Ji Xufeng, Deng Yihao, Zhang Qiong, Zhou Yanlin
Faculty of Teacher Education, Lishui University, Lishui 323000, China.
Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Jan 28;15(2):142. doi: 10.3390/bs15020142.
Young children typically engage in cognitive control reactively in response to specific situations, rather than proactively preparing for them. The developmental change from reactive to proactive control seems to happen gradually across early development and ultimately results in a qualitatively different behavior pattern. However, existing evidence is mainly based on cross-sectional designs. Thus, this study adopted a longitudinal design to examine the transition from reactive control to proactive control in preschoolers. Sixty preschoolers aged 4 ( = 31) and 5 ( = 29) were recruited and required to complete two cognitive control tasks (i.e., an AX-Continuous Performance Test and a Cued Task-Switching task) twice within a five-month interval. The results showed that the children improved their cognitive control skills across both tasks, demonstrating a predominantly reactive control pattern during the time interval. This improvement reflects an age-related gradual change, which is a preparation for evolving into a qualitatively different behavioral pattern over time. These findings provide longitudinal evidence for the developmental change from reactive to proactive control in early childhood strategies.
幼儿通常是在特定情况下被动地进行认知控制，而不是主动为之做准备。从被动控制到主动控制的发展变化似乎在幼儿早期发展过程中逐渐发生，最终导致一种质的不同的行为模式。然而，现有证据主要基于横断面设计。因此，本研究采用纵向设计来考察学龄前儿童从被动控制到主动控制的转变。招募了60名4岁（n = 31）和5岁（n = 29）的学龄前儿童，要求他们在五个月的间隔内两次完成两项认知控制任务（即AX连续执行测试和线索任务切换任务）。结果表明，孩子们在两项任务中都提高了他们的认知控制技能，在这个时间间隔内表现出主要是被动控制模式。这种提高反映了与年龄相关的逐渐变化，这是随着时间推移向质的不同的行为模式发展的一种准备。这些发现为幼儿早期策略中从被动控制到主动控制的发展变化提供了纵向证据。
