Six- to eight-year-olds’ performance in the Heart and Flower task: Emerging proactive cognitive control
The Heart and Flower task is used worldwide to measure age-dependent and individual differences in executive functions and/or cognitive control. The task reliably maps age and individual differences and these have consistently been found to be predictive for different aspects of school readiness and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.923615/full |
| _version_ | 1797871776285327360 |
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| author | Claudia M. Roebers |
| author_facet | Claudia M. Roebers |
| author_sort | Claudia M. Roebers |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Heart and Flower task is used worldwide to measure age-dependent and individual differences in executive functions and/or cognitive control. The task reliably maps age and individual differences and these have consistently been found to be predictive for different aspects of school readiness and academic achievement. The idea has been put forward that there is a developmental shift in how children approach such a task. While 6-year-olds’ tend to adapt their task strategy ad hoc and reactively, older children increasingly engage in proactive cognitive control. Proactive cognitive control entails finding the right response speed without risking errors, always dependent on the cognitive conflict. The main goal of the present contribution was to examine children’s adjustments of response speed as a function of age and cognitive conflict by addressing RTs surrounding errors (i.e., errors and post-error trials). Data from a large sample with three age groups was used (N = 106 6-year-olds’ with a mean age of 6 years; 3 months; N = 108 7-year-olds’ with a mean age of 7 years; 4 months; N = 78 8-year-olds’ with a mean age of 8 years; 1 month). Response speed adjustments and the development thereof were targeted both across the Flower and Mixed block, respectively, and within these blocks focusing on errors and post-error slowing. Results revealed evidence for a developmental shift toward more efficient proactive cognitive control between 6 and 8 years of age, with the older but not the younger children strategically slowing down in the Mixed block and smoother post-error slowing. At the same time, we found that even the youngest age group has emerging proactive cognitive control skills at their disposal when addressing post-error slowing in the Flower block. The present study thus tracks the early roots of later efficient executive functions and cognitive control, contributes to a better understanding of how developmental progression in cognitive control is achieved, and highlights new avenues for research in this domain. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T00:49:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2525c1c50f9d4c4ba2ca7a63152f713f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T00:49:27Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-2525c1c50f9d4c4ba2ca7a63152f713f2023-03-13T15:44:07ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-08-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.923615923615Six- to eight-year-olds’ performance in the Heart and Flower task: Emerging proactive cognitive controlClaudia M. RoebersThe Heart and Flower task is used worldwide to measure age-dependent and individual differences in executive functions and/or cognitive control. The task reliably maps age and individual differences and these have consistently been found to be predictive for different aspects of school readiness and academic achievement. The idea has been put forward that there is a developmental shift in how children approach such a task. While 6-year-olds’ tend to adapt their task strategy ad hoc and reactively, older children increasingly engage in proactive cognitive control. Proactive cognitive control entails finding the right response speed without risking errors, always dependent on the cognitive conflict. The main goal of the present contribution was to examine children’s adjustments of response speed as a function of age and cognitive conflict by addressing RTs surrounding errors (i.e., errors and post-error trials). Data from a large sample with three age groups was used (N = 106 6-year-olds’ with a mean age of 6 years; 3 months; N = 108 7-year-olds’ with a mean age of 7 years; 4 months; N = 78 8-year-olds’ with a mean age of 8 years; 1 month). Response speed adjustments and the development thereof were targeted both across the Flower and Mixed block, respectively, and within these blocks focusing on errors and post-error slowing. Results revealed evidence for a developmental shift toward more efficient proactive cognitive control between 6 and 8 years of age, with the older but not the younger children strategically slowing down in the Mixed block and smoother post-error slowing. At the same time, we found that even the youngest age group has emerging proactive cognitive control skills at their disposal when addressing post-error slowing in the Flower block. The present study thus tracks the early roots of later efficient executive functions and cognitive control, contributes to a better understanding of how developmental progression in cognitive control is achieved, and highlights new avenues for research in this domain.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.923615/fullexecutive functionscognitive controldevelopmental improvementsHeart and Flower taskproactive cognitive controlerror monitoring |
| spellingShingle | Claudia M. Roebers Six- to eight-year-olds’ performance in the Heart and Flower task: Emerging proactive cognitive control Frontiers in Psychology executive functions cognitive control developmental improvements Heart and Flower task proactive cognitive control error monitoring |
| title | Six- to eight-year-olds’ performance in the Heart and Flower task: Emerging proactive cognitive control |
| title_full | Six- to eight-year-olds’ performance in the Heart and Flower task: Emerging proactive cognitive control |
| title_fullStr | Six- to eight-year-olds’ performance in the Heart and Flower task: Emerging proactive cognitive control |
| title_full_unstemmed | Six- to eight-year-olds’ performance in the Heart and Flower task: Emerging proactive cognitive control |
| title_short | Six- to eight-year-olds’ performance in the Heart and Flower task: Emerging proactive cognitive control |
| title_sort | six to eight year olds performance in the heart and flower task emerging proactive cognitive control |
| topic | executive functions cognitive control developmental improvements Heart and Flower task proactive cognitive control error monitoring |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.923615/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT claudiamroebers sixtoeightyearoldsperformanceintheheartandflowertaskemergingproactivecognitivecontrol |