Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literature and Psychology (FORLILPSI), University of Florence, Firenze, Italy.
Child Neuropsychol. 2024 May;30(4):563-581. doi: 10.1080/09297049.2023.2230637. Epub 2023 Jul 4.
Semantic Fluency (SF) increases with age, along with the lexicon and the strategies to access it. Among the cognitive processes involved in controlling lexical access, Executive Functions (EF) play an essential role. Nevertheless, which EF, namely inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, are specifically tapped by SF during preschool years, when these basic EF components are developing and differentiating, is still unknown. The study had a two-fold aim: 1. to analyze in preschoolers the role of EF basic components on SF; 2. to investigate if EF mediated the effect of age on SF. A total of 296 typically developing preschoolers (M age = 57.86; = 9.91; month range = 33-74) were assessed with an SF task and EF tasks measuring the main EF basic components. Results showed that during preschool, response inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility were significant predictors of SF, explaining 27% of its variance. Moreover, the effect of age on the SF task performance correlated with the improvement of these EF components. This study supports the importance of considering cognitive control processes in 3-6 year-old preschoolers as they underline important competencies for the child's development, such as the ability to quickly access vocabulary.
语义流畅性 (SF) 随着年龄的增长而增加，同时词汇量和获取词汇的策略也会增加。在控制词汇获取的认知过程中，执行功能 (EF) 起着至关重要的作用。然而，在学龄前儿童时期，当这些基本的 EF 成分正在发展和分化时，哪种 EF（即抑制、工作记忆和认知灵活性）具体涉及到 SF 仍然未知。本研究有两个目的：1. 分析学龄前儿童执行功能基本成分对 SF 的作用；2. 研究执行功能是否在 SF 对年龄的影响中起中介作用。共有 296 名典型的学龄前儿童（M 年龄=57.86；=9.91；月龄范围=33-74）接受了语义流畅性任务和执行功能任务的评估，以测量主要的执行功能基本成分。结果表明，在学龄前时期，反应抑制、工作记忆和认知灵活性是 SF 的重要预测因素，解释了其 27%的变异性。此外，年龄对 SF 任务表现的影响与这些 EF 成分的改善相关。本研究支持在 3-6 岁学龄前儿童中考虑认知控制过程的重要性，因为这些过程强调了儿童发展的重要能力，例如快速访问词汇的能力。
