School enrolment and executive functioning: A longitudinal perspective on developmental changes, the influence of learning context, and the prediction of pre-academic skills

Roebers, Claudia M.; Röthlisberger, Martina; Cimeli, Patrizia; Michel, Eva; Neuenschwander, Regula

doi:10.1080/17405629.2011.571841

Cited by 76 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(39 reference statements)

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“…As for interference control, an adapted version of the Fruit Stroop task by Archibald & Kerns (1999) was applied (Roebers, Röthlisberger, Cimeli, Michel, & Neuenschwander, 2011). Four different pages, with five rows of five stimuli in each row were presented.…”

Section: Inhibitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Executive Functions and Their Differential Contribution to Sustained Attention in 5- to 8-Year-Old Children

Loher

Roebers²

2013

JEDP

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Everyday routine in general and school settings in particular make high demands on children's abilities to sustain their focus of attention over longer time periods. School tasks thus require the child to accomplish the task on an appropriate level of performance while maintaining the focus of attention even under repetitious or distracting conditions. However, sustained attention (SA) may be a more heterogeneous construct than commonly assumed as it requires the individual not only to sustain attentional capacities but also to store and maintain the task rule (working memory), to inhibit inappropriate responses (inhibition), and to switch according to requirements (switching). It might thus involve processes counted among executive functions (EF). In the present study, performance in EF tasks (covering the core components inhibition, switching, and working memory) and in a SA task was assessed in 118 children, aged between 5;0 and 8;11 years. Similar age-dependent performance trajectories were found in EF components and SA, indicating ongoing performance improvements between 5 until at least 8 years of age in SA and in EF. Interrelations between single EF components and SA showed to be small to moderate. Finally, different patterns of SA performance predictions were found in age-homogeneous subgroups with inhibition being crucial for SA performance in the youngest and switching in the oldest age group. Taken as a whole, even though similarities in assumed developmental trajectories and substantial interrelations point to common underlying processes in EF and SA, age-dependent patterns of explained variance indicate clear discriminability.

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Section: Inhibitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Executive Functions and Their Differential Contribution to Sustained Attention in 5- to 8-Year-Old Children

Loher

Roebers²

2013

JEDP

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“…In addition to working memory, inhibition as well as cognitive flexibility are closely linked with performance on pre-math and pre-reading tasks, suggesting that in contrast to findings in school-aged children, the three EF components are of equal importance in early childhood (Bull et al, 2008;Clark, Pritchard, & Woodward, 2010;Espy et al, 2004;Roebers et al, 2011;Willoughby et al, 2012). Together with the assumption of a more unitary structure of EF in preschool children, these results support research in which a composite measure of EF has been used and in which strong associations with math and reading achievement have been found (Clark et al, 2010;Welsh, Nix, Blair, Bierman, & Nelson, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, it seems that the magnitude of developmental change is larger in preschoolers than in school-aged children (Altemeier et al, 2008;Roebers et al, 2011;Willoughby et al, 2012b). Moreover, developmental differences are task-specific in some cases, meaning that they show little developmental changes in one task and large changes in another task (Van der Ven et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Executive Functions in 5- to 8-Year Olds: Developmental Changes and Relationship to Academic Achievement

Röthlisberger¹,

Neuenschwander²,

Cimeli³

et al. 2013

JEDP

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Pronounced improvements in executive functions (EF) during preschool years have been documented in cross-sectional studies. However, longitudinal evidence on EF development during the transition to school and predictive associations between early EF and later school achievement are still scarce. This study examined developmental changes in EF across three time-points, the predictive value of EF for mathematical, reading and spelling skills and explored children's specific academic attainment as a function of early EF. Participants were 323 children following regular education; 160 children were enrolled in prekindergarten (younger cohort: 69 months) and 163 children in kindergarten (older cohort: 78.4 months) at the first assessment. Various tasks of EF were administered three times with an interval of one year each. Mathematical, reading and spelling skills were measured at the last assessment. Individual background characteristics such as vocabulary, non-verbal intelligence and socioeconomic status were included as control variables. In both cohorts, changes in EF were substantial; improvements in EF, however, were larger in preschoolers than school-aged children. EF assessed in preschool accounted for substantial variability in mathematical, reading and spelling achievement two years later, with low EF being especially associated with significant academic disadvantages in early school years. Given that EF continue to develop from preschool into primary school years and that starting with low EF is associated with lower school achievement, EF may be considered as a marker or risk for academic disabilities.

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“…Although some studies have found beneficial effects of schooling on various aspects of executive functioning (e.g., Burrage et al, 2008;McCrea, Mueller, & Parrila, 1999;Roebers et al, 2011), the findings have been inconsistent (see Roebers et al, 2011), and the effect sizes have been small. Despite the fact that the 5-to-7 shift has been an important topic in developmental psychology research, the emerging field of developmental cognitive neuroscience has thus far been silent about it.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Does One Year of Schooling Improve Children’s Cognitive Control and Alter Associated Brain Activation?

2017

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The "5-to-7-year shift" refers to the remarkable improvements observed in children's cognitive abilities during this age range, particularly in their ability to exert control over their attention and behavior-that is, their executive functioning. As this shift coincides with school entry, the extent to which it is driven by brain maturation or by exposure to formal schooling is unclear. In this longitudinal study, we followed 5-year-olds born close to the official cutoff date for entry into first grade and compared those who subsequently entered first grade that year with those who remained in kindergarten, which is more play oriented. The first graders made larger improvements in accuracy on an executive-function test over the year than did the kindergartners. In an independent functional MRI task, we found that the first graders, compared with the kindergartners, exhibited a greater increase in activation of right posterior parietal cortex, a region previously implicated in sustained attention; increased activation in this region was correlated with the improvement in accuracy. These results reveal how the environmental context of formal schooling shapes brain mechanisms underlying improved focus on cognitively demanding tasks.

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School enrolment and executive functioning: A longitudinal perspective on developmental changes, the influence of learning context, and the prediction of pre-academic skills

Cited by 76 publications

References 31 publications

Executive Functions and Their Differential Contribution to Sustained Attention in 5- to 8-Year-Old Children

Executive Functions and Their Differential Contribution to Sustained Attention in 5- to 8-Year-Old Children

Executive Functions in 5- to 8-Year Olds: Developmental Changes and Relationship to Academic Achievement

Does One Year of Schooling Improve Children’s Cognitive Control and Alter Associated Brain Activation?

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