Young children's conditional reasoning, working memory, and inhibitory control

Abstract

The present study examined the relationship of young children's conditional reasoning, working memory (WM), and inhibitory control (IC). There were 2 conditional reasoning tasks : one based on a familiar conditional equation, and the other based on a counterfactual conditional equation. Backward digit span and the day/night Stroop task were used as the measures of working memory and inhibitory control, respectively. Experiment 1 revealed that 5- and 6-year-old's (N = 25) counterfactual conditional reasoning was positively correlated with inhibitory control, but no significant correlation was found between conditional reasoning and working memory. In Experiment 2, using an improved technique for the conditional reasoning task, the relationship of 5- to 6-year-old's (N = 26) conditioning reasoning, working memory, and inhibitory control was examined. Working memory showed a positive correlation in both the familiar and counterfactual tasks, whereas inhibitory control showed a positive correlation only in the counterfactual task.