The social foundation of executive function

Abstract

In this study, we propose that infant social cognition may ‘bootstrap' the successive development of domain‐general cognition in line with the cultural intelligence hypothesis. Using a longitudinal design, 6‐month‐old infants (N = 118) were assessed on two basic social cognitive tasks targeting the abilities to share attention with others and understanding other peoples' actions. At 10 months, we measured the quality of the child's social learning environment, indexed by parent's abilities to provide scaffolding behaviors during a problem‐solving task. Eight months later, the children were followed up with a cognitive test‐battery, including tasks of inhibitory control and working memory. Our results showed that better infant social action understanding interacted with better parental scaffolding skills in predicting simple inhibitory control in toddlerhood. This suggests that infants' who are better at understanding other's actions are also better equipped to make the most of existing social learning opportunities, which in turn may benefit future non‐social cognitive outcomes.

Sensitive periods in executive function development

“…Recent research points towards extensive reorganisation occurring within the prefrontal cortex in early infancy [ 60 ]. Factors occurring within the first few months of life ( Figure 1 ), such as parent-child interactions [ 61 ], including scaffolding [ 20 ] and interaction contingency [ 62 ], or levels of cognitive stimulation [ 63 ], may critically impact early brain development and the development of capacities such as attentional regulation, which form the ‘building blocks’ of EFs, later leading to altered EF development. Without such input in infancy, as may be the case in institutions, EF development may be perturbed.…”

Social and emotional contexts predict the development of gaze following in early infancy

“…No other variables were analysed in this study other than those reported here, to avoid the false-discovery rate inflation associated with mass-correlations. Two other studies have been published from the BASICchild project, focusing on action prediction, action evaluation and motor development [ 42 ] and on the relation between action prediction, action evaluation in infancy and later executive control [ 72 ] using other variables than those reported here.…”

Exploring Environmental Influences on Infant Development and Their Potential Role in Processes of Cultural Transmission and Long-Term Technological Change

“…Well before a child can understand speech, he/she will begin to attend to the world in ways that are guided by the interests and values of those around them. The ability to follow eye-gaze at 6 months is correlated with later executive function at 18 months, with the relationship depending on the quality of parent-infant interaction over the preceding months (Marciszko et al 2020). Specifically, parent interaction that uses the Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic (WEIRD) pedagogical approach of 'scaffolding', i.e.…”

“…Specifically, parent interaction that uses the Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic (WEIRD) pedagogical approach of 'scaffolding', i.e. that supports a child's rehearsal of an ability until they can perform it independently, predicts a profile of executive function that is considered favourable within WEIRD societies (Marciszko et al 2020), and which predicts higher achievement within a WEIRD formal schooling system (Clair-Thompson and Gathercole 2006). Following the eye-gaze of adults is also thought to contribute to the cultural transmission of visual attentional style, which has been used to explain cultural differences in judgment and memory (Chua, Boland, and Nisbett 2005).…”