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