Inhibition and Working Memory (WM) are crucial predictors of everyday life autonomies in people with Down Syndrome (DS). We aimed to investigate the possible relationship between different levels of autonomy, inhibitory sub-components and WM in people with DS. Twenty-two adolescents and adults with DS were enrolled in the study and were assessed…

Advances in technology have enabled museum curators to employ equipment that can measure visitors' physiological responses, offering a means to monitor these responses, while, at the same time, potentially engaging visitors. However, it is unclear whether these devices genuinely promote a positive experience or, conversely, are perceived as…

The study investigates whether Italian verbal inflectional morphology is associated with inhibitory control skills after controlling for receptive vocabulary and verbal working memory. A sample of Italian preschoolers aged 4;0 to 6;0 was assessed using a standardized inhibitory control task tapping two different inhibitory skills (response…

Literature underlines the social stigma frequently connected to children with SLD associated with vulnerability to social exclusion and lower socio-emotional competencies. Consequently, they may internalise this biased perspective, affecting their sense of self and behaviour in social contexts. The present study aims to explore socio-emotional…

In this paper, we investigated the contribution of both cognitive and affective factors to mathematical skills. In particular, we looked at the protective role of self-concept for mathematical learning and performance. In a field study, we tested the relation of math self-concept and short-term visuo-spatial working memory to the mathematical…

This study aims at investigating the relationship between working memory updating and working memory capacity in preschool children. A sample of 176 preschoolers (36-74 months) was administered a working memory updating task (Magic House) along with three working memory capacity tests that specifically measure their core attentional component (M…

In this paper, I examine memory as it relates to politics and early childhood education in the context of the internationally known preschools of Reggio Emilia in Italy. I draw a connection between foundational stories, ideologies connected to Italian politics in the 1970s, and the construction of the educational visions in these preschools. To do…

Research on prospective memory has paid no attention to the way in which the intentions to be remembered are framed. In two studies on time-based prospective memory, participants had to remember multiple delayed intentions framed as time rules (i.e., respond every 7 min, every 10 min) or as a series of corresponding instances (i.e., respond at…

Executive functions (EFs) are a set of high-level cognitive processes that enable children to perform a goal-directed behaviour. During the preschool years, EFs undergo significant developmental changes. Therefore, it is crucial to have reliable measures that accurately evaluate preschoolers' EFs in preschool-aged children. The present study aimed…

In the current study, we investigated the role of vocabulary knowledge in the relation between working memory (WM) and reading comprehension, in a sample of 55 typically developing 8-year-old Italian children. The role of WM in comprehension is well-established, as both involve similar processes for successful task performance (i.e., active…

Children's arithmetic performance is dependent on the arithmetic task format, but little is known about how domain-specific and domain-general abilities contribute to solving diverse arithmetic problems. In this study, 145 Italian typically developing children between the ages of five and six, who have not yet received formal schooling, were…

Interventions targeting cognitive control processes, such as Executive Functions (EF) have recently been experimented to enhance early math skills. This pilot study explored the feasibility and effectiveness of an intervention integrating EF activities into the mathematical domain among second-grade students. One hundred and four…

Limited longitudinal studies have explored the development of reading, along with its predictors, in a language characterized by shallow orthography and a simple syllabic structure. In a 5-year longitudinal study, we investigated the development of reading skills in 327 Italian-speaking children (male: n = 180, 55%) from Grade 1 (mean age = 6.16 ±…

Cognitive abilities are essential to children's overall growth; thus, the implementation of early and effective training interventions is a major challenge for developmental psychologists and teachers. This study explores whether an intervention simultaneously operating on fluid reasoning (FR), visuospatial, narrative, and motor abilities could…

Although metaphors are essential tools in everyday communication and educational settings, the literature lacks evidence of effective training tools to promote metaphor comprehension in typical development. Grounding in theoretical pragmatics, we developed a novel metaphor comprehension training (MetaCom) for school-age children that focuses on…