Executive functions from infancy into early childhood: Measuring robust cognitive and neural markers of development and risk

从婴儿期到幼儿期的执行功能：测量发育和风险的强大认知和神经标记

• 批准号: MR/N008626/1
• 负责人: Karla Holmboe
• 金额: $ 149.22万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2016 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FN008626%2F1
• 关键词: Executive; functions; infancy; into; early

This research aims to understand more about how executive functions develop in very early childhood, between approximately 9 months and 2.5 years of age. Executive functions refer to a set of skills and abilities that allow us to solve problems, plan and organise our lives, make decisions, and cope when we have to do many different things at the same time. Some of these abilities involve keeping important things in memory while solving a problem - for example doing mental arithmetic or reading a set of instructions. Other executive functions help us stop habits and overcome temptations when these are not good for us. In a way, executive functions allow us to have some control over our lives, instead of being completely ruled by habits and circumstances.Because executive functions are so important for being able to live a successful life, it is not surprising that children who have problems with executive functions also tend to struggle in other important areas, such as in school and in social situations. Children who have a diagnosis of developmental disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), also often have poorer executive functions.Unsurprisingly, young children's executive functions are far from perfect - they struggle to keep things in memory, to plan for themselves, and to resist temptation. Children improve very fast in these skills between 3 and 5 years of age and continue to improve right up until adulthood. However, we know very little about how children get their very first executive function abilities during the first 2 years of life. Of course their skills at this young age are likely to be limited, but research suggests that they are in fact present. One problem, though, is that it is quite difficult to measure executive functions in babies and toddlers. We cannot do this the usual way because very young children are limited in their motor and language skills - we cannot simply tell them what to do. Nevertheless, we can develop alternative ways of measuring these skills. For example, developmental psychologists often look at what babies prefer to look at in specially designed videos and get toddlers to play specially programmed games on a computer in order to figure out how young children understand and act on the world around them. In the present research, such videos and interactive games (called 'tasks') will be used to extract measures of even these very young children's executive function abilities.The present research aims to design more and better measures of executive functions in babies and toddlers. The tasks used to measure executive functions will be designed so they are as similar as possible for different age groups, but also get harder as children grow older. I will also use measures of brain activity to see how the brain develops alongside children's executive functions. Once I know that the tasks work well and measure what they are supposed to measure, I will study a large group of approximately 200 children from 9 months until 2.5 years of age. Because the same children will be followed as they grow older, I will be able to see if some children start to develop problems with executive functions and at what point in time this happens. This is important because if we know what the signs are that some children are developing problems, then we can start working on finding ways of helping these children. When children develop specific disorders, such as ADHD and ASD, they are often not diagnosed before they are 3-5 years old. With this new research we may one day be able to diagnose and help these children at an earlier point.

这项研究旨在更多地了解执行功能在儿童早期（大约9个月到2.5岁之间）是如何发展的。执行功能指的是一组技能和能力，这些技能和能力使我们能够解决问题，计划和组织我们的生活，做出决定，并在我们必须同时做许多不同的事情时应对。其中一些能力包括在解决问题时记住重要的事情，例如做心算或阅读一组指令。其他的执行功能可以帮助我们在对我们不利的时候戒掉习惯，克服诱惑。在某种程度上，执行功能允许我们对自己的生活有一些控制，而不是完全被习惯和环境所控制。因为执行功能对于成功的生活非常重要，所以执行功能有问题的孩子在其他重要领域也会有困难，比如在学校和社交场合。被诊断为发育障碍的儿童，如注意力缺陷/多动障碍（ADHD）和自闭症谱系障碍（ASD），执行功能也往往较差。不出所料，幼儿的执行功能远非完美——他们很难记住事情，为自己做计划，抵制诱惑。孩子们在3到5岁之间这些技能的提高非常快，并一直持续到成年。然而，我们对儿童在生命的头两年是如何获得最初的执行功能能力所知甚少。当然，他们在这个年纪的技能可能是有限的，但研究表明，他们实际上是存在的。然而，有一个问题是，很难衡量婴儿和幼儿的执行功能。我们不能用通常的方法来做到这一点，因为非常年幼的孩子在运动和语言技能方面是有限的——我们不能简单地告诉他们该做什么。然而，我们可以开发出衡量这些技能的替代方法。例如，发展心理学家经常观察婴儿在特别设计的视频中喜欢看什么，并让蹒跚学步的孩子在电脑上玩特别编程的游戏，以弄清楚年幼的孩子是如何理解周围世界并对其采取行动的。在目前的研究中，这样的视频和互动游戏（称为“任务”）将被用来提取这些非常小的孩子的执行功能能力的测量。目前的研究旨在设计更多更好的测量婴幼儿执行功能的方法。用于测量执行功能的任务将被设计成尽可能针对不同年龄组的相似任务，但随着儿童年龄的增长，难度也会增加。我还将使用大脑活动的测量来观察大脑是如何随着儿童的执行功能而发展的。一旦我知道这些任务很有效，并且测量了它们应该测量的东西，我将研究大约200个孩子，从9个月到2.5岁。因为同样的孩子会随着年龄的增长而被跟踪，我将能够看到一些孩子是否开始出现执行功能方面的问题，以及这种情况在什么时候发生。这很重要，因为如果我们知道一些孩子正在出现问题的迹象是什么，那么我们就可以开始寻找帮助这些孩子的方法。当儿童出现特定的疾病，如多动症和自闭症谱系障碍时，他们通常在3-5岁之前没有被诊断出来。有了这项新研究，我们也许有一天能够在早期诊断并帮助这些孩子。

项目成果

Neural Substrates of Early Executive Function Development

早期执行功能发展的神经基础

• DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/vr4fz
• 发表时间: 2018
• 作者: Fiske A

Rates of family history of autism and ADHD varies with recruitment approach and socio-economic status.

自闭症和多动症家族史的比例因招募方式和社会经济地位而异。

• DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12469
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: The British journal of developmental psychology
• 作者: Bazelmans T

Neural markers of attention at 6 months associate with later attentional control performance

6 个月时注意力的神经标记与以后的注意力控制表现相关

• DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/8eqjs
• 发表时间: 2023
• 作者: Hendry A

The Neural Correlates of Response Inhibition across the Transition from Infancy to Toddlerhood: An fNIRS study

从婴儿期到幼儿期过渡过程中反应抑制的神经相关性：一项 fNIRS 研究

• DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/w7mkq
• 发表时间: 2023
• 作者: Fiske A