States
| | - Dima Amso
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, & Psychological Sciences, Brown University, United States
| | - David Badre
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, & Psychological Sciences, Brown University, United States
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49
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Chevalier N, Blaye A. Metacognitive Monitoring of Executive Control Engagement During Childhood. Child Dev 2016; 87:1264-76. [DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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50
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Abstract
Abstract. Dynamic, trial-by-trial modulations of inhibitory control are well documented in adults but rarely investigated in children. Here, we examined whether 5-to-7 year-old children, an age range when inhibitory control is still partially immature, achieve such modulations. Fifty three children took flanker, Simon, and Stroop tasks. Above and beyond classic congruency effects, the present results showed two crucial findings. First, we found evidence for sequential modulations of congruency effects in these young children in the three conflict tasks. Second, our results showed both task specificities and task commonalities. These findings in young children have important implications as they suggest that, to be modulated, inhibitory control does not require full maturation and that the precise pattern of trial-by-trial modulations may depend on the nature of conflict.
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Affiliation(s)
- Solène Ambrosi
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, LPC Aix Marseille University, France
| | - Patrick Lemaire
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, LPC Aix Marseille University, France
| | - Agnès Blaye
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, LPC Aix Marseille University, France
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