Poster #23 - An Improved Detour-Reaching-Task to Assess Executive Functions in Infancy

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Cognitive Process

Integrative Statement

The "Detour Reaching Task (DRT)", originally introduced by Adele Diamond, has proven useful to assess the beginnings of inhibition skills in infancy. The child needs to inhibit her dominant impulse to reach out straight ahead for an attractive toy located behind a barrier and to redirect her reach "around the corner" instead. Transparent barriers increase task difficulty. Performance seems to improve from 6 months to 18 months of age, with major changes occurring around the first birthday. So far, the experimental set-up for different age groups varies considerably, however. To avoid some methodological problems of previous tasks and to introduce a new version of the DRT suitable for a longitudinal investigation of inhibition skills, we designed a fully transparent cube (15 x 15 x 15 cm), fixed on a rectangular wooden panel. Each sidewall of the cube can be removed individually, and the wooden panel serves the experimenter to keep the box in a fixed position without touching it herself (i.e. to avoid giving non-intended hints about the location of the opening) while the child is acting on it. A pilot study using this task version included n = 19 infants aged 9- to 12 months and n = 21 infants aged 13- to 17 months. In phase 1, the front side was open and the child could reach out straight ahead to get the toy. In phase 2a, only side A was open, and in phase 2b, only side B was open. Each phase contained 3 trials of which at least 2 needed to be completed successfully in order to proceed to the next. When the child was unable to retrieve the toy within 60 seconds, the experimenter provided help by moving it in and out through the opening three times. The child then had another 20 seconds to operate on the box. In phase 3, we alternated opening the left and right side wall during 4 additional trials. The maximum sum score for all test phases (2a, 2b, 3) was 10. Inter-rater reliability for codings was 97%. Participants reached a mean score of M = 2,74 (younger group) and M = 9,00 (older group), t(31,592) = -5,54, p < .001, r = .70. Whereas none of the infants less than 13 months old inhibited touching the front wall even after getting negative feedback in trial 1 of phase 2a, we found that older infants showed a significant age-related decrease in corresponding touches. Furthermore, 90% of the younger infants needed help to solve phase 2a whereas this was only the case for 24% of the older group. These pilot findings are largely consistent with the existent literature; they reveal that the new DRT seems well suited for testing infants ranging between 9 and 17 months of age. A more detailed description of the apparatus, procedure and additional findings (e.g. referring to latencies) will be presented and discussed on the poster.

Authors

• Sabina Maria Pauen, Heidelberg University
  Presenting Author

• Konstanze Plaschke, Heidelberg University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Wiebke Friederike Evers, Heidelberg University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Babett Voigt, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
  Non-Presenting Author