The relation between effortful control and executive function training in preschoolers

Abstract

In recent years, the question of whether executive function (EF) is malleable has been widely documented. Despite using the same training tasks, transfer effects remain uncertain. Researchers suggested that the inconsistency might be attributed to individual differences in temperamental traits. In the current study, we investigated how effortful control, a temperamental trait, would affect EF training outcomes in children. Based on parent rating, 79 6-year-old preschoolers were identified as having higher or lower effort control and were assigned to three conditions: working memory (WM) training, inhibitory control (IC) training, and a business-as-usual control group. Children completed assessments at baseline, 1 week after intervention (posttest), and 3 months after intervention (follow-up). As compared with the control group, the WM and IC training groups showed improvement in both trained tasks and nontrained measures. At baseline, children with higher effortful control scores showed greater WM capacity and better IC. Furthermore, effortful control was positively correlated with training gain in both training groups, with children with higher effortful control benefitting more through training. In the WM training group, effortful control was positively correlated with near transfer on WM outcomes both immediately and longitudinally. At posttest, the WM and IC training groups showed a positive correlation between effortful control and fluid intelligence performance. Our results underscore the importance of individual differences in training benefits, in particular the role of effortful control, and further illustrate the potential avenues for designing more effective individualized cognitive training programs to foster learning and optimize children’s development.