Executive function skills are the roots of success

[Music]

if i were to ask you

to think of a person you know who’s

really patient

persistent emotionally balanced

flexible when things change and takes

the long view when it comes to pursuing

their goals

i’m guessing you would not be thinking

of a three or four year old child

it will come as no surprise that young

children are not very good at these

things

known as executive function skills i’ve

been studying these skills both as a mom

and as a professor in child development

at one point i was even brought in by

sesame street to help cookie monster

with his self-control

although i’m not sure how successful

that’s been

executive function refers to the

brain-based processes we use to control

our thoughts actions and feelings

they include holding information in mind

controlling impulses

and thinking flexibly they help us

persevere toward our goals

but also adapt to changing circumstances

today i propose we ask ourselves what

would happen

if we tended to the development of

executive function

earlier in children’s lives all of us

investing in cultivating these kinds of

skills

from the roots up whether you’re a

parent

a teacher or researcher we know kids

tend to be impulsive

and inflexible for example no matter how

much you think you’ve prepared your

young child for a trip to the store

to pick up just a few things for dinner

no treats

there is a chance it will end in a

tantrum in the checkout line

this can happen when they get their mind

set on something they feel they must

have

right now if you know a teenager this

might ring true at times as well

i actually found myself in this

situation with my daughter natalie when

she was three years old

she refused to leave the store without a

new doll

we ended up at opposite ends of the toy

aisle facing each other

with our hands on our hips it was a

showdown

we made it out of the store without the

doll but to be honest for a moment i was

at a loss and i thought i might give in

i wish i had better parenting strategies

at my disposal in that moment

we know from neuroscience that executive

function depends primarily

on brain networks involving the

prefrontal cortex this is the front most

part of the brain

and the last brain region to develop

it’s not fully mature until one’s

mid-20s

and then unfortunately it begins to

decline with age

because of this for a long time some

scientists believe young children simply

have no executive function at all

we now know that’s not true take for

example the so-called

marshmallow test a researcher offers the

child a treat

such as a marshmallow and explains that

she needs to leave the room

but if the child can wait to eat it

until after she returns

then the child can have two marshmallows

so it’s kind of like deciding between

taking a vacation now

or saving for retirement back in the

1960s

walter michelle and his colleagues

noticed that some four-year-olds would

wait patiently

up to 15 minutes for a larger reward

whereas others grabbed the treat almost

immediately

i was fortunate to be able to

collaborate with walter michelle before

his death

we were wondering whether young

children’s ability to delay

gratification

has changed at all since he first did

those studies in the 1960s

and to our surprise using the same

procedure

we discovered that preschool-aged

children today wait significantly longer

on the marshmallow test than they did 50

or 60 years ago

two full minutes longer on average which

is an eternity in the mind of a

four-year-old

we don’t know exactly why this is but it

does track with the rise in iq in the

general population

as well as preschool enrollment during

the same time frame

my colleagues and i have developed and

validated additional assessments of

executive function

for children as young as two years of

age i even co-founded a company with my

partner phil zilazzo

to further develop these tools and make

them more widely available

and they don’t all involve marshmallows

with the minnesota executive function

scale

a virtual card sorting game that

requires children to switch flexibly

between roles

we’ve learned that executive function

performance improves dramatically in the

early years

as shown here from age two to six but

even the youngest kids could demonstrate

some ability

on the lower levels of the game so if

executive function skills can be

measured in early childhood

and we know they’ll improve with time

why should we care about them

the reason is because they matter more

to children’s success than

you might think of course

parents and teachers want to raise kids

to be happy and successful

success is often defined in terms of

academic achievement

and education level but we know it’s

more than that

it also depends on social and emotional

intelligence

such as being a team player and having

empathy for others

i’m going to offer a way of thinking

about this as the tree of success

it has two major branches academic and

social emotional competence

and we can think of executive function

skills as the roots of this tree

and of reflection as the driver or the

top root if you will for these skills

reflection in this sense is basically

thinking twice

pausing to consider your options before

reacting

and monitoring yourself as you go on the

left side of the tree

there’s abundant evidence of a link

between executive function and academic

achievement

kids with stronger executive function

skills in preschool score higher on math

and reading assessments in third grade

and are more likely to go on to complete

high school and graduate from college

on the right side of the tree research

shows that children with strong

executive function skills

are better at taking other people’s

perspectives and reflecting on their own

and when they grow up they’re more

likely to engage in healthy behaviors

like exercise

and less likely to encounter trouble

with drugs and alcohol

or be convicted of a crime it’s

important to note that these relations

often hold even after controlling

for intelligence and family background

so then

if it’s so important how do we build

strong executive function

we can use the tree metaphor to

illustrate what my colleagues and i have

learned so far

first you need a rich soil this includes

basic safety

as well as nutrition and sleep iron and

other micronutrients are essential for

healthy brain development

starting prenatally and with respect to

sleep

we’ve learned it’s not so much the

overall amount of sleep but rather

the hours of consolidated nighttime

sleep in infancy

that can predict executive function

skills years later

of course this could be partially

explained by their parents getting

better sleep too

you’ll also need lots of sun the sun is

care giving

it’s best when it’s warm and sensitive

but our research has shown that another

factor also matters

being what’s called autonomy supportive

this is when parents and teachers take

the child’s perspective

offer choices and provide just enough

support

but not too much take the example of a

young child working on a puzzle

they might pick up a piece and try to

jam it into place

but it just won’t fit and you can see

the signs of a meltdown coming

you could help by telling them what to

do

or doing it for them but imagine how

different it would feel

if you simply nudged the correct piece

into their view and they discovered it

on their own

owning it is needed before controlling

it

in other words giving children autonomy

with just enough support

gives them a sense of agency over their

own actions

the very same actions we’re expecting

them to learn to control on their own

you’ll also need plenty of rain we can

think of this as language input from the

environment

when children are spoken to and asked

open-ended questions

even as babies this builds their word

bank

they’ll need these words later for

what’s called the language of thought

when kids literally talk themselves

through solving problems

and resisting impulses

for example when we give children the

marshmallow test in our lab

it’s not unusual for them to suddenly

burst into a song about waiting

like this one

and children who do this tend to wait

significantly longer

language also helps children reflect

upon and control their emotions

like the saying if you can name it you

can tame it

labeling how we feel can take the heat

out of it

you might even find yourself using this

strategy to manage your own emotions

and doing so out loud can serve as a

good role model for kids

to give you an example i remember my

oldest child

anna’s first day of kindergarten neither

of us was doing very well with the

goodbye

i was reassuring my daughter that she

would have so much fun at school

while holding back my tears then a mom

next to me was more seasoned with this

on her third time around

had a suggestion tell her how you feel

i was a little stunned and thought how i

feel this is about how she feels

but i decided to give it a try as my

daughter was clinging to my leg

i said i’m feeling anxious about today

she looked up at me and said me too but

i’ll see you later

and she let go

of course there will be occasional

windstorms

like jitters on the first day of school

and things do not always go as planned

for the kid in the grocery store that

could mean there’s a longer line than

you expected

or you accidentally chose the aisle with

candy by the register

for the child working on the puzzle

there could be a piece missing

or it’s too advanced or they have to

stop playing for bedtime

now if you were beginning to think of

executive function as all work and no

play

i can tell you that’s not the case

playful settings motivate kids to stick

with

activities that build executive function

skills through games you might remember

like

red light green light and simon says

and our research has shown that pretend

play such as imagining you’re a

superhero

can significantly improve children’s

ability to think flexibly

persist at tasks and manage their

emotions

we call this the batman effect as one

four-year-old boy in our research put it

batman never gets frustrated

encouraging children to step outside of

themselves through imagination

which is so natural in play could help

them reflect on their thoughts actions

and feelings

and in turn have greater control over

them

in contrast to these positive influences

pests eat away at the roots of the tree

this refers to toxic stress

unlike the occasional challenges it’s

the kind of stress that is pervasive

and uncontrollable in the child’s life

including trauma from adverse

experiences

toxic stress is the enemy of executive

function

it ramps up the emotion regions of the

brain while shutting down the prefrontal

cortex

upsetting the balance needed to cope

effectively

abuse institutionalization

racism and yes probably growing up in a

pandemic

can all take a serious toll on our kids

executive function skills

but the effects of toxic stress can be

reduced by attending to all the positive

environmental influences i’ve described

finally if we pan out we see that this

individual tree

is surrounded by dozens of other trees

with interconnected roots and an

ecosystem

this stands for the importance of having

a sense of belonging to a community

and culture it means we’re all in this

together and that having good executive

function will not

on its own guarantee good choices

it needs to be embedded in the context

of our values

look kids will be kids they’ll have

their meltdowns in the store

cling to your leg and stuff the whole

bag of marshmallows in their mouths

but i’d be lying if i told you they’ll

all grow out of it on their own

instead maybe with more attending to the

good

soil of adequate nutrition and sleep the

warm sun

of sensitive and autonomy supportive

caregiving the quenching rain of rich

language input

the occasional storms of mild stress the

play that stretches the imagination and

makes it fun

and some pest control to reduce toxic

stress

we can support the development of

reflection and executive function

these roots of success as individuals

and as a community

thank you