Are facet-specific task trainings efficient in improving children's executive functions and why (they might not be)? A multi-facet latent change score approach

It currently remains unclear how facet-specific trainings of three core modules of executive function (EF; updating, switching, and inhibition) directly compare regarding efficacy, whether improve-ments on trained tasks transfer to nontrained EF tasks, and which factors predict children's improvements. The current study sys-tematically investigated three separate EF trainings in 6-to 11-year-old children (N = 229) using EF-specific trainings that were similar in structure, design, and intensity. Children participated in pre-and posttest assessments of the three EFs and were ran-domly allocated to one of three EF trainings or to an active or pas-sive control group. Multivariate latent change score models revealed that only the updating group showed training-specific improvements in task performance that were larger compared with active controls as well as passive controls. In contrast, there were no training-specific benefits of training switching or inhibi-tion. Latent changes in the three EF tasks were largely independent, and there was no evidence of transfer effects to nontrained EF tasks. Lower baseline performance and older age predicted larger changes in EF performance. These seemingly opposing effects sup-port compensation accounts as well as developmental theories of EF, and they highlight the importance of simultaneously account-ing for multiple predictors within one model. In line with recent theoretical proposals of EF development, we provide new system-atic evidence that questions whether modular task trainings repre-sent an efficient approach to improve performance in narrow or in broader indicators of EF. Thereby, this evidence ultimately high-lights the need for more comprehensive assessments of EF and, subsequently, the development of new training approaches.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/).