Meta-analytic findings show small-to-medium relations between EF and academic performance, with cognitive flexibility showing the strongest effects¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Relations between EF and academic performance are generally small to medium in magnitude, with inhibition showing small effects and broader EF factors medium-sized effects on reading and mathematics achievement. → Theobald 2026 q3 i? Cognitive flexibility (attention shifting) tends to show the strongest medium-sized effects, followed by slightly smaller medium effects for WM and small effects for response inhibition. → Theobald 2026 (2)

Evidence¶

Theobald 2026¶

Theobald, M., Kerner auch Koerner, J., Breitwieser, J., Buhr, L., Karbach, J., Könönen, T., Nobbe, L., Reinelt, T., Schaaf, M., Schmiedek, F., Wieland, L. M., & Blume, F. (2026). Executive Functions, Metacognition, Self-Regulation, and Self-Regulated Learning – What are We Talking About? A Review and Introduction of the EMERGE Model. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-026-10157-0

q3 · i? · review · r2

The review reports meta-analytic findings (citing Allan 2014; Jacob and Parkinson 2015; Titz 2014) that EF–academic performance relations are "generally small to medium in magnitude". No effect size values are printed in the quoted text.

"Meta-analytic findings indicate that relations between EF and academic performance are generally small to medium in magnitude, with inhibition showing small effects and broader EF factors showing medium-sized effects on reading and mathematics achievement"

Theobald 2026 (2)¶

Theobald, M., Kerner auch Koerner, J., Breitwieser, J., Buhr, L., Karbach, J., Könönen, T., Nobbe, L., Reinelt, T., Schaaf, M., Schmiedek, F., Wieland, L. M., & Blume, F. (2026). Executive Functions, Metacognition, Self-Regulation, and Self-Regulated Learning – What are We Talking About? A Review and Introduction of the EMERGE Model. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-026-10157-0

q3 · i? · review · r?

The review reports, citing Jacob and Parkinson 2015, a ranked pattern across EF subcomponents: "cognitive flexibility (attention shifting) tends to show the strongest medium-sized effects", then WM, then response inhibition. No numeric effect sizes are printed.

"Within this work, cognitive flexibility (attention shifting) tends to show the strongest medium-sized effects, followed by slightly smaller medium effects for WM and small effects for response inhibition (Jacob and Parkinson 2015)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Executive Function — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Inhibition/interference, working memory and processing speed correlate with adolescent academic achievement, while cognitive flexibility and social skills do not — reports the opposite
• Children's executive function at the beginning of pre-kindergarten predicts growth in mathematics achievement across the pre-kindergarten year — related
• Cool EF (Stroop inhibition and CNT cognitive flexibility) predicts academic performance, while no hot EF variable does — related
• Executive functions and working memory correlate moderately to strongly with mathematics achievement (r = .28 to .40), from preschool through elementary school — related
• Response inhibition shows a small negative association with reading fluency (r = −.15) in a single study — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Gender differences appear in academic achievement and several cognitive parameters but not in inhibition/interference or social skills — related
• Executive functions show significant associations with reading outcomes in elementary school children (meta-analysis of 60 studies, 275 effect sizes) — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Executive functions, especially working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility, are consistently associated with core SRL activities — related
• EF explains substantial achievement variance (about 20–60% in school children) while SRL shows positive but low-effect-size relations to achievement — reports the opposite
• Executive functions show consistent positive meta-analytic associations with academic outcomes — related
• Working memory span, updating, and cognitive flexibility positively predict English writing, response inhibition positively predicts reading, and working memory span negatively predicts listening — a narrower finding that bears on this claim