Exploring the Effects of Schooling on Changes in Behavioral and Neurological Indices of Children's Executive Functioning

从学前班到小学早期的过渡对幼儿来说是一个关键的发展过渡。 向正式、结构化的课堂环境的转变对儿童提出了新的要求，要求他们加强自我调节，包括更好地控制注意力和更好地控制冲动。 儿童的自我调节能力直接有助于他们在学校和以后的生活中取得成功。 本项目将整合神经生物学、发展和教育角度，研究学校教育对大脑的影响以及自我调节不同方面的行为测量。该项目将利用较新的便携式电生理设备，以便研究儿童的大脑及其在校期间的行为，从而大大扩大参与者的范围和代表性。为了直接研究学校教育的影响，同时控制实际年龄，本研究将采用学校截止法，比较刚刚与错过幼儿园入学的任意出生日期的儿童。在整个学年的过程中，跟踪儿童将允许调查学校教育经验对大脑和自我调节行为发展的影响。该项目的研究结果将大大提高该领域对自我调节发展的大脑机制的理解，以及自我调节可以通过学校实践进行修改的程度。

The transition from preschool to early elementary school represents a critical developmental transition for young children. The shift to a formal, structured classroom environment places new demands on children that require increased self-regulation, including better control of attention and better impulse control. Children's self-regulation contributes directly to their school and later life success. The present project will integrate neurobiological, developmental and educational perspectives, examining the impact of schooling on brain and behavioral measures of different aspects of self-regulation. The project will utilize relatively new, portable electrophysiological equipment that will permit the study of children's brains as well as their behaviors while in their schools, greatly amplifying the range and representativeness of the participants. To directly study the effects of schooling while controlling for chronological age, the study will employ the school cut-off method, comparing children who just make vs. miss the arbitrary birth date for Kindergarten entry. Following the children over the course of the school year will permit investigation of the impact of schooling experiences on brain and behavioral development of self-regulation. Findings from this project will greatly enhance the field's understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying development of self-regulation as well as the extent to which self-regulation can be modified though schooling practices.