Executive Function
Cognitive processes that help us self-regulate to effectively plan, prioritize, sustain long-term goals
What is executive functioning?
The ability to adapt thinking and behavior to changing situations, a core aspect of executive functions that includes planning, focusing, and managing multiple tasks
What is Flexibility?
Creating a "roadmap" to completing a task or goal. Setting goals, defining actions to achieve those goals, and organizing the resources and efforts needed to carry out those actions.
Planning
Ability to effectively start and begin a task or project, demonstrating the capacity to overcome procrastination and get things moving in a timely manner
What is "task initiation"?
Located at the front of the brain, is crucial for higher-level cognitive functions like planning, decision-making, problem-solving, and controlling emotions and behaviors, as well as voluntary movement and speech
What is the Frontal Lobe?
Planning, Organizing, Problem-Solving (Task Initiation), Multi-Tasking (Flexible Thinking), Inhibition Control (Impulses), Working Memory, Delay Aversion (Self-Monitoring), and Emotional Regulation
What are the 8 domains of Executive Functioning Skills?
The ability to suppress impulsive or automatic responses and behaviors, allowing for more thoughtful and goal-directed actions
What is Inhibitory Control?
The ability to resist acting on immediate desires or impulses without considering the consequences. Skills where you "stop, think, choose" idea.
What is Impulse Control?
Someone who possesses the skills and mindset to identify, analyze, and effectively resolve issues or challenges
What is a Problem-Solver?
Located in the frontal lobe behind the forehead and is one of the last parts of the brain to fully develop, typically maturing into the mid-to-late 20s
What is the Pre-Frontal Cortex?
It's crucial because they form the foundation for life-long success in areas like critical thinking, problem-solving, planning, and decision-making, impacting everything from academic performance to social interactions and overall well-being
Why is it important to learn executive functioning skills?
A way of thinking and acting that emphasizes adaptability, resourcefulness, and proactive opportunism, mirroring the survival strategies of early human societies that relied on hunting and gathering for sustenance.
What is "Hunter-Gatherer-Mindset" ?
The ability to manage time, prioritize tasks, set goals, and develop systems to achieve objectives, ultimately leading to efficient and effective performance
What are Organization Skills?
Ability to effectively manage and respond to emotional experiences, encompassing both the conscious and unconscious processes used to influence which emotions we have, when we have them, and how we experience and express them
What is Emotional Regulation?
Chemical messengers that transmit signals between neurons (nerve cells) and other target cells in the body. They play a crucial role in various physiological and psychological functions.
What are Neurotransmitters?
Emitted from screens and can impact the frontal lobe, affecting cognitive functions like attention, alertness, and working memory, and sleep disruptions.
What is Blue Light?
Associated with conditions like ADHD, Autism, anxiety, and mood disorders.
What are related Mental Health concerns to Executive Functioning?
The act of intentionally delaying or putting off tasks or decisions, despite knowing that doing so may have negative consequences
What is Procrastination?
Cognitive system that temporarily stores and manipulates information needed for complex tasks like language comprehension, learning, and reasoning
What is Working Memory?
Neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, reward, and movement
What is Dopamine?
When does Executive Functioning Develop?
Develops gradually throughout childhood and adolescence, with most skills maturing by the early to mid-20s, though some continue to refine into the third decade of life.
(Ever Changing and Developing)
The brain's ability to change and adapt due to experience, reorganizing neural networks, and forming new connections throughout life
What is Neuroplasticity?
The awareness of one's thought processes and an understanding of the patterns behind them. The term comes from the root word meta, meaning "beyond"
What is Metacognition?
Someone who can adapt to new situations, change their approach to problems, and consider different perspectives, rather than rigidly sticking to one way of thinking or doing things
What does it mean to be a 'flexible" thinker?
Neurotransmitter involved in mood regulation, sleep, and appetite
What is Serotonin?