The research projects in this area involve studies on both normal adults and children from pre-school age to early adolescence. The cognitive functions of primary interest are various aspects of working memory (e.g storage vs processing, verbal vs spatial domains) and various aspects of inhibition (e.g. interference control, prepotent response inhibition), but also functions related to speed of processing and more general problem solving as measured by tests of fluid intelligence. We are interested in the normal development of various cognitive functions, their interrelations at different developmental phases, as well as their independent and combined effect in explaining individual differences in intelligence.

In addition to an individual difference approach we are using experimental designs to study the interplay of terms of working memory load and inhibitory demand. Our aim is to evaluate whether the effects of these manipulations are additive or whether they interact in influencing performance. An interactive effect would support the idea that a common limited resource is used for inhibitory control and working memory. Again studies are performed both with adult and child participants.