Publications
Refereed Journal Articles
2026
Merkley, R., Miller-Cotto, D., Miller-Singley, A., Brunner, M., Buschkuehl, M., Jaeggi, S., Mills, C., Francisco, A., & Uncapher, M. (in press). Putting research into context: A paradigm shift in conceptualizing executive functions in classroom learning. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 43, 100285. [PDF]
Medrano, J., & Miller-Cotto, D. (2026). Assessing culturally relevant variables in predicting science outcomes in Asian American kindergarteners. Behavioral Sciences, 16(4), 550. [PDF]
Fang, M., & Miller-Cotto, D. (2026). Interplay between social–emotional competence, executive function, and early mathematical skills: The impact of math anxiety in preschoolers. Education Sciences, 16(4), 505. [PDF]
Ribner, A.D., Miller-Cotto, D., Merkley, R., Rivera, L., & Rosenberg-Lee, M. (2026). Verbal working memory predicts twice the growth rate in math skills for children from low-income homes relative to their higher-income peers. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 104, 101946. [PDF]
Medrano, J., Devlin, B., Shingledecker, M., Thompson, C.A., & Miller-Cotto, D. (2026). Executive function and spatial/relational reasoning relate to individual differences in fraction understanding. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 267, 106493. [PDF]
Miller-Cotto, D., & Byrnes, J.P. (2026). Identifying individual cognitive and motivational profiles predictive of academic growth: A combined machine learning and person-centered approach. Learning and Individual Differences, 125, 102835. [PDF]
Miller-Cotto, D., Ribner, A., Ahmed, S., Ellis, A., & Czerwiński, S. (2026). Examining ethnic/racial measurement invariance in fourth-grade executive function: A registered report of data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Kindergarten. Journal of Educational Psychology, 118, 1, 1-11. [PDF]
Medrano, J., & Miller-Cotto, D. (2026). Examining subgroup differences in school readiness and math achievement in Asian American children through the Opportunity-Propensity Model. Early Education and Development, 37, 1, 200-219. [PDF]
2025
Scalise, N.R, Gladstone, J.R., & Miller-Cotto, D. (2025). Maximizing math achievement: Strategies from the science of learning. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 257, 106281. [PDF]
Miller-Cotto, D., & Medrano, J. (2025). Does working memory moderate the effect of fading on math performance? British Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 1, 108-126. [PDF]
Miller-Cotto, D., & Gordon, R. (2025). Revisiting working memory fifty years after Baddeley and Hitch: A review of field-specific conceptualisations, use and misuse, and paths forward for studying children.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 78, 2, 425 - 435. [PDF]
Medrano, J., & Miller-Cotto, D. (2025). Understanding working memory as a facilitator of math problem solving: Offloading as a potential strategy. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(3), 871-887. [PDF]
Bauer, C., Miller-Cotto, D., Silverman, D.M., & Frankenhuis, W. (2025). Recognizing people’s agency amidst disadvantage: How to study inequality using a holistic approach that is accurate and non-stigmatizing. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 19. [PDF]
Gesuelli, K., Miller-Cotto, D., & Barbieri, C.A. (2025). Variability in math achievement growth for students with math learning difficulties and the role of school supports. Journal of Educational Psychology. [PDF]
2024
Del Toro, J., Legette, K., Christophe, N.K., Pasco, M., Miller-Cotto, D., & Wang, M.T. (2024). When ethnic-racial discrimination from math teachers spills over and predicts the math adjustment of nondiscriminated adolescents: The mediating role of math classroom climate perceptions. Developmental Psychology. [PDF]
Devlin, B. L., Zhang, H., Beliakoff, A., Miller-Cotto, D., Klein, A., & Jordan, N.C. (2024). Profiles of preschoolers’ numerical abilities across quantity representations. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology. [PDF]
Clerjuste, S., Guang, C., Miller-Cotto, D., & McNeil, N.M. (2024). Unpacking the challenges and predictors of students’ use of the distributive property. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 244, 105. [PDF]
Miller-Cotto, D., Ribner, A.D., & Smith, L.V. (2024). Understanding working memory and mathematics development for ethnically/racially minoritized children through an Integrative Theory lens. Behavioral Sciences, 14, 390. [PDF]
DeJoseph, M., Ellwood-Lowe, M., Miller-Cotto, D., Silverman, D., Shannon, K. A., Reyes, G., Rakesh, D., & Frankenhuis, W.E. (2024). The promise and pitfalls of a strengths-based approach to child poverty and neurocognitive development: Implications for policy. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 66, 101. [PDF]
2023
Viegut, A. A., Resnick, I., Miller-Cotto, D., Newcombe, N.S., & Jordan, N.C. (2023). Tracking informal fraction knowledge and its correlates across first grade. Developmental Psychology, 59, 1739 – 1756. [PDF]
Byrnes, J.P., & Miller-Cotto, D. (2023). A historical, methodological, and philosophical analysis of the working memory construct. American Journal of Psychology, 136, 193-208. [PDF]
Ribner, A.D., Ahmed, S., Miller-Cotto, D., & Ellis, A.E. (in press). The role of executive function in shaping the longitudinal stability of math achievement during early elementary grades. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. [PDF]
Barbieri, C.A., Miller-Cotto, D., Chawla, K., & Clerjuste, S. (in press). A meta-analysis of the worked example effect on mathematics performance. Educational Psychology Review. [PDF]
Zhang, H., Miller-Cotto, D., & Jordan, N.C. (2023). Estimating the co-development of executive functions and math achievement using cross-lagged panel model with fixed effects. Contemporary Educational Psychology. [PDF]
2022
Hall, G., Putzeys, S., & Miller-Cotto, D. (2022). Early experiences and school readiness: A within and between exploration of the Opportunity Propensity Model. Cognitive Development. [PDF]
Miller-Cotto, D., Booth, J. L., & Newcombe, N. S. (2023). Sketching and verbal self- explanation: Do they help middle school children solve science problems? Applied Cognitive Psychology. [PDF]
Prather, R.W., Benitez, V., Kendall Brooks, L.K., Dancy, C. L., Dilworth, D., Faison, M.O., Figueroa, M., Holden, L.T.R., Johnson, C., Medrano, J., Miller-Cotto, D., Matthews, P.G., Manly, J.J., & Thomas, A. (in press). What can cognitive science do for people? Cognitive Science. [PDF]
2021
Miller-Cotto, D., Smith, L.V., Wang, A.H., & Ribner, A.D. (2021). Changing the Conversation: A Culturally Responsive Perspective on Executive Functions, Minoritized Children and Their Families. Infant and Child Development. [PDF]
Barbieri, C.A., & Miller-Cotto, D. (2021). The importance of adolescents' sense of belonging to mathematics for algebra learning. Learning and Individual Differences. [PDF]
2020
Miller-Cotto, D., & Schunn, C.D. (2020). Mind the gap: How a large scale course re-design in economics reduced performance gaps. Journal of Experimental Education. [PDF]
Wang, M.T., Smith, L.V., Miller-Cotto, D., & Huguley, J.P. (2020). Parent racial-ethnic socialization practices and and children of color's academic outcomes. Child Development. [PDF]
Miller-Cotto, D., & Byrnes, J. P. (2020). What's the best way to characterize the relationship between working memory and achievement?: An initial examination of competing theories. Journal of Educational Psychology. [PDF]
2019
Miller-Cotto, D., & Auxter, A. E. (2019). Testing the ecological validity of faded worked examples in algebra. Educational Psychology. [PDF]
Byrnes, J.P., Wang, A.H., Miller-Cotto, D. (2019). Children as mediators of their own cognitive development in kindergarten. Cognitive
Development, 50, 80-97. [PDF]
Barbieri, C.A., Miller-Cotto, D., Booth, J.L. (2019). Lessening the load of misconceptions: Design based principles for algebra learning. Journal of the Learning Sciences. [PDF]
2018
Byrnes, J.P., Miller-Cotto, D., & Wang, A. (2018). Children as mediators of their own cognitive development: The case of learning science in kindergarten and first grade. Journal of Cognition and Development, 19, 248-277. [PDF]
2016
Miller-Cotto, D., & Byrnes, J. P. (2016). Ethnic/racial identity and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review. Developmental Review, 41, 51-70. [PDF]
Byrnes, J. P., & Miller-Cotto, D. (2016). The growth of mathematics and reading skills in segregated and diverse schools: An opportunity-propensity analysis of a national database. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 46, 34-51. [PDF]
Book Chapters
Jordan, N.C., Miller-Cotto, D., & Gesuelli, K. (2025). Mathematics learning difficulties. In Okolo, Patton Terry & Cutting (Eds.), Handbook of Learning Disabilities, Third Edition. (pp. 53–74). New York, NY: Guilford Press. [PDF]
Booth, J. L., McGinn, K. M., Barbieri, C., Begolli, K. N., Chang, B., Miller-Cotto, D., Young, L. K., & Davenport, J. L. (2017). Evidence for cognitive science principles that impact learning in mathematics. In D. C. Geary, D. B. Berch, R. J. Ochsendorf & K. M. Koepke (Eds.), Acquisition of complex arithmetic skills and higher-order mathematics concepts Vol 3 (pp. 297–325). London: Academic Press.