Ulrich Müller

The effects of parental scaffolding on preschoolers' executive function.

The present study explores the effects of parental scaffolding of childrens problem solving on the development of executive function (EF). Eighty-two children were assessed at 2, 3, and 4 years of age on a variety of EF tasks and, at ages 2 and 3, on a problem-solving puzzle with which parents offered structured assistance (i.e., scaffolding). Unlike previous studies of parental scaffolding, childrens EF was examined at each time point. Scaffolding at age 3 was found to have a direct effect on EF at age 4. Furthermore, scaffolding at age 2 had an indirect on EF at age 4 through the childs verbal ability at age 3.

A Latent Variable Approach to Determining the Structure of Executive Function in Preschool Children

The composition of executive function (EF) in preschool children was examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A sample of 129 children between 3 and 5 years of age completed a battery of EF tasks. Using performance indicators of working memory and inhibition similar to previous CFA studies with preschoolers, we replicated a unitary EF factor structure. Next, additional performance indicators were included to distinctly measure working memory, set shifting, and inhibition factors. A two-factor model consisting of working memory and inhibition fit the data better than both a single-factor model and a three-factor model. Findings suggest that the structure of EF in preschoolers that emerges from CFA is influenced by task and performance indicator selection.

Parental scaffolding and the development of executive function

Research has demonstrated that differential parental scaffolding utterances influence childrens development of executive function. Traditional conceptualizations of scaffolding, though, have difficulty in explaining how such differential effects influence childrens cognitive development; they do not account for the timing of parental utterances with respect to childrens currently occurring activities. We present a study examining the relationship between the timing of different parental scaffolding utterances and childrens attention-switching EF abilities. There was a strong relation between the timing of elaborative parental utterances and attention switching. We discuss the implications of the findings for the conceptualization of the scaffolding process.

Hot and cool aspects of executive function: Relations in early development

Contents: W. Schneider, R. Schumann-Hengsteler, B. Sodian, Introduction and Overview. J. Towse, N. Cowan, Working Memory and Its Relevance for Cognitive Development. C. Zoelch, K. Seitz, R. Schumann-Hengsteler, From Rag(Bag)s to Riches: Measuring the Developing Central Executive. P.D. Zelazo, L. Qu, U. Muller, Hot and Cool Aspects of Executive Function: Relations in Early Development. B. Sodian, Theory of Mind--The Case for Conceptual Development. L.J. Moses, S.M. Carlson, M.A. Sabbagh, On the Specificity of the Relation Between Executive Function and Childrens Theory of Mind. D.F. Bjorklund, C.A. Cormier, J.S. Rosenberg, The Evolution of Theory of Mind: Big Brains, Social Complexity, and Inhibition. B. Sodian, C. Hulsken, The Developmental Relation of Theory of Mind and Executive Functions: A Study of Advanced Theory of Mind Abilities in Children With ADHD. W. Kain, J. Perner, What fMRI Can Tell Us About the ToM-EF Connection: False Beliefs, Working Memory, and Inhibition. M. Hasselhorn, C. Mahler, D. Grube, Theory of Mind, Working Memory, and Verbal Ability in Preschool Children: The Proposal of a Relay Race Model of the Developmental Dependencies. H. Tager-Flusberg, R.M. Joseph, Theory of Mind, Language, and Executive Functions in Autism: A Longitudinal Perspective. W. Schneider, K. Lockl, O. Fernandez, Interrelationships Among Theory of Mind, Executive Control, Language Development, and Working Memory in Young Children: A Longitudinal Analysis. K. Oberauer, Executive Functions, Working Memory, Verbal Ability, and Theory of Mind--Does It All Come Together?

Electrophysiological Evidence of Atypical Motivation and Reward Processing in Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Behavioral and neurophysiological evidence suggest that attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by the impact of abnormal reward prediction error signals carried by the midbrain dopamine system on frontal brain areas that implement cognitive control. To investigate this issue, we recorded the event-related brain potential (ERP) from typical children and children with ADHD as they navigated a virtual maze to find monetary rewards, and physically gave them their accumulated rewards halfway through the task and at the end of the experiment. We found that the amplitude of a reward-related ERP component decreased somewhat for typical children after they received their first payment, but increased for children with ADHD following the payment. This result indicates that children with ADHD are unusually sensitive to the salience of reward and suggests that such sensitivity may be mediated in part by the midbrain dopamine system.

Executive functions in extremely low birth weight and late-preterm preschoolers: Effects on working memory and response inhibition

Executive function (EF) refers to fundamental capacities that underlie more complex cognition and have ecological relevance across the individuals lifespan. However, emerging executive functions have rarely been studied in young preterm children (age 3) whose critical final stages of fetal development are interrupted by their early birth. We administered four novel touch-screen computerized measures of working memory and inhibition to 369 participants born between 2004 and 2006 (52 Extremely Low Birth Weight [ELBW]; 196 late preterm; 121 term-born). ELBW performed worse than term-born on simple and complex working memory and inhibition tasks and had the highest percentage of incomplete performance on a continuous performance test. The latter finding indicates developmental immaturity and the ELBW groups most at-risk preterm status. Additionally, late-preterm participants performed worse compared with term-born on measures of complex working memory but did not differ from those term-born on response inhibition measures. These results are consistent with a recent literature that identifies often subtle but detectable neurocognitive deficits in late-preterm children. Our results support the development and standardization of computerized touch-screen measures to assess EF subcomponent abilities during the formative preschool period. Such measures may be useful to monitor the developmental trajectory of critical executive function abilities in preterm children, and their use is necessary for timely recognition of deficit and application of appropriate interventional strategies.

Knowing minds, controlling actions: The developmental relations between theory of mind and executive function from 2 to 4 years of age

This longitudinal study examined the concurrent and predictive relations between executive function (EF) and theory of mind (ToM) in 82 preschoolers who were assessed when they were 2, 3, and 4 years old. The results showed that the concurrent relation between EF and ToM, after controlling for age, verbal ability, and sex, was significant at 3 and 4 years of age but not at 2 years of age. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that EF at age 2 significantly predicted ToM at age 3 and that EF at age 3 significantly predicted ToM at age 4, over and above the effects of age, verbal ability, and prior performance on ToM tasks. However, ToM at ages 2 and 3 did not explain a significant amount of variance in EF at age 4. Bootstrap procedures revealed that verbal ability at age 3 fully mediated the relation between ToM at age 2 and EF at age 4.

The Cambridge companion to Piaget

1. Introduction: overview Ulrich Muller, Jeremy I. M. Carpendale, and Leslie Smith 2. The historical context of Piagets ideas Marylene Bennour and Jacques Voneche 3. Piagets developmental epistemology Leslie Smith 4. Piagets biology John G. Messerly 5. On the concept(s) of the social in Piaget Richard F. Kitchener 6. Piaget on equilibration Jan Boom 7. Constructive processes: abstraction, generalization, and dialectics Robert L. Campbell 8. Piaget and method Trevor Bond and Anastasia Tryphon 9. Infancy Ulrich Muller 10. Childhood Maximilian B. Bibok, Ulrich Muller, and Jeremy I. M. Carpendale 11. Adolescence David Moshman 12. Piagets theory of moral development Jeremy I. M. Carpendale 13. Piagets enduring contribution to a science of consciousness Michel Ferrari 14. Piaget and affectivity Bryan W. Sokol and Stuart I. Hammond 15. Piagets pedagogy Leslie Smith 16. Piaget in the United States, 1925-71 Yeh Hsueh 17. The minds staircase revised Thomas Kesselring 18. Dynamic development: a neo-Piagetian approach L. Todd Rose and Kurt W. Fischer.

Test–Retest Reliability and Practice Effects of Executive Function Tasks in Preschool Children

This study examined the test-retest reliability of executive function tasks in preschool children. Measures of working memory, response inhibition, attentional flexibility, and planning were administered to thirty three preschool children between the ages of 36 and 72 months (Mu2009=u200954.75 months) on two testing occasions approximately three weeks apart (M intervalu2009=u200921.64 days). Working memory tasks showed higher test-retest reliability than measures of response inhibition. There were significant practice effects on three measures of complex working memory. Implications of these findings for the assessment of executive function in preschool children are discussed.

False Belief Understanding: The Influence of Person, Grammatical Mood, Counterfactual Reasoning and Working Memory.

The present study had two major goals. The first goal was to assess the relative difficulty among different versions of the unexpected contents task by systematically varying the dimensions of grammatical mood (indicative vs. subjunctive) and person (self vs. other), and to examine the correlational pattern between these different versions of the unexpected contents task and the unexpected locations task. The second goal was to examine the specificity of the relation between false belief understanding and counterfactual reasoning after controlling for age and working memory ability. One hundred, 3- to 6-year-old, children were administered two measures of false belief understanding (two versions of the unexpected contents task and two versions of the unexpected locations task), two measures of counterfactual reasoning and a working memory measure. Results showed that performance on the unexpected contents task did not significantly differ across conditions. However, only the conditions of the unexpected contents task that concerned another persons false belief correlated significantly with the unexpected locations task. Moreover, counterfactual reasoning was found to explain a significant amount of variance in the unexpected locations task, even after controlling for age and working memory performance. Findings are discussed in the context of different accounts of the development of theory of mind, and in the context of different interpretations of the relation between false belief understanding and counterfactual reasoning.