Executive Functioning as a Predictor of Children's Mathematics Ability: Inhibition, Switching, and Working Memory

“This study, carried out by Bull and Scerif (2001), examined whether several executive functions, including inhibition, were involved in mathematical skills. They found that arithmetic abilities correlated significantly with the interference score of a numerical version of the Stroop task, even when reading abilities w…”

“IC skills have been found to predict mathematical performance in typically developing children, particularly in preschool and primary school children (Bull, Johnston, & Roy, 1999; Bull & Scerif, 2001; Espy et al., 2004; St Clair-Thompson & Gathercole, 2006).”

“Therefore, it is often cited that (cognitive) flexibility or shifting are paramount in creativity and mathematics (Bailey et al. 2007; Bull and Scerif 2001; Nijstad et al. 2010; Yeniad et al. 2013).”

“Studies examining the effects of SES on young children’s math knowledge have consistently found that children from middle- to high-income families outperform children from low-income families (Arnold, Fisher, Doctoroff, & Dobbs, 2002; Case, Griffin, & Kelly, 1999; Denton & West, 2002; Geary, 1994; Ginsburg & Russell,…”

“…does not capture all three components of EF (Blair & Razza, 2007; Brock, Rimm-Kaufman, Nathanson, & Grimm, 2009; Mazzocco & Kover, 2007), or limited measurement of separate math competencies, e.g., measurement does not capture math ability differentially (Bull & Scerif, 2001; Purpura et al., 2017).”

“Previous research findings have identified children’s performance on executive function tasks as a significant predictor of mathematical ability [40], as well as associated with scholastic achievements in math, English, and science [41, 42].”

“Relations between executive functions and early math ability have been analysed on prior research (Bull & Scerif, 2001; Espy et al., 2004).”

“Importantly, individual differences in WM have been shown to predict child outcomes in broad developmental domains, including language (Im-Bolter et al., 2006), mathematical skills (Bull and Scerif, 2001; Bull et al., 2008; Clark et al., 2010), and academic performance (Diamond et al., 2007).”

“While the contribution of these neuropsychological deficits to educational outcomes has yet to be established for children born preterm, such executive functions have been found to predict mathematics achievement in typically developing children over and above the effects of IQ and reading ability (Bull and Scerif 200…”

“There is indeed an established link between working memory and other areas of academic learning such as reading (Christopher et al., 2012), language (Daneman & Merikle, 1996) and mathematics (Bull & Scerif, 2001).”

“…relation between executive functions and mathematics is the relation between updating and mathematics (Passolunghi et al.; Van der Ven, Kroesbergen, Boom, & Leseman, 2012), but the relation between inhibition and mathematics performance has also been well established (Bull & Scerif, 2001).”

“As an example, Berg (8) and Bull and Scerif (9) have shown that the mathematical difficulties encountered by children with intellectual disabilities are due to their low working memory capacities and to an executive dysfunction.”

“For example, kindergarten EFs predict math and reading scores (Duncan et al., 2007), language (Blair & Razza, 2007), and later math skills (Bull & Scerif, 2001; Passolunghi & Siegel, 2001).”

“…education are influenced by low WMC: these include reading (Stevenson, Bergwerff, Heiser, & Resing, 2014), reading comprehension (Seigneuric, Ehrlich, Oakhill, & Yuill, 2000), and mathematics (Bull & Scerif, 2001; Stevenson et al., 2014, Wiklund-Hörnqvist, Jonsson, Korhonen, Eklöf, & Nyroos, 2016).”

“…conflicts such as “go-no-go tasks,” the “day-night task,” or the size congruity effect where prepotent responses should be inhibited (e.g., Bull and Scerif, 2001; McClelland et al., 2007; Agostino et al., 2010; Liew et al., 2010; Neuenschwander et al., 2012; Fuhs and McNeil, 2013;…”

“Moreover, preschoolers with stronger cognitive flexibility skills perform better when they later enter school (Coldren, 2013; Masten et al., 2012) and tend to experience fewer academic problems (e.g., Bull & Scerif, 2001).”

“Individual differences in WM predict a wide range of cognitive activities and learning outcomes (Blair & Razza, 2007; Bull & Scerif, 2001; Im-Bolter, Johnson, & Pascual-Leone, 2006).”

“It has been reported that working memory, one of the components of EFs, is directly and positively related to grades in mathematics (Bull & Scerif, 2001).”

“Self-regulation includes processes ranging from automatic to effortful regulation of stress physiology, emotion, attention, and executive function and is an important predictor of children’s learning and academic achievement (Bull and Scerif, 2001; Raver et al., 2007; Morrison et al., 2010; McClelland and Cameron, 201…”

“As academic achievement has been associated with cognitive control (4-6), accuracy on tasks which require response inhibition have been examined as a possible mediator of the association between BMI and academic success (7).”

“…present group of students, these results nonetheless offer additional evidence to suggest that impaired inhibitory processing not only interferes with but also constrains reading comprehension (e.g., Swanson & Jerman, 2007) and problem solving (e.g., Bull & Scerif, 2001; Gathercole et al., 2005).”

“However, such findings are typically seen with children with lower mathematics ability (e.g., Bull & Scerif, 2001), who may have been largely excluded from the current sample.”

“…strategies (inhibiting incorrect ones in favor of correct ones), working memory, reasoning, attention, attention shifting, and suppressing irrelevant information (Blair & Razza, 2007; Bull & Scerif, 2001; Espy et al., 2004; McClelland et al., 2007; Ponitz, McClelland, Matthews, & Morrison, 2009).”

“In addition, the few studies that have included all three EF subcomponents have produced mixed findings (e.g., Bull and Scerif, 2001; Andersson, 2008; Agostino et al., 2010; van der Ven et al., 2012; Cantin et al., 2016; Lubin et al., 2016; Cragg et al., 2017; Vandenbroucke et al., 2017).”

“…processes encompass among others, attention, inhibition, initiation of activity, working memory, mental flexibilities, planning and organization, and problem-solving strategies (Anderson, 2002) and is associated with academic performance beyond intellectual dysfunction (Bull & Scerif, 2011).”

“This determines the extent to which they are affected by complex lines in their visual field and thus their CS. Working memory (WM) also plays an essential role in learning ability and academic performance (Bull & Scerif, 2001; Monette et al., 2011).”

“It is known that these executive functions play an important role in academic performances [4].”

“A substantial literature demonstrates that working memory capacity is related to numerical and mathematical abilities used for counting, which is a necessary step when trying to solve simple addition and subtraction problems or more complex arithmetic problems (Adams and Hitch, 1997; Bull and Scerif, 2001; Alloway et…”

“Several studies have shown the benefit of attention on learning school subjects (Bull and Scerif, 2001; Blair and Razza, 2007; Checa et al., 2008).”

“…so automatically that even children demonstrate Stroop effects whereby they are faster and more accurate in judging that the 7 is physically larger than the 5 in than they are to indicate that the 5 is physically larger than the 7 in (Bull & Scerif, 2001; Henik & Tzelgov, 1982; Washburn, 1994).”

“! is is consistent with earlier research # ndings that the level of EF is a predictor of the development of mathematical skills (Bull & Scerif, 2001; Clements et al., 2016; Jarvis, 2003; Veraksa et al., 2020).”

“Research shows that inhibitory control is essential for early math (Blair & Razza, 2007; Bull & Scerif, 2001; Emslander & Scherer, 2022; Spiegel et al., 2021) and math achievement (Bull & Lee, 2014).”

“…evidence for an automatization deficit in DD. Impairments of several subcomponents of the central executive in DD have often been described (Bull and Scerif, 2001; van der Sluis et al., 2004; Geary et al., 2007; Raghubar et al., 2010, see also Kaufmann et al., 2004; de Visscher and Noël,…”

“…Alamolhodaei 1996; Sirvastava 1997; Ekbia and Alamolhodaei 2000; Alamolhodaei 2002; Alamolhodaei 2009) and working memory (e.g., Adams & Hitch, 1998; Bull & Scerif, 2001; Siegel & Ryan, 1989; Hitch, 1978, Ekbia and Alamolhodaei 2000; Alamolhodaei 2002; Alamolhodaei 2009) could predict…”

“…incongruent trials is caused by the different involvement of inhibitory control, which has been found to be positively related to math abilities (Bull & Scerif, 2001; Espy et al., 2004; St ClairThompson & Gathercole, 2006) and is necessary for the solution of the incongruent trials (Camilla…”

“CF in 2- to 4-year-olds has been linked to several areas of development, such as theory of mind, language ability, set shifting, and various measures of academic success (Bull & Scerif, 2001; Carlson et al., 2004; Farrant, Maybery, & Fletcher, 2012; Jacques & Zelazo, 2005).”

“In typically developing youth, the ability to accurately perform arithmetic has been strongly linked with executive functions (Bull & Scerif, 2001).”

“…that this style of play helps children develop self-regulation and executive function skills [5, 6, 23, 24, 54], which in turn lead to improvements in mathematical ability [3, 7, 17, 21, 27, 51], reading, emergent literacy and vocabulary [3, 7, 51], theory of mind [18], and creativity [55].”

“Students with higher executive function abilities were proved to have higher math achievements (Bull and Scerif 2001).”

“In children, different authors observed a correlation between poor performance in mathematical tasks and a reduced visuospatial span (Bull & Scerif, 2001; Gathercole & Pickering, 2000; McLean & Hitch, 1999).”

“For example, children with low inhibitory control − one component of EF − may be less likely to evaluate and switch mathematical problem-solving strategies when they prove ineffective (Bull & Scerif, 2001).”

“…of working memory (verbal or nonverbal) or problem solving as frequently defined in neuropsychological studies (Bull, Johnston, & Roy, 1999; Bull & Scerif, 2001; Gathercole & Pickering, 2000b; Sikora et al., 2002), or direct assessment of problem-solving strategies and procedural errors in…”

“…involved in normal time perception have been identified as being dysfunctional in individuals with MD (e.g., Bull, Andrews Espy, & Wiebe, 2008; Bull & Scerif, 2001; Espy et al., 2004; Holmes & Adams, 2006; Passolunghi, Vercelloni, & Schadee, 2006; Rykhlevskaia, Uddin, Kondos, & Menon, 2009;…”

“…have found that WM was more predictive of math skills than inhibition was (Bull, Espy, & Wiebe, 2008; Miller, Müller, Giesbrecht, Carpendale, & Kerns, 2013; Passolunghi & Lanfranchi, 2012; Passolunghi, Mammarella, & Altoè, 2008), especially considering children from age 7 (Bull & Scerif, 2001).”

“Inhibition is probably the executive function that most strongly predicts arithmetic [117,128].”

“This study also extends prior research that has shown the importance of having strong attention skills in mathematics (Bull & Scerif, 2001; Holmes et al., 2009; Assess Eff Interv.”

“Bull and Scerif (2001) reported that the main difficulty for primary school children lies in inhibiting a strategy already learned and switching to a new one.”

“…executive functions (primarily updating) do not only support counting but also exert dominant influence on arithmetic performance (Andersson, 2008; Bull and Scerif, 2001; Deschuyteneer et al., 2006; DeStefano and LeFevre, 2004; Jarvis and Gathercole, 2003; Logie et al., 1994; Passolunghi and…”

“Behavioral studies in mathematics learning have also shown that inhibitory control is significantly related to general mathematics achievement (e.g., Blair & Razza, 2007; Bull & Scerif, 2001; Espy et al., 2004; St. Clair-Thompson & Gathercole, 2006; Siegler & Pyke, 2013).”

“…acquisitions occurring in various domains such as theory of mind (e.g., Carlson & Moses, 2001), problem solving (e.g., Senn, Espy, & Kaufmann, 2004), language (e.g., Deák, 2000), arithmetical skills (e.g., Bull & Scerif, 2001), and reading (e.g., van der Sluis, de Jong, & van der Leij, 2007).”

“Some studies have shown that verbal working memory skills are also important predictors of reading (Kurdek & Sinclair, 2001), mathematics (Bull & Scerif, 2001) and visuospatial short-term memory plays a role in mathematical skills, however findings are not unanimous (D’Amico & Guarnera, 2005;…”

“…object tracking task show better symbolic math performance (Anobile et al., 2013), as do children with better visual working memory (Bull et al., 2008; LeFevre et al., 2010) and children with stronger executive function skills (Bull and Scerif, 2001; Mazzocco and Kover, 2007; Bull et al., 2008).”