The Correlation Between The Frontal EEG Maturation In Preschool Children and Their Inhibitory Control

The prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in human life and is responsible for decision-making, reasoning, personality expression, and other cognitive behaviors. This area of the brain plays a key part in inhibitory control, the ability to control your thoughts, emotions, and behavior appropriately instead of acting on impulse. This inhibitory control is essential for children in preschool age as they transition to formal schooling. This cognitive process is developed over time, however, it is most developed during the preschool years. 

Dr. Martha Ann Bell and other researchers in the article, Relations between frontal EEG maturation and inhibitory control in preschool in the prediction of children's early academic skills, explore the topic of children’s inhibitory control and the relationship between the maturation of the frontal EEG and this control. Dr. Bell writes about the importance of these inhibitory factors as they have been associated with better academic achievements and outcomes. Thus, she and her colleagues performed a study investigating whether the maturation of the frontal EEG in children affects their inhibitory control. 

In this study, children ranging from ages 10 months to six years participated in a longitudinal investigation where the same group of children was observed at different times to observe developmental changes through behavior-based performances. These children were asked to take part in different inhibitory control tasks, such as Go/No-Go tasks and Stroop-like tasks, to measure response times and accuracy. The EEG was prepared on the children and recorded brain activity before they performed the tasks and while they performed the tasks to establish a baseline and properly compare and measure frontal alpha power. The change in frontal alpha power observed can be used to show the processing involved in inhibitory control.

The children were also tested on their academic skills using the Woodcok-Johnson Tests of Achievements. The test was aimed at evaluating the child’s reading performance, reading fluency, letter-word identification, and passage comprehension. These results were then entered into a structural model to observe the results with their association with inhibitory control. 

Overall, the purpose of Dr. Bell’s study was to stress the importance inhibitory control has on preschool children’s academic achievements and how the development of children’s front EEG can affect their inhibitory control. Understanding these correlations can help better the achievements and developments of children. With this knowledge, proper steps can be taken and established to help future generations of children succeed as they grow through this time in their lives. 

Works Cited:

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 and Cognition, 146, 105636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105636