Standardizing measures of hot executive function: Individual differences in children’s response to a countdown timer.

What is it about?

Standardized assessments of children’s executive function (EF) skills are necessary for researchers and educators to accurately characterize developmental trajectories and compare performance across contexts. However, there are currently no standardized measures of "hot EF" or EF skills that are used in motivationally significant situations. The present study suggests that introducing time pressure to an existing standardized measure of cool EF serves to increase emotional salience and make the task “hotter.”

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Photo by Chandan Chaurasia on Unsplash

Photo by Chandan Chaurasia on Unsplash

Why is it important?

We demonstrate that children as young as 3 years old think and behave differently when performing under time pressure. Introducing time pressure to existing standardized assessments of cognitive development is a relatively easy way to replicate tasks across research labs, with the ultimate aim of creating national norms of children's hot EF developmental trajectories.