New Procedures to Assess Executive Functions in Preschool Children*
Abstract
Executive functions are difficult to assess in preschool children, yet the preschool period is particularly important, both in the development of behavioral control and of the brain, particularly the prefrontal cortex. Several tasks were adapted from developmental and neuroscience literature and then administered to 98 preschool children (30-, 36-, 42-, 48- and 60-month age groups). Executive function task performance was related largely to age group, but not to sex or intelligence. These tasks, then, were sensitive in this age range and may be useful to delineate distinct cognitive profiles among preschool children with various neurological and developmental disorders.
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On the Tower of Hanoi, steady improvement in performance is observed across the preschool period.
“On the Tower of Hanoi, a measure that taps planning ability, steady improvement in performance is observed across the preschool period (K. A. Espy, Kaufmann, & Glisky, 2001;Welsh, Pennington, & Groisser, 1991).”
From Assessing Executive Function in Preschoolers (2012) · cites this paper as K. A. Espy, Kaufmann, & Glisky, 2001
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- Authors
- Espy, K. A., Kaufmann, P. M., Glisky, M. L., & McDiarmid, M. D.
- Affiliations
- Southern Illinois University Carbondale (US)
- Venue
- The Clinical Neuropsychologist
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2001-02
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 46-58
- ISSN
- 0920-1637 (ISSN-L)
- 1385-4046
- 1744-4144
- OpenAlex
- W2127870483
- Cited by
- 162
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 9.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Clinical Neuropsychologist (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Lincoln (University of Nebraska) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- executive function, preschool children, assessment methods, behavioral control, prefrontal cortex development, cognitive profile, neurological disorders, developmental disorders, age differences, sex differences, intelligence
- MeSH terms
- Child, Preschool, Concept Formation, Female, Humans, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Problem Solving, Psychometrics, Reference Values, Token Economy, Reproducibility of Results, Prefrontal Cortex
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