Psychological Development and Education ›› 2008, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (4): 25-33.

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The Relationship between Executive Function and Problem Solving among Primary School Children

WANG Jing, CHEN Ying-he, QI Lin   

  1. Beijing Normal University, Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing 100875
  • Online:2008-10-15 Published:2008-10-15

Abstract: The purposes of the present study were to analyze the relationship between executive functions and problem solving of Tower of London(ToL),and to compare the effect of inhibition,working memory and cognitive flexibility on the performance of planning and different solutions in four kinds of ToL problems.121 7~11 years old were tested executive functions and ToL tasks by computers.The results revealed that subjects with high inhibition represented better adaptability in problem solving,and subjects with high working memory could use resources more efficiency;The ToL problem solving types could be distinguished into three according to different problem solving solutions.The results suggested that both inhibition and working memory played important roles in the process of ToL problem solving,while cognitive flexibility had no significant effect on it.

Key words: Executive function, inhibition, working memory, problem solving, Tower of London task, primary school children

CLC Number: 

  • B844.1
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