Executive functions change during the lifespan and can both be improved or adversely affected by various events that affect an individual. For example, resource-rich environments, stress-response systems are understood to shape brain development in ways conducive to executive function and high levels of self-control. Conversely, in lower-resource unpredictable environments, stress-response systems are understood to shape the brain in ways that promote highly reactive behavior and poor executive function ability leading to school failure and early school leaving. Knowing well the impact of stress and an unfavorable environment on the development of executive functions can lead to the construction of intervention programs that can guide these children from disadvantage towards resilience.

(1) Background: Several findings have shown how social stimuli can influence attentional processes. Social attention is crucial in team ball sports, in which players have to react to dynamically changing, unpredictable, and externally paced environments. Our study aimed at demonstrating the influence of social processing on team ball sports athletes’ attentional abilities. (2) Methods: A total of 103 male players divided by sport (soccer, handball, and basketball) and by role (striker, midfielder, or defender) were tested through a modified version of the Attention Network Test (ANT) in which they were exposed to both social and non-social stimuli. (3) Results: Social stimuli positively impacted the athletes’ abilities to focus on target stimuli and ignore conflicting environmental requests (t = −2.600, p = 0.011 *). We also found that the athletes’ roles impacted their performance accuracy. Specifically, differences were found in the ability to maintain a general state of reactivity between athletes (strikers vs. midfielders: t = 3.303, p = 0.004 **; striker vs. defenders: t = −2.820, p = 0.017 *; midfielders vs. defenders: t = −5.876, p < 001 ***). (4) Conclusion: These findings revealed that social stimuli are crucial for performance enhancement in team ball sports athletes. Further, we suggest that it is possible to draw specific attentional profiles for athletes in different roles.

For decades, researchers have suggested the existence of a bilingual cognitive advantage, especially in tasks involving executive functions such as inhibition, shifting, and updating. Recently, an increasing number of studies have questioned whether bilingualism results in a change in executive functions, highlighting conflicting data published in the literature. The present study compared the performance of third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade bilingual and monolingual children on attentional and cognitive tasks. The participants were 61 monolingual and 74 bilingual children (M = 114.6 months; SD = 8.48 months) who were tested on two versions of the attention network task (ANT), with and without social stimuli, as well as tests investigating working memory, short-term memory, narrative memory, and receptive vocabulary. Data on families’ socioeconomic status and children’s reasoning abilities were also collected. The results showed that bilingualism and socioeconomic status affected attentional networks in tasks involving social stimuli. In tasks involving non-social stimuli, socioeconomic status only affected the alerting and executive conflict networks. Consistent with the literature, a positive relationship emerged between socioeconomic status and executive control in the context of social stimuli, and a negative relationship emerged between socioeconomic status and the alerting network in the context of non-social stimuli. Interestingly, neither socioeconomic status nor social attentional networks correlated with working memory. Therefore, although more investigations are required, the results suggest that differences in social contexts mainly affect attentional functions.

For decades, researchers have suggested the existence of a bilingual cognitive advantage, especially in tasks involving executive functions such as inhibition, shifting, and updating. Recently, an increasing number of studies have questioned whether bilingualism results in change in executive functions, highlighting conflicting data published in the literature. The present study compared the performance of third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade bilingual and monolingual children on attentional and cognitive tasks. Participants were 61 monolingual and 74 bilingual children (M = 114.6 months; SD = 8.48 months) who were tested on two versions of the Attention Network Task (ANT), with and without social stimuli, as well as tests investigating working memory, short-term memory, narrative memory, and receptive vocabulary. Data on families&rsquo; socioeconomic status and children&rsquo;s reasoning abilities were also collected. The results showed that bilingualism and socioeconomic status affected attentional networks in tasks involving social stimuli. In tasks involving non-social stimuli, socioeconomic status only affected the alerting and executive conflict networks. Consistent with the literature, a positive relationship emerged between socioeconomic status and executive control in the context of social stimuli, and a negative relationship emerged between socioeconomic status and the alerting network in the context of non-social stimuli. Interestingly, neither socioeconomic status nor social attentional networks correlated with working memory. Therefore, although more investigations are required, the results suggest that differences in social contexts mainly affect attentional functions.

For decades, researchers have suggested the existence of a bilingual cognitive advantage, especially in tasks involving executive functions such as inhibition, shifting, and updating. Recently an increasing number of studies have questioned whether or not bilingualism results in a change in executive functions based on conflicted data reported in the literature. This study compared the performance of third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade bilingual and monolingual children on attentional and cognitive tasks. The participants were 61 monolingual and 74 bilingual children (M:114,6 months; S.D.: 8,48 months). Participants were tested on two versions of the attention task (ANT), with and without social stimuli, and in some tests investigating working memory and receptive vocabulary tests. Additionally, we examined the sociocultural status and the reasoning abilities of the participants&#039; families. The results show how bilingualism and the sociocultural index affect attentional networks when the task uses social stimuli or has no social value. When the task implies non-social stimuli, only the sociocultural index shows a difference between groups in the executive conflict network. Examining the relationships between the different variables that we considered, it is possible to note a positive relationship between the sociocultural index and executive control with social stimuli and a negative relationship between the alert network with non-social stimuli, both already documented in the literature (Schibli et al.., 2017). Interestingly, neither the sociocultural index nor the social attentional networks correlate with working memory functioning. Therefore, even if more investigations are required, the differences in social contexts mainly affect attentional functions.