Plasticity of Executive Functions in Childhood and Adolescence: Effects of Cognitive Training Interventions

Article Sidebar

PDF
Published: Mar 26, 2015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32348/1852.4206.v7.n1.10103
Keywords:
executive functions, cognitive training, childhood, adolescence, cognitive plasticity

Main Article Content

Julia Karbach
Goethe-University Frankfurt. Department of Psychology

Abstract

Executive functions include a set of higher-level cognitive control abilities, such as cognitive flexibility, inhibition, and working memory. They support action control and the flexible adaptation to changing environments. Given that these control functions rely on the prefrontal cortex, they develop rapidly across childhood and adolescence. Importantly, executive control is a strong predictor for various life outcomes, such as academic achievement, socioeconomic status, and physical health. Therefore, numerous training interventions have been designed to improve executive functioning in children and adolescents, both in normally developing individuals and children suffering from neurocognitive and developmental disorders. Despite some encouraging findings revealing that executive control training benefitted untrained task and abilities, such as fluid intelligence and academic performance, recent findings regarding the transferability of training-induced performance improvements to untrained tasks are heterogeneous. This short review aims at providing a selective overview of developmental findings and discussing the effects of different types of executive control training in children and adolescents as well as the potential of cognitive training interventions for the application in clinical and educational contexts.

Article Details

How to Cite
Plasticity of Executive Functions in Childhood and Adolescence: Effects of Cognitive Training Interventions. (2015). Argentinean Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.32348/1852.4206.v7.n1.10103
Issue
Vol. 7 No. 1 (2015): Número Especial: "Desarrollo de funciones ejecutivas - Development of executive functions"
Section
Reviews

La RACC aplicará la licencia internacional de atribuciones comunes creativas (Reconocimiento 4.0 Internacional: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Bajo esta licencia, se permite cualquier explotación de la obra, incluyendo la explotación con fines comerciales y la creación de obras derivadas, la distribución de las cuales también está permitida sin ninguna restricción. Esta licencia es una licencia libre según la Freedom Defined. La única condición es que siempre y en todos los casos se cite a los autores y a la fuente original de publicación (i.e., RACC). Esta licencia fue desarrollada para facilitar el acceso abierto, gratuito y libre a trabajos originales científicos y artísticos.

How to Cite

Plasticity of Executive Functions in Childhood and Adolescence: Effects of Cognitive Training Interventions. (2015). Argentinean Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.32348/1852.4206.v7.n1.10103

References

Alloway, T., Bibile, V., & Lau, G. (2013). Computerized working memory training: Can it lead to gains in cognitive skills in students? Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 632–638.

Au, J., Sheehan, E., Tsai, N., Duncan, G.J., Buschkuehl, M., & Jaeggi, S. M. (2014). Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory: a meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1-12.

Barkley, R.A. (1997). Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 65.

Basak, C., Boot, W.R., Voss, M.W., & Kramer, A.F. (2008). Can training in a real-time strategy video game attenuate cognitive decline in older adults? Psychology and Aging, 23, 765.

Beck, S.J., Hanson, C.A., Puffenberger, S.S., Benninger, K.L., & Benninger, W.B. (2010). A controlled trial of working memory training for children and adolescents with ADHD. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 39, 825-836.

Best, J.R., & Miller, P.H. (2010). A developmental perspective on executive function. Child Development, 81, 1641-1660.

Bjorklund, D.F. (2005). Children’s thinking: Cognitive development and individual differences. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Blair, C., & Razza, R.P. (2007). Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten. Child Development, 78, 647– 663.

Borella, E., Carretti, B., & Pelegrina, S. (2010). The specific role of inhibition in reading comprehension in good and poor comprehenders. Journal of Learning Disabililties, 43, 541–52.

Buitenweg, J. I., Murre, J. M., & Ridderinkhof, K. R. (2012). Brain training in progress: a review of trainability in healthy seniors. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 183.

Bull, R., Andrews Espy, K., Wiebe, S.A., Sheffield, T. D., & Nelson, J. M. (2011). Using confirmatory factor analysis to understand executive control in preschool children: Sources of variation in emergent mathematic achievement. Developmental Science, 14, 679–692.

Bunge, S.A., & Wright, S.B. (2007). Neurodevelopmental changes in working memory and cognitive control. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 17, 243-250.

Bunge, S.A., & Zelazo, P.D. (2006). A brain-based account of the development of rule use in childhood. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 118-121.

Buschkuehl, M., Jaeggi, S., Kobel,A., & Perrig, W.J. (2008). Braintwister – Aufgabensammlung für kognitives Training. Universität Bern: Institut für Psychologie.

Carpenter, M., Nagell, K., Tomasello, M (1998). Social cognition, joint attention, and communicative competence from 9 to 15 months of age. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, i-174.

Casey, B. J., Tottenham, N., Liston, C., & Durston, S. (2005). Imaging the developing brain: What have we learned about cognitive development? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 104-110.

Chacko, A., Bedard, A. C., Marks, D. J., Feirsen, N., Uderman, J. Z., Chimiklis, A., ... & Ramon, M. (2014). A randomized clinical trial of Cogmed Working Memory Training in school-age children with ADHD: a replication in a diverse sample using a control condition. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 55, 247-255.

Chevalier, N., & Blaye, A. (2009). Setting goals to switch between tasks: Effect of cue transparency on children’s cognitive flexibility. Developmental Psychology, 45, 782-792.

Crone, E.A., Bunge, S.A., Van der Molen, M.W., & Ridderinkhof, K.R. (2006). Switching between tasks and responses: A developmental study. Developmental Science, 9, 278-287.

Crone, E.A., Ridderinkhof, K.R., Worm, M., Somsen, R.J.M., & Van Der Molen, M.W. (2004). Switching between spatial stimulus-response mappings: A developmental study of cognitive flexibility. Developmental Science, 7, 443-455.

Dahlin, K. (2013). Working memory training and the effect on mathematical achievement in children with attention deficits and special needs. Journal of Education and Learning, 2, 118–133.

Dahlin, K.I.E. (2011). Effects of working memory training on reading in children with special needs. Reading and Writing, 24, 479-491.

Dawson, P., & Guare, R. (2010). Executive skills in children and adolescents: A practical guide to assessment and intervention. New York: Guilford Press.

Diamond, A. (2006). The early development of executive functions. In Bialystok, E., & F. Craik (Eds.), Lifespan Cognition: Mechanisms of Change (pp. 70-95). New York: Oxford University Press.

Diamond, A. (2012). Activities and programs that improve children’s executive functions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 335-341.

Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135-168.

Doerrenbaecher, S., Mueller, P.M., Troeger, J., & Kray, J. (2014). Dissociable effects of game elements on motivation and cognition in a task-switching training in middle childhood. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1275.

Dunning, D.L., Holmes, J., & Gathercole, S.E. (2013). Does working memory training lead to generalized improvements in children with low working memory? A randomized controlled trial. Developmental Science, 16, 915-925.

Gathercole, S.E., Pickering, S.J., Ambridge, B., & Wearing, H. (2004). The structure of working memory from 4 to 15 years of age. Developmental Psychology, 40, 177.

Gogtay, N., Giedd, J.N., Hayashi, K.M., Greenstein, D., Vaituzis, C., Nugent, T.F., … & Thompson, P.M. (2004). Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101, 8174-8179.

Hertzog, C., Kramer, A.F., Wilson, R.S., & Lindenberger, U. (2008). Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced?. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9, 1-65.

Hindin, S.B., & Zelinski, E.M. (2012). Extended practice and aerobic exercise interventions benefit untrained cognitive outcomes in older adults: A meta-analysis. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 60, 136–141.

Holmes, J., & Gathercole, S.E. (2013). Taking working memory training from the laboratory into schools. Educational Psychology, 1-11.

Holmes, J., Gathercole, S.E., & Dunning, D.L. (2009). Adaptive training leads to sustained enhancement of poor working memory in children. Developmental Science, 12, F9–F15.

Huizinga, M., Dolan, C.V., & van der Molen, M.W. (2006). Age-related change in executive function: Developmental trends and a latent variable analysis. Neuropsychologia, 44, 2017-2036.

Huizinga, M., & van der Molen, M.W. (2007). Age-group differences in set-switching and set-maintenance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task. Developmental Neuropsychology, 31, 193-215.

Jolles, D.D., & Crone, E.A. (2012). Training the developing brain: a neurocognitive perspective. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 6, 76.

Karbach, J. (2014). Game-based cognitive training for the aging brain. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 5, 1100.

Karbach, J., & Kray, J. (2007). Developmental changes in switching between mental task sets: The influence of verbal labeling in childhood. Journal of Cognition and Development, 8, 205-236.

Karbach, J., & Schubert, T. (2013). Training-induced cognitive and neural plasticity. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 48.

Karbach, J., Strobach, T., & Schubert, T. (2014). Adaptive working-memory training benefits reading, but not mathematics in middle childhood. Child Neuropsychology. DOI:10.1080/09297049.2014.899336

Karbach, J. & Unger, K. (2014). Executive control training from middle childhood to adolescence. Frontiers in Psychology, 5:390.

Karbach, J. & Verhaeghen, P. (2014). Making working memory work: A meta-analysis of executive control and working memory training in older adults. Psychological Science, 25, 2027–2037.

Karr, J. E., Areshenkoff, C. N., Rast, P., & Garcia-Barrera, M.A. (2014). An empirical comparison of the therapeutic ben- efits of physical exercise and cognitive training on the executive functions of older adults: A meta-analysis of con- trolled trials. Neuropsychology. Advance online publication. doi:10.1037/neu0000101

Klingberg, T., Fernell, E., Olesen, P. J., Johnson, M., Gustafsson, P., Dahlstrom, K… & Westerberg, H. (2005). Computerized training of working memory in children with ADHD—A randomized, controlled trial. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 44, 177–186.

Kray, J., Eber, J., & Karbach, J. (2008). Verbal self?instructions in task switching: a compensatory tool for action?control deficits in childhood and old age? Developmental Science, 11, 223-236.

Kray, J., & Ferdinand, N. K. (2013). How to Improve Cognitive Control in Development During Childhood: Potentials and Limits of Cognitive Interventions. Child Development Perspectives, 7, 121-125.

Kray, J., Karbach, J., & Blaye, A. (2012). The influence of stimulus-set size on developmental changes in cognitive control and conflict adaptation. Acta Psychologica, 140, 119-128.

Kray, J., Karbach, J., Haenig, S., & Freitag, C. (2012). Can task- switching training enhance executive control functioning in children with attention deficit/-hyperactivity disorder? Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 5, 180.

Kray, J., Kipp, K., & Karbach, J. (2009). The development of selective inhibitory control: The influence of verbal labeling. Acta Psychologica, 130, 48-57.

Lehto, J.E., Juujärvi, P., Kooistra, L., & Pulkkinen, L. (2003). Dimensions of executive functioning: Evidence from children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 21, 59-80.

Loosli, S.V., Buschkuehl, M., Perrig, W.J., & Jaeggi, S.M. (2012). Working memory training improves reading processes in typically developing children. Child Neuropsychology, 18, 62-78.

Luciana, M., Conklin, H.M., Hooper, C. J., & Yarger, R.S. (2005). The development of nonverbal working memory and executive control processes in adolescents. Child Development, 76, 697-712.

Luna, B., Padmanabhan, A., & O‘Hearn, K. (2010). What has fMRI told us about the development of cognitive control through adolescence? Brain and Cognition, 72, 101-113.

Melby-Lervåg, M., & Hulme, C. (2013). Is working memory training effective? A meta-analytic review. Developmental Psychology, 49, 270.

Miyake, A., Friedman, N.P., Emerson, M.J., Witzki, A.H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T.D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 49-100.

Moriguchi, Y., & Hiraki, K. (2011). Longitudinal development of prefrontal function during early childhood. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 1, 153-162.

Pearson Education (n.d.). Retrieved 18th October 2013 from: http://www. http://www.cogmed.com.

Rapport, M.D., Orban, S.A., Kofler, M.J., & Friedman, L. M. (2013). Do programs designed to train working memory, other executive functions, and attention benefit children with ADHD? A meta-analytic review of cognitive, academic, and behavioral outcomes. Clinical Psychology Review, 33, 1237-1252.

Rebok, G.W., Carlson, M.C., & Langbaum, J.B. (2007). Training and maintaining memory abilities in healthy older adults: traditional and novel approaches. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 62, 53-61.

Redick, T.S., Shipstead, Z., Harrison, T. L., Hicks, K. L., Fried, D. E., Hambrick, D. Z., & ... Engle, R. W. (2013). No evidence of intelligence improvement after working memory training: A randomized, placebo-controlled study. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 142, 359-379.

Shah, P., Buschkuehl, M., Jaeggi, S., & Jonides, J. (2012). Cognitive training for ADHD: The importance of individual differences. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 1, 204-205.

Shipstead, Z., Redick, T.S., & Engle, R.W. (2012). Is working memory training effective?. Psychological Bulletin, 138, 628.

Sowell, E.R., Thompson, P.M., Tessner, K. D., & Toga, A. W. (2001). Mapping continued brain growth and gray matter density reduction in dorsal frontal cortex: inverse relationships during postadolescent brain maturation. The Journal of Neuroscience, 21, 8819-8829.

Strobach, T., Salminen, T., Karbach, J., & Schubert, T. (2014). Executive functions and their optimization in the context of dual-task practice. Psychological Research, 78, 836-851.

Titz, C. & Karbach, J. (2014). Working memory and executive functions: Effects of training on academic achievement. Psychological Research, 78, 852-868

Van der Sluis, S., de Jong, P.F., van der Leij, A. (2004). Inhibition and shifting in children with learning deficits in arithmetic and reading. Journal of Experimental Child Psycholology, 87, 239–66.

Verhaeghen, P., Marcoen, A., & Goossens, L. (1992). Improving memory performance in the aged through mnemonic training: a meta-analytic study. Psychology & Aging, 7, 242-251.

Wiebe, S.A., Espy, K.A., & Charak, D. (2008). Using confirmatory factor analysis to understand executive control in preschool children: I. Latent structure. Developmental Psychology, 44, 575-587.

Zelazo, P.D. (2004). The development of conscious control in childhood. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8, 12-17.