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Executive functioning in preschool children: performance on A-not-B and other delayed response format tasks
K A Espy1, P M Kaufmann, M D McDiarmid
1Department of Psychiatry, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Carbondale 62901-6517, USA. kespy@som.siu.edu
Brain and Cognition
|December 11, 1999
Summary
The A-not-B task shows age-related performance differences in preschoolers, linking to working memory and inhibition. This executive function measure requires further developmental and measurement investigation.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Development
Background:
- The A-not-B (AB) task is a proposed measure of executive/frontal lobe function.
- Its developmental trajectory and measurement properties remain under-investigated in young children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the developmental and measurement characteristics of the AB task in preschool children.
- To investigate the relationship between AB task performance and other executive function tasks.
Main Methods:
- 117 preschool children (23-66 months) completed the AB task and comparison tasks (Delayed Alternation, Spatial Reversal, Color Reversal, Self-Control).
- Factor analysis was used to model task performance data.
Main Results:
- Age significantly predicted performance across multiple tasks, including AB, Delayed Alternation, Reversal tasks, and Self-Control.
- A four-factor model best explained the data.
- AB task performance loaded onto factors associated with Self-Control and Delayed Alternation, not reversal tasks, despite presumed shared cognitive demands.
Conclusions:
- The AB task is sensitive to age-related performance variations in preschoolers.
- AB task performance in this age group appears related to both working memory and inhibitory control processes.