Research Byte: A longitudinal study of adolescent-to-young adult #executivefunction development in seven countries - #cognition #selfregulation #schoolpsychology #neuropsychology #developmental

A Longitudinal Study of Adolescent-to-Young Adult Executive Function Development in Seven Countries.  Developmental Science.  Sorry, this is not an open access article you can download

Abstract

Executive functioning (EF) is an important developing self-regulatory process that has implications for academic, social, and emotional outcomes. Most work in EF has focused on childhood, and less has examined the development of EF throughout adolescence and into emerging adulthood. The present study assessed longitudinal trajectories of EF from ages 10 to 21 in a diverse, international sample. 1093 adolescents (50.3% female) from eight locations in seven countries completed computerized EF tasks (Stroop, Tower of London [ToL], Working Memory [WM]) at ages 10, 14, 17, and 21. Latent growth curve models were estimated to understand the average performance at age 10 and the change in performance over time for each task. Meta-analytic techniques were used to assess the heterogeneity in estimates between study sites. On average, EF task performance improved across adolescence into young adulthood with substantial between-site heterogeneity. Additionally, significant individual differences in EF task performance at age 10 and change in EF task performance over time characterized the full sample. EF improves throughout adolescence into young adulthood, making it a potentially important time for intervention to improve self-regulation.

What about executive functions and CHC theory? New research for discussion

What about executive functions and CHC theory: New research for discussion from Kevin McGrew

Research byte: Excellent description of similarities and differences of three primary models of working memory

Click on image to enlarge

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

11:18 AM

Smoking interfers with central executive "control" brain networks

​

Yet more research indicating the importance of brain network connectivity, this time demonstrating the detrimental effects of smoking on brain network communication, especially with the executive control and default brain networks.  Take away… smoking may impair the brain networks involved in cognitive control and make stopping smoking even more difficult.

Click on images to enlarge

Mind wandering: Annual Review of Psychology review

A nice, concise review of the mind wandering research is now available in the Annual Review of Psychology. Click on images to enlarge.

Previous posts on mind wandering can be found at the Brain Clock blog at this link.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

ADHD: And even MORE evidence suggestive of a brain network connectivity disorder

And more evidence for ADHD as being related to poor brain network connectivity. (click here for more posts) Click on images to enlarge.






And, again, this extant research is consistent with the three-level hypothesized explanation of the impact of certain brain training programs on controlled attention (click here for special white paper as well as on-line PPT modules and keynote video presentation of this model).




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The external/internal-directed cognition (EDC/IDC) framework

I just skimmed the article below. I like the way it uses the terms external/internal-directed (ECD/ICD) cognition framework to discuss the differences and relations between the activities of the default brain network and the executive control networks (click here for excellent article explaining these two networks)

Click on images to enlarge












I resonate to this EDC/IDC framework as it is relevant to my white paper on improving attentional control (via IM training--although the paper, IMHO, is more about how different brain training programs may work). That hypothesized model is in the figure above, and can be found at the MindHub.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Working memory training (n-back task) improves fluid intelligence (Gf) 3-4 IQ points

Interesting meta-analysis suggestingthat working memory training, via the n-back task, over a relatively short period of time, can improve fluid intelligence/reasoning (Gf). Conservative estimate of 3-4 Gf IQ points improvement. Click on images to enlarge.









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The brain's "stop and go" mechanisms: The basal ganglia weighs in

Click on images to enlarge



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

School readiness = self regulation learning competence?

Excellent review article on the relationship between the development of self-regulated learning strategies/competence and school readiness. Having worked in the schools as a school psychologist for 12 years, I would like to have a buck for every time a kindergarten teacher described children who where struggling in terms of self-regulation--although they did not use that term. A must ready for anyone working with preschool and early elementary students and stuff.

Click on images to enlarge. For more on self-regulated learning as per the Model of Academic Competence and Motivation (MACM), click here.










- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Circuit-based accounts of adolescent self-control issues

Click on images to enlarge












- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A cybernetic model for improving self-control

Click on images to enlarge







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

IQs Reading: ARP review article on executive functions

An excellent new review article regarding executive functions in the latest Annual Review of Psychology. The images below will provide a sneak peak of the content of the article (click on images to enlarge). I am making an annotated copy of the article available here vis the IQs Readings feature.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Brain video festival: Mind wandering, mono-tasking, and the brain as a network

A few interesting video gems for your viewing.

First, forget multitasking and try mono-tasking.  Focus on just one thing...it may be beneficial.

Next, I have frequently blogged about the default mode or default brain network (Brain Clock posts; IM-HOME post).  The default mode (which is estimated to be active approximately 40% of our waking day) has been implicated in how our mind, when idling or resting, is very active--it does not rest while resting.  Difficulty quieting the default network has also been implicated in a variety of clinical disorders such as ADHD, Alzheimers, schizophrenia, and autism. This literature is now frequently referred to as mind wandering research (see Brain Clock mind wandering posts).  The following is a nice brief overview of the default brain network.

I have also suggested that some brain fitness technologies (Interactive Metronome in particular;  conflict of interest disclosure--I serve as a paid external consultant to IM regarding research) are achieving success by either directly or indirectly training controlled, focused attention, which requires shutting down and inhibiting the mind wandering predisposition of the default mode network.  I have posted both a set of PPT slides and the video of my recent IM keynote presentation at the Brain Clock blog where I presented the relevant research and hypotheses in detail.

Finally, a more lengthy, thought provoking video is presented last.  This video makes it clear that the brain is best conceptualized as an evolving interconnected network.

Enjoy.

Research byte: Importance of executive control (updating, inhibiting) in lexical access (rapid naming speed)

Click on image to enlarge

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Where does attention fit in the CHC intelligence model?

I just read with great interest (and attention) an excellent article that investigated the relations between the construct of attention and intelligence within the confines of the CHC model of intelligence. A constant source of discomfort with the CHC model, and, in particular, the use of the CHC nomenclature to classify what is measured by the tests in individual intelligence batteries, has been the lack of clarity of the role/presence/validity of AC (attention/concentration) in the model. Carroll (1993) clearly articulated the unknown status of attention in a model of cognitive abilities when he stated:

"...it can be argued that attention is involved, in varying degrees, in all cognitive performances and, thus, in all performances that are regarded as indicating cognitive abilities. One can expect it to be very difficult to separate the attentional components of such performances from those components that represent latent traits of abilities other than the ability to attend. An individual differences factor could often be equally well interpreted either as a factor of some particular cognitive ability or as a factor of attentional ability
(p. 547)"

The current article reference and abstract is listed below:

Burns, N., Nettelbeck, T. & McPherson, J. (2009) Attention and intelligence: A factor analytic study. Journal of Individual Differences, 30(1), 44–57. (click here to view)

• Abstract: Carroll (1993) found few factor-analytic studies that addressed attentional abilities. We reviewed and reanalyzed some of these studies and concluded that an exploratory approach to the study of the relationships between tests of attention and cognitive abilities was warranted. We sampled N = 147 adults from the general community and administered 17 tests of attention, including well-known neuropsychological tests along with tests drawn from the differential and experimental literatures on attention. We also administered 14 tests of cognitive ability designed to measure constructs described in Carroll’s taxonomy of intelligence, including a higher-order general ability factor. Regression of a general factor from the abilities battery onto a general factor from the attentional battery showed these two latent variables to be near identical (β = .98). Exploratory structural equation modeling, which allowed a model wherein the abilities part of the model was a confirmatory measurement model but the attention variables were modeled by three rotated exploratory factors, clarified this outcome. There were two sustained attention factors and one working-memory capacity factor with differential relationships with the latent abilities variables and with age. Results are discussed in the context of the network of processes that underlies a description of general cognitive ability at the psychological level, which includes mental speed, working memory, and sustained attention.

Although the study suffers from a being a restricted sample of adults (n=147), therefore begging for replication in younger samples, the beauty of the study is the presence of a large number of cognitive variables (14) selected to represent the CHC domains of Gc, Gf, Gv, Gs, and Gy (in the Catell-Horn model this would be combining Glr and Gsm) and 17 attentional variables AND the use of (I need to find out more about this) a combined confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis procedure called ESEM (exploratory structural equation modeling). Of interest were some of the following findings:

• The latent factor correlaiton between the cognitive g factor and the attention g factor was .977. According to the authors, this suggests the interesting hypohtesis that "there is little that determines performance on the attentional tests but g, or that g is constituted essentially by executive attentional capacities." I find the later hypothesis of interesting in the context of Kane, Engle, Conway et al.s controlled executive attention model of working memory and the working memory = (or is strongly related to) G or Gf. The authors do discuss the relations between these various research findings.

• Three separate attention factors were identified, two interpreted as reflecting aspects of sustained attention (with one being very similar to Gs abilities) and one working memory (Gsm-MW). Practically this suggests that many speeded cognitive tests on intelligence batteries may be reflecting the strong influence of sustained attention (as suggested in Carroll quote above). The other sustained attention factor might be getting at a more "attentional" construct as it had "less explicit demand for continuous speeded performance but a demand that performance be maintained for longer periods, or with more complex task demands, or both. This attention factor had a near-zero relationship with Gs but a substantial one with the higher-order general factor." Maybe we in the field of applied test development should examine the variables of this second attention factor and experiment with the development of applied psychometric measures for clinical use.

Kudos to the authors for making an important contribution to the evolution of CHC theory, a theory/model that needs continual refinement and exploration (see McGrew, 2009).

Technorati Tags: psychology, education, educational psychology, school psychology, special education, intelligence, ISIR, g, general intelligence, IQ, IQ tests, IQ scores, working memory, Gf, Gv, Gs, Gsm, Gy, factor analysis, CHC theory, Cattell-Horn-Carroll, WJ III, Woodcock-Johnson

Attention and working memory

I've blogged frequently regarding what I think is one of the better models of working memory--the controlled executive attention model of Kane Conway Engle et al. COGNITIVE DAILEY provides a nice post re one recent study by this group.

For those readers of the IQ BRAIN CLOCK blog, this has been one of the primary cognitive
mechanisms I've suggested as being a possible causal explanation for the efficacy of mental timing interventions.

http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2009/03/how_distractible_are_you_the_a.php

Sent from KMcGrew iPhone (IQMobile). (If message includes an image-
double click on it to make larger-if hard to see)

CNTRICS: Consensus-based cognitive measurement in schizophrenia--a model worth examinig

[double click on image to enlarge]

Schizophrenia is not my cup of tea...but good cognitive measurement is. Thus, I was intrigued when doing my weekly "IQs Recent Literature of Interest" searching when I stumbled across an intriguing set of articles in the Schizophrenia Bulletin [Vol. 35 (1) 2009].

I was impressed to find that a group of scientists studying a common disorder (schizophrenia) had engaged in a consensus-building process to identify common sets of cognitive measures to use across their various research labs. This was all part of the Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) initiative. What a good model for improving the quality of research across researchers!

Maybe this model consensus-building activity could be adapted by those of us studying intelligence and cognitive related disorders in education. Instead of our constant problem in comparing research studies with different measures used by different researchers, we could, at a minimum, at least establish a core set of "marker" measures to embed in each others favorite research batteries. Yes....at times I can be naive....but I believe in the power of consensus-building to improve research...and, more importantly, the probability of improving the quality of life for individuals with cognitive-related deficits and learning disorders. I've made a related plea for the adaptation of a common cognitive nomenclature/taxonomy (CHC theory) in many articles/chapters, most recently in the journal Intelligence.

Below are the abstracts. I've provided a link to the editorial introductory article. If anyone is interested in reading one or more of the other articles, articles that focus on measuring executive control, working memory, social cognitive and affective measures, promising paradigms, and control of attention, let me know...and I'd send a copy, but only in exchange for a guest blog post. The articles are worth a read, if for on other reason, for the nifty way many of the tasks discussed are presented via visual figures (see example of stroop task at the top of this post)--nice stuff.

Below are the abstracts:

Selecting Paradigms From Cognitive Neuroscience for Translation into Use in Clinical Trials: Proceedings of the Third CNTRICS Meeting (click here to read introductory editorial)

• This overview describes the goals and objectives of the third conference conducted as part of the Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) initiative. This third conference was focused on selecting specific paradigms from cognitive neuroscience that measured the constructs identified in the first CNTRICS meeting, with the goal of facilitating the translation of these paradigms into use in clinical trials contexts. To identify such paradigms, we had an open nomination process in which the field was asked to nominate potentially relevant paradigms and to provide information on several domains relevant to selecting the most promising tasks for each construct (eg, construct validity, neural bases, psychometrics, availability of animal models). Our goal was to identify 1–2 promising tasks for each of the 11 constructs identified at the first CNTRICS meeting. In this overview article, we describe the on-line survey used to generate nominations for promising tasks, the criteria that were used to select the tasks, the rationale behind the criteria, and the ways in which breakout groups worked together to identify the most promising tasks from among those nominated. This article serves as an introduction to the set of 6 articles included in this special issue that provide information about the specific tasks discussed and selected for the constructs from each of 6 broad domains (working memory, executive control, attention, long-term memory, perception, and social cognition).

CNTRICS Final Task Selection: Executive Control

• The third meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) was focused on selecting promising measures for each of the cognitive constructs selected in the first CNTRICS meeting. In the domain of executive control, the 2 constructs of interest were ‘‘rule generation and selection’’ and ‘‘dynamic adjustments in control.’’ CNTRICS received 4 task nominations for each of these constructs, and the breakout group for executive control evaluated the degree to which each of these tasks met prespecified criteria. For rule generation and selection, the breakout group for executive control recommended the intradimensional/ extradimensional shift task and the switching Stroop for translation for use in clinical trial contexts in schizophrenia research. For dynamic adjustments in control, the breakout group recommended conflict and error adaptation in the Stroop and the stop signal task for translation for use in clinical trials. This article describes the ways in which each of these tasks met the criteria used by the breakout group to recommend tasks for further development.

CNTRICS Final Task Selection: Working Memory

• The third meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) was focused on selecting promising measures for each of the cognitive constructs selected in the first CNTRICS meeting. In the domain of working memory, the 2 constructs of interest were goal maintenance and interference control. CNTRICS received 3 task nominations for each of these constructs, and the breakout group for working memory evaluated the degree to which each of these tasks met prespecified criteria. For goal maintenance, the breakout group for working memory recommended the AX-Continuous Performance Task/Dot Pattern Expectancy task for translation for use in clinical trial contexts in schizophrenia research. For interference control, the breakout group recommended the recent probes and operation/ symmetry span tasks for translation for use in clinical trials. This article describes the ways in which each of these tasks met the criteria used by the breakout group to recommend tasks for further development.

CNTRICS Final Task Selection: Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience–Based
Measures

• This article describes the results and recommendations of the third Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia meeting related to measuring treatment effects on social and affective processing. At the first meeting, it was recommended that measurement development focuses on the construct of emotion identification and responding. Five Tasks were nominated as candidate measures for this construct via the premeeting web-based survey. Two of the 5 tasks were recommended for immediate translation, the Penn Emotion Recognition Task and the Facial Affect Recognition and the Effects of Situational Context, which provides a measure of emotion identification and responding as well as a related, higher level construct, context-based modulation of emotional responding. This article summarizes the criteria-based, consensus building analysis of each nominated task that led to these 2 paradigms being recommended as priority tasks for development as measures of treatment effects on negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Perception Measurement in Clinical Trials of Schizophrenia: Promising Paradigms
From CNTRICS

• The third meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) focused on selecting promising measures for each of the cognitive constructs selected in the first CNTRICS meeting. In the domain of perception, the 2 constructs of interest were gain control and visual integration. CNTRICS received 5 task nominations for gain control and three task nominations for visual integration. The breakout group for perception evaluated the degree to which each of these tasks met prespecified criteria. For gain control, the breakout group for perception believed that 2 of the tasks (prepulse inhibition of startle and mismatch negativity) were already mature and in the process of being incorporated into multisite clinical trials. However, the breakout group recommended that steady-state visualevoked potentials be combined with contrast sensitivity to magnocellular vs parvocellular biased stimuli and that this combined task and the contrast-contrast effect task be recommended for translation for use in clinical trial contexts in schizophrenia research. For visual integration, the breakout group recommended the Contour Integration and Coherent Motion tasks for translation for use in clinical trials. This manuscript describes the ways in which each of these tasks met the criteria used by the breakout group to evaluate and recommend tasks for further development.

CNTRICS Final Task Selection: Control of Attention

• The construct of attention has many facets that have been examined in human and animal research and in healthy and psychiatrically disordered conditions. The Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) group concluded that control of attention—the processes that guide selection of taskrelevant inputs—is particularly impaired in schizophrenia and could profit from further work with refined measurement tools. Thus, nominations for cognitive tasks that provide discrete measures of control of attention were sought and were then evaluated at the third CNTRICS meeting for their promise for future use in treatment development. This article describes the 5 nominated measures and their strengths and weaknesses for cognitive neuroscience work relevant to treatment development. Two paradigms, Guided Search and the Distractor Condition Sustained Attention Task, were viewed as having the greatest immediate promise for development into tools for treatment research in schizophrenia and are described in more detail by their nominators.

Technorati Tags: psychology, school psychology, educational psychology, cognition, neuropsychology, neuroscience, schizophrenia, CNTRICS, cognition, intelligence, CHC, CHC theory, Cattell-Horn-Carroll