A novel test of flexible planning in relation to executive function and language in young children

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorMiller, Rachael
dc.contributor.authorFrohnwieser, Anna
dc.contributor.authorDing, Ning
dc.contributor.authorTroisi, Camille A.
dc.contributor.authorSchiestl, Martina
dc.contributor.authorGruber, Romana
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, Alex H.
dc.contributor.authorJelbert, Sarah A.
dc.contributor.authorBoeckle, Markus
dc.contributor.authorClayton, Nicola S.
dc.contributor.funderEuropean Research Councilen
dc.contributor.funderSeventh Framework Programmeen
dc.contributor.funderRoyal Society Te Apārangien
dc.date.accessioned2021-09-01T14:36:04Z
dc.date.available2021-09-01T14:36:04Z
dc.date.issued2020-04-15
dc.date.updated2021-09-01T13:03:39Z
dc.description.abstractIn adult humans, decisions involving the choice and use of tools for future events typically require episodic foresight. Previous studies suggest some non-human species are capable of future planning; however, these experiments often cannot fully exclude alternative learning explanations. Here, we used a novel tool-use paradigm aiming to address these critiques to test flexible planning in 3- to 5-year-old children, in relation to executive function and language abilities. In the flexible planning task, children were not verbally cued during testing, single trials avoided consistent exposure to stimulus–reward relationships, and training trials provided experience of a predictable return of reward. Furthermore, unlike most standard developmental studies, we incorporated short delays before and after tool choice. The critical test choice included two tools with equal prior reward experience—each only functional in one apparatus. We tested executive function and language abilities using several standardized tasks. Our results echoed standard developmental research: 4- and 5-year-olds outperformed 3-year-olds on the flexible planning task, and 5-year-old children outperformed younger children in most executive function and language tasks. Flexible planning performance did not correlate with executive function and language performance. This paradigm could be used to investigate flexible planning in a tool-use context in non-human species.en
dc.description.sponsorshipEuropean Research Council (under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 3399933); Royal Society Te Apārangi, Royal Society of New Zealand (Rutherford Discovery Fellowship and a Prime Ministers McDarmid Emerging Scientist prize)en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleid192015en
dc.identifier.citationMiller, R., Frohnwieser, A., Ding, N., Troisi, C. A., Schiestl, M., Gruber, R., Taylor, A. H., Jelbert, S. A., Boeckle, M. and Clayton, N. S. (2020) 'A novel test of flexible planning in relation to executive function and language in young children', Royal Society Open Science, 7(4), 192015 (13 pp). doi: 10.1098/rsos.192015en
dc.identifier.doi10.1098/rsos.192015en
dc.identifier.endpage13en
dc.identifier.issn2054-5703
dc.identifier.journaltitleRoyal Society Open Scienceen
dc.identifier.startpage1en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/11818
dc.identifier.volume7en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherThe Royal Societyen
dc.relation.urihttps://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.192015#d1e1960
dc.rights© 2020 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.en
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectFlexible planningen
dc.subjectExecutive functionen
dc.subjectLanguageen
dc.subjectChild developmenten
dc.subjectComparative cognitionen
dc.subjectSelf-projectionen
dc.subjectCurrent desiresen
dc.subjectFuture-needsen
dc.subjectScrub-jayen
dc.subjectThinkingen
dc.subjectMinden
dc.subjectMemoryen
dc.subjectPreschoolersen
dc.titleA novel test of flexible planning in relation to executive function and language in young childrenen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Thumbnail Image
Name:
rsos.192015.pdf
Size:
650.46 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Published version
Download
Thumbnail Image
Name:
rsos192015_si_002.mp4
Size:
3.81 MB
Format:
video/mp4
Description:
Supplemental material
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
2.71 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences - Journal Articles