THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION IN EARLY ...

memory limitations per se do not constrain children's executive function on the DCCS. (b) Children can use
bidimensional rules when these rules are not in conflict, indicating that switching between dimensions per se is
not the problem either. (c) Children have difficulty using even a single pair of rules when these rules are in
conflict but can use conflicting rules when doing so does not require switching between dimensions. This
highlights the importance of rule conflict and supports the hypothesis that children have difficulty formulating
and using a higher order rule for selecting between setting conditions and resolving the conflict. (d) Stimulus
separation among test cards does not seem to be related to performance, indicating that the findings from the
DCCS cannot be attributed to holistic versus analytic perceptual processing. (f) Children perform well on Total
Change versions of the DCCS, suggesting that conflict at the level of dimensions does not pose a problem for
most children. (g) Many children perform poorly in Partial Change versions, suggesting first that children do
not perseverate in making particular responses to specific test cards, second that conflict at the level of specific
rules does indeed pose a problem for children, and third that this conflict is due to persisting activation of the
preswitch rules. (h) Many children perform poorly in the Negative Priming version, but well in the Negative
Priming (redundant preswitch) version. This suggests that selecting the preswitch rules against a competing
alternative results in inhibition of the competing rules that persists into the postswitch phase and makes it
difficult for children to select those rules when required to do so.
Considered together, the results of these studies provided the basis for revision of CCC theory to CCC-r, which
(a) specifies more clearly the circumstances in which children will have difficulty using rules at various levels
of complexity, (b) provides a more detailed account of how to determine the complexity of rules required in a
task, (c) takes account of both the activation and inhibition of rules as a function of experience, and (d)
highlights the importance of considering intentionality in the study of executive function.