Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 4, 2025
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Measuring the Functional Abilities of Children Aged 3-6 Years Old with Observational Methods and Computer Tools
Published on: June 20, 2020
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Cognitive abilities in a sample of young Swedish children
Ingela Clausén Gull1, Johanna Stålnacke1, Lilianne Eninger1
1Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
Frontiers in Psychology
|December 18, 2024
Summary
Preschoolers
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Social-emotional competences (SEC) and cognitive abilities are crucial for school adaptation and social interaction.
- Early language and preliteracy skills are foundational for later academic success.
- Executive functions (EFs) are central to goal-directed cognitive processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine cognitive abilities, preliteracy, and SEC in preschool-aged children using a broad perspective.
- To investigate the structure of executive functions and their relationship with preliteracy and SEC in early childhood.
Main Methods:
- Utilized pre-test data from 247 Swedish 4- to 5-year-old children participating in an intervention trial.
- Employed exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to assess the relationships between various cognitive and social-emotional skills.
- Included measures of executive functions, preliteracy, and social-emotional competences.
Main Results:
- Social-emotional competences did not group with preliteracy skills or executive functions.
- A two-factor model best fit the cognitive abilities data, distinguishing inhibitory control from more complex skills.
- Complex executive functions and preliteracy skills were found to be closely linked but distinct from inhibitory control in preschoolers.
Conclusions:
- Complex executive functions and preliteracy skills are interconnected yet distinct in preschool-aged children.
- A comprehensive assessment of cognitive abilities, including preliteracy, is vital for understanding socio-emotional development.
- Findings support the development of early interventions targeting executive functions and preliteracy skills.
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