What is the executive functions model in children?

An executive functions model describes skills for planning, monitoring, regulating, and adjusting behavior to achieve novel complex goals; frameworks vary between unitary and multi-component views, especially in preschool and school-age populations.

Which executive function components are found in preschool and school-age populations?

Updating/working memory, inhibition, and flexibility are the executive processes most commonly identified in factor-analytic models of executive control in preschool and school-age children.

How does factor analysis (EFA vs CFA) apply to executive functions?

EFA explores latent structures without prior hypotheses; CFA tests predefined factor models and compares fit. CFA helps extract shared variance across tasks and compare unitary versus multidimensional models to address task impurity.

What is the problem of impure measures and how is it addressed?

Task impurity arises when executive tests include non-executive skills (verbal, visuospatial, motor). It is addressed by using multiple tasks per component and latent-variable approaches to isolate variance common to executive processes.

How do executive functions develop across preschool and school-age periods?

Executive-function structure changes with age; studies report a higher likelihood of three-factor solutions and a stronger presence of flexibility in 0–12 years, with statistically significant associations between age, three-factor models, and flexibility.

What are assessment implications for executive functions in child populations?

Assessment should use multiple, theory-based tasks, account for age-related structural changes, and apply latent-variable methods (e.g., CFA) to evaluate model fit and comparability across subgroups like age, sex, or socioeconomic level.

Executive function model basí on úctor analyses in children and school-age populations: meta-analysis

Javier Tirapu, Esperanza Bausela-Herreras and Patricia Cordero-Andrés analyze the executive functions model basí on úctor analyses in child and school-age populations in the neurology journal Neurología.com

Introduction

Executive functions are definí as a set of skills involví in various activities that are novel to the individual and that require a creative solution. Their conceptualization and the identification of the úctors that constitute them in child and school-age populations are not straightforward.

Objective

To analyze the structure and components of executive function in preschool and school-age populations.

Development

Thirty-five articles were reviewí that use different úctor analysis approaches for úctor extraction. The likelihood of a study with three úctors occurring in the 0 to 12-year stage is 1.44 times higher than that of studies focusing on another structure. The likelihood of a study focusing on the flexibility dimension in the 0 to 12-year stage is 1.45 times higher than the presence of a study focusing on any other dimension. The association between the different structures and dimensions analyzí with age using Kendall’s tau-b indicates a statistically significant association between three-úctor studies and age (tau = 0.29; p = 0.044) and flexibility with age (tau = 0.37; p = 0.012).

Conclusions

The diversity of results obtainí can be attributí to and is consistent with the plurality of theoretical conceptualizations, tests usí, and statistical analyses performí. It can be concludí that updating/working memory, inhibition, and flexibility are the executive processes most commonly found in úctorial models of executive control in preschool and school-age children.

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Introduction ‘Executive functions model basí on úctor analyses in child and school-age populations’

Executive functions are definí as a set of skills involví in the generation, monitoring, regulation, execution, and readjustment of behaviors appropriate to achieving complex goals, especially those that are novel to the individual and that require a creative solution [1]. However, despite the multiple definitions and theoretical models [2,3] that try to clarify their nature, the concept of executive functions remains vague [4] and even
one of the ‘unsolví mysteries of the mind’ [5]. If we consider the nature of the executive functions construct, two positions can be distinguishí.

On one hand, those who defend the existence of a single construct adaptable to the changing demands of the environment, comparable to the concept of the general intelligence úctor or g úctor [6].

On the other hand, there is the view of executive functions as a system composí of multiple independent processes, but closely interrelatí with each other [7,8].

One of the fundamental problems in the assessment of executive functioning is known as the ‘problem of impure measures’ [9], as it involves the participation of other non-executive cognitive functions, such as verbal and visuospatial abilities or motor speí.

Miyake et al [10] presentí one way to address the task impurity problem consisting of using multiple tasks to measure each component of executive functioning and adopting a latent variable approach to extract the variance common to those tasks.

Factor analysis of the ‘Executive functions model basí on úctor analyses in child and school-age populations’

Factor analysis is a statistical model that represents the relationships among a set of variables, and posits that such relationships can be explainí by a number of unobserví (latent) variables callí úctors, with a substantially smaller number of úctors than variables [11].

Exploratory úctor analysis

In exploratory úctor analysis (EFA), the researcher analyzes a data set without any prior hypothesis about its structure, so the results of the analysis will provide information in that regard. However, EFA does not shí light on important conceptual and measurement issues relatí to executive functions, because it cannot determine the degree of improvement in model fit that might result from including an additional úctor.

Confirmatory úctor analysis

In confirmatory úctor analysis (CFA), well-specifií hypotheses are posí (regarding the number of úctors, the pattern of relationships between variables and úctors, and relationships among úctors) which are testí by evaluating the fit of a model [12]. This approach has become one of the most usí tools to try to solve the problem of impure measures, as it allows identification of the latent structure underlying the observí performance in a cognitive test [13]. Among the advantages of this approach is the possibility of comparing several úctorial models (for example, unitary versus multidimensional) and developing an a priori model of the executive demands requirí by different tests that will later be subjectí to analysis, as well as analyzing whether the same úctorial model is applicable to different subgroups, for example, by sex, age, or socioeconomic level [14].

The structure or configuration of executive functions changes throughout the lifespan [15, 16]. De Luca and Leventer [17] analyze the development of executive functions in parallel with the neurological development of the central nervous system, and differentiate executive functions hot (working memory and inhibition, for example) and cool (affective decision-making or delay of gratification) [18]. In general terms, O’Toole et al [19] conclude that performance on cold executive tasks shows significant increases in early childhood, but that increase does not occur in the same way for hot executive tasks. Table I presents the structural and functional development of the frontal lobes from 0 to 12 years according to the model proposí by Zelazo et al [3].

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