Executive functions (EFs; e.g., working memory, inhibitory control) are mediated by the prefrontal cortex and associated with optimal cognitive and socio-emotional development. This study provides the first concurrent analysis of the relative contributions of maternal EF and caregiving to child EF. A group of children and their mothers (n = 62) completed age-appropriate interaction (10, 24, 36 months) and EF tasks (child: 24, 36, and 48 months). Regression analyses revealed that by 36 months of age, maternal EF and negative caregiving behaviors accounted for unique variance in child EF, above and beyond maternal education and child verbal ability. These findings were confirmed when using an early child EF composite-our most reliable measure of EF—and a similar pattern was found when controlling for stability in child EF. Furthermore, there was evidence that maternal EF had significant indirect effects on changes in child EF through maternal caregiving. At 24 months, EF was associated with maternal EF, but not negative caregiving behaviors. Taken together, these findings suggest that links between negative caregiving and child EF are increasingly manifested during early childhood. Although maternal EF and negative caregiving are related, they provide unique information about the development of child EF.

Individual differences in infant attention are theorized to reflect the speed of information processing and are related to later cognitive abilities (i.e., memory, language, intelligence). This study provides the first systematic longitudinal analysis of infant attention and early childhood executive function (EF; e.g., working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility). A group of 5-month-olds (n = 201) were classified as short or long lookers. At 24, 36, and 48 months of age, children completed age-appropriate EF tasks. Infant short lookers (i.e., more efficient information processors) exhibited higher EF throughout early childhood as compared to infant long lookers, even after controlling for verbal ability (a potential indicator of intelligence). These findings are discussed in relation to the emergence of executive attention.

Developmental research is enhanced by use of multiple methodologies for examining psychological processes. The electroencephalogram (EEG) is an efficient and relatively inexpensive method for the study of developmental changes in brain-behavior relations. In this review, we highlight some of the challenges for using EEG in cognitive development research. We also list best practices for incorporating this methodology into the study of early cognitive processes. Consideration of these issues is critical for making an informed decision regarding implementation of EEG methodology.

The EEG mu rhythm, recorded from scalp regions overlying the sensorimotor cortex, appears to exhibit mirroring properties: It is reactive when performing an action and when observing another perform the same action. Recently, there has been an exponential increase in developmental mu rhythm research, partially due to the mu rhythm’s potential role in our understanding of others’ actions as well as a variety of other social and cognitive processes (e.g., imitation, theory of mind, language). Unfortunately, various methodological issues impede integrating these findings into a comprehensive theory of mu rhythm development. The present manuscript provides a review of the infant mu rhythm literature while focusing on current methodological problems that impede between study comparisons. By highlighting these issues and providing an in depth description and analysis we aim to heighten awareness and propose guidelines (when possible) that will promote rigorous infant mu rhythm research and facilitate between study comparisons. This paper is intended as a resource for developmental scientists, regardless of EEG expertise.

How the memory of adults evolves from the memory abilities of infants is a central problem in cognitive development. The popular solution holds that the multiple memory systems of adults mature at different rates during infancy. The early-maturing system (implicit or nondeclarative memory) functions automatically from birth, whereas the late-maturing system (explicit or declarative memory) functions intentionally, with awareness, from late in the first year. Data are presented from research on deferred imitation, sensory preconditioning, potentiation, and context for which this solution cannot account and present an alternative model that eschews the need for multiple memory systems. The ecological model of infant memory development (N. E. Spear, 1984) holds that members of all species are perfectly adapted to their niche at each point in ontogeny and exhibit effective, evolutionarily selected solutions to whatever challenges each new niche poses. Because adults and infants occupy different niches, what they perceive, learn, and remember about the same event differs, but their raw capacity to learn and remember does not. Keywordsmultiple memory systems; infant memory development; potentiation; sensory preconditioning; ecological model of memory development A central problem in cognitive development is how the memory of adults evolves from the memory abilities of infants. The widely accepted solution holds that dichotomous memory systems emerge hierarchically during the infancy period and eventuate in the adult-level mature capacity for learning and memory. In this article, we assess the current status of this solution and present recent data from studies of learning and memory from human infants for which multiple memory systems cannot account, whether they develop hierarchically or not. An alternative solution-an ecological model-was originally proposed by Spear (1984) but has received little or no attention in the literature on cognitive development. The model holds that infants and adults of all species exercise different behavioral adaptations to the current ecological niche and, over the course of evolution, have evolved the requisite physiological mechanisms to do so. By this account, normal ontogenetic changes in learning and memory do not demand explanation in terms of multiple memory systems. Scoville and Milner (1957) studied the cognitive, perceptual, and motor functioning of 10 patients who had become amnesic as a result of surgery that removed a portion of their medial © 2009 American Psychological Association Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Carolyn Rovee-Collier, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, 152 Frelinghuysen Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854−8020. E-mail: E-mail: crovee@earthlink.net. (MTL). The degree of amnesia was directly related to the extent of hippocampal removal. Patients with severe amnesia could not remember any new information beyond the span of their immediate memory but could remember events that had occurred up to 2−3 years before th...