The Research On The Development Of Executive Function Of 4～7 Years Old Children And The Relationship With Its Related Influence Factors

Recently, many researchers have attached great importance to the study of children's executive function. It allows children to inhibit their behaviors and to adjust to appropriate directions in accordance with certain situations. The study designed the tasks from the"cool"executive function only involved in cognition and the"hot"executive function with emotion to invest the development of"cool"and"hot"executive function, and the relationships with temperament and family environment. It'll provide psychological evidence for prediction of children's behavior and early interference.The study measured the executive function of 4～7 years old children (N=154) in different conditions through the methods of experiments and questionnaire. Every child must attend four tasks follow the order, while the teachers should finish the questionnaire of"children'temperament based on teachers'perception", and the parents must accomplish"family environment scale-Chinese version". The four tasks were: 1."See and Listen"task, which measured the"cool"executive function. Children must withhold a predominant response in rules. 2. Flexibility to choose task is a"cool"task, too. In this task, it's important to use rules flexibly and switch among different dimensions. 3."Dog and Monkey"task. It is a"hot"executive function task that investd the children's response to the task when inspired with the feeling of like and hate. 4. Counter-Righteousness select task about"hot"executive function, which measured if children withhold a predominant response with emotion.The results revealed that: (1)There were significant differences in the development of children's executive function. The key period of"cool"executive function was from age 4 to 5 and 6 to 7, but it developed slowly from 5 to 6. The"hot"executive function developed slightly faster from age 5 to 7 than 4 to 5. (2)There was no statistical significance in boys and girls. But in a whole, the girls'score was higher than the boys'. (3)There were closely relationships between executive function and temperament, family environment. The children's age, focus of temperament and success of family environment would predict the development of the"cool"executive function, and the age, focus and emotion of temperament, success and contradiction of family environment could predict the development of the"hot"executive function.