Study protocol: How does cognitive flexibility relate to other executive functions and learning in healthy young adults?

BACKGROUND: Cognitive flexibility (CF) enables individuals to readily shift from one concept or mode of practice/thoughts to another in response to changes in the environment and feedback, making CF vital to optimise success in obtaining goals. However, how CF relates to other executive functions (e.g., working memory, response inhibition), mental abilities (e.g., creativity, literacy, numeracy, intelligence, structure learning), and social factors (e.g., multilingualism, tolerance of uncertainty, perceived social support, social decision-making) is less well understood. The current study aims to (1) establish the construct validity of CF in relation to other executive function skills and intelligence, and (2) elucidate specific relationships between CF, structure learning, creativity, career decision making and planning, and other life skills. METHODS: This study will recruit up to 400 healthy Singaporean young adults (age 18-30) to complete a wide range of cognitive tasks and social questionnaires/tasks. The richness of the task/questionnaire battery and within-participant administration enables us to use computational modelling and structural equation modelling to examine connections between the latent constructs of interest. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT: The current study is the first systematic investigation into the construct validity of CF and its interrelationship with other important cognitive skills such as learning and creativity, within an Asian context. The study will further explore the concept of CF as a non-unitary construct, a novel theoretical proposition in the field. The inclusion of a structure learning paradigm is intended to inform future development of a novel intervention paradigm to enhance CF. Finally, the results of the study will be useful for informing classroom pedagogy and the design of lifelong learning policies and curricula, as part of the wider remit of the Cambridge-NTU Centre for Lifelong Learning and Individualised Cognition (CLIC).

Executive functions and play.

Executive functions and play have been researched separately over the last few decades. Only recently has the association between the two constructs received more attention. Thus, a Special Issue on this association is timely. The six empirical studies of the Special Issue applied various types of play (e.g., dramatic play or physical play) in their research. Children's executive functions were also measured with a variety of tasks. The wide variability of the studies was a learning point, especially given the cultural connotation of executive function measures. All the studies of the Special Issue were conducted in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries raising the issue of generalizability. We discuss future directions of the research on executive functions and play hoping for longitudinal studies on the association between these constructs in the future.

Executive function measurement in urban schools: Exploring links between performance-based metrics and teacher ratings.

When compared to research centered on the executive function development of white, middle-class children, relatively little is known about their non-white, low socioeconomic status peers. In an effort to harmonize how executive functions are measured within under-represented contexts, the present study addresses gaps in the evaluation of everyday executive functioning to better understand whether behavior rating scales completed by teachers (BASC2EF - BASC executive function scale, 2nd edition; BASC3EF - BASC executive function scale, 3rd edition) capture distinctions between performance-based measures. This study includes two large samples of older, ethnic minority children from high-poverty backgrounds (Sample 1. N = 243; Mage  = 9.28 years, SDage  = 0.80; nfemale  = 125; nAfricanAmerican  = 216, nLatinAmerican  = 15, nAsianAmerican  = 6; Sample 2. N = 229; Mage  = 10.02 years, SDage  = 1.01; nfemale  = 120; nAfricanAmerican  = 132, nLatinAmerican  = 92, nWhite  = 3, nPacificIslander  = 1). Based on structural equation models testing the links between computerized performance-based measures and the teacher rating scales, the results indicate that BASC2EF in its original form might be a good fit for some populations but there is not a strong factor structure for the current high-poverty samples. In addition, post-hoc analyses suggest that only including BASC2EF items also in BASC3EF or using BASC3EF is best practice for high-poverty populations. BASC3EF seems better able to capture different components of performance-driven tasks, whereas BASC2EF captures overall executive functioning better than individual tasks. These findings encourage continued questioning surrounding metrics used to assess everyday executive functions in older children from diverse backgrounds. HIGHLIGHTS: This study explores whether teacher ratings of children's everyday executive functioning (using standardized behavior rating scales) capture distinctions between performance-based measures. Results indicate that BASC2EF teacher rating scale (Karr & Garcia-Barrera, 2017) is not a good representation of everyday executive function behaviors by children from schools in high-poverty communities. The findings suggest that restricting BASC2EF analyses to only items included in BASC3EF (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2015) or using BASC3EF for high-poverty populations. BASC3EF seems better able to capture the different components of performance-driven tasks, whereas BASC2EF captures overall executive functioning better than individual tasks.

Is replication possible without fidelity?

Failure of replication attempts in experimental psychology might extend beyond p-hacking, publication bias or hidden moderators; reductions in experimental power can be caused by violations of fidelity to a set of experimental protocols. In this article, we run a series of simulations to systematically explore how manipulating fidelity influences effect size. We find statistical patterns that mimic those found in ManyLabs style replications and meta-analyses, suggesting that fidelity violations are present in many replications attempts in psychology. Scholars in intervention science, medicine, and education have developed methods of improving and measuring fidelity, and as replication becomes more mainstream in psychology, the field would benefit from adopting such approaches as well. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The Zoo Task: A novel metacognitive problem-solving task developed with a sample of African American children from schools in high poverty communities.

Metacognition is important for monitoring and regulating cognitive processes, decision-making, problem-solving, and learning. Despite widespread interest in metacognition, measuring metacognition in children poses a significant challenge. Some qualitative and observational metrics exist but are restricted by scalability, range of metacognitive components measured, and use of different metrics compared with tasks for adults. We developed the Zoo Task-a novel, scalable, a paper-based task that measures multiple aspects of metacognition that is less conflated by other variables like verbal ability and does not require video-recording children. Children (N = 204, ages: 7-12 years, mostly from African American backgrounds) attending schools in high-poverty urban areas contributed to its development. In addition, they completed a standard metacognition of memory task similar to those already used with children and adults. The results indicate that the novel task trials are reliable and have good criterion validity. The Zoo Task could bridge the current gap between existing metrics of metacognition for children and adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Investigation of the associations between physical activity, self-regulation and educational outcomes in childhood.

It is common knowledge that physical activity leads to physiological and psychological benefits. The current study explored the association between physical activity and self-regulation longitudinally and the indirect relationship this may have on academic achievement, using secondary data on primary and secondary school children from the Millennium Cohort Study, a cohort of infants born in 2000-2001 in the United Kingdom. There are two main findings. First, there is a positive link between physical activity and emotional (not behavioural) regulation both concurrently and longitudinally across all three time points, 7-years-old, 11-years-old and 14-years-old. The relationship was negative for emotional regulation and negligible for behavioural regulation when controlling for socioeconomic status. Second, across two time points (due to data availability), physical activity positively predicted academic achievement through emotional regulation for 7-year-olds and behavioural regulation in 11-year-olds. The impact of this relationship was more pronounced when controlling for socioeconomic status. Together these findings indicate that emotional regulation is linked to physical activity in early childhood. Subsequently, emotion regulation predicts academic attainment, suggesting that early interventions might focus on attention rather than behaviour.

An East-West contrast in executive function: Measurement invariance of computerized tasks in school-aged children and adolescents.

Existing cross-cultural findings related to school-aged children's executive function (EF) from studies using computerized tasks highlight both an East-West contrast (East > West) and potential methodological confounds (e.g., contrasting levels of computer fluency). Capitalizing on two recent data sets, this multisite study of 1,311 children living in mainland China (n = 453; Mage = 11.89 years, SD = 0.87), Hong Kong (n = 371; Mage = 12.21 years, SD = 0.99), and the United Kingdom (n = 487; Mage = 11.91 years, SD = 0.93) tested measurement invariance of a computerized EF-task battery prior to investigating cultural contrasts in mean levels of EF efficiency scores. Our models established partial scalar invariance across sites. Latent factor means were substantially lower for British children than for their counterparts from either mainland China or Hong Kong, with a significant but smaller contrast between the latter two groups. Within the Chinese sample, self-reported computer use was unrelated to variation in children's performance on online tests of EF, indicating that peripheral effects of task modality are unlikely to explain the between-culture differences in EF task performance.

Do executive functions mediate the link between socioeconomic status and numeracy skills? A cross-site comparison of Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

In the fields of education, sociology, and economics, there is a long-standing connection between socioeconomic status (SES) and school outcomes in a wide variety of cultural settings, but these studies have yet to examine the possible mediating effects of domain-general cognitive factors such as executive functions (EFs). Addressing this gap and building on evidence for links between EFs and numeracy, the current cross-cultural study used a large sample (N = 835) of 9- to 16-year-old children from Hong Kong and the United Kingdom to examine the independence and interplay of SES and EFs as predictors of numeracy skills. Our analyses yielded three key findings, namely that (a) EFs consistently predicted numeracy skills across sites and genders, (b) associations between SES and EFs differed by site and gender, and (c) associations between numeracy skills and SES/EFs differed by site and gender. Together with previous findings, our results suggest culture-specific associations among SES, EFs, and numeracy, indicating that cultural insights may enable impactful shifts in public policy to narrow the achievement gap between children from affluent and disadvantaged families.

Under What Conditions Can Recursion Be Learned? Effects of Starting Small in Artificial Grammar Learning of Center-Embedded Structure.

It has been suggested that external and/or internal limitations paradoxically may lead to superior learning, that is, the concepts of starting small and less is more (Elman, ; Newport, ). In this paper, we explore the type of incremental ordering during training that might help learning, and what mechanism explains this facilitation. We report four artificial grammar learning experiments with human participants. In Experiments 1a and 1b we found a beneficial effect of starting small using two types of simple recursive grammars: right-branching and center-embedding, with recursive embedded clauses in fixed positions and fixed length. This effect was replicated in Experiment 2 (N = 100). In Experiment 3 and 4, we used a more complex center-embedded grammar with recursive loops in variable positions, producing strings of variable length. When participants were presented an incremental ordering of training stimuli, as in natural language, they were better able to generalize their knowledge of simple units to more complex units when the training input "grew" according to structural complexity, compared to when it "grew" according to string length. Overall, the results suggest that starting small confers an advantage for learning complex center-embedded structures when the input is organized according to structural complexity.

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

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.

Differences in the weighting and choice of evidence for plausible versus implausible causes.

Individuals have difficulty changing their causal beliefs in light of contradictory evidence. We hypothesized that this difficulty arises because people facing implausible causes give greater consideration to causal alternatives, which, because of their use of a positive test strategy, leads to differential weighting of contingency evidence. Across 4 experiments, participants learned about plausible or implausible causes of outcomes. Additionally, we assessed the effects of participants' ability to think of alternative causes of the outcomes. Participants either saw complete frequency information (Experiments 1 and 2) or chose what information to see (Experiments 3 and 4). Consistent with the positive test account, participants given implausible causes were more likely to inquire about the occurrence of the outcome in the absence of the cause (Experiments 3 and 4) than those given plausible causes. Furthermore, they gave less weight to Cells A and B in a 2 × 2 contingency table and gave either equal or less weight to Cells C and D (Experiments 1 and 2). These effects were inconsistently modified by participants' ability to consider alternative causes of the outcome. The total of the observed effects are not predicted by either dominant models of normative causal inference or by the particular positive test account proposed here, but they may be commensurate with a more broadly construed positive test account.

Inquiry-based training improves teaching effectiveness of biology teaching assistants.

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are used extensively as undergraduate science lab instructors at universities, yet they often have having minimal instructional training and little is known about effective training methods. This blind randomized control trial study assessed the impact of two training regimens on GTA teaching effectiveness. GTAs teaching undergraduate biology labs (n = 52) completed five hours of training in either inquiry-based learning pedagogy or general instructional "best practices". GTA teaching effectiveness was evaluated using: (1) a nine-factor student evaluation of educational quality; (2) a six-factor questionnaire for student learning; and (3) course grades. Ratings from both GTAs and undergraduates indicated that indicated that the inquiry-based learning pedagogy training has a positive effect on GTA teaching effectiveness.

Simplifying reading: applying the simplicity principle to reading.

Debates concerning the types of representations that aid reading acquisition have often been influenced by the relationship between measures of early phonological awareness (the ability to process speech sounds) and later reading ability. Here, a complementary approach is explored, analyzing how the functional utility of different representational units, such as whole words, bodies (letters representing the vowel and final consonants of a syllable), and graphemes (letters representing a phoneme) may change as the number of words that can be read gradually increases. Utility is measured by applying a Simplicity Principle to the problem of mapping from print to sound; that is, assuming that the "best" representational units for reading are those which allow the mapping from print to sounds to be encoded as efficiently as possible. Results indicate that when only a small number of words are read whole-word representations are most useful, whereas when many words can be read graphemic representations have the highest utility.

Learning to label letters by sounds or names: a comparison of England and the United States.

Learning about letters is an important foundation for literacy development. Should children be taught to label letters by conventional names, such as /bi/ for b, or by sounds, such as /b/? We queried parents and teachers, finding that those in the United States stress letter names with young children, whereas those in England begin with sounds. Looking at 5- to 7-year-olds in the two countries, we found that U.S. children were better at providing the names of letters than were English children. English children outperformed U.S. children on letter-sound tasks, and differences between children in the two countries declined with age. We further found that children use the first-learned set of labels to inform the learning of the second set. As a result, English and U.S. children made different types of errors in letter-name and letter-sound tasks. The children's invented spellings also differed in ways reflecting the labels they used for letters.

Design-based learning for biology: Genetic engineering experience improves understanding of gene expression.

Gene expression is a difficult topic for students to learn and comprehend, at least partially because it involves various biochemical structures and processes occurring at the microscopic level. Designer Bacteria, a design-based learning (DBL) unit for high-school students, applies principles of DBL to the teaching of gene expression. Throughout the 8-week unit, students genetically engineer bacteria to meet a need in their own lives. Through a series of investigations, discussions, and design modifications, students learn about the molecular processes and structures involved in gene expression, and how these processes and structures are dependent upon various environmental variables. This article is intended to describe the Designer Bacteria unit and report preliminary results of student progress and performance on pre-unit and post-unit assessments. Teacher experiences and student progress indicate that Designer Bacteria successfully taught core aspects of gene expression through DBL.

A theory of variability discrimination: finding differences.

Visual variability discrimination requires an observer to categorize collections of items on the basis of the variability in the collection; such discriminations may be vital to the adaptive actions of both humans and other animals. We present a theory of visual variability discrimination that aggregates localized differences between nearby items, and we compare this finding differences model with a previously proposed positional entropy model across several data sets involving both people and pigeons. We supplement those previously published data sets with four new experiments, three of which involve arrays comprising items entailing systematic, quantitative differences. Although both theories provide strong and similar fits of the published data sets, only the finding differences model is applicable to investigations involving quantitative item differences, providing excellent fits in these new experiments.