Improving Executive Functions in Elementary Schoolchildren
Celina Korzeniowski , Gabriela Morelato , Carolina Greco , Juan Manuel Monteoliva
Executive Functions (EFs) describe a set of cognitive control abilities that help children to develop self-regulated behavior and do well in their sch.
- Pub. date: June 15, 2020
- Pages: 59-73
- 934 Downloads
- 1605 Views
- 0 Citations
Executive Functions (EFs) describe a set of cognitive control abilities that help children to develop self-regulated behavior and do well in their schooling. The promotion of EFs in children at social risk is an area of relevance for neurosciences and education. On this basis, the present study set out to analyze a school-based intervention targeted to strengthening EFs in Argentine children at social risk. Participants were 69 children from 8 to 10 years old, from an urban-marginalized federal school in Mendoza. A quasi-experimental pre-test post-test design was used, with a control group. The cognitive intervention was embedded in the school curriculum and was carried out for a month and a half. The schoolchildren were evaluated before and after the intervention with EFs’ neuropsychological tests. The main results showed that the group cognitive intervention was associated with gains in the schoolchildren’s attention processes, although it did not favor other EFs, which could indicate moderate effectiveness. These data provide evidence in favor of ecological interventions as a way to promote attention development trajectories in children at social risk, and in turn, draw up guidelines to reflect on the design and the modalities of school-based interventions.
Keywords: Executive functions, school-based intervention, children, socially-disadvantaged contexts.
0
References
Aran-Filippetti, V., & Richaud de Minzi, M. C. (2012). A structural analysis of executive functions and socioeconomic status in school-age children: cognitive factors as effect mediators. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 173(4), 393-416.
Barker, J. E., Semenov, A. D., Michaelson, L., Provan, L. S., Snyder, H. R., & Munakata, Y. (2014). Less-structured time in children’s daily lives predicts self-directed executive functioning. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00593
Best, J., Miller, P., & Naglieri, J. (2011). Relations between executive function and academic achievement from ages 5 to 17 in a large, representative national sample. Learning and Individual Differences, 21(4), 327-336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2011.01.007
Blair, C., & Raver, C. C., 2014. Closing the achievement gap through modification of neurocognitive and neuroendocrine function: results from a cluster randomized controlled trial of an innovative approach to the education of children in kindergarten. PLoS ONE, 9(11), e112393. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0112393
Carrada, M. A. (2011). El mecanismo atencional en ninos escolarizados: Baremacion de instrumentos para su medicion [The attention mechanism in school children: Test for its measurment] (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). National University of San Luis.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Erlbaum, Hillsdale.
Crespo-Eguilaz, N., Narbona, J., Peralta, F., & Reparaz, R. (2006). Measure for sustained attention and impulse control in children: A new method of applying the Differences Perception Test FACES. Infancy and Learning / Infancia y Aprendizaje, 29(2), 219-32. https://doi.org/10.1174/021037006776789926
Crook, S. R., & Evans, G. W. (2014). The role of planning skills in the income achievement gap. Child Development, 85(2), 405-411. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12129
Davidson, M., Amsoa, D., Anderson, L. C., & Diamond, A. (2006). Development of cognitive control and executive functions from 4 to 13 years: Evidence from manipulations of memory, inhibition, and task switching. Neuropsychology, 44(11), 2037–2078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.02.006
Diamond, A. (2012). Activities and programs that improve children’s executive functions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(5), 335–341. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412453722
Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64(1), 135-168. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750
Diamond, A., & Ling, D. S. (2016). Conclusions about interventions, programs, and approaches for improving executive functions that appear justified and those that, despite much hype, do not. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 18, 34-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2015.11.005
Diamond, A., Barnett, W. S., Thomas, J., & Munro, S. (2007). Preschool program improves cognitive control. Science, 318(5855), 1387-1388. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1151148
Dominguez-Lara, S. (2017). Effect size, a quick guide. Medical Education / Educacion Medica, 19(4), 251-254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edumed.2017.07.002
Fine, R. M., Delis, D. C., Dean, D., Beckman, V., Miller, B. L., Rosen, H., & Kramer, J. H. (2009). Left frontal lobe contributions to concept formation: A quantitative MRI study of performance on the Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System Sorting Test. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 31(5), 624–631. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803390802419017
Fitzpatrick, C. (2014). Bridging the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children: Why should we be concerned with executive functions in the South African context? South African Journal of Childhood Education, 4(1), 156-166. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v4i1.66
Fitzpatrick, C., McKinnon, R. D., Blair, C., & Willoughby, M. (2014). Do preschool executive function skills explain the school readiness gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children? Learning and Instruction, 30, 25-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2013.11.003
Flores-Lazaro, J. C., Castillo-Preciado, R. E., & Jimenez-Miramonte, N. A. (2014). Development of executive functions from childhood to youth. Annals of Psychology / Anales de Psicologia, 30(2), 463-473. http://dx.doi.org/10.6018/analesps.30.2.155471
Freidman, N. P., & Miyake, A. (2004). The relations among inhibition and interference control functions: A latent-variable analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133(1), 101–135. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.133.1.101
Fuhs, M., Nesbitt, K., Farran, D., & Dong, N. (2014). Longitudinal Associations Between Executive Functioning and Academic Skills Across Content Areas. Developmental Psychology, 50(6), 1698-1709. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036633.
Golden, C. J. (2005). Stroop Test de colores y palabras. Manual [Stroop colors and words Test. Manual] (4th ed.). TEA Ediciones.
Goldin, A. P., Hermida, M. J., Shalom, D. E., Elias-Costa, M., Lopez-Rosenfeld, M., Segretin, M. S., Fernandez-Slezak, D., Lipina, S. J., & Sigman, M. (2014). Far transfer to language and math scores of a short software-based gaming intervention. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 111(17), 6443-6448. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1320217111
Golovanevsky, L. (2007). Vulnerabilidad social: Una propuesta para su medicion en Argentina. [Social vulnerability: A proposal for its measurement in Argentina]. Journal of Economics and Statistic / Revista de Economia y Estadistica, 45(2), 53-94.
Hackman, D. A., & Farah, M. J. (2009). Socioeconomic status and the developing brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(2), 65-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2008.11.003
Hackman, D. A., Farah, M. J., & Meaney, M. J. (2010). Socioeconomic status and the brain: mechanistic insights from human and animal research. Neuroscience, 11(9), 651-659. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2897
Hughes, C. (2011). Changes and challenges in 20 years of research into the development of executive functions. Infant and Child Development, 20(3), 251–271. https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.736
Ison, M. S. (2009). Abordaje psicoeductivo para estimular la atencion y las habilidades interpresonales en escolares argentinos [Psychoeductive approach to stimulate attention and interpresonal skills in Argentine schoolchildren]. School of Psychology Journal, University of Lima/ Revista de la Facultad de Psicologia – Universidad de Lima, 12, 29-51.
Ison, M. S. (2011). Programa de intervencion para mejorar las capacidades atencionales en escolares argentinos. [Intervention program to improve attention skills in Argentine schoolchildren]. International Journal of Psychological Research, 4(2), 72-79. https://doi.org/10.21500/20112084.783
Ison, M. S., Greco, C., Korzeniowski, C., & Morelato, G. (2015). Attention efficiency: a comparative study on argentine students attending schools from different socio-cultural contexts. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 13(2), 343-368. https://doi.org/10.14204/ejrep.36.14092
Ison, M. S., Korzeniowski, C., Segretin, M., & Lipina, S. (2015). Attention efficiency evaluation in Argentinean children with and without over-age. Argentine Journal of Behavioral Sciences / Revista Argentina de Ciencias del Comportamiento, 7(1), 38-52.
Karabach, J. (2015). Plasticity of executive functions in childhood and adolescence: Effects of cognitive training interventions. Argentine Journal of Behavioral Sciences / Revista Argentina de Ciencias del Comportamiento, 7(1), 64-70.
Koechlin, E., & Summerfield, C. (2007). An information theoretical approach to prefrontal executive function. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(6), 229-235. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.tics.2007.04.005
Korzeniowski, C., Cupani, M., Ison, Mirta & Difabio, H. (2016). School performance and poverty: the mediating role of executive functions. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 14(3), 474-494. https://doi.org/ 10.14204/ejrep.40.15152
Korzeniowski, C., Ison, M., & Difabio, H. (2017). Group cognitive intervention targeted to the strengthening of executive functions in children at social risk. International Journal of Psychological Research, 10(2), 34-45. https://doi.org/10.21500/20112084.2338.
Korzeniowski, C., Ison, M., & Difabio, H. (in press). A summary of the developmental trajectory of executive functions from birth to adulthood. In P. A. Gargiulo, & H. L. Mesones-Arroyo, Psychiatry and Neuroscience Update-Vol IV. Springer.
Lipina, S. J., Hermida, M. J., Segretin, M. S., Prats, L. Fracchia, C., & Colombo, J. A. (2011). Investigacion en pobreza infantil desde perspectivas neurocognitivas [Research on child poverty from neurocognitive perspectives]. In S. J. Lipina & M. Sigman (Eds.), La pizarra de Babel. Puentes entre neurociencia, psicologia y educacion [Babel's blackboard. Bridges between neuroscience, psychology and education] (pp. 243-264). Libros Del Zorzal.
Miyake, A., Friedman, N.P., Emerson, M.J., Witzki, A. H., & Howerter, A. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41(1), 49-100. https://doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1999.0734
Monteoliva, J. M., Carrada, M., & Ison, M. (2017). Perception of differences Test (FACES): Normative study of attention performance in Argentine students. Interdisciplinary / Interdisciplinaria, 34(1), 39-56.
Monteoliva, J. M., Ison, M. S., & Pattini, A. (2014). Attention performance assessment in children: Effectiveness, efficiency and yield. Interdisciplinary / Interdisciplinaria, 31(2), 213-225.
Monteoliva, J. M., Santillan, J.; Ison, M. S. (2016, September 23-25). Evaluacion de atencion visual en el contexto educativo: Analisis comparativo del Test de CARAS y Anillos de Landolt [Evaluation of visual attention in the educational context: Comparative analysis of the FACES and Landolt Rings Test] [Paper presentation]. II Latin American Congress for the Advancement of Psychological Science, American Psychology Association & International Union of Psychological Science, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Monteoliva, J. M., Santillan, J., Pattini, A. E. (2013, July 15-19). Eficacia atencional en contexto educativo. Evaluacion de dos test basados en tareas visuales [Attention efficiency in educational context: two specific tests on visual tasks] [Paper presentation]. XXXIV Inter American Congress of Psychology, University of Brasilia, Brazil.
Moreno, A. Baker, S. Varey, K., & Hinze-Pifer, R. (2018). Bringing attention restoration theory to the classroom: A tablet app using nature videos to replenish effortful cognition. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 2, 7-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tine.2018.07.002
Munoz-Sandoval, A. F., Woodcock, R. W., Mc Grez, K. S., & Mather, N. (2005). Bateria III Woodcock –Munoz. Riverside Publishing.
Musso, M. (2010) Executive functions: a study of the effects of poverty on executive performance. Interdisciplinary / Interdisciplinaria, 27(1), 95-110.
Noble, K. G., & Farah, M. J. (2013). Neurocognitive consequences of socioeconomic disparities: the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and public health. Developmental Science, 16(5), 639-640. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12076.
Noble, K. G., Norman, M. F., & Farah, M. J. (2005). Neurocognitive correlates of socioeconomic status in kindergarten children. Developmental Science, 8(1), 74–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2005.00394.x
Petersen, S. E, & Posner, M. I. (2012). The attention system of the human brain: 20 years after. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 35, 73-89. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-062111-150525
Piccolo, L. da R., Arteche, A. X., Fonseca, R. P., Grassi-Oliveira, R., & Salles, J. F. (2016). Influence of family socioeconomic status on IQ, language, memory and executive functions of Brazilian children. Psychology: Reflection and Critic / Psicologia: Reflexao e Critica, 29, 23-33. https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41155-016-0016-x
Portellano-Perez, J. A. (2005). Como desarrollar la inteligencia: Entrenamiento neuropsicologico de la atencion y las funciones ejecutivas. [How to develop intelligence: Neuropsychological training of attention and executive functions]. Somos.
Posner, M. I., & Rothbart, M. K. (2014). Attention to learning of school subjects. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 3(1), 14-17. https://dx.doi.org/1010.1016/j.tine.2014.02.003
Rabiner, D. L., Murray, D. W., Skinner, A. T., & Malone, P. S. (2010). A randomized trial of two promising computer-based interventions for students with attention difficulties. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 38(1), 131–142. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10802- 009-9353-x
Ramos, D. K., Lorenzetti da Rocha, N., Rodrigues, K., & Berger Roisenberg, B. (2017). The use of cognitive games in the school context: contributions to executive functions. Educational and School Psychology, SP/Psicologia Escolar e Educacional, SP, 21(2), 265-275. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2175-3539201702121113
Raver, C. C., & Blair, C. (2018). Neuroscientific insights: Attention, working memory, and inhibitory control. The Future of Children, 26(2), 95-118.
Richard´s, M.; Canet Juric, M. L.; Introzzi, I., & Urquijo, S. (2014). Differential intervention of executive functions in elaborative and bridge inferences. Advances in Latin American Psychology / Avances en Psicologia Latinoamericana, 32(1), 5-20. https://doi.org/10.12804/apl32.1.2014.01
Rothlisberger, M., Neuenschwander, R., Cimeli, P., Michel, E., & Roebers, C. (2012). Improving executive functions in 5- and 6-year-olds: Evaluation of a small group intervention in prekindergarten and kindergarten children. Infant and Child Development, 21(4), 411-429. https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.752
Rueda, R., Posner, M., & Rothbart, K. (2005). The Development of Executive Attention: Contributions to the Emergence of Self-Regulation. Developmental Neuropsychology, 28(2), 573–594. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326942dn2802_2
Santillan, J., Monteoliva, J. M., Pattini, A. E. (2013, November 5-7). Eficacia atencional y el medio ambiente luminoso en el aula [Attention efficiency and the lighting in learning spaces] [Paper presentation]. International Symposium: Attention, Perception and Memory, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Sarzynska, J., Zelechowska, D., Falkiewicz, M., & Necka, E. (2017). Attention Training in Schoolchildren Improves Attention but Fails to Enhance Fluid Intelligence. Psychological Study/ Studia Psychologica, 59(1), 50-65. https://doi.org/10.21909/sp.2017.01.730
Segretin, M. S., Lipina, S. J., Hermida, M. J., Sheffield, T., Nelson, J. M., Espy, K. A., & Colombo, J. A. (2014). Predictors of cognitive enhancement after training in two samples of Argentinean preschoolers from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 205-225. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00205
Thurstone, L. L., & Yela, M. (2012). CARAS-R - Percepcion de diferencias [FACES - Perception of differences]. TEA Ediciones.
Turner-Nesbitt, K., Baker-Ward, L., & Willoughby, M. L. (2013). Executive function mediates socio-economic and racial differences in early academic achievement. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28(4), 774-783. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2013.07.005
Walk, L. M., Evers, W. F., Quante, S., & Hille, K. (2018). Evaluation of a teacher training program to enhance executive functions in preschool children. PLoS ONE, 13(5): e0197454. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197454
Welsh, J. A., Nix, R. L., Blair, C., Bierman, L., & Nelson, K. E. (2010). The development of cognitive skills and gains in academic school readiness for children from low-income families. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(1), 43-53. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016738