# Cognitive Control in the Development of School Readiness in Early Childhood

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 2024 · $289,190

## Abstract

Project Summary
Neural processes that influence school readiness in early childhood, a key time for intervention, and the
cognitive processes that explain how parenting and neural processes influence school readiness remain poorly
understood. There is a critical need to determine how cognitive control and its neural underpinnings develop
and how these are influenced by parenting practices. The long-term goal is to develop more effective science-
based interventions for behavioral and academic problems in children. The overall objective for the proposed
longitudinal project is to determine how specific parenting processes, neural processes, and cognitive control
processes promote school readiness in the transition from preschool to school entry. Our central hypothesis is
that delayed development of cognitive control—at neural and psychological levels—results in cognitive control
deficits in early childhood that prevent automatization and lead to the downstream development of
externalizing and academic problems. Ineffective parenting practices are likely a key cause of delayed
development of cognitive control. The rationale for the proposed research is that a detailed understanding of
mechanistic pathways that explain how parenting and neural processes influence school readiness will enable
the identification of novel strategies to prevent behavioral and academic problems. Guided by strong
preliminary data, we will test the central hypothesis by pursuing three specific aims: 1) Identify neural indicators
of cognitive control in early childhood that predict development of school readiness, 2) Identify cognitive control
processes that explain how neural processes predict school readiness, and 3) Identify parenting practices that
predict development of neural processes and cognitive control. Aim 1 will determine the extent to which
response inhibition (N2 event-related potential, ERP) and novelty detection (P3 ERP) predict development of
school readiness based on tests of academic skills and reports of externalizing behavior problems by parents
and teachers. Aim 2 will identify the extent to which the neural indicators of cognitive control predict cognitive
control on laboratory tasks, which, in turn, lead to school readiness. Aim 3 will determine the degree to which
parenting sensitivity, autonomy support, and consistency that have been robustly associated with school
readiness predict neural and cognitive control processes that, in turn, predict school readiness. The proposed
research is innovative because it employs a new and transformative method of assessing cognitive control at
multiple levels of analysis (neural and psychological) longitudinally and in relation to parenting and school
readiness in early childhood. The proposed research is significant because it is expected to enable the design
of early intervention and prevention strategies targeted to enhance children's response inhibition and novelty
detection, translating to better cognitive...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10830983
- **Project number:** 5R01HD098235-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **Principal Investigator:** Isaac T Petersen
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $289,190
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-06-17 → 2027-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10830983

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10830983, Cognitive Control in the Development of School Readiness in Early Childhood (5R01HD098235-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10830983. Licensed CC0.

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