Executive function describes a set of cognitive processes and mental skills that help an individual plan, monitor, and successfully execute their goals. These include attentional control, working memory, inhibition, and problem-solving, many of which are thought to originate in the brain’s prefrontal cortex.
7 core executive dyfunctions:
Executive function is judged by the strength of these seven skills:
1. Self-awareness: Simply put, this is self-directed attention.
2. Inhibition: Also known as self-restraint.
3. Non-Verbal Working Memory: The ability to hold things in your mind. Essentially, visual imagery — how well you can picture things mentally.
4. Verbal Working Memory: Self-speech, or internal speech. Most people think of this as their “inner monologue.”
5. Emotional Self-Regulation: The ability to take the previous four executive functions and use them to manipulate your own emotional state. This means learning to use words, images, and your own self-awareness to process and alter how we feel about things.
6. Self-motivation: How well you can motivate yourself to complete a task when there is no immediate external consequence.
7. Planning and Problem Solving: Experts sometimes like to think of this as “self-play” — how we play with information in our minds to come up with new ways of doing something. By taking things apart and recombining them in different ways, we’re planning solutions to our problems.
These seven executive functions develop over time, in generally chronological order. Self-awareness starts to develop around age 2, and by age 30, planning and problem solving should be fully developed in a neurotypical person.
Here is some research!
Activities and Programs That Improve Children’s Executive Functions
Diamond A. (2012). Activities and Programs That Improve Children’s Executive Functions. Current directions in psychological science, 21(5), 335–341. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412453722
Abstract:
Executive functions (EFs; e.g., reasoning, working memory, and self-control) can be improved. Good news indeed, since EFs are critical for school and job success and for mental and physical health. Various activities appear to improve children’s EFs. 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. Here I address what can be learned from the research thus far, including that EFs need to be progressively challenged as children improve and that repeated practice is key. Children devote time and effort to activities they love; therefore, EF interventions might use children’s motivation to advantage. Focusing narrowly on EFs or aerobic activity alone appears not to be as efficacious in improving EFs as also addressing children’s emotional, social, and character development (as do martial arts, yoga, and curricula shown to improve EFs). Children with poorer EFs benefit more from training; hence, training might provide them an opportunity to “catch up” with their peers and not be left behind. Remaining questions include how long benefits of EF training last and who benefits most from which activities.
Notes; Dimensional Change Card Sort Task (DCCS) which is developed by Philip Zelazo (2006) is used to assess executive function skills in children.
Makaleskop 