A Study of Voluntary Regulation Components in Children of the First Grade

The present study examines the components of voluntary regulation in children of the first grade. Children (N = 82) were asked to perform tasks, measuring the ability of inhibition of verbal behavior (tests “yes-no”, “day-night”), working and short-term memory, knowledge of the rules of behavior in the classroom, the ability to follow a visual pattern (“Butterfly”) and verbal instruction (“Graphic dictation”). It has been found that girls have a higher regulation of verbal behavior than boys. It is shown that the working memory is an essential component of any regulation: for example, children with higher working memory abilities also showed a higher level of inhibition and the ability to follow the pattern and instructions. The regulation of verbal behavior is important both to follow verbal and visual pattern instructions and to control interference. The number of rules of conduct, provided by these children, was positively associated with the test that measures the ability to inhibit verbal behavior: “day-night”. The findings indicate the need for the formation in children of speech mediation activities and methods of working memory.

1. Asmolov A. G. Kak proektirovat’ universal’nye anomal’nogo povedeniya [The role of speech in re­uchebnye deistviya v nachal’noi shkole. Ot deistviya gulation of normal and abnormal behavior]. In Luriya k mysli [How to project universal learning actions in A.R. (ed.) Problemy vysshei nervnoi deyatel’nosti elementary school. From action to thought]. Mos-normal’nogo i anomal’nogo rebenka. T. 2. [The prob­cow: Prosveshchenie, 2013. 152 p. lems of higher nervous activity of normal and ab­
2. Vygotskii L. S. Orudie i znak v razvitii rebenka normal child]. Moscow: Publ. APN RSFSR, 1958, [Tool and sign in child development]. Sobr. soch. pp. 5–46. v 6-ti tomakh. T. 6. [Collected works in 6 volumes. 5. Semenova O. A., Koshel’kov D. A., Machinskaya Vol. 6]. Moscow: Pedagogika, 1984, pp. 6–86. R. I. Vozrastnye izmeneniya proizvol’noi regulyatsii
3.  Ivannikov V.A. Psikhologicheskie mekhanizmy deyatel’nosti v starshem doshkol’nom i mladshem volevoi regulyatsii. [Psychological mechanisms of shkol’nom vozraste [Age changes in voluntary regu­voluntary regulation]. Moscow: MGU, 2006. 203 p. lation in preschool and elementary school children].
4. Luriya A. R. Rol’ rechi v regulyatsii normal’nogo i anomal’nogo povedeniya [The role of speech in regulation of normal and abnormal behavior]. In Luriya A.R. (ed.) Problemy vysshei nervnoi deyatel’nostin ormal’nogo i anomal’nogo rebenka. T. 2. [The problems of higher nervous activity of normal and abnormal child]. Moscow: Publ. APN RSFSR, 1958, pp. 5–46
5. Smirnova E. O. Razvitie voli i proizvol’nosti v ran­nem i doshkol’nom vozrastakh. [Development of will and voluntary regulation in early and preschool age]. Moscow: Institut prakticheskoi psikhologii.Voronezh NPO «MODEK», 1998. 256 p.
6. El’konin D. B. Izbrannye psikhologicheskie trudy. [Selected psychological works]. Moscow: Pedagogi­ka, 1989. 560 p.
7. Baddeley A. D. Working memory, thought and action. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2007. 412 p.
8.  Barkley R. A. The executive functions and self-regulation: An evolutionary neuropsychological per­spective. Neuropsychology Review, 2001. Vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1–29.
9. Berry D. Inhibitory control and teacher–child conflict: Reciprocal associations across the elemen­tary-school years. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2012. Vol. 33, pp. 66–76.
10. Cowan N. The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capac­ity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2001. Vol. 24, pp. 87–185.
11. Denham S. A., Warren-Khot H., Bassett H. H., Wyatt T., Perna A. Factor structure of self-regula­tion in preschoolers: Testing models of a field-based assessment for predicting early school readiness. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2012. Vol. 111, no. 3, pp. 386–404.
12. Gathercole S. E., Lamont E., Alloway T. P. Work­ing memory in the classroom / In S. J. Pickering (Ed.). Working memory and education. San Diego: Academic. 2006, pp. 219–240.
13. Gerstadt C. L., Hong Y. J., Diamond A. The rela­tionship between cognition and action: Performance of children 3½–7 years old on a Stroop-like day-night test. Cognition, 1994. Vol. 53, pp. 129–153.
14. Kimura D. Sex and cognition. Cambridge, MA: A Bradford Book/The MIT Press. 2000. 229 p.
15. Kochanska G., Murray K. T., Harlan E. T. Effort­ful control in early childhood: Continuity and change, antecedents, and implications for social develop­ment. Developmental Psychology, 2000. Vol. 36, pp. 220–232.
16. Matthews J. S., Ponitz C. C., Morrison F. J. Early gender differences in self-regulation and academic achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 2009. Vol. 101, no. 3, pp. 689–704.
17. McClelland M. M., Cameron C. E.  Connor C. M., Farris C. L., Jewkes A. M., Morrison F. J. Links be­tween behavioral regulation and preschoolers’ lite­racy, vocabulary, and math skills. Developmental Psychology, 2007. Vol. 43, pp. 947–959.
18. Nigg J. T. On inhibition/disinhibition in develop­mental psychopathology: Views from cognitive and personality psychology and a working inhibition taxo­nomy. Psychological Bulletin, 2000. Vol. 126, no. 2, pp. 220–246.
19. Ponitz C. C., McClelland M. M., Matthews J. S., Morrison F. J. A structured observation of behavio­ral self-regulation and its contribution to kindergar­ten outcomes. Developmental Psychology, 2009. Vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 605–619.
20. Posner M., Rothbart M. Developing mechanisms of self-regulation. Development and Psychopatho­logy, 2000. Vol. 12, pp. 427–441.
21. Raffaelli M., Crockett L. J., Shen Y. L. Deve-lop­mental stability and change in self-regulation from childhood to adolescence. Journal of Genetic Psy­chology, 2005. № 166, pp. 54–75.
22. Zelazo P. D., Miieller U., Frye D., Marcovitch S. The development of executive function in early child­hood. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 2003. Vol. 68, no.3, pp. 1–137.