Study title

93 children between 7 and 11 years were recruited from under-privileged areas in Edinburgh, Scotland. Pre- and post-tests focused on executive function skills through tests of working memory (backwards Corsi blocks task), inhibition (antisaccade task), and cognitive flexibility (cued task switching). There were three training conditions: Meta EF, Basic EF, and Control. Training consisted of 16 training sessions (45 minutes each) that took place 2-4 times per week. All children were trained in pairs. In the Meta EF group and the Basic EF group, children trained on six different adaptive EF tasks tapping WM, inhibition and flexibility (2 versions each of N-back, AX-CPT, and alternating runs task switching). In the Meta EF condition, children additionally discussed and took part in computerised activities that progressively focused on task reflection, goal setting, strategy selection, and planning. In the basic EF group, children instead participated in colouring and discussion activities focused on resilience. These included discussion of positive thinking, empathy, and self-care. The control group performed the same EF tasks in non-adaptive versions minimally tapping EF (e.g., 1-back task, X-CPT task, single-tasks). They performed the same control activities as the Basic EF group.Executive function (EF), the ability to regulate thoughts and actions, develops rapidly during childhood, supporting increasingly complex and adaptive behaviours. Emerging EF promotes greater autonomy and predicts life success. Specifically, it supports attention in the classroom and the ability to stay on task (e.g., ignore distractions, resist engaging in inattentive or disruptive behaviours, follow instructions), and therefore predicts learning and academic achievement to an even greater extent than intelligence or precursor literacy or mathematical skills. From early childhood on, EF is lower in children raised in low socioeconomic environments relative to children from higher...