Executive function and impulse control

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ لِيَسۡتَـٔۡذِنكُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ مَلَكَتۡ أَيۡمَٰنُكُمۡ وَٱلَّذِينَ لَمۡ يَبۡلُغُواْ ٱلۡحُلُمَ مِنكُمۡ ثَلَٰثَ مَرَّٰتࣲۚ مِّن قَبۡلِ صَلَوٰةِ ٱلۡفَجۡرِ وَحِينَ تَضَعُونَ ثِيَابَكُم مِّنَ ٱلظَّهِيرَةِ وَمِنۢ بَعۡدِ صَلَوٰةِ ٱلۡعِشَآءِۚ ثَلَٰثُ عَوۡرَٰتࣲ لَّكُمۡۚ لَيۡسَ عَلَيۡكُمۡ وَلَا عَلَيۡهِمۡ جُنَاحُۢ بَعۡدَهُنَّۚ طَوَّٰفُونَ عَلَيۡكُم بَعۡضُكُمۡ عَلَىٰ بَعۡضࣲۚ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمُ ٱلۡأٓيَٰتِۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمࣱ‏

Believers, your slaves and any who have not yet reached puberty should ask your permission to come in at three times of day: before the dawn prayer; when you lay your garments aside in the midday heat; and after the evening prayer. These are your three times for privacy; at other times, there is no blame on you or them if you move around each other freely. In this way God makes messages clear: God is all knowing, all wise

وَإِذَا بَلَغَ ٱلۡأَطۡفَٰلُ مِنكُمُ ٱلۡحُلُمَ فَلۡيَسۡتَـٔۡذِنُواْ كَمَا ٱسۡتَـٔۡذَنَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِهِمۡۚ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمۡ ءَايَٰتِهِۦۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمࣱ‏

When your children reach puberty, they should [always] ask your permission to enter, like their elders do. This is how God makes His messages clear to you: God is all knowing, all wise

قَالُوٓاْ أَضۡغَٰثُ أَحۡلَٰمࣲۖ وَمَا نَحۡنُ بِتَأۡوِيلِ ٱلۡأَحۡلَٰمِ بِعَٰلِمِينَ

They said, ‘These are confusing dreams and we are not skilled at dream-interpretation,’

بَلۡ قَالُوٓاْ أَضۡغَٰثُ أَحۡلَٰمِۭ بَلِ ٱفۡتَرَىٰهُ بَلۡ هُوَ شَاعِرࣱ فَلۡيَأۡتِنَا بِـَٔايَةࣲ كَمَآ أُرۡسِلَ ٱلۡأَوَّلُونَ

Some say, ‘Muddled dreams’; others, ‘He made it up’; yet others, ‘He is just a poet, let him show us a sign as previous messengers did.’

أَمۡ تَأۡمُرُهُمۡ أَحۡلَٰمُهُم بِهَٰذَآۚ أَمۡ هُمۡ قَوۡمࣱ طَاغُونَ

does their reason really tell them to do this, or are they simply insolent people

(O ye who believe! Let your slaves, and those of you who have not come to puberty, ask leave of you�) [24:58]. Said ibn �Abbas: �The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, sent a boy from the Helpers, called Mudlij ibn �Amr, to �Umar ibn al-Khattab, May Allah be pleased with him, after noon to summon him. When he entered in, he saw �Umar in a state which the latter disliked to be seen in. And so he said to the Prophet: �O Messenger of Allah, I wish that Allah, exalted is He, give us some commands and prohibitions regarding asking permission before entering�. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse�. Said Muqatil: �This verse was revealed about Asma� bint Marthid. She had a slave-boy who was quite old and he happened to enter in on her one day at a time in which she disliked him to enter in on her. She went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him

O you who believe let those whom your right hands own of male slaves and female slaves and those of you who have not reached puberty from among the free men and who have not become sexually aware of women ask leave of you three times at three times of the day before the dawn prayer and when you put off your garments at noon and after the night prayer. These are three periods of privacy for you read thalāthu ‘awrātin lakum with nominative inflection as the predicate of an implied subject followed by a genitive annexation with the annexed term standing in place thereof of the predicate in other words the implied predicate followed by the annexation is hiya awqāt ‘these are times of …’; or read thalātha ‘awrātin lakum in the accusative the implication being that awqāta is itself in the accusative as a substitute for the syntactical status of what precedes it in place of which stands the ann

And when the children among you O free men reach puberty let them seek permission at all times just as those now older free men sought permission before them. So God clarifies His signs for you and God is Knower Wise.

O you who believe! Let your slaves and slave-girls, and those among you who have not come to the age of puberty ask your permission on three occasions: before the Fajr prayer, and while you put off your clothes during the afternoon, and after the 'Isha' prayer. (These) three (times) are of privacy for you; other than these times there is no sin on you or on them to move about, attending to each other. Thus Allah makes clear the Ayat to you. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise (58)And when the children among you come to puberty, then let them (also) ask for permission, as those senior to them (in age) ask permission. Thus Allah makes clear His Ayat for you. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise (59)And the Qawa'id among women who do not hope for marriage, it is no sin on them if they discard their (outer) clothing in such a way as not to show their adornment. But to refrain is better for them

They said this is ‘A jumble a mixture of dreams! And we are not knowledgeable in the interpretation of dreams’.

And the king (of Egypt) said: "Verily, I saw (in a dream) seven fat cows, whom seven lean ones were devouring, and seven green ears of corn, and (seven) others dry. O notables! Explain to me my dream, if it be that you can interpret dreams (43)They said: "Mixed up false dreams and we are not skilled in the interpretation of dreams. (44)Then the man who was released, now at length remembered and said: "I will tell you its interpretation, so send me forth. (45)(He said): "O Yusuf, the man of truth! Explain to us seven fat cows whom seven lean ones were devouring, and seven green ears of corn, and (seven) others dry, that I may return to the people, and that they may know. (46)[Yusuf] said: "For seven consecutive years, you shall sow as usual and that which you reap you shall leave it in the ears, (all) except a little of it which you may eat. (47)"Then will come after that, seven hard (yea

حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الصَّبَّاحِ الْبَزَّازُ، حَدَّثَنَا يَزِيدُ بْنُ هَارُونَ، أَخْبَرَنَا هِشَامُ بْنُ حَسَّانَ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ سِيرِينَ، عَنْ عِمْرَانَ بْنِ حُصَيْنٍ، قَالَ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ مَنْ حَلَفَ عَلَى يَمِينٍ مَصْبُورَةٍ كَاذِبًا فَلْيَتَبَوَّأْ بِوَجْهِهِ مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

Narrated Imran ibn Husayn: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone swears a false oath in confinement, he should make his seat in Hell on account of his (act)

حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عِيسَى، وَهَنَّادُ بْنُ السَّرِيِّ، - الْمَعْنَى - قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو مُعَاوِيَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا الأَعْمَشُ، عَنْ شَقِيقٍ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏"‏ مَنْ حَلَفَ عَلَى يَمِينٍ هُوَ فِيهَا فَاجِرٌ لِيَقْتَطِعَ بِهَا مَالَ امْرِئٍ مُسْلِمٍ لَقِيَ اللَّهَ وَهُوَ عَلَيْهِ غَضْبَانُ ‏"‏ ‏.‏ فَقَالَ الأَشْعَثُ فِيَّ وَاللَّهِ كَانَ ذَلِكَ كَانَ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ رَجُلٍ مِنَ الْيَهُودِ أَرْضٌ فَجَحَدَنِي فَقَدَّمْتُهُ إِلَى النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ لِيَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏"‏ أَلَكَ بَيِّنَةٌ ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قُلْتُ لاَ ‏.‏ قَالَ لِلْيَهُودِيِّ ‏"‏ احْلِفْ ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِذًا يَحْلِفُ وَيَذْهَبُ بِمَالِي فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى ‏{‏ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَشْتَرُونَ بِعَهْدِ اللَّهِ وَأَيْمَانِهِمْ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلاً ‏}‏ إِلَى آخِرِ الآيَةِ ‏.‏

Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: He who swears an oath in which he tells a lie to take the property of a Muslim by unfair means, will meet Allah while He is angry with him. Al-Ash'ath said: I swear by Allah, he said this about me. There was some land between me and a Jew, but he denied it to me; so I presented him to the Prophet (ﷺ). The Prophet (ﷺ) asked me: Have you any evidence? I replied: No. He said to the Jew: Take an oath. I said: Messenger of Allah, now he will take an oath and take my property. So Allah, the Exalted, revealed the verse, "As for those who sell the faith they owe to Allah and their own plighted word for a small price, they shall have no portion in the hereafter

حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ، حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مُوسَى الْمَخْزُومِيُّ الْمَدَنِيُّ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْمَقْبُرِيِّ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ لِلْمُؤْمِنِ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِ سِتُّ خِصَالٍ يَعُودُهُ إِذَا مَرِضَ وَيَشْهَدُهُ إِذَا مَاتَ وَيُجِيبُهُ إِذَا دَعَاهُ وَيُسَلِّمُ عَلَيْهِ إِذَا لَقِيَهُ وَيُشَمِّتُهُ إِذَا عَطَسَ وَيَنْصَحُ لَهُ إِذَا غَابَ أَوْ شَهِدَ ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ ‏.‏ وَمُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مُوسَى الْمَخْزُومِيُّ الْمَدَنِيُّ ثِقَةٌ رَوَى عَنْهُ عَبْدُ الْعَزِيزِ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ وَابْنُ أَبِي فُدَيْكٍ ‏.‏

Narrated Abu Hurairah:that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "There are six things due from the believer to another believer: Visiting him when he is ill, attending (his funeral) to him when he dies, accepting his invitation when he invites, giving him Salam when he meets him, replying to him when he sneezes, and wishing him well when he is absent and when he is present

حَدَّثَنَا حُمَيْدُ بْنُ مَسْعَدَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا زِيَادُ بْنُ الرَّبِيعِ، حَدَّثَنَا حَضْرَمِيٌّ، مَوْلَى آلِ الْجَارُودِ عَنْ نَافِعٍ، أَنَّ رَجُلاً، عَطَسَ إِلَى جَنْبِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ فَقَالَ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالسَّلاَمُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ‏.‏ قَالَ ابْنُ عُمَرَ وَأَنَا أَقُولُ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالسَّلاَمُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ وَلَيْسَ هَكَذَا عَلَّمَنَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَلَّمَنَا أَنْ نَقُولَ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ عَلَى كُلِّ حَالٍ ‏.‏ قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ غَرِيبٌ لاَ نَعْرِفُهُ إِلاَّ مِنْ حَدِيثِ زِيَادِ بْنِ الرَّبِيعِ ‏.‏

Narrated Hadrami, the freed slave of the family of Al-Jarud:from Nafi: "A man sneezed beside Ibn 'Umar and said: 'Al-Hamdulillah Was-Salamu 'Ala Rasulillah. (All praise is due to Allah, and peace upon the Messenger of Allah)'. So Ibn 'Umar said: 'I too say Al-Hamdulillah Was-Salamu 'Ala Rasulillah, but this is not what the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) taught us. He taught us to say: "Al-Hamdulillah 'Ala Kulli Hal (All praise is due to Allah in every circumstance)

اعلم أن الحلم أفضل من كظم الغيظ لأن كظم الغيظ عبارة عن التحلم أي تكلف الحلم ولا يحتاج إلى كظم الغيظ إلا من هاج غيظه ويحتاج فيه إلى مجاهدة شديدة ولكن إذا تعود ذلك مدة صار ذلك اعتيادا فلا يهيج الغيظ وإن هاج فلا يكون في كظمه تعب وهو الحلم الطبيعي وهو دلالة كمال العقل واستيلائه وانكسار قوة الغضب وخضوعها للعقل ولكن ابتداؤه التحلم وكظم الغيظ تكلفا

أما القسم الأول فليست الرياضة فيها لينعدم غيظ القلب ولكن لكي يقدر على أن لا يطيع الغضب ولا يستعمله في الظاهر إلا على حد يستحبه الشرع ويستحسنه العقل وذلك ممكن بالمجاهدة وتكلف الحلم والاحتمال مدة حتى يصير الحلم والاحتمال خلقا راسخا فأما قمع أصل الغيظ من القلب فذلك ليس مقتضى الطبع وهو غير ممكن نعم يمكن كسر سورته وتضعيفه حتى لا يشتد هيجان الغيظ في الباطن وينتهي ضعفه إلى أن لا يظهر أثره في الوجه ولكن ذلك شديد جدا وهذا حكم القسم الثالث أيضا لأن ما صار ضروريا في حق شخص فلا يمنعه من الغيظ استغناء غيره عنه فالرياضة فيه تمنع العمل به وتضعف هيجانه في الباطن حتى لا يشتد التألم بالصبر عليه

صلوا بالجحيم وفات النعم % وكان الذي نالهم كالحلم فصل

وإذا انحرفت عن خلق الحلم انحرفت : إما إلى الطيش والترف والحدة والخفة وإما إلى الذل والمهانة والحقارة ففرق بين من حلمه حلم ذل ومهانة وحقارة وعجز وبين من حلمه حلم اقتدار وعزة وشرف كما قيل :

| فصل المشهد الثالث : مشهد العفو والصفح والحلم فإنه متى شهد ذلك

هذا وفي الصفح والعفو والحلم : من الحلاوة والطمأنينة والسكينة وشرف النفس وعزها ورفعتها عن تشفيها بالانتقام : ما ليس شيء منه في المقابلة والانتقام

Annual Research Review: On the relations among self-regulation, self-control, executive functioning, effortful control, cognitive control, impulsivity, risk-taking, and inhibition for developmental psychopathology.: Background: Self-regulation (SR) is central to developmental psychopathology, but progress has been impeded by varying terminology and meanings across fields and literatures. Methods: The present review attempts to move that discussion forward by noting key sources of prior confusion such as measurement-concept confounding, and then arguing the following major points. Results: First, the field needs a domain-general construct of SR that encompasses SR of action, emotion, and cognition and involv

A Preliminary, Randomized-Controlled Trial of Mindfulness and Game-Based Executive Function Trainings to Promote Self-Regulation in Internationally-Adopted Children.: Although many children adopted internationally show remarkable recovery once placed in families, as a group they continue to exhibit persisting developmental deficits and delays in self-regulation. The current study uses a stratified, randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the effects of mindfulness-based and executive function trainings (EFTs) on internationally adopted (IA) children's self-regulation, including effortful/inhibitory control, attention, delay of gratification, and emotion-regu

Can the attention training technique turn one marshmallow into two? Improving children's ability to delay gratification.: The seminal Marshmallow Test (Mischel & Ebbesen, 1970) has reliably demonstrated that children who can delay gratification are more likely to be emotionally stable and successful later in life. However, this is not good news for those children who can't delay. Therefore, this study aimed to explore whether a metacognitive therapy technique, Attention Training (ATT: Wells, 1990) can improve young children's ability to delay gratification. One hundred children participated. Classes of 5-6 year old

The relationships between rumination and core executive functions: A meta-analysis.: Background: Rumination has been thought to relate to deficits in core executive functions (EFs), but the empirical findings for this idea are mixed. The aim of the present study is to synthesize existing literature to clarify these relations. Methods: A comprehensive literature search revealed 34 published as well as unpublished studies on the associations between rumination and core EF. These studies report on 3,066 participants. The effect size in the meta-analyses was obtained by the z transf

Cognitive and neural plasticity in old age: A systematic review of evidence from executive functions cognitive training.: Cognitive training is a popular intervention aimed at attenuating age-related cognitive decline, however, the effects of this intervention on brain structure and function have not been thoroughly explored. Core executive functions (working memory, inhibition, cognitive flexibility) are dependent upon prefrontal brain regions-one of the most vulnerable areas of age-related decline. They are also implicated in numerous cognitive processes and higher-order functions. Training executive functions sh

Remember the future II: meta-analyses and functional overlap of working memory and delay discounting.: Previously we showed that working memory training decreased the discounting of future rewards in stimulant addicts without affecting a go/no-go task. While a relationship between delay discounting and working memory is consistent with other studies, the unique brain regions of plausible causality between these two abilities have yet to be determined. Activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses were performed on foci from studies of delay discounting (DD = 449), working memory (WM = 452), fing

A metacognitive model of self-esteem.

Background: In the current study, we aimed to test a metacognitive model of self-esteem grounded in the Self-Regulatory Executive Function model of psychopathology. Method: A convenience sample of 346 community participants were recruited and completed a battery of online questionnaires that measured self-esteem, self-criticism, self-critical rumination, metacognitions about self-critical rumination, generic metacognitions and negative affect. Initially, we tested a series of hypotheses to establish the relationships between the study variables. We then conducted a path analysis to test a metacognitive model of self-esteem, where the process of self-critical rumination and its associated metacognitive beliefs was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between affect and self-esteem. Results: Self-critical rumination and its associated negative metacognitions, levels of depression and s…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Systemic inflammation during midlife and cognitive change over 20 years: The ARIC Study.

Objective: To examine the association between systemic inflammation measured during midlife and 20-year cognitive decline. Methods: Within the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities cohort study, inflammatory biomarkers were measured during middle adulthood. We created an inflammation composite score using 4 blood biomarkers measured at visit 1 (fibrinogen, white blood cell count, von Willebrand factor, and factor VIII); we measured C-reactive protein (CRP) at visit 2. Cognition was assessed over 3 visits spanning 20 years using measures of memory, executive function, and language. Results: A total of 12,336 participants (baseline age 56.8 [5.7], 21% black, 56% women) were included. After adjusting for demographic variables, vascular risk factors, and comorbidities, each standard deviation (SD) increase in midlife inflammation composite score was associated with an additional 20-year declin…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Adult Outcome of ADHD: An Overview of Results From the MGH Longitudinal Family Studies of Pediatrically and Psychiatrically Referred Youth With and Without ADHD of Both Sexes.

Objective: We aimed to provide an overview of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Longitudinal Studies of ADHD. Methods: We evaluated and followed samples of boys and girls with and without ADHD ascertained from psychiatric and pediatric sources and their families. Results: These studies documented that ADHD in both sexes is associated with high levels of persistence into adulthood, high levels of familiality with ADHD and other psychiatric disorders, a wide range of comorbid psychiatric and cognitive disorders including mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders, learning disabilities, executive function deficits, emotional dysregulation, and autistic traits as well as functional impairments. The MGH studies suggested that stimulant treatment decreased risks of developing comorbid psychiatric disorders, substance use disorders, and functional outcomes. The MGH studies documented th…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Reduced mind wandering in experienced meditators and associated EEG correlates.

One outstanding question in the contemplative science literature relates to the direct impact of meditation experience on the monitoring of internal states and its respective correspondence with neural activity. In particular, to what extent does meditation influence the awareness, duration and frequency of the tendency of the mind to wander. To assess the relation between mind wandering and meditation, we tested 2 groups of meditators, one with a moderate level of experience (non-expert) and those who are well advanced in their practice (expert). We designed a novel paradigm using self-reports of internal mental states based on an experiential sampling probe paradigm presented during ~1 h of seated concentration meditation to gain insight into the dynamic measures of electroencephalography (EEG) during absorption in meditation as compared to reported mind wandering episodes. Our results…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Cohort effects in children's delay of gratification.

In the 1960s at Stanford University's Bing Preschool, children were given the option of taking an immediate, smaller reward or receiving a delayed, larger reward by waiting until the experimenter returned. Since then, the "Marshmallow Test" has been used in numerous studies to assess delay of gratification. Yet, no prior study has compared the performance of children across the decades. Common wisdom suggests children today would wait less long, preferring immediate gratification. Study 1 confirmed this intuition in a survey of adults in the United States (N = 354; Mdn age = 34 years). To test the validity of this prediction, Study 2 analyzed the original data for average delay-of-gratification times (out of 10 min) of 840 typically developing U.S. children in three birth cohorts from similar middle-high socioeconomic backgrounds in the late 1960s, 1980s, and 2000s, matched on age (3 to …

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Getting "Stuck" in the Future or the Past: Relationships between Dimensions of Time Perspective, Executive Functions, and Repetitive Negative Thinking in Anxiety.

Background/aim: Anxiety disorders are associated with impairments in several aspects of cognitive processing. In this study we investigated three such aspects, i.e., time perspective, repetitive negative thinking (worry and rumination), and executive functioning, in persons with anxiety disorders compared to healthy controls and examined the influence of negative past and negative future time perspective and executive functioning on worry and rumination. Method: Thirty-six psychiatric outpatients with anxiety disorders (mean age = 30.83, SD = 11.74; 30 females and 6 males) and 44 healthy controls (mean age = 28.89, SD = 9.54; 24 females and 20 males) completed inventories of time perspective and repetitive negative thinking, and tasks measuring executive functioning (shifting and inhibition). Results: The groups (patient vs. control) differed significantly on all time perspective dimensi…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Parenting children with down syndrome: An analysis of parenting styles, parenting dimensions, and parental stress.

Background: Effective parenting is vital for a child's development. Although much work has been conducted on parenting typically developing children, little work has examined parenting children with Down syndrome. Aims: The purpose of the current study was to compare the parenting styles and dimensions in mothers of children with DS and mothers of TD children. Methods and procedures: Thirty-five mothers of children with DS and 47 mothers of TD children completed questionnaires about parenting, parental stress, child behavior problems, and child executive function. Outcomes and results: We found that mothers of children with DS use an authoritative parenting style less and a permissive parenting style more than mothers of TD children. Additionally, we found that mothers of children with DS use reasoning/induction and verbal hostility less and ignoring misbehavior more than mothers of TD c…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Attentional Lapses in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Blank Rather Than Wandering Thoughts.

People with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have difficulties sustaining their attention on external tasks. Such attentional lapses have often been characterized as the simple opposite of external sustained attention, but the different types of attentional lapses, and the subjective experiences to which they correspond, remain unspecified. In this study, we showed that unmedicated children (ages 6-12) with ADHD, when probed during a standard go/no-go task, reported more mind blanking (a mental state characterized by the absence of reportable content) than did control participants. This increase in mind blanking happened at the expense of both focused and wandering thoughts. We also found that methylphenidate reverted the level of mind blanking to baseline (i.e., the level of mind blanking reported by control children without ADHD). However, this restoration led to mind wa…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

A Pilot Trial of Mindfulness Meditation Training for ADHD in Adulthood: Impact on Core Symptoms, Executive Functioning, and Emotion Dysregulation.

Objective: Mindfulness meditation training is garnering increasing empirical interest as an intervention for ADHD in adulthood, although no studies of mindfulness as a standalone treatment have included a sample composed entirely of adults with ADHD or a comparison group. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of mindfulness meditation for ADHD, executive functioning (EF), and emotion dysregulation symptoms in an adult ADHD sample. Method: Adults with ADHD were stratified by ADHD medication status and otherwise randomized into an 8-week group-based mindfulness treatment ( n = 11) or waitlist group ( n = 9). Results: Treatment feasibility and acceptability were positive. In addition, self-reported ADHD and EF symptoms (assessed in the laboratory and ecological momentary assessment), clinician ratings of ADHD and EF symptoms, and self-r…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Infant Breastfeeding Duration and Mid-Childhood Executive Function, Behavior, and Social-Emotional Development.

Objective: The authors aim was to examine associations of breastfeeding duration and exclusivity in infancy with executive function, behavior, and social-emotional development in mid-childhood. Methods: The authors studied 1037 participants in Project Viva, a prebirth cohort that enrolled pregnant mothers from 1999 to 2002 and followed children for 7 to 10 years. Main exposures were: (1) duration of any breastfeeding in the first 12 months and (2) duration of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months. Main outcomes were child executive function, behavior, and social-emotional development, assessed by (1) the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and (2) the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), completed independently by parents and teachers. Higher scores indicate greater problems. Results: In linear regression models adjusted for sociodemographics, mater…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Changes in frontal EEG coherence across infancy predict cognitive abilities at age 3: The mediating role of attentional control.

Theoretical perspectives of cognitive development have maintained that functional integration of the prefrontal cortex across infancy underlies the emergence of attentional control and higher cognitive abilities in early childhood. To investigate these proposed relations, we tested whether functional integration of prefrontal regions across the second half of the first year predicted observed cognitive performance in early childhood 1 year prior indirectly through observed attentional control (N = 300). Results indicated that greater change in left-but not right-frontal EEG coherence between 5 and 10 months was positively associated with attentional control, cognitive flexibility, receptive language, and behavioral inhibitory control. Specifically, a larger increase in coherence between left frontal regions was positively associated with accuracy on a visual search task at Age 2, and vis…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), inhibitory control (text)

Parenting behavior at 2 years predicts school-age performance at 7 years in very preterm children.

Background: Parenting influences child development, but it is unclear whether early parenting behavior can influence school-age outcomes in very preterm (VPT) children, and/or if certain groups of VPT children may be more affected by early parenting behavior. These research questions were examined. Methods: Participants were 147 children born <30 weeks' gestation or birth weight <1250 g and their primary caregiver. At term corrected age (CA), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to determine presence and severity of brain abnormality and medical data collected. High medical risk was defined as the presence of at least one of sepsis, necrotizing enterocolitis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, moderate to severe white matter abnormality on MRI, or postnatal corticosteroids. At 2 years CA, parent-child interaction was assessed, and at 7 years CA, general intelligence (IQ), language, executi…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Brain morphology links systemic inflammation to cognitive function in midlife adults.

Background: Inflammation is linked to cognitive decline in midlife, but the neural basis for this link is unclear. One possibility is that inflammation associates with adverse changes in brain morphology, which accelerates cognitive aging and later dementia risk. Clear evidence is lacking, however, regarding whether inflammation relates to cognition in midlife via changes in brain morphology. Accordingly, the current study examines whether associations of inflammation with cognitive function are mediated by variation in cortical gray matter volume among midlife adults. Methods: Plasma levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and C-reactive protein (CRP), relatively stable markers of peripheral systemic inflammation, were assessed in 408 community volunteers aged 30-54 years. All participants underwent structural neuroimaging to assess global and regional brain morphology and completed neuropsycholog…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Biological correlates of adult cognition: midlife in the United States (MIDUS).

Multiple biological processes are related to cognitive impairment in older adults, but their combined impact on cognition in midlife is not known. Using an array of measurements across key regulatory physiological systems and a state-of-the-art cognition battery that is sensitive to early changes, in a large, national sample of middle-aged and older adults, we examined the associations of individual biological systems and a combined, multi-system index, allostatic load, with cognitive performance. Allostatic load was strongly inversely associated with performance in both episodic memory and executive function. Of 7 biological systems, only the cardiovascular system was associated inversely with both; inflammation was associated inversely with episodic memory only, and glucose metabolism with executive function only. The associations of allostatic load with cognition were not different by…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Associations between parenting, media use, cumulative risk, and children's executive functioning.

Objective: This study was designed to examine how parenting style, media exposure, and cumulative risk were associated with executive functioning (EF) during early childhood. Methods: A nationally representative group of US parents/caregivers (N = 1156) with 1 child between 2 and 8 years participated in a telephone survey. Parents were asked to report on their child's exposure to television, music, and book reading through a 24-hour time diary. Parents also reported a host of demographic and parenting variables as well as questions on their child's EF. Results: Separate multiple regressions for preschool (2-5 years) and school-aged (6-8 years) children grouped by cumulative risk were conducted. Parenting style moderated the risks of exposure to background television on EF for high-risk preschool-age children. Educational TV exposure served as a buffer for high-risk school-aged children. …

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Cortisol reactivity to social stress as a mediator of early adversity on risk and adaptive outcomes.

Children chronically exposed to stress early in life are at increased risk for maladaptive outcomes, though the physiological mechanisms driving these effects are unknown. Cortisol reactivity was tested as a mediator of the relation between prenatal substance exposure and/or early adversity on adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. Data were drawn from a prospective longitudinal study of prenatal substance exposure (N = 860). Cortisol reactivity was assessed at age 11. Among African Americans, prenatal substance exposure exerted an indirect effect through early adversity and cortisol reactivity to predict externalizing behavior, delinquency, and a positive student-teacher relationship at age 11. Decreased cortisol reactivity was related to maladaptive outcomes, and increased cortisol reactivity predicted better executive functioning and a more positive student-teacher relationship.

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

A labor/leisure tradeoff in cognitive control.

Daily life frequently offers a choice between activities that are profitable but mentally demanding (cognitive labor) and activities that are undemanding but also unproductive (cognitive leisure). Although such decisions are often implicit, they help determine academic performance, career trajectories, and even health outcomes. Previous research has shed light both on the executive control functions that ultimately define cognitive labor and on a "default mode" of brain function that accompanies cognitive leisure. However, little is known about how labor/leisure decisions are actually made. Here, we identify a central principle guiding such decisions. Results from 3 economic-choice experiments indicate that the motivation underlying cognitive labor/leisure decision making is to strike an optimal balance between income and leisure, as given by a joint utility function. The results reporte…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Subjective memory complaints, cognitive performance, and psychological factors in healthy older adults.

Objective: To determine whether subjective memory complaints (SMCs) are associated with performance on objective cognitive measures and psychological factors in healthy, community-dwelling older adults. Method: The cohort was composed of adults, 65 years and older with no clinical evidence of cognitive impairment (n = 125). Participants were administered: CogState computerized neurocognitive battery, Prospective Retrospective Memory Questionnaire, personality and meaning-in-life measures. Results: SMCs were associated with poorer performance on measures of executive function (p = 0.001). SMCs were also associated with impaired delayed recall (p = 0.006) but this did not remain significant after statistical adjustment for multiple comparisons. SMCs were inversely associated with conscientiousness (p = 0.004) and directly associated with neuroticism (p < 0.001). Higher scores on SMCs were …

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Using an adoption design to separate genetic, prenatal, and temperament influences on toddler executive function.

Poor executive functioning has been implicated in children's concurrent and future behavioral difficulties, making work aimed at understanding processes related to the development of early executive function (EF) critical for models of developmental psychopathology. Deficits in EF have been associated with adverse prenatal experiences, genetic influences, and temperament characteristics. However, our ability to disentangle the predictive and independent effects of these influences has been limited by a dearth of genetically informed research designs that also consider prenatal influences. The present study examined EF and language development in a sample of 361 toddlers who were adopted at birth and reared in nonrelative adoptive families. Predictors included genetic influences (as inherited from birth mothers), prenatal risk, and growth in child negative emotionality. Structural equatio…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Preschool children with lower executive function may be more vulnerable to emotional-based eating in the absence of hunger.

Decreased executive function (EF) has been linked to unhealthy eating behaviors and obesity in older children and adults, however little is known about this relationship in young children. One possible reason for this association is that individuals with degraded EF are more vulnerable to emotional-based overeating. Emotional eating may thus be more likely to occur in persons with lower self-control or ability to regulate emotions. A pilot project in a research-based preschool was conducted to examine the relationships between executive function, emotional arousal and eating in the absence of hunger (EAH) in 3-6year-old children. Executive function was measured through child-completed tasks, parent questionnaires, and standardized teacher reports. Emotional arousal was measured via skin conductance. Children who had lower cognitive development scores as indicated by teacher reports had h…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Red blood cell omega-3 fatty acid levels and neurocognitive performance in deployed U.S. Servicemembers.

Objective: To explore the cross-sectional relationships between blood eicosapentaenoic acid + docosahexaenoic acid (HSOmega-3 Index(®)) and sleep disorders, depression, anxiety, and neurocognitive performance in Servicemembers deployed to Iraq. Methods: Servicemembers with mild-to-moderate depression by the Patient Health Questionnarie-9 from two US military camps were invited to participate in this study. A battery of validated psychosocial (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Zung Depression, Zung Anxiety, Epworth Sleepiness, and Combat Experiences scales) and computerized neurocognitive tests were completed by each participant. Five neurocognitive domain scores were calculated--Processing Speed, Complex Attention, Reaction Time, Cognitive Flexibility (CF), and Executive Function (EF). A drop of blood was also collected on an anti-oxidant-treated filter paper card and sent for HS-Omega…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Distinct cognitive phenotypes in Alzheimer's disease in older people.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is considered to be a disorder predominantly affecting memory. It is increasingly recognized that the cognitive profile may be heterogeneous. We hypothesized that it would be possible to define distinct “cognitive phenotypes” in older people with AD. Methods: Participants from three individual studies were included, consisting of 109 patients with a diagnosis of probable AD, and 91 age- and gender-matched control participants. All had demographic and cognitive assessment data available, including the Cambridge Cognitive Examination of the Elderly (CAMCOG). The CAMCOG scores and sub-scores were further analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis and factor analysis. Results: Three clusters were identified. The scores loaded onto three factors representing the domains of attention, praxis, calculation, and perception; memory; and language comprehension…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Different efficiencies of attentional orienting in different wandering minds.

This study examined the relations between properties of attentional networks and Mind Wandering (MW) across individuals. For the attentional networks, we measured three components of attention, known as alerting, orienting, and executive control, using the Attention Network Test (ANT). To investigate MW, we measured thought probes embedded in the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART). Moreover, four performance characteristics of the SART were calculated as behavioral indices of MW. Three of them showed significant associations with probed MW. Most research regarding MW focused on its relation to executive functions, while the present study revealed that MW, as indexed by self-reports and RT variability, was negatively correlated with orienting, specifically the exogenous orienting system. Furthermore, there was a positive association between RT variability and executive control. O…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Parenting style is related to executive dysfunction after brain injury in children.

Objective: The goal of this study was to examine how parenting style (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive) and family functioning are related to behavioral aspects of executive function following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in young children. Method: Participants included 75 children with TBI and 97 children with orthopedic injuries (OI), ages 3-7 years at injury. Pre-injury parenting behavior and family functioning were assessed shortly after injury, and postinjury executive functions were assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF; Gioia & Isquith, 2004) at 6, 12, and 18 months postinjury. Mixed model analyses, using pre-injury executive functioning (assessed by the BRIEF at baseline) as a covariate, examined the relationship of parenting style and family characteristics to executive functioning in children with moderate and severe TBI compared t…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)

Do executive function deficits predict later substance use disorders among adolescents and young adults?

Objective: There is increasing interest regarding the risk and overlap of executive function deficits (EFDs) in stable cigarette smoking and substance use disorders (SUD). Therefore, we examined whether earlier EFD was a risk factor for subsequent cigarette smoking and SUD and further explored the relationship between EFD and SUD. Method: We assessed 435 subjects at the 5-year follow-up (232 subjects with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], mean age ± SD: 15.4 ± 3.43 years; and 203 controls: 16.3 ± 3.42 years) and again 4 to 5 years later as part of a prospective family study of youth with ADHD. Individuals were assessed by structured psychiatric interview for psychopathology and SUD. EFD was categorically defined in an individual who had abnormal results on at least two of six neuropsychological tests of executive functioning. Results: At the final follow-up period, ADHD wa…

matched on Executive Function (mesh), executive function (text)