Low inhibitory control (IC) is sometimes associated with enhanced problem-solving amongst adults, yet for young children high IC is primarily framed as inherently better than low IC. Here, we explore associations between IC and performance on a novel problem-solving task, amongst 102 English 2- and 3-year-olds (Study 1) and 84 Swedish children, seen at 18-months and 4-years (Study 2). Generativity during problem-solving was negatively associated with IC, as measured by prohibition-compliance (Study 1, both ages, Study 2 longitudinally from 18-months). High parent-reported IC was associated with poorer overall problem-solving success, and greater perseveration (Study 1, 3-year-olds only). Benefits of high parent-reported IC on persistence could be accounted for by developmental level. No concurrent association was observed between problem-solving performance and IC as measured with a Delay-of-Gratification task (Study 2, concurrent associations at 4-years). We suggest that, for young children, high IC may confer burden on insight- and analytic-aspects of problem-solving.

中文翻译：

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幼儿时期的抑制控制和问题解决：探索高度自控的负担和好处

低抑制控制 (IC) 有时与成人解决问题的能力增强有关，但对于幼儿来说，高 IC 主要被认为本质上优于低 IC。在这里，我们探讨了 IC 与一项新的问题解决任务的表现之间的关联，研究对象包括 102 名 2 岁和 3 岁的英国儿童（研究 1）和 84 名瑞典儿童，分别为 18 个月和 4 岁（研究 2） . 解决问题期间的生成能力与 IC 呈负相关，这是通过禁令合规性衡量的（研究 1，两个年龄段，研究 2 从 18 个月开始纵向研究）。父母报告的高 IC 与较差的整体问题解决成功率和更大的毅力有关（研究 1，仅限 3 岁儿童）。父母报告的高 IC 对持久性的好处可以用发育水平来解释。用延迟满足任务（研究 2，4 年时的并发关联）测量，在解决问题的表现和 IC 之间没有观察到并发关联。我们建议，对于幼儿，高 IC 可能会给解决问题的洞察力和分析方面带来负担。