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The development of inhibitory control in preschool children: Effects of “executive skills” training
Author(s) -
Dowsett Sharon M.,
Livesey David J.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-2302(200003)36:2<161::aid-dev7>3.0.co;2-0
Subject(s) - psychology , inhibitory control , executive functions , task (project management) , cognitive psychology , control (management) , cognition , working memory , flexibility (engineering) , cognitive flexibility , neurocognitive , cognitive development , task switching , mental operations , developmental psychology , neuroscience , computer science , artificial intelligence , statistics , mathematics , management , economics
As one of several processes involved in the executive functioning of the cognitive system, inhibitory control plays a significant role in determining how various mental processes work together in the successful performance of a task. Studies of response inhibition have shown that although 3‐year‐old children have the cognitive capacity to learn the rules required for response control, indicated by the correct verbal response, developmental constraints prevent them from withholding the correct response (Bell & Livesey, 1985; Livesey & Morgan, 1991). Some argue that these abulic dissociations are relative to children's ability to reflect on the rules required for response control (Zelazo, Reznick, & Pinon, 1995). The current study showed that repeated exposure to tasks facilitating the acquisition of increasingly complex rule structures could improve inhibitory control (as measured by a go/no‐go discrimination learning task), even in children aged 3 years. These tasks included a variant of Diamond and Boyer's (1989) modified version of the Wisconsin Card Sort Task and a simplification of the change paradigm (Logan & Burkell, 1986). It is argued that experience with these tasks increased the acquisition of complex rules by placing demands on executive processes. This includes response control and other executive functions, such as representational flexibility, the ability to maintain information in working memory, the selective control of attention, and proficiency at error correction. The role of experiential variables in the development of inhibitory control is discussed in terms of the interaction between neural development and appropriate executive task experience in the early years. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 36: 161–174, 2000