The developmental literature has seen an increase in studies on children’s executive function across diverse populations, given its importance for early childhood development and later-life outcomes.
A small but increasing number of studies have focused on children’s executive function in low-income countries. This scoping review systematically synthesizes executive function studies conducted in Africa to present current realities and outline future directions.
Eligible studies were identified across databases using executive function keywords combined with the names of the 54 African countries and 8 territories. After synthesizing 182 studies that met the inclusion criteria, the results show broad consensus on executive function definitions, but little consistency in how dimensions of executive function have been investigated, and mixed findings on how executive function might be associated with contextual and developmental variables.
Areas of reflection are proposed that can help to improve the representation of African perspectives on executive function and guide future research.
This paper was published in the journal Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, September 2026. You can read the full article here.