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)