Peer-reviewed article
The Role of Inhibitory Control in Achievement in Early Childhood Education
Ryan Irvan, Maria Tsapali ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This review paper examines how inhibitory control—the ability to regulate behaviour, emotions and thoughts—relates to academic achievement in early childhood education. The research found correlations between inhibitory control and performance in mathematics, literacy, and social-emotional learning, though the studies reviewed do not establish causation. The paper notes that different types of inhibitory control (emotional versus abstract) relate differently to these areas of learning, and that measurement approaches need to better reflect real classroom activities.
Key points
- Inhibitory control correlates with achievement in mathematics, literacy, and social-emotional learning in early childhood education
- Hot inhibitory control (emotion-based) relates more closely to social-emotional learning outcomes
- Cool inhibitory control (abstract, emotion-limited) relates more closely to mathematics and literacy outcomes
- Emergent literacy outcomes varied by the language spoken by students
- Current measurement tools may not capture real-world classroom applications of inhibitory control
Limitations
This is a review paper that synthesizes existing research rather than conducting new empirical studies, so it cannot establish causation or provide definitive evidence of intervention effects. The paper does not evaluate a specific intervention or program implementation.
Abstract
This review paper explores the relationship between academic achievement in early childhood education and inhibitory control, namely students’ ability to regulate behaviour, emotions and thoughts to complete specific tasks. The majority of research in this area has focused on achievement in mathematics, literacy or a combination of both. Despite the recent uptake of ‘whole child’ focused education initiatives, few studies explore social-emotional learning, or all three areas collectively, a gap this paper aims to address. This paper offers a comprehensive review of previous research on inhibitory control and achievement to highlight areas of focus for future research and provide a theoretical basis for study design. The review draws on articles published in the English language and systematically compares research methodologies to elucidate the choices made by researchers. The findings indicated correlations between inhibitory control and the three areas of early childhood education, mathematics, literacy and social-emotional learning, although causation is not established. Hot inhibitory control, involving emotion or an external motivator, was found to be closely related to social-emotional learning and cool inhibitory control, limited emotional and an abstract motivator, with mathematics and literacy. Notably, emergent literacy varied by the language spoken by students. A look at the measures and samples used revealed that purposefully employing inhibitory control measures that align with real-world classroom activities may provide greater insight into the relationship between achievement and inhibitory control. The findings of this paper pose significant implications for research, policy and practice, especially with the recent uptake of social-emotional learning by education programs, as they reveal how inhibitory control relates to students’ ability to thrive in early childhood education settings. In the light of these findings, it is important for educators and researchers to consider how inhibitory control may in itself, be considered a goal of early childhood education.