Interference control in adolescents with Mild-to-Borderline Intellectual Disabilities and/or behavior disorders

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate interference control in adolescents with Mild to Borderline Intellectual Disability (MBID) by addressing two key questions. First, as MBID is often associated with comorbid behavior disorders (BD), we investigated whether MBID and BD both affect interference control. Second, we studied whether interference control deficits are associated to problems in everyday executive functioning. Four groups of adolescents with and without MBID and/or BD performed the Eriksen flanker task, requiring participants to respond to a central target while ignoring interfering flanking stimuli. Their teachers rated behavior on the Behavior Rating Inventory Executive Function (BRIEF). We found pronounced effects of MBID but not BD on flanker interference control. In contrast, we observed pronounced effects of BD, but not MBID, on the BRIEF. In addition, flanker interference scores and BRIEF scores did not correlate. These results are taken to suggest that adolescents with MBID are characterized by deficits in interference control that do not become manifest in ratings of everyday executive functioning. In contrast, adolescents with BD are not characterized by deficits in interference control but do show elevated ratings of deficits in everyday executive function.

Social information processing skills link executive functions to aggression in adolescents with mild to borderline intellectual disability

“…A recent meta-analysis by Bexkens et al (2014) supports the interpretation that different inhibition components differentiate between children with and without MBID. Effects were found for inhibition tasks with a behavioral component and with an interference control component, that is control on attention processes.…”

“…Although variability in EF performance is found within the group of MBID, on average youth with MBID are impaired in EFs compared to typically developing peers. Moreover, relations have been found between impaired EFs and behavior problems in youth with MBID (Bexkens, Van Der Molen, Collot d'Escury-Koenigs, & Huizenga, 2014;Danielsson, Henry, Messer, & Rönnberg, 2012;Schuiringa, Van Nieuwenhuijzen, Orobio De Castro, & Matthys, 2017;Van Nieuwenhuijzen, Orobio De Castro, Van Aken, & Matthys, 2009;Visser, Berger, Van Schrojenstein Lantman-De Valk, Prins, & Teunisse, 2015).…”

Memory and linguistic/executive functions of children with borderline intellectual functioning

“…Moreover, and with one exception (Alloway, 2010), researchers have studied BIF in conjunction with the mild IDDs, integrating them into the same group (e. g., Bexkens et al, 2014;Bonifacci & Snowling, 2008;Hasselhorn & Mähler, 2007;Maehler & Schuchardt, 2009;Van der Molen et al, 2007. Thus, in general individuals with a broad IQs range are analyzed (from 50/55 to 85/88) and the effective number of individuals with BIF is either reduced [e. g., 10 (Henry, 2001), 17 (Bonifacci & Snowling, 2008)] or not specified (Maehler & Schuchardt, 2009;Poloczek et al, 2016;Van der Molen et al, 2007.…”

“…Besides memory, subdomains of the executive functions were also addressed in groups with BIF or MIDs: inhibition of response (Alloway, 2010;Van der Molen et al, 2007 Van der Molen, Van Luit, Van der Molen, Klugkist, & Jongmans, 2010); set shifting (Alloway, 2010); planning (Alloway, 2010;Van der Molen et al, 2007); verbal fluency (Van der Molen et al, 2007); and attention control (Bexkens, Van der Molen, Collot d'Escury-Koenigs, & Huizenga, 2014;Van der Molen et al, 2007). The empirical data showed that in relation to chronological age, children with BIF or MIDs presented deficits: in planning (Alloway, 2010;Van der Molen et al, 2007); in set shifting (Alloway, 2010); in semantic and phonemic verbal fluency (the deficits are even more pronounced than those of the control group with equivalent mental age; Van der Molen et al, 2007); and in interference control (Bexkens et al, 2014). Concerning the inhibitory control, there are contradictory data, since problems have been demonstrated in the response inhibition ability of children with BIF (Alloway, 2010) and of young people with MIDs (Van der Molen et al, 2007).…”

The Correlation among Neural Dynamic Processing of Conflict Control, Testosterone and Cortisol Levels in 10-Year-Old Children

“…Conflict control is essential for goal-directed behavior and self-regulation (Mayr et al, 2003; Botvinick et al, 2004; Bexkens et al, 2014). It requires individuals to concentrate on the instructed mental operation and filter out distraction (Nigg, 2000; Johnstone et al, 2009; Mullane et al, 2009).…”