Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 25, 2026

Multimedia Battery for Assessment of Cognitive and Basic Skills in Mathematics BM-PROMA
Published on: August 28, 2021
Executive functioning predicts reading, mathematics, and theory of mind during the elementary years
Rachelle H Cantin1, Emily K Gnaedinger1, Kristin C Gallaway1
1Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790, USA.
Abstract:
The goal of this study was to specify how executive functioning components predict reading, mathematics, and theory of mind performance during the elementary years. A sample of 93 7- to 10-year-old children completed measures of working memory, inhibition, flexibility, reading, mathematics, and theory of mind. Path analysis revealed that all three executive functioning components (working memory, inhibition, and flexibility) mediated age differences in reading comprehension, whereas age predicted mathematics and theory of mind directly. In addition, reading mediated the influence of executive functioning components on mathematics and theory of mind, except that flexibility also predicted mathematics directly. These findings provide important details about the development of executive functioning, reading, mathematics, and theory of mind during the elementary years.
Related Concept Videos
Information Processing Approach
Language and Cognition
Biological Influences on Intelligence
Piaget's Stage 4 of Cognitive Development
Abstract Reasoning and Hypothetical-Deductive Thinking
Unlike the concrete operational...
Piaget's Stage 3 of Cognitive Development
Conservation and Constancy of Quantity
A significant cognitive milestone in the...
Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition

