Age differences in foraging and executive functions: A cross-sectional study

Visual foraging tasks require participants to search for multiple targets among numerous distractors. Foraging paradigms enable insights into the function of visual attention above what has been learned from traditional single-target search paradigms. These include attentional orienting over time and search strategies involving target selection from different target types. To date, only a handful of studies have been conducted on the development of foraging abilities. Here, the foraging of five age groups-children aged 6, 9, 12, and 15 years and adults-was measured, as was their performance on various tasks assessing four subdomains of executive functions: inhibition, attentional flexibility, working memory, and problem solving. Executive functions consist of a complex network of independent but interconnected cognitive processes that regulate action-orienting and goal-directed behavior and have been shown to be connected to visual attention and attentional orienting. Our results show that foraging abilities improve dramatically from 6 to 12 years of age, when adult levels of foraging have been reached. This is evident from reduced foraging times, increasingly frequent switches between target types, lower switch costs, and reduced error rates. In addition, partial least squares structural equation modeling reveals that the age differences on the foraging tasks are predominantly indirect effects through executive functions. In other words, the development of successful foraging abilities is highly correlated with the maturation of executive functions.