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The Role of Executive Function
in the Construction and
Expression of Vitalist and
Inheritance Biology
By Alexandra Hasse
Conceptual Change in Biology Between ages 5-8, children construct Vitalist biology:
Vitalist Biology
Theory that living things acquire vital energy from air, water,
and food. These external sources of energy must enter and
travel around the body in order to sustain life.
To be alive, according to this view, is to have this vital
energy.
To die is to lose it.
Body parts function to acquire it and move it around the body.
Conceptual Change in Biology
Preschool children
undifferentiated meaning of alive (active, existing,
present…); Animism
undifferentiated meaning of dead (inactive, nonexistent,
gone…)
have little understanding of body parts or functions
Originally attribute life to entities that appear to be active (eg
capable of movement)
This attribution may be a result of our innate concept of agency
Ingredients for theory-buildingWhat does the child need in order to undergo this conceptual change?
More facts – data for theory-building
Relevant findings from our own labs:
1. Williams Syndrome adults – never acquire Vitalist theory
2. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease – disappearance of Vitalist theory
So: Facts are necessary but not sufficient.
These 2 groups have something in common with each other and with
young children: weak Executive Function abilities.
Executive Function
Inhibitory Processing
Working Memory
Setshifting
The Role of Executive Functions
These mechanisms:
monitor concepts for possible conflicts
detect conflicts when they arise
successfully inhibit salient but inappropriate response
flexibly attend to and manipulate multiple representations
switch, depending on context, from one conceptual meaning to another
Why would the child need such mechanisms to
construct a Vitalist biology?
Prior Developmental Study
Hypothesis:
Executive Functions play an important role in the
construction of Vitalist biology.
Therefore: Individual differences in children’s Executive
Function abilities will predict differences in their
development of Vitalist biology.
Zaitchik, D., Iqbal, Y., & Carey, S. (in press). The effect of executive function on biological reasoning in young children: An individual differences study. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Prior Developmental Study
Methods
Participants
79 5-7 year olds (Mean age: 6yrs, 6mos)
Roughly half were girls, all were fluent in English.
Two Batteries
Vitalist Biology: Animism, Death, and Body Parts Interviews
Executive Function (from Davidson et al, 2006): Hearts & Flowers, Flanker Fish Test
PPVT (receptive vocabulary test, highly correlated with verbal IQ)
Aggregate individual’s scores within each battery for use in regression analysis.
Prior Developmental Study
Animism Task
What does it mean to be alive, to be a living thing?
Can you name some things that are alive, that are living things?
Can you name some things that are not alive, that are not living
things?
Judgment (for each item that follows): Is it alive? Is it a living thing?
Animals: bird, cat, snake, fly
Plants: tree, flower
Natural kinds: rain, wind, cloud, mountain, fire, the sun
Artifacts: bell, watch, airplane, table, car, lamp, pencil, bicycle
Justifications: How do you know that?
Prior Developmental Study
Death Interview4 features of mature concept of death
1. Cessation of all bodily and mental function What does it mean to die?
What happens to a person when they die?
What happens to a person’s body when they die?
When a person dies, does he need to eat; need to pee; need to sleep?
When a person dies, does he feel bad that he died; does he miss his friends; does he think about things?
2. Caused by the breakdown of the body What might cause a person to die?
3. Inevitable Does every person die?
4. Irreversible Is there anything anyone can do to make a dead person live again? Can a
doctor make a dead person live again?
Prior Developmental Study
Body Parts InterviewTaps awareness of the function of particular body parts, the role of food and
air, and the goal of the bodily system in sustaining life
Body parts: Hands, heart, brain, eyes, lungs, stomach, blood
What is your (x) for?
What would happen if someone didn’t have (x)?
Food:
Why do we eat food?
What happens to the food we eat?
Do you need a brain to be able to eat?
Air:
Why do we breathe air?
What happens to the air we breath?
Do you need a brain to be able to breath?
Executive Function Battery
Two computer tests (Hearts & Flowers and Flanker
Fish)
Color words (forwards and backwards)
Task 1: Hearts & Flowers
Congruent Condition Rule (baseline): Press button on same side as heart.
Incongruent Condition Rule (baseline): Press button on opposite side of
flower.
Mixed Condition Rule (test): If heart appears, press button on same side. If flower
appears, press button on opposite side.
Task 2: Flanker Fish
Congruent Condition Rule (baseline): If the fish are blue, press the button where the middle fish is facing.
Incongruent Condition Rule (baseline) : If the fish are pink, press the button where the outside fish are facing.
Mixed Condition (test): If blue fish appear, press button where middle fish is facing. If pink fish appear, press button where outside fish are facing.
Results: Multiple Regression Analysis
Predictor variables: Age, PPVT, and EF
Dependent measure: BIO score
Age: Beta= .504, t= 5.620, p=.000
PPVT: Beta= .308, t= 3.794, p=.000
EF: Beta= -.185, t= -2.279, p=.013
Hypothesis confirmed: Individual differences in children’s EF scores predict their performance in biological reasoning, even after removing Age and verbal IQ.
Limitations
Study’s measure of factual knowledge (PPVT raw
scores) not optimal
Relatively narrow range of biological tests
Color words test showed insufficient variance
No measure of other processes that may be implicated
in conceptual change
Current Study
Replication and extension of previous study
Examines both vitalist biology and inheritance biology
Controls for Verbal IQ and Factual Knowledge
Analogical Reasoning (Matrices)
Extends Executive Function battery
Inheritance Biology
Understanding that offspring resemble their
parents and that some shared traits are
already determined by the time of birth and
are immutable
Current Study
Are vitalist biology and inheritance biology two
separate domains, or are they correlated?
Will EF scores predict performance on both
inheritance and vitalist biology, even if these two
domains are not correlated?
Will EF scores and Analogical reasoning (Matrices)
each uniquely predict biology scores?
Inheritance Biology
Adoption Task
This woman went into a hospital and gave birth to a baby
boy
Adoption Task cont. Here’s a drawing of the baby just after he was born
Adoption Task cont. Unfortunately, the woman died right after having the
baby and she never even got to see the baby. But there
was another woman who was visiting the hospital. See,
here’s a drawing of her
Adoption Task cont. This nice woman saw what happened. She saw that
the baby boy was all alone, so she brought the little
baby boy home to live with her and raise as her own
child. She raised the little baby with her other children.
They all grew up together. They played together and
they ate together. The little baby was very happy living
with his wonderful family. Now the baby is all grown up,
and I’m going to ask you some questions about what
he’s like as a grownup.
Adopt Task cont. Who gave birth to the baby?
Who did the baby grow up with?
This woman [point to Mrs. Smith] had brown eyes and this woman [point to Mrs. Jones] had green eyes. When the baby is all grown up will it have eyes like her [point to Mrs. Smith] or like her [point to Mrs. Jones]?
Why do you think so?
This woman [Smith] thought that Bonn is a city in Germany and this woman [Jones] thought that Bonn is a city in Canada. When the baby is all grown up will it think about the city Bonn like her [Smith] or like her [Jones]?
Why do you think so?
Inheritance Biology Species Tasks
Four scenarios of increasing difficulty
Costume changes
Temporary surface part changes
Permanent surface part changes
Permanent internal changes
Inheritance Biology
Species Tasks
Temporary Surface part changes
A man owns this white horse named Jenny.
Species Task cont. The man wanted the horse to be able to hide in the tall
grass, so he painted black stripes all over it just like a
zebra has.
Species Task cont. But Jenny spends a lot of time outside and whenever it
rains the stripes start to wash off. So every week the
man has to paint the black stripes back on again. this is
how it looks.
Species Task Cont. Is Jenny a horse or a zebra? How do you know that she's a
[horse/zebra]?
[zebra] So even though Jenny started out as a horse and looked like this, you think she's a what?
[horse] So even though Jenny looks like this now, you think she’s a what?
Before Jenny was changed to look like this she had a horse baby. What kind of baby do you think Jenny will have now? Why?
Inborn-Acquired Task
Series of vignettes
This is Mr. and Mrs. Cow. They were both born with brown hearts inside their chests instead of normal-colored hearts. Later Mr. and Mrs. Cow have a baby named Carly Cow. Remember, Carly’s parents were born with brown hearts inside their chests. When Carly is born, will she have a brown heart like her parents, or will she have a normal-colored heart like other cows? Why?
This is Mr. and Mrs. Pig. They had an accident one time that stretched out their eyes really big. Later Mr. and Mrs. Pig have a baby named Paula Pig. Remember, Paula’s parents had an accident that stretched out their eyes. When Paula is born, will she have big stretched out eyes like her parents, or will she have normal eyes like other pigs? Why?
Expansion of Executive Function
Battery
Flanker Fish
Hearts & Flowers
Plus…
Verbal Fluency
Animal Naming
Food naming
Updating Task
Updating Task
Analogical Reasoning K-BIT Matrices test
Often used as a measure of fluid IQ
Controls Verbal IQ (K-BIT Verbal Knowledge)
Factual Knowledge (WJ-III Academic Knowledge)
Age (51/2 —
7 year olds)