Prosocial behavior is related to later executive function during early childhood: A longitudinal study

ABSTRACT

Previous research has shown that executive function is correlated with prosocial behavior during early childhood. Whether early prosocial behaviors were associated with later executive function during preschool years or vice versa was thus examined in a longitudinal design. The prosocial behaviors and executive function of children (N = 64) aged 42 to 65 months were evaluated twice (Times 1 and 2), based on teachers’ reports and children’s performance on hot and cool executive function tasks. Results revealed that prosocial behaviors at Time 1 were associated with later hot executive function at Time 2, but executive function at Time 1 was not related to prosocial behaviors at Time 2. These findings suggest that prosocial behaviors may enhance children’s hot executive function.     

The role of inhibitory control in the development of analogical reasoning: From general to specific

This study examined the role of inhibitory control in the development of analogical reasoning using inter-task priming paradigms. In Experiment 1, 25 seven-year-olds, 27 nine-year-olds, and 27 adults completed Stroop tasks, which activated general inhibitory control ability, before analogical reasoning tasks. Children and adults performed faster on analogical reasoning tasks when they were primed by Stroop tasks. This priming effect was found to be stronger in children than in adults. In Experiment 2, 25 seven-year-olds, 28 nine-year-olds, and 28 adults completed relative number matching tasks, a more task-relevant inhibitory control task, before analogical reasoning tasks. The children and adults performed faster on analogical reasoning tasks when primed by relative number matching tasks. The priming effect was greater in seven-year-olds than in nine-year-olds and was greater in nine-year-olds than in adults. Thus, inhibitory control, whether assessed with general or specific tasks, played a priming role in analogical reasoning.