Executive Function in Children with Typical and Atypical Language Abilities

描述（由申请人提供）：执行功能（EF）在社会、情感、学术和职业领域的重要性是公认的。本研究的目的是探讨典型和非典型发展的学龄儿童的语言和英语能力之间的关系。有两条独立的研究路线为语言和英语之间存在的关系提供了实证支持。首先，关于双语的研究表明，两种语言的经验有助于提高英语技能。其次，残疾方面的文献主要关注执行控制功能障碍是否可能是与特定语言障碍（SLI）和自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）相关的缺陷的潜在因素之一。在这两种说法中，都有一些相互矛盾的证据，而且两种方法都没有充分说明英语的特定组成部分和可能相关联的特定语言功能。该项目将通过研究双语和单语儿童、特殊语言障碍儿童和ASD儿童的语言和执行功能之间的关系，弥合双语和障碍方面的文献。探索语言和英语之间关系的理论动机源于Zelazo及其同事提出的执行控制发展理论。通过调查不同语言能力群体的EF表现，我们旨在测试该模型的一个关键假设，即使用语言来管理执行控制。总共160名儿童（每组40名）将参加四项研究，旨在解决以下三个具体目标：1)比较双语，单语，特殊语言障碍和ASD组在年龄和非语言认知方面的表现。2)考察英语的特定组成部分与跨群体的语言知识、加工和学习之间的并行和纵向关系；3)直接评估言语中介在典型和非典型语言能力群体英语学习中的作用。拟议的项目代表了一种创新的方法，以建立一个全面的概念框架，该框架涵盖了从语言/语言学习能力增强到语言/语言学习障碍的个人差异程度。这个项目的发现也对语言障碍儿童的针对性干预有潜在的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The importance of executive function (EF) in social, emotional, academic and career domains is well established. The goal of the proposed research is to investigate the association between language and EF abilities in school-age children with typical and atypical development. There are two separate lines of research that provide empirical support for the existence of a relationship between language and EF. First, research on bilingualism suggests that experience with two languages facilitates EF skills. Second, the disabilities literature has focused on whether dysfunction in executive control may be one of the factors underlying deficits associated with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). In both accounts, there is some conflicting evidence and both approaches are underspecified in terms of the particular components of EF and specific language functions that may be linked. The proposed project will bridge the bilingualism and the disorders literatures by examining the relationship between language and executive function in typically-developing bilingual and monolingual children, children with SLI, and children with ASD. The theoretical motivation for exploring the relationship between language and EF stems from a leading developmental theory of executive control proposed by Zelazo and colleagues. By investigating EF performance across groups with varying language abilities we aim to test a critical assumption of this model related to the use of language to manage executive control. A total of 160 children (40 per group) will participate in four studies designed to address the following three specific aims: 1) Compare the performance of bilingual, monolingual, SLI, and ASD groups matched on age and nonverbal cognition on a range of EF measures; 2) Examine the concurrent and longitudinal relationship between specific components of EF and language knowledge, processing, and learning across the groups; and 3) Directly assess the role of verbal mediation in EF across these groups with typical and atypical language abilities. The proposed project represents an innovative approach to establishing a comprehensive conceptual framework that spans the extent of individual variation from enhanced abilities in language/EF to impairments in language/EF. Findings from this project also have potential implications for targeted interventions for children with language disorders.