Introduction to Executive Functions

McCloskey, George; Perkins, Lisa A.; Divner, Bob Van

doi:10.4324/9780203893753-3

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…will allow the clinical or educational professional to request its completion by parents in real time, during a session or tutoring, among others. However, the use of EFECO-S is recommended as a screening tool, and not as a diagnostic test, as diagnosis requires the use of a comprehensive assessment system including medical and neuropsychological data derived from clinical observation, medical tests, behavioural assessment questionnaires (including simulated situations in virtual reality) and performance tests [7,90,91].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Short Version of the EFECO Online Questionnaire for the Assessment of Executive Functions in School-Age Children

et al. 2021

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Executive function (EF) is a group of processes that allow individuals to be goal-oriented and to have adaptive functioning, so that adequate performance is essential for success in activities of daily living, at school and in other activities. The present study aims to create a short version of the Executive Functioning Questionnaire (EFECO) since there is a gap in the Spanish literature due to the lack of behavioural observation questionnaires at school age. A total of 3926 participants completed the online questionnaire. Subsequently, the validity and reliability of the data are analysed. The results show that the short version of the questionnaire, the EFECO-S, has a structure with five dimensions (emotional self-control, initiation, working memory, inhibition, and spatial organisation), as well as a second-order factor (global executive skill) and high reliability (ordinal Alpha = 0.68–0.88). The EFECO is composed of 67 items, while the EFECO-S has 20 items, four per factor, which turns it into a quick and easy to apply test. Therefore, it becomes an interesting alternative to be applied in screening processes with children who may be experiencing executive difficulties.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Short Version of the EFECO Online Questionnaire for the Assessment of Executive Functions in School-Age Children

et al. 2021

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“…As Adele Diamond (2013) , an expert on the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience put it: “ Executive functions refer to a family of top-down mental processes needed when you have to concentrate and pay attention, when going on automatic or relying on instinct or intuition would be ill-advised, insufficient, or impossible.” The EFs give us the time to think and not to act too quickly and enable us “to play with ideas.” They help us to engage in new, unexpected challenges, to resist temptations and to monitor the route to the goals we have formulated ( Jolles, 2016 ; van Tetering and Jolles, 2017 ; van Tetering et al, 2020 ). When considering EFs in the broadest sense of the word, other relevant skills that fall under the umbrella of the EFs include self-insight and self-regulation, social monitoring, emotional processing and empathy, planning and prioritizing, overseeing the consequences of one’s actions and insights into other person’s intentions and the roles played in social and cultural contexts ( Lezak et al, 2012 ; McCloskey and Perkins, 2013 ; Dekker et al, 2016 ; Jolles, 2016 , 2020 ; Chen et al, 2018 ). The EFs play a key role in the evaluation of the emotional and motivational value of stimuli and they enable the individual to make plans for the short and long term, to prioritize and select the optimal route to attain goals and to be creative ( Lilly, 2020 ).…”

Section: Brain Development Learning and The Notion Of Plasticitymentioning

confidence: 99%

On Neuroeducation: Why and How to Improve Neuroscientific Literacy in Educational Professionals

Jolles

2021

Front. Psychol.

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New findings from the neurosciences receive much interest for use in the applied field of education. For the past 15 years, neuroeducation and the application of neuroscience knowledge were seen to have promise, but there is presently some lack of progress. The present paper states that this is due to several factors. Neuromyths are still prevalent, and there is a confusion of tongues between the many neurodisciplines and the domains of behavioral and educational sciences. Second, a focus upon cognitive neuroimaging research has yielded findings that are scientifically relevant, but cannot be used for direct application in the classroom. A third factor pertains to the emphasis which has been on didactics and teaching, whereas the promise of neuroeducation for the teacher may lie more on pedagogical inspiration and support. This article states that the most important knowledge and insights have to do with the notion of brain plasticity; the vision that development is driven by an interaction between a person’s biology and the social system. This helps individuals to select and process information, and to adapt to the personal environment. The paper describes how brain maturation and neuropsychological development extend through the important period of adolescence and emergent adulthood. Over this long period, there is a major development of the Executive Functions (EFs) that are essential for both cognitive learning, social behavior and emotional processing and, eventually, personal growth. The paper describes the basic neuroscience knowledge and insights – or “neuroscientific literacy” – that the educational professional should have to understand and appreciate the above-described themes. The authors formulate a proposal for four themes of neuroscience content “that every teacher should know.” These four themes are based on the Neuroscience Core Concepts formulated by the Society for Neuroscience. The authors emphasize that integrating neuroscientific knowledge and insights in the field of education should not be a one-way street; attempts directed at improving neuroscientific literacy are a transdisciplinary undertaking. Teacher trainers, experts from the neuroscience fields but also behavioral scientists from applied fields (notable applied neuropsychologists) should all contribute to for the educational innovations needed.

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“…In the present study, we focus on these higher-order EFs that—in addition to the core EFs—fall under the umbrella of the EFs. Important higher-order EFs which receive much research interest are the regulation of attention in daily life situations, self-control and performance monitoring, planning and prioritizing, and overseeing the consequences of one’s actions (see Lezak, 2004 ; McCloskey and Perkins, 2012 ; Diamond, 2013 , 2016 ; and earlier papers of our research group, e.g., van der Elst et al, 2012b ; Baars et al, 2015 ; van Tetering et al, 2018 ). In the present paper, we investigate the relation between these executive aspects of daily life behavior and the school achievements of young adolescents (10–12-year-old).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

School Achievement in Early Adolescence Is Associated With Students’ Self-Perceived Executive Functions

Tetering

Jolles

Elst³

et al. 2022

Front. Psychol.

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The primary aim of this study was to investigate the relation between self-perceived executive functions (EFs) and the school achievement of young adolescents (aged 10–12 years), while controlling for parental education and sex. We specifically focused on executive aspects of daily life behavior and the higher-order EFs, as measured with self-report, rather than on the more basic EFs which have been the primary focus of prior investigations. In two independent samples of sixth graders (N > 200 each), students evaluated their EFs on a self-report questionnaire, the Amsterdam Executive Functioning Inventory. School achievement in the domains of mathematics and reading comprehension were evaluated with nationally used, norm-based achievement tests. Results revealed that the self-perceived EFs of young adolescents were significantly correlated with their school achievement in both study samples. School achievement was also correlated with the level of parental education, but the factor sex did not have such influence. In study 1, self-perceived EFs explained additional variance in school achievement, while controlling for parental education and sex. In study 2, this was only the case for the most robust measure of school achievement, i.e., the end-of-primary-school final achievement test. Furthermore, besides the relation with achievement tests, we also found a relation between self-perceived EFs and teacher ratings behavioral problems in the classroom. Together, our findings imply that young students can properly reflect on the effectiveness and appropriateness of their EFs in a way that is relevant to their academic achievement and classroom behavior. The findings underscore the importance of considering the development of EFs and parental education in the evaluation of academic achievements in early adolescence.

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Introduction to Executive Functions

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

A Short Version of the EFECO Online Questionnaire for the Assessment of Executive Functions in School-Age Children

A Short Version of the EFECO Online Questionnaire for the Assessment of Executive Functions in School-Age Children

On Neuroeducation: Why and How to Improve Neuroscientific Literacy in Educational Professionals

School Achievement in Early Adolescence Is Associated With Students’ Self-Perceived Executive Functions

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