=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1419/paper0003
|storemode=property
|title=The Relationship Between Inhibition and Working Memory In Preschoolers: Evidence For Different Inhibitory Abilities
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1419/paper0003.pdf
|volume=Vol-1419
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/eapcogsci/TraversoMUV15
}}
==The Relationship Between Inhibition and Working Memory In Preschoolers: Evidence For Different Inhibitory Abilities==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1419/paper0003.pdf
The Relationship Between Inhibition and Working Memory In Preschoolers:
Evidence For Different Inhibitory Abilities
Laura Traverso (lauratraverso4@gmail.com)*
Chiara Mantini (chiara.mantini87@hotmail.it)*
Maria Carmen Usai (maria.carmen.usai@unige.it)*
Paola Viterbori (paola@nous.unige.it)*
*Department of Educational Sciences, Corso A. Podestà 2,
16128, Genoa, Italy
Abstract of the task (interference suppression; Gandolfi, Viterbori,
The present cross-sectional study aims to explore the
Traverso, & Usai, 2014).
contribution of working memory (WM) in different inhibitory WM has been defined using different theoretical models:
abilities (i.e., response inhibition and interference in the first models, working memory was described as a set
suppression) in 72 children who are between 3 and 5 years of of multiple specialized subcomponents of cognition
age. The results showed that response inhibition tasks are (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974), while in the subsequent models
influenced by both verbal and spatial WM, whereas the the role of diverse attentional/executive process to elaborate
interference suppression task was not influenced by WM information has become much more relevant (Engle, 2002).
when the analysis controlled for age.
WM generally refers to the ability to hold and manipulate
information mentally (Mesulam, 2000), whereas updating is
Keywords: Inhibition; Working Memory; Preschoolers conceptualized as the ability to encode incoming
information and replace the information that is no longer
relevant to the task (Morris & Jones, 1990). Working
Introduction memory and updating are very closely associated notions or
process, particularly when they are both involved in
The present study aims to explore the relationship
complex tasks that require information updating and/or
between inhibition and WM in early childhood (i.e.,
manipulation (Garon et al., 2008).
between 3 and 5 years of age), which is a particularly
Early in the course of development, the level of efficiency
important time for the development of higher order
of inhibition and working memory influences children's
cognitive processes, which is referred to as the executive
performance in complex situations. Specifically, between 3
function (EF), that is involved in the control and modulation
and 5 years of age, major improvements occur in both
of cognition (Miyake & Friedman, 2012; Best & Miller,
inhibition and working memory abilities (Garon et al.,
2010; Garon, Bryson, & Smith, 2008).
2008). The capacity to suppress a dominant or automatic
Inhibition is conceptualized as the ability to deliberately
response within complex tasks (which differ in memory
inhibit dominant, automatic, or prepotent responses when it
load, see Carlson, 2005; Hughes & Ensor, 2007), and the
is necessary and/or requested (Miyake et al., 2000). In
ability to hold information in one's mind after a delay,
children, as well in adults (Friedman & Miyake, 2004; Nigg,
which is assessed by span tasks, develop significantly
2000), different types of inhibition have been distinguished:
(Morra, Gobbo, Marini, & Sheese, 2011), during this period.
cognitive inhibition, a process that operates at the level of
thought and memories; response inhibition, a mechanism
The relationship between inhibition and WM
that acts at the level of behavior; and executive attention, a
process that functions at the level of attention (Diamond, Although some recent studies have shown that between
2013). Although inhibition is conceptualized as a the ages of 3 and 5 years inhibition and WM are distinct
multidimensional ability, few studies have verified this dimensions (Lee, Bull, & Ho, 2013; Usai, Viterbori,
assumption by examining its latent structure. Recently, two Traverso, & De Franchis, 2014; Miller, Giesbrecht, Müller,
inhibition processes were found to be separate but McInerney, & Kerns, 2012), it is not clear the nature of the
associated dimensions in children between the ages of 36 association between these two dimensions (see, for
and 48 months: the ability to suppress prepotent but example, Wright & Diamond, 2014). One possibility to
inappropriate responses (response inhibition) and the ability investigate this relationship is to examine the role of WM in
to manage the interference of potentially conflicting features performing inhibition tasks.
48
As reported by Best & Miller (2010), many of the tasks 27 children, who were aged between 39 and 47 months
that aim to assess inhibition also require WM (Garon et al., (Mage 43.63; SD=2.73) and attended their first year of
2008; Simpson & Riggs, 2005), and the combination of the preschool; the second group was composed of 25 children,
two processes within a single task may significantly who were aged between 48 and 55 months (Mage 51.64;
enhance the difficulty to perform the task, particularly for SD=2.50) and attended their second year of preschool; the
young children (e.g., Carlson, 2005). Garon et al. (2008) third group was composed of 20 children, who were aged
distinguished between simple and complex inhibition between 56 and 63 months (Mage 59.20: SD=2.31) and
processes according to their working memory demands. attended their last year of preschool (kindergarten).
Simple inhibition tasks, such as Delay gratification, were Written parental informed consent was obtained before
those paradigms that had a low level of working memory the participating children were admitted to the assessment
demand; conversely, the Flanker task was considered to be a sessions. According to the data that were provided by the
complex inhibition paradigm because it required the parents, 29% of the final sample is represented by only-
resolution of conflict between the dominant and children. With regard to maternal education, 28% achieved
subdominant responses and, consequently, involved greater a primary or middle school degree, 44% achieved a high-
levels of top-down control. The distinction between simple school degree, and 28% achieved an academic degree
and complex inhibitory tasks is similar to the distinctions (bachelor and/or master/doctorate).
that were made by Gandolfi et al. (2014) between response
inhibition and interference suppression: both classifications Procedure
are based on the differences between univalent tasks in The children were individually tested in a quiet room at
which only a single feature is presented, and the conflict is their preschool during two 15-20 minute sessions. A trained
between two response options to the same stimulus and researcher administered and scored all of the tests. A battery
tasks in which many potentially conflicting dimensions are of inhibitory and working memory tasks, which varied in
present, such as in the Flanker tasks. The presence of many format and in response demands, was administered to the
conflicting features may require more WM abilities, thus the children in a standard order. Moreover, the Italian version of
interference suppression tasks may be more influenced by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Stella, Pizzoli &
the WM abilities than the response inhibition tasks, in which Tressoldi, 2000), which evaluates language competence
the cognitive load for children is confined to a conflict (receptive vocabulary), was used as screener; age-based
between the habitual response and a less familiar, arbitrary standard scores were calculated (Mean=100, SD=15).
response, such as in the Stroop task. Working memory tasks. In order to assess WM two
The aim of the present study is to examine the role of traditional tasks were used that require the elaboration of
WM abilities in performance on inhibitory tasks in verbal and visuospatial stimuli.
preschool children. In particular, we are interested in Backward Word Span (BWS). This is a traditional
exploring the contribution of WM in inhibitory tasks that working memory task (Alloway, Gathercole, & Pickering,
assess the different dimensions of inhibition (i.e., response 2006; Carlson, 2005). This task requires the child to recall a
inhibition and interference suppression). We hypothesize sequence of spoken words in reverse order. Words were
that WM will have a greater influence on interference presented approximately once per second. After an
suppression tasks than response inhibition tasks. illustration trial, the test begins with three trials of two
words. The number of words increases by one every three
Method trials until three lists are recalled incorrectly. The maximum
list length for which two sequences were correctly recalled
Participants was scored (expected range 0-9).
Participants were recruited by the researchers who Mr. Cucumber (Case, 1985). This task is a measure of
contacted the families of children who attended two public working memory in children (Morra, 1994). The examiner
preschools in a province in a northwestern region of Italy. presents a large outline drawing of an extra-terrestrial
The families of 92 three- to five-year-old children agreed to character, to whom a number of colored stickers is attached
participate in this study. at specific body parts (e.g., on the nose, on the left antler,
Eight children were excluded due to an ascertained etc.) for 5 seconds. The child is then shown a colorless
developmental disorder (7) or because their families had drawing and is asked to indicate the positions of the stickers
serious social difficulties and the public Social Services on the previously presented figure. There are three items per
were in charge of the children (1); 12 children were level (from 1 to 8 stickers, in ascending order). An item is
subsequently excluded from the sample because they scored as correct if the child points to all of the correct body
received a score that was lower than the fifth percentile or parts and does not point to any incorrect body parts. One
because they did not reach the basal score on the PPVT. The point is given for each consecutive level for which a child
final sample consisted of 72 children (41 females), whose correctly indicates at least two items, and one third of a
ages ranged from 39 to 63 months (Mage=50.87; SD=6.72). point (0.33) is given for each correct item that is beyond that
The sample was divided into three subgroups based on level (expected range: 0-8).
preschool class attendance: the first group was composed of
49
Inhibition tasks. A set of different tasks were used to (ANOVAs) were performed to explore the effects of gender,
assess inhibition. maternal education and age on the EF tasks. No differences
Circle Drawing Task (Bachorowski & Newman, 1985). were found between males and females. The level of
This is a well-known measure of response (motor) inhibition maternal education significantly influenced performance on
of an on-going response that has been used for both adult the PMFT, F(2,71)=4.26, p<.05, η² =.110, and on the Mr.
(Wallace, Newman, & Bachorowski, 1991) and childhood Cucumber task, F(2,71)=3.64, p<.05, η²=.097; children
(see, for example, Geurts, Verté, Oosterlaan, Roeyers, & whose mothers had the lowest level of education performed
Sergeant, 2005) assessments. The child must trace a 17 cm significantly worse than all of the others on the PMFT and
in diameter circle, with his or her finger, from a starting worse than children whose mothers had the highest level of
point to an ending point. The task is administered twice. education on the Mr. Cucumber task (post-hoc Tukey test,
During the first administration, neutral instructions (“trace p<.05). A main effect of age was significant for all of the
the circle”) were provided, and during the second executive tasks (Table 1): on the Fish Task, performance
administration, inhibition instructions were provided (“trace differed significantly between each age level that was
the circle again, but this time, trace it as slowly as you considered, whereas on the other tasks, the 5-year-olds
can”). Larger time differences indicate better inhibition performed better than the 3-year-old children, but the 4-
(slowing down) on the part of the participant in regard to his year-old children did not differ from the others (post-hoc
or her continuous tracing response. The time that it took to Tukey test, all ps<.05).
trace the circle, in seconds, was recorded for each trial. To investigate the association between the different tasks,
Scores were calculated for the slowdown time, relative to a partial correlation analysis that controlled for age was
the total time, through the use of the following formula: T2- performed (Table 2). The zero-order correlation shows that
T1/T2+T1, where T1 and T2 were the times that were most of the executive tasks relate to one another.
recorded for the first and second trials, respectively Correlations with age were significant and ranged from .29
(expected range: no limit-0-no limit). to .44. When controlling for age, the pattern of significant
Preschool Matching Familiar Figure Task (PMFT, associations is reduced; the inhibition tasks correlate with
adapted by Kagan, 1965). This task measures the child’s one another. Moreover, the CDT is positively associated
ability to restrain impulsive responses (Kagan 1966; Rovet, with the BWS, and the PMFT correlates with the Mr.
1980) and to compare the target with all of the pictures by Cucumber task.
shifting his or her attention from the target to each
alternative. The child is asked to select the figure that is Table 1: Descriptive statistics of EF tasks and ANOVA
identical to the target picture at the top of the page from by age level.
among different alternatives. In the form that has been
adapted for preschoolers, this task involves five alternatives Tasks and
Age
and is composed of 14 items. The number of errors (PMFT ANOVA N Mean SD Min Max
Level
Errors; expected range: 0-56) was recorded. by age
Fish Task (Gandolfi et al., 2014; Viterbori, Gandolfi, & Circle 1 27 .06 .19 -.37 .41
Usai, 2012). This task evaluates the child's interference Drawing 2 25 .18 .30 -.36 .70
suppression ability through the use of an adaptation of the Task 3 20 .33 .29 -.10 .86
flanker paradigm (Eriksen & Eriksen, 1974). This is a (CDT) Tot. 72 .17 .28 -.37 .86
forced-choice task in which children are required to point to Preschool 1 27 22.59 5.79 12 36
where a centrally located target fish is oriented, while Matching 2 25 19.60 5.54 10 33
ignoring the presence of interfering stimuli (other fish). Figure Test 3 20 16.40 5.78 5 25
There are 16 trials: 2 training trials, 8 congruent trials where (PMFFT) Tot. 72 19.83 6.17 5 36
the target and the interfering stimuli are oriented in the same 1 27 1.19 1.60 0 6
direction, and 8 incongruent trials where the target and the 2 25 2.84 4.59 0 14
interfering stimuli are oriented in opposite directions. The Fish Task
3 20 6.90 6.64 0 16
congruent and incongruent trials are randomly presented. (FT)
Tot. 72 3.35 5.03 0 16
The accuracy on the incongruent trials is scored (range: 0- 1 27 .63 1.11 0 3
8). Backward
2 25 1.08 1.22 0 4
Results Word Span
3 20 1.70 1.22 0 3
Descriptive statistics for all of the inhibitory measures, by (BWS)
Tot. 72 1.08 1.24 0 4
age, are shown in Table 1.
Mr. 1 26 .87 .51 0 2
No outliers (values>3.0 standard deviation) were
Cucumber 2 25 1.20 .51 1 2
identified. The missing values for all of the measures ranged
(MC) 3 20 1.37 .54 0 2
from 0% to 6%.
Tot. 71 1.13 .55 0 2
All of the dependent variables displayed adequate
distributional characteristics, and there was no substantial
skewness or kurtosis. Separate analyses of variance To determine whether the two different WM measures
contributed significant unique variance to the outcome
50
variable of the inhibitory tasks, over and above the effect of The WM tasks significantly increased the amount of
age, a series of two-step hierarchical multiple linear variability that was explained for two of the dependent
regression analyses were conducted with the enter method. variables (i.e., the CDT and the PMFT) but not for the Fish
All of the necessary assumptions of the regression were met, task, which was only significantly predicted by age. The R2
and the order of entry was maintained constant (age, first deltas are indeed significant for the CDT and PMFT, and
step; WM tasks, second step). Results are reported in Table they indicate that when the WM variables were added as
3. predictors, the amount of variability that was explained
significantly increased.
Table 2: Zero-order (lower triangle) and partial
correlation by age (upper triangle) among EF tasks.
Discussion
CDT PMFT FT BWS MC The aim of the present study was to examine the role of
CDT - -.351** .351** .246* .197 WM abilities in different tasks that evaluate diverse aspects
PMFT -.417*** - -.282* .165 -.290* of inhibition (i.e., response inhibition and interference
suppression; Gandolfi et al., 2014).
FT .424*** -.399** - .226 .176 The results reveal that a significant increase in EF task
BWS .339** -.313** .381** - .143 performance occurs in the age range that was considered. In
MC .283* -.395*** .314** .299* - agreement with many authors, we found significant
Age .288* -.403*** .421*** .444*** .389** improvements, both in terms of the ability to deal with the
interference and the ability to inhibit a dominant or
***p<.001; **p<.01; *p<.05.
automatic response (see, for example, Carlson, 2005;
Hughes & Ensor, 2007; Jones, Rotbart, and Posner, 2003;
Kochanska, Murray, and Coy, 1997; Kochanska, Murray,
Table 3:Relationship between WM and inhibitory
Jacques, Koenig, Vandeceest, 1996). At the same time, our
measures: Hierarchical linear regression analysis.
results show an enhancement in WM abilities (Gathercole,
1998; Gathercole, Pickering, Ambridge, & Wearing, 2004;
Dependent variables Circle Drawing Task
Reznick, 2007; also see Morra, Gobbo, Marini, and Sheese,
F(3,70)=4.19
2008) for both verbal and spatial tasks (Garon et al., 2008).
p<0.01 R2adj=.12
In regard to the main objective of this study, verbal and
R2Δ=.08*
spatial WM appears to be associated with both response
Independent variables B SE Beta inhibition and interference suppression, although to a
Age .012 .005 .278 different extent, depending on the type of inhibitory abilities
Age .004 .006 .098 that is considered. However, age was a significant predictor
Backward Word Span .055 .029 .242 of all of the inhibition measures when it was considered
Mr. Cucumber .088 .063 .172 alone in the regression models; moreover when age was
Dependent variables Preschool Matching Figure controlled the association between the two WM tasks was
Test no more significant (see Simmering & Perone, 2013).
F(3,70)=6.661 In the case of CDT, which is a measure of response
p<0.01 R2adj=.20 inhibition in early childhood (Gandolfi et al., 2014), when
R2Δ=.09* WM scores were added as predictors in the second
Independent variables B SE Beta regression model, the amount of variance that was explained
Age -.343 .100 -.380 increased, although neither age, nor verbal or spatial WM,
when taken separately, contributed significantly to this
Age -.191 .115 -.212
model.
Backward Word Span -.641 .597 -.132
The WM scores also significantly increased the amount of
Mr. Cucumber -3.007* 1.294 -.273*
variance that was predicted by the PMFT task, which
Dependent variables Fish Task evaluates the ability to control an impulsive response
F(3,70)=7.185 (Rovet, 1980) and could be considered as a response
p<0.001 R2adj=.21 inhibition task. When all of the independent variables are
R2Δ=.06 considered together, only the Mr. Cucumber scores
Independent variables B SE Beta significantly contributed to the increase in variance that was
Age .323 .082 .430 explained by the model.
Age .208* .095 .276* Different from the other inhibitory tasks, in the case of the
Backward Word Span .850 .494 .209 Fish task, the WM scores in the regression model did not
Mr. Cucumber 1.323 1.070 .144 modify the amount of variance that was already explained
by age.
51
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