emergence of executive function

Question 1

norman + shallice

Answer 1

The supervisory attentional system activates or inhibits when coping with novelty decision making etc

Question 2

working memory

Answer 2

The CE is reponsible for control and resolving new problems and cognitive conflict

Question 3

Allen, Baddeley + HItch

Answer 3

The CE is top, but does not have direct access to crystallised knowledge systems such as language episodic LTM and visual semantic

Question 4

frontal lobe tasks

hot and cold aspects of EF

Answer 4

the frontal lobe consists of several subareas

hot cognition is processed in the orbito-frontal cortex (OFC)

cold cognition is processed in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Question 5

the onnections of the frontal cortex

Answer 5

anterior-posterior conneections bind perception into action

connections with subcortical areas such as the amydala mediate and elevate raw emotions

Question 6

executive functions

Answer 6

• keeping a plan in mind (intentions)
• translating a plan into action (rule use)
• Representational flexibility
• response control, inhibiton
• goal selection
• resistance to interference

Question 7

memory span

Answer 7

memory for a list of a number of items which children can reall in exact order but also those in free recall increases with age

• average memory span for 2 year olds is 2 items
• avergae memory span for 5 yo is 4 items
• average memory span for 7yo is 5 items
• average memory span for 9YO is 6 item

Question 8

span of apprehension

Answer 8

the number of items children (and adults) can attend to at a single time

nelson cowan holds that the span of apprehension is never larger than four items (absolute capacity)

developmental differences are much smaller than for memory span, from 2.5 items in young children to up to 4 in adults

Question 9

children expertise

Answer 9

children chess experts beat lay adults in remembering chess configurations, but not remembering digits (memory span_

Question 10

working memory development: phonological loop/articulatory loop

Answer 10

children who can speak faster can also remember more words

children become faster speakers and better memorizers of words

very good proof for word length effect

Question 11

working memory development: visual - spatial sketchpad

Answer 11

young children attribute one place per object

older children allocate an area to pairs of objects which are either pairs of objects which are either close or similar

object-place coding decreases with age, while objects-area increases with age

there are children who do not encode the stimuli systematically

young children remember objects better than places till age 7

Question 12

summary

Answer 12

speed increases drastically with the onset of school across tasks

memory span and attention span increase continuously up to adult level but see apprehension span (capacity)

working memory is modality-specific and profits greatly from emerging organization

capacity shows only subtle increase and it capped at four items

training can help, but maybe not transfer to other tasks, or reach levels of older age groups

inhibition and counterintuitive behaviour develop between 3 and 4 years

flexibility involves flexible rule use and prevention of habituation