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Executive Functions
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D.
Harvard University, Psych 1609
Week 12, November 2014
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Today’s focus
¤ Executive Functions ¤ Confirm definitions and characteristics
¤ Five Premises
¤ Development and Training
¤ Relationship to “self-regulation,” “emotional control,” and “Theory of Mind”
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Definitions and perceived mechanisms from two perspectives:
¤ Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
¤ Adele Diamond
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Definition (Center for the Developing Child, 2011)
Center for the Developing Child, 2011, p.4
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Definition (Diamond, 2013)
Diamond, 2013, p.135
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Diamond, 2013, p.18
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Quick reply on chat: Benefits and stability
¤ What are the benefits of well-developed Efs (for the individual, for society)?
¤ Are EFs stable, or do they fluctuate (over time)? (hint: Dynamic Skills Theory)
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Benefits of well-developed EFs
Better:
¤ Creativity and flexibility (Diamond video): Cognitive flexibility
¤ Self-control: Inhibitory control (selective attention)
¤ Discipline and perseverance
¤ Working memory
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Diamond, 2013, p.3
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Stability of EFs
¤ EFs change over the lifespan and developmental stages, over emotional states, due to new experiences.
¤ Dynamic Skills Theory
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Five Key Premises (1 of 5)
1. Executive function skills do not develop automatically (Diamond, 2013, p.136) and take effort to mature and improve.
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Five Key Premises (2 of 5)
2. “Executive functions (EFs; e.g., reasoning, working memory, and self-control) can be improved” (Diamond, 2012, p.335)
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Five Key Premises (3 of 5)
3. “EFs need to be progressively challenged as children improve and that repeated practice is key” (Diamond, 2012, p.335) ¤ Expertise leads to reduced use
Diamond video (mins 40-41) 14
Five Key Premises (4 of 5)
4. Executive function skills help lay the foundation for not only academic achievement, but also for general well-being. ¤ “EFs are critical for school and job success and for
mental and physical health” (Diamond, 2012, p.335)
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Do EFs mean that “multi-tasking” really does exist?
“As adults, our capacities to multitask, to display self-control, to follow multiple-step directions even when interrupted, and to stay focused on what we are doing despite ever-present distractions are what undergird the deliberate, intentional, goal-directed behavior that is required for daily life and success at work.”
Center for the Developing Child, 2011, p.1
What appears to be multi-tasking is really extended working memory capacity. Rosen, 2008.
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“Multi-tasking does not exist”
¤ Rosen, C. (2008). The myth of multitasking. The New Atlantis, 20, 105–110.
¤ Deprez, S., Vandenbulcke, M., Peeters, R., Emsell, L., Amant, F., & Sunaert, S. (2013). The functional neuroanatomy of multitasking: Combining dual tasking with a short term memory task. Neuropsychologia, 51(11), 2251–2260.
Diamond, 2013, p.22)
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Five Key Premises (5 of 5)
5. EFs travel similar circuits as neural networks related to emotion (involving the frontal lobes).
¤ This means that “EFs and prefrontal cortex are the first to suffer and suffer disproportionately if you are stressed, sad, lonely, or not physically fit” (Diamond, 2013, p.22).
Also see Arnsten, 2009, Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function
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American Physiological Society, Review of Executive Function Networks, 2014
You would need to overlap: 1. Attention
networks + 2. Working memory
networks + 3. Decision-making
networks + 4. Emotional
pathways + 5. ?
Difficulty mapping EFs because…?
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Quick reply on chat: Development and training
¤ Can EFs be improved? If so, how?
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Exercise, rehearsal and foreign languages: In favor of EFs?
We now are able to perform brain scans of people as they improve their executive functions by ¤ doing exercises to boost their working memory (e.g., McCabe, Roediger,
McDaniel, Balota, & Hambrick, 2010); ¤ increase inhibitory skills (e.g., Munakata, Herd, Chatham, & Depue, 2011);
and ¤ improve mental flexibility (e.g., Meltzer, 2011), all sub-elements of executive
functions. Other studies measure how executive functions are improved as people ¤ learn a foreign language, for example. Great pioneers in this field include
Ellen Bialystok (Bialystok, 2011a; Bialystok & Feng, 2009; Bialystok & Viswanathan, 2009; Luk, de Sa, & Bialystok, 2011; Pouin-Dubois, Blayne, Coutya, & Bialystok, 2011), Andrew Meltzoff (Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008), and J. Bruce Morton (2007, 2010), whose work, along with that of others (e.g., Rodriguez-Fornells, DeDiego Balaguer, & Münte, 2006), has established the link between foreign languages and executive functions.
Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2014, p.21
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Successful interventions include:
¤ “The best evidence exists for computer-based training, traditional martial arts, and two school curricula.
¤ “Weaker evidence, though strong enough to pass peer review, exists for aerobics, yoga, mindfulness, and other school curricula” (Diamond, 2012, p.335)
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Quick reply on chat: Relationship between EFs, emotional intelligence, self-regulation (Theory of Mind)
1. What is the difference between Emotional Intelligence and Executive Functions?
2. What is the relationship between EFs and well-being, performance and achievement?
3. How are EFs, EI and Theory of Mind (Week 14) related?
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Self-regulation and its relationship to EFs
¤ “A sub-area of executive functions is self-regulation. Self-regulation and it neural substraits have been studied by neuroscientists for some time (Tops, Boksem, Luu, & Tucker, 2010).
¤ Self-regulation is considered to be directly related to inhibitory control and other executive functions in the brain (Berger, 2011), and is a fundamental element in school success (Morrison, Ponitz & McClelland, 2010).”
Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2014, p.21
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Self-regulation and its relationship to EFs
¤ “According to neuroscientists, self-regulation is something learned early in development (Rothbart, Sheese, Rueda & Posner, 2011), that should be habituated over the life span (Costa & Kallick, 2009), and can be improved upon through simple biofeedback exercises (Zotev, Krueger, Phillips, Alvarez, Simmons, Bellgowan, P., ... & Bodurka, 2011).
¤ “This means that while better learned early in life, self-regulation can be improved upon throughout the life span.
¤ “One of the primary indicators for young learners relates and school readiness to self-regulation (Ursache, Blair & Raver, 2012), which is also one of the key factors in long-term academic success (Zimmerman & Schunk, 2013).”
Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2014, p.21
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Emotional Intelligence
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How do emotional states influence proper EFs?
¤ “Stress can make us look like we have ADHD” (Diamond video, min 25.39)
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Quick reply on chat: What do we need to improve the chances of developing EFs? (Consequences if we don’t?)
¤ What are the consequences of inadequate systems to develop EFs?
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Consequences of current school systems and training programs
¤ How well do school systems and training programs enhance EF development? ¤ Understand why a school curriculum that ignores children's
emotional, social, or physical needs may find that those unmet needs work against achievement of academic goals
¤ Understand the potential importance of play, dance, music, martial arts, and youth circus for the development of executive functions.
¤ Do we have daily spaces to develop EFs in our own lives?
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3-2-1
1. Three things you learned.
2. Two things you will share.
3. One thing you will change.
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Suggested readings on EFs
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