Gaining control: changing relations between executive control and processing speed and their relevance for mathematics achievement over course of the preschool period

Abstract

Early executive control (EC) predicts a range of academic outcomes and shows particularly strong associations with children's mathematics achievement. Nonetheless, a major challenge for EC research lies in distinguishing EC from related cognitive constructs that also are linked to achievement outcomes. Developmental cascade models suggest that children's information processing speed is a driving mechanism in cognitive development that supports gains in working memory, inhibitory control and associated cognitive abilities. Accordingly, individual differences in early executive task performance and their relation to mathematics may reflect, at least in part, underlying variation in children's processing speed. The aims of this study were to: (1) examine the degree of overlap between EC and processing speed at different preschool age points; and (2) determine whether EC uniquely predicts children's mathematics achievement after accounting for individual differences in processing speed. As part of a longitudinal, cohort-sequential study, 388 children (50% boys; 44% from low income households) completed the same battery of EC tasks at ages 3, 3.75, 4.5, and 5.25 years. Several of the tasks incorporated baseline speeded naming conditions with minimal EC demands. Multidimensional latent models were used to isolate the variance in executive task performance that did not overlap with baseline processing speed, covarying for child language proficiency. Models for separate age points showed that, while EC did not form a coherent latent factor independent of processing speed at age 3 years, it did emerge as a distinct factor by age 5.25. Although EC at age 3 showed no distinct relation with mathematics achievement independent of processing speed, EC at ages 3.75, 4.5, and 5.25 showed independent, prospective links with mathematics achievement. Findings suggest that EC and processing speed are tightly intertwined in early childhood. As EC becomes progressively decoupled from processing speed with age, it begins to take on unique, discriminative importance for children's mathematics achievement.

Longitudinal evidence linking processing speed to the development of reasoning

“…Clark et al . () found that 3‐year‐olds’ processing speed predicted their skill at mathematics as 5‐year‐olds (Clark, Nelson, Garza, Sheffield, Wiebe et al ., ); similarly, Rose, Feldman and Jankowski (in press) found that 3‐year‐olds’ processing speed predicted their lexical proficiency as 13‐year‐olds. Finally, Kail () showed that for 8‐ to 13‐year‐olds, more rapid processing speed was associated concurrently with greater WM, which predicted scores on a measure of fluid intelligence administered one year later.…”

Metacognitive Processes in Executive Control Development: The Case of Reactive and Proactive Control

“…For example, performance on task-switching paradigms in early childhood correlates with other cognitive control tasks, such as Go/No-Go and working memory span tasks (e.g., Chevalier et al, 2012), and loads onto the same latent factor as other cognitive control tasks (e.g., Clark et al, 2014). These findings make it likely that children in our study who did not show proactive profiles of performance instead relied on reactive control, rather than on non-controlled processes.…”

Depressive Symptoms, Cognition, and Everyday Function Among Community-Residing Older Adults

“…Some cognitive tests may have overlapping domains, possibly blurring domain-specific differences in the effects of depressive symptoms. This problem is difficult to avoid (e.g., Clark et al, 2014). It is important to understand more about the EF and SOP domains in the context of depressive symptoms, and to try to disentangle which impairment is most prominent because if the impairment is one of EF, it may influence how well a patient responds to a particular treatment (Alexopoulos et al, 2005).…”