A primary aim of the neuropsychological revolution has been the mapping of what has come to be known as executive function (EF). This term encompasses a range of mental processes such as working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility that, together, regulate our social behavior, and our emotional and cognitive well-being. In this book, top scientists from a variety of fields investigate executive function as it develops in early childhood. Because researchers differ in their conceptualizations of basic processes and even in how they define EF itself, contributors begin by discussing comparability and replicability, key issues which are of primary importance to those seeking to move the field to a new level of rigor. Next, they tackle the nuts-and-bolts of the development of EF in preschoolers, including the neurobiological mechanisms and circuitry that underlie EF development as well as the role of EF in assessing risk--and its counterpart, resilience. Finally, they highlight exciting new clinical applications of EF research, including the use of EF in contextualizing and assessing family risk, the impact of socioeconomic status on neurological development, and the promotion of EF development through early education programs. This book is comprised of three parts. Following an introduction to executive function in preschool-age children by James A. Griffin, Lisa S. Freund, Peggy McCardle, Rebecca DelCarmen-Wiggins, and Abigail Haydon, Part I, Conceptualization and Measurement of Executive Function, contains the following chapters: (1) Why Improving and Assessing Executive Functions Early in Life Is Critical (Adele Diamond); (2) Incorporating Early Development into the Measurement of Executive Function: The Need for a Continuum of Measures across Development (Stephanie M. Carlson, Susan Faja, and Danielle M. Beck); (3) Structure, Measurement, and Development of Preschool Executive Function (Jennifer Mize Nelson, Tiffany D. James, Nicolas Chevalier, Caron A. C. Clark, and Kimberly Andrews Espy); (4) Longitudinal Measurement of Executive Function in Preschoolers (Michael T. Willoughby and Clancy B. Blair); and (5) Conceptions of Executive Function and Regulation: When and to What Degree Do They Overlap? (Nancy Eisenberg and Qing Zhou). Part II, Neurodevelopment and Executive Function, contains the following chapters: (6) Infant Cognitive Abilities: Potential Building Blocks of Later Executive Functions (Susan A. Rose, Judith F. Feldman, and Jeffery J. Jankowski); (7) Psychobiology of Executive Function in Early Development (Martha Ann Bell and Kimberly Cuevas); (8) Imaging Executive Functions in Typically and Atypically Developed Children (Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus, Scott K. Holland, and Lisa S. Freund); and (9) Development of Selective Sustained Attention: The Role of Executive Functions (Anna Fisher and Heidi Kloos). Part III, Executive Function and Translational Research on Risk and Prevention, includes the following chapters: (10) Preschool Executive Functions in the Context of Family Risk (Megan M. McClelland, Leslie D. Leve, and Katherine C. Pears); (11) Socioeconomic Status and the Development of Executive Function: Behavioral and Neuroscience Approaches (Gwendolyn M. Lawson, Cayce J. Hook, Daniel A. Hackman, and Martha J. Farah); (12) Assessing Developmental Trajectories of Executive Function in Low-Income, Ethnic Minority Preschoolers: Opportunities and Challenges (Margaret O'Brien Caughy, Margaret Tresch Owen, and Jamie Hurst DeLuna); (13) Promoting the Development of Executive Functions through Early Education and Prevention Programs (Karen L. Bierman and Marcela Torres); and (14) Conceptual Clutter and Measurement Mayhem: Proposals for Cross-Disciplinary Integration in Conceptualizing and Measuring Executive Function (Frederick J. Morrison and Jennie K. Grammer). Contains an index and a section about the editors.