Victoria J. Molfese|Peter J. Molfese|Dennis L. Molfese|Kathleen Moritz Rudasill|Natalie Armstrong|Gillian S. Starkey
Executive function skills of 6–8year olds: Brain and behavioral evidence and implications for school achievement
University of Louisville|Yale University|University of Louisville|University of Louisville|University of Louisville|University of Louisville
academic social success school linked childrens selfregulation study investigated assessment executive function ef component selfregulation using lowcost easily administered measure determine whether scores obtained behavioral task would agree obtained using laboratorybased neuropsychological measure ef skills sample included 74 children 37 females 862 months participated two assessments working memory inhibitory control knocktap nepsy korkman kirk kemp 1998 participated eventrelated potential erp testing included directional stroop test dst davidson cruess diamond ocraven savoy 1999 three main findings emerged first children grouped high vs low performing nepsy knocktap task found perform differently difficult conditions dst incongruent mixed conditions suggesting knocktap task lowcost easy administer assessment ef skills may one way teachers identify students poor inhibitory control skills second childrens performance dst strongly related erp responses adding evidence differences behavioral performance dst measure ef skills reflect corresponding differences brain processing finally differences brain processing dst task also found children grouped based knocktap performance simple screening procedures enable teachers identify children whose distractibility inattentiveness poor attention spans may interfere classroom learning