The role of inhibition in the development of arithmetic skills - a cross-sectional study in 5- and 7-year-old children.

Inhibition has been suggested to contribute to symbolic and non-symbolic quantity processing, but conclusions remain inconsistent. Using Structural Equation Modelling, the structure of inhibition and its contributions to symbolic and non-symbolic arithmetic are explored in predominantly White French 5- and 7-year-olds (N= 331, 169 females). Results suggest a lack of support for a unitary or binary (Response Inhibition and Distractor Suppression) inhibition construct in light of poor correlations between inhibition measures and highlight a link in both age groups between the Stop-Signal Task and symbolic arithmetic, and a link between the Flanker task and non-symbolic arithmetic only in 7-year-olds. The current study allows to dissect the differential contributions of inhibition facets to arithmetic development in a critical time window.