Empirical evidence supports the importance of executive function (EF) in reading, but the underlying mechanism through which EF contributes to the reading process is unclear. The present study examined the direct and indirect effects of EF on reading comprehension through the indirect pathway of language and cognitive skills (i.e., syntactic…

This study assessed the extent to which executive functions (EF), according to their factor structure in 5-year-olds (N = 244), influenced early quantity-number competencies, arithmetic fluency, and mathematics school achievement throughout first and second grades. A confirmatory factor analysis resulted in updating as a first, and inhibition and…

The United States faces high demand for science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) professionals and a scarce supply of individuals who pursue STEM careers, especially minority populations in the U.S with proficiency in a language other than English. The primary goal of this research was to determine the impact of use of Spanish in…

Introduction: This study aims at analyzing whether EFs may predict the SP of children from different low socioeconomic strata, having controlled the effects of age and socioeconomic status (SES). Method: The sample included 178 Argentine children of both genders (52% boys), between 6 and 10 years of age, belonging to the upper-low SES (41%),…

The present study explored the bidirectional and longitudinal associations between executive function (EF) and early academic skills (math and literacy) across four waves of measurement during the transition from preschool to kindergarten using two complementary analytical approaches: cross-lagged panel modeling and latent growth curve modeling…

Background: Primary school math skills form a basis for academic success down the road. Different math skills have different antecedents and there is a reason to believe that more complex math tasks require better self-regulation. Aims: The study aimed to investigate longitudinal interrelations of calculation and problem-solving skills, and…

This study determined the working memory (WM) components (executive, phonological short-term memory [STM], and visual-spatial sketchpad) that best predicted mathematical word problem-solving accuracy in elementary schoolchildren (N = 392). The battery of tests administered to assess mediators between WM and problem-solving included measures of…

Background: Exposure to mathematical pattern tasks is often deemed important for developing children's algebraic thinking skills. Yet, there is a dearth of evidence on the cognitive underpinnings of pattern tasks and how early competencies on these tasks are related to later development. Aims: We examined the domain-specific and domain-general…