Executive function (EF) predicts children’s academic achievement; however, less is known about the relation between EF and the actual learning process. The current study examined how aspects of the material to be learned—the type of information and the amount of conflict between the content to be learned and children’s prior knowledge—influence the relation between individual differences in EF and learning. Typically developing 4-year-olds (N = 61) completed a battery of EF tasks and several animal learning tasks that varied on the type of information being learned (factual vs. conceptual) and the amount of conflict with the learners’ prior knowledge (no prior knowledge vs. no conflicting prior knowledge vs. conflicting prior knowledge). Individual differences in EF predicted children’s overall learning, controlling for age, verbal IQ, and prior knowledge. Children’s working memory and cognitive flexibility skills predicted their conceptual learning, whereas children’s inhibitory control skills predicted their factual learning. In addition, individual differences in EF mattered more for children’s learning of information that conflicted with their prior knowledge. These findings suggest that there may be differential relations between EF and learning depending on whether factual or conceptual information is being taught and the degree of conceptual change that is required. A better understanding of these different relations serves as an essential foundation for future research designed to create more effective academic interventions to optimize children’s learning.

执行功能（EF）预测儿童的学业成绩；然而，对于 EF 与实际学习过程之间的关系知之甚少。目前的研究检查了要学习的材料的各个方面——信息的类型以及要学习的内容与儿童先前知识之间的冲突量——如何影响 EF 的个体差异与学习之间的关系。通常发育的 4 岁儿童（N = 61) 完成了一系列 EF 任务和几个动物学习任务，这些任务因所学习信息的类型（事实与概念）以及与学习者先前知识的冲突程度（无先前知识与无冲突的先前知识）而异与冲突的先验知识）。EF 的个体差异预测了儿童的整体学习、控制年龄、语言智商和先验知识。儿童的工作记忆和认知灵活性技能预测了他们的概念学习，而儿童的抑制控制技能预测了他们的事实学习。此外，EF的个体差异对儿童学习与他们先前知识相冲突的信息更为重要。这些发现表明，EF 和学习之间可能存在不同的关系，这取决于所教授的是事实信息还是概念信息以及所需的概念变化程度。更好地理解这些不同的关系是未来研究的重要基础，旨在创造更有效的学术干预以优化儿童的学习。