The cognitive abilities that support goal-directed action develop rapidly across the first few years of life and are central to adaptive functioning across the lifespan. Cognitive flexibility, language, and behavioral inhibitory control (IC), in particular, are strong predictors of early school success (Yeniad, Malda, Mesman, van IJzendoorn, Emmen, & Prevoo, 2014; Gardner-Neblett, DeCoster, & Hamre, 2014; Allan, Hume, Allan, Farrington, & Lonigan, 2014) and later social and emotional adjustment (Kooijmans, Scheres, & Oosterlaan, 2000; Menting, van Lier, & Koot, 2011). Despite the importance of these skills to later functioning, the mechanisms underlying their development have not been thoroughly investigated and are not well understood.
