Martha Ann Bell is a remarkable doctor of psychology, who has devoted decades of her life to studying children and their developmental processes. In her paper named “Relations between frontal EEG maturation and inhibitory control in preschool in the prediction of children’s early academic skills” Bell and her colleagues set out to record the EEG resting-state activity of children from the ages 10 months to four years old. In doing this, they were able to watch the level of frontal alpha power over the first four years of the children's lives. Higher frontal alpha power has been associated with better inhibition control. Dr. Bell defined inhibitory control as: the ability to suppress or temporarily withhold inappropriate behavior. It is important in responding when automatic response tendencies are inappropriate. Or in simpler terms: it is important for children to learn how to suppress, or not act on, their impulsive thoughts or actions. Dr. Bell confirmed that around age 3.5 is when synaptic density in the human prefrontal cortex, where inhibitory control takes place, is greatest. Which correlates with the theory that inhibitory control is thought to be at its greatest at this age as well.
Dr. Kurt Egger’s work with children a few years older coordinates with Dr. Bell's observations. Dr. Egger’s paper, named “Inhibitory control in childhood stuttering”, sought to determine if there is a correlation between lower inhibitory control and stuttering. This experiment involved two groups of children, all around the age of seven. The first group of children had a stutter, and the second group did not stutter. Each child took an evaluation called Go/NoGo tasks on computers. Dr. Eggers found that the children who had a stutter exhibited more false alarms and premature responses, as well as having a slower reaction time. Each of these phenomena pointed to lower inhibitory control.
Inhibitory control is an important ‘muscle’ everyone must learn to exercise. Scientists are discovering more ways in which inhibitory control aids us from day to day. Learning when and how inhibitory control works might eventually aid children with speech, academics, and overall development.
Eggers, K., De Nil, L. F., & Van den Bergh, B. R. H. (2013). Inhibitory control in childhood stuttering. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 38(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfludis.2012.10.001
Whedon, M., Perry, N. B., & Bell, M. A. (2020). Relations between frontal EEG maturation and inhibitory control in preschool in the prediction of children’s early academic skills. Brain & Cognition, 146, N.PAG. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105636
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