Less-structured time in children's daily lives predicts self-directed executive functioning

Abstract

Executive functions (EFs) in childhood predict important life outcomes. Thus, there is great interest in attempts to improve EFs early in life. Many interventions are led by trained adults, including structured training activities in the lab, and less-structured activities implemented in schools. Such programs have yielded gains in children's externally-driven executive functioning, where they are instructed on what goal-directed actions to carry out and when. However, it is less clear how children's experiences relate to their development of self-directed executive functioning, where they must determine on their own what goal-directed actions to carry out and when. We hypothesized that time spent in less-structured activities would give children opportunities to practice self-directed executive functioning, and lead to benefits. To investigate this possibility, we collected information from parents about their 6–7 year-old children's daily, annual, and typical schedules. We categorized children's activities as “structured” or “less-structured” based on categorization schemes from prior studies on child leisure time use. We assessed children's self-directed executive functioning using a well-established verbal fluency task, in which children generate members of a category and can decide on their own when to switch from one subcategory to another. The more time that children spent in less-structured activities, the better their self-directed executive functioning. The opposite was true of structured activities, which predicted poorer self-directed executive functioning. These relationships were robust (holding across increasingly strict classifications of structured and less-structured time) and specific (time use did not predict externally-driven executive functioning). We discuss implications, caveats, and ways in which potential interpretations can be distinguished in future work, to advance an understanding of this fundamental aspect of growing up.

Rigidity in routines and the development of resistance to change in individuals with Prader–Willi syndrome

“…Thus, there appears to be a period of developmental sensitivity during the primary school years when task switching is highly malleable, perhaps particularly for children who evidence relative deficiencies in these sorts of high-level cognitive skills (Diamond & Lee 2011). Indeed, children of this age appear to be particularly susceptible to improvements in task switching via targeted training (Karbach & Kray 2009), as they are susceptible to cognitive benefits from exposure to flexibility in daily activities (Barker et al 2014;Barker & Munakata 2015).…”

“…This assertion is supported by the fact that neural connections representing abstract relations are engaged by paradigms that present tasks in a range of varied contexts (Cole et al ). Indeed, children exposed to more unstructured activities around 6 to 7 years of age appear to evidence better internally directed task switching (Barker et al ; Barker & Munakata ).…”

MPAs, aquatic conservation and connecting people to nature

“…Evidence for a disconnection from nature, or ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’, as described by Louv () is far reaching and compelling and includes: increased screen time (Pergams and Zaradic, ; Moss, ; Parks Canada, ); increases in the amount of time spent indoors (Moss, ; Parks Canada, ); significant reductions in children's freedom to explore and unstructured outdoor play (Gaster, ; Hofferth and Sandberg, ; Wen et al ., ; Barker et al ., ); negative mental and physical health impacts (Holick and Chen, ; Moss, ). …”

Cognitive stimulation in children at social risk: its transference to school performance

“…Executive functions (EF) are cognitive control processes that regulate thoughts, emotions and actions to support behavior while targeting a goal (Barker et al, 2014). There is general agreement that there are three core EFs: inhibition (behavioral inhibition and interference control), working memory and cognitive flexibility (Diamond, 2013;Huizinga, Dolan, & van der Molen, 2006;Lehto, Juujärvi, Kooistra, & Pulkkinen, 2003;Miyake, Friedman, Emerson, Witzki, & Howerter, 2000).…”