Abstract
Healthy development of executive functioning (EF) provides an important foundation for emotional and behavioral regulation as well as academic success. Preschool is a time of rapid EF development, making this a target age group for identifying EF weaknesses. Despite this, EF is difficult to behaviorally measure in preschoolers. Resting state EEG (rsEEG) offers a potential biomarker for EF, such that differences in EEG power can be observed in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)–a disorder that often includes executive dysfunction. However, limited studies have explored this association in typically developing preschoolers, and direct correlates between EEG power and behavioral measures of EF are lacking. The current study explored the associations between EF and rsEEG power (i.e., theta, alpha, beta) in thirty-seven typically developing 4-year-old children. No unified EF construct was found, highlighting the difficulty conceptualizing and assessing EF in preschool-aged children. While age-related decreases in theta power were found, expected increases in alpha and beta power were not. This suggests that decreases in theta may be the first indication of developmental changes in EEG power. Further, performance on measures of EF was not related to rsEEG power. The current findings highlight the need to examine other neuroelectrophysiological metrics and developmental trajectories to provide a foundational understanding of the neural correlates of typical EF development.