Efficiency of Executive Function: A Two-Generation Cross-Cultural Comparison of Samples From Hong Kong and the United Kingdom

Abstract

Although Asian preschoolers acquire executive functions (EFs) earlier than their Western counterparts, little is known about whether this advantage persists into later childhood and adulthood. To address this gap, in the current study we gave four computerized EF tasks (providing measures of inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and planning) to a large sample ( n = 1,427) of 9- to 16-year-olds and their parents. All participants lived in either the United Kingdom or Hong Kong. Our findings highlight the importance of combining developmental and cultural perspectives and show both similarities and contrasts across sites. Specifically, adults' EF performance did not differ between the two sites; age-related changes in executive function for both the children and the parents appeared to be culturally invariant, as did a modest intergenerational correlation. In contrast, school-age children and young adolescents in Hong Kong outperformed their United Kingdom counterparts on all four EF tasks, a difference consistent with previous findings from preschool children.

Similarities and differences across countries in the development of executive functions in children: A systematic review

“…This effect was identified most consistently with regard to the EF facet of inhibition. All eight studies that reported cross‐national comparisons between East Asian and Euro‐American children for inhibition measures reported significant findings for at least one inhibition subtest (Ellefson et al, ; Grabell et al, ; Lan, Legare, Ponitz, Li, & Morrison, ; Oh & Lewis, ; Sabbagh et al, ; Schmitt et al, ; Tran et al, ; Wang et al, ). Out of these eight studies, seven reported effect sizes.…”

“…Ten publications administered shifting tasks in East Asian and Western samples, the most common being the Dimension Change Card Sort (DCCS; Zelazo, ). One of these studies did not find any cross‐national differences in shifting (Tran et al, ), three found effects on only one out of two subtests (Moriguchi, Evans, Hiraki, Itakura, & Lee, ; Oh & Lewis, ; Yang et al, ), and the remaining six found solely significant effects ( Ellefson et al, ; Imada, Carlson, & Itakura, ; Sabbagh et al, ; Schmitt et al, ; Wang et al, ; Weixler, ). The effect sizes varied between small to medium (three studies) and medium to large (four studies).…”

“…Six studies reported findings on updating measures from East Asian and Euro‐American samples. Five of these ascertained significant findings (Ellefson et al, ; Oh & Lewis, ; Sabbagh et al, ; Wang et al, ; Weixler, ) and one reported no cross‐cultural differences (Lan, Legare, Ponitz, Li, & Morrison, ). The effect sizes fluctuated from small to large.…”

“…Chasiotis, Kiessling, Hofer, and Campos () reported that children from Germany and Costa Rica performed better than children growing up in Cameroon on conflict inhibition measures. Sabbagh, Xu, Carlson, Moses, and Lee () found that preschoolers from China significantly outperformed their age‐matched U.S. American counterparts on several EF tasks, and these findings sparked further studies that have also found similar developmental advantages in EF domains for East Asian children (Ellefson, Ng, Wang, & Hughes, ; Oh & Lewis, ; Schmitt et al, ; Wang, Devine, Wong, & Hughes, ).…”

Children’s Self-Regulation in Cultural Contexts: The Role of Parental Socialization Theories, Goals, and Practices

“…Based on these results, Ellefson et al (2017) examined whether this advantage persists beyond childhood. They asked middle school students from Hong Kong and the United Kingdom and their parents to complete four executive-functioning tasks assessing inhibition, shifting, planning, and working memory.…”