[PDF] Executive function across the life span. | Semantic Scholar (2024)

The results suggest that EF component processes develop at different rates, and that it is important to recognize both the unity and diversity ofEF component processes in studying the development of EF.

Age-related differences were found for memory capacity, as young adults recalled more words than the other groups, but in terms of selectivity, younger and older adults were more selective than adolescents and children.

Three different development patterns were detected, as well as different interactions between the executive components, and three empirical types were established based on the patterns and relationships between components.

Two measures designed to assess executive function (EF) as part of the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB) are discussed and evidence of increasing differentiation of EF from other aspects of cognition was obtained.

The absence of a breakpoint indicates that executive function tests don’t segregate into well-correlated and poorly correlated pairs, and therefore are not well suited for factor analyses, and it is suggested that executive functions are better described as a partly overlapping rather than a factorial structure.

An integrated developmental model of EF is presented by identifying features that the three processes should possess based on features already identified across different models, and additional empirical findings are reviewed in light of this integrated model.

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Changes in processes responsible for preparation and interference control that underlie the ability to flexibly alternate between two different tasks were examined and indicated that the age-related variance in task-switching performance is independent, at least in part, from theAge- related variance in other cognitive processes such as perceptual speed and working memory.

Results indicated that SSRT gets faster with increasing age throughout Childhood, with pronounced slowing in older adulthood, and strong evidence was obtained for age-related speeding in GoRT throughout childhood, with marked slowing throughout adulthood.

Developmental norms by age for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test are presented to complement and extend existing adult norms for theWCST and to facilitate the clinical use of the WCST as a neuropsychological test in child populations.

The degree of source amnesia in this normal sample correlated with age, verbal fluency, and some measures from the WCST, but was not related to Performance IQ, however, or to a measure of fact recall.

Results indicated the speed of stopping becomes faster with increasing age across childhood, with limited evidence of slowing across adulthood, while strong evidence was obtained for age-related speeding of go-signal reaction time throughout childhood, followed by marked slowing throughout adulthood.

The authors explored gender differences by examining 2 distinct memory processes involved in recognizing pictures that were scenes captured from videotapes, and found women obtained higher familiarity scores than did men, whereas no gender difference emerged for conscious recollection.

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