Pub Date : 2023-03-15DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2023.2188946
Sabine Doebel, Ulrich Müller,
ABSTRACT Over the last several decades, research on executive function in children has flourished, producing a wealth of empirical findings. These findings have raised many theoretical and methodological questions that warrant attention and are addressed in this special issue. This introduction to the special issue reviews some of the recent history of the field before introducing the seven target articles. We introduce these articles in the context of current theoretical and methodological issues: domain generality versus domain specificity of executive function, ecological and cultural validity of executive function measures, executive function training and transfer, and the nature of relations between executive function and achievement and other outcomes. This diverse set of articles collectively provides many fresh, testable ideas that promise to advance the field and usher in the next wave of theory-guided executive function research.
{"title":"The Future of Research on Executive Function and Its Development: An Introduction to the Special Issue","authors":"Sabine Doebel, Ulrich Müller,","doi":"10.1080/15248372.2023.2188946","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2023.2188946","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Over the last several decades, research on executive function in children has flourished, producing a wealth of empirical findings. These findings have raised many theoretical and methodological questions that warrant attention and are addressed in this special issue. This introduction to the special issue reviews some of the recent history of the field before introducing the seven target articles. We introduce these articles in the context of current theoretical and methodological issues: domain generality versus domain specificity of executive function, ecological and cultural validity of executive function measures, executive function training and transfer, and the nature of relations between executive function and achievement and other outcomes. This diverse set of articles collectively provides many fresh, testable ideas that promise to advance the field and usher in the next wave of theory-guided executive function research.","PeriodicalId":47680,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognition and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44621254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-09DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2023.2178435
Anna Baumann, Elizabeth J. Goldman, Alexandra Meltzer, D. Poulin-Dubois
ABSTRACT In this paper, we investigated whether Canadian preschoolers prefer to learn from a competent robot over an incompetent human using the classic trust paradigm. An adapted Naive Biology task was also administered to assess children’s perception of robots. In Study 1, 3-year-olds and 5-year-olds were presented with two informants; A social, humanoid robot (Nao) who labeled familiar objects correctly, while a human informant labeled them incorrectly. Both informants then labeled unfamiliar objects with novel labels. It was found that 3-year-old children equally endorsed the labels provided by the robot and the human, but 5-year-old children learned significantly more from the competent robot. Interestingly, 5-year-olds endorsed Nao’s labels even though they accurately categorized the robot as having mechanical insides. In contrast, 3-year-old children associated Nao with biological or mechanical insides equally. In Study 2, new samples of 3-year-olds and 5-year-olds were tested to determine whether the human-like appearance of the robot informant impacted children’s trust judgments. The procedure was identical to that of Study 1, except that a non-humanoid robot, Cozmo, replaced Nao. It was found that 3-year-old children still trusted the robot and the human equally and that 5-year-olds preferred to learn new labels from the robot, suggesting that the robot’s morphology does not play a key role in their selective trust strategies. It is concluded that by 5 years of age, preschoolers show a robust sensitivity to epistemic characteristics (e.g., competency), but that younger children’s decisions are equally driven by the animacy of the informant.
{"title":"People Do Not Always Know Best: Preschoolers’ Trust in Social Robots","authors":"Anna Baumann, Elizabeth J. Goldman, Alexandra Meltzer, D. Poulin-Dubois","doi":"10.1080/15248372.2023.2178435","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2023.2178435","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this paper, we investigated whether Canadian preschoolers prefer to learn from a competent robot over an incompetent human using the classic trust paradigm. An adapted Naive Biology task was also administered to assess children’s perception of robots. In Study 1, 3-year-olds and 5-year-olds were presented with two informants; A social, humanoid robot (Nao) who labeled familiar objects correctly, while a human informant labeled them incorrectly. Both informants then labeled unfamiliar objects with novel labels. It was found that 3-year-old children equally endorsed the labels provided by the robot and the human, but 5-year-old children learned significantly more from the competent robot. Interestingly, 5-year-olds endorsed Nao’s labels even though they accurately categorized the robot as having mechanical insides. In contrast, 3-year-old children associated Nao with biological or mechanical insides equally. In Study 2, new samples of 3-year-olds and 5-year-olds were tested to determine whether the human-like appearance of the robot informant impacted children’s trust judgments. The procedure was identical to that of Study 1, except that a non-humanoid robot, Cozmo, replaced Nao. It was found that 3-year-old children still trusted the robot and the human equally and that 5-year-olds preferred to learn new labels from the robot, suggesting that the robot’s morphology does not play a key role in their selective trust strategies. It is concluded that by 5 years of age, preschoolers show a robust sensitivity to epistemic characteristics (e.g., competency), but that younger children’s decisions are equally driven by the animacy of the informant.","PeriodicalId":47680,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognition and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48019739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-07DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2023.2186692
Eleonora Doz, Alessandro Cuder, S. Pellizzoni, B. Carretti, M. Passolunghi
ABSTRACT A crucial component of mathematics curriculum in primary education is represented by the ability to solve arithmetic word problems. Previous studies investigated predominantly the cognitive factors underlying this skill, neglecting the role of emotional (e.g. math anxiety – MA) and metacognitive aspects (e.g. perceived difficulty). Some findings suggested that emotional factors could influence perceived task difficulty which would, in turn, impair students’ performance. However, the relation between MA, perceived difficulty, and math problem-solving has not been explored yet. Moreover, although many studies reported gender differences in MA levels, findings involving primary school children are contrasting. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the role of MA and perceived task difficulty on arithmetic word problem-solving proficiency in a sample of Italian primary school students, and to investigate gender differences in those variables. Results showed that MA had a direct and indirect effect through perceived difficulty on problem-solving performance. Furthermore, findings confirmed that girls exhibited higher MA levels, however no gender difference was observed in problem-solving accuracy nor in perceived difficulty. The study underlines the need to consider emotional factors when investigating children’s difficulties in math problem-solving and highlight the importance of MA interventions, especially for girls, already in primary education.
{"title":"Arithmetic Word Problem-Solving and Math Anxiety: The Role of Perceived Difficulty and Gender","authors":"Eleonora Doz, Alessandro Cuder, S. Pellizzoni, B. Carretti, M. Passolunghi","doi":"10.1080/15248372.2023.2186692","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2023.2186692","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT A crucial component of mathematics curriculum in primary education is represented by the ability to solve arithmetic word problems. Previous studies investigated predominantly the cognitive factors underlying this skill, neglecting the role of emotional (e.g. math anxiety – MA) and metacognitive aspects (e.g. perceived difficulty). Some findings suggested that emotional factors could influence perceived task difficulty which would, in turn, impair students’ performance. However, the relation between MA, perceived difficulty, and math problem-solving has not been explored yet. Moreover, although many studies reported gender differences in MA levels, findings involving primary school children are contrasting. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the role of MA and perceived task difficulty on arithmetic word problem-solving proficiency in a sample of Italian primary school students, and to investigate gender differences in those variables. Results showed that MA had a direct and indirect effect through perceived difficulty on problem-solving performance. Furthermore, findings confirmed that girls exhibited higher MA levels, however no gender difference was observed in problem-solving accuracy nor in perceived difficulty. The study underlines the need to consider emotional factors when investigating children’s difficulties in math problem-solving and highlight the importance of MA interventions, especially for girls, already in primary education.","PeriodicalId":47680,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognition and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42953470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-02DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2023.2178437
Paul Ibbotson, Ernesto Roque-Gutierrez
ABSTRACT Small but robust differences in cognition exist between the sexes in adult populations. Studying sex differences in children’s cognition can bring insight into when, where and how these differences might emerge in development. Here, we focus on differences in working memory because of its importance in underpinning a wide range of complex cognitive tasks and developmental outcomes for children. Using two levels of difficulty on a standard test of working memory (N-Back), data from 104 6- to 7-year-olds in Cuba showed that boys have quicker reaction times, but girls provide more accurate responses. With a comparable true positive rate between boys and girls, the sex differences in both accuracy and reaction times were limited to false-positive responses. Sex differences were consistent across levels of task difficulty and persisted after speed-accuracy trade-offs were considered. We argue that avoiding false positives requires a particularly strong role for inhibitory control and that this emerges in development according to a different maturational schedule for girls than it does for boys, underpinned by quantitative and qualitative differences in the development of brain areas that support this function.
{"title":"The Development of Working Memory: Sex Differences in Accuracy and Reaction Times","authors":"Paul Ibbotson, Ernesto Roque-Gutierrez","doi":"10.1080/15248372.2023.2178437","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2023.2178437","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Small but robust differences in cognition exist between the sexes in adult populations. Studying sex differences in children’s cognition can bring insight into when, where and how these differences might emerge in development. Here, we focus on differences in working memory because of its importance in underpinning a wide range of complex cognitive tasks and developmental outcomes for children. Using two levels of difficulty on a standard test of working memory (N-Back), data from 104 6- to 7-year-olds in Cuba showed that boys have quicker reaction times, but girls provide more accurate responses. With a comparable true positive rate between boys and girls, the sex differences in both accuracy and reaction times were limited to false-positive responses. Sex differences were consistent across levels of task difficulty and persisted after speed-accuracy trade-offs were considered. We argue that avoiding false positives requires a particularly strong role for inhibitory control and that this emerges in development according to a different maturational schedule for girls than it does for boys, underpinned by quantitative and qualitative differences in the development of brain areas that support this function.","PeriodicalId":47680,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognition and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42800906","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-26DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2023.2176854
Megan N. Norris, Catherine H McDermott, Nicholaus S. Noles
ABSTRACT Social categories are often defined by the boundaries that they form between individuals. However, many social structures describe complementary relationships between individuals, defining both the power that we hold over others and our obligations to them and vice versa. In two studies conducted in the U.S., we investigated a sample of primarily white, middle class children’s intuitions about social roles at ages 4, 5, and 6. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with two informants, one dominant (e.g., a mother) and one subordinate (e.g., a daughter). The informants gave conflicting instructions, and children determined whose instructions should be followed and which informant had more social power. Five- and 6-year-olds, but not 4 -year-olds, used social roles to determine which instructions should be followed, and children in all age groups selected the dominant informant as someone who held social power. In Experiment 2, we explored the breadth of this effect by having the same informants present conflicting information about food. Five- and 6-year-old participants trusted claims made by a dominant informant, but 4-year-olds did not prioritize claims made by either informant. At the same time, when asked who they would approach to learn about a new food, children did not prefer either informant. Together, these findings suggest that children’s understanding of hierarchical social roles emerges at a young age, changes over time, and influences their judgments in nuanced ways.
{"title":"Listen to Your Mother: Children Use Hierarchical Social Roles to Guide Their Judgments about People","authors":"Megan N. Norris, Catherine H McDermott, Nicholaus S. Noles","doi":"10.1080/15248372.2023.2176854","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2023.2176854","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Social categories are often defined by the boundaries that they form between individuals. However, many social structures describe complementary relationships between individuals, defining both the power that we hold over others and our obligations to them and vice versa. In two studies conducted in the U.S., we investigated a sample of primarily white, middle class children’s intuitions about social roles at ages 4, 5, and 6. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with two informants, one dominant (e.g., a mother) and one subordinate (e.g., a daughter). The informants gave conflicting instructions, and children determined whose instructions should be followed and which informant had more social power. Five- and 6-year-olds, but not 4 -year-olds, used social roles to determine which instructions should be followed, and children in all age groups selected the dominant informant as someone who held social power. In Experiment 2, we explored the breadth of this effect by having the same informants present conflicting information about food. Five- and 6-year-old participants trusted claims made by a dominant informant, but 4-year-olds did not prioritize claims made by either informant. At the same time, when asked who they would approach to learn about a new food, children did not prefer either informant. Together, these findings suggest that children’s understanding of hierarchical social roles emerges at a young age, changes over time, and influences their judgments in nuanced ways.","PeriodicalId":47680,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognition and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42418370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-24DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2023.2178436
Kyra Wilson, Michael C. Frank, Abdellah Fourtassi
ABSTRACT In order for children to understand and reason about the world in an adult-like fashion, they need to learn that conceptual categories are organized in a hierarchical fashion (e.g., a dog is also an animal). While children learn from their first-hand observation of the world, social knowledge transmission via language can also play an important role in this learning. Previous studies have documented several cues in parental talk that can help children learn about conceptual hierarchy. However, these studies have used different datasets and methods that have made it difficult to compare the relative usefulness of various linguistic cues to conceptual knowledge and to test whether they scale up to naturalistic speech. Here, we study a large-scale corpus of English child-directed speech – collected in North America and the UK – and used a unified classification-based evaluation method which allowed us to investigate and compare cues that vary in terms of how explicit the information they offer is. We found the more explicit cues to be too sparse or too noisy in child-directed speech, making them unlikely to support robust learning. In contrast, the implicit cues offered a more reliable source of information. Further, we investigated developmental changes from 3 to 6 years of age, and we found no differences in the availability of these cues in the input. Our work confirms the utility of caregiver talk for conveying conceptual information and supporting the development of early taxonomic knowledge. It provides a first step toward a cognitive model that would combine perceptual- and language-based mechanisms, leading to a more comprehensive account of children’s conceptual development.
{"title":"Conceptual Hierarchy in Child-Directed Speech: Implicit Cues are More Reliable","authors":"Kyra Wilson, Michael C. Frank, Abdellah Fourtassi","doi":"10.1080/15248372.2023.2178436","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2023.2178436","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In order for children to understand and reason about the world in an adult-like fashion, they need to learn that conceptual categories are organized in a hierarchical fashion (e.g., a dog is also an animal). While children learn from their first-hand observation of the world, social knowledge transmission via language can also play an important role in this learning. Previous studies have documented several cues in parental talk that can help children learn about conceptual hierarchy. However, these studies have used different datasets and methods that have made it difficult to compare the relative usefulness of various linguistic cues to conceptual knowledge and to test whether they scale up to naturalistic speech. Here, we study a large-scale corpus of English child-directed speech – collected in North America and the UK – and used a unified classification-based evaluation method which allowed us to investigate and compare cues that vary in terms of how explicit the information they offer is. We found the more explicit cues to be too sparse or too noisy in child-directed speech, making them unlikely to support robust learning. In contrast, the implicit cues offered a more reliable source of information. Further, we investigated developmental changes from 3 to 6 years of age, and we found no differences in the availability of these cues in the input. Our work confirms the utility of caregiver talk for conveying conceptual information and supporting the development of early taxonomic knowledge. It provides a first step toward a cognitive model that would combine perceptual- and language-based mechanisms, leading to a more comprehensive account of children’s conceptual development.","PeriodicalId":47680,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognition and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41436218","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-08DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2023.2172414
Joshua Medrano, R. Prather
ABSTRACT New perspectives on executive functions propose a greater involvement of context. These perspectives have implications for research in mathematical cognition. We tackle the problem that although individuals clearly exercise inhibitory control in mathematical contexts, researchers find that the relations between inhibitory control and mathematics are sometimes “weaker than expected.” In this review, we identify how children and adults use inhibitory control in specific foundational symbolic and non-symbolic mathematical contexts, with attention to concepts learned in primary (6 to 12) years. Then, we argue that considering context (e.g., task features, participant’s state, and prior knowledge) will allow researchers to thoroughly investigate the mechanistic role of cognitive processes involved in mathematical tasks.
{"title":"Rethinking Executive Functions in Mathematical Cognition","authors":"Joshua Medrano, R. Prather","doi":"10.1080/15248372.2023.2172414","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2023.2172414","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT New perspectives on executive functions propose a greater involvement of context. These perspectives have implications for research in mathematical cognition. We tackle the problem that although individuals clearly exercise inhibitory control in mathematical contexts, researchers find that the relations between inhibitory control and mathematics are sometimes “weaker than expected.” In this review, we identify how children and adults use inhibitory control in specific foundational symbolic and non-symbolic mathematical contexts, with attention to concepts learned in primary (6 to 12) years. Then, we argue that considering context (e.g., task features, participant’s state, and prior knowledge) will allow researchers to thoroughly investigate the mechanistic role of cognitive processes involved in mathematical tasks.","PeriodicalId":47680,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognition and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47017336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-08DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2023.2172413
Shachar Ben Izhak, M. Lavidor
ABSTRACT The field of cognitive training (CT) has been researched for over a century. However, there is still a debate regarding its ability to produce cognitive improvement, especially in working memory (WM) indices. This meta-analysis examined whether there is an advantage in training gains by comparing the results of two specific WM training approaches, Core Training (CRT) and Strategy Training (ST). Meta-analytic techniques were used to summarize 28 independent effect sizes from 24 studies with 1521 subjects, calculated only from studies that compared both training approaches in a single study. We found moderate effect sizes of trained tasks improvement with a clear advantage to ST over CRT, from which younger trainees benefitted the most. However, this advantage has almost disappeared for untrained tasks due to the limited improvement each approach produced on its own.
{"title":"Strategy and Core Cognitive Training Effects on Working Memory Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis","authors":"Shachar Ben Izhak, M. Lavidor","doi":"10.1080/15248372.2023.2172413","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2023.2172413","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The field of cognitive training (CT) has been researched for over a century. However, there is still a debate regarding its ability to produce cognitive improvement, especially in working memory (WM) indices. This meta-analysis examined whether there is an advantage in training gains by comparing the results of two specific WM training approaches, Core Training (CRT) and Strategy Training (ST). Meta-analytic techniques were used to summarize 28 independent effect sizes from 24 studies with 1521 subjects, calculated only from studies that compared both training approaches in a single study. We found moderate effect sizes of trained tasks improvement with a clear advantage to ST over CRT, from which younger trainees benefitted the most. However, this advantage has almost disappeared for untrained tasks due to the limited improvement each approach produced on its own.","PeriodicalId":47680,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognition and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47372958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-03DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2022.2160722
S. Gaskins, Lucía Alcalá
ABSTRACT Children’s development of executive function is a good candidate for studying cultural differences because it is a necessary capacity for becoming competent participants in cultural activities, and yet it is also likely to be shaped by culturally organized everyday experiences, with potential consequences for children’s development and learning. An ethnographically grounded study with Yucatec Maya children was conducted to explore cultural bias in existing theoretical constructs and methods. Yucatec Maya children autonomously organize their daily activities within a dense web of family social connections and work responsibilities. Yet small pilot samples of 4- to 8-year-olds were uninterested in and performed poorly on many traditional measures of EF due to a number of cultural assumptions inherent in the tasks’ logic and demands. Specific cultural road blocks were identified, including assumptions about motivation, task meaning, rules of social interaction, and specific cultural beliefs. Several novel tasks were then developed, comprised of contextually situated, goal-driven tasks, that children were more motivated to engage in. To check on the accuracy of our analysis we propose a design for a future comparative study consisting of a mix of traditional tasks (both culturally interpretable and culturally inappropriate for Yucatec Maya children), and novel, contextually embedded tasks that were engaging for Yucatec Maya children. We close with a cost/benefit analysis of using culturally meaningful research to study children’s development.
{"title":"Studying Executive Function in Culturally Meaningful Ways","authors":"S. Gaskins, Lucía Alcalá","doi":"10.1080/15248372.2022.2160722","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2022.2160722","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Children’s development of executive function is a good candidate for studying cultural differences because it is a necessary capacity for becoming competent participants in cultural activities, and yet it is also likely to be shaped by culturally organized everyday experiences, with potential consequences for children’s development and learning. An ethnographically grounded study with Yucatec Maya children was conducted to explore cultural bias in existing theoretical constructs and methods. Yucatec Maya children autonomously organize their daily activities within a dense web of family social connections and work responsibilities. Yet small pilot samples of 4- to 8-year-olds were uninterested in and performed poorly on many traditional measures of EF due to a number of cultural assumptions inherent in the tasks’ logic and demands. Specific cultural road blocks were identified, including assumptions about motivation, task meaning, rules of social interaction, and specific cultural beliefs. Several novel tasks were then developed, comprised of contextually situated, goal-driven tasks, that children were more motivated to engage in. To check on the accuracy of our analysis we propose a design for a future comparative study consisting of a mix of traditional tasks (both culturally interpretable and culturally inappropriate for Yucatec Maya children), and novel, contextually embedded tasks that were engaging for Yucatec Maya children. We close with a cost/benefit analysis of using culturally meaningful research to study children’s development.","PeriodicalId":47680,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognition and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45574610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-05DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2022.2160719
Paul Ibbotson
ABSTRACT This developmental account of executive function (EF) argues that domain-general analogical processes build a functional hierarchy of skills, which vary on a continuum of abstraction, and become increasingly differentiated over time. The paper begins by showing how a functional hierarchy can capture important aspects of EF development, including incrementalism, partial differentiation, and a shift from reactive to proactive control. It then details how children construct this hierarchy in development, by showing how they make functional analogies between similar EF problems, in a bottom-up incremental fashion. This results in EF structure which becomes differentiated into components which are more suited to solving some goal-directed problems than others. The developmental implications of this are that children eventually acquire task-general EFs while also retaining goal-specific skills sensitive to wider beliefs, values, norms, preferences, relevant motor, procedural, and embodied knowledge. There is discussion of how this approach is similar to and different from existing accounts, and how it relates to broader issues of training and transfer, group and individual differences, overlapping EF functions and domain-general learning. The developmental mechanisms advocated under this account intentionally draw on neuropsychological, learning and cognitive processes that have been demonstrated in other domains, so that EF theory can benefit from the lessons learned elsewhere and become more integrated with other areas of cognition.
{"title":"The Development of Executive Function: Mechanisms of Change and Functional Pressures","authors":"Paul Ibbotson","doi":"10.1080/15248372.2022.2160719","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2022.2160719","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This developmental account of executive function (EF) argues that domain-general analogical processes build a functional hierarchy of skills, which vary on a continuum of abstraction, and become increasingly differentiated over time. The paper begins by showing how a functional hierarchy can capture important aspects of EF development, including incrementalism, partial differentiation, and a shift from reactive to proactive control. It then details how children construct this hierarchy in development, by showing how they make functional analogies between similar EF problems, in a bottom-up incremental fashion. This results in EF structure which becomes differentiated into components which are more suited to solving some goal-directed problems than others. The developmental implications of this are that children eventually acquire task-general EFs while also retaining goal-specific skills sensitive to wider beliefs, values, norms, preferences, relevant motor, procedural, and embodied knowledge. There is discussion of how this approach is similar to and different from existing accounts, and how it relates to broader issues of training and transfer, group and individual differences, overlapping EF functions and domain-general learning. The developmental mechanisms advocated under this account intentionally draw on neuropsychological, learning and cognitive processes that have been demonstrated in other domains, so that EF theory can benefit from the lessons learned elsewhere and become more integrated with other areas of cognition.","PeriodicalId":47680,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognition and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42645850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：