A unitary executive function predicts intelligence in children

Executive functions (EF) and intelligence are of critical importance to success in many everyday tasks. Working memory, or updating, which is one latent variable identified in confirmatory factor analytic models of executive functions, predicts intelligence (both fluid and crystallised) in adults, but inhibition and shifting do not (Friedman et al., 2006), suggesting that not all executive functions are related to intelligence. We aimed to test...