Examining an Executive Function Battery for 14- to 24-month-olds.

鉴于执行功能(EF)与高级认知过程和控制的联系，这并不令人惊讶 EF是一种基础性和全方位的神经认知发展，与积极的学术联系在一起 成就、社会理解、人际关系和发展心理病态。但是，访问 全面有效的EF测量仅限于婴幼儿。本研究的目的是 是开发一种EF电池，能够从 蹒跚学步的岁月。9项任务，涉及最低限度的语言要求，以追求目标导向 专注于抵制强势反应的行为将被实施到240 14-，18-， 以及24个月大的婴儿。竞争的EF开发模式将通过检查这些模式是否 从观察到的数据来看，与几个理论框架预测的假设模式相匹配。一把钥匙 这项建议的要素是测试社会代表性框架，该框架提出 表征能力(例如，语言、手势)的发展构成了向 通过形成和反思与任务相关的表征来控制更多的受控行为。具体来说， 这项研究将评估是否最适合描述幼儿时期多个EF任务的表现 与发展社会交际表征(例如，语言、手势、关节)有关的单一EF因素 注意力)和其他利用这一时期的表征的能力(例如，心理理论，或 理解其他人有指导行为的精神状态)。

Given executive function’s (EF’s) link to higher-order cognitive processes and control, it comes as no surprise that EF is a foundational and all-encompassing neurocognitive development linked to positive academic achievement, social understanding, relationships, and developmental psychopathologies. However, access to a comprehensive and valid measure of EF is limited in infants and toddlers. The objective of the present research is to develop an EF battery capable of examining the structural and theoretical underpinnings of EF starting in the toddler years. A battery of 9 tasks involving minimal language requirements in pursuit of goal-directed behavior focused on resisting a prepotent response will be administered to two-hundred and forty 14-, 18-, and 24-month-olds. Competing models of EF development will be tested by examining whether the patterns from the observed data match hypothesized patterns predicted by several theoretical frameworks. A key element of this proposal is to test the Social Representational Framework, which proposes that the development of representational abilities (e.g., language, gesture) forms the foundation for the transition to more controlled behavior regulated by forming and reflecting on task-relevant representations. Specifically, this research will assess whether the best fit to describe performance across multiple EF tasks in toddlerhood is a unitary EF factor related to developing social-communicative representation (e.g., language, gesture, joint attention) and other abilities that draw on representation in this period (e.g., theory of mind, or the understanding that others have mental states that guide behavior).