Chunk #12 — Changes in Frontal EEG Coherence across Infancy Predict Cognitive Abilities at Age 3: The Mediating Role of Attentional Control — The Role of Attentional Control in the Development of Higher-Level Cognition
The observed growth in receptive language across the third year of life may be largely influenced by children’s attentional control. Specifically, children who are able to control their visual attention may develop language more quickly because they are better able to coordinate attention with social partners, which is an essential source of early word learning (Scofield & Behrend, 2011). Further, toddlers who are able to intentionally direct the attention of adults in their environment may have an advantage in word learning because they can elicit words from them that they do not already know. Indeed, children’s ability to initiate joint attention has been consistently associated with both receptive and expressive vocabulary (Colonnesi, Stams, Koster, & Noom, 2010). Because of its role in early word learning, attentional control in late infancy may effectively constrain children’s receptive vocabulary across early childhood.
