Data for Reflection instructions influence 7- to 9-year-olds' metacognition and executive function at the levels of task performance and neural processing

Abstract

Though research on metacognitive development has historically remained independent from research on executive function (EF) skills, the two constructs share numerous theoretical similarities. Namely, the skill of reflection, or the ability to consciously reprocess information in real-time, may influence children’s awareness of their own use of EF skills. The present study examined the relations among implicit and explicit forms of metacognition in the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS; Zelazo et al., 2012), while experimentally manipulating the propensity to reflect in 7- to 9-year-olds. Results showed that instructions to reflect led to improved task accuracy and better metacognitive control, but only younger children, as older children were likely reflecting spontaneously. Individual differences in trait mindfulness related to a similarly reflective mode of responding characterized by improved task accuracy and metacognitive control. In contrast, articulatory suppression impaired children’s task accuracy and metacognitive control. Additionally, simply asking children to make metacognitive judgments without extra instructions decreased the amplitude of neural indices of error monitoring, namely the error-related negativity (ERN) and N2 ERP components. Finally, individual differences in trait anxiety were related to larger Pe amplitudes. Taken together, the current findings reinforce theoretical frameworks integrating metacognition and EF, and highlight the shared influence of reflection across multiple levels of analysis.