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Yuko Munakata

University of Colorado, Boulder, Psychology and Neuroscience, Faculty Member

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Daniel D. Hutto

University of Wollongong

University of Maryland

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Lancaster University

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Cornell University

University of California, Merced

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Carleton University

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Northwestern University

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Papers by Yuko Munakata

Metacognitive Processes in Executive Control Development: The Case of Reactive and Proactive Control

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Jun 1, 2015

Young children engage cognitive control reactively in response to events, rather than proactively... more Young children engage cognitive control reactively in response to events, rather than proactively preparing for events. Such limitations in executive control have been explained in terms of fundamental constraints on children's cognitive capacities. Alternatively, young children might be capable of proactive control but differ from older children in their meta-cognitive decisions regarding when to engage proactive control. We examined these possibilities in three conditions of a task-switching paradigm, varying in whether task cues were available before or after target onset. Reaction times, ERPs, and pupil dilation showed that 5-year-olds did engage in advance preparation, a critical aspect of proactive control, but only when reactive control was made more difficult, whereas 10-year-olds engaged proactive control whenever possible. These findings highlight meta-cognitive processes in children's cognitive control, an understudied aspect of executive control development. Keywords executive control; meta-cognition; proactive control; reactive control; cognitive development; children Many everyday activities require efficient control over one's own thoughts and actions to ensure goal attainment (e.g., to keep working rather than check the news or daydream). Such executive control can be temporally engaged in different ways. For instance, when walking to a new place, one may engage control proactively, searching for directions beforehand, or reactively, figuring out directions while actually walking. Proactive and reactive modes of control, as first highlighted by the Dual Mechanisms of Control framework (Braver, 2012;

Self-organization and Development

Perspectives on Development

Quantifying Myelin Patterns and High Density Sleep EEG in Preschool Children: Investigations of Brain Maturation and Function

Group Influences on Engaging Self-Control: Children Delay Gratification and Value It More When Their In-Group Delays and Their Out-Group Doesn’t

Psychological Science, Apr 6, 2018

What shapes our ability to exercise self-control-to inhibit the urge to order chocolate cake when... more What shapes our ability to exercise self-control-to inhibit the urge to order chocolate cake when on a diet or to save money now for a bigger payoff later? People vary in how successful they are at engaging self-control. Children are notorious for struggling with it. Childhood self-control predicts important life outcomes (e.g., employment, academic success, health, wealth, criminality; Mischel, Shoda, & Rodriguez, 1989; Moffitt et al., 2011), suggesting it is an early-emerging and stable individual difference that supports adaptive behavior throughout life. Identifying factors that predict self-control in childhood and beyond is thus of considerable interest. Self-control is often explained in terms of earlydeveloping cognitive skills, such as executive functions (e.g., goal maintenance, working memory, and inhibition), prefrontal circuitry associated with executive functions (Bunge & Zelazo, 2006; Casey et al., 2011), and psychological traits (e.g., Duckworth, Tsukayama, & Kirby, 2013; Moffitt et al., 2011). However, self-control emerges not in isolation but in a rich sociocultural context that may influence how it is exercised and develops. Self-control is linked to parenting (e.g., Bernier, Carlson, & Whipple, 2010; Lamm et al., 2017) and socioeconomic status (SES; e.g., Hackman, Gallop, Evans, & Farah, 2015) and may be moderated by beliefs about the reliability of the environment and social trust. Children and adults wait less for rewards when the person providing the reward is unreliable (e.g.

Environmental and genetic influences on self-directed executive functioning in childhood

Young children often struggle to accomplish goals without instructions or reminders from adults. ... more Young children often struggle to accomplish goals without instructions or reminders from adults. Less-structured activities might facilitate children's emerging self-directed executive functioning, by giving children opportunities to choose what to do and when, and to practice setting and accomplishing goals. In one study, 6-year-old children who spent more time in less-structured activities showed better self-directed switching on a verbal fluency task; conversely, more time in adult-structured activities predicted worse switching . However, it is unclear from such correlational studies whether children's activities caused differences in executive functioning, as opposed to differences in executive functioning shaping how children spent time, or a third factor driving both. The current study thus investigated relationships between children's experiences and self-directed executive function in a genetically-informative longitudinal twin sample (N= 936; 472 female, 464 male) . Twins who lived in more structured homes and participated in more structured activities at ages 3 and 4 showed worse self-directed switching on a verbal fluency task at age 7, controlling for earlier performance and concurrent levels of environmental structure. These relationships persisted controlling for general cognitive ability, vocabulary knowledge, and socioeconomic status. Associations between early time use and self-directed switching were mediated by nonshared environmental rather than genetic factors. These findings are consistent with early structured time causally affecting later self-directed executive function.

Cognitive Control Reflects Context Monitoring, Not Motoric Stopping, in Response Inhibition

PLOS ONE, Feb 27, 2012

The inhibition of unwanted behaviors is considered an effortful and controlled ability. However, ... more The inhibition of unwanted behaviors is considered an effortful and controlled ability. However, inhibition also requires the detection of contexts indicating that old behaviors may be inappropriate -in other words, inhibition requires the ability to monitor context in the service of goals, which we refer to as context-monitoring. Using behavioral, neuroimaging, electrophysiological and computational approaches, we tested whether motoric stopping per se is the cognitivelycontrolled process supporting response inhibition, or whether context-monitoring may fill this role. Our results demonstrate that inhibition does not require control mechanisms beyond those involved in context-monitoring, and that such control mechanisms are the same regardless of stopping demands. These results challenge dominant accounts of inhibitory control, which posit that motoric stopping is the cognitively-controlled process of response inhibition, and clarify emerging debates on the frontal substrates of response inhibition by replacing the centrality of controlled mechanisms for motoric stopping with context-monitoring.

Beyond personal control: The role of developing self-control abilities in the behavioral constellation of deprivation

Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2017

We agree with Pepper &amp;amp; Nettle that personal control is important in understanding peo... more We agree with Pepper &amp;amp; Nettle that personal control is important in understanding people&amp;#39;s willingness to engage in future-oriented behavior. However, this does not imply that self-control abilities play no role, for self-control abilities do influence whether individuals engage in future-oriented behavior. Personal control may also shape the development of self-control abilities, so contrasting the two may be a false dichotomy.

When Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Psychological Science, Aug 1, 2006

People often perseverate, or repeat habitual behaviors when they are no longer appropriate. For e... more People often perseverate, or repeat habitual behaviors when they are no longer appropriate. For example, after sorting cards by one rule, children will reliably perseverate with this rule even when they are clearly and repeatedly instructed to switch to a new rule. Such perseveration may result from limitations in working memory abilities for holding instructions actively in mind. If so, children may switch more readily to a new rule following experiences that are less demanding on working memory, such as guided practice with the new rule. In a study testing this prediction, 3-year-old children received direct instructions to switch to a new rule, guided practice with the new rule, or both. Providing children with guided practice was much more effective than telling them what to do. These findings support theories of perseveration based on competing memory systems, challenge alternative theories, and suggest effective methods for countering prepotent behaviors.

Time Isn’t of the Essence

Psychological Science, Nov 5, 2015

Is it easier to inhibit inappropriate behaviors if we pause before acting? An important finding f... more Is it easier to inhibit inappropriate behaviors if we pause before acting? An important finding for theory and intervention is that children's inhibitory control improves if an adult imposes a delay before children can act. Such findings have suggested that the passage of time allows impulsive urges to passively dissipate. However, prior studies that imposed delays also added reminders about what children should be doing, which may have aided children's activation of goal-relevant information. We tested this possibility by independently manipulating delays and task-reminders, and measuring 3-year-old's abilities to inhibit opening boxes in a go/no-go box-search task. Taskreminders, but not adult-imposed delays, improved children's response inhibition. However, as in prior work, children's spontaneous delays predicted better response inhibition. These results challenge a causal role for the passage of time, suggest that spontaneous delays index other processes that improve inhibitory control, and highlight the importance of goal-activation in developing inhibitory control.

Transitions in Executive Function: Insights From Developmental Parallels Between Prospective Memory and Cognitive Flexibility

Child Development Perspectives, Apr 20, 2015

As children develop, they need to remember to carry out their intentions and overcome habits to s... more As children develop, they need to remember to carry out their intentions and overcome habits to switch flexibly to new ways of behaving. Developments in these domains-prospective memory and cognitive flexibilityare essential for children to function and predict important outcomes. Prospective memory and cognitive flexibility are similar in the psychological processes proposed to support them (particularly executive functions), in how they are measured, and in the behavioral transitions observed (e.g., dissociations between actions and intentions, and nonlinear developmental trajectories). In this article, we highlight how such parallels can inform debates about the specific executive functions and types of developments that support prospective memory, cognitive flexibility, and related future-oriented abilities, and can deepen understanding of executive function development more generally.

The Relationship between Slow Wave Activity Topography and Speed of Processing in Preschoolers

Topography of Slow Sigma Power during Sleep is Associated with Processing Speed in Preschool Children

Brain Sciences, Nov 4, 2015

Cognitive development is influenced by maturational changes in processing speed, a construct refl... more Cognitive development is influenced by maturational changes in processing speed, a construct reflecting the rapidity of executing cognitive operations. Although cognitive ability and processing speed are linked to spindles and sigma power in the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG), little is known about such associations in early childhood, a time of major neuronal refinement. We calculated EEG power for slow (10-13 Hz) and fast (13.25-17 Hz) sigma power from all-night high-density electroencephalography (EEG) in a cross-sectional sample of healthy preschool children (n = 10, 4.3 ± 1.0 years). Processing speed was assessed as simple reaction time. On average, reaction time was 1409 ± 251 ms; slow sigma power was 4.0 ± 1.5 μV 2 ; and fast sigma power was 0.9 ± 0.2 μV 2 . Both slow and fast sigma power predominated over central areas. Only slow sigma power was correlated with processing speed in a large parietal electrode cluster (p < 0.05, r ranging from -0.6 to -0.8), such that greater power predicted faster reaction time. Our findings indicate regional correlates between sigma power and processing speed that are

Common Mechanisms for Working Memory and Attention: The Case of Perseveration with Visible Solutions

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Apr 1, 2005

& Everyone perseverates at one time or another, repeating previous behaviors when they are no lon... more & Everyone perseverates at one time or another, repeating previous behaviors when they are no longer appropriate. Such perseveration often occurs in situations with working memory demands, and the ability to overcome perseveration has been linked to brain regions critical for working memory. Many theories thus explain perseveration in terms of working memory deficits. However, perseveration also occurs in situations without apparent working memory demands, in which the visible environment specifies appropriate behavior. Such findings appear to challenge working memory accounts of perseveration. To evaluate this challenge, a neural network model of a working memory account of perseveration was tested on tasks with visible solutions. With advances in the mechanisms that support working memory, networks became increasingly able to attend to relevant information in the environment. These developments led to improvements in performance on tasks with visible solutions, paralleling the developmental progression observed in infants. The simulations demonstrate how mechanisms of working memory can subserve perseveration and success on tasks with and without obvious memory demands. In both types of tasks, controlled processing occurs through the activation of task-relevant representations, which provide top-down biasing of other processing pathways. More generally, the simulations demonstrate how common mechanisms can support working memory and attention. &

So many options: The roles of neural inhibition and abstract representations in selection

So many options: The roles of neural inhibition and abstract representations in selection Hannah ... more So many options: The roles of neural inhibition and abstract representations in selection Hannah Snyder University of Colorado Boulder Natalie Hutchison University of Colorado Boulder Erika Nyhus University of Colorado Boulder Tim Curran University of Colorado Boulder Yuko Munakata University of Colorado Boulder Abstract: How do we select words to express a thought? We investigated the roles of neural inhibition and abstract category representations during simple language-production tasks. First, we simulated a verb-generation task in a neural network model. The model, like people, takes longer to select a verb in response to nouns associated with multiple competing verbs. Neural inhibition (simulated via k-Winners-Take-All inhibition in a prefrontal layer) appears critical for resolving such competition. Consistent with this framework, we found increased selection costs in participants high in trait anxiety (associated with poor GABAergic function) and reduced selection costs in pa...

Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Modeling

Cultures Crossing: The Power of Habit in Delaying Gratification

Psychological Science, Jun 24, 2022

Resisting immediate temptations in favor of larger later rewards predicts academic success, socio... more Resisting immediate temptations in favor of larger later rewards predicts academic success, socioemotional competence, and health. These links with delaying gratification appear from early childhood, and have been explained by cognitive and social factors that help override tendencies toward immediate gratification. However, some tendencies may actually promote delaying gratification. We assessed children's delaying gratification for different rewards across two cultures that differ in customs around waiting. Consistent with our preregistered prediction, Japanese children (N = 80) delayed gratification longer for food than for gifts, whereas American children (N = 58) delayed longer for gifts than for food. This interaction may reflect cultural differences: waiting to eat is emphasized more in Japan than America, whereas waiting to open gifts is emphasized more in America than Japan. These findings suggest culturally-specific habits support delaying gratification, providing a new way to understand why individuals delay gratification and why this behavior predicts life success. Statement of Relevance Children often enjoy immediate rewards rather than waiting for larger delayed rewards. Importantly, this ability to delay gratification predicts life outcomes. This link has been explained via cognitive and social factors that help override tendencies toward immediate gratification. However, some tendencies may actually favor delaying gratification. We found that cultural habits around waiting to eat (emphasized in Japan) and waiting to open gifts (emphasized in America) shape distinct profiles of delaying gratification: Japanese children waited three times longer for food than for gifts, whereas American children waited nearly four times longer for gifts than for food. Our 3 Running head: Cultural Habits and Delaying Gratification findings offer new answers to why delaying gratification predicts life outcomes and suggests new directions for understanding and shaping children's delay of gratification. 4 Running head: Cultural Habits and Delaying Gratification Cultures Crossing: The Power of Habit in Delaying Gratification Overcoming impulses to enjoy here-and-now rewards in order to attain later benefits is fundamental to achieving goals. Such delaying gratification is often measured by the well-known "marshmallow task" (Mischel, Ebbesen, & Zeiss, 1972; Mischel, Shoda, & Rodriguez, 1989), in which children must resist the urge to enjoy one treat now in order to get more treats later. Individual differences in this task predict important later life outcomes such as academic success, socioemotional competence,

Why Does Cognitive Training Yield Inconsistent Benefits? A Meta-Analysis of Individual Differences in Baseline Cognitive Abilities and Training Outcomes

Frontiers in Psychology, May 26, 2021

Despite growing interest in improving cognitive abilities across the lifespan through training, t... more Despite growing interest in improving cognitive abilities across the lifespan through training, the benefits of cognitive training are inconsistent. One powerful contributor may be that individuals arrive at interventions with different baseline levels of the cognitive skill being trained. Some evidence suggests poor performers benefit the most from cognitive training, showing compensation for their weak abilities, while other evidence suggests that high performers benefit most, experiencing a magnification of their abilities. Whether training leads to compensation or magnification effects may depend upon the specific cognitive domain being trained (such as executive function or episodic memory) and the training approach implemented (strategy or process). To clarify the association between individual differences in baseline cognitive ability and training gains as well as potential moderators, we conducted a systematic meta-analysis of the correlation between these two variables. We found evidence of a significant meta-correlation demonstrating a compensatory effect, a negative association between initial ability on a trained cognitive process and training gains. Too few papers met our search criteria across the levels of proposed moderators of cognitive domain and training approach to conduct a reliable investigation of their influence over the meta-analytic effect size. We discuss the implications of a compensatory meta-correlation, potential reasons for the paucity of qualifying papers, and important future directions for better understanding how cognitive trainings work and for whom.

Getting ready to use control: Advances in the measurement of young children’s use of proactive control

PLOS ONE, Apr 18, 2017

A key developmental transition in executive function is in the temporal dynamics of its engagemen... more A key developmental transition in executive function is in the temporal dynamics of its engagement: children shift from reactively calling to mind task-relevant information as needed, to being able to proactively maintain information across time in anticipation of upcoming demands. This transition is important for understanding individual differences and developmental changes in executive function; however, methods targeting its assessment are limited. We tested the possibility that Track-It, a paradigm developed to measure selective sustained attention, also indexes proactive control. In this task children must track a target shape as it moves unpredictably among moving distractors, and identify where it disappears, which may require proactively maintaining information about the target or goal. In two experiments (5-6 year-olds, Ns = 33, 64), children's performance on Track-It predicted proactive control across two established paradigms. These findings suggest Track-It measures proactive control in children. Theoretical possibilities regarding how proactive control and selective sustained attention may be related are also discussed.

Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development

status backgrounds, 19,20 though ecological studies examining population-level intervention effec... more

Metacognitive Processes in Executive Control Development: The Case of Reactive and Proactive Control

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Jun 1, 2015

Young children engage cognitive control reactively in response to events, rather than proactively... more Young children engage cognitive control reactively in response to events, rather than proactively preparing for events. Such limitations in executive control have been explained in terms of fundamental constraints on children's cognitive capacities. Alternatively, young children might be capable of proactive control but differ from older children in their meta-cognitive decisions regarding when to engage proactive control. We examined these possibilities in three conditions of a task-switching paradigm, varying in whether task cues were available before or after target onset. Reaction times, ERPs, and pupil dilation showed that 5-year-olds did engage in advance preparation, a critical aspect of proactive control, but only when reactive control was made more difficult, whereas 10-year-olds engaged proactive control whenever possible. These findings highlight meta-cognitive processes in children's cognitive control, an understudied aspect of executive control development. Keywords executive control; meta-cognition; proactive control; reactive control; cognitive development; children Many everyday activities require efficient control over one's own thoughts and actions to ensure goal attainment (e.g., to keep working rather than check the news or daydream). Such executive control can be temporally engaged in different ways. For instance, when walking to a new place, one may engage control proactively, searching for directions beforehand, or reactively, figuring out directions while actually walking. Proactive and reactive modes of control, as first highlighted by the Dual Mechanisms of Control framework (Braver, 2012;

Self-organization and Development

Perspectives on Development

Quantifying Myelin Patterns and High Density Sleep EEG in Preschool Children: Investigations of Brain Maturation and Function

Group Influences on Engaging Self-Control: Children Delay Gratification and Value It More When Their In-Group Delays and Their Out-Group Doesn’t

Psychological Science, Apr 6, 2018

What shapes our ability to exercise self-control-to inhibit the urge to order chocolate cake when... more What shapes our ability to exercise self-control-to inhibit the urge to order chocolate cake when on a diet or to save money now for a bigger payoff later? People vary in how successful they are at engaging self-control. Children are notorious for struggling with it. Childhood self-control predicts important life outcomes (e.g., employment, academic success, health, wealth, criminality; Mischel, Shoda, & Rodriguez, 1989; Moffitt et al., 2011), suggesting it is an early-emerging and stable individual difference that supports adaptive behavior throughout life. Identifying factors that predict self-control in childhood and beyond is thus of considerable interest. Self-control is often explained in terms of earlydeveloping cognitive skills, such as executive functions (e.g., goal maintenance, working memory, and inhibition), prefrontal circuitry associated with executive functions (Bunge & Zelazo, 2006; Casey et al., 2011), and psychological traits (e.g., Duckworth, Tsukayama, & Kirby, 2013; Moffitt et al., 2011). However, self-control emerges not in isolation but in a rich sociocultural context that may influence how it is exercised and develops. Self-control is linked to parenting (e.g., Bernier, Carlson, & Whipple, 2010; Lamm et al., 2017) and socioeconomic status (SES; e.g., Hackman, Gallop, Evans, & Farah, 2015) and may be moderated by beliefs about the reliability of the environment and social trust. Children and adults wait less for rewards when the person providing the reward is unreliable (e.g.

Environmental and genetic influences on self-directed executive functioning in childhood

Young children often struggle to accomplish goals without instructions or reminders from adults. ... more Young children often struggle to accomplish goals without instructions or reminders from adults. Less-structured activities might facilitate children's emerging self-directed executive functioning, by giving children opportunities to choose what to do and when, and to practice setting and accomplishing goals. In one study, 6-year-old children who spent more time in less-structured activities showed better self-directed switching on a verbal fluency task; conversely, more time in adult-structured activities predicted worse switching . However, it is unclear from such correlational studies whether children's activities caused differences in executive functioning, as opposed to differences in executive functioning shaping how children spent time, or a third factor driving both. The current study thus investigated relationships between children's experiences and self-directed executive function in a genetically-informative longitudinal twin sample (N= 936; 472 female, 464 male) . Twins who lived in more structured homes and participated in more structured activities at ages 3 and 4 showed worse self-directed switching on a verbal fluency task at age 7, controlling for earlier performance and concurrent levels of environmental structure. These relationships persisted controlling for general cognitive ability, vocabulary knowledge, and socioeconomic status. Associations between early time use and self-directed switching were mediated by nonshared environmental rather than genetic factors. These findings are consistent with early structured time causally affecting later self-directed executive function.

Cognitive Control Reflects Context Monitoring, Not Motoric Stopping, in Response Inhibition

PLOS ONE, Feb 27, 2012

The inhibition of unwanted behaviors is considered an effortful and controlled ability. However, ... more The inhibition of unwanted behaviors is considered an effortful and controlled ability. However, inhibition also requires the detection of contexts indicating that old behaviors may be inappropriate -in other words, inhibition requires the ability to monitor context in the service of goals, which we refer to as context-monitoring. Using behavioral, neuroimaging, electrophysiological and computational approaches, we tested whether motoric stopping per se is the cognitivelycontrolled process supporting response inhibition, or whether context-monitoring may fill this role. Our results demonstrate that inhibition does not require control mechanisms beyond those involved in context-monitoring, and that such control mechanisms are the same regardless of stopping demands. These results challenge dominant accounts of inhibitory control, which posit that motoric stopping is the cognitively-controlled process of response inhibition, and clarify emerging debates on the frontal substrates of response inhibition by replacing the centrality of controlled mechanisms for motoric stopping with context-monitoring.

Beyond personal control: The role of developing self-control abilities in the behavioral constellation of deprivation

Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2017

We agree with Pepper &amp;amp; Nettle that personal control is important in understanding peo... more We agree with Pepper &amp;amp; Nettle that personal control is important in understanding people&amp;#39;s willingness to engage in future-oriented behavior. However, this does not imply that self-control abilities play no role, for self-control abilities do influence whether individuals engage in future-oriented behavior. Personal control may also shape the development of self-control abilities, so contrasting the two may be a false dichotomy.

When Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Psychological Science, Aug 1, 2006

People often perseverate, or repeat habitual behaviors when they are no longer appropriate. For e... more People often perseverate, or repeat habitual behaviors when they are no longer appropriate. For example, after sorting cards by one rule, children will reliably perseverate with this rule even when they are clearly and repeatedly instructed to switch to a new rule. Such perseveration may result from limitations in working memory abilities for holding instructions actively in mind. If so, children may switch more readily to a new rule following experiences that are less demanding on working memory, such as guided practice with the new rule. In a study testing this prediction, 3-year-old children received direct instructions to switch to a new rule, guided practice with the new rule, or both. Providing children with guided practice was much more effective than telling them what to do. These findings support theories of perseveration based on competing memory systems, challenge alternative theories, and suggest effective methods for countering prepotent behaviors.

Time Isn’t of the Essence

Psychological Science, Nov 5, 2015

Is it easier to inhibit inappropriate behaviors if we pause before acting? An important finding f... more Is it easier to inhibit inappropriate behaviors if we pause before acting? An important finding for theory and intervention is that children's inhibitory control improves if an adult imposes a delay before children can act. Such findings have suggested that the passage of time allows impulsive urges to passively dissipate. However, prior studies that imposed delays also added reminders about what children should be doing, which may have aided children's activation of goal-relevant information. We tested this possibility by independently manipulating delays and task-reminders, and measuring 3-year-old's abilities to inhibit opening boxes in a go/no-go box-search task. Taskreminders, but not adult-imposed delays, improved children's response inhibition. However, as in prior work, children's spontaneous delays predicted better response inhibition. These results challenge a causal role for the passage of time, suggest that spontaneous delays index other processes that improve inhibitory control, and highlight the importance of goal-activation in developing inhibitory control.

Transitions in Executive Function: Insights From Developmental Parallels Between Prospective Memory and Cognitive Flexibility

Child Development Perspectives, Apr 20, 2015

As children develop, they need to remember to carry out their intentions and overcome habits to s... more As children develop, they need to remember to carry out their intentions and overcome habits to switch flexibly to new ways of behaving. Developments in these domains-prospective memory and cognitive flexibilityare essential for children to function and predict important outcomes. Prospective memory and cognitive flexibility are similar in the psychological processes proposed to support them (particularly executive functions), in how they are measured, and in the behavioral transitions observed (e.g., dissociations between actions and intentions, and nonlinear developmental trajectories). In this article, we highlight how such parallels can inform debates about the specific executive functions and types of developments that support prospective memory, cognitive flexibility, and related future-oriented abilities, and can deepen understanding of executive function development more generally.

The Relationship between Slow Wave Activity Topography and Speed of Processing in Preschoolers

Topography of Slow Sigma Power during Sleep is Associated with Processing Speed in Preschool Children

Brain Sciences, Nov 4, 2015

Cognitive development is influenced by maturational changes in processing speed, a construct refl... more Cognitive development is influenced by maturational changes in processing speed, a construct reflecting the rapidity of executing cognitive operations. Although cognitive ability and processing speed are linked to spindles and sigma power in the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG), little is known about such associations in early childhood, a time of major neuronal refinement. We calculated EEG power for slow (10-13 Hz) and fast (13.25-17 Hz) sigma power from all-night high-density electroencephalography (EEG) in a cross-sectional sample of healthy preschool children (n = 10, 4.3 ± 1.0 years). Processing speed was assessed as simple reaction time. On average, reaction time was 1409 ± 251 ms; slow sigma power was 4.0 ± 1.5 μV 2 ; and fast sigma power was 0.9 ± 0.2 μV 2 . Both slow and fast sigma power predominated over central areas. Only slow sigma power was correlated with processing speed in a large parietal electrode cluster (p < 0.05, r ranging from -0.6 to -0.8), such that greater power predicted faster reaction time. Our findings indicate regional correlates between sigma power and processing speed that are

Common Mechanisms for Working Memory and Attention: The Case of Perseveration with Visible Solutions

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Apr 1, 2005

& Everyone perseverates at one time or another, repeating previous behaviors when they are no lon... more & Everyone perseverates at one time or another, repeating previous behaviors when they are no longer appropriate. Such perseveration often occurs in situations with working memory demands, and the ability to overcome perseveration has been linked to brain regions critical for working memory. Many theories thus explain perseveration in terms of working memory deficits. However, perseveration also occurs in situations without apparent working memory demands, in which the visible environment specifies appropriate behavior. Such findings appear to challenge working memory accounts of perseveration. To evaluate this challenge, a neural network model of a working memory account of perseveration was tested on tasks with visible solutions. With advances in the mechanisms that support working memory, networks became increasingly able to attend to relevant information in the environment. These developments led to improvements in performance on tasks with visible solutions, paralleling the developmental progression observed in infants. The simulations demonstrate how mechanisms of working memory can subserve perseveration and success on tasks with and without obvious memory demands. In both types of tasks, controlled processing occurs through the activation of task-relevant representations, which provide top-down biasing of other processing pathways. More generally, the simulations demonstrate how common mechanisms can support working memory and attention. &

So many options: The roles of neural inhibition and abstract representations in selection

So many options: The roles of neural inhibition and abstract representations in selection Hannah ... more So many options: The roles of neural inhibition and abstract representations in selection Hannah Snyder University of Colorado Boulder Natalie Hutchison University of Colorado Boulder Erika Nyhus University of Colorado Boulder Tim Curran University of Colorado Boulder Yuko Munakata University of Colorado Boulder Abstract: How do we select words to express a thought? We investigated the roles of neural inhibition and abstract category representations during simple language-production tasks. First, we simulated a verb-generation task in a neural network model. The model, like people, takes longer to select a verb in response to nouns associated with multiple competing verbs. Neural inhibition (simulated via k-Winners-Take-All inhibition in a prefrontal layer) appears critical for resolving such competition. Consistent with this framework, we found increased selection costs in participants high in trait anxiety (associated with poor GABAergic function) and reduced selection costs in pa...

Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Modeling

Cultures Crossing: The Power of Habit in Delaying Gratification

Psychological Science, Jun 24, 2022

Resisting immediate temptations in favor of larger later rewards predicts academic success, socio... more Resisting immediate temptations in favor of larger later rewards predicts academic success, socioemotional competence, and health. These links with delaying gratification appear from early childhood, and have been explained by cognitive and social factors that help override tendencies toward immediate gratification. However, some tendencies may actually promote delaying gratification. We assessed children's delaying gratification for different rewards across two cultures that differ in customs around waiting. Consistent with our preregistered prediction, Japanese children (N = 80) delayed gratification longer for food than for gifts, whereas American children (N = 58) delayed longer for gifts than for food. This interaction may reflect cultural differences: waiting to eat is emphasized more in Japan than America, whereas waiting to open gifts is emphasized more in America than Japan. These findings suggest culturally-specific habits support delaying gratification, providing a new way to understand why individuals delay gratification and why this behavior predicts life success. Statement of Relevance Children often enjoy immediate rewards rather than waiting for larger delayed rewards. Importantly, this ability to delay gratification predicts life outcomes. This link has been explained via cognitive and social factors that help override tendencies toward immediate gratification. However, some tendencies may actually favor delaying gratification. We found that cultural habits around waiting to eat (emphasized in Japan) and waiting to open gifts (emphasized in America) shape distinct profiles of delaying gratification: Japanese children waited three times longer for food than for gifts, whereas American children waited nearly four times longer for gifts than for food. Our 3 Running head: Cultural Habits and Delaying Gratification findings offer new answers to why delaying gratification predicts life outcomes and suggests new directions for understanding and shaping children's delay of gratification. 4 Running head: Cultural Habits and Delaying Gratification Cultures Crossing: The Power of Habit in Delaying Gratification Overcoming impulses to enjoy here-and-now rewards in order to attain later benefits is fundamental to achieving goals. Such delaying gratification is often measured by the well-known "marshmallow task" (Mischel, Ebbesen, & Zeiss, 1972; Mischel, Shoda, & Rodriguez, 1989), in which children must resist the urge to enjoy one treat now in order to get more treats later. Individual differences in this task predict important later life outcomes such as academic success, socioemotional competence,

Why Does Cognitive Training Yield Inconsistent Benefits? A Meta-Analysis of Individual Differences in Baseline Cognitive Abilities and Training Outcomes

Frontiers in Psychology, May 26, 2021

Despite growing interest in improving cognitive abilities across the lifespan through training, t... more Despite growing interest in improving cognitive abilities across the lifespan through training, the benefits of cognitive training are inconsistent. One powerful contributor may be that individuals arrive at interventions with different baseline levels of the cognitive skill being trained. Some evidence suggests poor performers benefit the most from cognitive training, showing compensation for their weak abilities, while other evidence suggests that high performers benefit most, experiencing a magnification of their abilities. Whether training leads to compensation or magnification effects may depend upon the specific cognitive domain being trained (such as executive function or episodic memory) and the training approach implemented (strategy or process). To clarify the association between individual differences in baseline cognitive ability and training gains as well as potential moderators, we conducted a systematic meta-analysis of the correlation between these two variables. We found evidence of a significant meta-correlation demonstrating a compensatory effect, a negative association between initial ability on a trained cognitive process and training gains. Too few papers met our search criteria across the levels of proposed moderators of cognitive domain and training approach to conduct a reliable investigation of their influence over the meta-analytic effect size. We discuss the implications of a compensatory meta-correlation, potential reasons for the paucity of qualifying papers, and important future directions for better understanding how cognitive trainings work and for whom.

Getting ready to use control: Advances in the measurement of young children’s use of proactive control

PLOS ONE, Apr 18, 2017

A key developmental transition in executive function is in the temporal dynamics of its engagemen... more A key developmental transition in executive function is in the temporal dynamics of its engagement: children shift from reactively calling to mind task-relevant information as needed, to being able to proactively maintain information across time in anticipation of upcoming demands. This transition is important for understanding individual differences and developmental changes in executive function; however, methods targeting its assessment are limited. We tested the possibility that Track-It, a paradigm developed to measure selective sustained attention, also indexes proactive control. In this task children must track a target shape as it moves unpredictably among moving distractors, and identify where it disappears, which may require proactively maintaining information about the target or goal. In two experiments (5-6 year-olds, Ns = 33, 64), children's performance on Track-It predicted proactive control across two established paradigms. These findings suggest Track-It measures proactive control in children. Theoretical possibilities regarding how proactive control and selective sustained attention may be related are also discussed.

Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development

status backgrounds, 19,20 though ecological studies examining population-level intervention effec... more