The Role of Executive Function at 6 Years in the Association between Behavioral Inhibition at 5 Years and Anxiety at 7 Years.

EF skills play a central role in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety, but it is unclear whether they act as moderators or mediators in the relation between early behavioral inhibition (BI) and later anxiety. The current study tested two models by examining whether two executive functions (EF) skills (cognitive flexibility and working memory) assessed at age 6 acted as moderators or mediators in the relation between BI at 5 years and anxiety symptoms at 7 years. The sample consisted of 422 children from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development.

Predictive Validity of the NIH Toolbox Executive Function Measures with Developmental Extensions from Early Childhood to Third Grade Achievement.

   The National Institutes of Health Toolbox includes two executive function measures: the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) and the Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention Test. Developmental extension (Dext) versions were created with easier levels for younger and more disadvantaged children. Although research on early (E-Prime) and later (iPad) versions of the Dext measures demonstrated their short-term validity, this study investigated their longer-term predictive validity.

Life satisfaction for adolescents with developmental and behavioral disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: This study aimed to identify contextual factors associated with life satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic for adolescents with mental, emotional, behavioral, and developmental (MEBD) disabilities.

Methods: Data were collected from a sample of 1084 adolescents aged 11-21 years from April 2020 to August 2021. This cross-sectional study used a sequential machine learning workflow, consisting of random forest regression and evolutionary tree regression, to identify subgroups of adolescents in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) consortium who demonstrated enhanced vulnerability to lower life satisfaction as described by intersecting risk factors, protective factors, and MEBD disabilities.

A preliminary neuroimaging investigation of the effects of mindfulness training on attention reorienting and amygdala reactivity to emotional faces in adolescent and adult females.

Introduction: Adolescence is a time of increased emotional reactivity and improving cognitive control. Mindfulness meditation training may foster adolescents' cognitive control and emotional regulation skills; however little is known about the impact of mindfulness training in adolescents compared to adults. We examined the effect of mindfulness meditation versus a closely matched active control condition (relaxation training) on behavioral and neural measures of cognitive control and emotional reactivity in a small group of adolescents and adults.

A network analysis of high school and college students' COVID-19-related concerns, self-regulatory skills, and affect.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of many high school and college students, and recent studies indicate increased emotional distress in this age group. We examined associations among 10 pandemic-related concerns, 21 affects, and three self-regulatory skills using cross-sectional online survey data from high school and college students in two regions of the United States (Study 1: N = 392 and Study 2: N = 1,200). Network models of regularized partial correlation networks revealed both equifinal and multifinal pathways between specific COVID-19 concerns and positive and negative affects.

Transactional associations between vocabulary and disruptive behaviors during the transition to formal schooling.

This study investigated the transactional relations between vocabulary and disruptive behaviors (DB; physical aggression and opposition/rule breaking/theft and vandalism), during the transition to formal schooling, using a community sample of 572 children. Cross-lagged panel model analyses were used to examine bidirectional relationships, comparing physical aggression to non-aggressive DB. Transactional associations between vocabulary and DB were observed, coinciding with school entry.

Transactional longitudinal relations between accuracy and reaction time on a measure of cognitive flexibility at 5, 6, and 7 years of age.

Whereas accuracy is used as an indicator of cognitive flexibility in preschool-age children, reaction time (RT), or a combination of accuracy and RT, provide better indices of performance as children transition to school. Theoretical models and cross-sectional studies suggest that a speed-accuracy tradeoff may be operating across this transition, but the lack of longitudinal studies makes this transition difficult to understand. The current study explored the longitudinal and bidirectional associations between accuracy and RT on the DCCS (mixed block) at 5, 6, and 7 years of age using cross-lagged panel analyses.

Parent Provision of Choice Is a Key Component of Autonomy Support in Predicting Child Executive Function Skills.

Although previous work has linked parent autonomy support to the development of children's executive function (EF) skills, the role of specific autonomy-supportive behaviors has not been thoroughly investigated. We compiled data from four preschool-age samples in the Midwestern United States ( = 366; age = 44.26 months; 72% non-Hispanic White, 19% Black/African American, 5% Multiracial) to examine three relevant autonomy-supportive behaviors (supporting competence, positive verbalizations, and offering choice) and their associations with child EF.

Measurement of Cognition for the National Children's Study.

The National Children's Study Cognitive Health Domain Team developed detailed plans for assessing cognition longitudinally from infancy to early adulthood. These plans identify high-priority aspects of cognition that can be measured efficiently and effectively, and we believe they can serve as a model for future large-scale longitudinal research. For infancy and toddlerhood, we proposed several paradigms that collectively allowed us to assess six broad cognitive constructs: (1) executive function skills, (2) episodic memory, (3) language, (4) processing speed, (5) spatial and numerical processing, and (6) social cognition.

NIH Toolbox executive function measures with developmental extensions: Reliability and validity with preschoolers in emergency housing.

Research has shown that executive function (EF) skills are associated with resilience in preschoolers experiencing risk and adversity, but these studies have typically relied on large batteries of tasks to measure children's EF skills. There is a need for brief, reliable EF assessments that can be used in the field with diverse young children. The current study assessed the validity and test-retest reliability of two tablet-based EF tasks from the NIH Toolbox: The Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) and the Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention Test, each with a developmental extension (Dext) that is triggered when a child struggles with the standardized versions.

Executive Function and Psychopathology: A Neurodevelopmental Perspective.

Executive function (EF) skills are neurocognitive skills that support the reflective, top-down coordination and control of other brain functions, and there is neural and behavioral evidence for a continuum from more "cool" EF skills activated in emotionally neutral contexts to more "hot" EF skills needed for the reversal of motivationally significant tendencies. Difficulties in EF are transdiagnostic indicators of atypical development. A neurodevelopmental model traces the pathway from adverse childhood experiences and stress to disruption of the development of neural systems supporting reflection and EF skills to an increased risk for general features of psychopathology.

Mindfulness Plus Reflection Training: Effects on Executive Function in Early Childhood.

Executive function (EF) skills are essential for academic achievement, and poverty-related stress interferes with their development. This pre-test, post-test, follow-up randomized-control trial assessed the impact of an intervention targeting reflection and stress reduction on children's EF skills. Preschool children ( = 218) from schools serving low-income families in two U.

Civic Science for Public Use: Mind in the Making and Vroom.

Mind in the Making and Vroom are partner initiatives that exemplify a unique "civic science" approach to "bringing developmental science into the world." Mind in the Making offers families and professionals working with children 0-8 access to developmental research, by engaging them in an active process of professional development and community outreach. Vroom is an outreach and communication initiative that brings "brain building basics" to communities, inviting parents to participate in the science of early learning through partnerships with trusted entities.

[How a Diversity of Preschool Literary Experiences Contribute to Emergent Literacy Skills].

Past studies show that language and cognitive factors among young children do not explain individual differences in written language skill acquisition (Sénéchal et LeFevre, 2002). Working from the principles of ethology and sociology, Pellegrini (2001) suggests that exposure to a larger variety of social contacts and contexts promotes the acquisition of literary language and reading/writing skills. The purpose of this study is to check the contribution of a variety of social writing-related opportunities to the acquisition of emerging literacy skills in 5 year-olds.

Seeing conflict and engaging control: Experience with contrastive language benefits executive function in preschoolers.

Engaging executive function often requires overriding a prepotent response in favor of a conflicting but adaptive one. Language may play a key role in this ability by supporting integrated representations of conflicting rules. We tested whether experience with contrastive language that could support such representations benefits executive function in 3-year-old children.

The creation and validation of the Developmental Emotional Faces Stimulus Set.

The Developmental Emotional Faces Stimulus Set (DEFSS) is designed to provide a standardized set of emotional stimuli that includes both child and adult faces and that has been validated by participants across a wide range of ages. This article describes the creation and validation of the DEFSS, which includes 404 validated facial photographs of people between 8 and 30 years old displaying five different emotional expressions: happy, angry, fearful, sad, and neutral. The emotions in all photographs were identified correctly by 86 % of the raters (minimum 55 %), and validity did not vary as a function of the age group of the model or of the raters, indicating that the pictures are equally appropriate for use across the entire age range.

A meta-analysis of the Dimensional Change Card Sort: Implications for developmental theories and the measurement of executive function in children.

The Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) is a widely used measure of executive function in children. In the standard version, children are shown cards depicting objects that vary on two dimensions (e.g.

Executive function in children with externalizing and comorbid internalizing behavior problems.

Background: The goal of this study is to investigate differences in executive function (EF) in children with different levels of disruptive behavior problems (DBP).

Methods: Ninety-three children between 7 and 12 years old with DBP were compared to 63 normally developing peers on a battery of EF tasks that varied in the amount of required emotion regulation ('hot' EF).

Results: Differences in EF were found between DBP and comparison groups as indexed by hot EF tasks.

Factor structure, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the NIH Toolbox Cognitive Health Battery (NIHTB-CHB) in adults.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the construct validity of the NIH Neurobehavioral Toolbox Cognitive Health Battery (NIHTB-CHB) in adults. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the dimensional structure underlying the NIHTB-CHB and Gold Standard tests chosen to serve as concurrent validity criteria for the NIHTB-CHB. These results were used to evaluate the convergent and discriminant validity of the NIHTB-CHB in adults ranging from 20 to 85 years of age.

NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB): validation of executive function measures in adults.

This study describes psychometric properties of the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (NIHTB-CB) executive function measures in an adult sample. The NIHTB-CB was designed for use in epidemiologic studies and clinical trials for ages 3 to 85. A total of 268 self-described healthy adults were recruited at four university-based sites, using stratified sampling guidelines to target demographic variability for age (20-85 years), gender, education and ethnicity.

The cognition battery of the NIH toolbox for assessment of neurological and behavioral function: validation in an adult sample.

This study introduces a special series on validity studies of the Cognition Battery (CB) from the U.S. National Institutes of Health Toolbox for the Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function (NIHTB) (Gershon, Wagster et al.

Bottom-up and top-down dynamics in young children's executive function: Labels aid 3-year-olds' performance on the Dimensional Change Card Sort.

Executive function (EF) improves between the ages of 3 and 5 and has been assessed reliably using the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS), a task in which children first sort bivalent cards by one dimension (e.g., shape) and then are instructed to sort by a different dimension (e.

IX. NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB): summary, conclusions, and implications for cognitive development.

This monograph describes the creation of the National Institutes of Health Toolbox Cognition Battery (NIH Toolbox CB) and reports validation data for children ages 3-15 years. Individual chapters described measures of executive function, episodic memory, language, working memory, speed of processing, and attention. Separate chapters were devoted to the factor structure of the test battery and composite measures of cognitive health (Total Composite, Fluid Composite, Crystallized Composite).

VIII. NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB): composite scores of crystallized, fluid, and overall cognition.

The NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB) includes 7 tests covering 6 cognitive abilities. This chapter describes the psychometric characteristics in children ages 3-15 years of a total summary score and composite scores reflecting two major types of cognition: "crystallized" (more dependent upon past learning experiences) and "fluid" (capacity for new learning and information processing in novel situations). Both types of cognition are considered important in everyday functioning, but are thought to be differently affected by brain health status throughout life, from early childhood through older adulthood.