Cool executive function measures show ascending age-related growth across adolescence, with a growth spurt around age 14–15¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associationalr2·q2·i3large
Currency · newest study 2018 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2023: baselines and conditions change
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i3 Working memory (backward digit span) improves significantly with age in adolescents aged 12–17, with a developmental spurt around age 15. → Poon K 2018
Evidence¶
Poon K 2018¶
Poon K (2018) Hot and Cool Executive Functions in Adolescence: Development and Contributions to Important Developmental Outcomes. Front. Psychol. 8:2311. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02311
q2 · i3 · associational · r2
Cross-sectional ANCOVA of 136 adolescents in six age groups (12–17), controlling general intellectual ability, on backward digit span. The article reports "Significant age effects was identified" with F(5, 135) = 6.26, p < 0.001, η p2 = 0.19, and post-hoc tests showing 17-year-olds outperforming 12- to 14-year-olds.
"Significant age effects was identified [ F(5, 135) = 6.26, p < 0.001, η p2 = 0.19] with older adolescents demonstrating higher working memory capacity."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Backward digit span performance does not emerge until about age 5, whereas forward span is measurable from age 3 — related
- Verbal working memory shows non-linear growth from ages 3–19, with the most rapid growth during childhood and a brief accelerated period during early adolescence — related
- World knowledge-based audience design improves between ages 11–12 and 15–16 during online referential production — related
- Executive function increases with age between 11–12 and 15–16, but knowledge attribution assumptions do not — related
- Working memory capacity is significantly smaller in lower-SES than higher-SES adolescents — related
- Younger students mostly use concrete strategies (e.g., inserting numbers) while older students use abstract rule-based strategies, with the transition around age 14–15 — related
- Cool EF measures correlate with each other, but no association is found between cool and hot EF measures
- Male and female WM growth trajectories do not differ: sex-by-age interactions are non-significant after multiple-comparison correction — related
- When PSID-CDS data are restricted to ages 6–11, backward digit span growth is best characterized by a quadratic (not cubic) function — related
- Psycho-motor capacity as measured by the form board increases at every age from two to seventeen — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
cool-ef-ascending-growth-adolescence |
title |
Cool executive function measures show ascending age-related growth across adolescence, with a growth spurt around age 14–15 |
description |
Cool executive function measures show ascending age-related growth across adolescence, with a growth spurt around age 14–15 |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2018 |
source_checked |
2026-10-20 |
recheck_by |
2023 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-16 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — poon-k-2018 |
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