Development of Flexible Switching of Scripts :

Effects of Executive Function Tasks

Abstract

  People’s scripts are composed of common elements and specific elements that vary among different events.  The present study examined how flexibly preschool children switch their scripts and what the related cognitive abilities are.  In Experiment 1, young children (N=67; 23, average age 4:0; 24, average age 5:0; 20, average age 6:1) performed a revised doll task.  In Experiment 2, young children (N=66; 24, average age 4:1; 24, average age 5:1, 18, average age 6:1) performed 3 executive function tasks, a receptive vocabulary task, and the same doll task as in Experiment 1.  In the doll task, the children were required to follow the experimenter’s instructions and switch scripts, and to stop to take off the common items between 2 scripts.  The ability to switch scripts flexibly by stopping to change the common items was measured.  The results indicated that the oldest of the 3 groups of participants began to distinguish the common items from the specific items and stopped to take off the common items flexibly.  Moreover, the executive function tasks had a positive influence on whether these young children switched scripts flexibly based on the common items among the events.