Comparing the efficacy (RCT) of learning a dance choreography and practicing creative dance on improving executive functions and motor competence in 6–7 years old children

ObjectivesThis study examined the effect of two different dance curriculums on executive functions and motor competence in 6–7 years old primary-school children across an 8-week period. One dance curriculum was underscored by creativity and the other was based on a choreographed dancing curriculum with high cognitive challenge.DesignRandomised-controlled trial.MethodsSixty-two primary-school children (6.6 ± 0.5 years old; 47% females) participated for a control period in the regular school PE lessons, after which they were randomly assigned to two experimental groups – choreography dance group or creative dance group. The two experimental groups practiced dance for 8 weeks, twice a week, learning either a choreographed dance sequence with high cognitive challenge or creating their own dance sequence in a creative dance curriculum. Executive functions (working memory capacity, inhibition, and flexibility) and motor competence were assessed at three time points – baseline, pre-intervention and post-intervention.ResultsThere was a time effect for inhibitory control (p < 0.01), with a high improvement during the intervention (d = 0.76) than baseline (d = 0.46); for working memory capacity (p < 0.01), with a higher improvement during intervention (d = 0.43) than baseline (d = 0.31) in the high challenging task; and for motor competence (p < 0.01), with a higher improvement during baseline (d = 1.7) than intervention (d = 0.75); no other significant effects. Group differences revealed weak evidence that the choreography group improved inhibitory control and working memory more than the creative dance group. However, a check for pedagogy fidelity revealed that the creative-dance curriculum was not adopted as planned (i.e., high volume of teacher's instruction and small use of music).ConclusionsAn 8-week dance intervention improved inhibitory control and potentially working memory capacity in grade one and two primary-school children. Contrary to prediction, the dance intervention did not improve motor competence beyond typical development. Discrepancy between the planned and adopted creative-dance curriculum suggests caution in interpreting results. This study provides new insights into the exercise-cognition relationship.     

Sources of variability in working memory in early childhood: A consideration of age, temperament, language, and brain electrical activity

This study investigated age-related differences in working memory and inhibitory control (WMIC) in -, 4-, and -year-olds and how these differences were associated with differences in regulatory aspects of temperament, language comprehension, and brain electrical activity. A series of cognitive control tasks was administered to measure WMIC ability, including the Stroop-like day–night and the yes–no tasks. Baseline and task electroencephalographic data were collected. The Children's Behavior Questionnaire was used to assess caregiver perceptions of temperament with a particular interest in the effortful control and surgency factors, and language comprehension was measured with the Peabody-Picture Vocabulary Test-III. The results of this study demonstrated differential temperament-cognition relations for the three age groups, as positive associations were found between WMIC and effortful control for the - and 4-year-olds and negative associations were found between WMIC and surgency for the -year-olds. An increasingly robust relation between WMIC and language comprehension was demonstrated across the three age groups, as well as differential patterns of task-related brain electrical activity.     

Children's development of analogical reasoning: insights from scene analogy problems

We explored how relational complexity and featural distraction, as varied in scene analogy problems, affect children's analogical reasoning performance. Results with 3- and 4-year-olds, 6- and 7-year-olds, 9- to 11-year-olds, and 13- and 14-year-olds indicate that when children can identify the critical structural relations in a scene analogy problem, development of their ability to reason analogically interacts with both relational complexity and featural distraction. Error patterns suggest that children are more likely to select a distracting object than to make a relational error for problems that present both possibilities. This tendency decreases with age, and older children make fewer errors overall. The results suggest that changes in analogical reasoning with age depend on the interplay among increases in relational knowledge, the capacity to integrate multiple relations, and inhibitory control over featural distraction.     

Counterfactual thinking and false belief: the role of executive function

The purpose of the current study was to examine further the relationship between counterfactual thinking and false belief (FB) as examined by Guajardo and Turley-Ames (Cognitive Development, 19 (2004) 53-80). More specifically, the current research examined the importance of working memory and inhibitory control in understanding the relationship between counterfactual thinking and FB. Participants were 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds (N = 76). Counterfactual thinking statements generated accounted for significant variance in FB performance beyond age and language. Working memory and inhibitory control each partially mediated the relationship between counterfactual thinking and FB performance. The maturation of executive functioning skills is important in children’s developing understanding of counterfactual reasoning and FB.     

Influence of response prepotency strength, general working memory resources, and specific working memory load on the ability to inhibit predominant responses: a comparison of young and elderly participants

One conception of inhibitory functioning suggests that the ability to successfully inhibit a predominant response depends mainly on the strength of that response, the general functioning of working memory processes, and the working memory demand of the task (Roberts, Hager, & Heron, 1994). The proposal that inhibition and functional working memory capacity interact was assessed in the present study using two motor inhibition tasks (Go/No-Go and response incompatibility) in young and older participants. The strength of prepotency was assessed with a short or long training phase for the response to be inhibited. The influence of working memory resources was evaluated by administering the tasks in full vs. divided attention conditions. The effect of working memory load was manipulated by increasing the number of target and distracter items in each task. Results showed no effect of prepotency strength, whereas dividing attentional resources and increasing working memory load were associated with greater inhibitory effects in both groups and for both tasks. This deleterious effect was higher for older participants, except in the working memory load condition of the Go/No-Go task. These results suggest an interactive link between working memory and response inhibition by showing that taxing working memory resources increases the difficulty of inhibiting prepotent responses in younger and older subjects. The additional detrimental effect of these factors on healthy elderly subjects was related to their decreased cognitive resources and to their shorter span size.     

The Effects of Incentives on Visual–Spatial Working Memory in Children with Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Working memory is one of several putative core neurocognitive processes in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The present work seeks to determine whether visual–spatial working memory is sensitive to motivational incentives, a laboratory analogue of behavioral treatment. Participants were 21 children (ages 7–10) with a diagnosis of ADHD-combined type. Participants completed a computerized spatial span task designed to assess storage of visual–spatial information (forward span) and manipulation of the stored information (backward span). The spatial span task was completed twice on the same day, once with a performance-based incentive (trial-wise feedback and points redeemable for prizes) and once without incentives. Participants performed significantly better on the backward span when rewarded for correct responses, compared to the no incentive condition. However, incentives had no effect on performance during the forward span. These findings may suggest the use of motivational incentives improved manipulation, but not storage, of visual–spatial information among children with ADHD. Possible explanations for the differential incentive effects are discussed, including the possibility that incentives prevented a vigilance decrement as task difficulty and time on task increased.     

The structure of executive function in 3-year-olds

Although the structure of executive function (EF) during adulthood is characterized by both unity and diversity, recent evidence suggests that preschool EF may be best described by a single factor. The latent structure of EF was examined in 228 3-year-olds using confirmatory factor analysis. Children completed a battery of executive tasks that differed in format and response requirements and in putative working memory and inhibitory control demands. Tasks appeared to be age appropriate, with adequate sensitivity across the range of performance and without floor or ceiling effects. Tests of the relative fit of several alternative models supported a single latent EF construct. Measurement invariance testing revealed less proficient EF in children at higher sociodemographic risk relative to those at lower risk and no differences between boys and girls. At 3 years of age, when EF skills are emerging, EF appears to be a unitary, more domain-general process.     

Exercise mode and executive function in older adults: An ERP study of task-switching

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between exercise mode and executive function and its effect on behavior and neuroelectric activity. Forty-eight older adults were classified into open-skill, closed-skill, and irregular exercise groups based on their experience of exercise participation. Executive function was measured via a task-switching paradigm, in which the behavioral indices and event-related potentials elicited by task-switching were assessed. The results revealed that the exercise groups, regardless of the exercise mode, exhibited faster reaction times in both global and local switches than the irregular exercise group, regardless of the within-task conditions. Similarly, larger P3 amplitudes were observed in both exercise groups compared to the irregular exercise group. Moreover, additional facilitation effects of open-skill exercises on global switch costs were observed, whereas no differences in local switch costs were found among the three groups. The results replicate previous studies that have reported generally improved executive function after participation in exercises; additionally, they extend the current knowledge by indicating that these cognitive improvements in specific aspects of executive function could also be obtained from open-skill exercises.     

音乐训练对大学生执行功能的影响

近年来大量研究发现音乐训练对认知能力的具有积极影响,一些理论认为音乐训练的广泛迁移效应是通过执行功能起中介作用,但音乐训练与执行功能的关系至今仍存争议。研究将执行功能分为抑制控制、工作记忆和认知灵活性三个子成分,并将抑制控制进一步细分为注意抑制和反应抑制,同时区分工作记忆中主动性控制和反应性控制两种认知过程。通过对比音乐组和控制组在执行功能各任务（Go/No-go, Stroop, AX-CPT, Task-switching）上的行为表现来系统考察音乐训练与执行功能的关系。结果表明音乐训练对执行功能不同子成分的影响具有差异性,其促进效应主要体现在抑制控制中的注意抑制和工作记忆中的主动性控制,对抑制控制中的反应抑制、工作记忆中的反应性控制和认知灵活性影响较小。     

Counteracting effect of threat on reward enhancements during working memory

Cognitive performance has been shown to be enhanced when performance-based rewards are at stake. On the other hand, task-irrelevant threat processing has been shown to have detrimental effects during several cognitive tasks. Crucially, the impact of reward and threat on cognition has been studied largely independently of one another. Hence, our understanding of how reward and threat simultaneously contribute to performance is incomplete. To fill in this gap, the present study investigated how reward and threat interact with one another during a cognitive task. We found that threat of shock counteracted the beneficial effect of reward during a working memory task. Furthermore, individual differences in self-reported reward-sensitivity and anxiety were linked to the extent to which reward and threat interacted during behaviour. Together, the current findings contribute to a limited but growing literature unravelling how positive and negative information processing jointly influence cognition.     

Age-Related Differences in Acquisition of Perceptual-Motor Skills: Working Memory as a Mediator

ABSTRACT

Aging is associated with reduced performance on information processing speed, memory, and executive functions tasks. Although older adults are also less apt in acquiring new perceptual-motor skills, it is unclear whether and how skill acquisition difficulties are associated with age-related general cognitive differences. We addressed this question by examining structural relations among measures of cognitive resources (working memory) and indices of perceptual-motor skill acquisition (pursuit rotor and mirror tracing) in 96 healthy adults aged 19–80 years of age. Three competing structural models were tested: a single (common) factor model, a dual correlated factors model, and a hierarchical dual-factor model. The third model provided the best fit to the data, indicating age differences in simple perceptual-motor skill are partially mediated by more complex abilities.     

Test–retest reliability of an emotion maintenance task

Research on working memory has suggested domain-specific components for visual, verbal, and spatial information, and more recently for emotion. Affective working memory has been proposed as the set of processes involved in the maintenance of emotions to guide behaviour. The current study examined the reliability of an emotion maintenance/affective working memory task over two experimental sessions separated by one week. Subjective accuracy based on individual ratings was found to correlate over time and was highest for negatively valenced pictures. Results suggest that this paradigm is a reliable measure of emotion maintenance, underscoring the utility of this measure as an assessment tool for normative and clinical populations.