1-161 - Breaking New Ground: Innovations in the Study of Executive Function Development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Executive function (EF) refers to a set of neurocognitive processes involved in goal-directed behavior. EF processes during early childhood have a foundational role in development. For example, it is firmly established that good EF abilities during early childhood help children prepare to enter school, succeed academically, interact with peers, as well as set the stage for long-term positive and healthy outcomes. Less understood during early childhood, however, are the dynamics that link behavior on the moment-to-moment time scale with the emergence of EF abilities over development, the neural underpinnings of EF processes, and how EF processes operate in real-world contexts in which children learn, think, and behave. This symposium brings together three papers that describe innovative methodological approaches to the study of EF that have yielded new insights into EF processes and their development. The first paper examines the relation between children’s sequential manipulation of objects and EF. Their research utilizes time series analysis that characterizes the underlying dynamics of children’s behavior and links those dynamics to the emergence of EF during toddlerhood. The second paper uses computational modeling and neuroimaging as investigative tools to understand the sources of stability in EF processes during early childhood. The last paper utilizes gaming as a platform to examine the connection between individual differences in EF and learning in a real-world context over multiple time scales. Collectively, these papers showcase unique and innovative methodologies and highlight their promise to advance our understanding of EF processes and their development.

Sub Unit

• Attention, Learning, Memory

Chair

• Sammy Perone, Washington State University

Discussant

• Philip Zelazo, University of Minnesota

Individual Presentations

• From Perseveration to Goal-Direction Actions: Insights into Emerging Executive Control via the Real-Time Dynamics of Object Play - Presenting Author: Adam Sheya, University of Connecticut; Kimberly Cuevas, University of Connecticut

• Exploring the neural basis of dimensional label learning and dimensional attention with fNIRS - Presenting Author: Aaron Buss, University of Tennessee Knoxville; Anastasia Kerr-German, University of Tennessee Knoxville

• Becoming a Rock Star: Learning and Executive Function - Presenting Author: Sammy Perone, Washington State University; Alana Anderson, Washington State University; Philip Zelazo, University of Minnesota