Information processing from infancy to 11 years: Continuities and prediction of IQ

This study provides the first direct evidence of cognitive continuity for multiple specific information processing abilities from infancy and toddlerhood to pre-adolescence, and provides support for the view that infant abilities form the basis of later childhood abilities. Data from a large sample of children (N = 131) were obtained at five different time points (7, 12, 24, 36 months, and 11 years) for a large battery of tasks representing four cognitive domains (attention, processing speed, memory, and representational competence). Structural equation models of continuity were assessed for each domain, in which it was assumed that infant abilities→toddler abilities→11-year abilities. Abilities at each age were represented by latent variables, which minimize task-specific variance and measurement error. The model for each domain fit the data. Moreover, abilities from the three age periods predicted global outcome, with infant, toddler, and contemporaneous 11-year measures, respectively, accounting for 12.3%, 18.5%, and 45.2% of the variance in 11-year IQ. These findings strengthen contentions that specific cognitive abilities that can be identified in infancy show long-term continuity and contribute importantly to later cognitive competence.

► Longitudinal relations from infancy to 11 years were examined at 3 stages of life.
► Continuities were found in 4 domains: attention/speed/memory/representational skills.
► Using SEM, we showed: infant abilities → toddler abilities → 11-year abilities.
► Infant abilities accounted for 12% of the variance in 11-year IQ.
► Infant information processing forms the building blocks of later cognition.