The problem of the development of voluntary self-regulation in children

This article reviews main approaches to the development of self-regulation in children in contemporary Western psychology. It further discusses the core neurocognitive processes involved in voluntary self-regulation including inhibition, working memory, and executive attention. Readers will learn about the paradigms and methods used to measure voluntary self-regulation such as Stroop test, stop-signal and flanker tests as well as tests to measure delayed gratification. The developmental trajectory of voluntary self-regulation and the importance of self-regulation for children’s mental health, socio-emotional development and school success are discussed in detail.