Adaptiveness in proactive control engagement in children and adults

Chevalier, Nicolas; Meaney, J. A.; Traut, Hilary J.; Munakata, Yuko

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100870

Cited by 23 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The present study thus provides additional evidence on children's emerging cognitive control skills by uncovering substantial and specific error monitoring skills. It appears that when the cognitive conflict is either predictable (in the Flower block, where all trials are equally conflicting) or not too complex (the Heart trials in the Mixed block), even 6-yearold children can adequately modulate their cognitive control, in this case here by specifically slowing down after an error Roebers 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.923615 (Ambrosi et al, 2016(Ambrosi et al, , 2019Chevalier et al, 2020;Niebaum et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Proactive control in older children and adults is typically very efficient but also cognitively highly demanding ( Wright and Diamond, 2014 ; Kubota et al, 2020 ). Using different task paradigms, Chevalier and colleagues have accumulated evidence that developmental progression in cognitive control is—at least in part—due to an increased ability to control proactively ( Chevalier et al, 2020 ; Niebaum et al, 2020 ). This does not mean that 5- to 6-year-old children cannot engage in proactive control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Six- to eight-year-olds’ performance in the Heart and Flower task: Emerging proactive cognitive control

Roebers

2022

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Heart and Flower task is used worldwide to measure age-dependent and individual differences in executive functions and/or cognitive control. The task reliably maps age and individual differences and these have consistently been found to be predictive for different aspects of school readiness and academic achievement. The idea has been put forward that there is a developmental shift in how children approach such a task. While 6-year-olds’ tend to adapt their task strategy ad hoc and reactively, older children increasingly engage in proactive cognitive control. Proactive cognitive control entails finding the right response speed without risking errors, always dependent on the cognitive conflict. The main goal of the present contribution was to examine children’s adjustments of response speed as a function of age and cognitive conflict by addressing RTs surrounding errors (i.e., errors and post-error trials). Data from a large sample with three age groups was used (N = 106 6-year-olds’ with a mean age of 6 years; 3 months; N = 108 7-year-olds’ with a mean age of 7 years; 4 months; N = 78 8-year-olds’ with a mean age of 8 years; 1 month). Response speed adjustments and the development thereof were targeted both across the Flower and Mixed block, respectively, and within these blocks focusing on errors and post-error slowing. Results revealed evidence for a developmental shift toward more efficient proactive cognitive control between 6 and 8 years of age, with the older but not the younger children strategically slowing down in the Mixed block and smoother post-error slowing. At the same time, we found that even the youngest age group has emerging proactive cognitive control skills at their disposal when addressing post-error slowing in the Flower block. The present study thus tracks the early roots of later efficient executive functions and cognitive control, contributes to a better understanding of how developmental progression in cognitive control is achieved, and highlights new avenues for research in this domain.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Six- to eight-year-olds’ performance in the Heart and Flower task: Emerging proactive cognitive control

Roebers

2022

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although it has been demonstrated that working memory develop- pupil dilation (especially during the late-window) (e.g., Chevalier et al, 2015Chevalier et al, , 2020. In contrast, we can infer that children in the proactive training group engaged proactive control in the training phase where they were encouraged to use the cue to prepare for the target presentation, and continued to engage proactive control in the test phase where they were not encouraged to do so, resulting in no observed difference in response times and pupil dilation between the two phases.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In proactive-possible phases, the task cue appeared before the target, whereas it was presented on target onset in the proactive-impossible phase it is possible to use proactive control when cue contextual information always appears before target onset, and it is necessary to use proactive control when cue contextual information appears and then disappears before target onset (Chevalier et al, 2015). Furthermore, activating a task goal proactively is adaptive only when the task goal can be reliably predicted based on contextual cue information, thus it is also necessary to know about cue reliability in order to engaging proactive control efficiently (Chevalier et al, 2020). Therefore, as children become more knowledgeable about temporal structures of task environments and cue reliability, they can accumulate more task knowledge about the timing of task goal activation.…”

Section: Research Highlightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prior task experience increases 5‐year‐old children's use of proactive control: Behavioral and pupillometric evidence

Yanaoka

Wout

Saito

et al. 2021

Developmental Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Children engage cognitive control reactively when they encounter conflicts; however, they can also resolve conflicts proactively. Recent studies have begun to clarify the mechanisms that support the use of proactive control in children; nonetheless, sufficient knowledge has not been accumulated regarding these mechanisms. Using behavioral and pupillometric measures, we tested the novel possibility that 5‐year‐old children (N = 58) learn to use proactive control via the acquisition of abstract task knowledge that captures regularities of the task. Participants were assigned to either a proactive training group or a control training group. In the proactive training group, participants engaged in a training phase where using proactive control was encouraged, followed by a test phase using different stimuli where both proactive and reactive control could be used. In the control training group, participants engaged in a training phase where both cognitive control strategies could be used, followed by a similarly‐structured test phase using different stimuli. We demonstrated children in the control training group responded more quickly and accurately and showed greater cue‐related pupil dilation in the test phase than in the training phase. However, there were no differences in response times, accuracies, and pupil dilation between the proactive and control training groups in the training and test phases. These findings suggest that prior task experience, that goes beyond specific knowledge about the timing of task goal activation, can lead children to engage more proactive control endogenously, even if they are not directly encouraged to do so.

show abstract

“…That is, as children increasingly watch in anticipation of signals in the environment that are relevant to how they should act (such as a dog turning unfriendly or reaching a busy street), they improve in their abilities to stop themselves from behaving inappropriately. An extended developmental time course for proactive monitoring seems likely, given that early in development (3-5 years) children tend to engage control reactively at the moment as needed, and become more efficient and systematic in engaging control proactively, in advance of needing it, across the middle childhood years and beyond (Andrews-Hanna et al, 2011;Blackwell & Munakata, 2014;Chatham, Frank, & Munakata, 2009;Chevalier, Martis, Curran, & Munakata, 2015;Chevalier, Meaney, Traut, & Munakata, 2020;Lucenet & Blaye, 2014;Vallesi & Shallice, 2007;Waxer & Morton, 2011). This developmental shift in the temporal dynamics of control highlights that limitations in proactive monitoring may contribute to limitations in children's response inhibition.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding and Supporting Inhibitory Control: Unique Contributions From Proactive Monitoring and Motoric Stopping to Children’s Improvements With Practice

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Children struggle to stop inappropriate behaviors. What interventions improve inhibitory control, for whom, and why? Prior work suggested that practice proactively monitoring for relevant signals improved children's inhibitory control more than practice with motoric stopping. However, these processes were not clearly dissociated. This study tested 162 seven-to nine-year-old children (89 female, 72 male, 1 unreported; 82% White) on the stop-signal task, following monitoring or stopping-focused practice. Both methods improved inhibitory control, supported generalization, and interacted (η 2 p = .20-.73). Practice approaches differentially impacted variability (η 2 p = .01-.09). Only monitoring benefits showed signs of depending upon proactive control (η 2 p = .02). These findings highlight unique contributions of attentional and stopping processes to inhibitory control, suggesting possibilities for tailored interventions.

show abstract

Adaptiveness in proactive control engagement in children and adults

Cited by 23 publications

References 58 publications

Six- to eight-year-olds’ performance in the Heart and Flower task: Emerging proactive cognitive control

Six- to eight-year-olds’ performance in the Heart and Flower task: Emerging proactive cognitive control

Prior task experience increases 5‐year‐old children's use of proactive control: Behavioral and pupillometric evidence

Understanding and Supporting Inhibitory Control: Unique Contributions From Proactive Monitoring and Motoric Stopping to Children’s Improvements With Practice

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About