The Relationship Between Effortful Control And The Malleability Of Children’s Executive Function

Executive function refers to the process by which individuals control their self-perceptions,emotions and behaviors in order to accomplish their goals,and thus their self-perceptions.Working memory and inhibitory control are two of the most fundamental components and are predictive of an individual’s cognitive development and academic performance.Research has shown that training executive functions can improve cognitive performance and academic achievement.However,existing results on the plasticity of children’s executive functions are inconsistent,and researchers suggest that the training and transfer effects of executive functions are influenced by a number of factors.Effortful control is a temperamental dimension that provides feedback on an individual’s ability to inhibit external distractions and self-regulate,and research has shown that effortful control is closely related to an individual’s executive functions.But whether effortful control affect the training and transfer effects of executive functioning remains open.This study attempts to answer this question within two studies.Study 1 explored the relationship between effortful control and executive functions.We divided the subjects into higher and lower groups based on their scores on effortful control dimension,and compared their task performance tapping working memory,inhibitory control,and fluid intelligence.The results showed that children with higher effortful control scores showed greater working memory capacity,and better inhibitory control.Study 2 aimed to explore the relationship between effortful control and executive function training effects and transfer effects.Children were grouped into working memory training group,inhibitory control training group and a passive control group.In terms of training effects,there was a positive relationship between effortful control and the training gain of working memory training and inhibitory control training,with individuals with higher effortful control scores benefiting more from the training.In terms of transfer effects,for the working memory training group,there was a positive relationship between effortful control and near transfer on the working memory task and far transfer on the Raven’s Reasoning Test;for the inhibitory control training group,there was a positive relationship between effortful control and far transfer on the Raven’s Reasoning Test.This study provides further evidence for plasticity in executive functions,and it also explores the effect of effortful control as a temperamental trait on children’s executive functions training,enriching the research on the factors influencing plasticity of executive functions.This study contributes to the design of more effective individualized cognitive training programs that could facilitate pedagogical practice and optimize children’s development.