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Tower of London: Planning Development in Children from 6 to 13 Years of Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2014

Irene Injoque-Ricle ,
Juan Pablo Barreyro ,
Alejandra Calero  and
Débora Inés Burin
Irene Injoque-Ricle*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Juan Pablo Barreyro
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Alejandra Calero
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Débora Inés Burin
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Irene Injoque-Ricle. Instituto de Investigaciones. Facultad de Psicología. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Av. Independencia 3056, 3° piso. (C1425AAM). Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (Argentina). Phone: +54–1149575886. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Executive Function is a multidimensional construct that includes a wide range of cognitive abilities that allow solving goal-directed behaviors efficiently. Its development begins in early childhood and continues through adolescence. A key aspect of Executive Function is planning, defined as the capacity to generate and organize the necessary step sequence to carry out a goal-directed behavior. The aim of this study was to assess the development of planning in children. The Tower of London task was used in 270 children aged 6, 8, 11, and 13 years. The results showed that the time required to generate and organize the plan to solve a goal-directed problem increases as the difficulty of the problem increases, and that older children need less time to solve problems with a certain level of difficulty than younger children F(15, 1330) = 8.787; MSE = 1.441; p < .01; η2 =.090. These results are in line with the findings that planning develops through childhood and even during the first years of adolescence.

Keywords

executive functionplanningtower of Londonchildrendevelopment
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 17 , 2014 , E77
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2014 

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