What is Executive Function?
Executive Function is a set of skills that helps the brain organize and act on information, pay attention, plan, remember things, prioritize, and stay on task. Research has shown that Executive Function is one of the best predictors of school and learning readiness, long-term academic success, and overall wellbeing. Although children are not born with Executive Function skills, they possess the ability to develop them. These skills, too, can improve over time! Based on the science of brain plasticity, we know that by using our brains in certain ways, we actually change our brains so that it becomes easier to use them that way again in the future. That means we can improve children’s Executive Function by regularly incorporating EF challenging games and learning activities into classrooms of all ages.Your Learning Objectives for this Module are:
- Define Executive Function (EF) skills
- Understand how EF and SEL are related and are foundational for future success in school and life
- Describe the difference between hot and cool EF
Executive Function Basics
Executive Function (EF) is a distinct set of skills imperative to school readiness and academic success. Scientists refer to these skills as the biological foundation for adaptation and learning throughout life. They argue that strong working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control provide the basis upon which children’s abilities to learn to read, write, and do math can be built. Sprouts, a maker of educational videos, does a wonderful job of explaining EF in their video, Executive Function: Your Brain’s Control Center. This so-called Air Traffic Control System supports the process of learning— focusing, remembering, planning (i.e., the how)—that enables children to effectively and efficiently master the content of learning—reading, writing, computation (i.e., the what). In order for children to participate in the school experience as engaged, active, and competent learners and thus acquire relevant life knowledge and adaptation, these skills need to be developed and supported from infancy through adolescence.How are SEL and EF Related?
Success in life depends on two essential sets of abilities: academic and social-emotional. EF skills are the root of BOTH of these abilities.
Not only does EF relate to school readiness, but, understandably, many studies show ties between EF and academic achievement once children are actually in elementary school. For example, children with higher EF show greater gains in math between K and 1st grade. In addition, EF scores are also related to math and literacy skills for older children – with those who have greater EF being better at math and reading.CASEL and Executive Function
Below is a rough alignment between the CASEL framework and Executive Function skills. Without a strong base in EF, SEL competence is at risk.
Cool and Hot EF
Executive Function in the Real World
Researchers have found some interesting differences in how EF skills work in the real world. These differences relate to how our emotions and motivation influence our EF skills in different contexts. This distinction is called Cool and Hot Executive Function.Cool Executive Function
Executive Function is considered “cool” in situations where stakes are low and there is no emotional or motivational context.
Example: Think about practicing a musical instrument, like a piano. If it is a regular day of practice and there is no serious motivation to do perfectly while playing, the task relies predominantly on “cooler” EF skills.Hot Executive Function
The more “hot” an Executive Function task is, the more effort you have to put into managing your emotion, stress, or other reward-driven emotions or behaviors during the task. This applies during situations that are either emotionally or motivationally significant.Example: If we tied a monetary reward to playing the piano (e.g. if you can play the piece of music without any mistakes in under 15 seconds, then you will win $1,000), this previously cool task will become more “hot”. Now, the accuracy of your playing will determine whether you receive the money or not.
By helping create situations that stay within the cool zone, children are able to approach and address problems more calmly. This is also how you can de-escalate moments when children seem to be losing control.Module 2: Why Focus on Executive Function?
As adults, and particularly parents, our own Executive Function skills are constantly being accessed.Your Learning Objectives for this Module are:
- Understand what EF looks like in the daily routines of children and adults.
- Describe how EF development is affected by stress
- Explore how EF shows up in today’s popular media.
Executive Function at Home
Parents rely daily on their own Executive Function skills including:“Adults can be models of the hard work, desire for learning, and self-control that we expect our children to learn and display.”
Great Oaks Legacy Charter School
- Responding to challenging interactions…
resist impulses, reflect on options, keep the big picture in mind
- Providing effective directions…
try a new approach when a particular strategy is not working
- Shifting between work and home life…
build routines or transitions into the daily structure
- Modeling SEL skills for children…
display of empathy and acceptance of others’ emotions
- Engaging in “serve and return” with children…
creative questioning to involve and engage family members with events and information
Executive Function is Affected by Stress
Executive Function Development and the Brain
The brain is an adaptive organ that develops differently depending on how we use it. The brain is highly plastic/malleable, especially in preschool and early puberty years, which sets the stage for interventions and training to be effective. We know the brain develops through the:- Creation of new neurons
- Increased myelination of the axon (speeds up the signal)
- Creation of new synaptic connections
- Unnecessary cells die
- Unused synaptic connections are pruned
- Frequently used synaptic connections are strengthened
Stress and EF
For most of us, EF skills seem to abandon us in times of extreme stress – (e.g., much less patient with children when stressed, don’t solve problems efficiently, less creative and adaptive). Over a century ago, Yerkes and Dodson (1908) recognized this phenomenon – while we can do simple things well, even with medium or high stress/arousal, our performance on difficult tasks is negatively impacted by high arousal – we just can’t handle those types of challenges when we’re already stressed.
Stress and the Brain
One reason for this is that stress often leads to increases in the neurotransmitter dopamine, which can interfere with brain functioning – especially in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) which is tightly associated with EF.
Toxic Stress and Long Term Effects
Over time, chronic stress vs normal stress affects the development of the neurons in the PFC and amygdala.
Executive Function and Today’s Popular Culture
Without understanding Executive Function, we often miss how it appears in places we would never expect.Blockbuster Hollywood Films
In the movie Men in Black, Will Smith is run through a series of tests to determine whether or not he is qualified to become Agent G. What is really taking place is an observational assessment of his Executive Function skill level.Cognitive Flexibility – The First Challenge
Below is a video clip of the aspiring agents’ first task; what seems like a typical paper and pencil aptitude test is really a measure of cognitive flexibility. Of all six participants, only one breaks the unwritten rule and uses the table as a writing surface. It is somewhat reminiscent of the old riddle:There are two strings hanging from a ceiling but are too far apart to allow a person to hold one and walk to the other. On the floor are a book of matches, a screwdriver, and a few pieces of cotton. How do you tie them together?
The only way to solve this is to use the screwdriver in an unconventional way – tie it to the end of one string and make a “pendulum” that swings to you as your hand stays in contact with the other string. Problem-solving and cognitive flexibility go hand in hand.Inhibitory Control and Working Memory – The Second Challenge
Although this may not be your neighborhood, this scene is not so different from a day in the life of any one of us. Staying calm, cool EF, can help manage even the most chaotic of scenarios. Please be advised, this is a clip from an R-rated film and does contain mature language. We often make better decisions when we are able to reflect on a situation and use a “top-down” approach to problem-solving rather than our reactive “bottom-up” approach.Children’s Television
The popular children’s show Sesame Street has developed a curriculum based on Executive Function hoping to support its development in preschool children. Using Cookie Monster’s obsession for cookies, the following videos are examples of him learning “to wait” and strengthen his inhibitory control. For more examples of using videos to help children learn about self-regulation and other EF and SEL skills, check out Sprouts.Module 3: Executive Function Development
Here are Your Learning Objectives:
- Describe how executive function develops in early childhood through adolescence
- Describe how executive function skills peak in early adulthood and decline with age
- Explore how a growth mindset supports the healthy development of EF
Start reading lesson 1: Executive Function in Early Childhood below!
Executive Function in Early Childhood
Preschoolers (2 – 4 years)
In the preschool years, we often see children having different levels of inhibitory control depending on whether it is an emotional situation or not (remember Hot vs Cool EF). It can often be more challenging to control impulses when the stakes are high emotionally, for example. But during this time, children do show increasing abilities — even in Hot EF situations. By around 2 years old, many preschoolers can wait up to 3 minutes before opening a gift, if they’re told or asked to do so. They can also play games that require EF skills like waiting their turn, though they still may struggle with games that require them to do something opposite (e.g., Simon Says – don’t do what the leader says).
Preschoolers’ working memory skills are continuing to improve as they age. They are often able to hold and work with about 3 pieces of information at a time (pig, cow, goat). They tend to use self-talk during this period, reminding themselves out loud about things they’re supposed to remember or rules they’re trying to follow. This may be partially why children’s language development and their EF skills tend to be related.
They are also able to use their cognitive flexibility to sort objects based on rules that conflict with what they know. For example, they can sort small fruits into a box that has a picture of big fruits on it and vice versa.
Kindergarteners (5 – 6 years)
Kindergarteners are typically better able to switch from one rule to the other, but often still struggle with juggling and following complex rules in the moment.
They tend to have better working memory capacity, and can typically hold and work with about 4 pieces of information at a time (pig, cow, goat, chicken).
The self-talk behaviors we see in preschoolers transform into private speech, which frees them up to speak aloud in other ways during EF situations. This also facilitates reflection on both the past and present.
Most five-year-olds can flexibly think about their own knowledge, as well as the conflicting beliefs of others. The kindergarteners often are able to understand false belief — they know that their sibling’s toy is up on the shelf because they saw their mom move it, but they realize that their sibling still thinks it is where they left it on the chair.
At this age, children also often show more insights into other people’s self-regulation. They notice when someone else is having trouble with inhibitory control, for example. Children at this age continue to be better at regulating a peer than they are themselves.
Executive Function in Adolescence and Adulthood
School-Aged (6 – 12 years)
Teens and Beyond
Module 4: Supporting Executive Function Development
Your Learning Objectives for this Module are:
- Define parental autonomy support
- Understand how to provide appropriate autonomy support
- Describe some basic strategies when planning for practice opportunities at home
- Implement the Home-Based Activities with your children
Parental Autonomy Support
What Does Autonomy Support Look Like?
To complete a puzzle, a child needs to focus on a specific section of the puzzle (e.g., the barn) and use inhibitory control to ignore the irrelevant pieces (e.g., the horse in the field). With many pieces, a preschooler may become overwhelmed with the number of options, and an autonomy-supportive parent can draw the child’s attention to the barn pieces and move the animal pieces to the side. In this case, the preschooler still needs to use inhibitory control to find the correct piece among all the barn pieces, but the parent’s support helps ensure the child’s capabilities are not overloaded by every possible option. Similarly, you may remind a child which pieces the child is looking for to ensure the goal is retained in the child’s working memory. Finally, if a child is perseverating by continuing to put a roof piece where the barn door is, you may suggest alternative options to redirect the child’s attention, which helps the child practice cognitive flexibility.Parental Autonomy Support
Autonomy-supportive parents not only support EF skills during a task at hand, but they also support children’s sense of competence and self-efficacy by:- providing children with the appropriate amount of help for their skill level
- encouraging and appropriately praising children
- taking children’s perspectives
- following children’s lead and providing them with choices
Parental Executive Function
Strong EF skills in parents themselves may be particularly important for employing autonomy support. Providing children with choices, giving children opportunities to try, and allowing children to work at their own pace, depends on parents using their own inhibitory control to prevent themselves from completing the task for their children. In other words, “keeping your hands in your pockets” can be a challenge for all. Scaffolding behaviors (i.e., providing children with appropriate help) may be most successful when parents can flexibly switch between different approaches to helping their children, rather than getting stuck on one suggestion that the children are not understanding. In addition, a parents’ working memory is necessary for remembering which strategies and supports they have given their children, as well as keeping the goals of the task in mind. However, it is also important to remember that parenting behaviors, in general, play an important role in the transmission of self-regulation through social influences, such as parenting behaviors, familial dynamics, and the broader ecological context.Strategies for Success at Home
Understanding and embracing the opportunity to help in the development of Executive Function skills with your children is a wonderful place to start.Improving Executive Function
As humans, we learn through experience, and our brains and our abilities change with that experience, which is one reason why EF skills are teachable. Research investigating the effects of EF intervention efforts have found that children and adults can and do, in fact, respond to EF training. Executive Function and actual brain activity change and improve with intervention and practice.Planning
EF support doesn’t have to be extravagant activities or homeschool teaching. Instead, think of ways EF can be added to the current time you spend with your children. Brainstorm simple ways to embed and integrate EF support during family time and playdates. For example, with young children, an activity about numbers and counting might involve counting by twos. Try adding an EF-building twist: have children alternate between loud and soft voices while they count (“two, FOUR, six, EIGHT, ten”). The following is a brief list of ideas for parents to use when looking to help support the development of EF at home:- Encourage children to identify and label emotions (and validate them!)
- Provide opportunities for conflict resolution – discuss strategies, roadblocks, plans, etc. for real scenarios that children have experienced
- Allow for, acknowledge, and reframe “failures” to help encourage a growth mindset
- Promote perspective-taking
- Allow time for children to share personal experiences and connect
- Incorporate simple mindfulness activities throughout the day
- Help children recognize the connection between emotions and decision making, and how this can affect social relationships
- Incorporate new and interesting ways to start an activity
- Build curiosity over time
- Plan and allow for creative ways to document, express, communicate, and demonstrate learning at home
- Refer to and incorporate additional elements from new, hands-on learning approaches like play-planning, cooking projects, and home chores
Home-Based Activity Guide for Parents
Reflection Sciences’ Executive Function Activities at Home provides many more specific strategies and fun activities and games. You can find this on our Families page along with other resources.Family Digital Wellness Guide (Boston Children’s Hospital)
“Built on research from scientists around the world, this guide provides the direction you need for raising happy, healthy children, toddlers to teenagers, in today’s digital environment. Focusing on fundamentals that can inform current as well as future challenges, this guide provides a brief overview of how children’s media use at each stage of development is motivated by and influences their growth.”
Putting it All Together
Keep in Mind
Executive Function skills allow children to make better decisions in general. They also help to keep them on a positive developmental trajectory in many domains in life, leading to greater success in school as well as more positive relationships with peers and adults. In children, they are the essential self-regulating skills that we all use every day to accomplish just about everything. They help us plan, organize, make decisions, shift between situations or thoughts, control our emotions and impulsivity, and learn from past mistakes. Kids rely on EF skills for everything from taking a shower to packing a backpack and choosing what to eat for lunch.
They allow for a more intentional, engaged, active, and reflective form of learning. Because of this, it is important for you to continually challenge them with age-appropriate support during both structured and informal family time.
Remember, EF takes time to fully develop, and it develops at different rates in different children. The brain is constantly growing and changing in all children, infants through adolescence and because of its plasticity and an enormous capacity for learning, it is possible to improve the EF skills of all children.
For more information, visit our website for Families https://reflectionsciences.com/families/