The relation between effortful control and executive function training in preschoolers.

In recent years, the question of whether executive function (EF) is malleable has been widely documented. Despite using the same training tasks, transfer effects remain uncertain. Researchers suggested that the inconsistency might be attributed to individual differences in temperamental traits. In the current study, we investigated how effortful control, a temperamental trait, would affect EF training outcomes in children. Based on parent rating, 79 6-year-old preschoolers were identified as having higher or lower effort control and were assigned to three conditions: working memory (WM) training, inhibitory control (IC) training, and a business-as-usual control group. Children completed assessments at baseline, 1 week after intervention (posttest), and 3 months after intervention (follow-up). As compared with the control group, the WM and IC training groups showed improvement in both trained tasks and nontrained measures. At baseline, children with higher effortful control scores showed greater WM capacity and better IC. Furthermore, effortful control was positively correlated with training gain in both training groups, with children with higher effortful control benefitting more through training. In the WM training group, effortful control was positively correlated with near transfer on WM outcomes both immediately and longitudinally. At posttest, the WM and IC training groups showed a positive correlation between effortful control and fluid intelligence performance. Our results underscore the importance of individual differences in training benefits, in particular the role of effortful control, and further illustrate the potential avenues for designing more effective individualized cognitive training programs to foster learning and optimize children's development.

Stressful life events and children's socioemotional difficulties: Conditional indirect effects of resilience and executive function.

Although the association between life stress and children's socioemotional difficulties has been widely documented, few studies have adopted a cognitive-based resilience framework studying preadolescent psychosocial adjustment. This study examined whether the stress-difficulties associations are mediated by resilience and moderated by executive function (EF). A sample of 144 typically developing Chinese children (aged 10-12 years) completed measures assessing stressful life events, socioemotional difficulties, resilience, and computer-based EF (including working memory [WM] capacity and WM updating, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility). The results showed that stressful life events were positively associated with socioemotional difficulties through the mediating effect of diminished resilience. The direct and indirect effects of stressful life events on socioemotional difficulties varied across individual differences in EF. Specifically, compared with low to medium levels, high-level WM capacity and WM updating moderated the association between stressful life events and socioemotional difficulties. Cognitive flexibility moderated both direct and indirect effects, showing that for children with low to medium levels of cognitive flexibility, life stress was positively associated with socioemotional difficulties via the role of lower resilience; however, for those with high levels of cognitive flexibility, the direct and indirect effects were not significant. Inhibitory control showed significant direct associations with resilience and socioemotional difficulties but failed to be a moderator. The characteristics of the low-stress sample might limit the generalizability of this study. Nevertheless, our findings provide a rationale for integrating a cognitive-based resilience process and the multifaceted structure of EF to understand and promote preadolescents' positive adaptation.

Whether verbal and visuospatial working memory play different roles in pupil's mathematical abilities.

BACKGROUND: Previous research showed a significant association between mathematics and working memory (WM). However, evidence regarding the different effects of verbal and visuospatial WM on mathematical abilities was very limited. AIMS: The current research aims to explore the relationship between verbal and visuospatial WM with mathematical abilities, and how this relationship is moderated by age and math domains. We also wonder whether the results would change when we use several tests for each component and use a latent variable approach for more reliable measurement. SAMPLE: 131 first graders and 144 fifth graders from a primary school in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, participated our research. METHODS: All participants completed three verbal and three visuospatial WM tasks, mathematics tests, and fluid intelligence test. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine the pattern of relations among these constructs. RESULTS: The results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that verbal WM significantly predicted mathematics achievement for fifth graders, while failed for first graders. However, visuospatial WM played a substantive role in both graders' mathematical performance. The different role of the two WM components also depend on various fields of mathematics. CONCLUSION: Our results indicated the distinct influence of verbal and visuospatial WM on primary school students' mathematical abilities and highlighted the developmental and domain-specific effects of WM on mathematics.