Poster #2 - Executive functioning development in school-aged children : A longitudinal study.

• In Event: Poster Session 18

Abstract

Executive functioning (EF) consists of a set of cognitive processes, such as inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, involved in the regulation of thoughts, behaviors, and emotions (Miyake et al., 2000). While longitudinal research has thoroughly documented the development of EF among preschoolers (Clark et al., 2013; Willoughby et al., 2012), much less is known about EF development in older children. In addition, most research with this age group has been cross-sectional. These cross-sectional studies consistently find that older children perform better on EF tasks than their younger counterparts (Carriedo et al., 2016), which is interpreted as reflecting developmental improvements. However, cross-sectional studies cannot reveal cognitive development per se, as they are based on comparisons of different groups of children of different ages. Hence, it is not possible to disentangle the effect of age from any other characteristic that may distinguish the age groups. Thus, although EF is presumed, based on cross-sectional studies, to be in full development in school-aged children (Best & Miller, 2010), longitudinal studies are needed to validate this assumption. Unfortunately, few longitudinal studies of executive development have been conducted with school-aged children.
This longitudinal study aimed to investigate the development of inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility between middle (8 years) and late childhood (12 years). Standardized EF tasks were administered to 70 to 74 (depending on task) children (41 girls) at Time 1 (8.74 years ± 0.27) and again at Time 2 (12.93 years ± 0.29). Working memory was assessed using the Backward Digit Span, inhibition with the 3rd condition of the Color-Word Interference Test (Stroop) of the D-KEFS, and cognitive flexibility with the 4th condition of the same task.
Repeated measures ANOVAs showed that children improved considerably from Time 1 to Time 2 on working memory (F(1,74) = 44.51, p < .001, 2 = .38), inhibition (F(1,71) = 247.85, p < .001, 2 = .78), and cognitive flexibility (F(1,69) = 415.7, p < .001, 2 = .86).
These longitudinal results are consistent with those of cross-sectional studies in suggesting that working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility improve considerably during childhood. Future studies should seek to study EF development with more than two time points to capture the full developmental trajectory of each executive function and identify potential points of inflexion, which would suggest acceleration or deceleration in executive development at certain ages or during certain transitions (e.g., school transitions).

Authors

• Marie-Pier Côté, Université de Montréal (UdeM)
  Presenting Author

• Véronique Daneault

• Annie Bernier, University of Montreal