Performance on inhibitory control measures improves with age, with some tasks reaching performance plateaus beginning around 4 years of age¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2016 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2021: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Average POM performance on inhibitory control measures improved with age, and some tasks plateaued at later ages beginning around 4 years, indicating ceiling effects for older children. → Petersen 2016

Evidence¶

Petersen 2016¶

Petersen, I. T., Hoyniak, C. P., McQuillan, M. E., Bates, J. E., & Staples, A. D. (2016). Measuring the development of inhibitory control: The challenge of heterotypic continuity. Developmental Review, 40, 25-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2016.02.001

q3 · i? · quant-synthesis · r2

Meta-analytic POM-by-age curves (Figs. 1-3) across 198 studies show mean-level improvement with age and plateaus at later ages. The review notes researchers should be thoughtful about task choice at ages 4-8 years to avoid ceiling effects. No effect size is printed.

"First, in general and as expected, performance on inhibitory control measures improved with age. Second, performance on some tasks reached plateaus at later ages (beginning in some cases around 4 years of age)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Behavioral inhibitory control tasks are useful for detecting individual differences over an average span of only 2.49 years, versus 6 years for the CBQ Inhibitory Control subscale — related
• The Shape Stroop, Bear/Dragon, and Tower tasks showed a pronounced drop in average performance from about 25 to 30 months of age, possibly reflecting systematic missingness rather than declining ability — related
• The meaning of Bear/Dragon task performance changes with age: go and no-go trial performance was inversely correlated at 30 months (r = −.67) but not at 42 months (r = .12) — related
• Task-based inhibitory control (Stop Signal Task) improves curvilinearly from ages 11 to 15, with growth slowing around middle adolescence — related
• Average and superior children develop at different levels and grow increasingly dissimilar with age, with superior children showing adolescent mental acceleration about one year earlier — related