The relationship between working memory and inhibitory control in children aged 5–7 years with varying durations of gadget use

The study examines the development of executive functions — specifically, inhibitory control and working memory — in children aged 5–7 years with different durations of gadget use. The relevance of this topic lies in the growing trend of preschoolers using digital devices from an increasingly early age and for extended periods of time. The sample included 40 children (25 girls and 15 boys). The executive functions were assessed using go/go and go/no-go paradigms, with working memory measured using O. M. Razumnikova’s method. Data analysis was performed with the Scikit-learn library in Python. All variables were standardized (transformed into z-scores) to bring test scores from different scales to a common format. Cluster analysis, along with regression and factor analysis, was conducted on the data. Three distinct clusters were identified. Children in the first cluster demonstrated the highest level of inhibitory control and an average level of working memory. Those in the second cluster showed a comparatively higher level of working memory than children in the other groups. The third cluster comprised children with low scores in both inhibitory control and working memory. Notably, no children exhibited high levels in both executive functions. The analysis further revealed that children with the highest level of inhibitory control tended to have a weekday limit on gadget use set by their parents. Additionally, their fathers were the oldest in the sample.