TY - JOUR A1 - Lensing, Johanna Nele A1 - Elsner, Birgit T1 - Development of hot and cool executive functions in middle childhood BT - Three-year growth curves of decision making and working memory updating JF - Journal of experimental child psychology N2 - Although middle childhood is an important period for the development of hot and cool executive functions (EFs), longitudinal studies investigating trajectories of childhood EF development are still limited and little is known about predictors for individual developmental trajectories. The current study examined the development of two typical facets of cool and hot EFs over a 3-year period during middle childhood, comparing a younger cohort (6- and 7-year-olds at the first wave [T1]; n = 621) and an older cohort (8- and 9-year olds at T1; n = 975) of children. "Cool" working memory updating (WM) was assessed using a backward digit span task, and "hot" decision making (DM) was assessed using a child variant of the Iowa Gambling Task. Linear latent growth curve analyses revealed evidence for developmental growth as well as interindividual variance in the initial level and rate of change in both EF facets. Initial level of WM was positively associated with age (both between and within cohorts), socioeconomic status, verbal ability, and processing speed, whereas initial levels of DM were, in addition to a (potentially age-related) cohort effect, exclusively predicted by gender, with boys outperforming girls. None of the variables predicted the rate of change, that is, the developmental trajectories. However, younger children, as compared with older children, had slightly steeper WM growth curves over time, hinting at a leveling off in the development of WM during middle childhood. In sum, these data add important evidence to the understanding of hot and cool EF development during middle childhood. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. KW - Cognitive development KW - Middle childhood KW - Hot and cool executive functioning KW - Working memory updating KW - Decision making KW - Growth curve models Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2018.04.002 SN - 0022-0965 SN - 1096-0457 VL - 173 SP - 187 EP - 204 PB - Elsevier CY - New York ER - TY - GEN A1 - Rohlf, Helena L. A1 - Holl, Anna K. A1 - Kirsch, Fabian A1 - Krahé, Barbara A1 - Elsner, Birgit T1 - Longitudinal Links between Executive Function, Anger, and Aggression in Middle Childhood T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Previous research has indicated that executive function (EF) is negatively associated with aggressive behavior in childhood. However, there is a lack of longitudinal studies that have examined the effect of deficits in EF on aggression over time and taken into account different forms and functions of aggression at the same time. Furthermore, only few studies have analyzed the role of underlying variables that may explain the association between EF and aggression. The present study examined the prospective paths between EF and different forms (physical and relational) and functions (reactive and proactive) of aggression. The habitual experience of anger was examined as a potential underlying mechanism of the link between EF and aggression, because the tendency to get angry easily has been found to be both a consequence of deficits in EF and a predictor of aggression. The study included 1,652 children (between 6 and 11 years old at the first time point), who were followed over three time points (T1, T2, and T3) covering 3 years. At T1, a latent factor of EF comprised measures of planning, rated via teacher reports, as well as inhibition, set shifting, and working-memory updating, assessed experimentally. Habitual anger experience was assessed via parent reports at T1 and T2. The forms and functions of aggression were measured via teacher reports at all three time points. Structural equation modeling revealed that EF at T1 predicted physical, relational, and reactive aggression at T3, but was unrelated to proactive aggression at T3. Furthermore, EF at T1 was indirectly linked to physical aggression at T3, mediated through habitual anger experience at T2. The results indicate that deficits in EF influence the later occurrence of aggression in middle childhood, and the tendency to get angry easily mediates this relation. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 382 KW - executive function KW - anger KW - relational aggression KW - reactive aggression KW - proactive aggression KW - childhood KW - longitudinal study Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-409471 IS - 382 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rohlf, Helena L. A1 - Holl, Anna K. A1 - Kirsch, Fabian A1 - Krahé, Barbara A1 - Elsner, Birgit T1 - Longitudinal Links between Executive Function, Anger, and Aggression in Middle Childhood JF - Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience N2 - Previous research has indicated that executive function (EF) is negatively associated with aggressive behavior in childhood. However, there is a lack of longitudinal studies that have examined the effect of deficits in EF on aggression over time and taken into account different forms and functions of aggression at the same time. Furthermore, only few studies have analyzed the role of underlying variables that may explain the association between EF and aggression. The present study examined the prospective paths between EF and different forms (physical and relational) and functions (reactive and proactive) of aggression. The habitual experience of anger was examined as a potential underlying mechanism of the link between EF and aggression, because the tendency to get angry easily has been found to be both a consequence of deficits in EF and a predictor of aggression. The study included 1,652 children (between 6 and 11 years old at the first time point), who were followed over three time points (T1, T2, and T3) covering 3 years. At T1, a latent factor of EF comprised measures of planning, rated via teacher reports, as well as inhibition, set shifting, and working-memory updating, assessed experimentally. Habitual anger experience was assessed via parent reports at T1 and T2. The forms and functions of aggression were measured via teacher reports at all three time points. Structural equation modeling revealed that EF at T1 predicted physical, relational, and reactive aggression at T3, but was unrelated to proactive aggression at T3. Furthermore, EF at T1 was indirectly linked to physical aggression at T3, mediated through habitual anger experience at T2. The results indicate that deficits in EF influence the later occurrence of aggression in middle childhood, and the tendency to get angry easily mediates this relation. KW - executive function KW - anger KW - relational aggression KW - reactive aggression KW - proactive aggression KW - childhood KW - longitudinal study Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00027 SN - 1662-5153 VL - 12 IS - 27 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hilton, Matt A1 - Räling, Romy A1 - Wartenburger, Isabell A1 - Elsner, Birgit T1 - Parallels in Processing Boundary Cues in Speech and Action T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Speech and action sequences are continuous streams of information that can be segmented into sub-units. In both domains, this segmentation can be facilitated by perceptual cues contained within the information stream. In speech, prosodic cues (e.g., a pause, pre-boundary lengthening, and pitch rise) mark boundaries between words and phrases, while boundaries between actions of an action sequence can be marked by kinematic cues (e.g., a pause, pre-boundary deceleration). The processing of prosodic boundary cues evokes an Event-related Potentials (ERP) component known as the Closure Positive Shift (CPS), and it is possible that the CPS reflects domaingeneral cognitive processes involved in segmentation, given that the CPS is also evoked by boundaries between subunits of non-speech auditory stimuli. This study further probed the domain-generality of the CPS and its underlying processes by investigating electrophysiological correlates of the processing of boundary cues in sequences of spoken verbs (auditory stimuli; Experiment 1; N = 23 adults) and actions (visual stimuli; Experiment 2; N = 23 adults). The EEG data from both experiments revealed a CPS-like broadly distributed positivity during the 250 ms prior to the onset of the post-boundary word or action, indicating similar electrophysiological correlates of boundary processing across domains, suggesting that the cognitive processes underlying speech and action segmentation might also be shared. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 579 KW - Closure Positive Shift (CPS) KW - Event-related Potentials (ERP) KW - speech segmentation KW - action segmentation KW - prosodic boundary cues KW - prosody processing KW - kinematic boundary cues KW - action processing Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-437975 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 579 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hilton, Matt A1 - Räling, Romy A1 - Wartenburger, Isabell A1 - Elsner, Birgit T1 - Parallels in Processing Boundary Cues in Speech and Action JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - Speech and action sequences are continuous streams of information that can be segmented into sub-units. In both domains, this segmentation can be facilitated by perceptual cues contained within the information stream. In speech, prosodic cues (e.g., a pause, pre-boundary lengthening, and pitch rise) mark boundaries between words and phrases, while boundaries between actions of an action sequence can be marked by kinematic cues (e.g., a pause, pre-boundary deceleration). The processing of prosodic boundary cues evokes an Event-related Potentials (ERP) component known as the Closure Positive Shift (CPS), and it is possible that the CPS reflects domaingeneral cognitive processes involved in segmentation, given that the CPS is also evoked by boundaries between subunits of non-speech auditory stimuli. This study further probed the domain-generality of the CPS and its underlying processes by investigating electrophysiological correlates of the processing of boundary cues in sequences of spoken verbs (auditory stimuli; Experiment 1; N = 23 adults) and actions (visual stimuli; Experiment 2; N = 23 adults). The EEG data from both experiments revealed a CPS-like broadly distributed positivity during the 250 ms prior to the onset of the post-boundary word or action, indicating similar electrophysiological correlates of boundary processing across domains, suggesting that the cognitive processes underlying speech and action segmentation might also be shared. KW - Closure Positive Shift (CPS) KW - Event-related Potentials (ERP) KW - speech segmentation KW - action segmentation KW - prosodic boundary cues KW - prosody processing KW - kinematic boundary cues KW - action processing Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01566 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 10 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER -