Evaluación de componentes implicados en la Función Ejecutiva en niños de 9 años / Assessing Executive Function components in 9 years old children

Authors

  • Sandra Reyes
  • Juan Pablo Barreyro
  • Irene Injoque-Ricle

Abstract

Resumen

La función Ejecutiva (FE) es un constructo teórico multidimensional, definido como el conjunto de actividades que permite realizar de manera eficaz conductas con un propósito, dirigidas a una meta. El objetivo de este trabajo es explorar algunas de las habilidades cognitivas que constituyen un factor común de funcionamiento ejecutivo en una muestra de niños de 9 años. Para ello se trabajó con 101 sujetos de ambos sexos, pertenecientes a escuelas privadas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, a quienes se administró la Batería de Evaluación Neuropsicológica de la Función Ejecutiva en niños (ENFEN), compuesta por cuatro tareas: Fluidez (semántica y fonológica), Senderos (gris y color), Interferencia y Anillas, además de la tarea de Dígitos hacía atrás del WISC-III. Inicialmente se realizó un análisis factorial confirmatorio, que no arrojó buenos índices de ajuste, siendo Control Inhibitorio (medido por la tarea de Interferencia) la variable con menor carga factorial y no significativa. Se realizó entonces un segundo análisis en el que se excluyó dicha variable, y se encontraron excelentes índices de ajuste. Los resultados permiten concluir que a esta edad, la FE estaría compuesta, en parte, por las siguientes habilidades cognitivas: Fluidez Fonológica y Semántica, Atención Sostenida y Selectiva, Planificación y Memoria de trabajo, pero no así por el Control Inhibitorio.

Palabras clave: Función Ejecutiva; Análisis Factorial Confirmatorio; Niños; ENFEN

 

Abstract

Executive Function (EF) is a multidimensional construct. It includes a set of abilities that allows to execute actions with a purpose, aimed to a goal, in an efficient way. The objective of this work is to explore some of the cognitive abilities that constitute a common factor for EF in 9 years-old children. The chosen instruments: Batería de Evaluación Neuropsicológica de la Función Ejecutiva en niños (ENFEN) (Battery of Neuropsychological Assessment for Executive Function in Children), along with the Backward Digits Subtestfrom the WISC-III, were administered to 101 children from private schools of Buenos Aires State, Argentina. The ENFEN consists on EF tasks, including Phonological and Semantic Fluency, Trail Making Test versions for children (gray and colored sets), Interference Task, and Planning disc movements according to a model. An initial confirmatory factor analysis didn’t show significant fit indexes, being the Inhibitory control the variable with the lower and non significant factorial weight. A second model excluding the Inhibitory control measure was conducted, and it showed excellent fit indexes. Therefore, it can be concluded that at this age, some of the cognitive abilities included on the EF are: Phonological and Semantic Fluency, Sustained and Selective attention, Planning and Working memory; which is not the case for Inhibitory Control (measured by the Interference Task in the ENFEN).

Key words: Executive Function; Confirmatory Factor Analysis; Children; ENFEN.

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Published

2014-05-31

How to Cite

Reyes, S., Pablo Barreyro, J., & Injoque-Ricle, I. (2014). Evaluación de componentes implicados en la Función Ejecutiva en niños de 9 años / Assessing Executive Function components in 9 years old children. Panamerican Journal of Psychology, 8(1). Retrieved from https://cnps.cl/index.php/cnps/article/view/162

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 1 (2014): CNPs

Section

Original Papers

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