Psychometrics /Executive Function in Preschool Children

学龄前儿童的心理测量/执行功能

• 批准号: 7012026
• 负责人: STEPHANIE M. CARLSON
• 金额: $ 29.92万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-30 至 2010-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7012026
• 关键词: behavior test; behavioral /social science research tag; child psychology; clinical research; data collection methodology /evaluation; emotions; executive function; functional ability; human subject; intelligence tests; language development; learning transfer; longitudinal human study; parent offspring interaction; play; preschool child (1-5); psychometrics; psychotherapy; questionnaires; self help; socializations

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Executive functioning (EF) refers to self-regulation of thought and behavior. It has been implicated in several areas of cognitive and social development and deficits in EF are found in childhood disorders of autism and ADHD. Surprisingly little is known, however, about the normative course of EF development and the factors that guide it. Scientific inquiry and clinical practice pertaining to EF have been hampered by a lack of universal and appropriate measures of EF for preschool-age children. Existing measures suffer from a lack of generalizability, lengthy and non-child-friendly protocols, floor and ceiling effects, and ill-defined task demands. The proposed research has three major aims. First, new measures will be developed and tested with a diverse population of children from 30 to 60 months of age. The measures are multi-dimensional, brief, and sequenced to be age-appropriate. They will be standardized and normed for use in multiple settings. Second, longitudinal studies will be carried out to verify that individual children's development conforms to the sequence outlined in the first phase. As well, this design will include assessment of factors that might contribute to individual differences in EF including language, symbolic play, and parental input. Lastly, building on this newly acquired knowledge of normative development, training studies will be conducted to test the effectiveness of direct instruction in the tasks and training transfer from other skills such as symbolic play. This research will form the basis for more sound intervention strategies to improve children's overall functioning.

执行功能（EF）是指思想和行为的自我调节。它与认知和社会发展的几个领域有关，在自闭症和ADHD的儿童疾病中发现了EF的缺陷。令人惊讶的是，鲜为人知的是，然而，有关EF发展的规范过程和指导它的因素。科学调查和有关EF的临床实践一直受到阻碍，缺乏普遍和适当的措施EF学龄前儿童。现有措施缺乏普遍性，议定书冗长，对儿童不友好，有下限和上限效应，任务要求不明确。拟议的研究有三个主要目标。首先，将制定新的措施，并在30至60个月的不同儿童群体中进行测试。这些措施是多方面的，简短的，并按年龄顺序排列。这些标准将被标准化和规范化，以便在多种环境中使用。第二，将进行纵向研究，以证实个别儿童的发展符合第一阶段概述的顺序。同样，这个设计将包括评估可能导致EF个体差异的因素，包括语言，符号游戏和父母的输入。 最后，在新获得的规范发展知识的基础上，将进行培训研究，以测试任务中的直接指导和从其他技能（如象征性游戏）转移的培训的有效性。这项研究将为更健全的干预战略奠定基础，以改善儿童的整体功能。