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<p>Studiens syfte var att med neuropsykologiska utredningsverktyg undersöka exekutiva funktioner hos allsvenska fotbollsspelare samt division 1 spelare. Även sambandet mellan spelarnas exekutiva funktioner, gjorda mål och assist undersöktes. 57 herr- och damspelare testades. Elva kliniska utredningstest användes. Resultaten visade att de allsvenska spelarna hade signifikant bättre kapacitet på vissa exekutiva funktioner än spelarna från division 1. Även de spelare som gjort flest mål och assist hade i förhållande till de som gjort minst, bättre kapacitet på flertalet exekutiva funktioner. Den förklarade variansen visade att de exekutiva funktionerna, i vissa fall, utgjorde mellan 30 % och 40 % av samtliga egenskaper som påverkar spelarnas prestationsförmåga mätt i mål och assist. Resultaten indikerar att kapaciteten av de exekutiva funktionera kan ha betydelse för fotbollspelares sportsliga framgång.</p> / <p>The purpose of this study was to, with neuropsychological test tools, examine the executive functions among soccer players from premier league and first division. The relations between the players’ executive functions and their goals and assists were also examined. 57 male and female soccer players were tested. Eleven different clinical test tools were used. The result shows that the players from premier league had significant better capacity of their executive functions than the players from the first division. Also the players who scored most goals and did most assist had better capacity in several of their executive functions than the players that scored and assisted least. R Square showed in some cases that 30 to 40 % of the total capacity of the players’ performance in assists and goal scoring were provided by the executive functions. The result indicates that the capacity of the executive functions among soccer players could have importance for their success.</p>

The general aim of this thesis was to extend knowledge of the interplay between self-regulation (SR) skills during childhood in relation to academic achievement and later adult educational and occupational attainment. Previous research has shown that cool SR (i.e., cognitive) is more closely linked to academic achievement than hot SR (i.e., motivational/emotional). However, studies investigating both cool and hot SR in relation to academic achievement have been restricted to young children. Therefore, Study I assessed cool and hot SR in relation to academic achievement over a longer time period. The results showed that cool SR at age 3 was related to achievement already at age 6. Hot SR at age 3 did not predict achievement until later on in elementary school. Study II investigated the contribution of interference control and attention skills at age 6 to concurrent and later academic achievement at age 10. As the learning material becomes increasingly more complex throughout elementary school and teachers may give less support, interference control was expected to have a delayed effect on academic achievement relative to attention skills. Results showed that attention skills were related to academic achievement at age 6, whereas interference control only predicted academic achievement at age 10. Study III investigated task persistence in young adolescence in relation to academic achievement later in school and educational and occupational attainment in midlife. Results showed that task persistence contributed to change in grades between ages 13 and 16. Further, task persistence predicted later educational and occupational attainment (men only). Importantly, individual differences in intelligence, motivation, social background, and later educational attainment did not account for these effects. The findings point to a fundamental role of self-regulation in childhood for successful academic achievement and later attainment in adulthood. / At the time of doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 2: Manuscript.

Studiens syfte var att med neuropsykologiska utredningsverktyg undersöka exekutiva funktioner hos allsvenska fotbollsspelare samt division 1 spelare. Även sambandet mellan spelarnas exekutiva funktioner, gjorda mål och assist undersöktes. 57 herr- och damspelare testades. Elva kliniska utredningstest användes. Resultaten visade att de allsvenska spelarna hade signifikant bättre kapacitet på vissa exekutiva funktioner än spelarna från division 1. Även de spelare som gjort flest mål och assist hade i förhållande till de som gjort minst, bättre kapacitet på flertalet exekutiva funktioner. Den förklarade variansen visade att de exekutiva funktionerna, i vissa fall, utgjorde mellan 30 % och 40 % av samtliga egenskaper som påverkar spelarnas prestationsförmåga mätt i mål och assist. Resultaten indikerar att kapaciteten av de exekutiva funktionera kan ha betydelse för fotbollspelares sportsliga framgång. / The purpose of this study was to, with neuropsychological test tools, examine the executive functions among soccer players from premier league and first division. The relations between the players’ executive functions and their goals and assists were also examined. 57 male and female soccer players were tested. Eleven different clinical test tools were used. The result shows that the players from premier league had significant better capacity of their executive functions than the players from the first division. Also the players who scored most goals and did most assist had better capacity in several of their executive functions than the players that scored and assisted least. R Square showed in some cases that 30 to 40 % of the total capacity of the players’ performance in assists and goal scoring were provided by the executive functions. The result indicates that the capacity of the executive functions among soccer players could have importance for their success.

Working memory is a mental system that is related to cognitive control and higher cognition. Although the topic of working memory is well researched, there is a great deal of debate about the mechanisms that drive individual differences in working memory capacity. Moreover, little is known about the direct relationships between different types of working memory tasks. The present study uses structural equation modeling to examine three varieties of working memory task: The complex span, running memory span, and visual arrays. It is found that, while complex and running span performance is directly predicted by immediate memory and retrieval from long-term memory, visual arrays is directly predicted by attention control. Despite these differences, all tasks are found to be united by executive attention, which is conceptualized as an executive process that is apparent across several types of attention and memory task. A second analysis examines the relationship between working memory and general fluid intelligence. It is concluded that, while executive attention accounts for the largest portion of the correlation between working memory and fluid intelligence, immediate memory and retrieval from long term memory are also critical to explaining this relationship.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between language skills and the development of executive functions in a normative preschool population over a 3 year period. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used to examine models of individual change and correlates of change in the growth of 7 executive skills in a sample of 39 children ages 3 to 5. Results of the analyses revealed significant positive linear growth trajectories over time for 5 of the 7 executive skills measured (p < .05). Maturation alone accounted for a significant amount of variance in nonverbal working memory (Block Span, Stanford Binet-5th Edition (SB-5)) and problem solving skills (Tower, NEPSY). Growth in verbal working memory (Memory for Sentences, SB-5) was predicted uniquely by initial receptive vocabulary (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–3rd Edition) and oral language (Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language) skills, even after considering age. Language variables did not predict rate of change in the 6 other executive skills measured. Thus, the pattern of results extends previous cross-sectional research by documenting that executive skills grow systematically with age in individual children during the preschool period. Furthermore, results suggest that during the preschool years, language ability is an important predictor of growth in working memory for verbal information—a capacity associated both theoretically and empirically with the transition from other- to self-regulation in early childhood. Findings are discussed in relationship to the literature on school readiness and the development of self-regulation. Implications for future research and practice are also suggested.

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The aim of this study was to come to a better understanding of possible neuropsychological mechanisms underlying psychosocial well-being and therefore to determine whether a relationship between neuropsychological executive functions and psychosocial well-being does indeed exist. Research was conducted in the domains of neuropsychology and positive psychology. This thesis consists of three articles, namely I ) Neuropsychological executive functions and psychosocial well-being: A review, 2) Attentional switching and psychosocial! well-being, and 3) The relationship between generativity as neuropsychological process and psychosocial well-being. The first article argued the possibility of a relationship between neuropsychological and psychosocial aspects, with reference to a pluralistic ecosystems perspective, neuropsychological and other positive psychological theories, such as Miller's neuropsychodynamic model and Frederickson's broaden-and-build theory, as well as existing empirical studies. Numerous neuropsychological studies have indicated that the prefrontal cortex is involved in executive functions, with its main function to regulate both cognitive and affective functioning. Analyses of existing empirical studies indicated an established relationship between prefrontal lobe / executive / regulatory dysfunction and psychopathology, but also that the relationship between normal or optimal prefrontal executive functions and psychosocial well-being is still unclear. The first article concluded that evidence correlating neuropsychological functioning with human flourishing, or indicating possible neuropsychological mechanisms involved in psychosocial well-being, is sparse, presenting a serious lacuna in scientific knowledge. The following two articles focused on contributing to filling this lacuna. "Attentional switching and psychosocial well-being" and "The relationship between generativity, as neuropsychological process and psychosocial well-being" focused on attentional switching and generativity, as part of neuropsychological executive functions, as potential mechanisms associated with psychosocial well-being. These studies aimed to determine whether the capacity to switch attention, as measured by the Color Trails Test (CTT) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), and the capacity to generate novelty, as measured by the Controlled Verbal Fluency Task (CVFT) (Benton, 1967) and Uses of Objects Test (UOT) (Getzels & Jackson, 1962), are related to the degree of psychosocial well-being experienced. As part of the interdisciplinary POWIRS (Profiles of Obese Women with Insulin Resistance Syndrome) project, black African women (article 2 n=66; article 3 n=72) completed the above mentioned neuropsychological measures, as well as indices of psychosocial wellbeing, in a cross-sectional design. The psychosocial measures included the Affectometer (AFM) 2 (Kammann & Flett, 1983); Constructive Thinking Inventory (CTI) abbreviated version (Epstein & Meier, 1989); Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC- 29) (Antonovsky, 1987, 1993); The Fortitude Questionnaire (FORQ) (Pretorius, 1998); JAREL Spiritual Well-being Scale (SWS-H) (Hungelman et al., 1989); Psychological Well-being Scales (SPW-B) (Ryff & Singer, 1998); and the Cognitive Appraisal Questionnaire (CAQ) (Botha & Wissing, 2003). The main findings of these studies were hat the ease of attentional switching and generativity correlates statistically (p<0.5) and practically significantly with higher levels of psychosocial well-being. From a micro-deterministic perspective it can be concluded that frontal lobe executive functions may play a role in the regulation higher-order adjusting psychosocial functions related to quality of life. From a micro-deterministic perspective it can be concluded that psychosocial well-being, while being influenced by executive functions, may also influence the continuous development of neuropsychological executive functions. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

The aim of this study was to come to a better understanding of possible neuropsychological mechanisms underlying psychosocial well-being and therefore to determine whether a relationship between neuropsychological executive functions and psychosocial well-being does indeed exist. Research was conducted in the domains of neuropsychology and positive psychology. This thesis consists of three articles, namely I ) Neuropsychological executive functions and psychosocial well-being: A review, 2) Attentional switching and psychosocial! well-being, and 3) The relationship between generativity as neuropsychological process and psychosocial well-being. The first article argued the possibility of a relationship between neuropsychological and psychosocial aspects, with reference to a pluralistic ecosystems perspective, neuropsychological and other positive psychological theories, such as Miller's neuropsychodynamic model and Frederickson's broaden-and-build theory, as well as existing empirical studies. Numerous neuropsychological studies have indicated that the prefrontal cortex is involved in executive functions, with its main function to regulate both cognitive and affective functioning. Analyses of existing empirical studies indicated an established relationship between prefrontal lobe / executive / regulatory dysfunction and psychopathology, but also that the relationship between normal or optimal prefrontal executive functions and psychosocial well-being is still unclear. The first article concluded that evidence correlating neuropsychological functioning with human flourishing, or indicating possible neuropsychological mechanisms involved in psychosocial well-being, is sparse, presenting a serious lacuna in scientific knowledge. The following two articles focused on contributing to filling this lacuna. "Attentional switching and psychosocial well-being" and "The relationship between generativity, as neuropsychological process and psychosocial well-being" focused on attentional switching and generativity, as part of neuropsychological executive functions, as potential mechanisms associated with psychosocial well-being. These studies aimed to determine whether the capacity to switch attention, as measured by the Color Trails Test (CTT) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), and the capacity to generate novelty, as measured by the Controlled Verbal Fluency Task (CVFT) (Benton, 1967) and Uses of Objects Test (UOT) (Getzels & Jackson, 1962), are related to the degree of psychosocial well-being experienced. As part of the interdisciplinary POWIRS (Profiles of Obese Women with Insulin Resistance Syndrome) project, black African women (article 2 n=66; article 3 n=72) completed the above mentioned neuropsychological measures, as well as indices of psychosocial wellbeing, in a cross-sectional design. The psychosocial measures included the Affectometer (AFM) 2 (Kammann & Flett, 1983); Constructive Thinking Inventory (CTI) abbreviated version (Epstein & Meier, 1989); Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC- 29) (Antonovsky, 1987, 1993); The Fortitude Questionnaire (FORQ) (Pretorius, 1998); JAREL Spiritual Well-being Scale (SWS-H) (Hungelman et al., 1989); Psychological Well-being Scales (SPW-B) (Ryff & Singer, 1998); and the Cognitive Appraisal Questionnaire (CAQ) (Botha & Wissing, 2003). The main findings of these studies were hat the ease of attentional switching and generativity correlates statistically (p<0.5) and practically significantly with higher levels of psychosocial well-being. From a micro-deterministic perspective it can be concluded that frontal lobe executive functions may play a role in the regulation higher-order adjusting psychosocial functions related to quality of life. From a micro-deterministic perspective it can be concluded that psychosocial well-being, while being influenced by executive functions, may also influence the continuous development of neuropsychological executive functions. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.