Abstract
Early childhood is a key period for the development of self-regulation skills. Inhibitory control is one of the self-regulation skills that are necessary in academic and social contexts to achieve better results. Studies have shown that older children’s inhibitory control improves when a reward is presented. However, types of rewards and individual differences have never been fully investigated in a controlled situation. 149 children aged 4 to 5 years from a low socioeconomical background were assessed to measure inhibitory control (IC) in two different conditions embedded in a tablet game: IC with a predictive reward and IC with a non-predictive reward. Additionally, a measure reported by parents on their children’s temperament was analysed. Results showed that (1) inhibition was higher in the predictive condition, (2) girls performed better than boys in both inhibition games, and (3) boys, whose temperament is characterised by a higher level of sociability had a better performance in the non-predictive reward condition. Moreover, boys whose temperament is characterised by a high energy level have poorer performance in the same task. In educational terms, having more background in the subject of rewards can allow more appropriate planning according to the objective, temperament characteristics and sex of the children.
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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Notes
The index of school vulnerability (índice de vulnerabilidad escolar, IVE) is calculated annually by the national committee of school aid and scholarships (junta nacional de auxilio escolar y becas, JUNAEB). This index is calculated using household data and indicates the percentage of vulnerability of Chilean schools ranging from 0 to 100%. A higher percentage indicates a higher vulnerability index.
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This study was supported by the Chilean government’s National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development-ANID (project FONDECYT number 1210989).
This study was supported by the Programa de Investigación Asociativa (PIA) en Ciencias Cognitivas, Research Center on Cognitive Sciences (CICC), Faculty of Psychology. Universidad de Talca, Campus Lircay, Chile.
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Carolina Caffarena Barcenilla participated in the conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, project administration, and writing of the original draft and final review and editing. Cristian A. Rojas-Barahona participated in the conceptualization, investigation, and supervision of the research paper.
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Caffarena-Barcenilla, C., Rojas-Barahona, C.A. The influence of temperament and sex on inhibitory control games: reward strategies. Curr Psychol 43, 5839–5853 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04779-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04779-8