title: Longitudinal and concurrent links between memory span, anxiety symptoms, and subsequent executive functioning in young children.
abstract: It has been conjectured that basic individual differences in attentional control influence higher-level executive functioning and subsequent academic performance in children. The current study sets out to complement the limited body of research on early precursors of executive functions (EFs). It provides both a cross-sectional, as well as a longitudinal exploration of the relationship between EF and more basic attentional control mechanisms, assessed via children's performance on memory storage tasks, and influenced by individual differences in anxiety. Multiple measures of verbal and visuospatial short-term memory (STM) were administered to children between 3 and 6 years old, alongside a non-verbal measure of intelligence, and a parental report of anxiety symptoms. After 9 months, children were re-tested on the same STM measures, at which time we also administered multiple measures of executive functioning: verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM), inhibition, and shifting. A cross-sectional view of STM development indicated that between 3 and 6 years the trajectory of visuospatial STM and EF underwent a gradual linear improvement. However, between 5 and 6 years progress in verbal STM performance stagnated. Hierarchical regression models revealed that trait anxiety was negatively associated with WM and shifting, while non-verbal intelligence was positively related to WM span. When age, gender, non-verbal intelligence, and anxiety were controlled for, STM (measured at the first assessment) was a very good predictor of overall executive performance. The models were most successful in predicting WM, followed by shifting, yet poorly predicted inhibition measures. Further longitudinal research is needed to directly address the contribution of attentional control mechanisms to emerging executive functioning and to the development of problematic behavior during early development.
authors.affiliation: Developmental Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Visu-Petra
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Ghent Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Oana
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Stanciu
authors.affiliation: Developmental Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Oana
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Benga
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Applied Cognitive Psychology Center, Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Mircea
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miclea
authors.affiliation: Developmental Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Lavinia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheie
keywords: anxiety; executive functions; inhibition; shifting; short term memory span; working memory; young children