Laura Traverso

In recent decades, the utility of cognitive tele-assessment has increasingly been highlighted, both in adults and in children. The present study aimed to present TeleFE, a new tool for the tele-assessment of EF in children aged 6–13. TeleFE consists of a web platform including four tasks based on robust neuropsychological paradigms to evaluate inhibition, interference suppression, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and planning. It also includes questionnaires on EF for teachers and parents, to obtain information on the everyday functioning of the children. As TeleFE allows the assessment of EF both remotely and in-person, a comparison of the two modalities was conducted by administering TeleFE to 1288 Italian primary school children. A series of ANOVA was conducted, showing no significant effect of assessment modality (p > 0.05 for all the measures). In addition, significant differences by class emerged for all the measures (p < 0.001 for all the measures except p = 0.008 for planning). Finally, a significant sex effect emerged for inhibition (p < 0.001) and for the reaction times in both interference control (p = 0.013) and cognitive flexibility (p < 0.001), with boys showing a lower inhibition and faster reaction times. The implications of these results along with the indications for the choice of remote assessment are discussed.

This study aims at investigating the relationship between working memory updating and working memory capacity in preschool children. A sample of 176 preschoolers (36–74 months) was administered a working memory updating task (Magic House) along with three working memory capacity tests that specifically measure their core attentional component (M capacity, as defined in the theory of constructive operators): Backward Word Span, Mr. Cucumber, and Direction Following Task. Correlational analyses and cross-classification prediction analyses were performed. Updating and capacity were significantly correlated, although the correlations were not high when age was partialled out. Capacity increased with age, and mediated the relation between age and updating. More importantly, cross-classification prediction analysis revealed that high updating scores with low M capacity, and low updating scores with relatively high M capacity, are possible events; the only combination ruled out was a low updating score with precocious development of M capacity. These facts demonstrate that updating skills in preschoolers depends on M capacity but does not coincide with it. Therefore, in cognitive developmental theories, the constructs of working memory updating and capacity should be distinguished, and on practical grounds, different tests should be used to measure them.