Ruffini Costanza, Marzocchi Gian Marco, Pecini Chiara
Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literatures and Psychology (FORLIPSI), University of Florence, Via di San Salvi 12, 50135 Firenze, Italy.
Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca, Piazza Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126 Milan, Italy.
Children (Basel). 2021 Oct 26;8(11):964. doi: 10.3390/children8110964.
Preschool age is a golden period for the emergence of executive functions (EFs) that, in turn, predict learning and adaptive behavior throughout all life. The study was aimed to identify which EFs measures significantly explained the learning prerequisites and the mediation role of self-regulatory and executive behavior recorded in structured or free settings. One hundred and twenty-seven preschoolers were remotely assessed by standardized tests of response inhibition, working memory, control of interference, and cognitive flexibility. Teachers provided a global measure of learning prerequisites by an observational questionnaire. Self-regulatory behavior during the assessment was evaluated by a rating scale filled by the examiners. Executive function behavior in daily life was measured by a questionnaire filled by parents. Accuracy in tasks of response inhibition and working memory explained about 48% of the variability in learning prerequisites while response speed and accuracy in the control of interference and in cognitive flexibility were not significant. EFs also had indirect effects, mediated by the child's self-regulatory behavior evaluated during the assessment but not in daily life. The results are interpreted with respect to the contribution of the main EF components to school readiness and the mediation of the child behavior as measured in structure contexts.
学前阶段是执行功能（EFs）出现的黄金时期，而执行功能反过来又能预测一生的学习和适应行为。该研究旨在确定哪些执行功能测量方法能显著解释学习前提条件，以及在结构化或自由情境中记录的自我调节和执行行为的中介作用。通过反应抑制、工作记忆、干扰控制和认知灵活性的标准化测试，对127名学龄前儿童进行了远程评估。教师通过观察问卷提供了学习前提条件的总体测量。评估期间的自我调节行为由考官填写的评分量表进行评估。日常生活中的执行功能行为通过家长填写的问卷进行测量。反应抑制和工作记忆任务的准确性解释了学习前提条件中约48%的变异性，而干扰控制和认知灵活性任务中的反应速度和准确性则不显著。执行功能也有间接影响，通过评估期间而非日常生活中评估的儿童自我调节行为进行中介。研究结果从主要执行功能成分对入学准备的贡献以及在结构化情境中测量的儿童行为的中介作用方面进行了解释。
