Longitudinal associations between conflict monitoring and emergent academic skills: An event‐related potentials study

Abstract

Identifying the links between specific cognitive functions and emergent academic skills can help determine pathways to support both early academic performance and later academic achievement. Here, we investigated the longitudinal associations between a key aspect of cognitive control, conflict monitoring, and emergent academic skills from preschool through first grade, in a large sample of socioeconomically diverse children (N = 261). We recorded event‐related potentials (ERPs) during a Go/No‐Go task. The neural index of conflict monitoring, ΔN2, was defined as larger N2 mean amplitudes for No‐Go versus Go trials. ΔN2 was observed over the right hemisphere across time points and showed developmental stability. Cross‐lagged panel models revealed prospective links from ΔN2 to later math performance, but not reading performance. Specifically, larger ΔN2 at preschool predicted higher kindergarten math performance, and larger ΔN2 at kindergarten predicted higher first‐grade math performance, above and beyond the behavioral performance in the Go/No‐Go task. Early academic skills did not predict later ΔN2. These findings provided electrophysiological evidence for the contribution of conflict monitoring abilities to emergent math skills. In addition, our findings suggested that neural indices of cognitive control can provide additional information in predicting emergent math skills, above and beyond behavioral task performance.

Electrophysiological and behavioral indices of cognitive conflict processing across adolescence

“…The strength of the frontal negative component was not associated with age in our sample. This differs from what has been found for the N2 in children, where amplitude has generally been found to weaken with age (Lo, 2018), This might indicate that the N2 amplitude stabilizes in late childhood or early adolescence, although a longitudinal study by Isbell et al (2018) indicates it might even reach stability in childhood. This contrasts to what has been found in the larger literature on the development of the ERN, an ERP with a neural origin and timing similar to the N2 (Gruendler et al, 2011;Van Noordt, Campopiano, & Segalowitz, 2016).…”

“…In the present study, we performed a broad investigation of age-related differences in cognitive conflict processing across adolescence by examining independent electrophysiological components reflecting the N2 and P3, as well as performance measures from behavioral tasks measuring interference control. Based on previous developmental findings, we expected the N2 amplitude to either decrease or remain stable with age (Isbell et al, 2018;Lo, 2018), while we expected the P3 amplitude to increase with age (van Dinteren, Arns, Jongsma, & Kessels, 2014a;van Dinteren et al, 2014b). We also hypothesized that individual differences in the strength of these components would be associated with performance on tasks reflecting interference control.…”

“…There are exceptions to this trend, however. Notably, a recent large longitudinal study on children between 3 and 6 years old found the difference between No-Go and Go amplitudes to remain stable with increasing age (Isbell, Calkins, Cole, Swingler, & Leerkes, 2018). In addition to the N2, there exist several other negative ERPs with a midline frontal scalp topography that are also related to cognitive control.…”

Electrophysiological and behavioral indices of cognitive conflict processing across adolescence

“…The goals of the present study were to delineate age-related differences in electrophysiological indices of conflict processing across adolescence and to test their associations with behavioral indices of interference control. Based on previous developmental findings from ERP studies, we expected the N2 amplitude to either decrease or remain stable with age ( Isbell et al, 2018 ; Lo, 2018 ), while we expected the P3 amplitude to increase with age ( van Dinteren et al, 2014a , 2014b ). We also hypothesized that individual differences in the strength of these components would be associated with performance on tasks reflecting interference control.…”

“…There are exceptions to this trend, however. Notably, a recent large longitudinal study on children between 3 and 6 years old found the difference between No-Go and Go amplitudes to remain stable with increasing age ( Isbell et al, 2018 ). That the developmental period from early adolescence into young adulthood has not been studied for the N2 is a conspicuous knowledge gap, since both conflict processing generally and the underlying neural generators of the N2 undergo large changes during this time.…”