外部攻击型和关系攻击型初中生执行功能的研究

本研究采用数字STROOP、局部-整体图形转换和色点位置刷新三种研究范式检测了40名攻击性初中生的抑制控制、任务转换和信息刷新三种执行功能的特点。研究结果表明,攻击性初中生的抑制控制能力、任务转换能力和信息刷新能力均差于非攻击性初中生。外部攻击型初中生的抑制控制能力、任务转换能力和信息刷新能力均差于非攻击性初中生。而关系攻击型初中生与非攻击性初中生和外部攻击型初中生在执行功能的三种成分上均不存在显著差异,其执行功能水平可能介于非攻击性初中生和外部攻击初中生之间。     

儿童执行功能对数学能力的预测模型

使用数点数广度任务(C-span)、Stroop任务、威斯康星卡片分类任务(WCST)测查儿童的执行功能,用《小学儿童数学能力测查量表》(一年级)、《韦克斯勒儿童智力测量》分别测查儿童的数学能力和智力,对64名小学一年级儿童的执行功能(抑制、转换、刷新)和数学能力的关系进行了研究,相关分析和回归分析发现,数学能力与执行功能任务测量都有显著相关,抑制、转换和刷新都分别对数学能力存在显著回归效应;在此基础上,建立了执行功能及其对儿童数学能力的预测模型。结果表明,抑制控制、转换和刷新都能对数学能力产生直接影响,但抑制控制还通过转换和刷新对数学能力产生间接影响。说明儿童数学能力的认知差异,主要在于抑制控制能力的差异,而抑制控制的差异又导致转换和刷新能力表现的差异。     

执行功能子成分与学业成就的关系

目的:探讨执行功能三个子成分(抑制功能、转换功能和信息刷新功能)与学业成就的关系。方法:采用认知任务对85名大学生的执行功能子成分进行测量,并进行执行功能子成分的Stroop效应、转换任务效应及信息刷新任务效应对学业成就的逐步回归分析。结果:抑制子功能的Stroop效应及信息刷新子功能的任务效应对学业成就具有负向预测作用,两者共同解释学业成就变异的15.1%。其中,抑制子功能的Stroop效应预测作用最大,可解释学业成就变异的8.5%。结论:执行功能抑制子功能的Stroop效应及信息刷新子功能的任务效应可作为学业成就的预测因子。     

中央执行子功能对预期式时距估计的作用——基于结构方程模型的结果

采用结构方程模型的方法探讨中央执行系统与时距加工过程的关系,考察三种中央执行子功能(转换,抑制,刷新)对预期式长、短时距估计(两种标准时距:2s,5s)的作用模式。结果发现刷新功能对长、短时距估计任务都产生影响;抑制功能只作用于长时距估计;转换功能不参与单独的预期式时距估计过程。结果表明,三种执行子功能对预期式短时距加工和长时距加工的作用不同,支持时距加工的差异机制假设。     

神经类型与执行功能的关系

采用80.8神经类型量表对1263名大学生进行施测,从灵活型、安静型、兴奋型和抑制型四种典型的神经类型中各随机抽取20名被试,要求其完成执行功能中抑制、刷新和转换三个任务,进而考察神经类型与执行功能的关系。结果发现:(1)抑制加工绩效随神经活动平衡性的提高而提高,但不受神经活动强度和灵活性的影响;(2)刷新加工效率随神经活动强度的增强而提高,但与神经活动平衡性和灵活性无关;(3)转换加工能力随着神经活动灵活性的提高而变强,但与神经活动强度和平衡性无关。     

社区老年人执行功能和加工速度与运动能力的关系

随着年龄的增长,老年人的运动能力和执行功能,以及心理加工速度都出现不同程度的衰退。已有的研究多集中于步行与跌倒,未能统合考察运动能力、心理加工速度以及执行功能各子成分之间的关系。本研究对66名老年人的运动能力、执行功能以及加工速度进行了测试,通过经典范式对老年人四种运动能力测试(握力、30秒连续坐起、闭眼单足站立、起立行走计时)与执行功能各子成分(抑制控制、刷新功能、转换功能以及工作记忆)及心理加工速度进行了统合考察,更深入地探究了老年人运动能力与认知能力之间的关系。结果发现,在运动能力中,起立行走计时的成绩与执行功能和加工速度的关系最为密切,对起立行走计时的预测模型中加工速度权重最大。结果提示,对老年人认知功能的干预可能会影响老年人的基本运动能力。     

工作记忆中央执行功能的老化研究

采用注意焦点、任务转换、强制刷新三种任务范式分别测量了60岁以上老年人和20岁左右年轻人的注意焦点功能、内容调控功能、任务管理功能.分析三种工作记忆中央执行功能的年龄差异.结果发现:1.注意焦点没有表现出明显的年龄差异;任务转换和强制刷新成绩在青年和老年被试之间差异显著.2.注意焦点成绩与任务转换成绩.强制刷新成绩之间无显著相关,任务转换成绩与强制刷新成绩呈现中度相关.研究结果表明,工作记忆的执行功能是一个包括多种相对独立子成分的系统,不同执行功能老化轨迹不尽相同.     

儿童执行功能与算术认知策略的关系

对35名小学2年级儿童的四种执行功能与有无工作记忆负荷两种情况下算术认知策略表现之间的关系进行了探讨.结果表明,双任务协调功能与工作记忆负荷增加时放弃策略的使用次数具有显著负相关;策略转换功能越强的儿童.算术认知策略的使用越灵活;抑制功能强的儿童在提取策略的相关表现上更好;记忆更新功能与工作记忆负荷增加时策略执行的正确率具有显著正相关.这说明,执行功能与儿童算术认知策略之间存在着特定的联系.     

执行功能可分离性及与年龄关系的潜变量分析

应用潜变量分析研究抑制优势反应、记忆刷新和注意转换三种执行功能的可分离性,以及与年龄的关系。被试为18~85岁的健康成年人142名,完成九项执行功能任务。结果显示：本研究设计的九项执行功能任务有较好的信度;验证性因子分析显示,九项任务与对应执行功能间的因子负荷较高（汇聚性效度好）,而不同执行功能间的相关较低（鉴别性效度好）;在此基础上建立了三种执行功能及其与年龄关系的潜变量分析模型。研究结果表明,执行系统不是单一的认知结构,可以分离为若干相对独立的执行加工过程。     

6～11岁儿童执行功能发展研究

以168名6~11岁儿童为被试,使用9种执行功能任务研究了儿童三种执行功能成分的发展,三种执行功能是,抑制(Inhibition)、转换(Shifting)和刷新(Updating),结果发现:整个儿童阶段,三种执行功能一直表现出随年龄递增而增长的趋势;不同的执行功能表现出不同的发展速率,其中抑制控制大约在6~7岁表现出一个快速的增长期,记忆刷新从7岁到10岁一直呈线性增长,转换表现出两个快速增长期,第一个快速增长则发生在7~8岁之间,第二个快速增长则发生在9-10岁之间,三种执行功能的发展趋势到大约10岁后趋于平缓,10岁和11岁儿童的表现没有显著性差异;所有执行功能任务测量中没有发现性别主效应,年龄和性别的交互作用不显著。     

Do attentional capacities and processing speed mediate the effect of age on executive functioning?

The executive processes are well known to decline with age, and similar data also exists for attentional capacities and processing speed. Therefore, we investigated whether these two last nonexecutive variables would mediate the effect of age on executive functions (inhibition, shifting, updating, and dual-task coordination). We administered a large battery of executive, attentional and processing speed tasks to 104 young and 71 older people, and we performed mediation analyses with variables showing a significant age effect. All executive and processing speed measures showed age-related effects while only the visual scanning task performance (selective attention) was explained by age when controlled for gender and educational level. Regarding mediation analyses, visual scanning partially mediated the age effect on updating while processing speed partially mediated the age effect on shifting, updating and dual-task coordination. In a more exploratory way, inhibition was also found to partially mediate the effect of age on the three other executive functions. Attention did not greatly influence executive functioning in aging while, in agreement with the literature, processing speed seems to be a major mediator of the age effect on these processes. Interestingly, the global pattern of results seems also to indicate an influence of inhibition but further studies are needed to confirm the role of that variable as a mediator and its relative importance by comparison with processing speed.     

Sense of Time and Executive Functioning in Children and Adults

A number of patient studies suggest that impairments in frontal lobe functions are associated with disorders in temporal information processing. One implication of these findings is that subjective experience of time should be related to executive functions regardless of etiology. In two experiments, we examined sense of time in relation to components of executive functioning in healthy children and adults. In Experiment 1, children between 8 to 12 years completed six experimental tasks that tapped three components of executive functioning: inhibition, updating, and mental shifting. Sense of time was examined in a duration judgment task in which participants reproduced stimulus durations between 4 to 32 s. In Experiment 2, adult participants completed the time reproduction task under varying concurrent task demands. Both experiments showed selective effects in that time reproduction errors were related to the inhibition and updating, but not to the shifting, components of executive functioning. However, the observed effects were modulated by task demands and age-related differences in cognitive competence. We conclude that individual differences in executive functioning are only weakly related to time reproduction performance in healthy children and adults.     

The development of executive functions and early mathematics: A dynamic relationship

Background. The relationship between executive functions and mathematical skills has been studied extensively, but results are inconclusive, and how this relationship evolves longitudinally is largely unknown. Aim. The aim was to investigate the factor structure of executive functions in inhibition, shifting, and updating; the longitudinal development of executive functions and mathematics; and the relation between them. Sample. A total of 211 children in grade 2 (7–8 years old) from 10 schools in the Netherlands. Method. Children were followed in grade 1 and 2 of primary education. Executive functions and mathematics were measured four times. The test battery contained multiple tasks for each executive function: Animal stroop, local global, and Simon task for inhibition; Animal Shifting, Trail Making Test in Colours, and Sorting Task for shifting; and Digit Span Backwards, Odd One Out, and Keep Track for updating. The factor structure of executive functions was assessed and relations with mathematics were investigated using growth modelling. Results. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that inhibition and shifting could not be distinguished from each other. Updating was a separate factor, and its development was strongly related to mathematical development while inhibition and shifting did not predict mathematics in the presence of the updating factor. Conclusions. The strong relationship between updating and mathematics suggest that updating skills play a key role in the maths learning process. This makes updating a promising target for future intervention studies.     

Aging of theory of mind: The influence of educational level and cognitive processing

Previous studies of theory of mind (ToM) in old age have provided mixed results. We predicted that educational level and cognitive processing are two factors influencing the pattern of the aging of ToM. To test this hypothesis, a younger group who received higher education (mean age 20.46 years), an older group with an education level equal to that of the young group (mean age 76.29 years), and an older group with less education (mean age 73.52 years) were recruited. ToM tasks included the following tests: the second‐order false‐belief task, the faux‐pas task, the eyes test, and tests of fundamental aspects of cognitive function that included two background tests (memory span and processing speed) and three subcomponents of executive function (inhibition, updating, and shifting). We found that the younger group and the older group with equally high education outperformed the older group with less education in false‐belief and faux‐pas tasks. However, there was no significant difference between the two former groups. The three groups of participants performed equivalently in the eyes test as well as in control tasks (false‐belief control question, faux‐pas control question, faux‐pas control story, and Eyes Test control task). The younger group outperformed the other two groups in the cognitive processing tasks. Mediation analyses showed that difficulties in inhibition, memory span, and processing speed mediated the age differences in false‐belief reasoning. Also, the variables of inhibition, updating, memory span, and processing speed mediated age‐related variance in faux‐pas. Discussion focused on the links between ToM aging, educational level, and cognitive processing.     

The structure of executive functions in children: A closer examination of inhibition,shifting, and updating

An increasing number of studies has investigated the latent factor structure of executive functions. Some studies found a three‐factor structure of inhibition, shifting, and updating, but others could not replicate this finding. We assumed that the task choices and scoring methods might be responsible for these contradictory findings. Therefore, we selected tasks in which input modality was varied, controlled for baseline speed, and used both speed and accuracy scores, in order to investigate whether a three factor model with inhibition, shifting, and updating could still be replicated. In a group of 211 children, who were tested at the beginning of grade 1, at approximately 6 years of age, and again after 18 months, the best fitting model was not the three‐factor model, but instead consisted of an updating factor and a combined inhibition and shifting factor, besides two baseline speed factors (verbal and motor). We argue that these results might indicate that the structural organization of executive functions might be different in children than in adults, but that there might also be an alternative explanation: the distinction in executive functions might not accurately represent cognitive structures but instead be a methodological artefact.     

Implication des fonctions exécutives dans le décodage en lecture : étude comparative entre normolecteurs et faibles lecteurs de CE2

The implication of executive functions in reading was studied. Normo and poor third grade readers were compared in an illusory conjunction task using the selection of a letter features embedded in a grapheme or risen to the syllable boundary. Executive task of updating or shifting were then added to this task. According to decoding progress from graphemes to syllables we suppose that the cost of executive processing will be more important for poor readers. Results showed that addition of an executive control task to a selection task, led to an increase in response times for poor readers whatever the presentation (grapheme, syllable).     

“各说各话”的语言经验对景颇族大学生执行功能的影响

在中国云南的景颇族中,相当多的家庭是由不同支系的人组成的,家庭成员交际时存在着"各说各话"的现象。"各说各话"对讲话者的执行功能有无影响?采用抑制控制、注意转换和记忆刷新任务测量各说各话和非各说各话的景颇族大学生的抑制能力、转换能力和刷新能力。结果表明,各说各话与非各说各话的景颇族大学生在色词干扰和数字转换中差异显著,各说各话者的Stroop效应量小,停止信号的反应时短。各说各话与非各说各话的景颇族大学生在数字转换和图形转换中差异显著,各说各话者反应快,转换代价小。各说各话与非各说各话的景颇族大学生在活动记忆刷新与色点位置刷新任务中差异不显著。这表明,各说各话者比非各说各话者在抑制能力与转换能力上具有优势。语言经验对执行功能的影响具有功能特异性。     

工作记忆更新任务中的认知优势效应

目的：采用N-back范式,探讨熟练双语者与非熟练双语者之间工作记忆更新能力的差异,以验证双语优势效应是否存在于工作记忆更新任务中。方法：采用数字型2-back任务,两因素混合实验设计。自变量分别为被试间变量(熟练双语者与非熟练双语者）和被试内变量（低难度任务组和高难度任务组）,因变量为2-back任务中目标刺激、非目标刺激、诱惑刺激和非诱惑刺激的准确率和反应时。结果：熟练双语者与非熟练双语者在低难度的2-back任务（一般的2-back任务）中,目标刺激和非目标刺激的准确率和反应时上没有差异;在高难度任务组（有冲突的2-back任务）中,熟练双语者在非目标刺激、诱惑刺激和非诱惑刺激的准确率显著高于非熟练双语者。结论：工作记忆更新中的“双语优势效应”更容易体现在高执行功能需求的条件下。