TY - JOUR
T1 - Executive function skills of 6-8year olds
T2 - Brain and behavioral evidence and implications for school achievement
AU - Molfese, Victoria J.
AU - Molfese, Peter J.
AU - Molfese, Dennis L.
AU - Rudasill, Kathleen Moritz
AU - Armstrong, Natalie
AU - Starkey, Gillian
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded in part by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute grant (award 5R01HL070911) and by the Center for Research in Early Childhood Education at the University of Louisville.
PY - 2010/4
Y1 - 2010/4
N2 - Academic and social success in school has been linked to children's self-regulation. This study investigated the assessment of the executive function (EF) component of self-regulation using a low-cost, easily administered measure to determine whether scores obtained from the behavioral task would agree with those obtained using a laboratory-based neuropsychological measure of EF skills. The sample included 74 children (37 females;M=86.2. months) who participated in two assessments of working memory and inhibitory control: Knock-Tap (NEPSY: Korkman, Kirk, & Kemp, 1998), and participated in event-related potential (ERP) testing that included the directional stroop test (. DST, Davidson, Cruess, Diamond, O'Craven, and Savoy (1999)). Three main findings emerged. First, children grouped as high vs. low performing on the NEPSY Knock-Tap Task were found to perform differently on the more difficult conditions of the DST (the Incongruent and Mixed Conditions), suggesting that the Knock-Tap Task as a low-cost and easy to administer assessment of EF skills may be one way for teachers to identify students with poor inhibitory control skills. Second, children's performance on the DST was strongly related to their ERP responses, adding to evidence that differences in behavioral performance on the DST as a measure of EF skills reflect corresponding differences in brain processing. Finally, differences in brain processing on the DST task also were found when the children were grouped based on Knock-Tap performance. Simple screening procedures can enable teachers to identify children whose distractibility, inattentiveness, or poor attention spans may interfere with classroom learning.
AB - Academic and social success in school has been linked to children's self-regulation. This study investigated the assessment of the executive function (EF) component of self-regulation using a low-cost, easily administered measure to determine whether scores obtained from the behavioral task would agree with those obtained using a laboratory-based neuropsychological measure of EF skills. The sample included 74 children (37 females;M=86.2. months) who participated in two assessments of working memory and inhibitory control: Knock-Tap (NEPSY: Korkman, Kirk, & Kemp, 1998), and participated in event-related potential (ERP) testing that included the directional stroop test (. DST, Davidson, Cruess, Diamond, O'Craven, and Savoy (1999)). Three main findings emerged. First, children grouped as high vs. low performing on the NEPSY Knock-Tap Task were found to perform differently on the more difficult conditions of the DST (the Incongruent and Mixed Conditions), suggesting that the Knock-Tap Task as a low-cost and easy to administer assessment of EF skills may be one way for teachers to identify students with poor inhibitory control skills. Second, children's performance on the DST was strongly related to their ERP responses, adding to evidence that differences in behavioral performance on the DST as a measure of EF skills reflect corresponding differences in brain processing. Finally, differences in brain processing on the DST task also were found when the children were grouped based on Knock-Tap performance. Simple screening procedures can enable teachers to identify children whose distractibility, inattentiveness, or poor attention spans may interfere with classroom learning.
KW - Directional stroop test
KW - Event-related potential
KW - Executive function skills
KW - Inhibitory control
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77953686865&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77953686865&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2010.03.004
DO - 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2010.03.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 20798857
AN - SCOPUS:77953686865
SN - 0361-476X
VL - 35
SP - 116
EP - 125
JO - Contemporary Educational Psychology
JF - Contemporary Educational Psychology
IS - 2
ER -