Poster #6 - Infant and Toddler Predictors of Preschool Executive Function

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - Attention, Learning, Memory

Integrative Statement

Executive functions (EF) are important facets of childhood cognitive development because they affect school outcomes, such as reading comprehension and math calculations (Gerst et al., 2017) Therefore, understanding the wide-ranging factors that contribute to the development of EF is important. During infancy, for example, frontal lobe development is a significant contributor to the development of later EF. Frontal EEG power values recorded during infancy predict performance on infant (Cuevas et al, 2012) as well as preschool EF tasks (Kraybill & Bell, 2013). In addition to brain development, gross motor activity is linked to the development of EF. Infant and toddler gross motor ability predicts performance on EF tasks concurrently (Bell & Fox, 1996; Wu et al., 2017), whereas gross motor developmental trajectories from infancy to age 4 predict EF at age 8 (Piek et al., 2008). From a socio-emotional perspective, links between infant and toddler non-compliance and inhibitory control aspects of EF have been reported (Kochanska et al., 1998; Morasch & Bell, 2011). Given these wide-ranging predictors of early EF, we wanted to know if each predictor from individual studies contributed unique variance to EF by age 4, when executive abilities begin to stabilize (Jones et al., 2003). The novelty of our study was to include these wide-ranging predictors in a comprehensive examination of preschool EF.

Participants were infants and their mothers who were part of an ongoing longitudinal study examining the integration between cognition and emotion. Data for these analyses came from multiple lab visits and included 208 children (half females; wide ranging maternal education level) and their mothers. At 5 months, we recorded baseline EEG and calculated frontal EEG power. Mothers reported on their 24-month-old toddlers’ motor activity using ECBQ. At 36 months, we coded toddler non-compliance during a puzzle task with the mother. An EF composite score was created from the 48-month visit and included DCCS post-switch proportion correct, bear-dragon task proportion correct, and gift delay (latency to peek) by standardizing each variable and averaging.

We examined our research question with hierarchical regression analysis, using EF at 48 months as the criterion. Step 1 controlled for maternal education and child sex and was significant, F (2, 205) = 6.47, p < .001. Maternal education (beta = .229) contributed 6% variance. Step 2 added infant frontal EEG at locations F1 (beta = .25), F2 (beta = .002), F3 (beta = -.29), and F4 (beta = .09) power and accounted for an additional 5% variance, F (6, 201) = 4.245, p < .001. In Step 3, 24-month motor activity (beta = -.24) and 36-month non-compliance (beta = -.16) each contributed unique variance for an additional 8% variance, F (8, 199) = 5.82, p < .001.

Our data suggest that preschool EF is complex, with multifaceted processes contributing to its development beginning in infancy and continuing throughout toddlerhood. The data further suggest the potential for multiple intervention points for children at risk for difficulties in EF development.

Authors

• Tatiana Garcia-Meza, Virginia Tech
  Presenting Author

• Martha Ann Bell, Virginia Tech
  Non-Presenting Author