Children's representation of specialized skilled movements: The cases of snowboarding and aikido.

This article investigates children's graphic representation of two complex motor skills, snowboarding and aikido, from the perspective of drawing flexibility research. In particular, the role of working memory capacity in the development of drawing flexibility is examined. A total of 127 children in the age range 5.7-11.9 years were shown short videos of snowboarding and aikido and were required to make drawings of them. In addition, participants were administered Goodenough's Draw-a-man Test (that measures the ability to draw detail and proportion in the human figure) and two working memory tests (the Mr. Cucumber test and the Backward Digit Span). The snowboarding and aikido drawings were scored for 19 or 13 features, respectively, on which they could differ from the participant's standard drawing of a person. The snowboarding and aikido scores were correlated, also controlling for age and Draw-a-man scores, indicating a common variance for drawing flexibility. The drawing flexibility scores increased with age, and were correlated with working memory capacity, also controlling for age and Draw-a-man scores. These results are consistent with a neo-Piagetian model of drawing flexibility development. Detailed analyses are also provided on children's production of stick figures and "transparencies," and on the relation of each single modified feature with age and working memory capacity.

Case Report: A playful digital-analogical rehabilitative intervention to enhance working memory capacity and executive functions in a pre-school child with autism.

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is often associated with deficits in Working Memory Capacity (WMC) and Executive Functions (EFs), as early as the first years of life. Research has shown that, even young children with ASD, WMC and EF deficits can be effectively addressed through interventions employing digital and/or analogical tools. Early intervention is important because executive dysfunction can negatively impact on the quality of life, both of children and their families. However, very few studies have been carried out involving intervention with pre-schoolers with ASD. To fill this gap, we developed an intervention that promotes pre-schoolers' WMC and EFs by employing both digital apps and analogical playful activities. This study reports on the feasibility of this intervention, which was carried out in a rehabilitative context. Methods: A male pre-schooler diagnosed with ASD was engaged in a total of 17 intervention sessions, all held in a clinical context, over a nine-week period. Outcomes were measured using a battery of pre- and post-treatment tasks focusing on WMC, EFs and receptive language. The clinician who administered the intervention made written observations and noted any improvements in the child's performance emerging from the digital and analogical activities. Results: The pre- and post-test scores for the cognitive tasks revealed qualitative improvements in the following cognitive domains: (a) WMC in the language receptive domain; (b) updating in WMC; (c) inhibition, specifically concerning control of motor response; (d) receptive vocabulary. Furthermore, when monitoring the child's performance, the clinician noted improvement in almost all the playful activities. Particularly notable improvements were observed in interaction with the apps, which the child appeared to find very motivating. Conclusion: This study supports feasibility of a playful digital-analogical intervention conducted by a clinician in a rehabilitation context to promote cognitive abilities in pre-schoolers with ASD. Further studies are needed to establish whether the intervention's effectiveness can be generalized to a broad sample of children with ASD.

On the Relation between the Development of Working Memory Updating and Working Memory Capacity in Preschoolers.

This study aims at investigating the relationship between working memory updating and working memory capacity in preschool children. A sample of 176 preschoolers (36-74 months) was administered a working memory updating task (Magic House) along with three working memory capacity tests that specifically measure their core attentional component (M capacity, as defined in the theory of constructive operators): Backward Word Span, Mr. Cucumber, and Direction Following Task. Correlational analyses and cross-classification prediction analyses were performed. Updating and capacity were significantly correlated, although the correlations were not high when age was partialled out. Capacity increased with age, and mediated the relation between age and updating. More importantly, cross-classification prediction analysis revealed that high updating scores with low M capacity, and low updating scores with relatively high M capacity, are possible events; the only combination ruled out was a low updating score with precocious development of M capacity. These facts demonstrate that updating skills in preschoolers depends on M capacity but does not coincide with it. Therefore, in cognitive developmental theories, the constructs of working memory updating and capacity should be distinguished, and on practical grounds, different tests should be used to measure them.

Executive Function, Language, and the Toddler's Discovery of Representational Drawing.

Working memory capacity and executive functions play important roles in the early development of drawing and language, but we lack models that specify the relationships among these representational systems and cognitive functions in toddlers. To respond to this need, the present study investigated the relations between drawing and language in very young children, and the role of working memory capacity, inhibition, and shifting in the association between these two representational systems. The participants were 80 children, 25-37 months old. The results revealed that in toddlers (a) all the measures of working memory, inhibition, and shifting loaded on a single factor of general executive functioning; (b) language and drawing are two distinct, but substantially correlated, representational systems; and (c) the development of executive function has a strong impact on language development, which in turn influences the development of drawing.

A working memory span task for toddlers.

This study presents a new working memory measure for toddlers, inspired by the Spin-the-Pots (Hughes & Ensor, 2005), which we modified structuring it as a memory span task. As in the original task, we required toddlers to retrieve objects hidden in little boxes; however, in our Memory Span Spin-the-Pots (MSSP) we used smaller numbers of targets, and we systematically manipulated memory load, covering or not the display, and rotating it or not. Two experiments involved participants between 18 months and three years. In Experiment 1 we examined the effects of covering and rotation on toddlers' memory. Either covering or rotating the stimuli hindered their performance, and combining both transformations yielded an under-additive interaction. Moreover, the effect of covering decreased in the second half of the procedure. In Experiment 2 we validated the MSSP as a working memory measure by comparing it with the Imitation Sorting Task (IST; Alp, 1994). We found that the MSSP correlated with the IST, also with age partialled out, although the IST was easier. In both experiments, the scores increased with age. Overall, this research sheds light on some variables that affect toddlers' performance on the MSSP, and shows that it can be used as a valid working memory measure for toddlers. The results are discussed considering the attentional processes presumably involved.

Promoting Students' Well-Being and Inclusion in Schools Through Digital Technologies: Perceptions of Students, Teachers, and School Leaders in Italy Expressed Through SELFIE Piloting Activities.

Digital technology in its various forms is a significant component of our working environment and lifestyles. However, there is a broad difference between using digital technologies in everyday life and employing them in formal education. Digital technologies have largely untapped potential for improving education and fostering students' well-being and inclusion at school. To bring this to fruition, systemic and coordinated actions involving the whole school community are called for. To help schools exploit the full range of opportunities digital technologies offer for learning, the European Commission has designed and implemented a self-reflection tool called SELFIE (Self-reflection on Effective Learning by Fostering Innovation through Educational Technology). Based on the DigCompOrg conceptual framework, SELFIE encompasses key aspects for effectively integrating digital technologies in school policies and practices. The present study investigates how SELFIE can also support the school community to self-reflect about students' well-being and inclusion. In Italy, the SELFIE online questionnaire has been completed by 24,715 students, 5,690 teachers, and 1,507 school leaders, for a total of 31,912 users from 201 schools (at primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary levels) located in 10 different regions. The complementary data we have collected regarding student well-being and inclusion highlight significant differences in the perceptions on this issue reported by students, teachers, and school leaders. These findings have important implications for facilitating successful practices within the whole school community in order to promote students' well-being and inclusion using educational technologies, as well as for planning future actions following a systemic approach.

Which tasks measure what? Reflections on executive function development and a commentary on Podjarny, Kamawar, and Andrews (2017).

This article provides a selective review of the literature on executive function development and related topics, focusing on the conceptual and terminological confusions that might hinder communication among researchers in the field. The distinctions between working memory and updating, and between shifting and flexibility, are discussed. Methodological problems, which have implications regarding whether a certain task can be considered a measure of a psychological construct, are also discussed. Research on preschoolers is examined with particular attention because it is a rapidly growing but controversial field that seems in particular need of greater conceptual clarity. As a specific touchstone case, we discuss whether the Multidimensional Card Selection Task (MCST) created by Podjarny, Kamawar, and Andrews (2017) should better be considered a measure of concurrent cognitive flexibility or working memory capacity. It is argued that connecting tasks to theoretical constructs is not warranted unless based on rigorous empirical testing of well-formulated models.

Drawing a dog: The role of working memory and executive function.

Previous research suggests that young children draw animals by adapting their scheme for the human figure. This can be considered an early form of drawing flexibility. This study investigated preschoolers' ability to draw a dog that is different from the human figure. The role of working memory capacity and executive function was examined. The participants were 123 children (36-73 months old) who were required to draw both a person and a dog. The dog figure was scored on a list of features that could render it different from the human figure. Regression analyses showed that both working memory capacity and executive function predicted development in the dog drawing; the dog drawing score correlated with working memory capacity and executive function, even partialling out age, motor coordination, and drawing ability (measured with Goodenough's Draw-a-Man test). These results suggest that both working memory capacity and executive function play an important role in the early development of drawing flexibility. The implications regarding executive functions and working memory are also discussed.