The efficacy of different interventions to foster children’s executive function skills: A series of meta-analyses.
Open accessAbstract
In the present meta-analysis all available evidence regarding the efficacy of different behavioral interventions for children's executive function skills were synthesized. After a systematic search we included experimental studies aiming to enhance children's (up to 12 years of age) executive functioning with neurodevelopmental tests as outcome measures. The results of 100 independent effect sizes in 90 studies including data of 8,925 children confirmed that it is possible to foster these skills in childhood (Diamond & Lee, 2011). We did not find convincing evidence, however, for the benefits to remain on follow-up assessment. Different approaches were effective for typically and nontypically developing samples. For nontypically developing children (including children with neurodevelopmental disorders or behavior problems) acquiring new strategies of self-regulation including biofeedback-enhanced relaxation and strategy teaching programs were the most effective. For typically developing children we found evidence for the moderate beneficial effects of mindfulness practices. Although small to moderate effects of explicit training with tasks loading on executive function skills in the form of computerized and noncomputer training were found, these effects were consistently weaker for nontypically developing children who might actually be more in need of such training. Thus, atypically developing children seem to profit more from acquiring new strategies of self-regulation as co…
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Interventions to improve EF have met with limited success.
“While interventions to improve EF have met with limited success (Kassai et al., 2019; Melby-Lervåg & Hulme, 2013; Takacs & Kassai, 2019), interest in EF persists in large part because it is believed to be malleable and relevant to a wide range of important outcomes.”
From Early childhood executive function predicts concurrent and later social and behavioral outcomes: A review and meta-analysis. (2024) · cites this paper as Takacs & Kassai, 2019
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- Authors
- Takacs, Z. K., & Kassai, R.
- ORCID
- Takacs, Zsofia K.
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 2019-07
- Volume
- 145
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 653-697
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- OpenAlex
- W2943238676
- Cited by
- 332
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 36 · 2025: 56 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 61 · 2022: 64 · 2021: 40 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 4
- FWCI
- 49.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (PD121297)
- Ministry of Human Capacities (ÚNKP-17-4-I-ELTE-125)
- Hungarian Academy of Sciences (LP-2018-21/2018)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- executive function, behavioral interventions, children, self-regulation, strategy teaching, mindfulness, neurodevelopmental disorders, typically developing children, explicit training, computer-based training, follow-up outcomes, behavioral problems
- MeSH terms
- Self-Control, Child, Child Development, Humans, Practice, Psychological, Outcome Assessment, Health Care, Executive Function, Mindfulness, Neurodevelopmental Disorders
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