1. The Role of Executive Function
in the Construction and
Expression of Vitalist and
Inheritance Biology
By Alexandra Hasse
2. Conceptual Change in Biology
Between ages 5-8, children construct Vitalist biology:
Vitalist Biology
Theory that living things acquire vital energy from air, water,
and food. These external sources of energy must enter and
travel around the body in order to sustain life.
To be alive, according to this view, is to have this vital
energy.
To die is to lose it.
Body parts function to acquire it and move it around the body.
3. Conceptual Change in Biology
Preschool children
undifferentiated meaning of alive (active, existing,
present…); Animism
undifferentiated meaning of dead (inactive, nonexistent,
gone…)
have little understanding of body parts or functions
Originally attribute life to entities that appear to be active (eg
capable of movement)
This attribution may be a result of our innate concept of agency
4. Ingredients for theory-building
What does the child need in order to undergo this conceptual change?
More facts – data for theory-building
Relevant findings from our own labs:
1. Williams Syndrome adults – never acquire Vitalist theory
2. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease – disappearance of Vitalist theory
So: Facts are necessary but not sufficient.
These 2 groups have something in common with each other and with
young children: weak Executive Function abilities.
6. The Role of Executive Functions
These mechanisms:
monitor concepts for possible conflicts
detect conflicts when they arise
successfully inhibit salient but inappropriate response
flexibly attend to and manipulate multiple representations
switch, depending on context, from one conceptual meaning
to another
Why would the child need such mechanisms to
construct a Vitalist biology?
7. Prior Developmental Study
Hypothesis:
Executive Functions play an important role in the
construction of Vitalist biology.
Therefore: Individual differences in children’s Executive
Function abilities will predict differences in their
development of Vitalist biology.
Zaitchik, D., Iqbal, Y., & Carey, S. (in press). The effect of executive function on biological reasoning in young
children: An individual differences study. Manuscript submitted for publication.
8. Prior Developmental Study
Methods
Participants
79 5-7 year olds (Mean age: 6yrs, 6mos)
Roughly half were girls, all were fluent in English.
Two Batteries
Vitalist Biology: Animism, Death, and Body Parts Interviews
Executive Function (from Davidson et al, 2006): Hearts & Flowers, Flanker Fish Test
PPVT (receptive vocabulary test, highly correlated with verbal IQ)
Aggregate individual’s scores within each battery for use in regression analysis.
9. Prior Developmental Study
Animism Task
What does it mean to be alive, to be a living thing?
Can you name some things that are alive, that are living things?
Can you name some things that are not alive, that are not living
things?
Judgment (for each item that follows): Is it alive? Is it a living thing?
Animals: bird, cat, snake, fly
Plants: tree, flower
Natural kinds: rain, wind, cloud, mountain, fire, the sun
Artifacts: bell, watch, airplane, table, car, lamp, pencil, bicycle
Justifications: How do you know that?
10. Prior Developmental Study
Death Interview
4 features of mature concept of death
1. Cessation of all bodily and mental function
What does it mean to die?
What happens to a person when they die?
What happens to a person’s body when they die?
When a person dies, does he need to eat; need to pee; need to sleep?
When a person dies, does he feel bad that he died; does he miss his friends;
does he think about things?
2. Caused by the breakdown of the body
What might cause a person to die?
3. Inevitable
Does every person die?
4. Irreversible
Is there anything anyone can do to make a dead person live again? Can a
doctor make a dead person live again?
11. Prior Developmental Study
Body Parts Interview
Taps awareness of the function of particular body parts, the role of food and
air, and the goal of the bodily system in sustaining life
Body parts: Hands, heart, brain, eyes, lungs, stomach, blood
What is your (x) for?
What would happen if someone didn’t have (x)?
Food:
Why do we eat food?
What happens to the food we eat?
Do you need a brain to be able to eat?
Air:
Why do we breathe air?
What happens to the air we breath?
Do you need a brain to be able to breath?
12. Executive Function Battery
Two computer tests (Hearts & Flowers and Flanker
Fish)
Color words (forwards and backwards)
13. Task 1: Hearts & Flowers
Congruent Condition Rule (baseline): Press button on same side as heart.
Incongruent Condition Rule (baseline): Press button on opposite side of
flower.
Mixed Condition Rule (test): If heart appears, press button on same side. If flower
appears, press button on opposite side.
14. Task 2: Flanker Fish
Congruent Condition Rule (baseline): If the fish are blue, press the
button where the middle fish is facing.
Incongruent Condition Rule (baseline) : If the fish are pink, press the
button where the outside fish are facing.
Mixed Condition (test): If blue fish appear, press button where
middle fish is facing. If pink fish appear, press button where
outside fish are facing.
15. Results: Multiple Regression Analysis
Predictor variables: Age, PPVT, and EF
Dependent measure: BIO score
Age: Beta= .504, t= 5.620, p=.000
PPVT: Beta= .308, t= 3.794, p=.000
EF: Beta= -.185, t= -2.279, p=.013
Hypothesis confirmed: Individual differences in children’s EF
scores predict their performance in biological reasoning,
even after removing Age and verbal IQ.
16. Limitations
Study’s measure of factual knowledge (PPVT raw
scores) not optimal
Relatively narrow range of biological tests
Color words test showed insufficient variance
No measure of other processes that may be implicated
in conceptual change
17. Current Study
Replication and extension of previous study
Examines both vitalist biology and inheritance biology
Controls for Verbal IQ and Factual Knowledge
Analogical Reasoning (Matrices)
Extends Executive Function battery
18. Inheritance Biology
Understanding that offspring resemble their
parents and that some shared traits are
already determined by the time of birth and
are immutable
19. Current Study
Are vitalist biology and inheritance biology two
separate domains, or are they correlated?
Will EF scores predict performance on both
inheritance and vitalist biology, even if these two
domains are not correlated?
Will EF scores and Analogical reasoning (Matrices)
each uniquely predict biology scores?
22. Adoption Task cont.
Unfortunately, the woman died right after having the
baby and she never even got to see the baby. But there
was another woman who was visiting the hospital. See,
here’s a drawing of her
23. Adoption Task cont.
This nice woman saw what happened. She saw that
the baby boy was all alone, so she brought the little
baby boy home to live with her and raise as her own
child. She raised the little baby with her other children.
They all grew up together. They played together and
they ate together. The little baby was very happy living
with his wonderful family. Now the baby is all grown up,
and I’m going to ask you some questions about what
he’s like as a grownup.
24. Adopt Task cont.
Who gave birth to the baby?
Who did the baby grow up with?
This woman [point to Mrs. Smith] had brown eyes and this woman
[point to Mrs. Jones] had green eyes. When the baby is all grown
up will it have eyes like her [point to Mrs. Smith] or like her [point to
Mrs. Jones]?
Why do you think so?
This woman [Smith] thought that Bonn is a city in Germany and
this woman [Jones] thought that Bonn is a city in Canada. When
the baby is all grown up will it think about the city Bonn like her
[Smith] or like her [Jones]?
Why do you think so?
25. Inheritance Biology
Species Tasks
Four scenarios of increasing difficulty
Costume changes
Temporary surface part changes
Permanent surface part changes
Permanent internal changes
27. Species Task cont.
The man wanted the horse to be able to hide in the tall
grass, so he painted black stripes all over it just like a
zebra has.
28. Species Task cont.
But Jenny spends a lot of time outside and whenever it
rains the stripes start to wash off. So every week the
man has to paint the black stripes back on again. this is
how it looks.
29. Species Task Cont.
Is Jenny a horse or a zebra? How do you know that she's a
[horse/zebra]?
[zebra] So even though Jenny started out as a horse and
looked like this, you think she's a what?
[horse] So even though Jenny looks like this now, you
think she’s a what?
Before Jenny was changed to look like this she had a horse
baby. What kind of baby do you think Jenny will have now?
Why?
30. Inborn-Acquired Task
Series of vignettes
This is Mr. and Mrs. Cow. They were both born with brown hearts inside
their chests instead of normal-colored hearts. Later Mr. and Mrs. Cow
have a baby named Carly Cow. Remember, Carly’s parents were born
with brown hearts inside their chests. When Carly is born, will she have
a brown heart like her parents, or will she have a normal-colored
heart like other cows? Why?
This is Mr. and Mrs. Pig. They had an accident one time that stretched out
their eyes really big. Later Mr. and Mrs. Pig have a baby named Paula
Pig. Remember, Paula’s parents had an accident that stretched out their
eyes. When Paula is born, will she have big stretched out eyes like
her parents, or will she have normal eyes like other pigs? Why?
31. Expansion of Executive Function
Battery
Flanker Fish
Hearts & Flowers
Plus…
Verbal Fluency
Animal Naming
Food naming
Updating Task
34. Controls
Verbal IQ (K-BIT Verbal Knowledge)
Factual Knowledge (WJ-III Academic Knowledge)
Age (51/2 —
7 year olds)
Editor's Notes
5-8 year old, undergo change in conceptual understanding of biology, specifically, around this time where children construct Vitalist Biology
Vitalist to be alive is to have vital energy from food, air and water, and to die is to lose it
Functionalist understanding of bodily processes, body parts are specialized and work together to sustain life and health
- To be alive, in essence, connotates AGENCY and to be moving
- Sun and wind ALIVE becomes they move autonomously, seen as casual agents, LAMP alive when it is turned on, plants are not alive because they don’t seem to DO much of anything or GO anywhere
- Dead is OPPOSITE of alive, INACTIVE, when asks what happens when someone dies, might say they went away, went underground
- When asked about the functions of body organs, kids tend to report single independent function for each body part (like the heart is for beating) and showed no understanding of the body as a SYSTEM whose parts work together to sustain life
- So, what does a child need to undergo this conceptual change? Part of it, is accumulating more facts
- Williams Syndrome leads to severe mental retardation, never acquire mature EF abilities, yet syndrome spares capacity to acquire both language and factual knowledge …. Though factual knowledge was intact, not a single adult demonstrated biological understanding achieved by a normally developing 5 year old
- Alzheimer's facts retained, but theory impaired, because have diminished EF abilities
- Similar to both WS and Alzheimer's patients, Young preschool-aged Children weak EF abilities
- SO FACTS NECCESARY BUT THEY ARE NOT ENOUGH
Encompasses three key processes
ability to, for instance, inhibit a more salient response (ex: false belief task, inhibit representation of where it really is) (hearts and flowers)
hold things in mind (ex: trying to remember a phone number) (working memory updating task + hearts and flowers)
switch between different rules depending on context (hearts and flowers)
Executive Function helps us….
Why would a child need this to construct Vitalist biology?
Notice conflict between behavioral concepts and new information about living things
for example, able to detect a conflict when someone tells them that plants are alive,
If someone then asks later, are plants alive?, EF gives them ability to inhibit their salient response of, No a Plant is Not Alive,
also will be able to switch the meaning, for instance of “dead,” depending on the context, so they know that saying a battery is dead is different from saying that animal is dead
- Recent study in our lab that is motivating our current study wanted to examine EF in relation to vitalist biology, so we hypothesized ……..
- Study very important the first suggesting a role of executive function in a wholly constructed theory
- More over, it would be the first demonstration of the effect of executive function on a scientific theory, that is also a central target of instruction in elementary school
- Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, would say, point to, sleep and they would point to that, tests receptive vocabulary and is highly correlated with verbal IQ
- Here, points awarded for responding biologically, like saying it to be alive means to growth, breath, eat, not just to move around
Points awarded for correctly attributing life to plants and animals based on biological processes such as growth, birth
- still thinking about how to test if EF is needed for construction, still very much an open question, task with prepotent response that needs to be inhibited (expression)
we know EF is needed for expression of vitalist biology, that is, its needed to do well on the animism task
study that healthy college students look like 4 yr olds if they are not given enough time to use their executive resources, even biology professors have reaction times in accordance with errors of undergraduates
Points awarded for responding that death is the end of life, for noting that body doesn’t just go away but that it decays - Poor responses include: to die means that you go away, that you go underground, you stop moving…things like you stop walking, running and talking but you still miss your parents
For causes, potential external things such as someone shoots you, poisons you, hits you with a car
More points awarded for internal problems (heart stops or stop breathing)
Finally, that all living things die and that death is irreversible
Points awarded for mapping bodily functions onto body organs
For knowing that without air or food, life would end - For showing an understanding that body is system whose parts work together to support life
- preschoolers associate one function, but no sense of why a heart beats
Color words working memory test, tests working memory span
Experimenter asks child to repeat list of spoken color words
length of list grew by one word on each successive trial
Backwards condition identical, except child had to repeat words in backwards order
Three different conditions
tests inhibition (want to press button on same side with flower), set shifting (switch between two rules), working memory (hold rules in mind)
- To make sure that task is difficult enough, took Mixed Block scores as measure of EF
- Results revealed that Hypothesis was confirmed!
- PPVT not a good measure of factual knowledge
- Expand bio battery
- No measure of analogical reasoning
- So, what exactly is Inheritance Biology?
- Inheritance Bio example that dogs give birth to puppies rather than kittens
- This study asks…..
- In Adoption Task, present a story….
- Taps children’s understanding that birth is part of process that selectively mediates acquisition of physical traits (eye color, skin color) while nurture mediations acquisition of beliefs (ex: that Bonn is a city in Germany)
- Four scenarios of increasing difficultly about animal transformations
Questions allow children to commit to an answer
Thus, test assesses if child has biological notion of species
For instance, here, do they understand that the kind of animal you are depends on the kind of animal you are at birth and what your parents are and that modifying your outer appearance doesn’t change your species
Tests if children understand that you inherit traits that parents are born with and not traits that parents acquire
As many animals in 60 seconds and then as many foods as you can name in 60 seconds
taps ability to switch between different clusters so people who do really well on it jump from subcategory to subcategory (ex: pets, farm animals etc)
executive function part is in monitoring in when you have exhausted a category and switching to another category
what makes switching from subcategory to subcategory better? When you don’t do this, theres too many competing responses and you end not being able to think of anything, the selection demands are too great
Being able to use abstract categories and switch flexibly between them when you’ve exhausted a category reduces selection demands
easier to select between 5 things vs 100 things when you’re trying to come up with a response
ALSO, working memory demand in making sure that you don’t repeat the same items more than once
when you’re coming up with things, and you think of dog again, think oh wait I already said dog, need to remember that
In previous study, use color words test, which is working memory span test, which showed insufficient variance
BUT other types of working memory measures called updating measures that measure not how many things you can hold at a time but how well your working memory can update given new info, we’re hoping this will give us more variance
In this task, shown a series of images on computer screen, must repeat the last two to three images they have seen
Working memory updating task in that not just holding things in mind, but also about have to keep updating what you have in mind
2 trials where they have to remember last 2 things they’ve seen, and theres 2 trials where they have to remember last 3 things that they’ve seen
this picture is from instructions
apple was thing they saw before
So when they see shoe, they want to say shoe, and the thing before that, so apple…so SHOE APPLE
in actual trials, they only see top image
put analogical reasoning in because NUMBER ONE, advised that it is best single measure of fluid IQ
NUMBER TWO, analogical reasoning plays a role in theory building
Already, we have an example of how it plays a role in theory building in bio
Ex: (Inagaki & Hatano, 2002) come to know that water and food needed for animals to be alive, if told plants need water and fertilizer, plants don’t have mouths but using abstract reasoning to draw analogy of ingesting things to survive like with humans and animals (abstract reasoning), so then reason plants must be alive…plants now are like animals in a biological way, grouped into single category of living things, building coherent theory of biology
making analogies requires active comprehension, abstraction, and these higher order cognitive functions draw on basic EF
Might some common factor underlie variation in both Vitalist + Inheritance Bio and EF?
Most likely possibility some measure of IQ…fluid IQ
not committed to EF being end all be all of domain general processes behind conceptual change, still exploring whats out there
could be things that are not EF specifically that also play a strong role in conceptual change
Dr. Carey’s theories suggest that analogical reasoning is one of those things
we expect it to share variance with EF but also expect it will have unique relationships with vitalist and inheritance biology
we expect aspects of analogical reasoning that are not EF, do those also relate to conceptual change and biology? And how strongly do they relate, vs biology?
use relations in one set of concepts you have to understand relations in new set of concepts
One, Why is analogical reasoning involved in conceptual change?
Acknowledge analogical reasoning likely draws on EF
But, also used as a measure of fluid IQ, which may be separate from EF
want to know if there are other processes that might be important to conceptual change
Abraham Lincoln picture
- still thinking about how to test if EF is needed for construction, still very much an open question, task with prepotent response that needs to be inhibited (expression)
we know EF is needed for expression of vitalist biology, that is, its needed to do well on the animism task
study that healthy college students look like 4 yr olds if they are not given enough time to use their executive resources, even biology professors have reaction times in accordance with errors of undergraduates
