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This study centered on emergent bilingual (EB) students with specific reading comprehension deficits (S-RCD), that is, with poor reading comprehension despite solid word identification skills. The participants were 209 students in Grades 2 to 4, including both EBs and English monolinguals (EMs) with and without S-RCD. Mean comparisons indicated that EBs and EMs with S-RCD showed weaknesses relative to typically developing (TD) readers in oral language, word identification, inference making, and reading engagement, but not in executive functioning. Longitudinal analyses indicated that across two academic years S-RCD persisted for 41% of EBs and EMs alike. Altogether, the study extends research on EBs with S-RCD by identifying variables beyond oral language that may account for their reading comprehension difficulties and providing insight into the extent to which their reading comprehension and word identification performance levels evolve during elementary school. Furthermore, the findings point to the importance of early identification and intervention for weaknesses in reading comprehension and its component elements in both EBs and EMS.

Background Dominant explanations of reading fluency indicate automatic phonological decoding frees mental resources for processing meaning. However, decoding automaticity does not guarantee attention to meaning. Recent neurocognitive work suggests executive functioning (EF) may contribute to fluency beyond decoding automaticity. Aims Two studies examined contributions of an understudied EF, cognitive flexibility, to fluent reading and tested a teacher-administered EF intervention to improve fluency in teacher-identified low-achieving (LA) readers. Methods and procedures Study 1 assessed word reading fluency, automatic decoding, reading comprehension, verbal and nonverbal ability, and reading-specific and domain-general cognitive flexibility in 50 1st and 2nd grade typically-developing (TD) readers. Study 2 compared TD and LA readers’ cognitive flexibility and examined effectiveness of cognitive flexibility intervention for improving fluency in 33 LA 2nd and 3rd graders. Outcomes and results Reading-specific flexibility contributed to fluency beyond automatic decoding and all other control variables in TD readers who had significantly higher cognitive flexibility than LA readers. Teacher-administered EF intervention improved reading fluency for LA readers. Conclusions and implications These findings expand understanding of the neurocognitive basis of reading fluency and add to the growing body of evidence that EF underlies learning differences and serves as a useful target of intervention for LA students.

In this chapter, we integrate theory and empirical findings on the development of strategic processes and executive functions and the provision of autonomy support to foster these skills in relation to children’s reading comprehension development. From an individual differences perspective, we consider how the interplay of these constructs may influence academic performance among English Learners and students with specific reading comprehension deficits. We provide a historical overview of the study of reading comprehension strategies and executive functions, as well as examine current work and its limitations. We spotlight training in the reading comprehension strategy of inference making, delineating how use of this strategy may benefit the development of executive function skills. Finally, with respect to future research directions, we focus on the potential key role of students’ autonomy support in facilitating self-regulated use of strategic processes and thereby strengthening executive functions.

Substantial research indicates decoding difficulties are a primary contributor to reading comprehension problems. Yet, far less is known about sources of reading comprehension problems when readers' decoding abilities are appropriate for grade level (i.e., specific reading comprehension difficulties; RCD). Executive functioning contributes uniquely to RCD beyond traditional predictors, such as decoding ability and vocabulary. However, of the three core executive functions, working memory and inhibition have received relatively more research attention than cognitive flexibility, even though readers with RCD typically focus inflexibly on decoding processes without attention to meaning. Two studies assessed the contribution of cognitive flexibility to RCD. Study 1 employed a matched sampling approach to examine general and reading-specific cognitive flexibility in 24 readers with RCD and 24 typically developing readers (from a pool of 140 students) at the end of 1st and 2nd grades. Readers with RCD were significantly lower in reading-specific cognitive flexibility than typically developing peers, even when decoding, verbal ability, nonverbal matrix reasoning ability, and vocabulary were controlled; a similar, though not significant, difference emerged for general, color-shape cognitive flexibility. Study 2 revealed a teacher-delivered cognitive flexibility intervention produced significant improvements in reading comprehension for students with RCD (n = 18) who had not shown significant growth prior to intervention; after intervention, their reading comprehension growth was comparable to typically developing controls (n = 21).

Good and poor comprehenders exhibit different profiles of cognitive abilities, despite comparable decoding skills. Recent work suggests that executive functions, particularly cognitive flexibility, may underlie poor comprehenders' difficulties in childhood and adulthood. However, metalinguistic skills that enable readers to reflect on various aspects of print may also contribute to poor comprehenders' difficulties. We examined metalinguistic abilities (graphophonemic and syntactic) and cognitive flexibility (graphophonological–semantic and syntactic–semantic) in 24 good and 24 poor adult comprehenders, matched on age-appropriate non-word decoding skill and general cognitive ability. Groups differed significantly on graphophonemic awareness, syntactic awareness, and both measures of cognitive flexibility after verbal ability and word identification were controlled. Differences in cognitive flexibility remained significant even when relevant metacognitive skills were controlled. These data demonstrate additional cognitive differences between good and poor comprehenders that can inform theory and practice. What is already known about this topic: Deficits in executive functions contribute to poor comprehenders' difficulties in childhood and adulthood. Child and adolescent poor comprehenders are also lower in metalinguistic skills. What this paper adds: Adult good and poor comprehenders, matched on general cognitive ability and age-appropriate non-word decoding, differed significantly on syntactic and graphophonemic awareness, even when verbal ability and word identification were controlled. Groups also differed significantly on cognitive flexibility, even when verbal ability and word identification were controlled. Good and poor comprehenders' differences in cognitive flexibility remained significant when metalinguistic awareness was controlled; however, differences in metalinguistic awareness were attenuated when cognitive flexibility was controlled. Implications for theory, policy, or practice: Findings underscore the importance of metalinguistic awareness and executive functions, particularly cognitive flexibility, to understanding adult poor comprehenders' difficulties. Findings suggest that models of reading comprehension, such as the simple view, should be adjusted to include variables, like cognitive flexibility, that contribute to comprehension beyond decoding and verbal ability. Findings may have clinical utility for identification of poor comprehenders because cognitive flexibility can easily be assessed with brief measures.

Theory of Mind (ToM) is one of the core abilities that allows children to connect socially with others and to consider others’ perspectives. Historically, most research on ToM development has focused on early childhood, but recent years have seen an increased focus on how children build this critical social understanding beyond the preschool timeframe. Given this burgeoning literature, we have identified and organized findings across a variety of domains of development to provide a cohesive theoretical framework depicting the correlates and antecedents of ToM development throughout middle childhood and adolescence. Thus, the present paper provides a synthesis and narrative review of the research to yield insights into important ways in which often-disparate lines of study (e.g., brain specialization, relational aggression, reading comprehension) relate to ToM and bidirectionally influence one another in the developing child. Specifically, we focused our analysis of the literature on identifying neural networks underlying ToM, the roles of executive function and emotional self-regulation on ToM, the socioemotional correlates of ToM, and relations between ToM and academic performance. We also provide a brief discussion of studies recognizing sociocultural, linguistic, and contextual influences on ToM. Our review provides evidence for both common and distinct processes and corollaries with age across these disparate literatures, with significant research indicating the important role of mediating and moderating processes when considering how advanced ToM impacts development. We end by proposing a theoretical, integrative framework and discussing the future directions for the field, including testable predictions generated by the framework that span often-disparate domains of inquiry.

This study assessed the impact of a teacher-delivered, small-group reading-specific executive function (EF) intervention on reading performance in a sample of 57 teacher-identified struggling readers, ranging in age from 7;6 to 12;3 (Mage = 9;10) in 2nd to 5th grades at a public elementary school in the Mid-Atlantic United States. Near-transfer effects of EF interventions are more common than far-transfer to academic skills. Thus, we assessed near- and far-transfer effects for intervention (n = 29) and control (n = 28) children. The reading-specific EF intervention produced medium to large effects on reading-specific and domain-general EF skills as well as on researcher-administered and school-administered reading comprehension measures, even after grade level (and thus reading teacher), verbal ability, children’s age, and respective pretest scores were controlled. These findings underscore the importance of translational work that takes researcher-tested interventions into real-world contexts to support children’s development. Implications of findings for practice are discussed.

Given concerns about the reading achievement of Dual Language Learners (DLLs) in comparison to English Monolinguals (EMs), this study examined individual difference variables contributing to English reading comprehension growth in Spanish-speaking DLLs and their EM counterparts in Grades 1–4. The participants, who included 578 DLLs and 412 EMs, were primarily from low-income backgrounds. They were assessed in the fall and spring of one school year on decoding, vocabulary, and oral language comprehension (established predictors of reading comprehension for DLLs and EMs); higher order strategic processes, executive functions, and reading engagement (understudied predictors for DLLs); and reading comprehension. Among the key findings were that each of the three understudied predictors was associated with reading comprehension growth over the school year, over and above the contributions of the established predictors, in both language groups. Additionally, higher order strategic processes partially mediated the relations of executive functioning in the fall with reading comprehension in the spring for both DLLs and EMs. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings for understanding and strengthening the reading achievement of all students are considered.

In this chapter, the authors attempt to use the metaphor of driving to provide a complex but accessible model for reading, with particular attention to the roles that textual and contextual factors play. They explain the decoding, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic demands of the text also affect reading, and interact with reader knowledge and skill. The authors also explain text content more broadly is critically important, largely in interaction with the reader's background and knowledge base. They discuss if a reader is paying a great deal of attention to their word reading on a regular basis, that's also a sign of trouble, as it leaves less cognitive attention for many of the other aspects of reading. The authors drive for a purpose, typically to reach a particular destination but sometimes for the experience of driving itself. A drive cannot begin without the act of ignition. Similarly, reading does not begin without the motivation to engage in the process.

Detecting a pattern within a sequence of ordered units, defined as patterning, is a cognitive ability that is important in learning mathematics and influential in learning to read. The present study was designed to examine relations between first-grade children's executive functions, patterning, and reading abilities, and to examine whether these relations differ by the type of pattern. The results showed that working memory correlated with reading fluency, and comprehension measures. Inhibition correlated only with the latter. Cognitive flexibility was correlated with patterning performance and with performance on object size patterns, whereas working memory was correlated with performance on symmetrical patterns and growing number patterns. These results suggest that the cognition required for completing patterns differs depending on the pattern type. Teachers may find it beneficial to place emphasis on the switching and working memory components of completing patterning tasks, depending on the type of patterns used in instruction.

The taxonomically uncharacterized nematophagous fungus ARF18, which parasitizes cysts, juveniles, and adults of the soybean cyst nematode ( Heterodera glycines ), was proposed as a nematode biological control agent in 1991. A 46.3-Mb draft genome sequence of this fungus is presented, and a tentative taxonomic identification as a novel species of Brachyphoris is proposed.

Reading-specific and general color-shape cognitive flexibility were assessed in 68 first and second graders to examine: 1) the development of graphophonological-semantic cognitive flexibility (the ability to process concurrently phonological and semantic aspects of print) in comparison to color-shape cognitive flexibility, 2) the contribution of reading experience to graphophonological-semantic flexibility, and 3) the unique contribution of graphophonological-semantic flexibility to reading comprehension. Second graders scored significantly higher than first graders on both cognitive flexibility tasks; the general flexibility task was easier for all children than the graphophonological-semantic flexibility task; reading experience contributed uniquely to children's graphophonological-semantic flexibility; and graphophonological-semantic flexibility contributed significant, unique variance to children's reading comprehension, consistent with Cartwright's (2002) work with second- to fourth-grade students an...

Theories of postformal thought (PFT) suggest that cognitive development is enhanced by social interactions where differences must be negotiated. Friendships provide the potential for complex social interactions and are an ideal context in which to explore the relation between cognitive development and the negotiation of social differences. The present research is the first to directly explore the relation between close cross-category friendships and level of postformal cognitive reasoning among college students. Participants from two universities completed questionnaires assessing PFT and friendship characteristics. Results indicate that individuals reported more same-category versus cross-category friendships. This was true for sex, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation, and age. In addition, individuals high in PFT had more social category differences in their existing close friendships than individuals low in PFT.

This research is the first to test the relation between postformal complex thought (PFT) and death acceptance. College students (N = 225) completed the PFT questionnaire (Cartwright et al., J Adult Dev, 2009), the Need for Cognition scale (Cacioppo et al., J Personality Assess 48:3, 1984), and Klug’s Death Acceptance Scale, comprised of death integration and confrontation scales (Klug and Sinha, Omega 18:229–235, 1987). A series of hierarchical regression analyses showed PFT made a significant contribution to death acceptance over the contributions of other cognitive and demographic variables, as predicted. Further, PFT made a significant contribution to death integration but not to death confrontation. These results are consistent with contemporary theories of adult cognitive development and PFT.

Three studies investigated the psychometric properties of the complex postformal thought (PFT) questionnaire (Sinnott, unpublished scale, 1998; Sinnott and Johnson 1997), which is a measure of adult cognitive development. The scale was found to be moderately reliable (α = .63). To assess construct validity, a comparison of participants’ performance on the PFT scale to their performance on the Need for Cognition scale was conducted, which indicated the PFT scale is valid measure of complex thought. Factor analysis reduced the scale to three factors, which correspond to important components of PFT: Multiple Elements, Subjective Choice, and Underlying Complexities. Implications for understanding the nature of adult cognitive development and the usefulness of this new measure for research in this area are discussed.

The current longitudinal study examined the roles of theory of mind, counterfactual reasoning, and executive function in children's pre-reading skills, reading awareness, and reading comprehension. It is the first to examine this set of variables with preschool and school-aged children. A sample of 31 children completed language comprehension, working memory, cognitive flexibility, first-order false belief, and counterfactual reasoning measures when they were 3 to 5 years of age and completed second-order false belief, cognitive flexibility, reading comprehension, and reading awareness measures at 6 to 9 years of age. Results indicated that false belief understanding contributed to phrase and sentence comprehension and reading awareness, whereas cognitive flexibility and counterfactual reasoning accounted for unique variance in reading comprehension. Implications of the results for the development of reading skill are discussed.

The ability to discover a regularity among an ordered set of units, termed patterning, is a crucial cognitive ability that precedes pre-algebraic mathematics skills and possibly reading. However, there is limited research on the cognitive underpinnings of patterning. There is some suggestion that there is a relation between cognitive flexibility, which is the ability to switch attention between two aspects of a stimulus, and patterning. However, no research has focused on this relation in children during early school years, which is when these skills are developing. The current study examined the relation between patterning, cognitive flexibility, and reading in first-grade children in the expectation that they would be related. Performance on the patterning and the card sorting cognitive flexibility measures were significantly related. However, reading and cognitive flexibility were not significantly related. This study is one of the first to show that cognitive flexibility may be an important underlying component of patterning ability.

Skilled reading requires attention to many aspects of print at the same time. Some children demonstrate difficulty in attending flexibly to multiple features of print, often focusing solely on decoding or word-level information. These children often lack the insight that reading is more than decoding; they have a difficult time thinking about words as having both meaning and sound. This article reviews work that shows how children can be taught to think more about both words' sounds and their meanings, resulting in increased flexibility and comprehension for these children. Further, the article provides teachers with a simple strategy for helping students achieve increased flexibility in reading processes to aid them in making the transition to more fluent reading.

Traditional conceptions of cognitive development have failed to account for changes in adult cognition as well as more subjective and intuitive features of human experience. This paper reviews recent theories and research in cognitive development and spirituality with the aim of providing connections between the two domains. Neo-Piagetian and postformal theories of cognitive development suggest that advances in cognition are domain-specific, dependent on individual experience, and can occur at any point in the lifespan. However, theories of spiritual development have not adequately addressed these points. Thus, a novel account of spiritual development is presented that addresses these features with respect to individuals' changing conceptions of their relation to an External Power.

Reading comprehension plays an integral role in adults’ daily lives and is thus central to adults’ positive life outcomes. Yet, millions of American adults lack the requisite reading skills necessary for basic literacy. Although research on adult literacy has traditionally focused on cognitive aspects of reading processes, the field has recently turned attention to the important role of positive, subjective factors such as motivation, in adults’ reading comprehension development. Expert adult readers read often, with interest, and are highly motivated, providing models of optimal life outcomes that point to potential areas of intervention for adults with low literacy.

The present studies investigated children's use of verb inflections to guide their initial mapping of verb meanings. Given that children initially apply the progressive-inginflection to verbs denoting actions and the past-edinflection to verbs denoting results of events, two studies were conducted to investigate whether children use these inflections during mapping of novel verb meanings. In both studies, subjects were taught novel verbs and were asked to extend those verbs to events in which the action or result differed from events used to teach the verbs. It was predicted that subjects would be less likely to extend verbs inflected with-ingto events with new actions and would be less likely to extend verbs inflected with-edto events with new results. Eighteeen three- and five-year-olds and 24 adults participated in Experiment 1 in a between-subjects design that produced weak effects for the youngest subjects tested. Experiment 2 tested 16 three-year-olds and 19 five-year-olds in a within-subjects design and produced the predicted effect for three-year-olds, but not for five-year-olds. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for early verb learning and regarding the use of the bootstrapping construct in language acquisition research.

Reading is complex and requires that individuals process many types of information concurrently. Contemporary perspectives on cognitive development focus on the ability to process cognitively complex stimuli, indicate cognitive development is domain-specific, and suggest cognitive development occurs across the lifespan. Yet little work has examined reading-specific cognitive developmental variation and its contribution to skilled reading. This study investigated the contribution of a measure of reading-specific cognitive development, graphophonological-semantic flexibility (the ability to process concurrently phonological and semantic information associated with print), to reading comprehension in college students. Graphophonological-semantic flexibility made a unique contribution to adults' reading comprehension over phonological and semantic processing assessed independently, even when general cognitive ability was controlled. Implications for the simple view of reading are discussed.