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Processing speed deficits: A missing link in understanding individual variation in children's interval timing skills?
Morgan N Di Napoli Parr1, Megan Noonan1, Iman Noferesti1
1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa.
Insights
Processing speed impacts children's interval timing. Slow processing speed exacerbates the link between poor movement skills and timing variability, and mediates the effect of executive functions on timing performance.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Interval timing is crucial for motor skills.
- Processing speed's role in interval timing is not fully understood.
- Executive functions and motor skills are linked to interval timing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate processing speed's moderating and mediating effects on children's interval timing.
- To examine the interplay between movement skills, executive functions, and interval timing.
- To identify at-risk profiles for timing-based skill deficits.
Main Methods:
- Children aged 9-11 completed interval timing, executive functioning, and processing speed tasks.
- A movement skills assessment was also administered.
- Statistical analyses explored moderating and mediating roles of processing speed.
Main Results:
- Processing speed moderated the relationship between movement skills and interval timing variability.
- Children with poor movement skills and slow processing speed showed the most variable interval timing.
- Processing speed mediated the link between executive functions (working memory, inhibitory control) and interval timing variability.
Conclusions:
- Slow processing speed may put children with movement difficulties at higher risk for timing-based motor skill deficits.
- Processing speed may interfere with executive functions essential for interval timing.
- Combined deficits in timing, motor ability, and processing speed may indicate a neurodevelopmental risk profile.
Abstract:
The goal of this study was to explore the possible moderating and mediating roles of processing speed in children's interval timing performance. Nine- to 11-year-old children (N = 103; 53% male; 67% White, 4% Black, 5% Asian, 3% Hispanic, 9% biracial/mixed identity, 12% unknown) performed behavioral interval timing, executive functioning, and processing speed tasks, along with a movement skills assessment. We found that processing speed moderated the relation between movement skills and interval timing such that poorer movement skills most strongly predicted more variable interval timing in children with very slow processing speed. Processing speed also statistically mediated the relation between poorer executive functions (working memory and inhibitory control) and more variable interval timing. This suggests that children with movement difficulties who also have very slow processing speed may be most at risk for dysfunctions in timing-based movement skills and that slow processing speed may interfere with efficient operation of executive functions involved in interval timing skills. We discuss the possible role that processing speed may play in understanding individual variation in children's interval timing skills and how combined difficulties in timing skills, motor ability, and processing speed may represent a particularly at-risk profile for children with neurodevelopmental disorders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
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