Trajectory through Different executive training Interventions for children from socioeconomically deprived households in Argentina

Abstract

Between the years of 2002 and 2018, researchers from the Unidad de NeurobiologíaAplicada and the Laboratorio de Neurociencia Integrativa designed, implemented, and evaluated the impact of a series of experimental and quasi-experimental interventions aimed at promoting executive performance across different samples of children aged 3 to 8 years, from socioeconomically deprived households in various districts of Argentina. This paper describes the design of these interventions, which followed a specific logical conceptual sequence, initially focused on assessing potential change in cognitive processes of attention, inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and planning. Subsequent generations of interventions were oriented toward exploring mechanisms of change through curricular adaptations, dyadic games between primary caregiver-child interactions, and computerized activities that included training adjusted to individual performance. Additionally, significant efforts were made to evaluate the potential modulation of intervention impacts by several individual and contextual factors, as well as their near and far transfer to academic activities, and to neural activity changes. Throughout this trajectory of design, implementation, and impact evaluation, researchers progressively updated their theoretical conceptions about self-regulatory development, poverty definitions, and the use of this knowledge by different stakeholders and policymakers in Argentina and the Latin American region. Our results may inform future research directions within a diverse developmental science context.