Hot and Cool Inhibitory Control in Italian Toddlers: Associations with Social Competence and Behavioral Problems (original) (raw)

Page 1. Development of hot and cool executive function during the transition to adolescence Angela Prencipe a, Amanda Kesek b, Julia Cohen b, Connie Lamm c, Marc D. Lewis d, Philip David Zelazo b,* a Department of Psychology ...

Executive functions (EF), a term used to refer to a large number of abilities involved in self-regulation, has become an important focus of research in early development. A distinction between cool and hot EF is often made based on whether a problem involves abstract versus motivational aspects. While research on cool EF in preschoolers is abundant, relatively little work has been done on hot EF abilities. The current paper focuses primarily on research utilizing two hot EF tasks: the delay of gratification task (Mischel et al. 1989) and preschool variants of the Iowa Gambling task (Bechara et al. 1994). The pattern of findings clearly indicate age improvements in hot EF during the preschool period. Finally, processes involved in hot EF tasks are placed into the broader context of early EF and self-regulation and areas warranting future research are discussed.

Executive function (EF), which refers to the more deliberate, top-down neurocognitive processes involved in self-regulation, develops most rapidly during the preschool years, together with the growth of neural networks involving prefrontal cortex but continues to develop well into adulthood. Both EF and the neural systems supporting EF vary as a function of motivational significance, and this article discusses the distinction between the top-down processes that operate in motiva-tionally and emotionally significant situations (" hot EF ") and the top-down processes that operate is more affec-tively neutral contexts (" cool EF "). Emerging evidence indicates that both hot and cool EF are surprisingly malleable , with implications for intervention and prevention.