Typical Executive function development

Question 1

What is executive function?

Answer 1

the set of processes that underlie the ability to control our thought and actions

Question 2

What is updating (working memory)?

Answer 2

Holding important information or your ‘goal’ in mind. Manipulating information in your head

Question 3

What is inhibition?

Answer 3

Ignoring distracting information or suppressing unwanted responses

Question 4

What is cognitive flexibility?

Answer 4

Responding to the same thing in different ways depending on the context

Question 5

What are early executive function skills a predictor of?

Answer 5

Early EF skills are a predictor of later academic and social success

Question 6

When do infants show EF?

Answer 6

First signs of cognitive control at 8-9 months
consolidated at 12 months

Question 7

How did we test Preschoolers working memory?

Answer 7

Spin the pots
Find the stickers hidden in the pots
Performance improves between 2 and 4 years (2yo = 4 errors, 3yo = 3 errors, 4yo = 2 errors)

Question 8

How did we test Preschoolers inhibition?

Answer 8

Day/Night stroop experiment, say “day” and “night” with opposing visual stimuli.
Performance improves between 4.5 and 6 years

Question 9

How did we test Preschoolers shifting?

Answer 9

Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS)
Colour game
Shape game
passing = sorting 4/5 cards correctly

Question 10

How many preschoolers pass the colour and shape game?

Answer 10

Dramatic improvement in performance between 3 and 4 years (40% passing the post switch phase at 3yo, 90% passing at 4yo)

Question 11

How do midchildhood perform in working memory?

Answer 11

the mean score for counting span is consistently higher than sentence span, but they both increase in a linear pattern from 7-8, 9-10 and 11-13 years old.

Question 12

How does grey matter develop?

Answer 12

prefrontal cortex: latest to undergo synaptogenesis (peaking at 2-4 years old) prefrontal cortex: synaptic pruning until early adulthood 🡺 strengthening of relevant connections

Question 13

How does white matter develop?

Answer 13

Non-linear increase in white matter throughout childhood and adolescence

Likely driven by increases in myelination and axonal packing

Question 14

How does brain connectivity change?

Answer 14

reduction in the number of short distance connections and increase in the number of long distance brain connections

Question 15

How can we think about Atypical development?

Answer 15

not necessarily atypicality in one region but in the connections between regions, e.g. too many short distance connections

Question 16

What is spontaneous activation?

Answer 16

Correlation between BOLD signal fluctuation at rest

Question 17

What connections grow up?

Answer 17

longer distance connections

signature of integration of processes

Question 18

What connections grow down?

Answer 18

short distance connections

signature of segregation of processes

Question 19

Does grey matter link with EF?

Answer 19

No studies directly linking EF to amount of grey matter
More linking behavioural performance to brain activity (in grey matter) using fMRI

Question 20

What did Adleman find about grey matter with EF?

Answer 20

There was increased inhibition-related activity in the frontal lobe with age, i.e. adults recruited their frontal lobes more than children

Question 21

What did Nagy, Westerberg and Klingberg 2004 say about white matter and EF?

Answer 21

Short term memory ability was related to myelination in areas of the frontal lobe

Question 22

What did Hwang, Velanova & Luna (2010) find about connectivity and EF?

Answer 22

During a task that requires inhibition, children rely on short range connections in the parietal lobe, teenagers and adults rely on longer range connections from the frontal lobe.
The strength of these long range connections increases with age.