title: Focused but fixed: the impact of expectation of external rewards on inhibitory control and flexibility in preschoolers.
abstract: Promise of rewards has been widely used in controlling preschoolers' behaviors. The current study investigated how the expectation of receiving an external reward may influence preschoolers' executive function. Four- to 5-year-old Singaporean children were randomly assigned to reward-informed and reward-uninformed conditions. Results showed that compared with those in the reward-uninformed condition, although performing the same on the control tasks and reporting similar motivation and mood states before being told about the reward, the children in the reward-informed condition performed better on the Day/Night Stroop (Experiment 1, N = 41) but worse on the Flexible Item Selection Test (Experiment 2, N = 43). These findings suggest that the expectation of receiving an external reward can influence preschoolers' behavioral control.
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychology, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. quli@ntu.edu.sg
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Dana Liebermann
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Finestone
authors.forename: Loh Jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Leong Zhenxia
authors.initials: LZ
authors.lastname: Reena
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D012201:Reward; D012846:Singapore