Relating mindfulness and executive function in children

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 435-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena M C Geronimi ◽  
Brenda Arellano ◽  
Janet Woodruff-Borden
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Executive

Despite the important role of cognitions in mindful awareness, research on the cognitive processes underlying mindfulness in young populations is scarce. This study explores the association between the core executive functions (i.e. inhibition, working memory, and shifting) and mindfulness within the same model in a sample of children. Seventy-two parent–child dyads participated in the study. Difficulties with executive functioning and child mindfulness level were assessed. Inhibition, working memory, and shifting were significantly correlated with mindfulness. Furthermore, moderate to good fit was found in a model testing the association between mindfulness and the latent executive function variable composed by the three executive functions, and individual executive functions demonstrated significant loadings in relation to the latent variable. In a model relating mindfulness to each individual executive function, mindfulness was uniquely associated with inhibition, working memory, and shifting. The application of current theoretical models of mindfulness to child populations and clinical implications are discussed.

scholarly journals The role of executive functions and working memory subsystems in the formation of the mental set

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-50
Author(s):  
I.Yu. Vladimirov ◽  
A.V. Karpov ◽  
N.Y. Lazareva
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Mental Set ◽  
The Core ◽  
Memory Subsystems ◽  
Learning Development ◽  
Processing And Storage ◽  
And Storage

The present paper investigates the problem of mechanisms of the development of the effect of mental set, which is at the core of the processes of the implicit learning, development of the experience and solving creative tasks. As such mechanisms we investigate the change of the parameters of functioning of executive control and working memory subsystems. As a result of an experimental study, based on modified tasks by A. Luchins, it was found that mechanisms of the development of the effect of mental set have a systematic nature and include such factors as the change of the parameters of the executive functions and the specifics of the processing and storage of information in modality-specific blocks of the working memory. The role of the executive control is dual: it is necessary for keeping in the sphere of the attention the operations during their automatization, and at the same it, it makes the automatized scheme conscient by destructing the developed effect of the mental set. The executive control plays a role of the element which sets the structure of mechanisms of the development and overcoming of the mental set effect. Processes which proceed during the information processing in working memory subsystems also play an important role in the development of the mental set effect, however their nature requires supplementary research.

scholarly journals Relationships Between the Early Development of Drawing and Language: The Role of Executive Functions and Working Memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Panesi ◽  
Sergio Morra
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Representation Systems ◽  
Symbolic Resource ◽  
The Relationship

Background:Extensive research examined the development of both language and drawing, but the relationship between these symbolic representation systems is less investigated and controversial. Working memory and executive functions seem to be involved in the acquisition of both drawing and language, but how they are involved in the relation between language and drawing is still unclear.Objective:This article reviews the relevant literature and, as a synthesis, outlines a set of models that future research could use to specify the developmental relations between language, drawing, working memory, and executive functions.Drawing and Language:Four theoretical positions are discussed: (a) drawing and language emerge from the same general-domain symbolic resource; (b) drawing and language as two independent systems; (c) drawing as a form of language (d) drawing influenced by language.Executive Functions and Working Memory:The literature on the role of executive functions and working memory in the development of either drawing or language is rather fragmentary, but on the whole, it indicates that these domain-general cognitive resources and abilities are involved in supporting the development of these representation systems. An ongoing controversy on the structure of executive functions in early childhood adds further complexity to the debate on their role.Conclusions:A set of models is outlined that systematically embodies the different theoretical views regarding (a) executive function development and (b) the relations of drawing development with language, executive function, and working memory. Future research can benefit from explicit models of the causal relations between these aspects of cognitive development.

Differential Effects of Executive Processes on Working Memory

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-249
Author(s):  
Xuezhu Ren ◽  
Tengfei Wang ◽  
Karl Schweizer ◽  
Jing Guo
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Attention Control ◽  
Executive Processes ◽  
Differential Effects ◽  
Prepotent Response ◽  
Two Measures

Abstract. Although attention control accounts for a unique portion of the variance in working memory capacity (WMC), the way in which attention control contributes to WMC has not been thoroughly specified. The current work focused on fractionating attention control into distinctly different executive processes and examined to what extent key processes of attention control including updating, shifting, and prepotent response inhibition were related to WMC and whether these relations were different. A number of 216 university students completed experimental tasks of attention control and two measures of WMC. Latent variable analyses were employed for separating and modeling each process and their effects on WMC. The results showed that both the accuracy of updating and shifting were substantially related to WMC while the link from the accuracy of inhibition to WMC was insignificant; on the other hand, only the speed of shifting had a moderate effect on WMC while neither the speed of updating nor the speed of inhibition showed significant effect on WMC. The results suggest that these key processes of attention control exhibit differential effects on individual differences in WMC. The approach that combined experimental manipulations and statistical modeling constitutes a promising way of investigating cognitive processes.

Time-Based Measures of Monitoring in Association With Executive Functions in Kindergarten Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 228 (4) ◽  
pp. 244-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Kälin ◽  
Claudia M. Roebers
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Kindergarten Children ◽  
Metacognitive Monitoring

Abstract. Repeatedly, the notion has been put forward that metacognition (MC) and executive functions (EF) share common grounds, as both describe higher order cognitive processes and involve monitoring. However, only few studies addressed this issue empirically and so far their findings are rather inconsistent. Addressing the question whether measurement differences may in part be responsible for the mixed results, the current study included explicitly reported as well as time-based measures of metacognitive monitoring and related them to EF. A total of 202 children aged 4–6 years were assessed in terms of EF (inhibition, working memory, shifting) and monitoring. While there was no significant link between explicitly reported confidence and EF, latencies of monitoring judgments were significantly related to time- and accuracy-based measures of EF. Our findings support the association between EF and MC and the assumption that better inhibition abilities help children to engage in more thorough monitoring.

scholarly journals Can inhibition or shifting training enhance cognitive abilities in emerging adults?

2021 ◽  
pp. 138-152
Author(s):  
Anja Podlesek ◽  
Marina Martinčević ◽  
Andrea Vranić
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Far Transfer ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Core Executive ◽  
Cognitive Activities ◽  
Transfer Tasks ◽  
Inhibition Training

Executive functions enable and support most of our daily cognitive functioning. Within the number of executive functions proposed, updating, inhibition and shifting are most often considered as the three core executive functions. Cognitive training paradigms provide a platform for a possible enhancement of these functions. Since updating training has been studied to a greater extent, we wanted to investigate the effectiveness of inhibition and shifting training in this study. Emerging adults (psychology students) were randomly assigned either to the inhibition training (based on the Simon task; n = 36) or to the shifting training (based on the task switching paradigm; n = 35). Both groups underwent twelve 20-minute sessions distributed over four weeks. Measurements before and after the training included criterion tasks (i.e. the training tasks), near-transfer tasks (i.e. tasks that address the trained functions but use different types of stimuli or rules to respond), and far-transfer tasks (i.e., tasks that address untrained cognitive functions). The control participants (n = 36) were tested with a combination of these tasks. Both training groups improved their criteria task performance over time, while convincing training-related gains were not found in either near- or far-transfer tasks. This study raises some conceptual questions for the training of executive functions with respect to a sample of emerging adults with above-average cognitive abilities, motivational elements of training, and the role of executive functions in more complex everyday cognitive activities.

scholarly journals Checking Behaviours, Prospective Memory and Executive Functions

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorna Elise Palmer ◽  
Kevin Durkin ◽  
Sinéad M. Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Prospective Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
State University ◽  
Washington State University ◽  
Symptom Profile ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Memory Questionnaire

Explanations implicating memory in the causes and severity of checking symptoms have focused primarily on retrospective memory, and relatively little attention has been paid to prospective memory. Limited research has examined the relationship between prospective memory and executive functions. We assessed whether impairments in prospective memory and executive function predict checking symptoms in a sample of 106 adults. Checking symptoms were assessed using the Padua Inventory Washington State University Revision (PI-WSUR). All participants completed the prospective memory questionnaire (PMQ) and four computerised executive function tasks from the CANTAB, measuring inhibition, planning, attention set-shifting and working memory. Prospective memory and inhibition predicted checking symptom severity. Importantly, there were no correlations between internally cued prospective memory and inhibition or between prospective memory aiding strategies and inhibition. These variables appear to have an independent role in checking. The current findings highlight prospective memory and inhibition as key contributors to the checking symptom profile and provide the first evidence that these cognitive processes may independently contribute to checking symptoms. These findings have implications for a model in which memory performance is thought to be secondary to impairments in executive functions.

scholarly journals Association of Sleep Quality on Memory-Related Executive Functions in Middle Age

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brinda K. Rana ◽  
Matthew S. Panizzon ◽  
Carol E. Franz ◽  
Kelly M. Spoon ◽  
Kristen C. Jacobson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Set Shifting ◽  
Interference Control ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Increased Risk

AbstractObjectives: Sleep quality affects memory and executive function in older adults, but little is known about its effects in midlife. If it affects cognition in midlife, it may be a modifiable factor for later-life functioning. Methods: We examined the association between sleep quality and cognition in 1220 middle-aged male twins (age 51–60 years) from the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging. We interviewed participants with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and tested them for episodic memory as well as executive functions of inhibitory and interference control, updating in working memory, and set shifting. Interference control was assessed during episodic memory, inhibitory control during working memory, and non-memory conditions and set shifting during working memory and non-memory conditions. Results: After adjusting for covariates and correcting for multiple comparisons, sleep quality was positively associated with updating in working memory, set shifting in the context of working memory, and better visual-spatial (but not verbal) episodic memory, and at trend level, with interference control in the context of episodic memory. Conclusions: Sleep quality was associated with visual-spatial recall and possible resistance to proactive/retroactive interference. It was also associated with updating in working memory and with set shifting, but only when working memory demands were relatively high. Thus, effects of sleep quality on midlife cognition appear to be at the intersection of executive function and memory processes. Subtle deficits in these age-susceptible cognitive functions may indicate increased risk for decline in cognitive abilities later in life that might be reduced by improved midlife sleep quality. (JINS, 2018, 24, 67–76)

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