scholarly journals Sleep during infancy, inhibitory control and working memory in toddlers: findings from the FinnBrain cohort study

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Morales-Muñoz ◽  
Saara Nolvi ◽  
Tiina Mäkelä ◽  
Eeva Eskola ◽  
Riikka Korja ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Sleep Questionnaire ◽  
Daytime Sleep ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Final Sample ◽  
Time Awake ◽  
Development Assessment ◽  
Sleep Difficulties

Abstract Background Sleep difficulties are associated with impaired executive functions (EFs) in school-aged children. However, much less is known about how sleep during infancy relates to EF in infants and toddlers. The aim of this study was to investigate whether parent-reported sleep patterns at 6 and 12 months were associated with their inhibitory control (IC) and working memory (WM) performances at 30 months. Methods This study included children whose parents filled in a sleep questionnaire at 6 or 12 months and who participated in the development assessment at 30 months (initial available sample at 30 months; N = 472). The final sample comprised (a) 359 infants with IC task and sleep questionnaire at 6 months and 322 toddlers at 12 months and (b) 364 infants with WM task and sleep questionnaire at 6 months and 327 toddlers at 12 months. Nighttime, daytime and total sleep duration, frequency of night awakenings, time awake at night, and proportion of daytime sleep were assessed at 6 and 12 months using the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire. IC at 30 months was measured using a modified version of the Snack Delay task, and WM was measured at 30 months using the Spin the Pots task. Further, children were divided into three groups (i.e., “poor sleepers”, “intermediate sleepers”, and “good sleepers”) based on percentile cut-offs (i.e., <10th, 10th–90th and > 90th percentiles) to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the direction and nature of the associations between sleep and EF in early childhood. Results Our results showed an inverted U-shaped association between proportion of daytime sleep at 12 months and IC at 30 months, indicating that average proportions of daytime sleep were longitudinally associated with better IC performance. Furthermore, a linear relation between time awake at night at 12 months and WM at 30 months was found, with more time awake at night associating with worse WM. Conclusions Our findings support the hypothesis that sleep disruption in early childhood is associated with the development of later EF and suggest that various sleep difficulties at 12 months distinctively affect WM and IC in toddlers, possibly in a nonlinear manner.

scholarly journals Sleep During Infancy, Inhibitory Control and Working Memory in Toddlers: Findings from the FinnBrain Cohort Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Morales Muñoz ◽  
Saara Nolvi ◽  
Tiina Mäkelä ◽  
Eeva Eskola ◽  
Riikka Korja ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Infant Sleep ◽  
Daytime Sleep ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Delay Task ◽  
Time Awake ◽  
Linear Manner ◽  
Sleep Difficulties

Abstract Background: Sleep difficulties are associated with executive functioning (EF) impairment in school-aged children. However, much less is known about how sleep in infancy relates to EF in infants and/or toddlers. The aim of this study was to investigate whether parent-reported sleep patterns in infants at 6 and 12 months of age were associated with inhibitory control (IC) and working memory (WM) performances at 30 months. Methods: The children were divided into three sleep groups (i.e., “bad sleepers”, “intermediate sleepers” and “good sleepers”) based on percentile cut-off points in order to have a comprehensive understanding of the direction and nature of the associations between sleep and aspects of EF in early childhood. Sleep was assessed using the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire, IC was measured using a modified version of the Snack Delay task (N=425), and WM by using the Spin the Pots task (N=430). Results: Our results reported an inverted U-shaped association between proportion of daytime sleep at 12 months and IC at 30 months, indicating that average proportions of daytime sleep were longitudinally associated with better IC performance. Furthermore, a linear relation between time awake during night at 12 months and WM at 30 months was found, with more time awake at night associating with worse WM. Conclusions: Our findings support the hypothesis that sleep disruption in early childhood is associated with the development of later EF and suggest that different sleep difficulties at 12 months distinctively affect WM and IC in toddlers, possibly also in a non-linear manner.

scholarly journals Rethinking executive function development

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Doebel
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Mental Content ◽  
Memory Updating ◽  
Component Processes ◽  
Working Memory Updating ◽  
General Component

Research on executive function in early childhood has flourished in recent years. Much of this work is premised on a view of executive function development as the emergence of a set of domain general component processes (e.g., working memory updating, inhibitory control, and shifting). This view has shaped how we think about relations between executive function and other aspects of development, the role of the environment in executive function development, and how best to improve executive function in children who struggle with it. However, there are conceptual and empirical reasons to doubt that executive function should be defined in this way. I argue executive function development is better understood as the emergence of skills in using control in the service of specific goals. Such goals activate and are influenced by mental content like knowledge, beliefs, norms, values, and preferences that are acquired with development and are important to consider in understanding children’s executive function performance. This account better explains empirical findings than the components view; leads to specific, testable hypotheses; and has implications for theory, measurement, and interventions.

scholarly journals Cool and hot executive functions at 5 years old as predictors of physical and relational aggression between 5 and 6 years old

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-165
Author(s):  
Sarah E. O’Toole ◽  
Stella Tsermentseli ◽  
Sajid Humayun ◽  
Claire P. Monks
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Relational Aggression ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Delay Of Gratification ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children

To study the role of executive function (EF) in the early development of aggression, the role of cool and hot EF skills at 5 years old, in the development of physical and relational aggression between 5 and 6 years old, was explored. Typically developing children ( N = 80) completed tasks assessing their cool (inhibition, working memory, planning) and hot EF (affective decision making, delay of gratification) skills at 5 years old. Longitudinal data were collected from teachers that rated children’s aggression when they were 5, 5.5, and 6 years old. Inhibition at 5 years old predicted changes in physical and relational aggression between 5 and 6 years old. Early cool EF, but not hot EF, may therefore be associated with aggression and inhibitory control specifically with changes in aggression during early childhood.

Inhibitory Control in Verbal Working Memory Across the Lifespan

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christelle Robert ◽  
Delphine Fagot ◽  
Thierry Lecerf ◽  
Anik de Ribaupierre
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Verbal Working Memory
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