Week 4 - middle childhood development

Question 1

Executive functioning

Answer 1

Executive functioning can be thought of as higher order skills that help drive goal-oriented behaviour
* Attention
* Impulse control and self-regulation
* Initiation of activity
* Working memory
* Mental flexibility and using feedback
* Planning and organization
* Selection of problem-solving activities
Our advances and improvements in impulse control and self-regulation within the school/classroom environment is particularly helpful to facilitate childhood learning and the development of peer relationships during the primary school period.

Question 2

Attention:

Answer 2

Types of attention:
- Sustained
- Selective
- Divided
- Switching attention.

Modes of attention
- Auditory
- Visual
- Multiple modes at once

Question 3

Working memory

Answer 3

Working memory is the temporary storage, processing, and manipulation area of information. For example, you hold parts of a maths sum in working memory while working the sum out, or a phone number you repeat to yourself while you are writing it down. In middle childhood, the ability to hold and manipulate information in the working memory is critical for learning and academic functioning. Children who have a strong working memory and can manipulate several pieces of information often perform optimally academically.

Question 4

Proposed model of executive function:

Answer 4

In line with the views of Alexander and Stuss (2000), this model conceptualizes EF as four distinct domains:

(i)attentional control

(ii) information processing

(iii) cognitive flexibility

(iv) goal setting.