Much ado about generalization? What convenience samples can—and cannot—tell us about executive function development.
Year: 2024
Type: preprint
Abstract: Executive function (EF) is a core capacity of the human mind and brain that allows us to think before we act and select behaviors that align with our goals, knowledge, values, and social norms. EF develops dramatically in childhood, yet much remains unknown about how it develops, stymying efforts to train and improve it and associated outcomes. The monograph by McCraw and colleagues reports results from a longitudinal study using a convenience sample of twenty middle/upper-middle class children from Tennessee (100% white, 60% female), finding that 54-month-olds’ EF performance on the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) can be predicted from neural activity recorded during labeling and dimensional knowledge tasks when the children were 30 months old. The authors conclude that dimensional label learning impacts the development of EF, consistent with the dynamic field theory of EF. McCraw and colleagues consider the findings to be particularly promising for interventions because dimensional label learning should have more potential for cognitive transfer than practicing specific EF skills. This commentary focuses on a question that is increasingly pressing in the field: To what extent should we expect these findings—and others involving convenience samples—to have relevance for understanding the development of EF in children who may not share many of the characteristics or experiences of children in the sample?
Author: Sabine Doebel
Language: English
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4404639716