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.,…

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…

There has long been a hypothesized link between pretend play and self-regulation in childhood, and several recent studies have confirmed a positive relation between the two in children as young as preschool-age. However, no research to date has investigated whether this relation is present in toddlerhood. The purpose of the present study is to…

A beneficial effect of physical activity on cognitive functioning is supposed, although to a certain extent, literature remains inconsistent. Furthermore, the mediating effect of aerobic fitness on this association remains unclear, especially in children. This review presents data from 26 articles on the relation between aerobic fitness and…

The present study explored the role of three components of executive function (EF)--response inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility--in preschool children's social competence. Each component was expected to contribute uniquely to children's abilities to resolve peer conflict in a competent manner, namely, the inhibition of…

Representational theory of mind--the ability to represent others' mental states and understand that these beliefs can be different from one's own and reality--emerges in early childhood alongside other meta-representational abilities, such as understanding that an image can be perceived in multiple ways. Limited research has suggested that…

The aim of this study was to explore associations between time spent using various media devices and executive abilities in preschoolers. Participants were 190 children (44.2% female; mean age 58.75 months, SD = 7.27). The Shape School, the Missing Scan and the Head and Feet tasks were administered to children to assess three core executive…

Theoretical accounts and experimental data on young children have shown that executive functions (EFs) are predicted by experiential factors. However, studies on school-aged children are rare. The present study has addressed this gap using a short-term cross-lagged longitudinal design focusing on the relationship between working memory (WM),…

It is well established that children lie in different social contexts for various purposes from the age of 2 years. Surprisingly, little is known about whether very young children will spontaneously lie for personal gain, how self-benefiting lies emerge, and what cognitive factors affect the emergence of self-benefiting lies. To bridge this gap in…

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between temperament and social cognition, including theory of mind and emotion understanding, in 34 preschool-aged children (aged 3-4 years). Theory of mind was measured with a belief-desire reasoning assessment, and emotion understanding was measured with an affective…

The role of working memory (WM) and inhibition in mental set shifting was examined from an individual difference perspective in children aged 5-14?years (N?=?117). Using the Hearts and Flowers task the rationale of the present study was to directly test the theoretical assumption that mental set shifiting in childhood primarily builds on WM and…

Research examining cognition and science learning has focused on working memory, but evidence implicates a broader set of executive functions. The current study examined executive functions and learning of biology in young adolescents. Fifty-six participants, aged 12-13?years, completed tasks of working memory (Spatial Working Memory), inhibition…

The development of executive functions in the preschool years is not fully understood. Although there exists a large body of research investigating the maturation of executive functioning in school-aged children, little is known about the emergence of such skills, in particular inhibition, among preschool-aged children. Understanding developmental…

Infants can inhibit a prepotent but wrong action towards a goal in order to perform a causal means-action. It is not clear, however, whether infants can perform an arbitrary means-action while inhibiting a prepotent response. In four experiments, we explore this executive functioning in 18-24-month-old children. The working memory and inhibition…