Watch this 23-minute talk by Adele Diamond—a neuroscience professor at the University of British Columbia—for the lowdown on the three main areas of executive function: inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility.
Children’s success can be predicted by a family of mental processes called executive functions. But just what are these, and why are they important?
Let us look at what experts have to say about the three core executive functions:
1) Inhibitory Control
What it is: The ability to prioritise and regulate our impulses.
Why it is important: It enables us to wait our turn and persevere even with monotonous tasks. Children with better inhibitory control have higher incomes, better jobs and health—plus, fewer run-ins with the law—as adults.
How to help: Minimise environmental distractions. Keep classroom walls bare. Over-decorated spaces are distracting to young children (who have immature attentional control).
2) Working Memory
What it is: The ability hold and work with information in our minds.
Why it is important: It supports reasoning and creativity. It helps us to connect ideas over time and improves understanding of cause and effect. It is a predictor of later math skills and reading ability too.
How to help: Try storytelling. During story telling sessions, children are required to recall narrative and character details—even without visual aids like puppets and videos.
3) Cognitive Flexibility
What it is: The ability see one thing in new and different ways.
Why it is important: It helps use to get around unforeseen problems and admit when we are wrong.
How to help: Give children problem-solving opportunities. When they face challenges, allow them the time and space attempt different solutions and figure things out on their own.
For more ideas on how to support executive function in children, check out these activity guides by the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.
Also, explore Diamond’s Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab and work.
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