Executive functions Flashcards
(40 cards)
5 tendencies of adults with frontal cortex damage
- Perserverative motor
behaviours. - Be cognitively inflexible.
- Difficulty inhibiting inappropriate responses.
- Difficulty with the strategic
control of behaviour. - Serious difficulty in social
cognition
What are executive functions? Miyake et al. (2000)
General purpose control mechanisms that modulate the operation of various
cognitive subprocesses and thereby regulate the dynamics of human cognition, across diverse tasks.
3 EF models
- Supervisory activating system.
- Central executive.
- Learning focussed flexible models.
Implementing attentional control that intervenes when routine control of action is insufficient.
Miyake et al. (2000) on the structure of adult executive functions.
Inhibition, updating/maintenance, shifting are correlated with each other (unity) but they are also clearly separable (diversity; updating- and shifting-specific).
3 latent factors of EF
- Shifting.
- Updating/maintenance.
- Inhibition.
3 tasks measuring shifting.
- Plus-minus (alternating between adding and subtracting digits).
- Number-letter (alternating report of numbers vs. letters).
- Local-global (local vs. global level of a Navon figure).
3 tasks measuring updating
- Keep track (remember the last exemplars in each of 3 randomly presented categories to write them down).
- Tone monitoring Report when the 4th tone of 3 randomly intermixed types was presented).
- Letter memory (remember the last 4 letters in a list).
3 tasks measuring inhibition
- Antisaccade (look in the opposite direction of stimulus).
- Stop-signal (inhibit a previously initiated response).
- Stroop.
Miyake and Friedman (2012) longitudinal glitter wand task
Toddler self-restraint predicted later EF abilities for 17-year olds.
Better early self-restraint: stronger common EF but worse shifting; worse early self-restraint: weaker common EF but stronger shifting.
Gerstadt et al. (1994) day/night stroop task
Say ‘night’ to sun picture and ‘day’ to moon picture.
As children developed, there were gradual improvements in children’s ability to inhibit prepotent associations.
Hongwanishkul et al. (2005) self-ordered pointing task
Maintenance task (3-5yrs; point to a different picture on each trial).
Gradual improvements in maintenance ability (visuo-spatial/object identity).
Zelazo et al. (1996) dimensional change card sort
Children are asked to sort cards by one rule, and then switch to sorting by a different rule.
Improvements in ability to switch to a different rule (3-5yrs).
Huizinga et al. (2006) age for development of EFs (7-21years)
- Shifting is adult-like by 15.
- Updating/maintenance is still developing at 15.
- No latent factor emerged for inhibition.
Shifting and WM become increasingly distinct, but inhibition remains broad and not clearly separable (inhibition closely tied to common EF).
4 tasks for developing EFs
- Shifting: dimensional change card sort.
- Updating: self-ordered pointing.
- Inhibition: glitter wand task, day/night stroop.
Wiebe et al. (2011) structure of developing EFs
Both a one-factor and two-factor model fit the data equally well (unlike from adults). EF is unitary in younger children.
4 suggested predictors of EF development
- Control of attention.
- Self-regulation.
- Processing speed.
- Cognitive flexibility.
Blair et al. (2011) EF and poverty in high income countries
Poverty has complex effects of EF (interacting factors). Positive and negative parenting is a protective/risk factor. Salivary cortisol also negatively predicts EF.
Howard et al. (2020) poverty in non-WEIRD contexts (South African and Australian children)
Poorer children show weaker EF skills in both countries, but South African children in absolute terms show higher skills than Australian children of comparable age and SES.
Russell et al. (1991) EF and ToM chocolate windows task
3-year-old children consistently fail the task (point to chocolate). They did not inhibit prepotent response.
Muller et al. (2005) EF and ToM dimensional change card sort task
DCCS and FB tasks both use ‘if-if-then’ higher order rules. Greater EF demands for beliefs more difficult to deal with? Cognitive flexibility needed to understand others’ minds
Devine and Hughes (2014) longitudinal relationship between EF and ToM
EF -> ToM, but not the other way around.
Why might EFs be needed for ToM?
Inhibitory, flexibility, and metacognitive skills.
Cragg et al. (2017) EF and maths achievement
Maths achievement is multicomponential and requires WM and inhibition. Maybe not shifting.
Bull et al. (2008) EF and achievement longitudinal 4-year-olds to primary school
Preschool EFs predicted growth outcomes in primary school (maths and reading), especially in maths.
