Abstract
In this study we examine the effectiveness and far transfer effects of a training that was found to be effective in promoting Executive Function (EF) in a sample of 5-year-old children (Traverso et al., 2015). By contrast with Traverso et al. (2015), the intervention was administered by regular teachers to verify its ecological validity. Far transfer was assessed by evaluating the training effects on pre-academic skills. 126 children attending the last year of Italian preschool educational services took part in the study (mainly 5-year-old children). Pre- and post-test assessments were conducted using a large EF and pre-academic skill task battery. The results indicate that the experimental group outperformed the control group in an interference suppression composite score. Moreover, significant far transfer effects to pre-academic skills in literacy domain were found. In addition, we found that the improvement in the pre academic skills (in both literacy and math domains) was mediated by the improvement in the interference suppression score. The results suggest the possibility that this intervention, which may be easily implemented in the context of educational services, can promote EF during the preschool period before entry to primary school.
Highlights
Executive function (EF) refers to a set of self-regulatory cognitive processes that underlie goaldirected behavior and support individuals faced with new or complex situations (Miyake and Friedman, 2012)
We examined two research questions: (1) whether a short-term training designed to foster Executive Function (EF) in children of 5 years of age showed ecological validity, being effective in promoting executive skills when administered by regular teachers with all the children; (2) whether the training produced far transfer effects on pre-academic skills
This study adds to the literature examining the effects of EF training in preschoolers
Summary
Executive function (EF) refers to a set of self-regulatory cognitive processes that underlie goaldirected behavior and support individuals faced with new or complex situations (Miyake and Friedman, 2012). There has been a considerable interest in the early development of EF, because EF measured in early childhood is a significant predictor of several developmental outcomes, including school readiness (Shaul and Schwartz, 2014) and academic achievement (Best et al, 2011). Promoting EF may constitute a useful strategy to reduce the neurocognitive disparities among children before school entry and to increase the likelihood of positive developmental outcomes (Blair and Raver, 2015). Preschool training includes diverse types of training that differ in duration (long- vs short-term intervention), setting (individual vs group intervention), and materials.
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