ABSTRACT

Performance on lab assessments of executive functions predicts academic achievement and other positive life outcomes. A primary goal of research on executive functions has been to design interventions that improve outcomes like academic achievement by improving executive functions. These interventions typically involve extensive practice on abstract lab-based tasks and lead to improvements on these practiced tasks. However, interventions rarely improve performance on non-practiced tasks and rarely benefit outcomes like academic achievement. Contemporary frameworks of executive function development suggest that executive functions develop and are engaged within personal, social, historical, and cultural contexts. Abstract lab-based tasks do not well-capture the real-world contexts that require executive functions and should not be expected to provide generalized benefits outside of the lab. We propose a perspective for understanding individual differences in performance on executive function assessments that focuses on contextual influences on executive functions. We extend this contextual approach to training executive function engagement, rather than training executive functions directly. First, interventions should incorporate task content that is contextually relevant to the targeted outcome. Second, interventions should encourage engaging executive functions through reinforcement and contextual relevance, which may better translate to real-world outcomes than training executive functions directly. While such individualized executive functions interventions do not address systemic factors that greatly impact outcomes like academic achievement, given the extensive resources devoted to improving executive functions, we hypothesize that interventions designed to encourage children’s engagement of executive functions hold more promise for impacting real-world outcomes than interventions designed to improve executive function capacities.

摘要

执行功能的实验室评估表现可以预测学业成就和其他积极的生活成果。执行功能研究的主要目标是设计干预措施，通过改善执行功能来改善学业成绩等结果。这些干预措施通常涉及对基于实验室的抽象任务的广泛练习，并导致这些练习任务的改进。然而，干预措施很少能提高非实践任务的表现，也很少有利于学业成绩等结果。当代执行功能发展的框架表明，执行功能是在个人、社会、历史和文化背景下发展和参与的。基于实验室的抽象任务不能很好地捕捉需要执行功能的现实世界环境，并且不应期望在实验室之外提供普遍的好处。我们提出了一种理解执行功能评估表现的个体差异的视角，重点关注环境对执行功能的影响。我们将这种情境方法扩展到培训执行职能参与，而不是直接培训执行职能。首先，干预措施应纳入与目标结果相关的任务内容。其次，干预措施应鼓励通过强化和情境相关性来参与执行职能，这可能比直接培训执行职能更好地转化为现实世界的结果。虽然这种个性化的执行功能干预措施并没有解决对学业成绩等结果产生重大影响的系统性因素，但考虑到用于改善执行功能的大量资源，我们假设旨在鼓励儿童参与执行功能的干预措施更有希望影响现实世界的结果而不是旨在提高执行功能的干预措施。