Growth in executive functioning skills (EF) play a role children’s academic success, and the transition to elementary school is an important time for the development of these abilities. Despite this, evidence concerning the development of the ERP components linked to EF, including the error-related negativity (ERN) and the error positivity (Pe), over this period is inconclusive. Data were recorded in a school setting from 3–7 year-old children (N=96, mean age=5 years 11 months) as they performed a Go/No-Go task. Results revealed the presence of the ERN and Pe on error relative to correct trials at all age levels. Older children showed increased response inhibition as evidenced by faster, more accurate responses. Although developmental changes in the ERN were not identified, the Pe increased with age. In addition, girls made fewer mistakes and showed elevated Pe amplitudes relative to boys. Based on a representative school-based sample, findings indicate that the ERN is present in children as young as 3, and that development can be seen in the Pe between ages 3–7. Results varied as a function of gender, providing insight into the range of factors associated with developmental changes in the complex relations between behavioral and electrophysiological measures of error processing.

Self-regulation has been shown to have important implications for individual trajectories of health and well-being across the life course. The present chapter examines the development of self-regulation from a life course health development (LCHD) perspective. Using the seven principles of LCHD and the relational developmental systems (RDS) framework, the chapter focuses on the importance of self-regulation for health and well-being over time and across contexts and examines the pathways of self-regulation including the individual, contextual, and sociocultural factors that influence the development of these skills over time, methods for studying self-regulation, and translational issues. The chapter concludes by providing recommendations for future research and for better integrating the principles of LCHD and RDS within the study of self-regulation.

Executive functioning (EF) and motivation are associated with academic achievement and error-related ERPs. The present study explores whether early academic skills predict variability in the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe). Data from 113 three- to seven-year-old children in a Go/No-Go task revealed that stronger early reading and math skills predicted a larger Pe. Closer examination revealed that this relation was quadratic and significant for children performing at or near grade level, but not significant for above-average achievers. Early academics did not predict the ERN. These findings suggest that the Pe – which reflects individual differences in motivational processes as well as attention – may be associated with early academic achievement.

The previous chapters forcefully demonstrate that, across a broad spec trum of disciplines, spanning educational, developmental, cognitive, and neuro physiological perspectives, interest has mounted steadily in executive function (EF) and related constructs (cognitive control, selfregulation, effortful con trol, executive attention, workrelated skills). A growing body of research has shown the importance of EF skills for children's success in school as well as for subsequent health, wealth, and reduced rates of criminality (e.g., Moffitt et al., 2011). However, despite advances in developing measures of EF and understanding the neurological underpinnings of EF skills, as well as efforts to intervene in the development of EF for children at risk, consensus on a number of questions fundamental to the study of EF has yet to be reached.First, it is not clear whether constructs, as operationalized across disci plines, are all measuring the same underlying skill. Second, longitudinal mea surement of the developmental course (both behavioral and neurological) of