Perception of socially significant information and its relationship with executive functions in children 6–8 years old

Abstract

The present study examines the relationship between the perception of socially significant emotionally charged information and the effectiveness of various components of voluntary cognitive regulation—including programming, selective regulation and control, multiple aspects of attention, and cognitive planning—in preschool and early primary school children aged 6 to 8 years (N = 42). The results indicate that children of this age range demonstrate a fairly well-developed ability to recognize others’ emotions and relate them to different social contexts, particularly first-grade students. This ability can be considered a prerequisite for successful school adaptation. Among facial expressions, intense emotions such as joy and anger were most accurately recognized, while in social interaction contexts, joy was the most readily identified emotion. An additional important finding concerns the link between the ability to understand others’ emotional states in communication situations and the development of various components of voluntary cognitive regulation. Specifically, significant associations were found between emotional understanding and the effectiveness of instruction comprehension, task orientation, action planning and programming, as well as selective and divided attention. These findings have practical implications for the development of psychological and educational interventions aimed at fostering voluntary self-regulation in situations of social interaction—both between children and adults and among peers in educational settings. Such interventions, taking into account children's age-specific characteristics, may support their successful adaptation to the beginning of formal schooling.