Premium
An Event‐Related Potentials Study of Executive Functioning in Adults With a History of Institutionalization
Author(s) -
An Iuliia,
Zhukova Marina A.,
Ovchinnikova Irina,
Grigorenko Elena L.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
new directions for child and adolescent development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1534-8687
pISSN - 1520-3247
DOI - 10.1002/cad.20329
Subject(s) - stroop effect , psychology , developmental psychology , institutionalisation , inhibitory control , executive functions , population , event related potential , response inhibition , cognition , audiology , neuroscience , psychiatry , medicine , environmental health
The current study investigated the long‐term effects of institutionalization on the inhibitory control of young adults raised in orphanages using the color‐word Stroop task. We examined whether young adults raised in institutions (IC group; n = 24; M = 22.17 years, SD = 6.7) would demonstrate poorer behavioral performance and atypical neural response to incongruent stimuli compared to their peers raised in biological families (Biological Family Care, BFC group; n = 28; M = 22.25 years, SD = 4.9). Accuracy analysis revealed that all participants were less accurate in the incongruent condition, however, no group differences were found. Reaction time analysis showed that the institutional care (IC) group was overall slower than the BFC. No significant differences in neural response to stimuli incongruence were identified. The absence of group differences in the interference condition can be explained by the low complexity of the Stroop task in the current study. The IC group showed a reduced P3 event‐related potential component on both the congruent and incongruent trials. Findings suggest general attention difficulties in this population, rather than inhibitory control deficits.