Abstract
The cognitive estimation task (CET) requires participants to answer estimation questions that lack definitive answers. Few studies examine CET performance in healthy populations, and even fewer in children. Previous research has not considered differences between categories within the CET. The categories differ in their reliance on units of measurement, which is significant when examining CET performance in children due to educational factors. The goal of the study was to examine CET performance in 10 and 12 year-old children and contrast the CET categories. We found a developmental effect in overall CET performance: children’s performance was more extreme than adults but no differences were found between the groups of children. Examination of the CET categories revealed differential developmental trajectories: the children’s scores were more extreme in weight and time, while comparable to adults in quantity. We conclude that CET questions that require application of units of measurement are more difficult for childern due to higher involvement of executive functions, and children have less experience applying them in daily life. The CET is not a unified construct and has the potential to shed light on how children acquire an understanding of magnitudes and units of measurement.
Highlights
EF is a set of high-order cognitive processes that play a critical role during learning and problem solving[4,5]
In order to further our understanding of cognitive estimation task (CET) development we propose two modifications: 1) Examination of CET performance in typically developing (TD) children should be conducted after formal education of relevant units of measurement in order to produce meaningful results
We found that children’s overall CET scores were more extreme than adults
Summary
EF is a set of high-order cognitive processes that play a critical role during learning and problem solving[4,5]. Shallice and Evans[1] designed the CET as a tool to assess estimation abilities in patients with frontal lobe damage, an area of the brain associated with EF. Previous research has found that children with pervasive developmental disorder[14] and epilepsy[15] had extreme CET performance in comparison to typically developing (TD) children. Young children have not learned units of measurement that are required in order to answer most of the CET questions. “how much does a telephone weigh?” knowledge of units of weight is a prerequisite prior to problem solving This distinction between the different types of CET questions was not considered in previous research and young childrens answers were scored as extreme, resulting in a scoring error; extreme scores in this case do not reflect poor CET performance
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
