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Relations between executive functions and academic outcomes in elementary school children: A meta-analysis.
Open accessAbstract
The primary goal of this study was to examine developmental patterns among the relations between components of executive function (EF; working memory [WM], inhibitory control, shifting), and academic outcomes (reading, mathematics, language) in elementary school-age children. These relations were examined within the context of the development of EF and of academic skills utilizing an extension of the unity and diversity, intrinsic cognitive load, and dual process theories. Using meta-analytic methods, we summarized results from 299 studies from 293 articles/dissertations, representing 65,605 elementary school-age children (42-191 months old [M = 101 months, SD = 24.49 months]). Results indicated that accounting for general EF (by including the correlations among EF tasks in meta-analytic path models and accounting for effects between all three EF components and academic outcomes simultaneously) produced weaker relations between EF and academic skills than the bivariate relations which have been reported in prior meta-analytic reviews. However, although reduced, all relations between EF and academic outcomes remained significant throughout elementary school. Whereas WM was consistently moderately associated with reading, math, and oral language across development, the developmental trends for the relations between inhibitory control and shifting with academic outcomes varied based upon the academic skill examined. On the academic side, whereas the relations between reading and language skills with EF components varied throughout elementary school, few developmental changes were found in the relations between EF components and math skills across elementary school. Future directions and implications of findings for the conceptualization of the impact of EF on academics are discussed within the context of relevant theoretical models. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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“One previous meta-analysis focused on childhood EF and academic outcomes found that working memory was more strongly related to outcomes than the other EFs (Spiegel et al., 2021).”
From Early childhood executive function predicts concurrent and later social and behavioral outcomes: A review and meta-analysis. (2024) · cites this paper as Spiegel et al., 2021
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Language in autism: domains, profiles and co-occurring conditions
Schaeffer, J. C., El-Raziq, M. A., Castroviejo, E., Durrleman, S., Ferré, S., Grama, I., Hendriks, P., Kissine, M., Manenti, M., Marinis, T., et al. (2023) · Journal of Neural Transmission · doi:10.1007/s00702-023-02592-y · Cited by 204
Prime, H., Andrews, K., Markwell, A., González, A., Janus, M., Tricco, A. C., Bennett, T. A., & Atkinson, L. R. (2023) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-022-00423-2 · Cited by 137
“There is significant interdependence among this subset of early skills, in early childhood and into the elementary school years (Fitzpatrick et al., 2014; Spiegel et al., 2021), making it useful to examine in a unified project (Prime et al.”
BackgroundImproving the Reliability of Cognitive Task Measures: A Narrative ReviewPreprint
Zorowitz, S., & Niv, Y. (2022) · Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging · doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2023.02.004 · Cited by 82
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Gallen, C. L., Schaerlaeken, S., Younger, J. W., Younger, J. W., O’Laughlin, K. D., Anguera, J. A., Bunge, S. A., Ferrer, E. E., Hoeft, F., McCandliss, B. D., et al. (2023) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-023-29427-w · Cited by 105
Emslander, V., & Scherer, R. (2022) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/bul0000369 · Cited by 92
“Spiegel et al. (2021), for instance, recently examined the relationship between EFs and reading, language, and mathematics in primary school children.”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Spiegel, J. A., Goodrich, J. M., Morris, B. M., Osborne, C. M., & Lonigan, C. J.
- Affiliations
- Florida International University (US)
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln (US)
- Florida State University (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 2021-04
- Volume
- 147
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 329-351
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- PMC
- PMC8238326
- OpenAlex
- W3173366033
- Cited by
- 362
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 90 · 2025: 106 · 2024: 67 · 2023: 59 · 2022: 38 · 2021: 2
- FWCI
- 52.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P50HD052120)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- executive function, academic performance, elementary school students, working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, reading skills, mathematical ability, speaking skills, cognitive development, intrinsic cognitive load, dual-process theory
- MeSH terms
- Academic Success, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Inhibition, Psychological, Male, Mathematics, Memory, Short-Term, Reading, Schools, Students, Executive Function
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