Given executive function’s (EF’s) link to higher-order cognitive processes and control, it comes as no surprise
that EF is a foundational and all-encompassing neurocognitive development linked to positive academic
achievement, social understanding, relationships, and developmental psychopathologies. However, access to a
comprehensive and valid measure of EF is limited in infants and toddlers. The objective of the present research
is to develop an EF battery capable of examining the structural and theoretical underpinnings of EF starting in
the toddler years. A battery of 9 tasks involving minimal language requirements in pursuit of goal-directed
behavior focused on resisting a prepotent response will be administered to two-hundred and forty 14-, 18-,
and 24-month-olds. Competing models of EF development will be tested by examining whether the patterns
from the observed data match hypothesized patterns predicted by several theoretical frameworks. A key
element of this proposal is to test the Social Representational Framework, which proposes that the
development of representational abilities (e.g., language, gesture) forms the foundation for the transition to
more controlled behavior regulated by forming and reflecting on task-relevant representations. Specifically,
this research will assess whether the best fit to describe performance across multiple EF tasks in toddlerhood is
a unitary EF factor related to developing social-communicative representation (e.g., language, gesture, joint
attention) and other abilities that draw on representation in this period (e.g., theory of mind, or the
understanding that others have mental states that guide behavior).