Table 1.
Overview of Miyake's three EF components (Updating/WM, Inhibition and Shifting), and related EF tasks.
| EF component | Task | Task description |
|---|---|---|
| UPDATING/WORKING MEMORY | ||
| The ability to (temporarily) store and monitor incoming information and then update items in WM with new, more relevant information. | Digit recall (Petrucelli et al., 2012) | Subtest from the Working Memory Test Battery for Children measuring phonological WM, in which numbers have to be repeated. |
| Children's Test of Non-word Repetition (Petrucelli et al., 2012) | A test in which unfamiliar words spoken by an experimenter have to be repeated, measuring phonological WM. | |
| Recalling Sentences Task (Petrucelli et al., 2012) | Subtest from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals in which sentences have to be imitated, measuring the episodic buffera. | |
| Non-word repetition (Chiat and Roy, 2007) | Part of the Preschool Repetition Test, in which words and phonologically matched non-words have to be repeated, measuring verbal WM. | |
| Non-word repetition (Gray, 2006) | A test in which lists of spoken words and non-words (one-, two-, three-, four- syllable non-words) have to be repeated, measuring verbal WM. | |
| Digit span (Gray, 2006) | A test in which a sequence of digits (varying from three to nine numbers in length) has to be recalled in the right order, measuring verbal WM storage. | |
| Digit recall task (Vugs et al., 2014, 2015) | Subtest of the Automated Working Memory Assessment, in which a sequence of digits has to be recalled in the right order, measuring verbal WM storage. | |
| Word recall task (Vugs et al., 2014, 2015) | Subtest of the Automated Working Memory Assessment, in which a sequence of words has to be recalled in the right order, measuring verbal WM storage. | |
| Non-word recall task (Vugs et al., 2014) | Subtest of the Automated Working Memory Assessment, in which a sequence of non-words has to be recalled in the right order, measuring verbal WM storage. | |
| Listening span task (Vugs et al., 2014, 2015) | Subtest of the Automated Working Memory Assessment, in which the content of presented sentences has to be judged while the last word of the sentence has to be remembered. Afterwards, the last words of the sentences have to recalled in the correct order. A measure for the verbal central executive. | |
| Counting recall task (Vugs et al., 2014, 2015) | Subtest of the Automated Working Memory Assessment, in which dots (presented amongst triangles) have to be counted, said out loud and remembered. Afterwards, the number of dots have to be recalled in the correct order. A measure for the verbal central executive. | |
| Backward digit recall task (Vugs et al., 2014, 2015) | Subtest of the Automated Working Memory Assessment, in which a sequence of digits has to be recalled in the reversed orders, measuring the verbal central executive. | |
| Dot matrix task (Vugs et al., 2014, 2015) | Subtest of the Automated Working Memory Assessment, in which a sequence of dots is presented and then disappears, after which the position of the dots has to be pointed out in the correct serial order. A measure for visuo-spatial storage. | |
| Mazes memory task (Vugs et al., 2014, 2015) | Subtest of the Automated Working Memory Assessment, in which a maze with a path drawn through it is presented for 3 s, after which the path has to be drawn in a similar but “empty” maze. A measure for visuo-spatial storage. | |
| Block recall task (Vugs et al., 2014, 2015) | Subtest of the Automated Working Memory Assessment, in which nine cubes are presented and then pointed to in a particular order. Afterwards, the cubes have to be pointed to in the correct order. A measure for visuo-spatial storage. | |
| Odd-one-out task (Vugs et al., 2014, 2015) | Subtest of the Automated Working Memory Assessment, in which three boxes with complex shapes are presented. The shape that does not resemble the others has to be identified. After a number of trials, the position of the boxes containing the odd shapes has to be recalled in the correct order. A measure for the visuo-spatial central executive. | |
| Mr. X task (Vugs et al., 2014, 2015) | Subtest of the Automated Working Memory Assessment, in which the position of balls held by one of two men has to be judged. Afterwards the position of the balls has to be recalled. A measure for the visuo-spatial central executive. | |
| Spatial span task (Vugs et al., 2014, 2015) | Subtest of the Automated Working Memory Assessment, in which the similarity of shapes has to be judged. A red dot is presented above the right shapes. Afterwards, the position of the red dots has to be recalled in the right order. A measure for the visuo-spatial central executive. | |
| Word span (Hick et al., 2005) | A test in which lists of spoken words of increasing length (two, three, four or five words) have to be repeated, measuring verbal WM. | |
| Pattern recognition memory (Bavin et al., 2005) | A visuo-spatial short-term memory task, in which a series of patterns appear on a screen. Afterwards, two patterns are presented: a new one and one of the previously presented patterns. The pattern that was presented before has to be selected. | |
| Paired associates learning (Bavin et al., 2005) | A visuo-spatial short-term memory task, in which boxes are presented, opening and closing one at a time. One of the boxes contains a target item. Afterwards the boxes appear again, now in the middle of the screen. Then the box in which the target appeared before has to be selected. | |
| Localization recall task (Menezes et al., 2007) | A visual short-term memory task, in which two boxes are presented on the table, in which target objects are put. The task is to identify and retrieve the target items (distractor objects are also presented). | |
| Space Visualization Task (Marton, 2008) | A task in which wooden blocks have to be mentally rotated to fit pegs into various holes. One of two alternatives has to be chosen. This task measures, amongst other executive skills, visuo-spatial WM. | |
| Position in Space Task (Marton, 2008) | The task is first to match a series of figures to visually similar abstract forms, and then to remember a row of figures that was previously presented. This task measures, amongst other executive skills, visuo-spatial short-term storage. | |
| Design Copying Task (Marton, 2008) | The task is to copy lines and abstract figures in empty spaces. This task measures, amongst other executive skills, visuo-spatial WM. | |
| Working memory scale BRIEF-P (Vugs et al., 2014) | The BRIEF-P is a standardized rating scale for parents and teachers measuring EF behaviors of children aged 2–5 years. The scale contains 63 items divided across five clinical scales, including a WM scale. | |
| Emergent Metacognition Index BRIEF-P (Wittke et al., 2013) | The BRIEF-P is a standardized rating scale for parents and teachers for measuring EF behaviors of children aged 2–5 years. The scale contains 63 items divided across five clinical scales. The scales form a Global Executive Composite, and three overlapping summary indices. One of these indices is the Emergent Metacognition Index, composed of the WM and the planning/organization scales. | |
| INHIBITION | ||
| The ability to deliberately inhibit dominant or automatic responses and to resistance to distractor interference (Friedman and Miyake, 2004). | Resistance to distractor interference task (Spaulding, 2010) | A task using speech, environmental sounds, and visual animations. The task is to press a button when a target item is named by a speaker, while visual, non-verbal, and linguistic distractors are presented that need to be resisted. |
| Inhibition task (Spaulding, 2010) | A task based on a stop-signal paradigm, using linguistic recordings. The task is to press the button with a picture of a butterfly when presented with this word, or a button with a picture of a dinosaur when presented with that word. When the spoken word was followed by the word “stop,” the response needed to be inhibited. | |
| Inhibition scale BRIEF-P (Vugs et al., 2014) | The BRIEF-P is a standardized rating scale for parents and teachers for measuring EF behaviors of children aged 2–5 years. The scale contains 63 items divided across five clinical scales, including an inhibition scale. | |
| Inhibitory Self-Control Index BRIEF-P (Wittke et al., 2013) | The BRIEF-P is a standardized rating scale for parents and teachers for measuring EF behaviors of children aged 2–5 years. The scale contains 63 items divided across five clinical scales. The scales form a Global Executive Composite, and three overlapping summary indices. One of these indices is the Inhibitory Self-Control Index, composed of the inhibition and emotional self-control scales. | |
| SHIFTING | ||
| The ability to disengage from a task set and to actively engage in a new task set. The ability to shift is strongly related to cognitive flexibility. | Flexible Item Selection Task (Roello et al., 2015) | A task measuring categorization and shifting abilities. The task is first to select pictures matching for one feature, than to choose a different pair of pictures matching for another feature. |
| Border version of the Dimensional Change Card Sort (Farrant and Maybery, 2012) | The task is to sort a series of bivalent multidimensional cards. In the pre-switch phase the cards are sorted along one dimension, in the post-switch phase the cards are sorted along another dimension, and in the border phase the cards are sorted along both dimensions depending upon whether the card has a border or not. | |
| Shifting scale BRIEF-P (Vugs et al., 2014) | The BRIEF-P is a standardized rating scale for parents and teachers for measuring executive function behaviors of children aged 2–5 years. The scale contains 63 items divided across five clinical scales, including a shifting scale. | |
| Flexibility Index BRIEF-P (Wittke et al., 2013) | The BRIEF-P is a standardized rating scale for parents and teachers for measuring executive function behaviors of children aged 2–5 years. The scale contains 63 items divided across five clinical scales. The scales form a Global Executive Composite, and three overlapping summary indices. One of these indices is the Flexibility Index, composed of the shifting and emotional self-control scales. | |
Exclusively those tasks are presented on which preschoolers with SLI perform significantly worse than their typically developing peers.