The present study is a preliminary investigation assessing the associations between socioemotional adjustment and executive functioning problems in a low-income, high-risk sample of elementary students who participated in a mindful yoga practice. Mindfulness is a concept that encompasses attention within the present moment and requires acceptance and nonjudgment. Rather than being an outcome-reliant principle, it emphasizes the individual’s present state of mind and being (Kabat-Zinn, 2003). Recently, mindfulness has become a popular phenomenon in research. It has shown to be a highly effective coping strategy and mediator for cognitive, emotional, and behavioral problems (Flook, 2010; Hayes & Feldman, 2004; Broderick & Metz, 2009; Mendelson et al., 2010). However, little research has been done to assess the role mindfulness plays in children. The objective for this study was to investigate the associations between contextual stress, mindfulness, executive functioning difficulties, emotion dysregulation, and aggression. Data for these variables was reported via self-report (n=21), parent-report, and teacher-report at one time towards the end of the yoga curriculum. Mindfulness was not associated with executive functioning or emotional dysregulation. However, parent and teacher reports did reveal significant links among more aggression, executive functioning difficulties, and emotion dysregulation. Discussion notes the limitations of the current study and recommendations for improving the study design to improve the study of positive interventions for children experiencing high-stress lifestyles.

In this study I first examined whether the cognitive processes (hot versus cold cognition) underlying judgments to traditional moral situations are universal to situations that are morally neutral, and whether individual differences in cognitive ability moderate these judgments. Second, I tested whether it was possible to modify the impact of hot versus cold processing systems on judgment deliberation by shifting the focus of attention during the decision-making process. I conclude that moral judgment is not simply the product of cognitive ability and is not sufficiently motivated by hot cognitive experiences alone. The role of cognitive abilities on moral valuation requires further examination.

Recent conceptualizations of procrastination suggest that procrastination is akin to self-regulatory failure wherein the effect of good intentions is attenuated for individuals who tend to procrastinate. Some researchers speculate that this effect is due to subtle neurological deficits that make it more difficult for procrastinators to follow through with completing tasks. The present work examines this claim while also investigating two factors that should theoretically weaken the effect of intentions for engaging unpleasant, but important, tasks – namely habitual avoidance and the executive function of inhibition. Study 1 investigated the question of whether chronic avoidance patterns may become so entrenched that they take on the qualities of a habit. This is important because habits are known to be less reliant on intentions because they are triggered in a relatively automatic fashion. Habit indices were created which assessed the degree to which the experience of avoiding particular tasks was automatic and self-descriptive in nature (Verplanken & Orbell, 2003). The results confirmed the expectation that more frequent avoidance patterns are experienced as occurring relatively automatically. Habit-like avoidance can be measured reliably and is related to other constructs in expected ways. For example, habit-level predicts reduced task quality and lower rates of task completion above-and-beyond motivational variables (e.g. intentions). Finally, habit-like avoidance patterns were more often associated with stable features identified by participants as being present in the environment. Using a prospective design, Study 2 assessed the degree to which existing habitual-avoidance patterns weakened the effect of good intentions to carry out unpleasant tasks over the course of a week. Several computer tasks at Time 1 were also used to assess inhibitory control or the degree to which participants could inhibit prepotent responses. In addition to personality traits which purportedly moderate the intention-behaviour relation (e.g. trait procrastination), the moderating effects of habitual avoidance and inhibitory control were also tested. Trait-level procrastination did not weaken the effect of one’s intentions to carry out unpleasant tasks. However, habitual avoidance and inhibitory control jointly moderated the effect of intentions on behaviour such that poor inhibitors had difficulty overcoming previous avoidance habits in order to complete unpleasant tasks during the week. In contrast, good inhibitors were able to behave according to their intentions irrespective of habit-like avoidance patterns. These findings point to the importance of recognizing the joint influence of avoidance patterns and regulatory capacities involved in self-control when understanding procrastination behaviour.

The multidimensional nature of the frontal lobes serves to organize and coordinate brain functioning, playing a central and pervasive role in human cognition. The organizational and strategic nature of frontal lobe functioning affects memory processes by enhancing the organization of to-be-remembered information. Among the specific memory systems presumed to be based on anterior cerebral structures is the temporal organization of memory. An essential component of memory that involves temporal organization is sequential ordering. The acquisition of abilities thought to be mediated by the frontal lobes, including sequential memory, unfolds throughout childhood, serving to condition patterns of behavior for the rest of the brain. Development of the frontal regions of the brain is known to continue through late adolescence and into early adulthood, in contrast to the earlier maturation of other cortical regions. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the development of sequential memory and to compare such findings to what currently is known regarding the development of frontal lobe functioning. Through an analysis of the previously collected standardization data of the Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL; Reynolds & Bigler, 1994), a developmental function depicting the maturational process of sequential memory was derived. This model was then compared to an overall representative model of frontal lobe functioning. Results indicated a staging of development that begins in early childhood with the maturation of sequential memory continuing, although at a decreased rate, into early adolescence. The greatest period of development in sequential memory was evident between 5 and 8 years of age. The rate of development then decreased, and a continued deceleration of maturation continued throughout the age span examined. Gender was not found to be a significant predictor of developmental performance on sequential memory tasks. The results of the present study are consistent with previous findings that have suggested that the development of frontal functions occurs in a step-wise fashion with greatest period of development in frontal lobe functioning occurring at the 6- and 8-year old levels, with more moderate effects between the ages of 9 and 12 and performance approximating adult levels during adolescence.

Video gaming has become a major pastime in modern life, and it continues to accelerate in popularity. A recent wave of psychological research has demonstrated that core perceptual changes coincide with video game play. Video games incorporate highly complex and immersive experiences which invoke a range of psychological mechanisms. This complexity has led to intractability which precludes determining which specific attributes of video gaming lead to cognitive change. The current work represents a research initiative which uses real-time strategy (RTS) games to boost executive functioning. In order to establish a link between video game features, video game behavior, and cognitive changes, an attention-switching tests two different forms of the same RTS game. Additionally, a difficulty titration paradigm attenuates individual differences in gaming skill. Thus, this project represents a critical advancement over prior research in that aspects of the video game itself were controlled and used to experimentally examine resulting cognitive change. Participants completed a psychological task battery before and after video game training, as well as at a mid-test. The battery covered a range of cognitive abilities including long-term memory, working memory, several attention-related constructs, risk taking, visual search, task switching and multitasking. These tasks were divided into two groups depending on the level of executive functioning components associated with the task performance. This resulted in a group of executive tasks and a group of other tasks. Because the high-switching gaming condition involves control and maintenance over a larger spread of gaming situations, performance on the executive task cluster was expected to improve more for this condition relative to the low-switching gaming condition. To reduce the impact of practice effects and the peripheral aspects of video gaming in interpreting the results, the Sims group was used a control baseline. A meta-analytical Bayes factor technique was used to determine the strength of performance changes from pre-test to mid-test, post-test, and follow up. By post-test, there was evidence that RTS training in the high attention-switching condition had improved on executive functioning tasks but not on other tasks. These results provide further evidence that video game training leads to psychological benefits over time. / text

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the connection between emotional trauma and executive function ability in children and adolescents. Trauma is defined as an overwhelming event that is beyond the realm of what might be an expectable occurrence for the average person. A serious outcome, occurring in around 14% of those children who experience trauma, is the development of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is classified as an anxiety disorder occurring after exposure to a traumatic event, in which symptoms of re-experiencing, avoidance, and arousal are present. In addition to the numerous physical, emotional, and social effects of trauma, neuropsychological and imaging research has confirmed that children’s neuroanatomy and cognitive functioning are often affected. It has been proposed that intrusive thoughts occurring immediately after the trauma event may modify the neural network function, setting the stage for neurobiological dysregulation. One of the most common neural anatomic areas of concern following trauma is the prefrontal cortex, a structure that continues to develop until the third decade of life, and that has been implicated as the home of executive function, an idea conceptualized in a number of ways, but that is most often considered an umbrella term describing essential functions of the mind, such as planning, inhibition, attention, and working memory. The scope of literature addressing the effect of trauma on executive function is minimal. It is the hypothesis of this study that early trauma may disrupt the normal development of the PFC and subsequently result in decreased executive functioning abilities. In order to explore this hypothesis, a set of neuropsychological measures were selected as representative of executive functioning, based on previous research. An initial factor analysis was conducted in order to determine if, as suspected, all subtests chosen load on a common factor of executive function. Multiple linear regression was used to determine whether children who experienced trauma have impaired executive functioning abilities, if there was a significant gender difference, and what, if any, differences there were between children who developed PTSD and children who did not. / text

The current study explored the nuanced associations between components of executive functioning (EF) and subtypes of aggression, using a latent variable approach. Participants were racially diverse undergraduate students who completed a self-report of reactive (RA) and proactive aggression (PA), and traditional neuropsychological tasks of EF. The appropriateness of using a nested bifactor model of EF was confirmed, and this bifactor model of EF was used to examine the specific associations between components of EF and RA and PA. Results revealed components of EF are differentially associated with RA and PA, such that impulsive, provoked aggression is associated with lower levels of goal-oriented inhibition and higher levels of flexibility, whereas planned, goal-oriented aggression is associated with higher levels of working memory. Findings from the current study underscore the importance of considering the multidimensional nature of EF as well as aggression when examining their associations with external constructs of interest.

Recent conceptualizations of procrastination suggest that procrastination is akin to self-regulatory failure wherein the effect of good intentions is attenuated for individuals who tend to procrastinate. Some researchers speculate that this effect is due to subtle neurological deficits that make it more difficult for procrastinators to follow through with completing tasks. The present work examines this claim while also investigating two factors that should theoretically weaken the effect of intentions for engaging unpleasant, but important, tasks – namely habitual avoidance and the executive function of inhibition. Study 1 investigated the question of whether chronic avoidance patterns may become so entrenched that they take on the qualities of a habit. This is important because habits are known to be less reliant on intentions because they are triggered in a relatively automatic fashion. Habit indices were created which assessed the degree to which the experience of avoiding particular tasks was automatic and self-descriptive in nature (Verplanken & Orbell, 2003). The results confirmed the expectation that more frequent avoidance patterns are experienced as occurring relatively automatically. Habit-like avoidance can be measured reliably and is related to other constructs in expected ways. For example, habit-level predicts reduced task quality and lower rates of task completion above-and-beyond motivational variables (e.g. intentions). Finally, habit-like avoidance patterns were more often associated with stable features identified by participants as being present in the environment. Using a prospective design, Study 2 assessed the degree to which existing habitual-avoidance patterns weakened the effect of good intentions to carry out unpleasant tasks over the course of a week. Several computer tasks at Time 1 were also used to assess inhibitory control or the degree to which participants could inhibit prepotent responses. In addition to personality traits which purportedly moderate the intention-behaviour relation (e.g. trait procrastination), the moderating effects of habitual avoidance and inhibitory control were also tested. Trait-level procrastination did not weaken the effect of one’s intentions to carry out unpleasant tasks. However, habitual avoidance and inhibitory control jointly moderated the effect of intentions on behaviour such that poor inhibitors had difficulty overcoming previous avoidance habits in order to complete unpleasant tasks during the week. In contrast, good inhibitors were able to behave according to their intentions irrespective of habit-like avoidance patterns. These findings point to the importance of recognizing the joint influence of avoidance patterns and regulatory capacities involved in self-control when understanding procrastination behaviour.

In this study I first examined whether the cognitive processes (hot versus cold cognition) underlying judgments to traditional moral situations are universal to situations that are morally neutral, and whether individual differences in cognitive ability moderate these judgments. Second, I tested whether it was possible to modify the impact of hot versus cold processing systems on judgment deliberation by shifting the focus of attention during the decision-making process. I conclude that moral judgment is not simply the product of cognitive ability and is not sufficiently motivated by hot cognitive experiences alone. The role of cognitive abilities on moral valuation requires further examination.

Maternal smoking during pregnancy has often been associated with numerous adverse outcomes for the offspring. However, its long-term effects are not well established. Given the high prevalence of maternal smoking during pregnancy, an understanding of these effects is essential. Therefore, the aim of the present dissertation was to shed light on the long-term neurophysiological effects of prenatal nicotine exposure on three different executive functioning processes by assessing participants in young adulthood, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants imaged were members of the Ottawa Prenatal Prospective Study, a longitudinal study that collected a unique body of information on participants from infancy to young adulthood, which allowed for the measurement of an unprecedented number of potentially confounding drug exposure variables. The dissertation consists of three separate original manuscripts. In manuscript 1, participants completed a response inhibition task, in manuscript 2 participants completed a verbal working memory task and in manuscript 3 participants completed a visuospatial working memory task. Taken together, results from all three manuscripts showed that prenatal nicotine exposure leads to altered neural functioning during executive functioning processing that continues into young adulthood. These significant results highlight the need for education about the repercussions of women smoking during pregnancy.