Executive Functions & Enrichment Flashcards
(30 cards)
What are executive functions?
Cognitive abilities underlying performance on all cognitive tasks, developing with age
(planning, monitoring progress, working memory, inhibitory ability, speed of processing, shifting between
activities flexibly, etc.)
What are some tasks used to assess executive function?
1) Wisconsin Card Sorting
2) Stroop Test
3) Marshmallow Test
What is the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task?
sort cards into piles according to an unspecified rule that is changed intermittently
What does the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task measure?
Ability to shift thinking, responding to environment + inhibition
versus perseveration; typical frontal lobe dysfunction where one is unable to shift from a mental activity to another easily (disconnect b/w intention and action)
What is the Stroop Test?
- name the colour of the word, not read it
- measures mental vitality & flexibility
- examine errors & response times
When do children start to get the Stroop Effect?
When they learn to read at 6 or 7. Effect declines as they age
What is the Stroop Effect, and what does it measure?
Discordance b/w 2 cues, which forces you to suppress automatic response
Measures inhibition
Does the Marshmallow Test replicate that its results are important to later wellbeing?
No
What does the Marshmallow Test reveal about class differences?
Middle class participants wait, whilst working-class ones do not (might perceive it as their last meal)
What is executive function mediated by?
Frontal lobes
How much of our adult brain does the frontal lobe occupy?
40%
What is located in the anterior portion of the frontal lobe, and what does it do?
Prefrontal cortex (anterior = front)
Determines personality & responsible for higher cognitive functions
What is located in the posterior part of the frontal lobe, and what does it do?
Premotor and motor areas (posterior = back)
Nerve cells in motor areas produce movement, whilst premotor areas modify movement.
What does the frontal lobe do, and is connected to what other parts of the brain?
Integrate info, and has rich reciprocal connections with lower brain and cortex
limited capacity
Describe the development of the frontal lobes.
Protracted - takes longer than expected to mature
Prefrontal and frontal cortex are last to mature, first to deteriorate
Spurt within 2 years from birth
Smaller spurt b/w 4 - 7 years
Slow growth: not fully mature till 14 - 20 / 25 years
What are some signs of frontal lobe damage?
1) Cognitive Inflexibility
- impaired reactive flexibility (unable to adjust accordingly)
- impaired spontaneous flexibility (unable to produce a lot of responses to a question)
2) Lack of Self-regulation
- poor monitoring of self & incoming info, little use of meta-memory strategies
3) social inappropriateness
- most noticeable
- extensive damage = characteristic syndrome of disinhibited behaviour; impulsive
- fail to consider social correctness / future consequences of what is said
- less likely to commit premeditated murder; impaired in making long term plans
Why is there an increase in non-maternal care?
More women are entering the workforce (less tradwives), so children are sent to childcare, or nannies are hired
What is Project Headstart, and what were its effects on children?
US-based childcare program targeted towards lower SES children
- average IQ gain of 5 points over year
- IQ advantage fades
- higher achievers, more +ve reports
*12 years: less likely to repeat year/be in special ed. - adolescence: higher aspirations, better sense of achievement
- adulthood: more in college, less likely to have criminal record or child
- only antipoverty measure to survive funding cuts in 1980s America
What were the effects of the Perry Preschool Program?
- more education
- greater earning power & family stability
- fewer social services needs
- $7 return for every $1 put in
- Gains in cognition at age 54 (last age studied)
- 17% less likely to have been suspended from school
- 11% more likely to be in good health
- 26% more likely to be employed
- Males: 18% less likely to have been arrested
What did a meta-analysis of early intervention programs reveal?
Cognition, motor and language showed improvement with early intervention.
When are nurseries not good for children?
1) When there are frequent nursery changes
2) When nursery care is poor qualityH
Why are frequent nursery changes bad?
- insecure attachment to parents (more attachment to LT nursery workers instead)
- less competent peer interactions as toddlers
- more withdrawn and aggressive in preschool
- worse school adjustment in 2nd year of school
What are the three markers that determine nursery quality?
1) Group size
2) Caregiver-child ratio
3) Caregiver qualifications
How does poor nursery care affect children?
Raise their cortisol levels (marker of stress)
