Theory Of Executive Function Research Articles

Progressing from an implicit to an explicit false belief understanding: A matter of executive control?

In a longitudinal study (N = 54), we investigated the developmental relation between children’s implicit and explicit theory of mind and executive functions. We found that implicit false belief understanding at 18 months was correlated with explicit false belief understanding at 4 to 5 years of age, with the latter being closely related to second-order false belief understanding at 5 years of age. Also, replicating a number of studies, explicit first- and second-order false belief understanding, in contrast to implicit false belief understanding, were related to executive functioning. This indicates that executive functions play a role in standard explicit false belief tasks, but not in implicit false belief understanding. We argue that spontaneous, implicit false belief understanding does not require conscious control, whereas explicit false belief understanding is based on conscious, reflective processing. In sum, we suggest a developmental enrichment account of theory of mind development, with belief processing becoming increasingly reflective and controlled with advancing age.

The Ability of Patients With Schizophrenia to Comprehend and Produce Sincere, Deceitful, and Ironic Communicative Intentions: The Role of Theory of Mind and Executive Functions.

Patients with schizophrenia are often described as impaired in several cognitive domains. Specifically, patients with schizophrenia often exhibit problems in solving tasks requiring theory of mind (ToM), i.e., the ability to ascribe mental states to oneself and others, communicative-pragmatic ability, i.e., the ability to use language and non-verbal expressive means to convey meaning in a given context, and executive functions (EF). This study aims to investigate the role of cognitive functions, such as general intelligence, selective attention, processing speed, and especially EF (working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibition, and planning), and ToM in explaining the performance of individual with schizophrenia in comprehending and producing communicative acts expressed with different communicative intentions (i.e., sincere, deceitful, and ironic), and realized through linguistic and extralinguistic/non-verbal expressive means. Thirty-two patients with schizophrenia and an equal number of healthy controls performed tasks aiming to investigate their capacity to comprehend and produce sincere, deceitful, and ironic communicative acts in addition to a series of cognitive tasks evaluating EF and ToM. The results indicated that individuals with schizophrenia performed worse than the controls in the comprehension and production of all pragmatic phenomena investigated, as well as in all the cognitive functions examined. The patients with schizophrenia also exhibited an increasing trend of difficulty in comprehending and producing sincere, deceitful, and ironic communicative acts expressed through either linguistic or extralinguistic means. Furthermore, a multiple regression analysis of the patients’ performance on the pragmatic tasks revealed that overall, the role of attention, general intelligence, and processing speed did not appear to significantly explain the patients’ communicative-pragmatic performance. The inclusion of EF into the analysis did not contribute to increase the explained variance of the patients’ ability to comprehend and produce the various pragmatic phenomena investigated. Only the addition of ToM could significantly increase the explained variance, but only in the comprehension and production of deceit expressed by language and the production of sincere communicative acts, also limited to linguistic production. We conclude that neither EF nor ToM are able to explain the decreasing trend detected in the patients’ pragmatic performance.

The influence of an older sibling on preschoolers’ lie‐telling behavior

AbstractIn the present study, children’s (2‐ to 5‐years old) lie‐telling was examined in relation to theory of mind (first‐order false belief understanding), executive functioning (measuring inhibitory control in conjunction with working memory), and presence of siblings in the home (no siblings vs. siblings; younger siblings vs. older siblings). Lie‐telling was observed using a temptation resistance paradigm. Overall, of the 152 (74.9%) children who peeked at the toy, 73 (48%) lied during the temptation resistance paradigm. Children with higher scores on measures of first‐order false belief understanding, and measures that relied on inhibitory control, were more likely to lie compared to their truthful counterparts. Additionally, children with older siblings were more likely to lie to the research assistant, and this relationship was independent of performance on cognitive tasks. Overall, results demonstrate that having an older sibling has an independent, direct effect on the development of young children’s lie‐telling abilities, irrespective of cognitive ability. These findings support the argument that lie‐telling is a behavior that is facilitated by both cognitive and social factors.

Social Decision Making in Autistic Adolescents: The Role of Theory of Mind, Executive Functioning and Emotion Regulation.

Social decision making is often challenging for autistic individuals. Twenty autistic adolescents made decisions in the socially interactive context of a one-shot ultimatum game, and performance was compared to a large matched typical reference sample. Theory of mind, executive functioning and emotion regulation were measured via direct assessments, self- and parent report. Relative to the reference sample, autistic adolescents proposed fewer fair offers, and this was associated with poorer theory of mind. Autistic adolescents responded similarly to the reference sample when making decisions about offers proposed to them, however they did not appear to down regulate their negative emotion in response to unfair treatment in the same way. Atypical processes may underpin even apparently typical decisions made by autistic adolescents.

Theory of mind and executive functions in bipolar disorder patients and their first-degree relatives (tur)

Theory of mind and executive functions in bipolar disorder patients and their first-degree relatives (tur)

A systematic review and meta-regression analysis of social functioning correlates in autism and typical development.

Differences in social functioning are a hallmark feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and much research has been devoted to locating cognitive and developmental explanations for this domain. To sort through this literature, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis that quantifies the extent to which several of these candidate constructs are associated with social functioning. We gathered 881 effect sizes calculated from 133 unique participant samples, and synthesized Pearson's r correlations between social functioning and three cognitive constructs; (a) theory of mind (ToM), (b) executive function, and (c) central coherence, and five developmental constructs: (d) initiating joint attention, (e) responding to joint attention, (f) imitation, (g) pretend play, and (h) visual fixation to social stimuli. We synthesized effect sizes using robust variance estimation for each putative correlate, for populations with ASD and typical development (TD) separately. We also conducted a series of meta-regressions to determine if sample and study features moderated effect sizes. We found that, in the ASD group, effect size estimates were significant and small (<0.30) for ToM, executive function, and initiating joint attention. Effect size estimates were significant and moderate (0.30 < r < 0.50) for imitation and response to joint attention. In the TD group, effect size estimates for ToM, executive function, and initiating joint attention were significant and small. In a meta-regression collapsed across correlates, we found that effect sizes were significantly larger in the ASD group (P < 0.05) and decreased as mental age increased (P < 0.001). Autism Res 2019, 12: 152-175 © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: In this meta-analysis, we found that correlations between social functioning and several constructs used to explain the developmental or cognitive origins of social functioning were quite low. This could mean that researchers will need to develop new theories about social functioning in ASD.

Metacognitive beliefs and childhood adversities: an overview of the literature

ABSTRACTWithin the Self-Regulatory Executive Function theory, emerging data suggest that unhelpful metacognitive beliefs might be associated with exposure to early adversities, however the evidence is still sparse and inconclusive. This study aimed to conduct an overview of the literature to evaluate if exposure to childhood adversities might be associated with the presence of unhelpful metacognitive beliefs.A comprehensive research was conducted on PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar from inception to May 2017. The search terms used were: ‘childhood adversity/childhood abuse/childhood neglect/childhood loss event’ AND ‘metacognition/metacognitive beliefs’. A manual search of reference lists was run. Five studies were identified: three on psychiatric patients, two on the general population. Findings suggest that: (a) exposure to childhood abuse or childhood neglect might be associated with unhelpful metacognitive beliefs in adulthood; (b) early adversities are more frequently associated with negative beliefs, than other metacognitive beliefs; (c) metacognitive beliefs seem to mediate the association between childhood adversities and, repetitive thinking and negative affect.In conclusion, metacognitive beliefs might be involved in the association between early adversities and negative emotions. Interventions able to identify and reduce metacognitive beliefs associated to childhood adversities could be considered for treating the emotional consequences of childhood adversities.

Childhood Executive Function Predicts Later Autistic Features and Adaptive Behavior in Young Autistic People: a 12-Year Prospective Study

Longitudinal studies of autistic people show that the behavioral features of autism generally endure into adulthood. Yet the prognostic indicators remain far from certain, especially for cognitively able individuals. Here, we test the predictive power of specific cognitive skills, namely theory of mind and executive function, measured in childhood, on young people’s autistic features and adaptive behavior 12 years later. Twenty-eight young autistic people (2 female) were seen twice within the space of 12 years. At Time 1 (M = 5 years; 7 months, SD = 11 months), participants were assessed on components of executive function (planning, inhibition and cognitive flexibility) and theory of mind (false-belief understanding). At Time 2, 12 years later (M = 17 years 10 months, SD = 1 year; 2 months), we measured participants’ autistic features and adaptive behavior. Only Time 1 executive function skills predicted significant variance in autistic adolescents’ autistic features, over and above variance attributable to early age, intellectual ability and theory of mind skills. Furthermore, early EF skills, in addition to early verbal ability and nonverbal ability, predicted significant variance in young people’s adaptive behavior at the 12-year follow-up. These long-term longitudinal findings clearly demonstrate that executive function measured in early childhood has prognostic significance in a sample of young autistic people approaching emerging adulthood and underscore their importance as a key target for early intervention and support.

Social Cognition and Executive Function Impairment in Young Women with Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a very debilitating disorder and has shown different cognitive deficit patterns. Some of them are controversial because they relate some deficit with autistic traits. Both, social cognition and executive function are top-down processes that regulate social interaction and adaptive behavior in a complex world. Neurocognitive profiles focused on this process are especially useful as endophenotypes in clinic research and intervention.The aims of this study are (1) assessing the contribution of social cognition and executive function to socio-emotional and neurocognitive patterns in anorexia nervosa and (2) investigating the possible relationships between social cognition tasks and executive function measures and clinic features in this eating disorder. Fifteen adolescents with anorexia nervosa and 15 healthy controls took part in this study. Patients were diagnosed with DSM-IV-R criteria. They had suffered the disease for 3 years (SD ± 1.47). They were compared in social cognition (Reading the Mind in the Eyes and the IOWA Gambling Task) and executive function (verbal fluency tasks, trail making test, and digit span test [DST] from the WAIS-III). The results show that there was a significant difference in social cognition, at the theory of mind and the IOWA gambling task. Finally, for the executive function task, adolescents with AN displayed significant differences in both direct DST and inverse DST, as well as in semantic fluency and phonological fluency compared with controls. These domains show different highlysignificant relationships that could explain neurocognitive profiles. In conclusion, many differences were found between adolescents with AN and healthy controls. AN patients displayed important deficits in theory of mind recognition, executive function, and decision making. These deficits could play a role in maintaining pathological patterns and also important endophenotypes in research and intervention might be considered.

Children with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Relationships between symptoms and executive function, theory of mind, and behavioral problems

BackgroundThe underlying mechanisms of comorbidity between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are still unknown. Executive function (EF) deficits and theory of mind (ToM) have been the most investigated cognitive processes. AimsThis study proposed to analyze EF, ToM and behavioral problems in children with ASD + ADHD, ADHD, ASD and typical development (TD). The relationship between ADHD and ASD symptoms with EF, ToM and behavioral problems in children with ASD + ADHD was also explored. Methods and proceduresParticipants were 124 children between 7 and 11 years old (22 ASD + ADHD, 35 ADHD, 30 ASD, and 37 TD), matched on age and IQ. Teachers evaluated EF, and parents assessed ToM skills and behavioral problems through Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Outcomes and resultsChildren with ASD + ADHD and ADHD showed impairments in EF whereas the difficulties in ToM skills of ASD + ADHD group were similar to ASD group. Inattention symptoms were significantly associated with EF metacognitive deficits and ToM difficulties in ASD + ADHD, while ASD symptoms were associated with total score in behavioral problems. Conclusions and implicationsThese findings show the complex difficulties of children with both ASD and ADHD and support the need to take these difficulties into account when designing the treatments.

Exploring the neurocognitive correlates of challenging behaviours in young people with autism spectrum disorder.

Many young people with autism spectrum disorder display 'challenging behaviours', characterised by externalising behaviour and self-injurious behaviours. These behaviours can have a negative impact on a young person's well-being, family environment and educational achievement. However, the development of effective interventions requires greater knowledge of autism spectrum disorder-specific models of challenging behaviours. Autism spectrum disorder populations are found to demonstrate impairments in different cognitive domains, namely social domains, such as theory of mind and emotion recognition, but also non-social domains such as executive functioning and sensory or perceptual processing. Parent-rated self-injurious behaviour and externalising behaviours, and neurocognitive performance were assessed in a population-derived sample of 100 adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Structural equation modelling was used to estimate associations between cognitive domains (theory of mind, emotion recognition, executive functioning and perceptual processing) and self-injurious behaviour and externalising behaviours. Poorer theory of mind was associated with increased self-injurious behaviour, whereas poorer perceptual processing was associated with increased externalising behaviours. These associations remained when controlling for language ability. This is the first analysis to examine how a wide range of neurocognitive domains relate to challenging behaviours and suggests specific domains that may be important targets in the development of interventions in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

Theory of mind development and executive functions (2): Analyses based on the Guttman’s scale

Theory of mind development and executive functions (2): Analyses based on the Guttman’s scale

Children’s second-order lying: Young children can tell the truth to deceive

The current study investigated the development of second-order lying and its relation to theory of mind and executive function. Previous studies have examined only first-order lying, in which a child makes an untruthful statement to intentionally deceive an unsuspecting opponent. As opposed to first-order lying, second-order lying requires the use of both lies and truths to deceive an opponent because the opponent is fully aware of the liar’s deceptive intention. Here, we used a modified hide-and-seek task, in which children were asked to hide a coin in either one of their hands for opponents to find. In this task, the opponents did not consistently look for the coin in the location indicated by the children. Thus, children could not win the desirable reward if they only told lies to deceive; they needed to switch between telling lies and telling truths (i.e., second-order lies) to deceive opponents. The results showed that children could tell second-order lies by 4 years of age, and their ability to do so was significantly related only to the second-order ignorance scores (early second-order theory of mind understanding). The current findings suggest that second-order ignorance, but not second-order false belief understanding, contributes to children’s second-order lying.

Individual Differences in Children’s Suggestibility: An Updated Review

ABSTRACTThe present review is intended as an overview of our current understanding of how children’s individual characteristics, in terms of demographic, cognitive, and psycho-social variables, may influence their susceptibility to suggestion. The goals are to revisit conceptual models of the mechanisms of suggestibility, to provide an updated practical guide for practitioners, and to make recommendations for future research. Results suggest that children with intellectual impairment and those with nascent language skills may be particularly vulnerable to suggestion. Further, memory for separate events, theory of mind, executive function, temperament, and social competence may not be related to suggestibility, whereas additional work is needed to clarify the potential contributions of knowledge, stress, mental health, parental elaborative style, and adverse experiences/maltreatment to children’s suggestibility.

Savvy or Haphazard? Comparing Preschoolers’ Performance Across Selective Learning Tasks Based on Different Epistemic Indicators

ABSTRACTChildren frequently select learning sources based on epistemic cues, or cues pertaining to informants’ knowledge. Previous research has shown that preschoolers preferentially learn from informants who have been accurate in the past, appear confident, or have had visual access to relevant information. The present series of studies aimed to investigate the relation between these 3 types of epistemic selective learning abilities in 176 children ages 3 years to 6 years. Results indicated that children’s performance was mostly uncorrelated across the different selective learning tasks and tasks measuring theory of mind and executive function were not found to predict any selective learning skills. Implications for the reliability and current conceptual understanding of these selective learning tasks are discussed.

Exploring the relationship between fairness and ‘brain types’ in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder

BackgroundExisting research typically focuses on only one domain of cognition with regard to fairness—theory of mind or executive function. However, children with High-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD) are cognitively impaired in both domains. Moreover, little is known about fairness characteristics in children with HF-ASD in relation to both domains of cognition. MethodsThirty children with HF-ASD as well as 39 children with typical development (TD) were evaluated in this study. We investigated the development of children's fairness characteristics as a responder in a mini ultimatum game (UG). The different ‘brain types,’ i.e., with or without HF-ASD, were evaluated using the Empathy Questionnaire-Systemizing Questionnaire (E/SC-Q). Furthermore, we explored the relationship between fairness and brain types using Pearson correlation analyses. ResultsChildren in the HF-ASD group were more likely to accept unfair offers than were children in the TD group (χ2 = 17.513, p = .025). In the HF-ASD group, the acceptance rate of unfair offers was correlated with the discrepancy score (r = 0.363, p = .048), while there were no significant correlations in the TD group. In HF-ASD group, compared with Type S, acceptance rate of unfair offer was significant higher in Extreme Type S ‘brain type’ (F = 28.584, p < .001). While dividing TD participants by ‘brain type’, there was no significant difference in acceptance rate of unfair offer among five difference ‘brain types’ (F = 1.131, p = .358). Stepwise regression revealed that Extreme Type S positively predicted acceptance of unfair offers (F [1, 68] = 8.695, p < .001). DiscussionOur findings show that children with HF-ASD were more likely to accept an unfair offer; in particular, the more unbalanced the development of empathy and systemizing was, the more significant the unfairness preference observed. Extreme Type S positively predicted the acceptance of unfair offers by children with HF-ASD. Registration of clinical trialsWorld Health Organization class I registered international clinical trial platform, ChiCTR-ROC-17012877.

Children's sharing with collaborators versus competitors: The impact of theory of mind and executive functioning

While children show an appreciation for fairness, their sharing does not always reflect such principles. This work examined how contextual factors (competition/cooperation; self/other perspective) and socio-cognitive skills impact children's sharing. Children (4- to 6-year-olds and 7- to 9-year-olds) set up games played either with (cooperative) or against (competitive) peers. The set up involved allocating resources necessary to completing the task (e.g., blocks used to build towers). Children also completed measures of executive functioning and mentalizing skills. Children who focused on the perspective of their social partner prior to allocating resources shared fewer items than those who reflected on their own perspective. Fewer items were shared in the competitive (versus cooperative) context and younger (versus older) children shared fewer items. Age moderated the relationship between executive functioning and sharing: younger children with more proficient executive skills tended to share more items, whereas this pattern did not emerge in the older group.

Emotion recognition and its relation to prefrontal function and network in heroin plus nicotine dependence: a pilot study.

Many patients with substance use disorders (SUDs) live in a stressful environment, and comorbidity is not uncommon. Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying heroin and nicotine dependences and their relationships to social cognition could facilitate behavioral therapy efficacy. We aimed to provide a translational approach that leads to identifying potential biomarkers for opioid use disorder (OUD) susceptibility during recovery. We examined the clinical characters and the relationships between theory of mind (ToM) and executive functions in three groups: heroin plus nicotine-dependent (HND) patients who had remained heroin abstinent ( months), nicotine-dependent (ND) subjects, and healthy controls (C). The domains included emotion recognition, inhibition, shifting, updating, access, and processing speed. Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC), ToM task-induced functional connectivity, and brain networks were then explored among 21 matched subjects using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. HND enhanced the severities of anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity. Inhibition domain was impaired in both HND and ND. No impairment in domains of emotion recognition, access, and update was observed. HND demonstrated enhanced rsFC in the medial prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and decreased ToM-induced connectivity across the PFC. The right superior frontal gyrus in the OFC (oSFG; , , and ) was associated with working memory and emotion recognition in HND. Using a neuroimaging tool, these results supported the prominent reward-deficit-and-stress-surfeit hypothesis in SUDs, especially OUD, after protracted withdrawal. This may provide an insight in identifying potential biomarkers related to a dynamic environment.

Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Computerized Cognitive Training on Executive Functions: a Cross-Disciplinary Taxonomy for Classifying Outcome Cognitive Factors.

The growing prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders associated with aging and cognitive decline has generated increasing cross-disciplinary interest in non-pharmacological interventions, such as computerized cognitive training (CCT), which may prevent or slow cognitive decline. However, inconsistent findings across meta-analytic reviews in the field suggest a lack of cross-disciplinary consensus and on-going debate regarding the benefits of CCT. We posit that a contributing factor is the lack of a theoretically-based taxonomy of constructs and representative tasks typically used. An integration of the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) taxonomy of broad and narrow cognitive factors and the Miyake unity-diversity theory of executive functions (EF) is proposed (CHC-M) as an attempt to clarify this issue through representing and integrating the disciplines contributing to CCT research. The present study assessed the utility of this taxonomy by reanalyzing the Lampit et al. (2014) meta-analysis of CCT in healthy older adults using the CHC-M framework. Results suggest that: 1) substantively different statistical effects are observed when CHC-M is applied to the Lampit et al. meta-analytic review, leading to importantly different interpretations of the data; 2) typically-used classification practices conflate Executive Function (EF) tasks with fluid reasoning (Gf) and retrieval fluency (Gr), and Attention with sensory perception; and 3) there is theoretical and practical advantage in differentiating attention and working-memory tasks into the narrow shifting, inhibition, and updating EF domains. Implications for clinical practice, particularly for our understanding of EF are discussed.

On the relation between theory of mind and executive functioning: A developmental cognitive neuroscience perspective.

Theory of mind (ToM) and executive functioning (EF) show marked interrelatedness across childhood, and developmental psychologists have long been interested in understanding the nature of this association. The present review addresses this issue from a cognitive neuroscience perspective by exploring three hypotheses regarding their functional overlap: (1) ToM relies on EF (EF→ToM); (2) EF relies on ToM (ToM→EF); and (3) ToM and EF are mutually related, owing to shared neural structures or networks (ToM↔EF). Drawing on evidence from normative brain development, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases, patient lesion studies, and brain-imaging studies, we suggest that only a strict version of the ToM↔EF proposal of complete neural overlap can be confidently ruled out on the basis of existing evidence. The balance of evidence suggests that separable neurobiological mechanisms likely underlie ToM and EF, with shared mechanisms for domain-general processing that support both abilities. We highlight how future studies may empirically substantiate the nature of the ToM-EF relationship using various biobehavioral approaches.