Planning in young children: A review and synthesis

0273-2297/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier In doi:10.1016/j.dr.2011.02.002 ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: School of Psyc E-mail address: [email protected] (T. Mc Research on the development of planning is reviewed in the context of a framework that considers the role of three types of cognitive flexibility in planning development: event-independent temporal representation, executive function, and self-projection. It is argued that the emergence of planning abilities in the preschool period is dependent upon the development of eventindependent temporal representation. Research on the development of executive function suggests that its sub-components, in particular inhibitory control, may be linked to developmental improvements on planning tasks. Recently, new paradigms have established that self-projection to the future appears to develop over the preschool period. We consider how these different forms of cognitive flexibility may themselves be related in development. 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.