title: Children's planning performance in the Zoo Map task (BADS-C): Is it driven by general cognitive ability, executive functioning, or prospection?
abstract: A minimal amount of research has examined the cognitive predictors of children's performance in naturalistic, errand-type planning tasks such as the Zoo Map task of the Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome for Children (BADS-C). Thus, the current study examined prospection (i.e., the ability to remember to carry out a future intention), executive functioning, and intelligence markers as predictors of performance in this widely used naturalistic planning task in 56 children aged 7- to 12-years-old. Measures of planning, prospection, inhibition, crystallized intelligence, and fluid intelligence were collected in an individual differences study. Regression analyses showed that prospection (rather than traditional measures of intelligence or inhibition) predicted planning, suggesting that naturalistic planning tasks such as the Zoo Map task may rely on future-oriented cognitive processes rather than executive problem solving or general knowledge.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Geneva , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ballhausen
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychology , Brock University , St. Catharines , Ontario , Canada.
authors.forename: Caitlin E V
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Mahy
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Geneva , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hering
authors.affiliation: c Department of Psychology , University of Heidelberg , Germany.
authors.forename: Babett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Voigt
authors.affiliation: d School of Psychology , University of Aberdeen , UK.
authors.forename: Katharina M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Schnitzspahn
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Geneva , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Prune
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lagner
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Geneva , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ihle
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Geneva , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kliegel
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D065854:Spatial Navigation / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Children; planning; prospection; zoo map task