A Dynamical Reconceptualization of Executive-Function Development

Executive function plays a foundational role in everyday behaviors across the life span. The theoretical understanding of executive-function development, however, is still a work in progress. Doebel proposed that executive-function development reflects skills using control in the service of behavior...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Perspectives on psychological science Vol. 16; no. 6; pp. 1198 - 1208
Main Authors: Perone, Sammy, Simmering, Vanessa R., Buss, Aaron T.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.11.2021
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:
Behavior
Child
Child Development
Childhood
Clothing industry
Concept formation
Context
Executive Function
Fashion
Function
Humans
Knowledge
Objectives
System theory
Systems Approach
Systems theory
Textile industry
Work skills
child development
cognition
dynamic-systems theory
developmental process
executive function
ISSN:1745-6916, 1745-6924, 1745-6924
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Executive function plays a foundational role in everyday behaviors across the life span. The theoretical understanding of executive-function development, however, is still a work in progress. Doebel proposed that executive-function development reflects skills using control in the service of behavior—using mental content such as knowledge and beliefs to guide behavior in a context-specific fashion. This liberating view contrasts with modular views of executive function. This new view resembles some older dynamic-systems concepts that long ago proposed that behavior reflects the assembly of multiple pieces in context. We dig into this resemblance and evaluate what else dynamic-systems theory adds to the understanding of executive-function development. We describe core dynamic-systems concepts and apply them to executive function—as conceptualized by Doebel—and through this lens explain the multilevel nature of goal-directed behavior and how a capacity to behave in a goal-directed fashion across contexts emerges over development. We then describe a dynamic systems model of goal-directed behavior during childhood and, finally, address broader theoretical implications of dynamic-systems theory and propose new translational implications for fostering children’s capacity to behave in a goal-directed fashion across everyday contexts.
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ISSN:1745-6916
1745-6924
1745-6924
DOI:10.1177/1745691620966792