Activities and Programs That Improve Children’s Executive Functions

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.

When words fail us: insights into language processing from developmental and acquired disorders

“…There is growing interest in developing EF interventions for use with children [67] and in patients with brain injury [68], so this should be a feasible possibility for future research.…”

Comprensión Lectora y Cálculo Matemático: El Rol de la Memoria de Trabajo en Niños de Edad Escolar

“…Uno de estos factores es la memoria de trabajo (MT; Alloway & Copello, 2013;Alloway & Passolunghi, 2011;Bull & Lee, 2014;St Clair-Thompson & Gathercole, 2006;Swanson & Alloway, 2012), que puede definirse como un sistema complejo de capacidad limitada encargado de almacenar y procesar información de manera simultánea, lo que posibilita la ejecución de un amplio rango de actividades cognitivas (Baddeley, 2012;Baddeley & Logie, 1999;Diamond, 2013). Por ello, está implicada en situaciones tan diversas como la capacidad de otorgarle sentido a información de carácter lingüístico, la regulación de las emociones y del comportamiento, la comprensión de cualquier situación que se desarrolle gradualmente en el tiempo, el reordenamiento y manipulación mental de información, el establecimiento de relaciones de causa-efecto y la posibilidad de relacionar piezas de información para lograr inferir principios generales o establecer nuevas relaciones entre ideas previas (Diamond, 2012;Hofmann, Schmeichel & Baddeley, 2012).…”

Cognitive training as a resolution for early executive function difficulties in children with intellectual disabilities

“…Collectively known as executive functions (EF) these skills emerge early in life and their development becomes progressively more robust from the preschool years onwards Zhan et al, 2011). The importance of EFs are highlighted by recent studies demonstrating that these skills are more strongly associated with school readiness than IQ (Blair & Peters Razza, 2007), serve as predictors of literacy and numeracy scores in preschool through high school (Clark, Pritchard, & Woodward, 2010;Clark, Sheffield, Wiebe, & Espy, 2013), facilitate social inclusion and peer relationships (Gomes & Livesey, 2008), and play an important role in maintaining mental health across the lifespan (Diamond, 2012;Meyer et al, 2004). Disruption to these essential processes can lead to increased levels of distractibility, impulsivity, forgetfulness and poor focus.…”