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Assessment of Executive Functions in Children Aged 3–6 Years: Current State, Challenges, and Perspectives

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The development of executive functions (EF) during ascending ontogeny is addressed on the basis of current theoretical concepts of their neurobiological bases. Behavioral methods for evaluating EF in preschool children (3–6 years of age) are analyzed, as is the link between these methods and various theoretical approaches. Among existing methods of evaluating EF, methods of assessing the formation and maintenance of activity aims and plans realizing these aims are underrepresented or completely missing. Behavioral tasks which can be used to evaluate goal-setting and planning with the objective of combining behavioral, neuroimaging, and electrophysiological methods are discussed.

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Correspondence to A. V. Kurgansky.

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Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 71, No. 4, pp. 468–484, July–August, 2021.

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Kurgansky, A.V. Assessment of Executive Functions in Children Aged 3–6 Years: Current State, Challenges, and Perspectives. Neurosci Behav Physi 52, 297–307 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-022-01237-z

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