Karolina Byczewska-Konieczny

Waiting for a treat. Studying behaviors related to self-regulation in 18- and 24-month-olds

The ability to delay gratification - conceived as an early expression of self-regulation - develops in the second half of the second year of life. We used inductive methodology to identify different behaviors and set of behaviors performed by children while waiting for a treat. We asked which sets are more effective when it comes to successfully delaying gratification and how all observed sets change during toddler age. 130 children were tested twice - at 18 and at 24 months - using a Snack Delay Task. We observed 20 different behaviors and distinguished 4 sets of behaviors. The most important and effective set for delaying gratification in 18 and in 24 month olds was the set called Attention and Movements. We concluded that growth in the ability to delay gratification resulted from increased ability to overcome temptation by using an active strategy mainly based on attention.

Funkcje zarządzające u osób w wieku senioralnym o różnym poziomie potrzeb edukacyjnych

Executive functions in older adults of various level of educational needs In old age the decrease of cognitive performance connected with natural ageing processes is observed. The deterioration primarily affects memory and attention functions (Jagodzinska, 2008; Ober

Syntactic Abilities in Old Age and Their Relation to Working Memory and Cognitive Flexibility

The aim of the study was to describe the syntactic abilities of elderly people taking into account possible differences between young-olds (67–75; M = 72.55, SD = 1.99) and old-olds (76–90; M = 79.88, SD = 2.92) in this area. Spontaneously produced narrations were assessed taking into account the grammatical correctness, complexity and coherence. Working memory and cognitive flexibility (visual shifting and verbal fluency) were also measured. The analysis showed that the young-olds differ from the old-olds only in the coherence of their narrations. The relation between using anaphors and working memory capacity was also proved