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Executive function (EF) refers to the ability to control thoughts and emotions. This ability develops throughout childhood, and the development of EF is underpinned by the development of prefrontal function. There are several theories to characterize children's EF, such as subcomponent models (e.g., cognitive shifting, inhibition, updating) and a cool/hot model. However, the relationship between EF development and the prefrontal cortex is poorly understood. Here, we examine the relationship from the perspective of mathematical category theory. Mathematical category theory describes similarities and relationships in mathematical structures and is increasingly applied to the structure of computation in computer science and consciousness research. In developmental science, analyses using category theory are applied to analyze an EF task, dimensional change card sorting (DCCS), and researchers argue that the difficulty of the DCCS task is related to mathematical product, which is a notion of integration (Phillips et al., 2009). Specifically, younger children can easily perform the DCCS task without product, but only older children can perform the DCCS task with product. We hypothesized that the processing of the mathematical product requires activations in prefrontal regions and tested this hypothesis in young children.

The intergenerational transmission of executive function may be enhanced or interrupted by culturally salient environmental stressors that shape the practice of executive function in the family. Building upon past research, the current study tests whether culturally relevant stressors such as economic stress and foreigner stress have a direct effect on adolescent executive function, as well as whether they modify the intergenerational transmission of mother–child executive function (i.e., working memory, inhibitory control, and shifting) in low-income Mexican immigrant families. The sample consists of 179 Mexican American adolescents (Mage = 17.03 years; SDage = 0.83; 58% females) and their Mexico-born mothers (Mage = 43.25 years; SDage = 5.90). Results show that mothers’ perceived economic stress is associated with poor inhibitory control in adolescents. Low levels of mothers’ perceived foreigner stress related to a stronger association between mothers’ and adolescents’ working memory, while high levels of mothers’ perceived foreigner stress related to enhanced intergenerational transmission of poor shifting ability. Study findings demonstrate the prominence of perceived foreigner stress as a contextually relevant factor moderating the intergenerational transmission of mother–child executive function in low-income Mexican immigrant families.

Canadian guidelines for diagnosing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) recommend that test scores and informant ratings be used to assess executive functioning skills; however, there are discrepancies between these forms of measurement and most studies only use caregiver ratings. As children spend half their time at school, this neglects a significant source of information. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between tests and teacher ratings of executive function in children with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), with and without the diagnosis of FASD. A retrospective chart review of 303 children with PAE was completed. Teacher ratings of executive functioning were measured using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Direct measures of executive functioning included select subtests from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System; NEuroPSYchological Assessment, Second Edition; Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition; Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fifth Edition; and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition. This research found significant group differences across all teacher ratings of executive functioning. Most correlations between tests and teacher ratings of executive function that we expected to be related were not significantly associated. Results suggest that tests and teacher ratings of executive functioning may not measure the same construct or other factors may be impacting this relationship.

Research has rarely considered within-person variability in executive function. Using a web-based program, this study investigated end-of-day executive function for 2 weeks among 178 racially/ethnically diverse adolescents (Mage = 14.53). For each core component of executive function (cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, working memory), short-term practice effects were identified for the first 4 days of assessments, and no fatigue effects emerged for the remaining days. Another 5 days were needed to achieve good reliability for assessing executive function at the between-person level. Considerable daily variation was identified for each component and the overall construct of executive function, with between 40% and 55% of the variation attributed to within-person variability. These daily variations were associated with adolescents' affective and academic experiences during the day. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Background Executive function difficulties in youth with Down syndrome (DS) are well recognised using informant-report measures. However, the profile of relative challenges and strengths has not yet been evaluated using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Second Edition (BRIEF-2), which includes a new internal factor structure. Method Using the BRIEF-2, profiles of everyday parent-reported executive function (EF) were evaluated in youth with DS (n = 34) and compared with age-based and sex-based norms. EF profiles were also compared across raters (parent vs. teacher, n = 20) and relative to mental age-matched typically developing controls (ns = 19 in each group). Results Although within-group differences were not revealed on indexes, significant differences were found among BRIEF-2 scales. Across raters, teachers reported significantly more difficulties than parents. Compared with mental age-matched typically developing controls, the DS group was rated more poorly on some but not all BRIEF-2 scales. Conclusions At the scale, but not the index level, the BRIEF-2 identifies a variegated EF profile in children with DS. For several of the scales, significant differences were noted relative to both chronological age expectations (using norms) and mental-age expectations (using a developmentally matched comparison group). At the scale level, the BRIEF-2 continues to be a sensitive tool for identifying executive function difficulties as well as profiles of relative strengths and weaknesses in children with DS.

There is a growing body of evidence implicating executive function and motor skills as factors deemed essential to school readiness i.e., early literacy, writing, mathematical skills, social behaviour and self-regulation. Further, it is suggested that there is a synergistic interplay between motor and executive function, which may be subject to environmental influence. Although the relationship between motor skills, executive function and outcomes has been explored in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies across the years from 4 years old to 5- and 6 years old, there are few studies looking at these relationships in 3-year-olds. As this is an age at which both motor skills and executive functions are rapidly developing, it is important to understand the relationship between these abilities, and the environmental factors that might influence them during this stage of development (specifically Montessori and mainstream early years approaches will be compared since the former emphasises support for the growth of motor skills). To the knowledge of the researcher, there are currently no studies exploring the effect of the different pedagogical approaches on these cognitive abilities in early years environments. The aim of this project (part of the first author’s PhD programme) is therefore to measure executive function and motor skills at three timepoints in children from 3 to 5 years of age, along with cognitive and demographic covariates. At Time 3 (approaching 5 years of age) early literacy, writing, mathematical skills, social behaviour and self-regulation will also be assessed.

Objectives: Prior work has demonstrated that executive function training or physical exercise can improve older adults’ cognition. The current study takes an exploratory approach to compare the feasibility and efficacy of online executive function training and low-intensity aerobic exercise for improving cognitive and psychosocial functioning in healthy older adults. Method: Following a standard pretest-training-posttest protocol, 40 older adults (aged 65 and above) were randomly assigned to an executive function or a physical training group. A battery of cognitive and psychosocial outcome measures were administered before and after training. During the 10 weeks of self-guided training at home (25–30 min/day, 4 days/week), the executive function training group practiced a set of adaptive online executive function tasks designed by Lumos Labs, whereas the physical training group completed an adaptive Digital Video Disc (DVD)-based low-intensity aerobic exercise program. Results: Training transfer effects were limited. Relative to low-intensity aerobic exercise, executive function training yielded cognitive improvement on the 64-card Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST-64), a general executive function measure. Depression and stress levels dropped following both training programs, but this could be driven by decreased stress or excitement in performing the tasks over time. Discussion: The results revealed limited cognitive benefits of the online executive function training program, specifically to a near transfer test of general executive control. Importantly, the current study supports the feasibility of home-based self-guided executive function and low-intensity physical training with healthy older adults.

The importance of emotion understanding (EU) or emotion knowledge for many aspects of child’s functioning has been widely studied and confirmed in the domains of peer relations (Lindsey, 2017), social competence (Trentacosta & Fine, 2010), prosocial behavior (Ensor & Hughes, 2005) and prosocial orientation (Eggum et al., 2011), kindergarten and school adjustment (Di Maggio, Zappulla, & Pace, 2016; Garrett-Peters, Castro, & Halberstadt, 2016), and school success (Voltmer & von Salisch, 2017), among others. The development of EU has been linked not only to social factors (e.g., Ogren & Johnson, 2020), but also to cognitive functioning, including verbal ability (e.g., Pons, Lawson, Harris, & de Rosnay, 2003), nonverbal intelligence (e.g., Albanese et al., 2010), and executive function (e.g., Leerkes et al., 2008). The area of executive function (EF) may be of special interest, as this relation may differ depending on the component of EF (e.g., Li et al., 2020), and the direction of this relation may well be mutual (e.g. Farrell & Gilpin, 2021). As the preschool years are the time of rapid development of both EU and EF (also with relation to the sequence of developing EF components), this age range seems of significant importance to understanding the relation between these two domains of development. Despite the growing number of studies on EF-EU relation in children, there is no systemative review of the findings in this area of research. Therefore the present meta-analysis aimed to explore the relation between emotion understanding and several components of executive function, as well as potential moderators of this relation (e.g., children's age, the design of the study, etc.) in preschool children .

Objective: Executive function (EF) performance and structure in nondemented aging are frequently examined with variable-centered approaches. Person-centered analytics can contribute unique information about classes of persons by simultaneously considering EF performance and structure. The risk predictors of these classes can then be determined by machine learning technology. Using data from the Victoria Longitudinal Study we examined two goals: (a) detect different underlying subgroups (or classes) of EF performance and structure and (b) test multiple risk predictors for best discrimination of these detected subgroups. Method: We used a classification sample (n = 778; Mage = 71.42) for the first goal and a prediction subsample (n = 570; Mage = 70.10) for the second goal. Eight neuropsychological measures represented three EF dimensions (inhibition, updating, shifting). Fifteen predictors represented five domains (genetic, functional, lifestyle, mobility, demographic). Results: First, we observed two distinct classes: (a) lower EF performance and unidimensional structure (Class 1) and (b) higher EF performance and multidimensional structure (Class 2). Second, Class 2 was predicted by younger age, more novel cognitive activity, more education, lower body mass index, lower pulse pressure, female sex, faster balance, and more physical activity. Conclusions: Data-driven modeling approaches tested the possibility of an EF aging class that displayed both preserved EF performance levels and sustained multidimensional structure. The two observed classes differed in both performance level (lower, higher) and structure (unidimensional, multidimensional). Machine learning prediction analyses showed that the higher performing and multidimensional class was associated with multiple brain health-related protective factors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

This study investigated the psychometric properties of a Persian translation of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function(BRIEF2) in 253 children with ADHD in Iran (137 boys, 116 girls)ages 8 to 12 years old (M = 10.04; SD = 1.42). The parents of the children completed the Persian BRIEF2 and the Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI). The findings indicated that the Persian version of BRIEF2 had good reliability (internal and test-retest) and satisfactory to good validity (convergent and construct). With respect to its construct validity, confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a three-factor solution was the best model fit for the nine subscales of the BRIEF2, which supports the valid interpretation of the three BRIEF2 indexes in the Persian BRIEF2. These findings support the clinical relevance of the Persian BRIEF in Iranian children with ADHD, as well as the multidimensional nature of executive functions.

The current research investigated the impact of Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) on middle level students’ executive function skills. AVID uses inquiry-based and student-centered instruction to close the opportunity gap in college attendance and degree attainment for underrepresented demographic groups. With AVID, teachers inspire students to take control of their learning. This study analyzed AVID elective class students (the intervention group) and a comparison group utilizing the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF2) Teacher Form. Each group’s science teacher completed a pre-and post-survey to measure the participants’ individual BRIEF2 Behavior Regulation Index (BRI) and Cognitive Regulation Index (CRI). A multiple regression analysis was used to measure the change in the BRI and CRI from fall to spring. The findings indicate the AVID participants’ BRI and CRI indexes were significantly different from the comparison group following the implementation of the intervention.

Objective Despite the rapid increase in problematic media device use, relatively little is known about specific characteristics and extent of problematic media device and how they relate to different psychological features.Methods Data extracted from the Panel Korea Study for the Child Cohort Study were used. At the age of 9 years, media device addiction severity was assessed using the K-scale, and children’s behavioral outcomes were assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist. Among children with problematic media device use (n=339), we performed latent profile analysis using the K-scale to identify subtypes of problematic media device use, and then compared the child behavioral problems and executive function according to the different subtypes of problematic media device use.Results Children with problematic media device use were divided into class 1 (n=51), class 2 (n=138), and class 3 (n=150). Compared with classes 2 and 3, class 1 had more severe problematic media device use, including daily activity disturbance, withdrawal, and tolerance. Class 1 had the most serious behavioral problems and executive function difficulties among classes. Class 2 had greater daily activity disturbance and tolerance than those of class 3, but executive function showed no significant difference between the two classes. In logistic regression analysis, behavioral problems except for somatization were more common in class 1 than in the control group.Conclusion Results suggest that problematic media device use is associated with significant behavioral problem and executive function difficulties and underscore the need for further clinical and research attention for these specific subgroup members.

Autistic adults report concerns with social skills and unemployment. Despite anxiety and difficulty with executive cognitive skills being associated with autism, no studies to date have investigated relationships between anxiety or executive cognition with social and work functioning. This study aimed to investigate the associations between perceived social anxiety, perceived and objective executive function, and perceived social and work functioning in a sample of autistic people. A total of 62 participants completed self-report questionnaires of social anxiety (via the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale), mental health (via the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale), executive cognition (via the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function) and perceived social and work functioning (the Work and Social Adjustment Scale), and a smaller subset ( n = 36–40) completed performance-based executive function tasks (Trail Making Task and Rapid Visual Processing Task). Participants who reported having more social anxiety and more difficulty with executive cognition also perceived themselves as having poorer social and work functioning. Performance-based executive function was not related to social or work functioning. Our results suggest that perceived social anxiety and executive cognition are both areas that have potential to be targeted to investigate whether they improve social and vocational outcomes for autistic people. Lay abstract Many autistic adults have trouble in social situations and at work. Researchers do not know exactly why autistic people might find it difficult in these environments, and no studies to date have looked the way anxiety or other cognitive processes might affect autistic peoples’ ability to socialise and succeed in getting and keeping jobs. Anxiety (how much you worry) and difficulty with getting stuff done or switching attention (known as executive function) can be concerns for autistic people and may contribute to social and work difficulties. This study looked at the relationships between the way autistic people perceived their anxiety and executive functioning and their ability to socialise and work. Sixty-two autistic participants completed questionnaires related to their ability to socialise and work, their social anxiety and their executive function. We found that participants who thought that they had poorer ability to work also found themselves to have more difficulties with executive function and they were more socially anxious. Our results showed that how autistic participants perceived their social anxiety and executive function were important in their perception of their social skills and work ability. This study supports the idea that anxiety and executive function could be targeted in interventions to support autistic people and their social and work outcomes.

Previous research on executive function (EF) as a protective factor has been limited by a focus on uniformly low- or high-risk (e.g., homelessness) contexts. Differentiating the role of EF as a main effect (i.e., promotive factor) from an interaction effect (i.e., protective factor) requires variation on the risk indicator (Brumley & Jaffee, 2016). The present study examines whether EF skills buffer the impact of early homelessness on later academic achievement using a representative sample of children who participated in routine early childhood screening in a diverse urban population, including a high proportion of children at risk for academic difficulties for reasons other than homelessness, such as poverty or racial-ethnic discrimination.

In this project we will tackle the question how the relationships between physical activity (PA), executive function (EF) and mental health (MH) behave over time by measuring these variables across three time-points, that is, ages 7, 11, and 14 years, in both males and females separately. The first arising question focuses on whether PA at age 7 predicts EF (Cambridge Gambling Task) at ages 11 and how this affects MH at age 14 (model 1). A second question will investigate whether PA at age 7 predicts MH at age 11 and how this affects EF at age 14 (model 2). This set of analyses would investigate the role of PA longitudinally. These longitudinal questions ask about how the three constructs relate over time in boys and girls separately.

Objectives Early detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is necessary to prevent irreversible brain damage caused by incipient Alzheimer's disease. It has been showing that amnestic MCI (a-MCI) subjects exhibit subtle deficits in executive function that can be tested using saccade eye movements. Eye-tracking technology is a sensitive method to measure cognitive impairments in dementia and MCI. Methods In this study, we used eye-tracking technology to explore saccade impairments to distinguish between a-MCI and the variants of reference controls. 21 patients with AD, 40 patients with a-MCI, and 59 normal participants were recruited in current study. We measured saccade reaction time, saccade errors, saccade omission, and uncorrected saccades using anti-saccade and pro-saccade tasks with 'gap' and 'overlap' procedures. These parameters were used as markers of executive function and visual attention deficits.Results: The findings revealed that more errors, more omissions, and fewer corrections characterized the saccade behavior of the a-MCI group compared to the reference group. These eye-tracking characteristics can be considered as inhibitory control and working memory deficits in a-MCI subjects. Our results thus demonstrate the applicability of the anti-saccade task as a cognitive marker in a-MCI. Conclusion The work provides further support for eye-tracking as a useful diagnostic biomarker in the assessment of executive function in aging with cognitive impairments.

Objective Previous research has documented executive function (EF) impairments in individuals with early treated phenylketonuria (ETPKU). It remains unclear, however, whether some aspects of EF may be more affected than others. A number of factors, including small sample sizes and variability in EF tasks, have likely contributed to past mixed findings. The present objective was to elucidate further the EF profile associated with ETPKU, particularly as it relates to report-based assessment of EF. Method Data from 286 individuals (5-48 years of age) with ETPKU on the child and adult versions of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), a well-established report-based assessment tool, were analyzed. Results The Working Memory scale showed the largest effect size in both young and older ETPKU samples, with 19% of children and 29% of adults scoring in the "abnormally elevated" range. In addition, EF impairment appeared more general (i.e., affecting more domains) in the adult sample as compared to the child sample. Exploratory analyses also suggested that the presence/absence of overall impairment on the BRIEF among our ETPKU participants could be predicted based on a small subset of items. A 10-item subset showed total classification accuracy values of 90% and above for both groups. Conclusions Working memory represents an aspect of EF that appears to be particularly affected in individuals with ETPKU. Findings also provide preliminary support of the viability for the development and/or adoption of an abbreviated screening measure for EF difficulties in children and adults with ETPKU. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

This project aims to examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between screen engagement, executive function, and sleep in UK adolescents, using the Millennium Cohort Study. This study will classify the frequently used term ‘screen use’ into more nuanced categories to determine if there are different associations between type of screen use, executive function, and sleep.

The aim of the current study is to examine the relationship between executive function (EF) and responsiveness to Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretations (CBM-I). EF refers to cognitive abilities such as working memory and attention (Chan et al., 2008), whilst interpretation bias (IB) refers to the tendency to interpret ambiguous information in a consistently negative manner, such as interpreting a stranger's smile as derisive rather than friendly (Grey & Mathews, 2000). Research suggests that interpretation bias plays a crucial role in the maintenance of pathological worry (Hirsch & Mathews, 2012; Hirsch et al., 2016). In addition, pathological worriers may lack a positive interpretational bias found in low worriers (Feng et al., 2019). CBM-I is an intervention aimed at correcting maladaptive biases and associated symptoms, training individuals to generate consistently positive interpretations of emotional ambiguity (Hirsch et al., 2016). Whilst studies show that single session training alone produces a marked degree of success, less is known about the factors underlying CBM-I efficacy. Furthermore, whilst CBM-I and EF remediation have been typically examined as separate targets/strategies for reducing worry or alleviating mood/emotional disorder symptoms (Gold et al., 2016), little research has assessed the direct relationship between CBM-I and EF in the adult population (Pergamin-Hight et al., 2016; Grol et al., 2018); a better understanding of which may permit future research to explore EF as a potential target for enhancing CBM-I efficacy. Thus, the present study aims to examine the extent to which EF moderates the efficacy of CBM-I. Participants will take part in an online implemented experiment powered by Inquisit version 5 (https://www.millisecond.com). Direct email will be used to recruit participants who volunteered to be on our pre-existing worry database, having completed the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) previously. We will initially recruit only high worriers (those scoring >= 62 on the PSWQ). A study information page, along with a consent form, will provide a brief description of the experiment, but crucially there will be no explicit mention of any training procedure (e.g. CBM-I) or interpretation bias to avoid alerting participants to the goals of the study. Subject to consent, participants will complete the PSWQ to confirm worry levels at the time of participation, and will then proceed to complete a series of tasks, detailed below. The first is a task assessing executive function, the N-back task. This will be followed by a pre-training interpretation bias measure, the Recognition task, after which the interpretation bias training task takes place. Finally, a post-training assessment of interpretation bias will be completed, again using the recognition task. Executive Function Measure, the N-back task: Participants must indicate with a key press as quickly and as accurately as possible when the currently presented stimulus is identical to the stimulus presented N trials previously, typically zero-back, one-back, two-back and three-back (during the zero-back block, participants must decide whether the currently presented stimulus is identical to that shown on the very first target trial). Participants are provided with an instructional reminder before the start of a given N-back block. 20 different consonants are used as stimuli (Ragland et al., 2002), and the task consists of 3 blocks of 15 trials for each N-back ‘level’ (12 blocks in all) presented in pseudo-random order. Of the 15 trials in each block, 5 present a target (the current stimulus matches the N-trials back) and 10 do not, appearing in a randomised order. IB assessment: the recognition task. In the first half of this task, participants read 10 individually presented ambiguous scenarios, each presented with a descriptive title (e.g. ‘the evening stroll’). Participants complete a word-fragment of the final word for each scenario, followed by answering a yes/no comprehension question. In the second half of the task (recognition phase), the descriptive titles are presented only, followed by four disambiguating interpretative statements that relate to the original scenario. Participants must rate the degree of similarity between the interpretative statement and original scenario via a 4-point Likert scale. Two of the statements are classed as positive and negative ‘targets’, ratings of which provide independent indices of a positive or negative IB, respectively. The remaining two statements are positive and negative ‘foils’, and are not semantically related to the ambiguity context. CBM-I: Participants will be allocated to one of two conditions namely, positive training or control training. In the positive training condition, participants will be (aurally) presented with a series of ambiguous scenarios that are resolved in a positive manner. After participants have listened to the scenario, they are presented with a yes/no comprehension question on screen that aims to further reinforce a positive interpretational response to ambiguity. They are then given feedback in the form of ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’, with correct being delivered when they endorse the positive statement. Thus, participants learn to endorse positive interpretations of scenarios. In the control training condition, participants are presented with a series of ambiguous scenarios that remain neutral. In this condition, yes/no comprehension questions relate to factual aspects and therefore do not aim to reinforce any particular interpretative response. Participants receive 50 scenarios in each condition. The positive training condition presents 38 positively resolved scenarios, 6 negative scenarios and 6 catch trials. No feedback is provided on catch trials. After each of the tasks are complete participants will be asked if they consent to our looking up their Phenomenological Control (PC) Score in our participant database. Analysis will examine whether the extent of any change in IB from before to after CBM-I is related to participants EF score from the N-back task. In addition, for participants providing consent for us to look up their PC, we will examine whether the same change in IB from before to after CBM-I relates to their PC score (independently of EF).

3.1. Much research has set out to establish which factors contribute to the development of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination (Bigler & Liben, 2007). Given that the hope is to subvert the development of such beliefs and behaviors, much of this research has focused on young children. Most of the empirical and theoretical research has suggested that the reduction of prejudice can occur through increased intergroup contact and cooperation (Pettigrew, Tropp, Wagner, & Christ, 2011). Although this robust literature is useful, it is not always practical to engage children in intergroup contact when the stigmatized group is very small. This is particularly relevant when considering children’s interactions with individuals with physical disabilities. The prevalence of ambulatory disabilities in 5- to 15-year-olds was 0.6% in 2012 (Erickson, Lee, & von Schrader, 2014), suggesting that children would have few opportunities for interaction with peers who have physical disabilities. Given the limitations of engaging children in intergroup contact in cases such as this, it is worthwhile to consider alternative ways in which to reduce prejudice early in life. Another promising line of research suggests that cognitive skills may buffer children’s negative perceptions of typically stigmatized individuals. In particular, it has been demonstrated that various Executive Function skills (e.g., memory, inhibition, & flexibility) are linked to less biased social judgments (Hoyo, Rueda, Rodríguez-Bailón, 2019). These skills are relevant to prejudice in a number of ways. First, memory skills are implicated in children’s bias because children can use memory skills to recall stereotypes which they have encountered in the past. Conversely, remembering incidences when individuals engaged in stereotype-inconsistent behavior can reduce bias (Bigler & Liben, 1990, 1993; Liben & Signorella, 1980; Martin & Halverson, 1983). Second, inhibitory control, the ability to override prepotent responses, is also a relevant skill. Familiar social stereotypes are schemas, habit based heuristic responses. Thus, inhibitory control may serve to prevent these biased responses and instead allow children to respond in a more thoughtful way based on evidence (Boseovski & Marcovitch, 2012). Third, cognitive flexibility, which refers to the ability to “shift attention between task sets, attributes of a stimulus, responses, perspectives, or strategies (Perone et al., 2018), may also be relevant to social bias. Of note, cognitive flexibility facilitates the classification of stimuli into superordinate inclusive categories. This process highlights the similarity between items that may seem different at first glance (e.g., a blue boat and blue bunny are different shapes, but are the same color; Qu & Zelazo, 2007). These skills may likewise facilitate children’s conceptualization of individuals as similar to one another in positive ways (e.g., being friendly) regardless of different outward appearances (e.g., physical disability). In addition to these cognitive skills, substantial evidence suggests that social cognitive skills also contribute to children’s stereotyping and prejudice. Theory of Mind, broadly defined as reasoning about mental states, includes the ability to make appropriate inferences about contradictory inner and outer states (e.g., false emotions; Halberstadt et al., 2001). This may play a role in children’s likelihood of making positive judgments about peers, especially those whose outward appearance may make them seem unlikely to behave positively due to reconceived stereotypes. Many studies have now documented that various types of Theory of Mind are linked to decreased social bias (e.g., Aboud, 1981; Beelmann & Heinemann, 2014; Gee & Heyman, 2007; Lapan & Boseovski, 2016; Rutland et al., 2005). Although previous literature has documented the individual contributions of Executive Function and Theory of Mind to children’s reasoning about stigmatized groups, little research has conducted comprehensive assessments of all of these skills in a single study. This is a notable gap in the literature given that the Executive Function skills described underlie the development of Theory of Mind (Carlson, Mandell, & Williams, 2004). Thus, it is necessary to examine the concurrent contributions of both Executive Function and Theory of Mind in order to tease apart the distinct contributions of these skills to engagement in prejudice and stereotyping. Additionally, the reviewed literature has focused almost exclusively on gender and racial bias. Much less is known about how these skills relate to children’s perceptions of individuals with physical disabilities. The goal of the current study is to build of Dr. Lapan’s previous research in this area, which has attempted to examine the relation of both Executive Function skills and Theory of Mind skills with preschoolers’ tendency to stereotype and stigmatize peers with physical disabilities (Lapan & Boseovski, 2016). The current study will address a number of limitations of this previous research by including more comprehensive assessments of Theory of Mind and Executive Function. Additionally, it will also address a limitation in Dr. Lapan’s previous study by including a language assessment. Given that Theory of Mind is reliant in part on language skills, it is necessary to examine whether Theory of Mind accounts for decreased stigmatization above and beyond language abilities.

The aim of this research is to adopt a meta-analytic approach to elucidate the relation between typically-developing preschoolers’ Performance-Based (PB) and Informant-Report (IR) measures of Executive Function (EF). We plan to systematize the body of literature including PB and IR measures of EF, and to assess the size of the relations between the two constructs. PB EF can be assessed globally (e.g., as a performance-based composite of different tasks) or specifically (e.g., measures of inhibitory control, working memory, set-shifting, attention, and planning). Similarly, IR measures of EF can be assessed globally (total scores on a scale such as the BRIEF) or specifically (e.g., scores on sub-scales measuring working memory, inhibition, and so on). Our research aims to accomplish the following central goals: 1) Global to global relations: Our first goal is to examine the extent to which global PB EF correlates with global IR EF. 2) Global to specific relations: Our second goal is to explore the degree to which global PB/IR measures relate to specific PB/IR sub-components. 2.1. We will examine the relation between Global PB EF and specific IR scales of EF (e.g., the BRIEF sub-scales measuring working memory, etc.). 2.2. We will examine the relation between Global PB EF and specific IR scales of EF (e.g., the BRIEF, the REEF, the CBQ). 2.3. We will examine the relation between Global IR EF and specific PB measures of EF (e.g., inhibitory control, working memory etc.) 3) Specific to specific relations: Our third goal is to explore the relations between specific components of PB EF and specific IR scales. 4) PB Task and IR scale relations: At an even more specific level, our fourth goal is to assess the degree to which different types of PB EF tasks (e.g., Digit Span, Day/Night, Go-No/Go, etc.) are more or less associated with: 4.1. Global IR EF 4.2. Different IR scales (e.g., BRIEF, CBQ). 4.3. Different sub-scales of IR measures of EF. 5) Our fifth goal is to evaluate whether the relation between PB and IR scales of EF may be moderated by certain factors such as the type of informant who completed the report (i.e., parent or teacher), or children’s age, culture, language, etc.

Resonance frequency breathing (RFB) is a widely used self-paced breathing paradigm that seeks to enhance cardiorespiratory control (Lehrer & Gevirtz 2014) and in turn promote optimal physiological and emotional regulation (Lehrer et al., 2020). During RFB, individuals maintain a steady breathing rate at 6 breaths per minute (BPM) with the aid of a pacing stimulus (e.g., a computerised visual or auditory cue). Specifically, RFB works by increasing the pattern of synchronicity between heart rate and respiration. Previous studies indicate that biofeedback based RFB, for example, feedback on heart rate variability (HRV) which has been shown to increase with RFB, is associated with improved performance on tasks assessing executive function (EF), such as working memory and attention (for a systematic review, see Tinello et al., 2021). Whilst more recent research suggests a positive correlation between this type of intervention and EF performance, less is known about the extent to which online delivered RFB improves EF (Laborde et al., 2021, 2022; Bonomini et al., 2020; Chaitanya et al., 2022). Such research is necessary to establish the versatility and (far) transfer effects of RFB beyond the laboratory setting. If robust significant effects are observed, this would support the development of accessible and scalable online interventions aimed at emotionally vulnerable individuals (e.g., high worriers). Whilst impaired EF has long been associated with the maintenance of clinical anxiety and pathological worry (Eysenck et al., 2011; Fox et al., 2015), the efficacy of traditional cognitive training concerning negative emotional symptoms remains disputed (Keshavan et al., 2014). In a recent study, Hotton, Derakshan & Fox (2018) found that both active N-back training (reaching up to four N-back levels) and active N-back control training (remaining at the level of one-back only) provide equal improvement in working memory capacity and worry, although training-related improvements during active N-back training was positively associated with working memory enhancement and worry reduction. Such findings illustrate that there is a need for research to identify factors that augment existing EF remedial approaches (e.g., methods for optimising far-transference effects, individual differences etc), that in turn provide a stronger clinical impact for reducing anxiety and worry. If successful then, online RFB may provide a promising target for EF enhancement and as suggested by the previous literature provide an effective strategy for emotional regulation (Lehrer et al., 2020). The current study brings this objective into focus by examining the relationship between acute online implemented RFB and EF, assessed by the N-back task. The single N-back task is selected as the key outcome measure of EF, based on the previous literature utilizing this task in worry-based samples, in addition to recommendations for implementing single N-back as a simpler training paradigm, given that single- and dual- N-back versions provide equal training effects (Jaeggi et al., 2010). In accordance with neurovisceral integration theory (Thayer et al., 2009) and the resonance breathing model (Lehrer & Gevirtz, 2013), the current study predicts that EF performance is greater following RFB (6BPM) as compared to an active control breathing condition (12BPM) (the latter is considered within the range of normalised breathing; Tsai et al., 2015). The current online study is hosted within the Inquisit environment; initially participants will be presented with a study information page followed by a consent page. Subject to consent, participants will then complete the Penn-State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), a demographical questionnaire followed by self-assessment of baseline anxiety and relaxation levels, as measured by visual analogue scales (VAS). Participants will then receive a five-minute N-back practice block to aid with EF task familiarisation provided later on. During the N-back task, participants are required to respond (via keypress) when the stimulus on the current trial matches the stimulus N trials previously, typically one, two or three trials before. Once practice is complete, participants will be randomly assigned to a 5-minute self-paced breathing session, either the RFB or active control breathing condition (allocation is counter-balanced across participants). During self-paced breathing, participants are instructed to match their breathing rate to the speed of a visual cue on the screen (see below for further details). The visual cue consists of a blue bar rising (prompting inhalation) and a green bar lowering (prompting exhalation) (based on the EZ-Air software; Thought Technology Ltd., Montreal, Canada). Previous research suggests that 6BPM is an optimal breathing pace for evoking cardiac resonance (Laborde et al., 2021), whilst 12BPM is thought to be closer to our normative (although highly variable) breathing rate (Tsai et al., 2015). Once the self-paced breathing session is complete, participants rate their anxiety and relaxation levels, as well as their confidence in maintaining the required breathing pace throughout the block (included as a manipulation check). Finally, the main N-back task is immediately presented in order to minimize potential wash-out effects. The current study adopts a within-subject design; participants will therefore repeat the same procedure a second time starting from the breathing block. The breathing pacer will be for the alternate breathing condition from that seen in the first block; VAS ratings and the N-back will be unchanged. Overall, the study lasts approximately one hour. Executive Function Measure, the N-back task: Participants must indicate with a key press as quickly and as accurately as possible when the currently presented stimulus is identical to the stimulus presented N trials previously, typically zero-back, one-back, two-back and three-back (during the zero-back block, participants must decide whether the currently presented stimulus is identical to that shown on the very first target trial). Participants are provided with an instructional reminder before the start of a given N-back block. 20 different consonants are used as stimuli (Ragland et al., 2002), and the task consists of 3 blocks of 15 trials for each N-back ‘level’ (12 blocks in all) presented in pseudo-random order. Of the 15 trials in each block, 5 present a target (the current stimulus matches the N-trials back) and 10 present a nontarget (the current stimulus does not match the N-trials back), appearing in a randomised order. ‘Hits’ refer to those trials where participants have correctly identified the current stimulus as matching N trials previously, whereas ‘false alarms’ refer to those trials where participants have incorrectly identified the current stimulus as matching N trials previously. Self-paced breathing: As specified above, the self-paced breathing paradigm consists of two separate sessions, namely RFB (6BPM) and active control breathing (12BPM) conditions. During the session, participants are instructed to match their respiration rate to the speed of a visual cue located at the centre of the screen. The visual cue consists of a blue bar rising (prompting inhalation) and a green bar lowering (prompting exhalation). Participants are instructed to inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth with pursed lips. RFB consists of an inhale-to-exhale ratio of 4.5-5.5 seconds whereas the 12 BPM condition consists of a ratio of 2.2-2.8 seconds, respectively. The self-paced breathing block lasts 5-minutes without any break (Laborde and colleagues (2022) implemented 5-minute RFB in conditions with and without HRV biofeedback). The animated pacer is presented on the instructional pages to aid familiarisation, and once participants have understood the instructions, they can begin the main session. Visual analogue scales (VAS): the VAS provides a measure of self-reported anxiety, relaxation and breathing efficacy. For the anxiety scale, participants are prompted with the question on the screen: ‘How anxious do you feel? (Click on the line)’ . The line is anchored by the words ‘not at all anxious’ at the extreme left of the line and ‘extremely anxious’ at the extreme right of the line, with a response range of 0 – 100; responses are not revealed to participants. This same scale is applied to the relaxation domain: ‘How relaxed do you feel? (Click on the line)’. The line is anchored by the words ‘not at all relaxed’ at the extreme left of the line and ‘extremely relaxed’ at the extreme right of the line. Finally, a third VAS serves as a manipulation check of self-paced breathing: ‘What percentage of the time did you successfully match your breathing with the pacer? (Click on the line)’. The line is anchored by the value ‘0 %’ at the extreme left of the line and ‘100%’ at the extreme right of the line. Previous research adopt VAS in RFB interventions (Laborde et al., 2021, 2022; Lin et al., 2014).

Children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) often experience executive dysfunction, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and poor social skills, however, the nature of the relationships between these domains in children with NF1 is unclear. This study investigated these relationships using primary caregiver ratings of executive functions, ADHD symptoms and social skills in children with NF1. Participants were 136 children with NF1 and 93 typically developing (TD) controls aged 3-15 years recruited from 3 multidisciplinary neurofibromatosis clinics in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, and Washington DC, USA. Mediation analysis was performed on primary outcome variables: parent ratings of executive functions (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Metacognition Index), ADHD symptoms (Conners-3/Conners ADHD Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders Scales) and social skills (Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scale), adjusting for potential confounders (full scale IQ, sex, and social risk). Results revealed significantly poorer executive functions, elevated ADHD symptoms and reduced social skills in children with NF1 compared to controls. Poorer executive functions significantly predicted elevated ADHD symptoms and poorer social skills. Elevated ADHD symptoms significantly mediated the relationship between executive functions and social skills problems although did not fully account for social dysfunction. This study provides evidence for the importance of targeting ADHD symptoms as part of future interventions aimed at promoting prosocial behaviors in children with NF1.

The primary purpose of this study was to compare the working memory performance of monolingual English-speaking 2(nd−)grade children with dyslexia (N=82) to 2(nd) grade children with typical development (N = 167). Prior to making group comparisons, it is important to demonstrate invariance between working memory models in both groups or between-group comparisons would not be valid. Thus, we completed invariance testing using a model of working memory that had been validated for children with typical development (Gray et al., 2017) to see if it was valid for children with dyslexia. We tested three types of invariance: configural (does the model test the same constructs?), metric (are the factor loadings equivalent?), and scalar (are the item intercepts the same?). Group comparisons favored the children with typical development across all three working memory factors. However, differences in the Focus-of-Attention/Visuospatial factor could be explained by group differences in non-verbal intelligence and language skills. In contrast, differences in the Phonological and Central Executive working memory factors remained, even after accounting for non-verbal intelligence and language. Results highlight the need for researchers and educators to attend not only to the phonological aspects of working memory in children with dyslexia, but also to central executive function. Working memory can be defined as an individual’s capacity for retaining a limited amount of information in an accessible form that allows it to be used or manipulated to carry out various cognitive tasks (Cowan, 2017). It underpins important academic functions (e.g., Cowan, 2014; Knoop-van Campen et al., 2018; Peng et al., 2016; 2018; Rhodes et al., 2016) with research suggesting that aspects of working memory are impaired in at least a subset of children with dyslexia (e.g., Gray et al., 2019; Jeffries & Everatt, 2004; Swanson & Sachse-Lee, 2001). Prior to making between-group comparisons that would suggest working memory impairment, however, we require evidence that the same working memory construct is being measured across groups. Invariance analyses test this very thing: they mathematically determine if a model fits similarly for two groups. If models are not invariant across groups, results of between-group comparisons could be invalid, uninterpretable (e.g., Fisher & Karl, 2019), and include systematic measurement error (e.g., Yoon & Lai, 2018). Therefore, the first purpose of this study was to determine whether a working memory model that fit the data for second-grade children with typical development (TD; Gray et al., 2017) would be invariant when we tested the same model with a group of second-grade children with dyslexia who completed the same working memory tasks. We used a multi-step process to test configural invariance (equivalence of model form), metric invariance (equivalence of factor loadings) and scalar invariance (equivalence of item intercepts). With invariance established, we proceeded to compare factor means on working memory measures for the groups with TD and dyslexia and to determine whether non-verbal intelligence and omnibus oral language measures could account for potential differences in the factor means (see Figure 1).

Several studies have reported poor executive function (EF) development in deaf children with subsequent impacts on their social and academic attainment. This paper describes the results of a music-based EF intervention designed for deaf children and carried out in two sets of primary schools. This is the first classroom-based EF training study with deaf children, and it also incorporates a replication phase. The intervention was a within-subject crossover design, with 29 deaf children aged 7–11 years who participated in both an EF and an art class control activity, each lasting 10 hours over 5 weeks. Non-verbal EF skills were assessed at pre-test, the crossover point, and post-test. Findings indicated that the EF intervention led to an improvement in participants’ working memory and inhibitory skills in comparison with their performance on the same tasks after the control activity. The findings were not uniform for all EFs targeted nor for all cognitive ability levels in the sample. We discuss the implications of our findings for deaf children with different ability levels and for how EF interventions can be further improved.

Funder: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Funder: National Research Foundation (Singapore) CREATE Grant to the University of Cambridge and Nanyang Technological University for the Centre of Lifelong Learning and Individualised Cognition (CLIC)., Concepts of cognitive control (CC) and executive function (EF) are defined in terms of their relationships with goal-directed behavior versus habits and controlled versus automatic processing, and related to the functions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and related regions and networks. A psychometric approach shows unity and diversity in CC constructs, with 3 components in the most commonly studied constructs: general or common CC and components specific to mental set shifting and working memory updating. These constructs are considered against the cellular and systems neurobiology of PFC and what is known of its functional neuroanatomical or network organization based on lesioning, neurochemical, and neuroimaging approaches across species. CC is also considered in the context of motivation, as "cool" and "hot" forms. Its Common CC component is shown to be distinct from general intelligence (g) and closely related to response inhibition. Impairments in CC are considered as possible causes of psychiatric symptoms and consequences of disorders. The relationships of CC with the general factor of psychopathology (p) and dimensional constructs such as impulsivity in large scale developmental and adult populations are considered, as well as implications for genetic studies and RDoC approaches to psychiatric classification.

Introduction. The use of executive function (EF) instruments to assess children’s functional performance is obscured with a lack of consensus on which is most suitable to use within the occupational therapy profession. This review identifies EF instruments used by occupational therapists (OTs) for children and evaluates their measurement properties. Methods. This systematic review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020172107). We reviewed occupational therapy-related studies published until March 2021, to identify performance-based EF instruments used among children by OTs. Two review authors independently screened, extracted, and evaluated the methodological rigor of the included studies. Adequacy of the measurement properties was determined using the COSMIN, and the Terwee criteria were used for synthesis of best evidence. Results. Five EF assessments were found across eight study articles: Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome for Children, Children’s Cooking Task, Children’s Kitchen Task Assessment, Do-Eat, and Preschool Executive Task Assessment. Adequacy of measurement properties and synthesis of best evidence varied, leading to a low GRADE rating on the certainty of evidence for the included instruments. Conclusions. There is limited evidence that supports the certainty of evidence on the measurement properties of the reviewed tools in helping OTs assess performance-based EF among children. Nevertheless, the authors conditionally suggest their use based on the critical need to measure children’s EF. Further research is needed to establish the measurement properties of these measures across different childhood populations.

Executive functions (EF) and self-regulation (SR) are fundamental for children's learning, school functioning and academic achievement. EF/SR fail to develop to its full potential if contextual stimulation is not adequately presented. This is evident in the training programmes directly and exclusively targeting EF/SR stimulation, which lack durable and transferable effects. Therefore, recent research has shifted the attention towards malleable environmental factors; more specifically, to the role of school and classroom environment as an important developmental context for promoting children's EF/SR skills and, in turn, their cognition and behaviour. Numerous observational studies have shown a correlation between the quality of teacher-student relationship (TSR) at the dyadic level or teacher-student interaction (TSI) at the classroom level and children's EF/SR skills. To explore the direction of this association, the objective of this systematic literature review was to examine the causal effect of experiments and interventions that aim to improve children's EF/SR by manipulating the TSI. Overall, the results from 18 included studies indicated that children in treatment groups show higher gains, albeit small-sized, in EF/SR performance compared to controls. Furthermore, TSI manipulation seemed to affect children's SR skills more strongly than children's EF skills. More importantly, the findings revealed the largest effects of these manipulations in children considered vulnerable or disadvantaged, suggesting that the cognitive deficits can be minimised if these children are supported appropriately. Given high study heterogeneity, this review highlights the need for more research (and interventions) explicitly investigating TSI and TSR and their potential impact on EF and SR in children. This study aims to provide information as to which specific aspects need to be examined more closely, instructing further development and implementation of efficient and effective interventions in education. ispartof: Frontiers In Psychology vol:12 pages:1-20 ispartof: location:Switzerland status: published