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Primary School Learning Topics Involving Inhibitory Control: A Scoping Review.

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Title: Primary School Learning Topics Involving Inhibitory Control: A Scoping Review.
Authors: Bélanger, Élisabeth (AUTHOR), Moyon, Marine (AUTHOR), Brault Foisy, Lorie-Marlène (AUTHOR), Masson, Steve (AUTHOR)
Source: Educational Psychology Review. 7/13/2026, Vol. 38 Issue 1, p1-37. 37p.
Subjects: Response inhibition, Mathematics education, Primary education, Heuristic, Cognitive development, Language research, Science education
Abstract: By the time they enter primary school, students have already developed a range of intuitive conceptions, heuristics, and other automatisms (Borst, 2020; Houdé, 2014). In certain contexts, these automatisms can lead to inappropriate responses or reasoning errors, interfering with students' understanding of targeted learning topics (Jiang et al., 2019; Roëll et al., 2019). Research has highlighted the role of inhibitory control in overcoming such automatisms (Houdé & Borst, 2015; Mason & Zaccoletti, 2021; Medrano & Prather, 2023). However, because this research is dispersed across various fields, it remains difficult to grasp the full range of learning topics whose acquisition may involve inhibitory control. This scoping review aims to provide a structured overview of primary school learning topics for which there is empirical evidence consistent with the involvement of inhibitory control in overcoming interfering automatisms. A total of 27 articles reporting 54 experiments with children aged 6 to 12 were analyzed. The review identified learning topics primarily in mathematics, but also in science and language, suggesting that inhibitory control may be involved across multiple areas of the curriculum. Moreover, recurring characteristics emerged across the competing automatisms involved in these learning topics, including strong perceptual salience, reliance on the "more A–more B" intuitive rule, susceptibility to whole-number bias, and frequent reinforcement through instruction and experience. These four characteristics could help identify other learning topics that may require inhibitory control but have not yet been explicitly studied. Lastly, the review explores variations in negative priming effects across learning topics, suggesting that some interfering automatisms may be more difficult to inhibit than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
Description
Abstract:By the time they enter primary school, students have already developed a range of intuitive conceptions, heuristics, and other automatisms (Borst, 2020; Houdé, 2014). In certain contexts, these automatisms can lead to inappropriate responses or reasoning errors, interfering with students' understanding of targeted learning topics (Jiang et al., 2019; Roëll et al., 2019). Research has highlighted the role of inhibitory control in overcoming such automatisms (Houdé & Borst, 2015; Mason & Zaccoletti, 2021; Medrano & Prather, 2023). However, because this research is dispersed across various fields, it remains difficult to grasp the full range of learning topics whose acquisition may involve inhibitory control. This scoping review aims to provide a structured overview of primary school learning topics for which there is empirical evidence consistent with the involvement of inhibitory control in overcoming interfering automatisms. A total of 27 articles reporting 54 experiments with children aged 6 to 12 were analyzed. The review identified learning topics primarily in mathematics, but also in science and language, suggesting that inhibitory control may be involved across multiple areas of the curriculum. Moreover, recurring characteristics emerged across the competing automatisms involved in these learning topics, including strong perceptual salience, reliance on the "more A–more B" intuitive rule, susceptibility to whole-number bias, and frequent reinforcement through instruction and experience. These four characteristics could help identify other learning topics that may require inhibitory control but have not yet been explicitly studied. Lastly, the review explores variations in negative priming effects across learning topics, suggesting that some interfering automatisms may be more difficult to inhibit than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:1040726X
DOI:10.1007/s10648-026-10198-5