Executive attention and self-regulation in infancy

Self-Regulation

“…Research addressing the development of attentional control describes the transition from simple arousal to fully endogenous attention across the first few years of life (e.g., Colombo 2001) and the subsequent development of attentional capacities from childhood to late life (e.g., Posner and Rothbart 1998). Attentional processes play a major role in self-regulated action (e.g., Norman and Shallice's (1986) Supervisory Attentional System) and may especially relate to emotion regulation in infants and children (Sheese et al 2008). Children begin to display inhibitory control by approximately 3 years of age (Posner and Rothbart 1998), a time that corresponds to the onset of endogenous attention and also corresponds to the transition out of Piaget's preoperational stage (see Geldhof et al 2010 for a brief discussion).…”

The anterior cingulate gyrus and the mechanism of self-regulation

“…We also began a longitudinal study with 7-month-old infants (Sheese, Rothbart, Posner, White, & Fraundorf, 2007). We studied eye movements that occurred when attractive stimuli appeared in a fixed sequence of locations on a screen in front of the child.…”

Viewing Preschool Disruptive Behavior Disorders and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Through a Developmental Lens: What We Know and What We Need to Know

“…Although aspects of focused, obligatory attention are evident in infancy, 66 there are marked developmental changes in the control of attention during the preschool years. 67,68 Ruff, Capozzoli, and Weissberg 69 conducted a series of seminal studies on the development of sustained visual attention in preschool children.…”