Measures and References: Cognitive Flexibility

Return to Cognitive Flexibility factor page.

Measures

Numerous measures exist to gain a full picture of a student's learning strengths and challenges. Following are examples of measures used to assess this Learner Factor. These measures should be administered and interpreted by experienced professionals.

Flexible Item Selection Task (FIST): (Jacques & Zelazo, 2001)**: Assesses Cognitive Flexibility by having students manipulate card sets based on changing rules

References

Andersson, U. (2008). Working memory as a predictor of written arithmetical skills in children: The importance of central executive functions. The British Journal of Educational Psychology, 78(2), 181-203.

Best, J. R., Miller, P. H., & Naglieri, J. A. (2011). Relations between executive function and academic achievement from ages 5 to 17 in a large, representative national sample. Learning and Individual Differences, 21(4), 327-336.

Blair, C., & Razza, R. P. (2007). Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten. Child Development, 78(2), 647-663.

Bock, A. M., Gallaway, K. C., & Hund, A. M. (2015). Specifying links between executive functioning and theory of mind during middle childhood: Cognitive flexibility predicts social understanding. Journal of Cognition and Development, 16(3), 509-521.

Bull, R., & Scerif, G. (2001). Executive functioning as a predictor of children's mathematics ability: Inhibition, switching, and working memory. Developmental Neuropsychology, 19(3), 273-293.

Cepeda, N. J., Cepeda, M. L., & Kramer, A. F. (2000). Task switching and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 28(3), 213-226.

Clark, C. A. C., Pritchard, V. E., & Woodward, L. J. (2010). Preschool executive functioning abilities predict early mathematics achievement. Developmental Psychology, 46(5), 1176-1191.

George, J. L., & Greenfield, D. B. (2005). Examination of a structured problem-solving flexibility task for assessing approaches to learning in young children: Relation to teacher ratings and children's achievement. Applied Developmental Psychology, 26, 69-84.

Jacques, S., & Zelazo, P. D. (2001). The Flexible Item Selection Task (FIST): A measure of executive function in preschoolers. Developmental Neuropsychology, 20(3), 573-591.

Mayes, S. D., Calhoun, S. L., Bixler, E. O., & Zimmerman, D. N. (2009). IQ and neuropsychological predictors of academic achievement. Learning and Individual Differences, 19, 238-241.

Naglieri, J. A., & Das, J. P. (1997). Cognitive Assessment System. Itasca, IL: Riverside.

Puente, A. E. (1985). Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Test Critiques, 4, 677-682.

Oades, R. D., & Christiansen, H. (2008). Cognitive switching processes in young people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 23(1), 21-32.

Rauch, W. A., Gold, A., & Schmitt, K. (2012). To what extent are task-switching deficits in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder independent of impaired inhibition? ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders, 4(4), 179-187.

Sarsour, K., Sheridan, M., Jutte, D., Nuru-jeter, A., Hinshaw, S., & Boyce, W. T. (2010). Family socioeconomic status and child executive functions: The roles of language, home environment, and single parenthood. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 17, 120-132.

Spann, M. N., Mayes, L. C., & Kalmar, J. H. (2012). Childhood abuse and neglect and cognitive flexibility in adolescents. Child Neuropsychology, 18(2), 182-189.

Tombaugh, T. N. (2004). Trail Making Test A and B: Normative data stratified by age and education. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 19(2), 203-214.

Viterbori, P., Usai, M. C., Traverso, L., & De Franchis, V. (2015). How preschool executive functioning predicts several aspects of math achievement in Grades 1 and 3: A longitudinal study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 140, 38-55.

Vitiello, V. E., Greenfield, D. B., Munis, P., & George, J. (2011). Cognitive flexibility, approaches to learning, and academic school readiness in head start preschool children. Early Education and Development, 22(3), 338-410.

Yeniad, N., Malda, M., Mesman, J., Ijzendoorn, M. H. Van, & Pieper, S. (2013). Shifting ability predicts math and reading performance in children: A meta-analytical study. Learning and Individual Differences, 23, 1-9.