Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-v2bm5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-13T23:54:08.710Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tower of London: Planning Development in Children from 6 to 13 Years of Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2014

Irene Injoque-Ricle ,
Juan Pablo Barreyro ,
Alejandra Calero  and
Débora Inés Burin
Irene Injoque-Ricle*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Juan Pablo Barreyro
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Alejandra Calero
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Débora Inés Burin
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Irene Injoque-Ricle. Instituto de Investigaciones. Facultad de Psicología. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Av. Independencia 3056, 3° piso. (C1425AAM). Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (Argentina). Phone: +54–1149575886. E-mail: iinjoque@psi.uba.ar
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Executive Function is a multidimensional construct that includes a wide range of cognitive abilities that allow solving goal-directed behaviors efficiently. Its development begins in early childhood and continues through adolescence. A key aspect of Executive Function is planning, defined as the capacity to generate and organize the necessary step sequence to carry out a goal-directed behavior. The aim of this study was to assess the development of planning in children. The Tower of London task was used in 270 children aged 6, 8, 11, and 13 years. The results showed that the time required to generate and organize the plan to solve a goal-directed problem increases as the difficulty of the problem increases, and that older children need less time to solve problems with a certain level of difficulty than younger children F(15, 1330) = 8.787; MSE = 1.441; p < .01; η2 =.090. These results are in line with the findings that planning develops through childhood and even during the first years of adolescence.

Keywords

executive functionplanningtower of Londonchildrendevelopment
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 17 , 2014 , E77
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boghi, A., Rasetti, R., Avidano, F., Manzone, C., Orsi, L., D'Agata, F., …, Mortara, P. (2006). The effect of gender on planning: An fMRI study using the Tower of London task. Neuroimage, 33, 999–1010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.07.022 Google Scholar
Bull, R., Espy, K. A., & Senn, T. E. (2004). A comparison of performance on the Towers of London and Hanoi in young children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 45, 743–754. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00268.x Google Scholar
Bull, R., Espy, K. A., & Wiebe, S. A. (2008). Short-term memory, working memory, and executive functioning in preschoolers: Longitudinal predictors of mathematical achievement at age 7 years. Developmental Neuropsychology, 33, 205–228. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/87565640801982312 Google Scholar
Díaz, A., Martín, R., Jiménez, J. E., García, E., Hernández, S., & Rodríguez, C. (2012). Torre de Hanoi: Datos normativos y desarrollo evolutivo de la planificación [Tower of Hanoi: Normative data and planning development]. European Journal of Education and Psychology, 5, 79–91.Google Scholar
Fuster, J. M. (2002). Frontal lobe and cognitive development. Journal of Neurocytology, 31, 373–385.Google Scholar
Gilbert, S. J., Bird, G., Brindley, R., Frith, C. D., & Burgess, P. W. (2008). Atypical recruitment of medial prefrontal cortex in autism spectrum disorders: An fMRI study of two executive function tasks. Neuropsychologia, 46, 2281–2291. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.03.025 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Happé, F., Booth, R., Charlton, R., & Hughes, C. (2006). Executive function deficits in autism spectrum disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Examining profiles across domains and ages. Brain and Cognition, 61, 25–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2006.03.004 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hill, E. L. (2004). Evaluating the theory of executive dysfunction in autism. Developmental Review, 24, 189–233. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2004.01.001 Google Scholar
Huizinga, M., Dolan, C. V., & van der Molen, M. W. (2006). Age-related change in executive function: Developmental trends and a latent variable analysis. Neuropsychologia, 44, 2017–2036. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.01.010 Google Scholar
Injoque-Ricle, I., & Burin, D. I. (2008). Validez y fiabilidad de la prueba de Torre de Londres para niños: Un estudio preliminar [Validity and reliability of the Tower of London task for children: A preliminary study]. Revista Argentina de Neuropsicología, 11, 21–31.Google Scholar
Injoque-Ricle, I., & Burin, D. I. (2011). Memoria de Trabajo y planificación en niños. Validación de la prueba Torre de Londres [Working memory and planning in children: Validation of the Tower of London Task]. Neuropsicología Latinoamericana, 3, 31–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.5579/rnl.2011.0065 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klahr, D. (1978). Goal formation, planning, and learning by preschool problem solvers or: “My socks are in the dryer”. In Siegler, R. (Ed.), Children’s thinking: What develops? Hillside, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Krikorian, R., Bartok, J. A., & Gay, N. (1994). Tower of London procedure: A standard method and developmental data. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 16, 840–850. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01688639408402697 Google Scholar
Lezak, M. D. (1995). Neuropsychological assessment. New York, NY: Oxford.Google Scholar
Lipina, S. J., Martelli, M. I., Vuelta, B. L., Injoque Ricle, I., & Colombo, J. A. (2004). Pobreza y desempeño ejecutivo en alumnos preescolares de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (República Argentina) [Poverty and excecutive functioning in preschool children of Buenos Aires City (Argentina)]. Interdisciplinaria, 21, 153–193.Google Scholar
Luria, A. R. (1973). The working brain: An introduction to neuropsychology. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Mahone, E. M., Cirino, P. T., Cutting, L. E., Cerrone, P. M., Hagelthorn, K. M., Hiemenz, J. R., …, Dencklaa, M. B. (2002). Validity of the behavior rating inventory of executive function in children with ADHD and/or Tourette syndrome. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 17, 643–662. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/arclin/17.7.643 Google Scholar
Malloy-Diniz, L. F., Cardoso-Martins, C., Nassif, E. P., Levy, A. M., Leite, W. B., & Fuentes, D. (2008). Planning abilities of children aged 4 years and 9 months to 8 1/2 years. Dementia & Neuropsychologia, 2, 26–30.Google Scholar
Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex frontal lobe tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 49–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1999.0734 Google Scholar
Neisser, U. (1967). Cognitive psychology. Nueva York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Newman, S. D., Carpenter, P. A., Varma, S., & Just, M. A. (2003). Frontal and parietal participation in problem solving in the Tower of London: fMRI and computational modeling of planning and high-level perception. Neuropsychologia, 41, 1668–1682. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0028-3932(03)00091-5 Google Scholar
Phillips, L. H., Wynn, V., Gilhooly, K. J., Della Sala, S., & Logie, R. H. (1999). The role of memory in the Tower of London task. Memory, 7, 209–231. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/741944066 Google Scholar
Robinson, S., Goddard, L., Dritschel, B., Wisley, M., & Howlin, P. (2009). Executive functions in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Brain and Cognition, 71, 362–368. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2009.06.007 Google Scholar
Shallice, T. (1982). Specific impairments of planning. Philosophical Transcripts of the Royal Society of London, 298, 199–209. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1982.0082 Google Scholar
Shallice, T. (1990). From neuropsychology to mental structure. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shimoni, M., Engel-Yeger, B., & Tirosh, E. (2012). Executive dysfunctions among boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Performance-based test and parents report. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 33, 858–865. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2011.12.014 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simon, H. A. (1975). The functional equivalence of problem solving skills. Cognitive Psychology 7, 268–288. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(75)90012-2 Google Scholar
Soprano, A. M. (2003). Evaluación de las funciones ejecutivas en el niño. [Excecutive function assessment in children] Revista de Neurología, 37, 44–50.Google Scholar
Steinberg, L. (2007). Risk tasking in adolescence: New perspectives from brain and behavioral science. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 55–59.Google Scholar
Stuss, D. T. (1992). Biological and physiological development of executive function. Brain and Cognition, 20, 8–23.Google Scholar
Stuss, D. T., & Alexander, M. P. (2007). Is there a dysexecutive syndrome? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences, 362, 901–915. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2007.2096 Google Scholar
Walsh, K. H. (1978). Neuropsychology: A clinical approach. Edinburgh, UK: Chirchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Willcutt, E. G., Doyle, A. E., Nigg, J. T., Faraone, S. V., & Pennington, B. F. (2005). Validity of the executive function theory of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A meta-analytic review. Biological psychiatry, 57, 1336–1346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.02.006 Google Scholar