ATTENTIONAL MECHANISMS AND DEVELOPMENT OF SELFREGULATION IN CHILDHOOD

Abstract

Recent research has given support to the hypothesis that the maturation of the attentional networks is involved in the development of self-regulation, suggesting that the ability to regulate our own behavior and the attentional mechanisms share a common biological background. From a cognitive-affective perspective, the frontal cortex has been proposed as a brain area where individual differences in both processes might be located. From a developmental point of view, improvements in self-regulation abilties through childhood would be in connection with factors such as the maturation of the brain, the individual's cognitive and linguistic achievements, and the influences of the context; at this respect, parents are attributed a special role. Individual differences in self-regulation, in turn, have proved to be relevant for individual's psychological and social functioning.