3. General Cognitive Skills Flashcards
what are executive functions?
skills we use to monitor and control out thoughts and actions
what are the three types of EF?
- working memory- required to hold and manipluate info in our mind for a short period of time
- inhibitory control- used to ignore distractions or resist interference and to pause and think before we act
- cognitive flexibility- needed to switch focus between different tasks it to consider multiple aspects of a situation (closely related to self-regulation)
how does EF develop
basic ef emerges in the first year of life, the development is not linear, different sub skills can develop at different ages
however rapid development between ages 3-5
last of cog skills to devlop
the three EF’s become a lot more differeentiated when they get older instead of getting better all at once
a study that backs working memory
Diamond (1995)- infants from 6 months can recognise objects they have been before and reach for the familiar object when given a choice
…. working memoey can decline with age
evidence for inhibitory control
Diamond (1985)- children ability to resit the impulse to the a-not-b error improved with age between 7 and 12 months
a-not-b error: an infant looking for an object continually in the same place even when moved to a new location
evidence for cognitive flexibility
emerges later and develops more slowly than other areas of ef
espy (1997)- inhibitory control improved between ages 3 and 4 years but cognitive flecibility did not improve until 4 and 5 years
why should variability be considered
- despite all the patterns of the devlopment of EF there is considerable varibality among children
- some children have a greater WM capacity
how are EF and SES associated?
with a study
Lawson et al (2018): meta analysis, investigated the associations between EF and SES skills in children
included 25 studies (roughly 8700 children)
sig correlation between EF and SES across all studies
many studies had limited variablity in SES and removing them led to a larger sig effect
ef devlops over a long time which makes them susceotible to enviro influences
possible mechanism- parental responsiveness
parent and child language and stresss
how would you measure EF
experiemental tasks: control over stimuli and precision of repsonses
try to isolate individual compondenta of EF
questionnaires e.g BRIEF
behavioural indicators of EF osten used in educational or clinical settings
validated and standardised for use by self, parent, teacher e.g ‘my child has trouble with xyz’ (never,sometimes, often)
measuring WM
experimental tasks might involve verbal or visuospatial content
require some processing/ updating- not just short term storage
meausring inibition
tasks involve either resisting an impulse to respond or focus on one aspect of a stimulus while ignoring others
e.g. day/night task
measuring cognitive flexibility
tasks involve reacting to change in a situation or generating new clasifications
tasks are complec for young children as they have to hold rules in their mind
what to consider when measuring EF?
tasks are complex and if made simpler they may no longer need to tap into the EF
* Many trials might be needed for reliable and valid measures
Tests are not culturally neutral and so care needed when using a test developed in one context in a different context
willoughby et al
ef and early education
large sample, meausres: WM, inhibition, cognitive flexibility
standardised measures of language, literacy, maths
Single EF latent varible
sig correlated with all 5 acgievemtn tests
more strongly asociated with maths than pre-reading skills
Learning in any domain requires domain-specific skills but also requires general cognitive skills including executive functions.
clark et al (2012)
228 children aged 3 given battery of EF tasks , single ef factor
measured maths skills at age 3,4,5
ef skills were associatied with current maths skills as well as growth in maths skills
> children with higher EF skills at age 3 learnt more maths over the next two years
> also some evidence that children with better ef skills benefit more from intervention to support maths learning (Fuchs et al 2013)
EF skills are associated with current and future academic achievement, but what about learning?
evidence for specific components
merkley et al (2016): 3-6 year olds, inhibition task (animal stroop)
inhibition associated wiht maths scores after controlling for age and language
bull et al (2008): measured working memory at age 4.5 maths and reading meeasures taken at start of primaryy school and at end of first and third years,
WM was related to maths and reading performance at the end of school over the necxt three years
Blakey et al (2020)
can the SES effects onEF explain SES affects on academic achievement
3 and 4 year old children from different areas
4 working memory and inhibition tasks
standardised maths measure
ses indicated by postcode
EF scores fully mediated the relationship between SE and childrens maths skills
why are EFs associated with early acadmeic achievement
liked with brains ‘air traffic system’
needed for purposeful goal-directed activity
to learn, espicaally in a busy class situation our brains have to: inhibit distraction, keep information in mind process it
shift between diff situations
curb impulse and shiw appropriate behaviour
children arent born with it
can and should be train EF
many studies have investigated the impact of the exuctive function training (espically WM) on AA
is the training pracitical
invovles computer base tasks
some ppl have found improvements but they have small samples and lack control groups
meta-analyses suggest there is little evidence for EF training
>WM training, Inhibition, EF training, (Neibaum and Munakata, 2023)
suggests isolated trainign doesnt work
further evidence for training EF
against (Sala & Gobet , 2017)
meta analysis, on developing children, considered WM and Gneral cognitive tasks on academic acchievement
sig moderate effect on working memory but little effect on academic achievement
another approach to embed EF training within acadmeic activities
- trying to increase engagement (niebaum & manukta, 2023)
- one programme (scerif et al 2023)
* embed EF within maths activities in preschool
* staff given traning
* shown impact on teacher understanding and childrens maths skills
* develops maths understanding and target EF skills
Tools of the Mind
a US programme, designed to support EF developement and AA
structured play: enagaging in purposeful goal-directed activity that is fun and engaging
opportinities to focus attenttion and hold info in mind
particularly effectuve for children at risk of low EF and poor academic skills
support for EF
early investigations showed that tools of mind had an impact on EF and AA
