The effect of executive function on biological reasoning in young children: an individual differences study.

There is substantial variance in the age at which children construct and deploy their first explicit theory of biology. This study tests the hypothesis that this variance is due, at least in part, to individual differences in their executive function (EF) abilities. A group of 79 boys and girls aged 5-7 years (with a mean age of 6½ years) were presented with two test batteries: (a) a biology battery that probed their understanding of life, death, and body functions and (b) an EF battery that tested working memory, inhibition, and set-shifting skills. Individuals' EF scores significantly predict their biology scores, even after controlling for age and verbal IQ.

[1]  A. Kramer,et al.  Changes in executive control across the life span: examination of task-switching performance. , 2001, Developmental psychology.

[2]  G. Hatano,et al.  Young children's naive theory of biology , 1994, Cognition.

[3]  J. Briscoe,et al.  Developmental consequences of poor phonological short-term memory function in childhood: a longitudinal study. , 2005, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[4]  R. J. B..  The Child's Conception of the World , 1929, Nature.

[5]  A. Anastasi.  Individual differences. , 2020, Annual review of psychology.

[6]  Gregg E. A. Solomon,et al.  Animist thinking in the elderly and in patients with Alzheimer's disease , 2008, Cognitive neuropsychology.

[7]  D. Zaitchik,et al.  Inhibitory Mechanisms and Impairment in Domain-Specific Reasoning: Studies of Healthy Elderly Adults and Patients with Alzheimer's Disease , 2008 .

[8]  Sanne H. G. van der Ven,et al.  The structure of executive functions in children: a closer examination of inhibition, shifting, and updating. , 2013, The British journal of developmental psychology.

[9]  Susan Carey,et al.  Knowledge Enrichment and Conceptual Change in Folkbiology: Evidence from Williams Syndrome , 1998, Cognitive Psychology.

[10]  D. Amso,et al.  Development of cognitive control and executive functions from 4 to 13 years: Evidence from manipulations of memory, inhibition, and task switching , 2006, Neuropsychologia.

[11]  J. Duncan,et al.  Intelligence and the Frontal Lobe: The Organization of Goal-Directed Behavior , 1996, Cognitive Psychology.

[12]  Yuko Munakata,et al.  Developing Cognitive Control , 2012, Current directions in psychological science.

[13]  Susan Carey,et al.  Science Education as Conceptual Change , 2000 .

[14]  C. Nelson,et al.  The functional emergence of prefrontally-guided working memory systems in four- to eight-year-old children , 1998, Neuropsychologia.

[15]  Adult' conceptualization of irreversibility: implications for the development of the concept of death , 1993 .

[16]  Y. Munakata,et al.  Active versus latent representations: a neural network model of perseveration, dissociation, and decalage. , 2002, Developmental psychobiology.

[17]  S. Carey,et al.  Constructing a coherent theory: Children's biological understanding of life and death. , 1999 .

[18]  V. Slaughter,et al.  Learning about life and death in early childhood , 2003, Cognitive Psychology.

[19]  Douglas Frye,et al.  Cognitive complexity and control: A theory of the development of deliberate reasoning and intentional action , 1997 .

[20]  Lynn Hasher,et al.  Working Memory, Comprehension, and Aging: A Review and a New View , 1988 .

[21]  E. Lichtenberger.  Peabody Individual Achievement Test–Revised/Normative Update , 2008 .

[22]  K. Gerken,et al.  Correlations between Scores for Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test—III and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—III , 1999 .

[23]  F. N. Dempster,et al.  The rise and fall of the inhibitory mechanism: Toward a unified theory of cognitive development and aging , 1992 .

[24]  A. Miyake,et al.  Not All Executive Functions Are Related to Intelligence , 2006, Psychological science.

[25]  誼余夫 波多野,et al.  Young children's naive thinking about the biological world , 2002 .

[26]  H. Wellman,et al.  The emergence of children's causal explanations and theories: evidence from everyday conversation. , 2001, Developmental psychology.

[27]  L. Moses,et al.  Individual differences in inhibitory control and children's theory of mind. , 2001, Child development.

[28]  Ulrich Müller,et al.  The development of executive function in early childhood: I. The development of executive function. , 2003 .

[29]  S. Thompson-Schill,et al.  Developmental “Roots” in Mature Biological Knowledge , 2009, Psychological science.

[30]  H. Barrett.  Human cognitive adaptations to predators and prey , 2000 .

[31]  R. Baumeister,et al.  Ego depletion: is the active self a limited resource? , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[32]  Sylvie Belleville,et al.  Working memory and control of attention in persons with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment. , 2007 .

[33]  J. A. Fodor.  A theory of the child's theory of mind , 1992, Cognition.

[34]  D. Zaitchik,et al.  Conservation of species, volume, and belief in patients with Alzheimer's disease: The issue of domain specificity and conceptual impairment , 2009, Cognitive neuropsychology.

[35]  S. Carey.  Conceptual Change in Childhood , 1985 .

[36]  P. Harris,et al.  Children's Acceptance of Conflicting Testimony: The Case of Death , 2005 .

[37]  C. Blair,et al.  Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten. , 2007, Child development.

[38]  Yuko Munakata,et al.  Becoming self-directed: Abstract representations support endogenous flexibility in children , 2010, Cognition.

[39]  Maria Kharitonova,et al.  The Role of Representations in Executive Function: Investigating a Developmental Link between Flexibility and Abstraction , 2011, Front. Psychology.

[40]  A. Diamond,et al.  Preschool Program Improves Cognitive Control , 2007, Science.

[41]  Stephanie M. Carlson,et al.  The Development of Executive Functioning and Theory of Mind , 2006, Psychological science.

[42]  Thomas S. Kuhn,et al.  Commensurability, Comparability, Communicability , 1982, PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association.

[43]  S. Carey.  The Origin of Concepts , 2000 .

[44]  D. Riby,et al.  Executive neuropsychological functioning in individuals with Williams syndrome , 2010, Neuropsychologia.

[45]  Brian J. Scholl,et al.  Modularity, Development and ‘Theory of Mind’ , 1999 .

[46]  M. J. Emerson,et al.  The Unity and Diversity of Executive Functions and Their Contributions to Complex “Frontal Lobe” Tasks: A Latent Variable Analysis , 2000, Cognitive Psychology.