scholarly journals Genetic and environmental influences on executive functions and intelligence in middle childhood

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha M. Freis ◽  
Claire L. Morrison ◽  
Jeffrey M. Lessem ◽  
John K. Hewitt ◽  
Naomi P. Friedman
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Environmental Influences

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Executive Functions and Intelligence in the ABCD Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha M Freis ◽  
Claire Morrison ◽  
Jeffrey M. Lessem ◽  
John K. Hewitt ◽  
Naomi P. Friedman
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Genetic Correlation ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Middle Age ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Twin Studies

Executive functions (EFs) and intelligence (IQ) are phenotypically correlated and heritable; however, they show variable genetic correlations in twin studies spanning childhood to middle age. We analyzed data from over 11,000 children (9-10-year-olds, including 749 twin pairs) in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study to examine the phenotypic and genetic relations between EFs and IQ in childhood. We identified two EF factors – Common EF and Updating-Specific, which were both related to IQ (rs = .64-.81). Common EF and IQ were heritable (53-67%), and their genetic correlation (rG = .86) was not significantly different than 1. These results suggest that EFs and IQ are phenotypically but not genetically separable in middle childhood.

scholarly journals More alike than different: Novel methods for measuring and modeling executive function development

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Younger ◽  
Kristine O'Laughlin ◽  
Joaquin Anguera ◽  
Silvia Bunge ◽  
Emilio Ferrer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Analytic Approach ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Novel Methods ◽  
Students Success ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Longitudinal Dataset

Abstract Executive functions (EFs) are linked to positive outcomes across the lifespan. Yet, methodological challenges have prevented rigorous understanding of the precise ways EFs are organized in childhood and how they develop over time. We introduce novel methods to address these challenges for both measuring and modeling EFs using a large, accelerated longitudinal dataset from a diverse sample of students in middle childhood (approximately ages 8 to 14; N = 1,286). Adaptive assessments allowed us to equate EF challenge across ages and a data-driven, network analytic approach revealed the evolving diversity of EFs while accounting for their unity. Our results suggest EF organization stabilizes around age 10, but continues refining through at least age 14. This approach brings new precision to EFs’ development by removing interpretative ambiguities associated with previous methodologies. By improving EF measurement, the field can move towards improving EF training, to provide a strong foundation for students’ success.

scholarly journals Stability of genetic and environmental influences on executive functions in midlife.

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel E. Gustavson ◽  
Matthew S. Panizzon ◽  
Jeremy A. Elman ◽  
Carol E. Franz ◽  
Chandra A. Reynolds ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Environmental Influences

scholarly journals Peers Matter: Links Between Classmates’ and Individual Students’ Executive Functions in Elementary School

AERA Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 233285841982943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenna E. Finch ◽  
Elisa B. Garcia ◽  
Michael J. Sulik ◽  
Jelena Obradović
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
School Success ◽  
School Context ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
School Year

Students’ executive functions (EFs) are linked to school success. Although school-age children spend much of their time interacting with peers, few studies have explored how children’s classmates may promote EF development in elementary school. In this study, we test whether mean levels and variability in classmates’ EF skills are associated with growth in individual students’ accuracy and speed on EF tasks among third, fourth, and fifth graders (N = 806). We find that classmates’ speed, but not accuracy, on EF tasks is linked to significant improvements in individual students’ EFs over the school year. Classmates’ average EFs, as indexed by faster accurate responses on EF tasks, are associated with improvements in individual students’ speed on EF tasks. These results were robust to the inclusion of individual students’ general processing speed. In contrast, variability in classmates’ accuracy and speed on EF tasks was not associated with individual students’ EF growth. Our results highlight the role of peers and the school context for EF development in middle childhood.

scholarly journals Estimating the stability of heartbeat counting in middle childhood: a twin study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Murphy ◽  
Rosa Cheesman ◽  
Alice M Gregory ◽  
Jennifer Lau ◽  
Anke Ehlers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Counting Task ◽  
The Stability

There is growing interest in interoception, the perception of the body’s internal state, and its relevance for health and higher-order cognition across development. To date, most evidence linking interoception to health and cognition has used the heartbeat counting task. However, the stability of the measure across time, particularly during childhood, and the etiological factors that underlie individual differences in stability remain largely unexamined. Using data from the ECHO twin sample (N=204 twin pairs), we estimated the magnitude of genetic and environmental influences on the stability of heartbeat counting across a two-year period (8-10 years), the longest time-frame examined. We found a relatively modest correlation between heartbeat counting accuracy across time (r=.35), with accuracy on the heartbeat counting task improving with age. In our longitudinal twin analysis, we found that the heritability of heartbeat counting dropped between Time 1 and Time 2 from 30% to 6%. No new genetic influences were observed at Time 2, suggesting that genetic influences across this age-range are entirely stable. In contrast, shared environmental influences increased from 6% to 22%, with most of the influence at Time 2 due to new environmental factors. Of note, nonshared environmental factors accounted for the greatest proportion of variance at both time points, 64% and 73% respectively, and were the main contributors to temporal stability in heartbeat counting accuracy. Future research should seek to identify these non-shared environmental factors and elucidate whether this relatively modest stability reflects variability of interoception across development or unreliability of the heartbeat counting task.

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