Efficiency of Executive Function: A Two-Generation Cross-Cultural Comparison of Samples From Hong Kong and the United Kingdom

Although Asian preschoolers acquire executive functions (EFs) earlier than their Western counterparts, little is known about whether this advantage persists into later childhood and adulthood. To address this gap, in the current study we gave four computerized EF tasks (providing measures of inhibit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 2017-05, Vol.28 (5), p.555-566
Main Authors: Ellefson, Michelle R., Ng, Florrie Fei-Yin, Wang, Qian, Hughes, Claire
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age differences
Child
Child Development - physiology
Childhood
Cognitive flexibility
Computerization
Cross cultural studies
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Executive function
Executive Function - physiology
Executives
Female
Generations
Hong Kong - ethnology
Humans
Inhibition (Psychology)
Intergenerational Relations
Life course
Male
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Middle Aged
Neuropsychological Tests
Parents - psychology
Preschool children
Short term memory
United Kingdom - ethnology
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Summary:Although Asian preschoolers acquire executive functions (EFs) earlier than their Western counterparts, little is known about whether this advantage persists into later childhood and adulthood. To address this gap, in the current study we gave four computerized EF tasks (providing measures of inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and planning) to a large sample (n = 1,427) of 9- to 16-year-olds and their parents. All participants lived in either the United Kingdom or Hong Kong. Our findings highlight the importance of combining developmental and cultural perspectives and show both similarities and contrasts across sites. Specifically, adults' EF performance did not differ between the two sites; age-related changes in executive function for both the children and the parents appeared to be culturally invariant, as did a modest intergenerational correlation. In contrast, school-age children and young adolescents in Hong Kong outperformed their United Kingdom counterparts on all four EF tasks, a difference consistent with previous findings from preschool children.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/0956797616687812