The structure of executive functions in children: A closer examination of inhibition, shifting, and updating

TLDR

Studies on executive functions have reported conflicting evidence for a three‑factor structure of inhibition, shifting, and updating. The study aimed to determine whether task selection and scoring methods explain the inconsistent findings. Researchers employed tasks that varied input modality, controlled for baseline speed, and combined speed and accuracy scores to test the three‑factor model. In 211 children tested at age six and again after 18 months, the best‑fitting model consisted of an updating factor and a combined inhibition‑shifting factor, with separate verbal and motor speed factors, indicating that children’s executive function structure may differ from adults or reflect methodological artifacts.

Abstract

An increasing number of studies has investigated the latent factor structure of executive functions. Some studies found a three‐factor structure of inhibition, shifting, and updating, but others could not replicate this finding. We assumed that the task choices and scoring methods might be responsible for these contradictory findings. Therefore, we selected tasks in which input modality was varied, controlled for baseline speed, and used both speed and accuracy scores, in order to investigate whether a three factor model with inhibition, shifting, and updating could still be replicated. In a group of 211 children, who were tested at the beginning of grade 1, at approximately 6 years of age, and again after 18 months, the best fitting model was not the three‐factor model, but instead consisted of an updating factor and a combined inhibition and shifting factor, besides two baseline speed factors (verbal and motor). We argue that these results might indicate that the structural organization of executive functions might be different in children than in adults, but that there might also be an alternative explanation: the distinction in executive functions might not accurately represent cognitive structures but instead be a methodological artefact.