> Abstract: In this talk I will be talking about a > longitudinal study investigating frontal-executive > functioning in infancy and toddlerhood. The study > had two aims. Firstly, a new, easily administered, > visual inhibition task was developed (the > Freeze-Frame task). Secondly, the study investigated > the relationship between performance on a set of > frontal-executive measures administered to the same > group of children at 9 and 24 months. As predicted, > infants looked less to peripheral distractors when a > central stimulus was dynamic compared to repetitive > in the Freeze-Frame task. Furthermore, infants who > showed this pattern more strongly also tended to > perform better in a classic infant inhibition task, > the A-not-B task. Surprisingly, both Freeze-Frame > and A-not-B performance was negatively correlated > with the frontal-executive measures taken at 24 > months, and these associations were independent of > measures of general development. The results will be > discussed in terms of the validity and > interpretation of frontal-executive measures in > early childhood and possible mechanisms underlying > the negative association found between the infant > and toddler measures. I will also discuss future > directions including a new large-scale longitudinal > study currently in progress. >