Project description
Understanding children’s executive function development
While social and cultural contexts are known to shape executive function (EF), the impact of social presence on a child’s EF remains under-researched, particularly across diverse cultural settings. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SPACE project aims to challenge the traditional view that a child’s EF performance is a purely intrinsic trait independent of social context. It will explore how the presence of an experimenter affects key EF components, such as inhibition, working memory, and shifting. The project seeks to determine whether observed effects stem from physical distractions, social interactions, or a combination of both. The findings will help improve our understanding of children’s EF development.
Objective
Executive function (EF) develops within social and cultural contexts, yet the impact of others’ presence on children’s EF remains largely unexplored, particularly across cultures. The SPACE project challenges the widespread assumption that children’s EF performance reflects intrinsic capacity independent of immediate social context. Specifically, it examines how experimenter presence influences core EF components (inhibition, working memory, shifting), and whether such effects stem from physical distraction, social aspects, or their interaction. Using a novel paradigm that orthogonally manipulates EF demands while measuring both accuracy and reaction times, complemented by eye-tracking indices of attentional allocation, SPACE will compare children from the UK and Japan. Drawing on evidence that East Asian individuals attend more broadly to contextual information than Western individuals, the project tests whether social presence differentially captures attentional resources across cultural settings. By integrating cognitive, social, and cross-cultural approaches, SPACE advances theoretical models of EF development and clarifies how immediate social environments shape goal-directed behaviour.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
BS8 1QU BRISTOL
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.