The Discrepancy between Actual Performance and Self-Awareness among Adolescents with Executive Function Deficits

Abstract

Adolescents with executive function deficits (EFD) struggle to perform complex daily activities and have difficulty being self-aware of their performance. This study aimed to compare actual performance with self-awareness of performance among adolescents with EFD before and after a metacognitive intervention. The participants consisted of 41 adolescents aged 10 to 14 years, previously diagnosed with EFD. All performed the Children’s Cooking Task (CCT), and completed the Behavioral Rating Inventory Executive Function—Self-Report (BRIEF-SR) and the Self-Awareness of Performance Questionnaire. Significant positive differences were found in the time duration and the total number of errors from the CCT and three BRIEF-SR subscale scores before and after the intervention. No significant differences were found in self-awareness of performance. After a cognitive intervention, adolescents with EFD improved their performance of a learned skill, but their self-awareness of their performance remained unchanged. These results may imply that EFD inhibits self-awareness development, and that self-awareness may not depend on task performance, but, rather, is influenced by other external factors. The article reports the secondary analysis from the results of the Functional Individualized Therapy for Teenagers with Executive Deficits (FITTED) intervention on human participants.