Adele Diamond: Executive Function
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Resonating with Robbie Case and continuing his legacy: Current approaches to optimizing ALL aspects of a child's development Adele Diamond Canada Research Chair Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience University of British Columbia (UBC) [email protected] Two themes prominent in Robbie’s work.... a) Executive functions & limited- capacity workspace, and b) a commitment to social justice, to service to others, & to helping children reach their full potential & flourish “Executive Functions” (EFs), which depend on prefrontal cortex, are comprised of 3 core abilities: (a) Inhibitory control (self-control) the ability to resist a strong inclination to do one thing and instead do what is most appropriate or needed Makes it possible for us to resist acting on our first impulse so we do not do something we’d regret. Being able to… (1) pay attention despite distraction e.g., suppressing attention to what others are saying such as screening out all but one voice at a cocktail party so that you stay focused on what’s important SELECTIVE or FOCUSED ATTENTION Being able to… (2) stay on task despite boredom, initial failure, interesting tangents, or tempting distractions such as resisting the temptation to do something more fun and instead finish what you started DISCIPLINE Evidence shows that discipline accounts for over twice as much variance in final grades as does IQ, even in college. (Duckworth & Seligman, 2005) You may not be able to change your IQ, but you can certainly affect how much effort and discipline you exert. Discipline can be trained. Being able to… (3) inhibit acting impulsively & instead make a more considered response enables you to: resist grabbing another child’s toy resist saying something socially inappropriate (or hurtful) resist ‘tit for tat’ (hurting someone because that person hurt you) resist jumping to an interpretation of what something must have meant or why it was done resist a luscious dessert when dieting Inhibition allows us a measure of control over our attention and our actions, rather than simply being controlled by external stimuli, our emotions, or old habits of mind or behavior. Therefore it helps make change possible. Finally, inhibition is critical in helping students resist the temptation to answer quickly, instead taking the time they need. THE DAY-NIGHT TASK (Gerstadt , Hong, & Diamond, 1994) Semantically conflicting labels “Day” “Night” Requires holding 2 rules in mind, and inhibiting saying what the images really represent, saying the opposite instead. Percent Correct on the First 4 Trials (out of 16) on the Day-Night Test 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 Percent Correct 30 20 10 0 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 Age in Years Percent Correct on the Last 4 Trials (out of 16) on the Day-Night Test 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 Percent Correct 30 20 10 0 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 Age in Years Response Latency on First 4 Trials (out of 16) on the Day-Night Test 3.2 2.8 2.4 2 1.6 Time to Respond in Seconds 1.2 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 Age in Years Response Latency on the Last 4 Trials (out of 16) on the Day-Night Test 2.8 2.4 2 1.6 Time to Respond in Seconds 1.2 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 Age in Years DITTY Experimenter sings a little ditty think about the answer, don’t tell me before the child responds. Imposes time between presentation of stimulus and response to make children take the time they need to ‘compute’ the answer Percentage of Correct Responses by 4-Year- Old Children on the Song and Standard Conditions of the Day-Night Task 100% ~ 90% 80% 89% 60% Chance 56% 40% Percent Correct 20% 0% Song Standard VIDEO VIDEO VIDEO (b) Working Memory: Holding information in mind while mentally working with it Working memory is critical for making sense of anything that unfolds over time, for that always requires holding in mind what happened earlier & relating that to what is happening now. but… WM is ephemeral, like writing on fogged-up glass. such as relating one idea to another relating what you read (or learned / heard) earlier to what you are reading (learning / hearing) now understanding cause and effect doing mental arithmetic (e.g., adding or subtracting) following a conversation while keeping in mind what you want to say Why is WORKING MEMORY important? Working Memory makes it possible to • consider things from different perspectives • understand what you are reading or listen- ing to (relating beginning, middle, & end) • remember our good intentions, the big picture, & why we are doing what we’re doing (or why we shouldn’t do something) • translate instructions into action plans. WORKING MEMORY is critical to our ability to see connections between seemingly unconnected things, and hence to CREATIVITY, for the essence of creativity is to be able to disassemble and re- combine elements in new ways. (c) COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY being able to easily & quickly switch perspectives or the focus of attention, flexibly adjusting to changed demands or priorities, being able to think outside the box. COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY is critical to creative problem-solving. What are other ways I can react when something happens? What are other ways I can conceptualize a problem (e.g., perhaps it is an opportunity)? What are other ways I can try to overcome a problem? Executive Function skills are more important for school readiness than are IQ or entry-level reading or math. (e.g., Blair, 2002; 2003; Blair & Razza, 2007; Normandeau & Guay, 1998) Many children begin school having very poor EF skills. Research shows that 5-year- olds today are behind in EFs compared with 5-year-olds of a couple of generations ago. (Smirnova, 1998; Smirnova & Gudareva, 2004) Kindergarten teachers report… that over half their children lack effective EF skills, and that that poor EF is their single most difficult challenge in teaching (Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2000). Kindergarten children at risk because of economic disadvantage are disproportionately behind in EF relative to other cognitive skills and relative to children from middle- income homes. Executive Functions are also important for school success. Working memory and inhibitory control each independently predict both math and reading competence throughout the school years. WORKING MEMORY INHIBITION VERY EARLY GRADES Adams & Gathercole, 1995; Blair & Razza, 2007; Language Skills Blair & Razza, 2007 McClelland et al., 2007 Blair & Razza, 2007; Espy et Blair & Razza, 2007; Math Skills al., 2004; Passolunghi et al., Espy et al., 2004; 2007 McClelland et al., 2007 LATER GRADES De Beni et al., 1998; De Beni et al., 1998; Language Skills Gathercole et al., 2004, Fiebach et al., 2007; 2005; Savage et al., 2006 Savage et al., 2006 Barrouillet et al., 2005; Bull Bull & Scerif, 2001; & Scerif, 2001; Gathercole Shallice et al., 2002; Math Skills et al., 2004; Swanson & Kim, Passolunghi & Siegel, 2007 2001 Traditional IQ tests only assess executive functions to a very minimal extent. If I gave you a frontal lobotomy, you would still score in the 80’s or the 90’s on a traditional IQ test (i.e., with the normal range). IQ Scores (Stanford-Binet) 120 110 100 90 80 70 60 0 PKU children with PKU children with higher Phe levels less elevated Phe (6-10 mg/dl) levels (2-6 mg/dl) THE DAY-NIGHT TASK (Gerstadt , Hong, & Diamond, 1994) Semantically conflicting labels “Day” “Night” Requires holding 2 rules in mind, and inhibiting saying what the images really represent, saying the opposite instead. Day-Night Stroop-like Task 100 90 80 Norms Matched Controls 70 Siblings Low Phe High Phe Percent Correct 60 50 Diamond et al. (1997) 40 Monographs of 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 the Society for Research in Child Age in Years Development COMPLEX SPAN TASKS Messy (require several executive function abilities) but excellent measures of the integrity of PFC functioning Counting Span Task (Robbie Case et al., 1982) Count the number of blue dots (ignore the yellow dots), touching each blue dot as you count out loud. Then announce the total for the current display, AND the totals for all previous displays in chronological order. Count the number of blue dots. Touch each blue dot as you count out loud. The total is? Count the number of blue dots. Touch each blue dot as you count out loud. The total is? What was the previous total? Count the number of blue dots. Touch each blue dot as you count out loud. The total is? What were the previous totals, in order? Count the number of blue dots. Touch each blue dot as you count out loud. The total is? What were the previous totals, in order? This requires (a) selective attention (inhibiting attention to the yellow dots), (b) holding information in mind while executing another mental operation (counting), (c) updating the information held in mind, and (d) temporal order memory (keeping track of the order of the totals computed across trials). Spatial Span Task (Robbie Case, 1992a; 1992b) Note which cells are shaded. After you see a filler pattern, you’ll be asked to point to all the cells that had been shaded. Get ready Point to the boxes that had been shaded on this trial. Point to the boxes that had been shaded on this trial. Point to the boxes that had been shaded on this trial. 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 Span Counting Span 1.5 Spatial Span 1 0.5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Age in Years Westerberg et al., 2004 Educate the WHOLE child to optimize academic outcomes We are not just intellects, we have emotions we have social needs & we have bodies Our brains work better when we are not in a stressed emotional state.