The maturation of the PFC is considered foundational to the acquisition of higher-level cognitive abilities that emerge in early childhood (Diamond, 2002; Garon, Bryson, & Smith, 2008; Posner & Rothbart, 2007; Bunge & Zelazo, 2006), a central component of this maturation being the development of neural networks that support attentional control (Posner & Petersen, 1990; Colombo & Cheatham, 2006). However, studies that examine changes in brain organization across infancy and early childhood in relation to developing attention or cognitive abilities are notably absent from the literature. The bulk of empirical works investigating the development of attention networks are based on studies with children over 5 years of age and have not included measures of neural functioning (e.g., Pozuelos, Paz-Alonso, Castillo, Fuentes, & Rueda, 2014). Studies that have included measures of neural functioning have largely relied on measures of localized (vs. coordinated) brain activity (e.g., Abundis-Gutiérrez, Checa, Castellanos, & Rueda, 2014). For these reasons, the development of attention networks and their influence on children’s emerging attention and cognitive functioning is largely unexplored. By using a noninvasive technique to estimate changes in
