Using a Game-Like Procedure as a Test of Executive Functions in Children

Concept Formation (CF) is an important skill necessary for academic performance, everyday functioning, and lifelong achievements (Blair & Razza, 2007). CF difficulties have been associated with social disadvantage possibly due to reduced learning opportunities (Blair, 2002). CF difficulties have also been associated with certain neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism-spectrum disorder (Kim et al., 2020). Importantly, research has shown that early intervention can support development of CF skills and improve quality of life (Pasnak, 2006). Despite its importance there are few assessments suitable for children, and assessments available in the UK often advantage English-speaking examinees who are familiar with Western culture.

The Alien Game was piloted by Pavitt (2017) and evidence was found to support its utility as a more culturally fair and child-friendly assessment of CF. This study aimed to further develop the Alien Game by improving the stimuli, developing a scoring procedure, and exploring concurrent and predictive validity.

Thirty-four children aged 8-11 years took part in this second pilot study, and five measures of performance in the Alien Game were identified. Performance was not found to correlate with verbal abilities, and speaking English as a first language did not support performance. A significant correlation was found between WISC-IV Matrix Reasoning (Wechsler, 2003) and performance, providing evidence of concurrent validity. No relationship was found between performance in the Alien Game and scores obtained via teacher-rated CHEXI (Thorell & Nyberg, 2008), so predictive validity could not be established. Importantly, children appeared to be engaged with the game and provided positive feedback.

Overall, these findings provide support for the Alien Game as a more culturally-fair and child-friendly measure of CF, which has clinical implications as an affordable and easy to administer screening tool. Early identification of CF difficulties can allow for targeted learning plans to be established to support children to develop this important skill.