As a novel approach to conceptualizing executive functions, this study applied network analysis to a common battery of executive function tests administered to a sample covering the life span. Participants (N = 3,944; age: M = 20.8 years, SD = 19.6, range: 3-85; maternal/self education: M = 12.9 years, SD = 2.6; 53.3% girls/women, 46.7% boys/men; 61.1% White, 18.2% African American, 14.0% Latinx, 6.8% other races/ethnicities) completed tests of inhibition, shifting, and updating/working memory. Zero-order and partial correlation network models were calculated for divided age groups, with network parameters compared between groups: edge weights, corresponding to zero-order or partial correlations between two executive functions; expected influence, quantifying centrality; and global strength, quantifying differentiation. Executive functions differentiated from childhood to adolescence and dedifferentiated during young adulthood, with further dedifferentiation at older adulthood. Shifting emerged as more central than other abilities in adolescence and adulthood versus childhood, with a mediational role of shifting between inhibition and updating/working memory. A network approach can appropriately capture the unity and diversity of executive functions, by which unity reflects the reciprocal engagement between diverse abilities to produce goal-directed behavior. The engagement between abilities, and a mediational role of shifting between inhibition and updating/working memory, may be necessary for the emergence of effective goal-directed behavior. Through a network approach, the unity of executive functions represents an emergent property of the dynamics between multiple abilities (e.g., inhibition, shifting, and updating/working memory) that, when working effectively in tandem, lead to integrative processes (e.g., problem solving) that contribute to successful executive behavior and goal attainment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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执行功能的统一性和多样性：生命周期发展的网络方法。

作为一种概念化执行功能的新方法，本研究将网络分析应用于对覆盖整个生命周期的样本进行的一组常见的执行功能测试。参与者（N = 3,944；年龄：M = 20.8 岁，SD = 19.6，范围：3-85；母亲/自我教育：M = 12.9 岁，SD = 2.6；53.3% 的女孩/女性，46.7% 的男孩/男性；61.1 % 白人、18.2% 非裔美国人、14.0% 拉丁裔、6.8% 其他种族/民族）完成了抑制、转移和更新/工作记忆的测试。计算分年龄组的零阶和偏相关网络模型，并在组之间比较网络参数：边缘权重，对应于两个执行功能之间的零阶或偏相关；预期影响，量化中心性；和全球实力，量化差异化。执行功能从儿童期到青春期有所不同，在青年期去分化，在成年期进一步去分化。在青春期和成年期与儿童期相比，转变比其他能力更重要，在抑制和更新/工作记忆之间转变具有中介作用。网络方法可以适当地捕捉执行功能的统一性和多样性，统一性反映了不同能力之间的相互参与，以产生目标导向的行为。能力之间的结合，以及在抑制和更新/工作记忆之间转换的中介作用，对于有效的目标导向行为的出现可能是必要的。通过网络方式，执行功能的统一性代表了多种能力（例如，抑制、转移和更新/工作记忆）之间动态的一种新兴特性，当它们有效地协同工作时，会导致有助于成功的综合过程（例如，解决问题）执行行为和目标达成。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2022 APA，保留所有权利）。