Measuring and Predicting Individual Differences in Executive Functions at 14 Months: A Longitudinal Study

Cognitive control in infancy: Attentional predictors using a tablet-based measure

Cognitive control is a predictor of later-life outcomes and may underpin higher order executive processes. The present study examines the development of early cognitive control during the first 24-month. We evaluated a tablet-based assessment of cognitive control among infants aged 18- and 24-month. We also examined concurrent and longitudinal associations between attentional disengagement, general cognitive skills and cognitive control. Participants (N = 60, 30 female) completed the tablet-task at 18- and 24-month of age. Attentional disengagement and general cognitive development were assessed at 5-, 8-, 12-, 18- and 24-month using an eye-tracking measure and the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL), respectively. The cognitive control task demonstrated good internal consistency, sensitivity to age-related change in performance and stable individual differences. No associations were found between infant cognitive control and MSEL scores longitudinally or concurrently. The eye-tracking task revealed that slower attentional disengagement at 8-month, but faster disengagement at 18-month, predicted higher cognitive control scores at 24-month. This task may represent a useful tool for measuring emergent cognitive control. The multifaceted relationship between attention and infant cognitive control suggests that the rapid development of the attentional system in infancy results in distinct attentional skills, at different ages, being relevant for cognitive control development.

Synergistic effects of aerobic exercise and transcranial direct current stimulation on executive function and biomarkers in healthy young adults

OBJECTIVE

This research explored the combined effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and aerobic exercise (AE) on executive function and specific serum biomarkers in healthy adults.

METHODS

Sixty healthy young adults were randomly assigned into tDCS+AE, tDCS only, or AE only groups. Interventions were carried out for 20 days. Executive functions were evaluated using tasks such as the 2,3-back task, the spatial working memory task, the Stroop test, T test, and hexagonal obstacle jump task. Serum biomarkers, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutamate, glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and iron ion, were analyzed pre- and post-intervention.

RESULTS

The tDCS+AE group showed superior enhancements in executive function, evidenced by improved accuracy rates in 2,3-back tasks, better performance in the staircase task, and reduced reaction times in the incongruent reaction time of the Stroop task compared to other groups. Importantly, we found substantial changes in serum biomarkers: increased levels of BDNF and SOD, and decreased levels of MDA and glutamate in the tDCS+AE group. These changes were significantly different when compared with the tDCS and AE only groups. Notably, these alterations in serum biomarkers were correlated with improvements in executive function tasks, thus offering a potential physiological basis for the cognitive improvements witnessed.

CONCLUSION

The combined tDCS and AE intervention effectively improved executive function in healthy young adults, with the improvements linked to changes in key serum biomarkers. The results emphasize the potential of combined tDCS and AE interventions in engaging multiple physiological pathways to enhance executive function.

Psychometric evaluation of a working memory assessment measure in young children with Down syndrome

BACKGROUND

Working memory involves the temporary storage and manipulation of information and is frequently an area of challenge for individuals with Down syndrome (DS). Despite the potential benefits of intervention, laboratory assessments of working memory that could capture intervention effects have not undergone rigorous evaluation for use with young children with DS. It is critical to evaluate assessments of working memory in young children with DS to ensure the reliable and accurate measurement of performance.

AIM

This study evaluated an adapted laboratory measure of working memory for young children with DS 2-8 years old.

METHOD

A self-ordered pointing task, the Garage Game, was administered to 78 children with DS (mean = 5.17 years; SD = 1.49). Adaptations were made to the task to minimize potential DS phenotype-related language and motor confounds.

RESULTS

Results indicate that the measure is feasible, scalable, and developmentally sensitive, with minimal floor and practice effects for this population within this chronological and developmental age range.

CONCLUSION

These findings demonstrate that the Garage Game is promising for use in studies of early working memory and treatment trials that aim to support the development of this critical dimension of executive functioning for children with DS.

The effects of socioeconomic status on working memory in childhood are partially mediated by intersensory processing of audiovisual events in infancy

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a well-established predictor of individual differences in childhood language and cognitive functioning, including executive functions such as working memory. In infancy, intersensory processing-selectively attending to properties of events that are redundantly specified across the senses at the expense of non-redundant, irrelevant properties-also predicts language development. Our recent research demonstrates that individual differences in intersensory processing in infancy predict a variety of language outcomes in childhood, even after controlling for SES. However, relations among intersensory processing and cognitive outcomes such as working memory have not yet been investigated. Thus, the present study examines relations between intersensory processing in infancy and working memory in early childhood, and the role of SES in this relation. Children (N = 101) received the Multisensory Attention Assessment Protocol at 12-months to assess intersensory processing (face-voice and object-sound matching) and received the WPPSI at 36-months to assess working memory. SES was indexed by maternal education, paternal education, and income. A variety of novel findings emerged. 1) Individual differences in intersensory processing at 12-months predicted working memory at 36-months of age even after controlling for SES. 2) Individual differences in SES predicted intersensory processing at 12-months of age. 3) The well-established relation between SES and working memory was partially mediated by intersensory processing. Children from families of higher-SES have better intersensory processing skills at 12-months and this combination of factors predicts greater working memory two years later at 36-months. Together these findings reveal the role of intersensory processing in cognitive functioning.

Universality and context-specificity in early executive function development

A renewed interest in early executive function (i.e., EF or the conscious control of thought and behavior) development has led several research groups to suggest that EF may be emerging and is less coordinated (e.g., showing few relations between tasks) in the first few years (Devine et al., 2019; Gago Galvagno et al., 2021; Johansson et al., 2016; Miller & Marcovitch, 2015; Ribner et al., 2022). This potentially universal development in EF does not exclude the possibility that EF may also differ across context (e.g., Gago Galvagno et al., 2021; Lohndorf et al., 2019; Tran et al., 2015) reflecting unique strengths and development built within one's sociocultural environment. The present paper explores potential universal and context-specific early EF developments by focusing on three aims: (1) reviewing work on EF within the first two years of life that may speak to potential universality in the measurement, structure, growth, stability, and conceptualization of early EF (2) reviewing research that may speak to how the sociocultural context may play a role in context-specific development within early EF and (3) examining potential developmental EF frameworks for understanding universal and context-specific developments of early EF within context.

Does parental autonomy support mediate the relation between parent and infant executive function? A study of mothers and fathers in the Netherlands and China

Parenting skills, such as Autonomy Support (AS), have been proposed as a potential mechanism explaining the intergenerational contiguity of Executive Function (EF). However, few studies have focused on mothers and fathers among non-Western families. The current study investigated the role of maternal and paternal AS in the relation between parental EF and infant EF at 14 months of age among 123 Dutch and 63 Chinese first-time mothers and fathers and their infants. Multiple-group structural equation models were built for mothers and fathers separately with country as a grouping variable. Results showed that parental AS did not mediate the relation between parent EF and infant EF at 14 months. Mean-level differences were found in parental AS, maternal EF, and infant inhibition across countries, while no country differences were found in the relation between parent EF, AS and infant EF. Our findings suggested that individual differences in early EF may not be stable enough to be reliably predicted from parental factors across the Netherlands and China.

The ontogenetic emergence of normativity: How action imitation relates to infants' norm enforcement

Major developmental theories allot imitation a pivotal role in the cultural acquisition of social norms. Although there exists considerable evidence of young children's norm enforcement behavior, the ontogenetic emergence of normativity and the role of imitation is debated. Here, we assessed two pathways of how general imitation tendencies might relate to norm enforcement: The compliance path holds that young children's general imitation tendencies lead to displaying compliant behavior, which in turn predicts norm enforcement toward third parties. The internalization path suggests that young children's general imitation tendencies lead to an internal representation of normative rules. As children observe third parties' normative transgressions, a perceived discrepancy between internalized representation of the rule and observed behavior arises, which in turn triggers corrective action, that is, norm enforcement behavior. We assessed 18-month-olds' (N = 97) general imitation tendencies across four tasks, their compliance with maternal directives across two tasks, and their self-distress as well as protest behavior following normative transgressions. Results showed that (a) whereas imitation significantly predicted compliance behavior, compliance did not predict norm enforcement behavior, and that (b) imitation predicted self-distress, which in turn predicted norm enforcement. These findings speak to internalization as one psychological basis of norm enforcement behavior and highlight the importance of imitation in the ontogenetic emergence of normativity.

Developmental links between executive function and emotion regulation in early toddlerhood

Developmental associations between poor executive function (EF) and problem behaviors in toddlerhood indicate that the interplay between cognition and affect begins very early in life (Hughes, Devine, Mesman, & Blair, 2020). However, very few longitudinal studies of toddlers have included direct measures of both EF and emotion regulation (ER). In addition, while models of ER highlight the importance of situational contexts (e.g., Miller, McDonough, Rosenblum, Sameroff, 2005), existing work is limited by a heavy reliance on lab-based observations of mother-child dyads. Addressing these twin gaps, the current study of 197 families included video-based ratings of ER in toddlers' dyadic play with both mothers and fathers at each of two time-points (14- and 24-months), with parallel measures of EF being gathered in each home visit. Our cross-lagged analyses showed that EF at 14 months predicted ER at 24 months, but this association was limited to observations of toddlers with mothers. It was also asymmetric: ER at 14 months did not predict EF at 24 months. These findings support co-regulation models of early ER and highlight the predictive utility of very early individual differences in EF.

A matter of habit? Stressful life events and cognitive flexibility in 15-month-olds

Exposure to chronic stress is associated with habitual learning in adults. We studied the origins of this association by examining the link between stressful life events and infant cognitive flexibility. The final sample consisted of N = 72 fifteen-month-old infants and their mothers. Mothers completed a survey on pre- and postnatal negative life events. To assess chronic stress physiologically, infant and maternal hair cortisol concentrations were determined for cortisol accumulation during the past 3 months. Each infant participated in two cognitive tasks in the laboratory. An instrumental learning task tested infants' ability to disengage from a habituated action when this action became ineffective (Seehagen et al., 2015). An age-adequate version of the A-not-B task tested infants' ability to find a toy at location B after repeatedly finding it at location A. Correlations between cortisol concentrations and postnatal negative life events (number, perceived impact) did not yield significance. Infant and maternal hair cortisol concentrations were not correlated. Infants' ability to shift to a new action in either task, controlled for acute stress, correlated neither with pre- and postnatal negative life events nor with cortisol concentrations. Taken together, these results indicate that the potential link between long-term stress exposure and cognitive flexibility might not be present in samples with low levels of psychosocial stress.

Mothers' and fathers' executive function both predict emergent executive function in toddlerhood

There are multivariate influences on the development of children's executive function throughout the lifespan and substantial individual differences can be seen as early as when children are 1 and 2 years of age. These individual differences are moderately stable throughout early childhood, but more research is needed to better understand their origins. To some degree, individual differences in executive function are correlated between mother and child, but no research to date has examined these associations prior to when children are preschool age, nor have any studies considered the role of fathers' and mothers' executive function in tandem. Here, we use a sample of 484 families (Mothers 89.2% white; Fathers 92.5% white) in three countries (UK, USA, Netherlands) to investigate the role of each parents' executive function on the development of children's (49.7% female) executive function from 14 (M = 14.42, SD = 0.57) to 24 (M = 24.47, SD = 0.78) months, as well as parenting practices that underlie these associations. Results of structural equation models suggest stability in some-but not all-components of executive function and growing unity between components as children age. We replicate extant findings such that mothers' executive function predicts children's executive function over and above stability and extend these findings to include associations between father and child skills. We find an additive role of fathers' EF, similar in magnitude to the role of mothers' EF. Finally, for both mothers and fathers we find that sensitivity and autonomy supportive practices mediate the relations between parents' and children's executive function.

Studying hot executive function in infancy: Insights from research on emotional development

Recent calls have urged to bridge the fields of emotional and cognitive development to advance theoretical and empirical pursuits. Yet, despite notable overlap between research on executive function and emotion regulation, a uniting theory that informs future avenues of research is lacking. Infants are known to lack emotion regulation skills, as they are developing the abilities to regulate their emotions and coordinated responses. However, the field of emotional development demonstrates that at an early age, infants are adept at regulating their behaviors in response to others emotional reactions. Moreover, although classic delay of gratification tasks are fairly ecological measures, rarely are rules expressed to infants without emotions. This paper draws from recent interest in hot executive function to link infancy research on executive function and emotion. Hot executive function lends itself as a useful construct in this endeavor because it unites the study emotion and executive function. We offer a perspective that refines hot executive function within prominent emotion theories while discussing infant executive function and emotion empirical pursuits. Our perspective presents reliable paradigms from the field of emotional development to serve as tools for studying the development of hot executive function.

Development of directed global inhibition, competitive inhibition and behavioural inhibition during the transition between infancy and toddlerhood

Inhibitory control (IC) is a core executive function integral to self-regulation and cognitive control, yet is itself multi-componential. Directed global inhibition entails stopping an action on demand. Competitive inhibition is engaged when an alternative response must also be produced. Related, but not an executive function, is temperamentally-driven wariness of novelty, known as behavioural inhibition. Understanding early development of these components has been hampered by a shortage of suitable measures. We combine established and novel measures to capture directed global inhibition (Toy Prohibition, Touchscreen Prohibition), competitive inhibition (A-not-B, Early Childhood Inhibitory Touchscreen Task; ECITT) and behavioural inhibition (Touchscreen Approach) in 113 10- and 16-month-olds (73 seen longitudinally). ECITT performance shows good 1-week test-retest reliability at 10-months (r = 0.30-0.60) but little stability to 16-months. Directed global inhibition performance shows developmental progression but little stability of individual differences from 10 to 16 months. Performance on measures targeting similar IC components shows greater coherence at 16-months (r = 0.23-0.59) compared with 10-months (r = 0.09-0.35). Probing of ECITT condition effects indicates toddlers are more able, compared with infants, to override immediate prepotencies; indicative of increasingly flexible control over behaviour. However, exerting IC over cumulative prepotencies appears just as challenging for toddlers as infants. Exploratory analyses show little evidence for cross-sectional or longitudinal associations between behavioural, directed global and competitive inhibition. In combination, these findings indicate that IC is not yet a stable, unidimensional construct during the transition between infancy and toddlerhood, and highlight the need for careful selection of multiple measures for those interested in capturing early variation in IC.

Not all babies are in the same boat: Exploring the effects of socioeconomic status, parental attitudes, and activities during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic on early Executive Functions

Early executive functions (EFs) lay the foundations for academic and social outcomes. In this parent‐report study of 575 UK‐based 8‐ to 36 month olds (218 followed longitudinally), we investigate how variation in the home environment before and during the 2020 pandemic relates to infants’ emerging EFs. Parent‐infant enriching activities were positively associated with infant Cognitive Executive Function (CEF) (encompassing inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility). During the most‐restrictive UK lockdown—but not subsequently—socioeconomic status (SES) was positively associated with levels of parent‐infant enriching activities. Parents who regard fostering early learning, affection, and attachment as important were more likely to engage in parent‐infant enriching activities, yet there was no significant pathway from parental attitudes or SES to CEF via activities. Infant screen use was negatively associated with CEF and Regulation. Screen use fully mediated the effect of SES on CEF, and partially mediated the effect of SES on regulation. Parental attitudes toward early learning, affection, and attachment did not significantly influence screen use. These results indicate that although parental attitudes influence the development of early EFs, interventions targeting attitudes as a means of increasing enriching activities, and thus EF are likely to be less effective than reducing barriers to engaging in enriching activities.

Infant precursors of executive function in Down syndrome

BACKGROUND

Although early features of infant cognition are predictive of executive function (EF) in typically developing (TD) children, there is little information regarding the developmental origins of EF in neurogenetic conditions, such as Down syndrome (DS).

METHODS

The current study compared the performance of infants with and without DS on three dimensions that are hypothesised EF precursors: visual engagement, attention shifting and action planning. Additionally, the relationship between these EF precursors at Time 1 and EF performance at Time 2 (6 months later) was examined in the DS group. Participants were 36 infants with DS, M chronological age = 12.65 months, SD = 2.11; M developmental age = 8.84 months, SD = 2.22, and 36 TD infants, M chronological age = 8.62, SD = 3.06; M developmental age = 8.64 months, SD = 3.40.

RESULTS

Infants with DS visually engaged with objects for longer durations and demonstrated challenges with action planning compared with TD infants at Time 1. Attention shifting at Time 1 significantly predicted EF performance at Time 2 in the DS group.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides evidence that an early atypical presentation of EF precursors is detectable during infancy in DS and is predictive of subsequent EF performance. These findings contribute to the identification of areas of early cognitive risk in DS and can inform future interventions in this population.

The role of infant attention and parental sensitivity in infant cognitive development in the Netherlands and China

Infant attention and parental sensitivity are important predictors of later child executive function (EF). However, most studies have investigated infant and parent factors in relation to child EF separately and included only mothers from Western samples. The current study examined whether both infant attention at 4 months and parental sensitivity at 4 and 14 months were related to infant EF (i.e., inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) at 14 months among 124 Dutch and 63 Chinese first-time mothers and fathers and their infants. Findings revealed that parental sensitivity at 4 months was not correlated with infant EF abilities at 14 months. However, infant attention at 4 months was significantly related to 14-month working memory, but not to inhibition and cognitive flexibility. Maternal sensitivity at 14 months was significantly related to 14-month inhibition, but not to working memory and cognitive flexibility). No country differences were found in the relation among 4-month infant attention, parental sensitivity, and EF outcomes. Results show that both infant and parent factors are associated with early EF development and that these correlates of early EF skills may be similar in Western and non-Western samples.

Associations between touchscreen exposure and hot and cool inhibitory control in 10-month-old infants

Touchscreen use amongst young children has proliferated in recent years, yet little is known about the association between daily touchscreen exposure and inhibitory control in the first year of life. Previous research has found a negative association between the amount of television viewing and inhibitory control in early childhood, but it is unclear whether negative associations with screen use extend to touchscreens. The current study presents an exploratory analysis of the cross-sectional associations between inhibitory control and the amount of touchscreen use amongst 10-month-olds (n = 128-156). Touchscreen exposure was assessed via parent-report. In order to include a range of "hot" and "cool" aspects of inhibitory control, these skills were assessed using lab-based response inhibition and prohibition tasks as well as parent-reported observations of infants' inhibitory control abilities and broader regulatory behaviors. A "Cognitive Executive Function (EEFQ-CEF)" score (encompassing Inhibitory Control, Flexibility, and Working Memory items) was included as a secondary broader executive function construct to examine whether effects showed specificity to inhibitory control rather than executive functions more generally. Correlation analyses indicated no association between touchscreen exposure and the four indices of IC. However, a positive association was found for the amount of touchscreen exposure and EEFQ-CEF once accounting for sociodemographic variables. The implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.

Development and validation of the Early Executive Functions Questionnaire: A carer-administered measure of Executive Functions suitable for 9- to 30-month-olds

Executive functions (EFs) enable us to control our attention and behavior in order to set and work toward goals. Strong EF skills are linked to better academic performance, and greater health, wealth, and happiness in later life. Research into EF development has been hampered by a lack of scalable measures suitable for infancy through to toddlerhood. The 31-item Early Executive Functions Questionnaire (EEFQ) complements temperament measures by targeting cognitive and regulatory capabilities. Exploratory Factor Analysis (n = 486 8- to 30-month-olds) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (n = 317 9- to 30-month-olds) indicate Inhibitory Control, Flexibility, and Working Memory items load onto a common "Cognitive Executive Function (CEF)" factor, while Regulation items do not. The CEF factor shows strong factorial measurement invariance for sex, and partial strong factorial measurement invariance for age. CEF and Regulation scores show limited floor and ceiling effects, good internal consistency, short-term stability, and convergent validity with carer-report measures of attentional control. The EEFQ is sensitive to developmental change. Results indicate that the widely overlooked period between late infancy and early toddlerhood may be a sensitive period for EF development. The low-resource demands of the EEFQ afford the possibility to study emergent EFs at scale; opening up new opportunities in basic developmental and intervention research.

Prenatal mother-father cortisol linkage predicts infant executive functions at 24 months

The present study investigated associations between prenatal mother-father cortisol linkage and infant executive functions. Data come from an international sample (N = 358) of predominantly white and middle- to upper-class first-time parents. During late pregnancy, parents collected diurnal salivary cortisol samples and reported on levels of psychological stress. At 24 months, children completed a battery of executive function tasks. Parent cortisol linkage was operationalized as the time-dependent, within-dyad association between maternal and paternal diurnal cortisol. Results indicated that prenatal linkage was positively related to infant executive functions, suggesting that stronger mother-father cortisol linkage was associated with higher executive function scores. Additionally, this relation was moderated by paternal average cortisol levels such that executive function scores were lower when fathers had higher average cortisol levels and linkage was weak. This association suggests that elevated paternal cortisol amplifies the negative relation between lower cortisol linkage and lower infant executive function scores. Importantly, these findings were observed while controlling for observational measures of caregiving and self-report measures of psychosocial functioning and infant social-emotional behavior. These results suggest that prenatal linkage of mother's and father's stress physiology plays a potentially important part in programming and regulating infant neurocognitive development.

Longitudinal prospective study examining the effects of the timing of prenatal stress on infant and child regulatory functioning: the Michigan Prenatal Stress Study protocol

INTRODUCTION

A considerable literature implicates prenatal stress as a critical determinant of poor psychological functioning in childhood and beyond. However, knowledge about whether the timing of prenatal stress differentially influences the development of child outcomes, including psychopathology, is virtually unknown. The primary aim of our study is to examine how the timing of prenatal stress differentially affects early childhood regulatory functioning as a marker of psychopathology. Our second aim is to examine the mediating effects of maternal physiological and psychological factors during pregnancy. Our third aim is to examine the moderating effects of postnatal factors on child regulatory functioning. Our project is the first longitudinal, prospective, multimethod study addressing these questions.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Our ongoing study recruits pregnant women, oversampled for intimate partner violence (a common event-based stressor allowing examination of timing effects), with data collection starting at pregnancy week 15 and concluding 4 years post partum. We aim to have n=335 mother-child dyads. We conduct a granular assessment of pregnancy stress (measured weekly by maternal report) in order to reveal sensitive periods during fetal life when stress particularly derails later functioning. Pattern-based statistical analyses will be used to identify subgroups of women who differ in the timing of their stress during pregnancy and then test whether these patterns of stress differentially predict early childhood self-regulatory outcomes.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Due to the high-risk nature of our sample, care is taken to ensure protection of their well-being, including a safety plan for suicidal ideation and a safety mechanism (exit button in the online weekly survey) to protect participant data privacy. This study was approved by Michigan State University Institutional Review Board. Dissemination will be handled by data sharing through National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Data and Specimen Hub (DASH), as well as through publishing the findings in journals spanning behavioural neuroendocrinology to clinical and developmental psychology.

Emerging coherence and relations to communication among executive function tasks in toddlers: Evidence from a Latin American sample

Recent work within early executive function (EF) seems to suggest that toddlers show distinct patterns of development, involving poorly correlated performance across EF tasks and significant improvements over relatively short periods of time. The present study sought to extend these findings by investigating evidence for these patterns in toddlers and the existence of more traditional patterns of EF (e.g., correlations between tasks, links to language) when using the same tasks in a novel Latin American sample. Eighty toddlers (18-24 months) and sixty young preschoolers (30-36) months completed a battery of EF tasks, early social communication, and receptive and expressive language measures. Results indicated that toddlers showed similar distinct patterns of development (i.e., few relations between tasks and links to responding to joint attention), but by early preschool a more cohesive EF and links to language were present. Further, work demonstrated significant age (older children outperformed younger children), gender (girls outperformed boys), and socioeconomic differences (satisfied basic needs outperformed unsatisfied basic needs, but only on the snack delay). This work provides evidence for patterns of emerging EF development within this novel cultural sample (and evidence for group differences) that may be supported by communicative and representational development.

The relationship between executive functioning and self-regulated learning in Australian children

Executive functioning (EF) and self-regulated learning (SRL) are established predictors of academic achievement, both concurrent and future. Although it has been theorized that EF development enables SRL in early childhood, this directional model remains empirically untested against plausible alternatives. Thus, this study investigated the longitudinal relations between children's EF and SRL during the transition from kindergarten to Year 1 in an Australian sample to determine the direction and strength of the association between EF and SRL. We compared four directional models and also tested whether EF and SRL can be construed as manifestations of a common factor. Children's EF was assessed using a battery of tasks tapping working memory, inhibition, and shifting, and their SRL was assessed by teachers using the Checklist of Independent Learning Development. Cross-lagged structural equation modelling analyses were conducted on a longitudinal dataset of 176 children at the end of kindergarten (age M = 5 years, 8 months; SD = 4.02 months), and 1 year later (age M = 6 years, 5 months; SD = 3.65 months). EF predicted SRL longitudinally (β= .58, controlling for kindergarten SRL), consistent with common assumptions, whereas SRL did not predict EF. However, the common factor model also fit the data very well. We concluded that EF and SRL are indeed related concurrently and longitudinally but that further evidence is needed to disambiguate whether EF is best understood as a necessary antecedent of SRL development in early childhood, or whether they reflect the same general construct.

Appetite self-regulation declines across childhood while general self-regulation improves: A narrative review of the origins and development of appetite self-regulation

This narrative review discusses the origins and development of appetite self-regulation (ASR) in childhood (from infancy to age 6 or 7 years). The origins, or foundations, are the biological infrastructure associated with appetite regulation and appetite self-regulation. Homeostatic regulation in infancy is examined and then evidence about developmental change in components of ASR. The main ASR-related components covered are: delay-of-gratification, caloric compensation, eating in the absence of hunger, food responsiveness/hedonics and fussy eating. The research included behavioral measures, parent-reports of appetitive traits and fMRI studies. There were two main trends in the evidence: a decline across childhood in the components of ASR associated with food approach (and therefore an increase in disinhibited eating), and wide individual differences. The decline in ASR contrasts with general self-regulation (GSR) where the evidence is of an improvement across childhood. For many children, bottom-up automatic reactive processes via food reward/hedonics or food avoidance as in fussy eating, appear not to be matched by improvements in top-down regulatory capacities. The prominence of bottom-up processes in ASR could be the main factor in possible differences in developmental paths for GSR and ASR. GSR research is situated in developmental science with its focus on developmental processes, theory and methodology. In contrast, the development of ASR at present does not have a strong developmental tradition to access and there is no unifying model of ASR and its development. We concluded (1) outside of mean-level or normative changes in the components of ASR, individual differences are prominent, and (2) there is a need to formulate models of developmental change in ASR together with appropriate measurement, research designs and data analysis strategies.

Early Regulatory Skills and Social Communication Development in Infants with Down Syndrome

Children with Down syndrome (DS) demonstrate substantial variability in communication and language outcomes. One potential source of variability in this skill area may be early regulatory function. Characterizing the early link between regulatory function and early social communication may benefit infants with DS at risk of difficulties with social communication and language skill acquisition. Forty-three infants with DS were assessed at two time points, six months apart. At Time 1, the average chronological age was 9.0 months (SD = 3.9) and caregivers completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) to assess regulatory function. Six months later, caregivers rated infant communication at the second visit using the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Infant Toddler Checklist (CSBS-ITC). Infant developmental level was assessed at both visits using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition and caregivers reported on developmental history and biomedical comorbidities. Infant regulatory function at Time 1 predicted social communication outcomes at Time 2, six months later. Findings from this study suggest that elevated risk for pronounced communication challenges may be detectable as early as infancy in DS.

Screen Time and Executive Function in Toddlerhood: A Longitudinal Study

Technology is pervasive in homes with young children. Emerging evidence that electronic screen-based media use has adverse effects on executive functions may help explain negative relations between media use and early academic skills. However, longitudinal investigations are needed to test this idea. In a sample of 193 British toddlers tracked from age 2 to 3 years, we test concurrent and predictive relations between screen use and children’s executive function. We find no concurrent association between screen use and executive function; however, screen time at age 2 is negatively associated with the development of executive functions in toddlerhood from age 2 to 3, controlling for a range of covariates including verbal ability. Implications for parenting, education, and pediatric recommendations are discussed.

Associations between individual variations in visual attention at 9 months and behavioral competencies at 18 months in rural Malawi

Theoretical and empirical considerations suggest that individual differences in infant visual attention correlate with variations in cognitive skills later in childhood. Here we tested this hypothesis in infants from rural Malawi (n = 198-377, depending on analysis), who were assessed with eye tracking tests of visual orienting, anticipatory looks, and attention to faces at 9 months, and more conventional tests of cognitive control (A-not-B), motor, language, and socioemotional development at 18 months. The results showed no associations between measures of infant attention at 9 months and cognitive skills at 18 months, either in analyses linking infant visual orienting with broad cognitive outcomes or analyses linking specific constructs between the two time points (i.e., switching of anticipatory looks and manual reaching responses), as correlations varied between -0.08 and 0.14. Measures of physical growth, and family socioeconomic characteristics were also not correlated with cognitive outcomes at 18 months in the current sample (correlations between -0.10 and 0.19). The results do not support the use of the current tests of infant visual attention as a predictive tool for 18-month-old infants' cognitive skills in the Malawian setting. The results are discussed in light of the potential limitations of the employed infant tests as well as potentially unique characteristics of early cognitive development in low-resource settings.

Understanding the terrible twos: A longitudinal investigation of the impact of early executive function and parent-child interactions

Impairments in both executive function and parent-child interactions are associated with child externalizing behavior, but few studies have tested the uniqueness of these associations in the first years of life. Addressing these gaps, the current study involved an international sample (N = 438; 218 boys) who, at 14 and 24 months, completed an innovative battery of executive function tasks and were filmed at home in dyadic interaction with their mothers, enabling detailed observational ratings of maternal support. In addition, parents rated infant temperament at 4 months and externalizing behavior at 14 and 24 months. Cross-lagged longitudinal analysis showed a unidirectional developmental association between executive function at 14 months and externalizing behavior at 24 months. In addition, infant negative affect moderated the inverse association between maternal support at 14 months and externalizing behavior at 24 months. The benefits of maternal support were only evident for children with low levels of negative affect in infancy. We discuss this finding in relation to theoretical models that highlight child effects (e.g. models of vantage sensitivity).

"Food" and "non-food" self-regulation in childhood: a review and reciprocal analysis

BACKGROUND

In developmental science, there is an extensive literature on non-food related self-regulation in childhood, where several domains relating to emotions, actions and cognitions have been identified. There is now growing attention to food related self-regulation in childhood, especially difficulties with ASR, and the consequences for weight gain and adiposity. The aim of this narrative review was to conduct a reciprocal analysis of self-regulation in the food and non-food domains in childhood (referred to as appetite self-regulation (ASR) and general self-regulation (GSR) respectively). The focus was on commonalities and differences in key concepts and underpinning processes.

METHODS

Databases and major journals were searched using terms such as self-regulation, appetite self-regulation, or self-regulation of energy intake, together with associated constructs (e.g., Executive Function, Effortful Control, delay-of-gratification). This was followed by backward and forward snowballing.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The scholarship on GSR in childhood has had a focus on the role of the cognitively-oriented Executive Function (EF), the temperamentally-based Effortful Control (EC) and the recursive interplay between bottom-up (reactive, emotion driven, approach or avoidance) and top-down (cognitive, conscious decision-making) processes. "Hot" and "cool/cold" EF and self-regulation situations have been distinguished. There were some parallels between GSR and ASR in these areas, but uncertainty about the contribution of EF and EC to ASR in young children. Possible differences between the contribution to ASR-related outcomes of delay-of-gratification in food and non-food tasks were apparent. Unique elements of ASR were identified; associated with psychological, biological and neurological responses to food and bottom-up processes. A diverse number of situations or elements connected to ASR exist: for example, energy balance homeostasis, caloric compensation, hunger regulation, satiation, satiety, energy density of food, eating in the absence of hunger, emotional eating, etc. CONCLUSIONS: Self-regulation in food and non-food domains are amenable to a reciprocal analysis. We argue that self-regulation of appetite should be added as a domain under the umbrella of self-regulation in childhood along with the other non-food related domains. This could lead to a broader understanding of self-regulation in childhood, and generate novel lines of enquiry.

Infant screen exposure links to toddlers' inhibition, but not other EF constructs: A propensity score study

Technology is pervasive in homes of families with young children, despite evidence for negative associations between infant exposure to screen-based media and cognitive development that has led the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to discourage parents from exposing children under the age of 18 months to any kind of screen time (AAP, 2016). Here, we apply a propensity score matching approach to estimate relations between electronic screen-based media use in infancy and executive function in early toddlerhood. In an international sample of 416 firstborn infants, parental report of regular exposure to screen-based media at 4 months predicted poorer performance on a test of inhibition at 14 months, but was unrelated to either cognitive flexibility or working memory at 14 months. Results of this study are therefore consistent with the view that early exposure to screen-based media adversely affects the development of executive function.

Early Development of Visual Attention: Change, Stability, and Longitudinal Associations

Visual attention is a basic mechanism of information gathering and environment selection and consequently plays a fundamental role in influencing developmental trajectories. Here, we highlight evidence for predictive associations from early visual attention to emotion regulation, executive function, language and broader cognitive ability, mathematics and literacy skills, and neurodevelopmental conditions. Development of visual attention is also multifaceted and nonlinear. In daily life, core functions such as orienting, selective filtering, and processing of visual inputs are intertwined and influenced by many other cognitive components. Furthermore, the demands of an attention task vary according to the experience, motivation, and cognitive and physical constraints of participants, while the mechanisms underlying performance may change with development. Thus, markers of attention may need to be interpreted differently across development and between populations. We summarize research that has combined multiple measurements and techniques to further our understanding of visual attention development and highlight possibilities for the future.

Regulation During the Second Year: Executive Function and Emotion Regulation Links to Joint Attention, Temperament, and Social Vulnerability in a Latin American Sample

Although a growing body of work has established developing regulatory abilities during the second year of life, more work is needed to better understand factors that influence this emerging control. The purpose of the present study was to examine regulation capacities in executive functions (i.e., EF or cognitive control) and emotion regulation (i.e., ER or control focused on modulating negative and sustaining positive emotions) in a Latin American sample, with a focus on how joint attention, social vulnerability, and temperament contribute to performance. Sixty Latin American dyads of mothers and children aged 18 to 24 months completed several EF tasks, a Still-Face Paradigm (SFP) to examine ER (Weinberg et al., 2008), and the Early Social Communication Scale to measure joint attention (Mundy et al., 2003). Parents completed the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form to measure temperament (ECBQ-VS, Putnam et al., 2010) and the Social Economic Level Scale (SES) from INDEC (2000). Results revealed the typical responses expected for toddlers of this age in these EF tasks and in the SFP. Also, we found associations between EF and ER and between non-verbal communication related to monitoring infants’ attention to objects (i.e., responding to joint attention) and initiation of pointing (e.g., pointing and showing of an object while the child alternates his gaze to an adult) with EF. Regarding social factors, family differences and type of housing contribute to regulation. For temperament, effortful control was associated with both regulatory capacities. Finally, only age predicted EF. These results suggest that many patterns regarding the development of these abilities are duplicated in the first months of life in a Latin American sample while further highlighting the importance of considering how the environment and the individual characteristics of infants may associate to these regulatory abilities, which is particularly relevant to developing public policies to promote their optimal development.