Executive functions and working memory correlate moderately to strongly with mathematics achievement (r = .28 to .40), from preschool through elementary school¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r3 · q3 · i2 medium · n=30 meta-analyses, 66 correlations from 13,853 effect sizes (~4.66 million participants)
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Executive-function composites correlate r = .40 (preschool) and .36 (elementary school) with mathematics achievement, composite working memory .38 and working memory .35; cognitive flexibility (.35) is more closely related in younger children. These are correlations compiled across meta-analyses: they describe how strongly the characteristic goes with mathematics achievement, not what causes it.

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Executive-function composites correlate r = .40 (preschool) and .36 (elementary school) with mathematics achievement, composite working memory .38 and working memory .35; cognitive flexibility (.35) is more closely related in younger children. → Breit et al. 2025

Evidence¶

Breit et al. 2025¶

Breit, M., Schneider, M., & Preckel, F. (2025). Mathematics achievement and learner characteristics: A systematic review of meta-analyses. Learning and Individual Differences, 118, 102621. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102621

q3 · systematic review of meta-analyses · i2 · medium effect, r = .28 to .40 · n=30 meta-analyses, 66 correlations from 13,853 effect sizes (~4.66 million participants) · review · r3

The review compiles zero-order correlations from published meta-analyses (each with at least ten effect sizes, the largest one kept where several covered a variable), found by a systematic PsycINFO search in July 2024. It pools nothing further and controls for nothing: many of these characteristics correlate with one another, so a correlation here says how strongly the characteristic goes with mathematics achievement, not that it causes it. Preschool executive-function composite r = .40, updating .36, shifting .32, inhibition .30 (Emslander & Scherer 2022, up to k = 363); elementary-school executive functions .36, inhibitory control .29, shifting .28 (Spiegel et al. 2021, k = 1,034); cognitive flexibility .35 (de Santana et al. 2022, k = 30, n = 35,355 children); composite working memory .38, working memory .35 (k = 829, n = 27,860), numerical .34, visual-spatial .31 and verbal working memory .30 (Peng et al. 2016). The preschool and elementary estimates differ by about .04 with overlapping intervals; the cognitive-flexibility correlation was larger in younger children.

Discussion¶

The authors relate this to the load of mathematical problem solving, which requires holding and manipulating several pieces of information at once. The review tests no executive-function training.

Related Claims¶

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• Executive functions show significant associations with reading outcomes in elementary school children (meta-analysis of 60 studies, 275 effect sizes)
• Meta-analytic findings show small-to-medium relations between EF and academic performance, with cognitive flexibility showing the strongest effects — related
• Preschool working memory–flexibility predicts later math achievement, especially in Grade 3 — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Preschool executive function positively predicts kindergarten math on both measures, while teacher–child relationship quality shows only a trend-level main effect on ECLS-K Math and none on Applied Problems — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Children's executive function at the beginning of pre-kindergarten predicts growth in mathematics achievement across the pre-kindergarten year — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• The WM–flexibility factor predicts math composite scores at both Grade 1 and Grade 3 — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Math achievement correlates more strongly with EF components than EF components correlate with each other in early childhood — related
• General and fluid intelligence correlate strongly with mathematics achievement (r = .41 to .62), and the fluid-intelligence correlation is larger in older samples — related
• Working memory shows a moderate average correlation with mathematics (r = 0.35), stronger for calculation and problem solving than geometry, per a meta-analysis of 110 studies cited in the article — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• The benefit of worked examples over problem-solving increases with decreasing shifting ability, reproducing Schwaighofer et al. (2016) — related
• General cognitive ability has moderate positive relations with work performance, with meta-analytic validity coefficients in the 0.4 to 0.6 range across many job types — related
• Inhibitory control is moderately positively correlated with mathematical ability in elementary school children (r = 0.19) — related
• VSWM shows an overall positive relationship with mathematics performance in school-aged children — related
• Executive functions show consistent positive meta-analytic associations with academic outcomes — a broader claim this one bears on
• Children from college households know more numerals than children from other households, controlling IQ and executive function — related