Executive function (EF) refers to a set of higher order cognitive processes that control and modulate cognition under continuously changing and multiple task demands. EF plays a central role in early childhood, is associated and predictive of important cognitive achievements and has been recognized as a significant aspect of school readiness. This study examines the efficacy of a group based intervention for five-year-old children that focuses on basic components of EF (working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility). The intervention included 12 sessions, lasted one month and used low-cost materials. Seventy-five children took part in the study. The results indicate that the children who attended the intervention outperformed controls in simple and more complex EF tasks. Specifically, these children exhibited increased abilities to delay gratification, to control on-going responses, to process and update information and to manage high cognitive conflict. These results suggest the possibility that this intervention, which may be easily implemented in educational services, can promote EF during preschool period before the entrance in primary school.

This longitudinal study analyses the structure of executive function in children assessed at five and six years of age and examines the longitudinal relationships between the executive function dimensions identified at the two age levels. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the latent structure of executive function at both age levels. The best fit to the data at both age levels was a two-factor model in which inhibition was distinguished, while working memory and shifting emerged as a unitary component. Some variables show a moderate longitudinal stability and the inhibitory control tasks display reduced continuity across ages.

The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of inhibitory processes in early childhood. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the latent structure of inhibitory processes in day-care center children aged 24-32 months and in preschool children aged 36-48 months. The best fit to the data for the younger sample was a single undifferentiated inhibition factor model; in older children, a two-factor model was differently identified in which response inhibition and interference suppression were distinguished.