Executive Attention at Eight Years: Concurrent and Longitudinal Predictors and Individual Differences

Abstract

Executive attention, the attention necessary to reconcile conflict among simultaneous attentional demands, is vital to children's daily lives. This attention develops rapidly as the anterior cingulate cortex and prefrontal areas mature during early and middle childhood. However, the developmental course of executive attention is not uniform amongst children. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to examine the role of individual differences in the development of executive attention by exploring the concurrent and longitudinal contributions to its development at 8 years of age. Executive attention was predicted by concurrent measures of frontal electroencephalography, lab-based performance on a conflict task, and parent report of attention. Longitudinally, 8-year-old executive attention, was significantly predicted by a combination of 4-year old frontal activity, conflict task performance, and parent report of attention focusing, but not with an analogous equation replacing attention focusing with attention shifting. Together, data demonstrate individual differences in executive attention.

Keywords: Executive attention; development; electrophysiology; temperament.