Assessing Executive Function in Preschoolers

In the paper

“Further, there are well-established approaches for assessing information processing speed, with research demonstrating significant improvement in reaction/response time during the preschool period and that response speed varies as a function of complexity (Kiselev, Espy, & Sheffield, 2009).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Kiselev, Espy, & Sheffield, 2009

In the paper

“These anti-imitation tasks are suitable across the preschool age range, although young 3-year-olds may struggle.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Diamond & Taylor, 1996 source
• Not checked yetcites Carlson, 2005 source
• Not checked yetcites C. Hughes, 1998

In the paper

“Another working memory paradigm used with preschoolers is self-ordered searching tasks, which requires information, usually visual-spatial, to be maintained and updated in short-term memory.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hongwanishkul, Happaney, Lee, & Zelazo, 2005 source
• Not checked yetcites M. T. Willoughby, Wirth, & Blair, 2011 source

In the paper

“On the Bear/Dragon task (Go/No-Go task), only about half of young 3-year-olds (< 3½ yrs) are able to resist responding to the instructions of the Dragon puppet, however this increases to 75% for older 3-year-olds (> 3½ yrs) and by age 5 years most children are successfully completing this task (Carlson, 2005).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Carlson, 2005 source

In the paper

“Delayed Alternation is a task used to assess working memory in young children, and can be administered to toddlers as well as throughout the preschool period (K. A. Espy, Kaufmann, McDiarmid, & Glisky, 1999).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites K. A. Espy, Kaufmann, McDiarmid, & Glisky, 1999 source

In the paper

“In contrast, even 4-and 5-year-olds struggled to remain still on the No-Go items of the Simon Says task, demonstrating that the context of the task makes some behaviors more difficult to resist than others.”

In the paper

“This task is generally considered too difficult for preschoolers, as demonstrated by Luciana and Nelson (1998) who found that less than half of their 4-year-old sample understood task requirements despite extensive training.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Luciana & Nelson, 1998 source

In the paper

“Accuracy of responding improved only marginally for children aged between 3 and 5 years on the Inhibit condition (Go/No-Go) on the Shape School test, but speed increased dramatically during this developmental period (K. A. Espy, Kaufmann, & Glisky, 2001;K. Espy, 1997).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites K. A. Espy, Kaufmann, & Glisky, 2001
• Not checked yetcites K. Espy, 1997 source

In the paper

“The child needs to inhibit a previously applied behavior to enable fluent switching, otherwise perseverative errors will be observed (Best & Miller, 2010).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Best & Miller, 2010 source

In the paper

“While Carlson et al (2005) also showed continued maturation of inhibitory control across 3 to 5 years on delayed gratification tasks, performance again varied and the discrepancy may be explained by the intrinsic value of the gift.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Carlson et al., 2005 source

In the paper

“Following is a brief summary of developmental trajectories for attentional control, cognitive flexibility and goal setting domains, however it is important to note that there is enormous inter-individual variability in developmental trajectories and this is particularly obvious in young children.”

In the paper

“The Dimensional Change Card Sort task has been used extensively to evaluate shifting attention in preschoolers (P.D. Zelazo, Muller, Frye, & Marcovitch, 2003;P. D. Zelazo, 2006).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites P.D. Zelazo, Muller, Frye, & Marcovitch, 2003
• Not checked yetcites P. D. Zelazo, 2006 source

In the paper

“Developmental spurts are commonly observed in individual children, and can also be observed on a population level (P.Anderson, 2002).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites P.Anderson, 2002

In the paper

“The inhibition trial is considered appropriate for preschoolers aged 3-years and older, while the more complex switch and combined (switch & inhibit) trials are considered appropriate for children aged 3:6 years and older.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites K.Espy, 1997 source
• Not checked yetcites K. A. Espy, Bull, Martin, & Stroup, 2006

In the paper

“Accuracy of switching on Trails-P also improves between 3-and 5-years of age, although generally speaking preschoolers make few errors on this task.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites K. A. Espy & Cwik, 2004

In the paper

“For example, very few 3-year-olds are able to correctly reverse the sequence of three digits but by 5-years of age most children have this capacity (Carlson, 2005).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Carlson, 2005 source

In the paper

“Some children as young as 3-years apply an alternating search strategy at least some of the time, however there are also some older children (e.g.5-years) who struggle with this concept (K. A. Espy, Kaufmann, McDiarmid, & Glisky, 1999).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites K. A. Espy, Kaufmann, McDiarmid, & Glisky, 1999 source

In the paper

“It should be noted however, that children younger than 4-years of age get very few trials correct and a significant increase in performance is observed between 3-and 4-years.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites K. A. Espy, Kaufmann, & Glisky, 2001
• Not checked yetcites Welsh, Pennington, & Groisser, 1991 source

In the paper

“Thus, the developmental trajectories for the Day-Night and Hand Tapping tasks differ, even though they both require the retention of two rules and inhibition of a dominant response (Diamond & Taylor, 1996).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Diamond & Taylor, 1996 source

In the paper

“The switch condition of the Shape School is successfully completed by most 4-year-olds, and while accuracy increases slightly, improved performance in older preschoolers is predominantly reflected in better switching fluency and reduced time needed to complete the task (K.Espy, 1997).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites K.Espy, 1997 source

In the paper

“In contrast, children aged 5 years and older performed well both in terms of accuracy and speed.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Gerstadt et al., 1994 source

In the paper

“On average children as young as 3½ years are able to get nearly two-thirds of the trials correct on the Luria hand tapping test, but performance improves significantly throughout the preschool period both in terms of accuracy and speed (Diamond & Taylor, 1996).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Diamond & Taylor, 1996 source

In the paper

“In summary, enormous development of inhibitory control is observed between 3-to 6years of age with continued maturation beyond the preschool period.”

In the paper

“Consistent with these findings, younger preschoolers tend to make their first perseverative error prior to older preschoolers on the Six Boxes test, although the total number of searches needed to find all six boxes decreases only marginally with increasing age (Diamond, Prevor, Callender, & Druin, 1997).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Diamond, Prevor, Callender, & Druin, 1997

In the paper

“With an older sample and a computerized self-ordered search task, Luciana and Nelson (1998) reported that 4-year-olds make more perseverative errors than older preschoolers, which likely reflects less mature working memory.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Luciana & Nelson, 1998 source

In the paper

“Hongwanishkul and colleagues (2005) reported significant developmental increments between 3 to 5-years of age with their Self-ordered Pointing task, with a particular spurt observed between 3-and 4-years.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hongwanishkul et al., 2005 source

In the paper

“Interestingly, all preschool age groups perform better at the start than at the end of the Day-Night test, suggesting that the task requires considerable cognitive effort that is difficult to sustain (Gerstadt, Hong, & Diamond, 1994).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Gerstadt, Hong, & Diamond, 1994 source

In the paper

“While 3-year-olds can complete the switch condition on the Trails-P, they are substantially slower in completing the task than 4-year-olds and require almost twice the time needed by 5-year-olds (K. A. Espy & Cwik, 2004).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites K. A. Espy & Cwik, 2004

In the paper

“In terms of accuracy, the most significant improvement in performance was observed between 4½ and 5 years, although performance gains continued to age 7 years.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Gerstadt et al., 1994 source

In the paper

“Children younger than 4½ years were slow on the Day-Night test, while the average latency for the older age groups did not differ.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Gerstadt et al., 1994 source

In the paper

“Using the Object Classification Task for Children 3-year-olds struggle to identify a common feature within a group of six objects (i.e.toys), but in contrast, children aged 4-years and older find it relatively easy to sort different objects according to a single dimension.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Smidts, Jacobs, & Anderson, 2004

In the paper

“In terms of shifting attention, 3-year-olds really struggle to shift sorting categories on the Dimensional Change Card Sort test, but this perseverative behavior is far less common in older 4-year-olds (Carlson, 2005).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Carlson, 2005 source

In the paper

“certain preschool executive function factor analytic studies have revealed a single latent variable”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hughes, Ensor, Wilson & Graham, 2009 source
• Not checked yetcites Wiebe, Espy & Charak, 2008 source

In the paper

“while executive function may comprise several distinct processes, they are inter-related and could still be conceptualized, and referred to, as an integrated supervisory or control system”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Alexander & Stuss, 2000 source
• Not checked yetcites Stuss & Alexander, 2000 source

In the paper

“although this is at least partly related to the measures and variables included in the analysis and does not necessarily challenge the view that executive function includes distinct components”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hughes et al., 2009

In the paper

“The Executive Control System conceptualizes executive function as an overall control system that comprises four distinct domains, attentional control, cognitive flexibility, goal setting, and information processing”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites P.J. Anderson, 2010
• Not checked yetcites P. Anderson, 2002

In the paper

“During early childhood primary cortical areas such as the auditory and visual cortex, and association areas such as the medial prefrontal cortex, have high levels of synaptic density and undergo a dynamic period of synaptic elimination at differing trajectories”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Huttenlocher, 1990
• Not checked yetcites Huttenlocher & Dabholkar, 1997

In the paper

“Given that cognitive processes are emerging and developing at a rapid rate in early childhood, it comes as no surprise that this is also a period of rapid brain development”

In the paper

“Taki and colleagues (2012) examined white matter volume change in children from age 5, and demonstrated that increasing white matter volume with age is linear in many regions across the brain.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Taki et al., 2012

In the paper

“During infancy and early childhood, total white matter is increasing in volume at a greater rate than total gray matter”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Matsuzawa et al., 2001

In the paper

“total brain volume increases and reaches 95% of its adult size by age 6 years”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Lenroot & Giedd, 2006

In the paper

“Executive dysfunction is a common observation in young children and has been reported in many developmental and acquired disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) including attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Barkley, 1997 source
• Not checked yetcites Ozonoff, Pennington, & Rogers, 1991 source
• Not checked yetcites V. Anderson, Godfrey, Rosenfeld, & Catroppa, 2012

In the paper

“The increase in white matter volume may be related to an increase in myelination”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Tsujimoto, 2008

In the paper

“A widely held view in brain development is that the frontal lobes develop much later in childhood and adolescence than other brain regions, and although this region undergoes a period of protracted development, infancy and early childhood still sees rapid growth in this anterior area of the brain.”

In the paper

“it may be argued that the integrity of the prefrontal cortex is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for intact executive functioning”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Della Sala, Gray, Spinnler, & Trivelli, 1998

In the paper

“thus are dependent on similar prefrontal networks, and they exhibit comparable developmental trajectories”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites P. Anderson, 2002

In the paper

“Cognitive development is thought to reflect brain development”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Casey, Giedd, & Thomas, 2000
• Not checked yetcites Casey, Tottenham, Liston, & Durston, 2005

In the paper

“Individual tracts that are present in the frontal white matter are identifiable early in the post-natal period and continue to develop throughout the preschool years”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hermoye et al., 2006

In the paper

“These concomitant changes have been explained as partly reflecting an increase in myelination of the lower cortical layers with age, causing both regional brain expansion and apparent cortical thinning”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Sowell et al 2004

In the paper

“Moriguchi and Hiraki (2011) demonstrated using near infra-red spectroscopy that from age 3 to age 4, children improve their performance on a conceptual switching task, and show a concomitant increase in activation in the inferior prefrontal region.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Moriguchi & Hiraki, 2011

In the paper

“The maturation of white matter, including myelination and the increasing complexity of neural circuits, are thought to support the development of cognitive functions in addition to changes to the gray matter”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Johnson, 2001
• Not checked yetcites Tau & Peterson, 2010

In the paper

“executive dysfunction may not always reflect prefrontal pathology and instead reflect compromised neural networks across the brain.”

In the paper

“from age 4, white matter volume increases steadily, but gray matter volumes in the frontal and parietal regions increase and peak during mid-childhood before reducing.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Giedd et al., 1999

In the paper

“Myelination of the major cerebral tracts begins in the post-natal period, with greatest development in the first two years of life, continuing throughout childhood and adolescence”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Gao et al., 2009
• Not checked yetcites Paus et al., 2001

In the paper

“Despite this cortical thinning, the prefrontal region expands in size with age, more so than areas surrounding the central sulcus or the posterior medial surface”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Sowell et al., 2004

In the paper

“Different executive processes are supported by widespread neural circuits that mature and change with age”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Tau & Peterson, 2010

In the paper

“the maturation of neural networks involves a move from interconnected local regions, to the connectivity of distributed regions that work together to subserve the same function, and this may mirror maturation of cognitive skills”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Fair et al., 2009

In the paper

“minimal learning effects were observed; instead slightly poorer performance was observed on second testing which was interpreted to reflect fatigue”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Beck, Schaefer, Pang, & Carlson, 2011

In the paper

“determining the underlying reason for sub-optimal performance can be difficult, limiting the capacity to differentiate specific cognitive deficits.”

In the paper

“the novelty factor and level of complexity of such tests are likely to be greater in children”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites V. Anderson, 1998 source
• Not checked yetcites Baron, 2004
• Not checked yetcites J. M. Fletcher & Taylor, 1984 source

In the paper

“a recent report showed that test-retest reliability was good for working memory and planning tasks but moderate to poor for response inhibition tasks”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Muller, Kerns, & Konkin, 2012 source

In the paper

“established measures do not necessarily assess what they are claimed to assess (Baron, 2004), and purported measures of executive function are unlikely to be sensitive to impairments in all domains of executive function.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Baron, 2004

In the paper

“Summary scores are often used to assess performance but these may mask personal and situational factors that could explain impaired performance, especially for young children who are more distractible, have shorter attention spans, require greater novelty and have less awareness of the requirements of the testing situation”

In the paper

“Reliability estimates vary across tasks and it may be that assessing certain executive processes may be more stable than others.”

In the paper

“Recent attempts to design measures for preschoolers appreciate the need for age appropriate or child friendly measures, and have specifically designed tests that are appealing to young children”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites C. Hughes, 2011 source

In the paper

“Other papers reveal reasonable reliability for most experimental tests with estimates consistent with those reported with older childhood and adult populations”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites M. Willoughby & Blair, 2011
• Not checked yetcites K. A. Espy, Bull, Kaiser, Martin, & Banet, 2010

In the paper

“A major challenge, however, is the attainment of good norms as determining age appropriate behavior is very difficult when children are young and developing at a rapid rate”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Baron, 2004

In the paper

“there is a strong possibility that these tests tap different skills (and neural networks) in children or at least require greater cognitive resources”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites V. Anderson, 1998 source
• Not checked yetcites Baron, 2004
• Not checked yetcites J. M. Fletcher & Taylor, 1984 source

In the paper

“Including rewards of different value can increase the complexity of the task.”

In the paper

“Executive dysfunction can present in many forms, and impairment in one domain does not necessarily imply impairment in other executive domains.”

In the paper

“The NEPSY-II includes a self-control subtest, called Statue, which does not involve delay of gratification (Korkman, Kirk, & Kemp, 2007).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Korkman, Kirk, & Kemp, 2007

In the paper

“during assessments examiners generally provide children with support and encouragement, initiate activities, provide structure, and help to keep the child on task”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites V. Anderson, 1998 source
• Not checked yetcites Lezak, Howieson, Bigler, & Tranel, 2012
• Not checked yetcites Stuss & Alexander, 2000 source

In the paper

“Factors that may influence complexity, and therefore age appropriateness, include the stimuli used, the speed that stimuli are presented, and the response modality (verbal or motor).”

In the paper

“This discrepancy may also reflect the assessment environment, which is generally a quiet, one-on-one, structured setting with minimal distractions”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites V. Anderson, 1998 source
• Not checked yetcites Lezak, Howieson, Bigler, & Tranel, 2012

In the paper

“While these general cognitive batteries were not designed to specifically assess executive functioning, all include subtests that tap executive processes.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Wechsler, 2002
• Not checked yetcites Roid, 2003
• Not checked yetcites Elliott, 2007

In the paper

“Another updating working memory task described for use with preschoolers is the Six Boxes test (Diamond, Prevor, Callender, & Druin, 1997).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Diamond, Prevor, Callender, & Druin, 1997

In the paper

“In Simon Says the No-Go cue is a verbal statement embedded with the command, while the Go and No-Go cues in the Bear/Dragon task are commands from different puppets and much easier to differentiate.”

In the paper

“Simon Says is also more challenging as it involves active imitation, which is difficult for young children to inhibit.”

In the paper

“The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) has a computerized version of self-ordered searching referred to as Spatial Working Memory.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Luciana & Nelson, 1998 source

In the paper

“This test is purported to tap planning ability, and requires the child to move three different sized disks across three pegs to achieve a specific configuration.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites K. A. Espy, Kaufmann, & Glisky, 2001
• Not checked yetcites Welsh, Pennington, & Groisser, 1991 source

In the paper

“Trails-P is a preschool adaptation of the child and adult version of the Trail Making Test (K. A. Espy & Cwik, 2004), and is another measure of switching.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites K. A. Espy & Cwik, 2004

In the paper

“Performance on switching tasks generally requires 1) inhibition to suppress previously applied rule set, and 2) working memory to maintain the alternating rules and when to shift (Chevalier et al., 2012).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Chevalier et al., 2012 source

In the paper

“In addition to assessing working memory, good performance on the Delayed Alternation requires the capacity to shift search strategy and, for older kids, to learn the alternating pattern of the search location.”

In the paper

“The key processes in the cognitive flexibility domain, especially when assessing young children, are working memory (capacity to update or manipulate information in short-term storage), switching between response sets, and shifting attention.”

In the paper

“The ongoing maturation of executive domains and their associated neural networks is dependent on refinement of other executive and non-executive skills, as well as the enhanced coordination and integration of these systems.”

In the paper

“Young preschoolers have limited impulse control and delay of gratification and simple Go/No-Go tasks are the most suitable for evaluating developmental status.”

In the paper

“In summary, problem solving tasks that require forward planning and conceptual reasoning can be administered to preschoolers, and this is potentially worthwhile.”

In the paper

“Older preschoolers have greater inhibitory control, and more complex inhibitory control measures are probably necessary to detect subtle impairments in these children.”

In the paper

“In contrast to children in control conditions, children who received the working memory intervention showed improvements in trained and non-trained working memory tasks as well as in attentional control tasks, but no effects in non-trained inhibitory control tasks.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Thorell, Lindqvist, Bergman Nutley, Bohlin, & Klingberg, 2009 source

In the paper

“However, early studies in this area suggest that cognitive training may be an avenue for enhancing the development of executive processes as well as assisting those who are impaired.”

In the paper

“In conclusion, executive function develops rapidly during the preschool period.”

In the paper

“A preschool version of the BRIEF is available, called the BRIEF-P (P.K. Isquith, Gioia, & Espy, 2004), with forms for parents and preschool/childcare teachers.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites P.K. Isquith, Gioia, & Espy, 2004 source