Recent work within early executive function (EF) seems to suggest that toddlers show distinct patterns of development, involving poorly correlated performance across EF tasks and significant improvements over relatively short periods of time. The present study sought to extend these findings by investigating evidence for these patterns in toddlers and the existence of more traditional patterns of EF (e.g., correlations between tasks, links to language) when using the same tasks in a novel Latin American sample. Eighty toddlers (18–24 months) and sixty young preschoolers (30–36) months completed a battery of EF tasks, early social communication, and receptive and expressive language measures. Results indicated that toddlers showed similar distinct patterns of development (i.e., few relations between tasks and links to responding to joint attention), but by early preschool a more cohesive EF and links to language were present. Further, work demonstrated significant age (older children outperformed younger children), gender (girls outperformed boys), and socioeconomic differences (satisfied basic needs outperformed unsatisfied basic needs, but only on the snack delay). This work provides evidence for patterns of emerging EF development within this novel cultural sample (and evidence for group differences) that may be supported by communicative and representational development.

中文翻译：

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幼儿执行功能任务之间新出现的连贯性和沟通关系：来自拉丁美洲样本的证据

最近在早期执行功能 (EF) 方面的工作似乎表明，幼儿表现出不同的发展模式，涉及 EF 任务之间的相关性较差，以及在相对较短的时间内显着改善。本研究试图通过调查幼儿中这些模式的证据以及在新的拉丁美洲样本中使用相同任务时存在更传统的 EF 模式（例如，任务之间的相关性、与语言的联系）来扩展这些发现。80 名幼儿（18-24 个月）和 60 名学龄前儿童（30-36 个月）完成了一系列 EF 任务、早期社会交流以及接受性和表达性语言测量。结果表明，幼儿表现出相似的不同发展模式（即，任务之间的关系很少，与对共同注意力的反应有关），但是到了学龄前早期，就出现了更具凝聚力的 EF 和与语言的联系。此外，工作表现出显着的年龄（年龄较大的孩子优于年幼的孩子）、性别（女孩的表现优于男孩）和社会经济差异（满足的基本需求优于未满足的基本需求，但仅限于零食延迟）。这项工作为这种新的文化样本中新兴的 EF 发展模式（以及群体差异的证据）提供了证据，这可能得到交流和代表性发展的支持。