TY - JOUR
T1 - The contribution of executive functions to emergent mathematic skills in preschool children
AU - Espy, Kimberly Andrews
AU - McDiarmid, Melanie M.
AU - Cwik, Mary F.
AU - Stalets, Melissa Meade
AU - Hamby, Arlena
AU - Senn, Theresa E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported, in part, by the Pediatric Neuropsychology/Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Award from the Rita Rudel Foundation and the Special Research Program Award from the Southern Illinois University Office of Research Development and Administration to Kimberly Andrews Espy.
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - Mathematical ability is related to both activation of the prefrontal cortex in neuroimaging studies of adults and to executive functions in school-age children. The purpose of this study was to determine whether executive functions were related to emergent mathematical proficiency in preschool children. Preschool children (N = 96) were administered an executive function battery that was reduced empirically to working memory (WM), inhibitory control (IC), and shifting abilities by calculating composite scores derived from principal component analysis. Both WM and IC predicted early arithmetic competency, with the observed relations robust after controlling statistically for child age, maternal education, and child vocabulary. Only IC accounted for unique variance in mathematical skills, after the contribution of other executive functions were controlled statistically as well. Specific executive functions are related to emergent mathematical proficiency in this age range. Longitudinal studies using structural equation modeling are necessary to better characterize these ontogenetic relations.
AB - Mathematical ability is related to both activation of the prefrontal cortex in neuroimaging studies of adults and to executive functions in school-age children. The purpose of this study was to determine whether executive functions were related to emergent mathematical proficiency in preschool children. Preschool children (N = 96) were administered an executive function battery that was reduced empirically to working memory (WM), inhibitory control (IC), and shifting abilities by calculating composite scores derived from principal component analysis. Both WM and IC predicted early arithmetic competency, with the observed relations robust after controlling statistically for child age, maternal education, and child vocabulary. Only IC accounted for unique variance in mathematical skills, after the contribution of other executive functions were controlled statistically as well. Specific executive functions are related to emergent mathematical proficiency in this age range. Longitudinal studies using structural equation modeling are necessary to better characterize these ontogenetic relations.
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U2 - 10.1207/s15326942dn2601_6
DO - 10.1207/s15326942dn2601_6
M3 - Article
C2 - 15276905
AN - SCOPUS:3943075808
SN - 8756-5641
VL - 26
SP - 465
EP - 486
JO - Developmental Neuropsychology
JF - Developmental Neuropsychology
IS - 1
ER -