The structure of executive functions in preschool children and chimpanzees

Völter, Christoph J.; Reindl, Eva; Felsche, Elisa; Civelek, Zeynep; Whalen, Andrew; Lugosi, Zsuzsa; Duncan, Lisa; Herrmann, Esther; Call, Josep; Seed, Amanda M.

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-08406-7

The structure of executive functions in preschool children and chimpanzees

Völter, Christoph J.; Reindl, Eva; Felsche, Elisa; Civelek, Zeynep; Whalen, Andrew; Lugosi, Zsuzsa; Duncan, Lisa; Herrmann, Esther; Call, Josep; Seed, Amanda M.

Authors

Christoph J. Völter

Dr Eva Reindl eva.reindl@durham.ac.uk
Post Doctoral Research Associate

Elisa Felsche

Zeynep Civelek

Andrew Whalen

Zsuzsa Lugosi

Lisa Duncan

Esther Herrmann

Josep Call

Amanda M. Seed

Abstract

Executive functions (EF) are a core aspect of cognition. Research with adult humans has produced evidence for unity and diversity in the structure of EF. Studies with preschoolers favour a 1-factor model, in which variation in EF tasks is best explained by a single underlying trait on which all EF tasks load. How EF are structured in nonhuman primates remains unknown. This study starts to fill this gap through a comparative, multi-trait multi-method test battery with preschoolers (N = 185) and chimpanzees (N = 55). The battery aimed at measuring working memory updating, inhibition, and attention shifting with three non-verbal tasks per function. For both species the correlations between tasks were low to moderate and not confined to tasks within the same putative function. Factor analyses produced some evidence for the unity of executive functions in both groups, in that our analyses revealed shared variance. However, we could not conclusively distinguish between 1-, 2- or 3-factor models. We discuss the implications of our findings with respect to the ecological validity of current psychometric research.

Citation

Völter, C. J., Reindl, E., Felsche, E., Civelek, Z., Whalen, A., Lugosi, Z., …Seed, A. M. (2022). The structure of executive functions in preschool children and chimpanzees. Scientific Reports, 12(1), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08406-7

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 11, 2022
Online Publication Date	Apr 19, 2022
Publication Date	2022
Deposit Date	May 17, 2022
Publicly Available Date	May 17, 2022
Journal	Scientific Reports
Publisher	Nature Research
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	12
Issue	1
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08406-7

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