Exploratory data analysis of executive functions in children: a new assessment battery

RICHARDS , M. MARTA; VERNUCCI, S.; STELZER, F.; INTROZZI , I.M-; GUARDA, J.

Current Psychology

Springer US

Lugar: North Dakota, Grand Forks ND; Año: 2018 p. 1 - 8

1046-1310

Executive Functions (EF) are fundamental during childhood since they participate actively in such heterogeneous domains asmental and physical health, learning, school performance, and cognitive, social and psychological development. Their evaluationis of interest, both in the field of clinical practice and research. Several criticisms and discussions have been generated regardingthe available resources for its measurement, so it is necessary to have evaluation tasks that present adequate psychometricproperties and that allow to evaluate each EF with the least possible interference of other processes. This paper aims to presentthe Tareas de Autorregulación Cognitiva Battery (TAC), a computerized platform designed for independent measurement ofinhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility, as well as obtaining evidence of construct validity from a set of tasks thatcompose it. 103 children between 9 and 12 years of age from the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina, were assessed. The results ofthe factor analysis showed a solution of 3 factors, which significantly explain 52.79% of the variance. These results, together withthe scientific evidence presented by previous studies, provide empirical support of the validity of the tasks analyzed in the presentstudy. Thus, this study contributes to the literature by presenting a computerized battery for specific and independent assessmentof the different executive processes, valid for its application in children