Experimental evidence consistent with inhibitory control involvement spans primary school learning topics primarily in mathematics, but also science and language¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Across 54 experiments with children aged 6–12, performance data were consistent with inhibitory control involvement in overcoming automatisms, with most experiments in mathematics (N = 38), followed by language (N = 10) and science (N = 10). → Élisabeth Bélanger 2026

Evidence¶

Élisabeth Bélanger 2026¶

Élisabeth Bélanger, Marine Moyon, Lorie-Marlène Brault Foisy, Steve Masson. (2026). Primary School Learning Topics Involving Inhibitory Control: A Scoping Review. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-026-10198-5

q2 · i? · review · r2

Scoping review synthesis of 54 experiments with primary school children (Mage = 10.36; SD = 1.70) from 27 articles. Figure 1 distribution shows "Most were conducted in math - ematics ( N = 38), followed by language ( N = 10) and science ( N = 10)"; experiments spanning two subjects were counted in both categories.

"Most were conducted in math - ematics ( N = 38), followed by language ( N = 10) and science ( N = 10)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Grouping the reviewed experiments revealed 15 distinct primary school learning topics involving inhibitory control — related
• Incongruent items in school-topic tasks are generally associated with longer response times and lower accuracy, patterns consistent with inhibitory control recruitment — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Negative priming effects are generally larger in mathematics than in language or science, particularly in arithmetic tasks — related