No description available.

Prospective memory (ProM) is the ability people use to realize earlier-formed intentions at a delayed time. It has been proposed to be heavily reliant executive functions, as it shares many of its characteristic attributes, including working memory as well as planning and organizational abilities. Cross-cultural literature on executive functions (EF) has previously established evidence of advanced executive functioning in East Asian children when compared to age- and educationally-matched Western counterparts. Given the close association between ProM and EF, it is surmised that East Asians may also display an advantage in this specific memory type, and that this trend would continue into early adulthood when cognitive abilities typically have matured. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to investigate whether or not Mainland Chinese adults would display the same advantage in ProM when compared to Canadian adults. Analyses indicated that the Canadians did show significant disadvantage in ProM performance despite similar executive-functioning performances. The ProM findings are discussed in terms of potential psychometric inequity but also include accounts of cultural distinctions in neural and visual processing. The contradictory results in EF and ProM are explained in relation to socio-cultural differences and limitations in the present study design. / Graduate

No description available.

The contributions of executive functions to reading comprehension have been well studied in the general population. Additionally, many studies have examined executive functioning in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, few studies have examined the relationship between the three concepts. Hence, this study examined the relationship between executive functions and reading comprehension within the context of ADHD and its symptoms. Data from children with ADHD and controls were obtained from larger, grant-funded studies. Both lab-administered and questionnaire measures were utilized. It was hypothesized that verbal working memory, planning, shift, and proactive interference would contribute to reading comprehension, both in the total sample and in ADHD. Behavioral inhibition was not expected to contribute to the relationship. Results suggest that verbal working memory is related to reading comprehension, both in controls and children with ADHD. However, no other executive functions were related to reading comprehension when controlling for basic reading and language comprehension. These control variables made significant contributions in the analyses, which suggests they are important to consider when examining the relationship between executive functions and reading comprehension. Hence, future research should examine verbal working memory in relation to basic reading and oral language when studying its contribution to reading comprehension.

Bilinguals have repeatedly shown to have better results than monolinguals in non-verbal cognitive tasks that require inhibition of distracting stimuli. Evidence suggests that this enhanced performance is due to training effects of non domain specific executive functions, and that this gain in cognitive performance can contribute to a cognitive reserve in old age. One of the most frequently used methods when studying the relationship between second language proficiency and cognitive abilities is the Simon task in the visual sensory modality. The present study aimed to determine if the advantage found in the visual Simon task also could apply to a tactile Simon task. The sample consisted of 40 individuals aged 43 to 64 with different levels in their second language. An operational span test (OSPAN) was used to control for working memory capacity. No significant correlation was found between bilingualism and the Simon effect in either modality. Since the study has low statistical power and a small range in second language proficiency, it was concluded that further research investigating whether the bilingual advantage found in the visual Simon task can be found across modalities is necessary before any conclusions regarding a relationship between bilingualism and cognitive control can be made.

Recent research has shown mindfulness practices to be correlated with traits frequently associated with high Executive Functioning (EF) individuals such as greater attention to specific tasks, greater working memory capacity, and the improved ability to inhibit behaviors or emotions. These three traits are highly correlated with each other, and provide an accurate assessment of an individual’s level of Executive Functioning. This study was designed to examine how individual traits associated with Mindfulness such as ‘non-judgement’ can influence attention, working memory and inhibition. This study used three self-administered questionnaires to assess traits associated with mindful individuals and three EF tests to measure performance in inhibition, task shifting and updating working memory tasks. Results showed that certain mindfulness variables from the Freberg Mindfulness Inventory and Five Facet Mindfulness Questioniare, were correlated with performance on working memory tasks while mindfulness experience was not. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Substantial empirical literatures link executive functioning (EF) and temperament, respectively, to externalizing behaviors (e.g., hyperactivity, impulsivity, conduct problems), but they rarely have been considered jointly. As indices of presumed brain function, neither neuropsychological scores nor temperament traits alone are sufficient as a comprehensive developmental model of externalizing behaviors. The current study aimed to examine the triangular relation among temperament traits, EF, and externalizing behaviors in a community sample of male youth. Participants included 174 male youth 11 to 16 years (M =13.4; SD=1.4) and their mothers. Youth were administered a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological measures tapping the broad domain of executive functions and overall intellectual functioning and completed a personality measure assessing both primary traits and broad temperaments. Mothers reported on their son's temperament and behaviors. Results indicated that, as expected, high Negative Temperament and Disinhibition were associated with both youth and mother reports of externalizing behaviors, with similar cross-informant associations. Specific EF dimensions were correlated with both temperament and externalizing behaviors and provided an incremental contribution above and beyond temperament in explaining externalizing behaviors. Results of the study contribute to the extant literature concerning the dimension of externalizing and inform future research on developing a comprehensive etiological model of externalizing behaviors.

lobjectif principal de ce travail est de contribuer à une meilleure compréhension du fonctionnement exécutif chez l'enfant dans une perspective développementale et neuropsychologique. Ce travail sarticule dès lors en deux parties. Lobjectif principal de la première partie est de viser à une meilleure compréhension du développement de certaines fonctions exécutives chez des enfants dâge préscolaire et scolaire (Etudes 1 et 2) et de déterminer la structure factorielle de ces fonctions dans le développement (Etude 2). La troisième étude vise quant à elle à mieux comprendre linfluence de lenvironnement socio-culturel, et plus spécifiquement du niveau éducationnel parental, sur le développement de certaines fonctions cognitives (en ce compris les fonctions exécutives). Lobjectif principal de la deuxième partie est, quant à lui, de déterminer le profil attentionnel et exécutif denfants victimes dun traumatisme crânien ou qui présentent un trouble de lattention avec/sans hyperactivité. Dans cette optique, nous évaluerons dune part différentes fonctions attentionnelles et exécutives, et dautre part les changements comportementaux chez des enfants victimes dun traumatisme crânien léger (Etude 4). Enfin, et de façon plus spécifique, nous tenterons de mieux comprendre les difficultés dinhibition présentées par des enfants qui ont été victimes dun traumatisme crânien modéré à sévère (Etude 5) ou qui présentent un trouble de lattention avec/sans hyperactivité (Etude 6).

Executive functions are higher-order cognitive functions underlying self-regulation of behavior. That is, executive functions make it possible to resolve internal conflicts and behave according to future goals rather than acting on sudden impulses or going on automatic. Very similarly, the temperamental construct of effortful control is defined as being able to inhibit a dominant response, instead acting on a subdominant response. In children, poor executive functions and low levels of effortful control have both been associated with several negative outcomes, such as lower academic achievements and externalizing behavior problems. Although these self-regulatory functions seem to play a very important role in child development, little is still known about them during the first years of life. Furthering the knowledge of early executive functions and effortful control would likely increase the chances of early detection of risks of poor development. The present thesis aimed to investigate individual differences in executive functions and effortful control in infancy and toddlerhood, as well as the early development of, and the relation between, these two functions. The thesis further aimed to investigate the relationship between the self-regulatory functions and activity level, and the possibility of predicting toddlerhood self-regulatory functions with sustained attention in infancy. In Study I, individual differences in 10-month-olds’ rudimentary executive functions were found, and these were related to temperamental activity level. In Study II, individual differences in sustained attention in infancy were found to predict toddlerhood executive functions and effortful control. Both these self-regulatory functions improved significantly from infancy to toddlerhood although the individual stability was low. Executive functions and effortful control were related in toddlerhood but not in infancy. In Study III we replicated and extended the finding of a longitudinal relation between infant sustained attention and toddlerhood executive functions. In addition, partial support for the proposition that executive functions develop in a hierarchical fashion was found, with simple inhibition being predictive of more complex forms of working memory two years later. The results from the three studies combined contribute to a better understanding of the early development of the self-regulatory functions executive functions and effortful control.

The current study evaluated individual differences in factors that both facilitate (narcissism) and inhibit (self-regulation) the expression of aggression upon provocation. The overarching goal of the study was to examine the integration of two models of aggression: the threatened egotism model and the self-regulation model. An undergraduate sample of participants (N=323) were assigned to receive either positive or negative (provocative) feedback from a fictitious opponent. After receipt of the feedback a competitive reaction time task, in which the participant was allowed to subject the ostensible opponent to sound lasts of white noise, was employed as a behavioural measure of aggression. Consistent with previous research, negative feedback elicited aggression compared to positive feedback, especially among narcissistic males compared to females. Self-regulation was assessed using a battery of executive functioning measures. Results indicated that males with higher perseveration were more aggressive in the negative feedback condition. When the influence of narcissism and self-regulation were assessed simultaneously, a moderating model (i.e., narcissism X self-regulation) was not supported but there was evidence in support of an additive model for males only. Self-regulation predicted a unique portion of variance in aggression (7%) over an above the variance accounted for by narcissism (16%) for males who received negative feedback. These results are discussed in terms of a risk factor model for aggression.