Edited by: Yusuf F. Zakariya, University of Agder, Norway
Reviewed by: Adeneye O. A. Awofala, University of Lagos, Nigeria; Musa Adekunle Ayanwale, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
This article was submitted to Educational Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
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Numerous studies have been conducted on the correlation between preschool children’s executive functions and mathematical competence, the findings of those studies are inconsistent. This study used meta-analysis to investigate the correlation between executive functions and mathematical competence of preschool children in China, and then explored the moderating effects of age, gender, and instruments. The researchers conducted an extensive search of CNKI, Web of Science, Google Scholar and used screening criteria to identify 22 studies of Chinese preschoolers aged 3–7 years from 2007 to 2021. The findings indicated that there was a positive correlation between Chinese preschool children’s executive functions and mathematical competence (
Mathematical competence is a very important basic ability in modern society, and it is also a vital component of academic competency and development foundation, particularly in preschool and school-age children (
Executive functions are also considered a critical advanced cognitive activity that influences individual development (
In China, influenced by traditional values which focus on the cultivation of children’s competitiveness at an early age, parents tend to place a high value on the development of children’s mathematical competence in the preschool stage (
For this purpose, we employed a meta-analytic approach to synthesize the extant literature examining the interrelations between executive functions and preschool children’s mathematical competence in China. We also examined whether the associations between executive functions and preschool children’s mathematical competence varied as a result of some study moderators. Specifically, we addressed two research questions: (1) What is the overall strength of the relationship between executive functions and preschool math competence when the study conceptualizes executive functions as a multidimensional structure? (2) Does the direction and strength of the association between executive functions and preschool math competence differ on account of the child’s gender, grade level, age, or the measurement method of executive functions?
According to
In recent years, there have been some differences in the division of the core elements of executive functions. While
On the one hand, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) divided children’s mathematical competence into the ability to master mathematical learning content and the ability shown in the process of mathematical learning in an American Context (
In terms of mathematical competence,
Some researchers have pointed out that executive functions and mathematical competence may share a common physiological basis, which involves the prefrontal lobe, orbitofrontal lobe, medial thalamic system of the brain, etc. (
There are differences in children’s mathematical cognition of different genders. Studies have shown that gender differences in children’s mathematical development begin to appear at the ages of 5–6 (
With the growth of children’s age, especially when children enter kindergarten, due to the stimulation and reinforcement of the external environment such as the interaction with their teachers and peers, children’s ability in inhibition control has been continuously strengthened (
Finally, some studies have implied that instruments may influence the association between executive functions and mathematical competence (
As shown above, the association between executive functions and mathematical competence remains unclear in Chinese preschool children. What is the real relationship between executive functions and mathematical competence? How do subcomponents of executive functions impact early childhood math abilities? These fundamental problems have not been well resolved. However, as the research shows, the relationship between the two is complex (
Articles that met the following criteria were included: (a) The research subjects were Chinese preschool children, aged 3–7 years; (b) The study was required to report the difference between executive functions (including inhibition control, working memory, cognitive flexibility, etc.) and mathematics; (c) The research does not include special groups of children, such as children with learning disabilities; (d) The research needs to report basic information such as the gender, age, and instruments of the subjects; and (e) The research also includes master’s and doctoral dissertations.
Firstly, through the retrieval of CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP, Google Scholar, Web of Science, ProQuest, Scopus, etc., with “Executive Functions” “Inhibition control” “Working Memory” “Cognitive Flexibility” and “Mathematics” “Chinese” as keywords, 1,452 search results were initially obtained, and the retrieval time was from December 1, 2021, to February 1, 2022. Secondly, after the titles and abstracts of these literatures were studied, those that did not meet the inclusion criteria were excluded, and the abstracts and full texts of the literatures with potential research value were read. In the end, a total of 22 studies in line with the established research purpose were obtained, involving 2,730 subjects, with a total of 65 effect sizes, and the time span was 2007–2021. The specific screening process is as follows:
Each study was coded according to the following characteristics: authors’ information, year of publication, source of subjects, sample size, number of boys and number of girls, their ages, instruments, and correlation coefficients between executive functions and mathematical competence (see
Summary of studies included in the meta-analysis.
Reference | City | Population | Males | Females | Age | Variable | Instruments | Correlation coefficient(r) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Dalian | 49 | 23 | 26 | 4–7 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
Frye D Task | 0.016; 0.733; 0.240; 0.521 |
|
Changsha | 52 | 26 | 26 | 4–6 years | EFs & MC | HTKS task | 0.436 |
|
Hunan | 101 | 49 | 52 | 4–6 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
Stroop task; Digit backwards task; FIST Task | 0.22; 0.27; 0.18; −0.01 |
|
Shenzhen | 196 | 103 | 93 | 5–6 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
Stroop Task; Fixed box Task; WCST Task | 0.491; 0.319; 0.264; 0.323 |
|
China | 64 | 30 | 34 | 6–7 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
Stroop task; Fixed box task; WCST task | 0.53; 0.47; 0.37; 0.39 |
|
Shanghai | 113 | 58 | 55 | 6–7 years | UP& MC; | Digit backwards Task | 0.74 |
|
Chengdu | 92 | 45 | 47 | 4–6 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
See-hear task; Fixed box task; FIST task | 0.711; 0.582; 0.588; 0.668 |
|
Hubei Province | 134 | 78 | 56 | 3–6 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
Red-blue Task; Fixed box Task; FIST task | 0.72; 0.71; 0.69; 0.46 |
|
Chongqing | 58 | 26 | 32 | 3–6 years | IN/UP& MC | Stroop task; Fixed box task; FIST task | 0.498; 0.264 |
|
China | 114 | 58 | 56 | 4–6 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
See-hear task; Fixed box task; Red rabbit blue bear task | 0.81; 0.63; 0.74; 0.64 |
|
Shenzhen | 200 | 94 | 106 | 3 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
Stroop task; Fixed box task; WCST task | 0.348; 0.301; 0.215; 0.335 |
|
Shenzhen | 210 | 113 | 97 | 4 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
Stroop task; Fixed box task; WCST task | 0.335; 0.225; 0.229; 0,269 |
|
Shanghai | 70 | 42 | 28 | 4–6 years | IN&MC | Stroop task | 0.476 |
|
Shanghai | 120 | 58 | 62 | 5–6 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
Smile-cry task; Digit-Span task; FIST task | 0.565; 0.348; 0.464; 0.337 |
|
Shanghai | 269 | 138 | 131 | 3–6 years | EFs & MC | HTKS task | 0.67 |
|
Beijing | 96 | 57 | 39 | 5 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
NIH toolbox task | 0.31; 0.33; 0.28; 0.02 |
|
Nanjing | 59 | 33 | 26 | 4–5 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
Stroop task; Digit backwards task; FIST task | 0.624; 0.314; 0.701; 0.317 |
|
Hong Kong | 172 | 88 | 84 | 5–6 years | EFs & MC | HTKS task | 0.17 |
|
Hong Kong | 97 | 49 | 48 | 3–4 years | EFs & MC | HTKS task | 0.53 |
|
Hong Kong | 165 | 87 | 78 | 4–5 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
Stroop task; Digit-span task; Keep track task | 0.40; 0.36; 0.20; 0.32 |
|
China | 181 | 99 | 82 | 6–7 years | EFs/IN/UP/ |
Expressive attention; Digit backwards task; Planned connections | 0.51; 0.31; 0.45; 0.42 |
|
Beijing | 118 | 59 | 59 | 4–5 years | IN/UP&MC | HTKS task; The sentence completion task | 0.22; 0.29 |
EFs, executive functions; IN, inhibition control; UP, working memory; CF, cognitive flexibility; MC, mathematical competence.
In this study, the correlation coefficient between variables was used as an indicator of the effect size. To exclude the influence of the sample size on the effect size results, the study performed Fisher’s Z transformation on the
Some studies reported the correlation coefficient between a sub-dimension of executive functions and mathematical competence, some studies reported the correlation coefficient between three sub-dimensions (inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) and mathematics, and some studies’ correlation coefficients between preschool children’s executive functions overall and mathematical competence were reported. In this study, all the above correlation coefficients were included in the statistics, the Pearson correlation coefficient
Publication bias refers to the fact that statistically significant findings are more likely to be published than non-statistically significant findings (
Flowchart of the inclusion protocol.
Funnel plot. Executive functions—Mathematics.
Funnel plot. Inhibition—Mathematics.
Funnel plot. Working memory—Mathematics.
Funnel plot. Cognitive flexibility—Mathematics.
Due to differences in research methods, objects, tools, evaluation criteria, etc., there may be heterogeneity in research. Therefore, a test for heterogeneity is required to determine the appropriate effect model for the study. The heterogeneity test generally uses the I2 test statistic method to judge the heterogeneity (
We identified 65 effect sizes from 23 independent studies involving a total of 2,370 children from China, of whom 55.6% are female. The main effect results of the meta-analysis are shown in
Main effects results for executive functions and mathematical competence.
95% CI | Homogeneity test | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lower | Upper | Value of |
||||||
EFs and MS | 2,365 | 18 | 0.496 | 0.394 | 0.585 | 151.989 | 0.000 | 88.815 |
IN and MS | 2,027 | 17 | 0.347 | 0.221 | 0.462 | 149.799 | 0.000 | 89.319 |
UP and MS | 2,070 | 17 | 0.432 | 0.318 | 0.533 | 143.069 | 0.000 | 88.817 |
CF and MS | 1,781 | 14 | 0.370 | 0.272 | 0.460 | 67.003 | 0.000 | 80.598 |
N, total sample size; K, number of effect sizes; R, effect size; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval.
There are some differences in the association between executive functions and mathematical competence in preschool children of different genders. As shown in
The moderating effect of gender on executive functions and mathematical competence in preschool children.
Gender | 95% CI | Heterogeneity test within each group | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lower | Upper | ||||||||
EFs | Male | 612 | 9 | 0.484 | 0.416 | 0.548 | 74.820 | 0.000 | 77.279 |
Female | 544 | 9 | 0.530 | 0.470 | 0.586 | ||||
IN | Male | 560 | 8 | 0.338 | 0.261 | 0.411 | 67.278 | 0.000 | 76.218 |
Female | 492 | 9 | 0.391 | 0.311 | 0.465 | ||||
UP | Male | 647 | 8 | 0.462 | 0.398 | 0.522 | 81.711 | 0.000 | 80.419 |
Female | 495 | 9 | 0.385 | 0.305 | 0.459 | ||||
Male | 512 | 7 | 0.369 | 0.288 | 0.445 | 33.587 | 0.000 | 61.295 | |
Female | 418 | 7 | 0.335 | 0.245 | 0.419 |
N, sample size; K, number of effect sizes; R, effect size; 95% CI = 95% confidence interval.
The age of the subjects is further divided into three groups: 3–4 years old, 4–5 years old, and 5–6 years old, and their moderating effects on the association between executive functions and mathematical competence of preschool children were discussed, respectively. The analysis results are shown in
The moderating effect of age on executive functions and mathematical competence in preschool children.
Age | 95% CI | Heterogeneity test within each group | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lower | Upper | I2 | |||||||
EFs | 3–4 years | 437 | 5 | 0.554 | 0.484 | 0.617 | 74.820 | 0.000 | 77.279 |
4–5 years | 233 | 6 | 0.485 | 0.384 | 0.575 | ||||
5–6 years | 456 | 7 | 0.477 | 0.401 | 0.546 | ||||
IN | 3–4 years | 296 | 4 | 0.370 | 0.266 | 0.466 | 67.278 | 0.000 | 76.218 |
4–5 years | 411 | 7 | 0.424 | 0.339 | 0.502 | ||||
5–6 years | 302 | 6 | 0.279 | 0.177 | 0.376 | ||||
UP | 3–4 years | 403 | 4 | 0.416 | 0.331 | 0.494 | 87.711 | 0.000 | 80.419 |
4–5 years | 364 | 7 | 0.429 | 0.339 | 0.511 | ||||
5–6 years | 375 | 6 | 0.444 | 0.357 | 0.523 | ||||
CF | 3–4 years | 275 | 3 | 0.335 | 0.224 | 0.437 | 63.587 | 0.000 | 61.295 |
4–5 years | 325 | 6 | 0.348 | 0.246 | 0.443 | ||||
5–6 years | 304 | 5 | 0.375 | 0.272 | 0.469 |
N, sample size; K, number of effect sizes; R, effect size; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval.
The measurement of executive functions is mainly to measure the sub-components of executive functions, and the instruments selected in different studies vary. So, after statistics processing, several typical instruments were selected in each aspect of executive functions to explore the moderating effect of different instruments on the executive functions and mathematical competence of preschool children. The analysis results are shown in
The moderating effect of instruments on executive functions and mathematical competence in preschool children.
Instruments | 95%CI | Heterogeneity test within each group | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lower | Upper | ||||||||
IN | Stroop task | 1,237 | 9 | 0.361 | 0.311 | 0.409 | 149.799 | 0.000 | 89.319 |
HTKS task | 1,167 | 5 | 0.360 | 0.297 | 0.420 | ||||
UP | Fixed box task | 1,068 | 8 | 0.413 | 0.362 | 0.462 | 143.069 | 0.000 | 88.817 |
Digit-span task | 452 | 5 | 0.298 | 0.219 | 0.374 | ||||
Digit backwards | 454 | 4 | 0.524 | 0.453 | 0.589 | ||||
FIST task | 897 | 6 | 0.392 | 0.334 | 0.446 | 67.003 | 0.000 | 80.598 | |
WCST task | 884 | 4 | 0.329 | 0.268 | 0.387 |
N, sample size; K, number of effect sizes; R, effect size; 95% CI = 95% confidence interval.
The findings of this meta-analysis led us to conclusions regarding relations between executive functions and mathematical competence in Chinese cultural background. The overall research results indicated that executive functions and sub-dimensions of EFs (i.e., inhibition control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) were positively associated with mathematical competence. The correlation coefficients for these findings were both medium. Furthermore, preschoolers’ age, gender, and instruments moderated these relations.
The meta-analysis results indicated that there was a moderately positive correlation between executive functions and mathematical competence in preschool children in the Chinese context, which is consistent with previous studies (
Preschool children’s gender plays a role in determining the level of correlation between executive functions and mathematical competence varied which is consistent with some previous research results (
Another factor—children’s age would also impact how correlated they are between executive functions and mathematical competence. The main reason is that the development of executive functions is staged, and the influence of executive functions of preschool children of different ages on children’s mathematical competence is different. Specifically, inhibition control is the ability to consciously suppress dominant responses in the first place, and this ability increases with age. Studies have shown that inhibition control reaches a stage of rapid development when children are 4 years old (
According to the results of the meta-analysis, there are significant differences in the association between executive functions and mathematical competence of preschool children under different instruments. The main reason is that the content of the test tasks is quite different. For instance, the Stroop Task, which tests children’s inhibition control ability, let children quickly say “night” when they see a picture of the “sun” and say “day” when they see a picture of the “moon.” Also, a blue-red task that examines inhibition control has children say “blue” when they see red, and “red” when they see blue. Although there is not much difference between the two instruments, they are quite different in content. Children’s cognition of the objective objects “sun” and “moon” is different from the cognition of “red” and “blue” colors, and there are also great differences in essence. Therefore, there are significant differences in the results measured by different instruments.
There are several limitations to this study. Firstly, the effect mechanism of preschool children’s executive functions on mathematical competence needs further clarification. At present, it is uncertain how executive functions affect mathematical competence, and the issue in terms of how the subcomponents of executive functions are related also needs further studies. As some studies have shown, there may be other factors (such as children’s language, vocabulary, spatial ability, etc.) at play between executive functions and mathematical competence. Therefore, issues such as how executive functions (including each sub-component) affect children’s mathematical competence, what is the association between the sub-components, and whether there is some interaction mechanism need further research. Secondly, the demonstration of the causal relationship between the two in the existing research is insufficient. Future study should deepen the discussion on this aspect to further prove the existence of the causal association between the two through experimental research and longitudinal research. Finally, our sample only considered preschool children between 3 and 7 under the Chinese cultural background, and thus did not include older children. Future research should expand the sample group to verify the validity of research conclusions from a broader sample group.
This study used meta-analysis research methods to explore the real association between executive functions and mathematical competence in preschool children in the Chinese context. The research results showed that there was a moderately positive correlation between the executive functions and mathematical competence of Chinese preschool children. Among them, the association between working memory and mathematical competence was the strongest. In addition, the association was also moderated by gender, age, and instruments. Our findings have clarified the debate on existing research viewpoints, illustrated the real association between preschool children’s executive functions (including each sub-component) and mathematical competence, and provided a research basis and reference for subsequent scientific research.
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.
ZZ: conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft, and review and editing. YX: conceptualization, formal analysis, and writing—review and editing. RJ, MZ, and HZ: writing—review and editing. CY: writing—review and editing, and supervision. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
This work was supported by the National Ethnic Affairs Commission of the People’s Republic of China “Research on Early Childhood Education and Development in Minority Areas (2021-GMI-010) Ethnic Research Project.”
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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