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A Comparison of Three Executive Function Batteries in a Preschool-Aged Sample
Laura J Kuhn1, Marie Camerota2, Michael T Willoughby3
1FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Children (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 27, 2024
Summary
This study compared executive function (EF) measures in preschoolers. EF Touch showed higher accuracy for younger children, while the National Institutes of Health
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuropsychology
Background:
- Executive function (EF) development is crucial in the preschool years.
- Multiple performance-based EF measures exist for preschoolers, but their comparative validity is unclear.
- Understanding how different EF assessments perform is essential for accurate developmental evaluation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the performance of three distinct executive function (EF) batteries in a large sample of preschoolers.
- To examine the associations between EF performance and child age, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity.
- To determine the relative appropriateness of different EF measures for varying age groups within early childhood.
Main Methods:
- A large, diverse sample of 846 children aged 3–5 years completed subtests from the National Institutes of Health's Toolbox Cognition Battery (NTCB), the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-IV), and the EF Touch battery.
- Scores across the three batteries were compared for correlations and mean accuracy.
- Associations with age, income, and race/ethnicity were statistically analyzed.
Main Results:
- The three EF batteries showed moderate correlations (r = 0.44–0.51), indicating shared variance but distinct properties.
- Children achieved higher mean accuracy on EF Touch compared to the NTCB and WPPSI-IV.
- Lower accuracy was observed for low-income children on the WPPSI-IV, for White children on the NTCB, and consistently for Hispanic children across all batteries. All measures showed linear associations with increasing child age.
Conclusions:
- The NTCB, WPPSI-IV, and EF Touch batteries demonstrate similar performance across several metrics in preschoolers.
- EF Touch may be more suitable for assessing younger preschoolers due to higher accuracy.
- The NTCB appears to perform well with older preschoolers, suggesting age-specific utility for these EF assessment tools.
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