Emerging coherence and relations to communication among executive function tasks in toddlers: Evidence from a Latin American sample

Abstract

Recent work within early executive function (EF) seems to suggest that toddlers show distinct patterns of development, involving poorly correlated performance across EF tasks and significant improvements over relatively short periods of time. The present study sought to extend these findings by investigating evidence for these patterns in toddlers and the existence of more traditional patterns of EF (e.g., correlations between tasks, links to language) when using the same tasks in a novel Latin American sample.Eighty toddlers (18-24 months) and sixty young preschoolers (30-36) months completed a battery of EF tasks, early social communication, and receptive and expressive language measures. Results indicated that toddlers showed similar distinct patterns of development (i.e., few relations between tasks and links to responding to joint attention), but by early preschool a more cohesive EF and links to language were present. Further, work demonstrated significant age (older children outperformed younger children), gender (girls outperformed boys), and socioeconomic differences (satisfied basic needs outperformed unsatisfied basic needs, but only on the snack delay). This work provides evidence for patterns of emerging EF development

Importance of cultural context in the study of children's executive functions: Advances in Latin America research

“…Taken together, results from Latin American countries align with the conceptualization of EFs as fundamental cognitive abilities that emerge early, show dramatic development in the first years, and become more stable and cohesive starting in preschool. Many theories address the reasons for the dramatic development, increasing stability, and cohesion in EFs (e.g., Jacques & Marcovitch, 2010), and work from Latin American regions aligns with proposals suggesting that communication, language, and attention are important to the early emergence and development of EFs (e.g., Gago-Galvagno et al, 2021). However, research examining other potential mechanisms (e.g., neurological development) across Latin America is limited (but see Pietto et al, 2022Pietto et al, , 2023.…”

“…Despite potential universals in the structure and underlying mechanisms of emerging EFs, it is common to see differences in children's EFs across contexts. Studies on early EFs (i.e., regulation abilities) across Latin American contexts suggests that 1‐ to 12‐year‐olds in Bolivia, Perú, Mexico, Paraguay, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, and Brazil demonstrate a range of scores, individual differences, and potentially lower EFs when measuring ability in tasks typically modified from North America and Europe (e.g., Dahlman et al., 2013; Gago‐Galvagno et al., 2021; Rescorla et al., 2011; Rosselli & Ardila, 2003; Tran et al., 2018; Weis et al., 2016). In the sections that follow, we highlight several contextual differences that might contribute to culture specificity in the development of EFs from Latin American countries.…”

“…Studies from Latin America demonstrate several similarities in the development of EFs compared to other WEIRD countries. For example, in a study in Argentina, researchers saw few correlations in the first 3 years of life between performance on different EF tasks and found that performance increased dramatically with age (e.g., Gago-Galvagno et al, 2021), similar to work in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands (Miller et al, 2023). Other studies, of 3-to 6-year-olds in Argentina and Perú, showed patterns similar to studies from the United States and the United Kingdom (e.g., Devine et al, 2016;Willoughby et al, 2012); they also demonstrated increased stability in EF performance across time (i.e., earlier EF scores predicted later EF scores), with higher levels of cohesion (i.e., correlations between performance across different EF tasks) and age-related increases in EF scores (e.g., Gago-Galvagno et al, 2022;Zegarra Valdivia et al, 2014).…”

La asignación universal por hijo y su relación con la regulación emocional en la infancia temprana. Un estudio comportamental

“…En diversas investigaciones, el nivel socioeconómico se asocia a diferentes habilidades cognitivas de autorregulación durante la primera infancia (Gago Galvagno et al, 2019;2021;Kia-Keating et al, 2018), ya que involucra entre algunos aspectos cuestiones vinculadas con los estilos de crianza autoritarios o negligentes (Richaud et al, 2013;Rubilar et al, 2017), exposición a estrés y violencia y bajos niveles nutricionales y de salud (Cerda-Molina et al, 2018;Rodríguez & Monge, 2017), que van en detrimento del desarrollo cognitivo en estas etapas del ciclo vital.…”

Asociaciones entre la exposición a medios electrónicos y comunicación durante la infancia temprana.

“…Estas primeras habilidades lingüísticas son fundamentales para los años posteriores del infante, ya que se ha hallado que predicen y se asocian con habilidades de regulación emocional y funciones ejecutivas (Gago Galvagno et al, 2021;Miller y Pensando Psicología e-ISSN 2382-3984 / Vol. 18, n°.…”