This systematic review synthesized current literature regarding the effect of physical activity (PA) interventions on brain structure (BS) and brain function (BF) in healthy children. This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews protocols and used the Rayyan web for data extraction. Eleven experimental studies were…

Executive control (EC) emerges in the first year of life, with the ability to inhibit prepotent responses (inhibitory control [IC]) and to flexibly readapt (cognitive flexibility [CF]) steadily improving. Simultaneously, electrophysiological brain activity undergoes profound reconfiguration, which has been linked to individual variability in EC.…

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies with adults provide evidence that functional brain networks, including the default mode network and frontoparietal network, underlie executive functioning (EF). However, given the challenges of using fMRI with infants and young children, little work has assessed the developmental trajectories of…

The authors compare pretend play and executive function both in preschool children with an acquired brain injury and in neurotypical preschool children. They find the ability to produce logical, sequenced pretend play actions and object substitutions in play correlates strongly with executive function ability in both groups, and working memory…

Educational interventions are frequently designed to occur during early childhood, based on the idea that earlier intervention will have greater long-term academic benefits. However, surprisingly little is known about when cognitive and academic skills are most plastic, or malleable, during development. One way to study plasticity is to ask…

Executive function (EF) skills are a set of attention-regulation skills involved in intentional, goal-directed behavior that include (but are not limited to) the cool EF skills of working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control, and also the hot EF skill of intentional reevaluation. These skills are inevitably expressed in goal- and…

Two of every three students in the classroom today are affected by at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE; Perfect et al., 2016). Recently, researchers have used a neurodevelopmental approach to try to categorize and describe the connection between the neurological, cognitive, and academic success of children with ACEs and may have…

The influence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on the developing child across several domains of functioning has much theoretical and empirical support. Yet, surprisingly, the impact of ACEs on the development of language skills specifically remains somewhat understudied. The present report provides a brief review of research on ACEs and…

Executive function (EF) plays a foundational role in development. A brain-based model of EF development is probed for the experiences that strengthen EF in the dimensional change card sort task in which children sort cards by one rule and then are asked to switch to another. Three-year-olds perseverate on the first rule, failing the task, whereas…

Working memory (WM) skills are closely associated with learning progress in key areas such as reading and mathematics across childhood. As yet, however, little is known about how the brain systems underpinning WM develop over this critical developmental period. The current study investigated whether and how structural brain correlates of…

The science of child development and the core capabilities of adults point to a set of "design principles" that policymakers and practitioners in many different sectors can use to improve outcomes for children and families. That is, to be maximally effective, policies and services should: (1) support responsive relationships for children…

New advances in neurobiology are revealing that brain development and the learning it enables are directly dependent on social-emotional experience. Growing bodies of research reveal the importance of socially triggered epigenetic contributions to brain development and brain network configuration, with implications for social-emotional…

Mind in the Making and Vroom are partner initiatives that exemplify a unique "civic science" approach to "bringing developmental science into the world." Mind in the Making offers families and professionals working with children 0-8 access to developmental research, by engaging them in an active process of professional…

Children growing up in adversity are well known to be at risk of educational failure. Recent advances in neuroscience indicate that the nature of the caregiving environment in the first weeks and months of life influences the neural architecture of the developing brain, via epigenetic processes. Neglectful caregiving is hypothesised to contribute…

Children in the 21st century are avid users of technology--more so than generations past. This rise in use has led to much attention on the consequences of technology use, and how this impacts children's brains and their socio-emotional, cognitive and physical development. Much of the research in these fields, especially brain-based research, is…