scholarly journals Sensitive periods in executive function development

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail Thompson ◽  
Nikolaus Steinbeis
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Goal Pursuit ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Sensitive Period ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Healthy Development ◽  
Sensitive Periods

Executive functions (EF) are cognitive processes that support flexible goal pursuit. Healthy development of EFs during childhood is critical for later life outcomes including health, wealth and educational attainment. As such it is crucial to understand how EFs can be supported and protected against insult. Here we examine whether there are sensitive periods in the development of EFs, by drawing on deprivation and enrichment studies in humans. While there is suggestive evidence that pre-6 months of age constitutes a sensitive period for EF development, given the higher-order nature of EF, we argue for the possibility of multiple sensitive periods of constituent processes. We identify relevant future questions and outline a research agenda to systematically test for sensitive period in EF development.

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)

scholarly journals An Embodied Account of Early Executive-Function Development

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (12) ◽  
pp. 1600-1610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janna M. Gottwald ◽  
Sheila Achermann ◽  
Carin Marciszko ◽  
Marcus Lindskog ◽  
Gustaf Gredebäck
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Motor Control ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Movement Planning ◽  
Common Source ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Early Markers ◽  
Movement Unit

The importance of executive functioning for later life outcomes, along with its potential to be positively affected by intervention programs, motivates the need to find early markers of executive functioning. In this study, 18-month-olds performed three executive-function tasks—involving simple inhibition, working memory, and more complex inhibition—and a motion-capture task assessing prospective motor control during reaching. We demonstrated that prospective motor control, as measured by the peak velocity of the first movement unit, is related to infants’ performance on simple-inhibition and working memory tasks. The current study provides evidence that motor control and executive functioning are intertwined early in life, which suggests an embodied perspective on executive-functioning development. We argue that executive functions and prospective motor control develop from a common source and a single motive: to control action. This is the first demonstration that low-level movement planning is related to higher-order executive control early in life.

Current Issues in the Conceptualization and Measurement of Executive Function Skills

2021 ◽  
pp. 17-37
Author(s):  
Michael Willoughby ◽  
Kesha Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Developmental Change ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Current Measurement ◽  
The Other ◽  
Learning Problem ◽  
Definition Of

Executive functions (EF) are domain general cognitive processes that contribute to individual learning, problem solving, and planning across the lifespan. Multidisciplinary interest in EF skills stems from their broad relevance to functionally important outcomes. However, this multidisciplinary interest in EF has also resulted in a large literature that is not internally consistent. In this chapter, we characterize historical shifts in the conceptualization and definition of EF skills. We describe quantitative and qualitative aspects of developmental change in EF skills. Finally, we highlight discrepancies that exist between current measurement approaches. The inconsistencies and discrepancies that we highlight are not surprising given the maturity of the EF literature. By drawing attention to these issues, we aim to provide readers a broad vantage from which they can critically evaluate the other chapters in this volume.

Putting together bilingualism and executive function

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 565-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Valian
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Task Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Behavioral Consequences ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
The Third

Abstract Three important issues bear on understanding the connection between bilingualism and executive function. The first is the absence of a fine-grained task analysis for executive functions and other cognitive processes. The second is the absence of a theory of the cognitive mechanisms underlying the deployment of two or more languages and thus the absence of a solid basis on which to make predictions about what domain-general performances, if any, bilinguals should excel in. The third is the relation between neural and behavioral consequences of bilingualism. These three issues must be taken in account in trying to understand the variability among findings showing benefits of bilingualism for executive function.

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.

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.

Individual and Societal Well-Being

2018 ◽  
pp. 698-722
Author(s):  
Shigehiro Oishi ◽  
Samantha J. Heintzleman
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
Genetic Origins

This chapter highlights the contributions that have been made by personality and social psychology, respectively and together, to the science of well-being. Since its humble beginning in the 1930s, the science of well-being has grown to become one of the most vibrant research topics in psychological science today. The personality tradition of well-being research has shown that it is possible to measure well-being reliably, that self-reported well-being predicts important life outcomes, and that well-being has nontrivial genetic origins. The social psychology tradition has illuminated that there are various cultural meanings of well-being, that responses to well-being questions involve multiple cognitive processes, that happiness is experienced often in relationship contexts, and that it is possible to improve one’s well-being. Finally, there are recent methodological integrations of the personality and social psychology perspectives that delineate person–situation interactions.

scholarly journals Study of the Interaction between Executive Function and Adaptive Behavior at School in Girls with Fragile X Syndrome

Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1108
Author(s):  
Lorena Joga-Elvira ◽  
Jennifer Martinez-Olmo ◽  
María-Luisa Joga ◽  
Carlos Jacas ◽  
Ana Roche-Martínez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Fragile X Syndrome ◽  
Adaptive Behavior ◽  
Neuropsychological Tests ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Fragile X ◽  
School Setting ◽  
Control Group ◽  
The Relationship

The aim of this research is to analyze the relationship between executive functions and adaptive behavior in girls with Fragile X syndrome (FXS) in the school setting. This study is part of a larger investigation conducted at the Hospital Parc Tauli in Sabadell. The sample consists of a total of 40 girls (26 with FXS and 14 control) aged 7–16 years, who were administered different neuropsychological tests (WISC-V, NEPSY-II, WCST, TOL) and questionnaires answered by teachers (ABAS-II, BRIEF 2, ADHD Rating Scale). The results show that there is a greater interaction between some areas of executive function (cognitive flexibility, auditory attention, and visual abstraction capacity) and certain areas of adaptive behavior (conceptual, practical, social, and total domains) in the FXS group than in the control group. These results suggest that an alteration in the executive functions was affecting the daily functioning of the girls with FXS to a greater extent.

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