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Cited by 517Child and Animal Learning DevelopmentDevelopmental and Educational NeuropsychologyEarly Childhood Education and Development

Rethinking Executive Function and Its Development

Doebel, Sabine·2020·Perspectives on Psychological Science
DOI 10.1177/1745691620904771
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Abstract

Research on executive function in early childhood has flourished in recent years. Much of this work is premised on a view of development of executive function as the emergence of a set of domain-general component processes (e.g., working memory updating, inhibitory control, shifting). This view has shaped how we think about relations between executive function and other aspects of development, the role of the environment in executive-function development, and how best to improve executive function in children who struggle with it. However, there are conceptual and empirical reasons to doubt that executive function should be defined in this way. I argue that the development of executive function is better understood as the emergence of skills in using control in the service of specific goals. Such goals activate and are influenced by mental content such as knowledge, beliefs, norms, values, and preferences that are acquired with development and are important to consider in understanding children’s performance on measures of executive function. This account better explains empirical findings than the component-process view; leads to specific, testable hypotheses; and has implications for theory, measurement, and interventions.

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  • ER and Executive Functions (EF) are strongly interrelated and co-develop during childhood and adolescence to support adaptive goal-directed behavior.

    “Moreover, ER and Executive Functions (EF)-which include processes such as inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory-are strongly interrelated. These domains co-develop during childhood and adolescence and support adaptive goal-directed behavior [30].”

    From Emotional Dysregulation and Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome: Exploring Their Relationship Through the Lens of Twin Studies (2025) · cites this paper as [30]

  • Childhood EF measures may also assess children's knowledge and skills related to using EF in specific ways relevant to functioning within a school context.

    “We suggest that childhood EF measures may also assess children's knowledge and skills related to using EF in specific ways that are relevant to functioning within a school context, including listening to and following instructions, and maintaining and using arbitrary rules and decontextualized information (e.g., sorting by shape and then by color) (Doebel, 2020).”

    From Early childhood executive function predicts concurrent and later social and behavioral outcomes: A review and meta-analysis. (2024) · cites this paper as Doebel, 2020

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Authors
Doebel, S.
Affiliations
George Mason University (US)
Corresponding author
Doebel, Sabine
ORCID
Doebel, Sabine
Venue
Perspectives on Psychological Science
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2020-04-29
Volume
15
Issue
4
Pages
942-956
ISSN
  • 1745-6916 (ISSN-L)
  • 1745-6924
DOI
10.1177/1745691620904771
OpenAlex
W3018283814
Semantic Scholar
2c38d68e8e588b362cffc694ffeb3e949d31957d
Cited by
517
References
108
Citations by year
2026: 92 · 2025: 100 · 2024: 107 · 2023: 98 · 2022: 71 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 8
FWCI
81.82
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Perspectives on Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
  • Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
Keywords
executive function, executive function development, early childhood, Component Process Model, working memory updating, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, goal-directed control, mental content, domain-specific skills, executive function interventions
MeSH terms
Self-Control, Child, Child Development, Goals, Humans, Psychological Theory, Executive Function

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