Browsing by Subject "executive function"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Connect [Spring/Summer 10]
    (University of Minnesota: College of Education and Human Development, 2010-07) University of Minnesota: College of Education and Human Development
    Ready, set, learn: Grooming executive function for school readiness. A successful start: Pathbreaking research on development among international adoptees. Mind matters: Discovering how the brain learns science and math.
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    Does Bilingualism Confer Cognitive Benefits? A Tale of Three Probes
    (2015-12) Wang, Lily
    Early reported findings pointed to a wide range of cognitive benefits of bilingualism. Recent meta-analytic and experimental results, however, cast serious doubts on whether these reported bilingual advantages in cognitive tasks were real, especially so in young adults. This dissertation uses a multi-measure, multi-method approach to comprehensively evaluate monolingual and bilingual differences among college-aged participants. It examines the core cognitive domains of executive function (Chapter 2), conflict monitoring in cognitive control (Chapter 3), and creativity (Chapter 4). Results showed that monolinguals and bilinguals did not differ on any of five dimensions of executive function, or in conflict monitoring, as assessed by both easier and more difficult tasks and task conditions. As hypothesized, bilinguals, however, outperformed monolinguals on measures of nonverbal creativity, whereas the reverse was true for verbal creativity. Additional analyses examined the possible contributors to this difference, focusing on objectively-assessed measures of English proficiency (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), visual-spatial reasoning ability, and the creativity-related personality characteristic of Openness/Intellect. English proficiency was significantly correlated with visual-spatial reasoning in bilinguals but not in monolinguals. Mediation analyses revealed that the Intellect aspect of the Openness/Intellect subscale (but not the Openness aspect) mediated the relationship between visual-spatial reasoning and English proficiency. These findings suggest that there are complex interrelations among language use and higher-order problem-solving abilities, including enduring personality traits revolving around cognitive exploration. We conclude, that, at least for young adults, there is no uniform overall cognitive advantage conferred by bilingualism, but facility in two or more languages can beneficially influence measures of nonverbal creativity.
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    Neural Correlates of Mindfulness and Executive Function Training in Internationally Adopted Children: A Randomized, Controlled Trial
    (2015-06) Esposito, Elisa
    Self-regulation, particularly attention regulation, is related to anxiety. Children who have been internationally adopted (IA) are at risk for deficits in both attention and emotion regulation. Promising evidence for focal executive function (EF) training and mindfulness training suggest that these skills can be readily improved in adults and children, and training EF independently may transfer to emotion regulation skills. This study examined the effects of mindfulness and executive function training programs on neural correlates of self-regulation in a sample of 96 IA children. Children were randomized to receive either 12 total hours of training (mindfulness vs. executive function) or a no-intervention control. Children completed a battery of executive function measures at laboratory testing sessions before and after the 6-week training period. Four months after training, parents and teachers provided additional ratings of children’s self-regulation skills. Executive function training led to improvement on measures of executive attention and inhibitory control, whereas mindfulness training was related to improvements in emotion regulation. Changes in the error-related negativity (ERN) were divergent between the two groups, supporting the differential impact of training on behavior. There was no evidence of transfer of EF training to observer reports of emotion regulation.
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    Prefrontal cortex development following variations in early life experience: Cognitive and neural correlates
    (2016-09) Hodel, Amanda
    Human brain development is not linear. Prefrontal cortex, typically considered a “late- developing” brain region, undergoes its most rapid development over the first years of life. Early and extended sensitivity of prefrontal cortical circuits to the environment allows maximum potential for infants to benefit from positive experiences, but can become a risk factor if the environment is non-optimal. The goal of the current studies was to characterize the dynamic influence of early experience on the development of prefrontal cortex structure, function, and dependent behaviors across developmental. We examined concurrent and long-term correlates of early risk in two different populations of children: children born moderate-to-late preterm (PT; 32-36 weeks gestation) and children adopted from orphanage care prior to five years of age (post-institutionalized or PI children). In Study 1 we characterized the structure of higher-level, prefrontal- dependent cognitive skills in 9-month-old infants and described the behavioral correlates of exposure to early biological risk (moderate-to-late PT birth) and of normative variations in the familial environment. In Study 2 we examined prefrontal cortex development in adolescents born moderate-to-late PT using structural and functional neuroimaging measures. In Study 3 we documented impacts of early deprivation on the connectivity of frontal-lobe systems in adolescents adopted from early orphanage care. Across studies, we found evidence that early adversity shapes both concurrent and long- term prefrontal cortex development. In healthy, moderate-to-late preterm infants, lower gestational age at birth was associated with poorer performance on five of six early executive function tasks (Study 1a), perhaps driven by underlying differences in early attention shifting skills (Study 1b). Adolescents born moderate-to-late PT had reduced prefrontal cortex volume and altered prefrontal functional activity during an executive function task in comparison to full-term controls (Study 2), suggesting developmental continuity in atypical prefrontal cortex development following moderate-to-late PT birth. Impacts of early orphanage rearing on prefrontal systems were also not fully ameliorated by adolescence. PI youth had reduced cortical white matter volume and poorer white matter microstructural integrity across the brain, including in fronto-limbic and fronto- striatal tracts. These findings highlight the plasticity and vulnerability of prefrontal circuits during the first years of life.
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    A Randomized-Controlled Trial of Mindfulness and Executive Function Trainings to Promote Self-Regulation in Internationally Adopted Children
    (2015-08) Lawler, Jamie
    While children adopted internationally show remarkable recovery once placed in families, as a group these children continue to show delays in certain aspects of development years after adoption. In particular, the area that seems to show the most lasting, and sometimes profound deficits is children’s self-regulation. The current study uses a randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the effects of mindfulness-based and executive function trainings on internationally adopted (IA) children’s self-regulation, including inhibitory control, attention, and emotion regulation. Seventy-two IA children ages 6-10 were randomized into Mindfulness training (MT), Executive Function training (EF), or no intervention (NI) groups. The MT and EF groups attended 12 one-hour group sessions. Children in both intervention groups showed fewer hyperactivity and attention problems and showed better emotion regulation in the classroom, as rated by teachers blind to group status. The EF training was more successful in improving inhibitory control, while the MT group may have improved in delay of gratification. Both interventions improved selective attention in children with poor baseline regulatory functioning. Parent-reported behavior did not significantly change in any domain. Contrary to expectations, the mindfulness intervention did not improve perspective taking skills or prosocial behavior. Implications and future directions are discussed.
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    The role of executive function in childhood anxiety disorders
    (2019-06) Faber, Jessica
    The current review examines anxiety disorders in childhood, with particular focus on mechanisms that would conceivably rely on processes supported by executive function. In accordance with the DSM-V organization, the following anxiety disorders are considered based on typical age of onset and prevalence in early childhood: separation anxiety, social anxiety, and specific phobia. Following this exploration of anxiety disorders, this review will present an overview of executive function, including normative developmental trajectory, prominent models of executive function organization, influential factors, and associations with long-term outcomes. Drawing from the research bases of executive function and psychopathology, this paper will explore potential theoretical connections between executive function and anxiety in addition to critical examination of empirical support linking executive function based skills to anxiety. In particular, the role of executive function in the maintenance of anxiety will be investigated. Intervention for anxiety will also be examined with a focus on mechanisms of change that draw upon executive function skills. Keywords: executive function, anxiety disorders, child anxiety
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    Within-Person Imbalance of Reward Sensitivity and Executive Functioning: A Longitudinal Examination of the Dual Systems Model From Childhood to Adulthood
    (2023-07) Lozano Wun, Vanessa
    The dual systems model of adolescent development asserts that the neurobiological systems underlying reward/motivational processes and cognitive control mature at different rates, resulting in an “imbalance” during adolescence whereby adolescents are biased toward rewards but unable to exert sufficient executive control in risk-taking contexts. While an imbalance between these systems is central to the dual systems model, few studies have investigated longitudinal trajectories within and between each system with age. Therefore, this investigation assessed the developmental trajectories of the reward and control systems, and directly quantified within-person differences between these systems using an accelerated longitudinal design including 166 individuals, ages 9-32, assessed biennially up to five times. Results indicate that self-reported reward sensitivity and laboratory-based executive function abilities increase rapidly during early adolescence and plateau by early adulthood. Our findings also demonstrate differences between reward and control systems that change significantly through adolescence and stabilize in early adulthood. This trajectory provides evidence of a functional gap during adolescence whereby reward processes outpace capacities for executive control in early adolescence. However, by mid-adolescence and into early adulthood, the developmental mismatch between these systems favors EF capacity. Collectively, the present report offers a novel and important contribution to our understanding of adolescent development and suggests the ability to exert top-down regulatory control over incentive-reward motivation emerges by middle adolescence. Future directions include investigating how within-person differences between reward and control systems are associated with risk-taking behaviors.