Developmental Changes in Visual and Auditory Inhibition in Early Childhood

Abstract

The development of executive functions in the preschool years is not fully understood. Although there exists a large body of research investigating the maturation of executive functioning in school‐aged children, little is known about the emergence of such skills, in particular inhibition, among preschool‐aged children. Understanding developmental changes of inhibition proficiencies and deficiencies early in childhood is important for charting typical and atypical developmental trajectories. Using an adapted computerized paradigm, the present study examined age‐related changes in visual and auditory inhibition in 68 typically developing children aged 3 to 6 years. The results indicated that although similar age‐related gains in performance occurred across both visual and auditory inhibition tasks, certain modality‐specific differences emerged in terms of accuracy and reaction time. These results suggest that the newly adapted measures used are sensitive enough to capture developmental variations in inhibition. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The emergence and stability of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in boys with fragile X syndrome

“…To date, most studies regarding ADHD symptoms in children with FXS are cross sectional (Sullivan et al ; Bailey et al ). Those studies that have longitudinal data and predictive information regarding outcome trajectories often focus on one aspect of ADHD, such as attention (Guy et al ; Scerif et al ; Cornish et al ). Further, longitudinal research temperament has provided information about the stability of temperament characteristics throughout childhood (Rothbart et al ; Putnam et al ), but there is a lack of longitudinal temperament data informing behavioural outcomes in typically developing and special populations of children.…”

How do children complete a seated combined cognitive and motor multi-tasking paradigm?

“…Past research has confirmed the ability of children age 7 years to complete, independently, a seated bimanual task (Roncesvalles et al, 2005) and an auditory Stroop task (Guy et al, 2012) in an accurate and efficient manner similar to that used by adults. It was our goal to combine these tasks to elucidate strategies that children use to attempt motor and cognitive tasks simultaneously, a daily challenge faced by children in this age group.…”

“…Based on the rationale of interference, this test asks the subject to identify the pitch (high or low) of the words ''high'' and ''low''; congruent and incongruent auditory cues are randomly issued. The irrelevant dimension (i.e., the word) is processed faster then the relevant dimension (i.e., the pitch) causing interference and increased reaction time for incongruent trials (Guy et al, 2012;Jerger et al, 1988). A cognitive load 'ceiling effect' has been revealed in children 6 years of age using this paradigm.…”

“…Auditory Stroop tests with children age 3-6 years show rapid improvements in reaction time until age 5 at which point, improvements seem to taper. By age 6, most children can integrate both dimensions of the task (pitch and word) and answer congruent and incongruent trials correctly and more quickly than younger children (Guy et al, 2012;Jerger et al, 1988).…”

“…The ability to complete this type of task without error requires management of attention and task prioritization so that they may completed efficiently. The Auditory Stroop task is a simple yet effective task commonly used to assess cognitive load and attention (Guy, Rogers, & Cornish, 2012;Jerger, Martin, & Pirozzolo, 1988); the auditory version of this executive function task limits the amount of structural interference that a visually based Stroop task might present (i.e., require participants to split their visual attention between the cognitive Stroop task and the motor reaching task). Based on the rationale of interference, this test asks the subject to identify the pitch (high or low) of the words ''high'' and ''low''; congruent and incongruent auditory cues are randomly issued.…”