Current Studies

Dr. Zelazo is the principal supervisor in each of these studies.

The Effect of Motivation on Executive Function in Children with Typical Development and Autism Spectrum Disorders

Age Range: 8-16 year olds
Primary Investigator: Dr. Jennifer Richler
Other Investigators: Nhi Thai

We are looking at how emotion and cognition interact to affect performance on tasks involving the ability to monitor and control behavior. During this visit, your child will play a computer game called the Dimensional Change Card Sort task. Your child will sort pictures according to rules given by the experimenter. 'Hot' versions of the task will use pictures of people with happy expressions and 'cool' versions of the task will use geometric shapes.

Developing a Battery of Executive Function Tasks for Use Across the Lifespan

Age Range: 3-7, 18-30, 65-85 year olds
Primary Investigator: Jacob Anderson
Other Investigators: Amanda Kesek, Nhi Thai

The study's goal is to develop a battery of standardized cognitive measures for use with individuals across the lifespan. Various sites are involved in the project, with each site responsible for developing or modifying tasks related to a different subdomain of cognition. At the Institute of Child Development, we are working to modify tasks in the subdomain of executive function. The tasks within this subdomain are the Dimensional Change Card Sort task (DCCS) and the Flanker task. In the DCCS, participants are required to sort a series of bivalent test cards, first according to one dimension (e.g., color), and then according to the other (e.g., shape). The Flanker task requires focusing on a given stimulus while inhibiting attention to stimuli flanking it.

The Development of a Functional Neural Network Underlying Flexible Rule Use

Age Range: 8-11, 14-16, 20-22 year olds
Primary Investigator: Donaya Hongwanishkul
Other Investigators: Dr. Tonya White, Marcus Schmidt, Colleen Manuel, Dr. Jennifer Richler, Jason Cowell, Yuanyuan Jiang

We are looking at the neural networks in the brain and how they relate to being flexible while performing tasks that require switching from one set of rules to another. This study requires two visits. The first visit involves training in the mock MRI scanner and answering questions relevant to the study. The second visit involves actually completing a computerized task that involves flexible switching while in the MRI scanner.

The Development of Emotional Processing

Age Range: 8- to 12-year-olds
Primary Investigator: Amanda Kesek
Other Investigators: Deborah Kim, Nhi Thai

This study examines how children process emotional information, and how that changes with age and brain development.

In this study, children will view negative, positive, and neutral pictures as they perform different tasks. On some trials they will be asked to indicate whether or not they like the picture, and on other trials they will be asked to identify whether or not there is a person in the picture.

As children look at the pictures, we will record their brain activity using an EEG system. This will allow us to determine how brain activity changes in response to emotional information at different ages and in response to different tasks.

The Development of Emotional Regulation

Age Range: 6-year-olds
Primary Investigator: Amanda Kesek

We are currently beginning work on a study that examines children’s ability to reappraise emotional pictures – that is, think about emotional pictures in a different way that decreases their emotional impact.

We are looking at how reappraisal influences physiological responses, as well as potential factors that influence the ability to reappraise, such as executive function and personality.

Ego Depletion in Children

Age Range: 3-7 year olds
Primary Investigator: Jason Cowell

Research with adults has shown that humans only have a limited ability to continue to control their actions. As we control our behavior, our future uses of control are affected by our previous uses. This is most aptly illustrated in anecdotal evidence from parents: Consider a usual trip to the grocery store. Your two, three, even four year old child desires candy or soda. You make a deal: behave in the store and he/she can have a candy bar at the end of the shopping trip. Your child does their best to behave the entire shopping trip, but at the end, you realize that the candy bars are too expensive and try to explain that to them. Often times, the result is predictable: a tantrum. Using the idea of ego depletion, that the control exerted at one time affects our ability to control our actions at a later time, Dr. Carlson and I are interested in testing children's limited capacity to control in a laboratory setting. We are giving children a direction task (e.g., Do play with these toys, etc..). Children then attempt to complete a very difficult tangram.

Training Executive Function Performance in Children

Age Range: 3-5 year olds
Primary Investigator: Yuanyuan Jiang
Other Investigators: Katie Johnson

We are looking at how young children can learn to do better on tasks involving flexible thinking. During the first visit, your child will play a computerized sorting game involving sorting pictures into one of two categories based on a specific dimension (e.g. shape). Your child will then receive some kind of training or practice with this task-switching game. During the second session, your child will play another sorting game, two memory games, a game involving attending to directions, and do a vocabulary test.

Executive Function Training in the Preschool Years

Age Range: 3 year olds
Primary Investigator: Stacey Espinet
Other Investigators: Leif Stennes, Nhi Thai

We are looking at how young children can learn to do better on tasks involving flexible thinking. During the first visit, your child will play a computerized sorting game involving sorting pictures into one of two categories based on a specific dimension (e.g. shape). Your child will then receive some kind of training or practice with this task-switching game. During the second session, your child will play another sorting game and do a vocabulary test. Event-related neural potentials will be recorded using the EEG system.

Implicit Goal Activation in Children

Age Range: 4-year-olds
Primary Investigator: Amanda Kesek
Other Investigators: Deborah Kim, Nhi Thai

This study is investigating different ways to influence how children perform on a delay of gratification task.

During this visit, your child will listen to a story about a character talking about an upcoming visit to a fair. In one version of the story, the character talks about how he can’t wait to win prizes, and wishes he could have the prizes right away. In another version, the character says he wants to win the most prizes he can. Following the story, you child will play a game in which he or she must decide whether he or she would prefer one reward now or more rewards later.

So far, the data indicate that children who listen to the story in which the character endorses immediate gratification tend to choose to have their rewards immediately, whereas those who hear the character endorse the maximization of rewards tend to choose more to wait and have more rewards later. Further, the stories seem to have a larger impact than simply instructing children to try to get rewards as soon as they can, or to try to get the most rewards they can.

Currently, we are conducting follow-up studies to look at this effect more thoroughly, including the possible role of language development.