Early language environments are considered to support children's language development; however, it is unclear to what extent early language environments relate to skills other than language abilities. We examined (1) whether the preschool language environment (measured as adult words heard and conversational turns) is associated with children's…

Executive function (EF) measures used with African children heavily depend on task-based assessments normed in minority world settings. This reliance poses a challenge as it limits the understanding of how children display their EF behaviours within their own culture. Environmental factors including income and parenting are associated with…

Including robots in children's lives calls for reflection on the psychological and moral aspects of such relationships, especially with respect to children's ability to differentiate intentional from unintentional false statements, that is, lies from mistakes. This ability calls for an understanding of an interlocutor's intentions. This study…

Identifying factors that contribute to spatial thinking is of great interest given links between spatial thinking and success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Working memory has been found to be predictive of spatial thinking but little research has explored other components of executive function (i.e.,…

Caregiver executive functions (EFs) play an integral role in shaping cognitive development. Here, we investigated how caregiver EF abilities (86 caregivers; "mean age" = 33.4 years, SD = 4.5) was associated with visual working memory (VWM) in infants (86 infants females; mean age = 250.6 days, SD = 35.8). The BRIEF-A was used to assess…

In this registered report, we evaluated how sleep is related to school functioning. Using data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3002), we evaluated a series of structural equation models evaluating whether sleep at age 5 has a direct or indirect effect on academic achievement, executive function and classroom behaviour at…

Self-regulation is the ability to control cognitive, behavioural and social-emotional processes in service of one's goals. In the preschool years, self-regulation develops rapidly, and during this period, it is influenced by the plasticity of the underlying neurofunctional circuits. Since good early self-regulation skills favour positive…

Measures of parasympathetic regulation, such as respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), predict executive function outcomes, including inhibitory control, across childhood. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia augmentation tends to be associated with more maladaptive outcomes, compared to RSA suppression, but the literature regarding RSA profiles and…

This study explores the extent to which medical and sociodemographic variables and cognitive and language skills are associated with executive function (EF) skills in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) graduates at 24 months of adjusted age. We explored cognitive, language, and EF skills in 42 NICU graduates who participated in a NICU follow-up…

Executive function (EF) skills are consistently associated with global mathematics assessments. However, less is known about which specific mathematics skills invoke EF in early childhood. We adapted batteries of EF, numerical, and patterning tasks to be conducted via synchronous video conferencing with typically developing 4-year-old children (N…

How might we shift language about executive functions and self-regulation for minoritized children and families to be more culturally sensitive? The objective of this essay is to offer a culturally responsive perspective on executive functions for minoritized children and their families, while also identifying myths and counterarguments to advance…

Both theory of mind (ToM) and executive functioning have been related to children's academic abilities. In a longitudinal study with 112 children, we investigated the influence of these two abilities on children's math and reading performance at 7 years of age. We found that math performance was predicted by concurrent working memory as well as by…

Executive function (EF) is essential for academic achievement, successful work, and physical and mental health. Although evidence shows that several factors have been linked to EF, these results are mixed. This study aims to identify both biological and environmental variables associated with impaired EF in preschoolers. This study was a…

Spanking and parental verbal aggression are potentially toxic stressors that can negatively affect children's academic achievement by disrupting mental skills like executive function. Yet little empirical evidence has been provided for this mediating pathway. This study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort of…