When Simple Things Are Meaningful: Working Memory Strength Predicts Children's Cognitive Flexibility

Overview

Journal J Exp Child Psychol

Specialties Pediatrics
Psychology

Date 2009 Mar 13

PMID 19278688

Citations 21

Authors

Katharine A Blackwell

Nicholas J Cepeda

Yuko Munakata

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

People often perseverate, repeating outdated behaviors despite correctly answering questions about rules they should be following. Children who perseverate are slower to respond to such questions than children who successfully switch to new rules, even after controlling for age and processing speed. Thus, switchers may have stronger working memory strength than perseverators, with stronger rule representations supporting both flexible switching and faster responses to questions. Alternatively, better inhibitory abilities may support switchers' faster responses by helping to resolve conflict. The current study tested these accounts using a new one-dimensional card sort. Even with all possible sources of conflict removed, switchers still responded faster than perseverators to questions about rules, supporting the graded working memory account.

Citing Articles

Attention switching through text dissimilarity: a cognition research on fragmented reading behavior.

Cao J, Luo J, Zhou J, Jiang Y Front Hum Neurosci. 2024; 18:1402746.

PMID: 38983754 PMC: 11231079. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1402746.

Childhood hyperactivity, eating behaviours, and executive functions: Their association with the development of eating-disorder symptoms in adolescence.

Dufour R, Breton E, Morin A, Cote S, Dubois L, Vitaro F J Eat Disord. 2023; 11(1):183.

PMID: 37833803 PMC: 10571422. DOI: 10.1186/s40337-023-00902-z.

Comparing the Working Memory Capacity with Cognitive Flexibility, Cognitive Emotion Regulation, and Learning Styles of University Students: A Domain General View.

Guler K, Aydin A Dement Geriatr Cogn Dis Extra. 2022; 12(3):131-149.

PMID: 36465839 PMC: 9710454. DOI: 10.1159/000526226.

Effects of Music Training on the Auditory Working Memory of Chinese-Speaking School-Aged Children: A Longitudinal Intervention Study.

Nie P, Wang C, Rong G, Du B, Lu J, Li S Front Psychol. 2022; 12:770425.

PMID: 35153898 PMC: 8825862. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.770425.

Shared cognitive mechanisms of hypnotizability with executive functioning and information salience.

Faerman A, Spiegel D Sci Rep. 2021; 11(1):5704.

PMID: 33707531 PMC: 7970985. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-84954-8.

References

Morton J, Munakata Y . Active versus latent representations: a neural network model of perseveration, dissociation, and decalage. Dev Psychobiol. 2002; 40(3):255-65. DOI: 10.1002/dev.10033. View

Deak G . The development of cognitive flexibility and language abilities. Adv Child Dev Behav. 2003; 31:271-327. DOI: 10.1016/s0065-2407(03)31007-9. View

Zelazo P . The development of conscious control in childhood. Trends Cogn Sci. 2003; 8(1):12-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2003.11.001. View

Cepeda N, Munakata Y . Why do children perseverate when they seem to know better: graded working memory, or directed inhibition?. Psychon Bull Rev. 2008; 14(6):1058-65. DOI: 10.3758/bf03193091. View

Marcovitch S, Boseovski J, Knapp R . Use it or lose it: examining preschoolers' difficulty in maintaining and executing a goal. Dev Sci. 2007; 10(5):559-64. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00611.x. View

Friedman N, Miyake A . The relations among inhibition and interference control functions: a latent-variable analysis. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2004; 133(1):101-135. DOI: 10.1037/0096-3445.133.1.101. View

Stedron J, Sahni S, Munakata Y . Common mechanisms for working memory and attention: the case of perseveration with visible solutions. J Cogn Neurosci. 2005; 17(4):623-31. DOI: 10.1162/0898929053467622. View

Munakata Y, Yerys B . All together now: when dissociations between knowledge and action disappear. Psychol Sci. 2001; 12(4):335-7. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9280.00361. View

Ashendorf L, McCaffrey R . Exploring age-related decline on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Clin Neuropsychol. 2007; 22(2):262-72. DOI: 10.1080/13854040701218436. View

10.

Brewin C, Beaton A . Thought suppression, intelligence, and working memory capacity. Behav Res Ther. 2002; 40(8):923-30. DOI: 10.1016/s0005-7967(01)00127-9. View

11.

Rossell S, David A . Improving performance on the WCST: variations on the original procedure. Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Schizophr Res. 1998; 28(1):63-76. DOI: 10.1016/s0920-9964(97)00093-5. View

12.

Morton J, Trehub S, Zelazo P . Sources of inflexibility in 6-year-olds' understanding of emotion in speech. Child Dev. 2003; 74(6):1857-68. DOI: 10.1046/j.1467-8624.2003.00642.x. View

13.

Frank M, Woroch B, Curran T . Error-related negativity predicts reinforcement learning and conflict biases. Neuron. 2005; 47(4):495-501. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2005.06.020. View

14.

Unsworth N, Schrock J, Engle R . Working memory capacity and the antisaccade task: individual differences in voluntary saccade control. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2004; 30(6):1302-21. DOI: 10.1037/0278-7393.30.6.1302. View

15.

Dunbar K, Sussman D . Toward a cognitive account of frontal lobe function: simulating frontal lobe deficits in normal subjects. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1995; 769:289-304. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1995.tb38146.x. View

16.

Egner T, Hirsch J . Cognitive control mechanisms resolve conflict through cortical amplification of task-relevant information. Nat Neurosci. 2005; 8(12):1784-90. DOI: 10.1038/nn1594. View

17.

Salthouse T . Aging associations: influence of speed on adult age differences in associative learning. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 1994; 20(6):1486-503. DOI: 10.1037//0278-7393.20.6.1486. View

18.

Munakata Y . Graded representations in behavioral dissociations. Trends Cogn Sci. 2001; 5(7):309-315. DOI: 10.1016/s1364-6613(00)01682-x. View

19.

Kane M, Engle R . Working-memory capacity and the control of attention: the contributions of goal neglect, response competition, and task set to Stroop interference. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2003; 132(1):47-70. DOI: 10.1037/0096-3445.132.1.47. View