Do childhood self-control and brain responses predict preteen behaviour?
Children's performance on attention-control tasks at age 8 predicted the same tasks four years later, and brain responses to losses in a gambling game predicted less thrill seeking and better school ratings at 12.
Source
Stability of executive function and predictions to adaptive behavior from middle childhood to pre-adolescence
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cohort — Longitudinal follow-up: lab Flanker, card-sort and child gambling task with EEG at age 8; online NIH Toolbox Flanker and card-sort plus child, parent and teacher questionnaires at age 12
- N
- N=78 · 78 children seen at both ages (of 84 tested at age 8); 67 completed the age-12 EF games and 66 returned teacher questionnaires, so analyses vary in N
- Population
- Typically developing, mostly white, middle-class children from Seattle followed from about age 8 to age 12
- Outcome
- Stability of Flanker and DCCS performance; teacher-rated academic competence, self- and teacher-rated social skills, self-reported thrill and adventure seeking at age 12
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What they did
Seventy-eight children did a flanker task (ignoring distracting arrows or fish), a card-sorting task that required switching rules, and a child gambling game while EEG was recorded at age 8. At age 12 they completed online versions of the flanker and card-sort tasks, and children and teachers filled in questionnaires on social skills, academic competence and thrill seeking. The researchers correlated age-8 measures, including two brain responses to losses (the P300 after feedback and the stimulus-preceding negativity before it), with age-12 outcomes.
What they found
Each task predicted itself four years later, but flanker and card-sort performance did not correlate with each other, suggesting these control skills become more separate with age. Better flanker accuracy at 8 predicted higher teacher-rated academic competence at 12, even controlling for vocabulary. A bigger P300 to losses than rewards at 8 predicted less thrill and adventure seeking at 12, and a bigger anticipatory brain response before likely losses predicted better academic competence; how well children actually played the gambling game predicted nothing.
The limits
What it doesn't show
The sample was modest, mostly white and middle class, and low in risk behaviour, so the findings may not generalise, and the authors note that correcting for the many correlations tested would have removed some effects. Different versions of the tasks were used at 8 and 12 (lab versus online, with a combined speed-accuracy score at 12), which complicates the stability estimates. Several predicted links did not appear and one was in the unexpected direction (better card-sorting at 12 went with lower teacher-rated academics). As a correlational study it cannot show that early brain sensitivity to loss causes later cautious behaviour, and the interpretation of the anticipatory component in children is speculative.
Key terms
- Cool executive function
- Control processes such as inhibition and rule switching performed with emotionally neutral material, e.g., flanker and card-sorting tasks.
- Hot executive function
- Control of thought and action in emotionally or motivationally charged situations involving rewards and risks, e.g., gambling tasks.
- P300
- A positive brain wave appearing after a meaningful stimulus, linked to attention and updating; here, its larger size after losses reflected sensitivity to punishment.
- Stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN)
- A slow negative brain wave that builds up while someone anticipates feedback, thought to reflect how motivationally important the upcoming outcome is.
- Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS)
- A task in which children sort cards by one dimension (e.g., shape) and must switch to another (e.g., colour), measuring cognitive flexibility.
- Longitudinal stability
- The extent to which individuals keep their rank order on a measure over time.
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Quiz yourself
What pattern of EF stability did the study find from age 8 to 12?
Common questions
If flanker performance predicted later flanker performance, why did the two tasks not correlate?
Each task measured a stable individual trait, but by these ages inhibition and rule switching appear to be separable abilities rather than one general control skill, consistent with EF becoming more differentiated with development.
Why might brain responses predict outcomes when gambling performance did not?
The authors suggest ERPs are more sensitive to individual differences in reward and punishment sensitivity; children may register losses neurally before they can use that information to change their choices.
Does this mean we can pick out future risk-takers with an EEG at age 8?
No. The effects are correlations in a small, low-risk sample, and thrill seeking here meant things like riding a bike fast downhill, not serious risk behaviour.
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