MindMap-BookSummary: Executive Function

MindMap-BookSummary: Executive Function

• Book Information
  • Title: Executive Function
    • ~ http://www.amazon.com/Executive-Functions-What-They-Evolved/dp/146250535X/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408505776&sr=1-12&keywords=executive+functioning
  • Author: Russell Barkley
  • Pages: 257
  • ISBN: 978-1-4625-0535-7
  • DateRead: 20140725
  • Rating: 5 Stars
• Chapter 1–Problems with the Concept of Executive Functioning
  • Four related problems that currently exist in the concept of EF
    • 1. There is neither a consensus definition of EF nor an explicit operational definition of the term that can simply clearly and efficiently determine which human mental functions can be considered executive in nature and which ones cannot be so classified

      2. How is EF to be assessed?

      3. the lack of a coherent theory of EF

      4. Why EF?

    What Is EF?: The Lack of an Operational Definition

    Executive function is defined as the ability to maintain an appropriate problem-solving set for attainment of a future goal.

    a) an intention to inhibit a response or to defer it to a later more appropriate time

    b) a strategic plan of action sequences

    c) a mental representation of the task including the relevant stimulus information encoded in memory and the desired future goal-state.

    The executive functions consist of those capacities that enable a person to engage successfully in independent purposive self-serving behavior

    Questions about executive functions ask how and whether a person goes about doing something e.g. Will you do it and if so how?)

    Questions about cognitive functions are generally phrased in terms of what or how much e.g. How much do you know? What can you do?)

    EF Four components

    • 1) volition
    • 2) planning
    • 3) purposive action
    • 4) effective performance

    The term “executive functioning” generally refers to the mechanisms by which performance is optimized in situations requiring the operation of a number of cognitive processes

    Executive function is required when effective new plans of action must be formulated and appropriate sequences of responses must be selected and scheduled.

    Executive functions Activities

    problem-solving

    The executive functions are a collection of processes that are responsible for guiding directing and managing cognitive emotional and behavioral functions particularly during active novel problem solving

    The term executive function represents an umbrella construct that includes a collection of inter-related functions that are responsible for purposeful goal-directed problem-solving behavior

    • planning
    • initiation” of activity
    • cognitive estimation
    • prospective memory

    Executive function EF) is an umbrella term that incorporates a collection of inter-related processes responsible for purposeful goal-directed behavior

    Processes associated with EF are numerous but the principal elements include

    • anticipation
    • goal selection
    • planning
    • initiation of activity
    • self-regulation
    • mental flexibility
    • deployment of attention
    • utilization of feedback

    Executive functions refer to a collection of interrelated cognitive and behavioral skills that are responsible for purposeful goal-directed activity and include the highest level of human functioning such as

    • intellect
    • thought
    • self-control
    • social interaction

    Executive functions comprise a family of cognitive control processes that operate on lower-level processes to regulate and shape behavior.

    EF involves developing and implementing an approach to performing a task that is not habitually performed

    The early development of skills that support EF includes the ability to maintain problem-solving set for attainment of future goal

    • encompasses an individual’s ability to inhibit actions
    • restrain and delay responses
    • attend selectivity
    • self-regulate
    • problem solve
    • be flexible
    • set goals
    • plan
    • shift set

    Executive functioning has been defined as a set of regulatory processes necessary for

    • selecting
    • initiating
    • implementing
    • overseeing thought
    • emotion
    • behavior
    • certain facets of motor and sensory functions

    Executive function can be thought of as the set of abilities required to effort fully

    Guide behavior toward a goal especially in non routine situations

    Various functions are thought to fall under the rubric of executive function

    • include prioritizing and sequencing behavior
    • inhibiting familiar and stereotyped behaviors
    • creating and maintaining an idea of what task or information is most relevant for current purposes
    • providing resistance to information that is distracting or task irrelevant
    • switching behavior task goals
    • utilizing relevant information in support of decision making
    • categorizing or otherwise abstracting common elements across items
    • handling novel information or situations

    Why is maintaining an appropriate problem-solving set toward a future goal considered to be the essential nature of EF?

    Wouldn’t it be more precise and simpler to just make these three components part of the definition of EF itself?

    EF is the inhibition of a response or its deferral to a more appropriate time so as

    • 1. develop a mental representation of the task and desired future goal
    • 2. develop a strategic plan of actions and sequences to attain it
    • 3. maintain an appropriate problem solving set toward that future goal

    Why is it that detecting and responding to an X on a computer screen while inhibiting a response to an O is an executive function test while reading an X when it appears is not?

    Why is stating the color of ink in which a color word i.e. “red”) is printed considered an executive function but reading the actual printed word is not?

    Why is pointing to a location where a picture or geometric design appeared in a matrix after it has disappeared for a few seconds an indication of EF while pointing to the same design in the matrix while it is still present is not an EF?

    Why is sorting cards into categories based on your own sorting rule not an EF while sorting them so as to discover an examiner’s undis sorting rule is considered an EF?

    Six components of EF

    • self-regulation
    • sequencing of behavior
    • flexibility
    • response inhibition
    • planning
    • organization of behavior

    Not EF

    • visual–spatial perception
    • speech and language
    • emotion
    • motor speed and coordination

    How Is EF Assessed?: The Poor Ecological Validity of Psychometric Tests of EF

    The following current situation in this field represents this error

    • The PFC is the “executive” brain
    • ADHD is a disorder arising largely from structural and functional abnormalities in the PFC
    • ADHD is largely not a disorder of EF

    How Does EF Work?: The Limitations of Current Cognitive Models of EF

    The Disparity between Models of EF and Deficits in Patients with PFC Disorders

    A Sampling of Theories of PFC EF) Functioning –

    1. Stuss and Benson’s Hierarchical Model of EF –

    • Executive control functions called into action in non routine or novel situations provide conscious direction to the functional systems for efficient processing of information

      The executive function represents many of the important activities that are almost universally attributed to the frontal lobes which become active in non routine novel situations that require new solutions

      These behavioral characteristics have been described by many authors and include at least the following: anticipation goal selection pre planning means-end establishment) monitoring and use of feedback if–then statements)

      EF refers to four components

      • anticipation
      • goal selection
      • pre planning
      • monitoring
      • Sequencing

      is said to be involved in organizing and maintaining bits of information into meaningful sequences such as in the temporal integration and sequencing of behavior

      Non executive posterior basal functional systems

      • attention
      • alertness
      • visual–spatial
      • autonomic emotional
      • memory
      • sensory perception
      • language
      • motor
      • cognition

    2. Fuster’s Theory of Cross-Temporal Organization –

    Three PFC components

    • 1) working memory which is a temporally retrospective function;

      2) anticipatory set planning) which is a temporally prospective function

      3) interference control a form of attention that involves resistance to distraction) which inhibits the disruption of goal-directed behavior by events or behavior that are irrelevant to or incompatible with the goal

    purpose of these three EF components

    • “the cross-temporal organization of behavior

      achieved by a temporal synthesis or integration that represents the “formation of temporal structures of behavior with a unifying purpose or goal—in other words the structuring of goal-directed behavior

      includes in his concept of EF the self-regulation of motivational emotional and other drive states in the service of goal-directed behavior

    Model of PFC EF

    • need to appreciate that goal-directed actions often involve significant delays among events E)

      responses R)

      goals and their attendant consequences G C).

      done by mentally representing the E-RG C arrangement

      Goal-directed behavior is achieved through the guidance of behavior by these internal representations

      representations arise from his three components

    3. Duncan’s Theory of Goal Neglect

    • a. human behavior is organized around a list of goals and sub goals against which individuals are comparing their ongoing behavior to maintain behavior directed at these goals

      b. Frontal lobe damage results in an inability to retain these goals in mind and thus greater disorganization of behavior

      Information-Processing Theory of EF

      EF as a set of three components

      • problem solving
      • task analysis essentially defining the problem)
      • strategy selection and revision
      • strategy monitoring

      three components of cognition:

      • cognition
      • metacognition
      • executive functioning

      Cognition

      • Cognition is all the knowledge and strategies that exist in long-term memory; this reservoirof information is critical to effective problem solving. The metacognitive levelis aware of this lower level and contains models of the various cognitive processesas well as an understanding of how knowledge and strategies interconnect. Executivefunctioning coordinates these two levels of cognition by monitoring and controllingthe use of the knowledge and strategies in concordance with the metacognitive level

      IDEAL problem solver

      • 1) identify an important problem tobe solved
      • 2) define the subgoals involved in solving the problem
      • 3) explorethe possible approaches to the problem select a potential set of strategies)
      • 4) anticipate potential outcomes before acting on the best initial approach
      • 5) look back and learn from the entire problem-solving experience

      planning

      planning and problem solving may be synonymous terms althoughplanning seems to also include a longer-term future consideration than mightproblem solving which can be applied to much more near-term problems

    4. Hayes Behavioral Theory of EF as Rule-Governed Behavior

    EF tasks place people in situations wherepreviously learned sources of behavioral regulation come into conflict with ruleslaid down by the task and examiner

    Those task-specific rules are competingwith behavior that is otherwise automatic and well practiced

    the typicalautomatic flow of behavior must be interrupted and delayed long enough forthe person to discover a new rule or select among previously learned rulesthat may apply in this situation

    interrupting a well-practiced behavior itselfoften requires that a rule be selected and followed that is initiating the delay inresponding

    EF tasks individuals often have to implement a rule toinhibit their usual ongoing responding even if it is just asking them a questionabout the task

    They must then either select from among a set of relevantpreviously learned rules or generate a new one

    augmenting is also neededwhere verbal self-reinforcement 3 –

    is also used formotivation as in phrases such as “good boy ” or self-statements of being rightor being good in following the rule 3 –

    Sings of PFC injuries or disorders

    • devastating behavioral
    • social deficit
    • emotional deficit
    • economic deficit
    • occupational deficit
    • moral deficits deficit

    Example

    how are we to see any connection between how patients performa digit span backward N-back serial addition or other task ofverbal working memory and their economic life in their natural settings?

    Humans daily engage in reciprocal exchange and must frequently andrapidly evaluate the costs-benefits to them of doing so as each party tothe transaction goes about pursuing their actions toward their futuregoals no matter whether the exchange involves money goods or services

    This is the field of economics broadly defined. Yet where does thiswidespread human goal-directed activity ever enter into modern viewsof EF?

    fundamental basis of morality

    awareness of one’s self over time in relation to others and the future consequencesof one’s actions toward others and of others’ toward one’s self

    This daily intersection of each human’s goal-directed activities amongthose of other goal-directed humans requires rules ethics) for makingsuch activities run as smoothly and peaceably as possible

    Four factors-EF Tasks

    • 1. flexibility perseveration or set shifting)
    • 2. perceptual–motorspeed probably not an EF)
    • 3. verbal working memory
    • 4. time estimation

    Four-factor model of EF

    • 1) attentional control includesinhibition)

      2) information processing fluency efficiency and speed ofoutput)

      3) cognitive flexibility shift response sets learn from mistakes devise alternative strategies divide attention process multiple sources ofinformation concurrently);

      4) goal setting develop new initiativesand concepts plan actions in advance approach tasks in an efficient andstrategic manner)

    The Missing Linkage between EF and Social Functioning

    social intelligence

    • the capacity to respond to appropriate social patterns to regulate social life and to integrate adequately and successfully with others

    As one of its major functions the frontal lobe bears responsibility foradministering the code by which the patterns of social behavior are putinto operation and by which the individual integrates and regulates its conductin respect of that of other individuals. We postulated that there is aspecial form of social intelligence by which the organism maintains therunning changing stream of social relationships and that the frontal lobesbear important if not unique responsibility for this

    Social Executors

    • 1) social self-regulation: processes needed tomanage the initiation rate intensity and duration of social interactions

      2) social self-awareness: knowledge and insight about oneself and theimpact of one’s behavior on others in social settings

      3) social sensitivity:the ability to understand another’s perspective point of view oremotional state similar to empathy)

      4) social salience: regulationof somatic and emotional states that impart a sense of meaningfulnessto social situations and to specific individuals within that situation

    The Overlooked Importance of Emotion and Motivation in EF

    The neglect of emotion may also stem from the inherently greaterdifficulty in measuring emotional and motivational states relative to theenormous number of tests available for assessing the more “cognitive”features of EF such as working memory

    Emotions are motivationalstates that undoubtedly play an important role in evaluating and determiningone’s means actions) and ends goals) and their social appropriateness

    They will also contribute the drive willpower or self-motivation that will be needed to achieve them –

    The supposedly “cool” EF brainnetworks such as working memory planning problem solving andforesight may provide for the “what where and when” of goal-directedaction but it is the “hot” EF brain network –

    provides the “why” or basis for choosing topursue that goal in the first place and the motivation that will be neededto get there –

    The Limitations of the Computer Metaphor of BrainFunctioning for EF

    Using the computeras a metaphor for brain functioning has undoubtedly been of value inefforts to advance the understanding of neural circuitry and its likelyfunctions. But it has its limits for brains

    First computers are designed whereashuman brains evolved; hence the architecture and functioning of eachare likely to be quite different.

    Engineers designing computers candetermine the most efficient and effective designs for both hardwareand software to achieve the intended purposes to which computers areused.

    Natural selection acting on brains has no such plans and foresightto use in its sculpting of the brain. Consequently a computer maybe a marvel of efficient design. But a brain is a veritable Rube Goldbergdevice of adaptations cobbled together from what had been availablefor other functions previously but that may be diverted to another functionunder a change in environmental pressure a new adaptive problem)

    A second major distinction between computers and brains is thatcomputers are passive whereas human brains are not –

    The computermetaphor portrays the brain as if it were software and hardware; givena certain input this “computer” moves the information through variousstages of processing to produce the output that we see virtually automatically like an automaton industrial robot or artificial intelligence creation. –

    The computermetaphor portrays the brain as if it were software and hardware; givena certain input this “computer” moves the information through variousstages of processing to produce the output that we see virtually automatically like an automaton industrial robot or artificial intelligence creation.This is a very passive view of the organism devoid of what makesliving things unique—they are self-interested agents! They have basicmotives preinstalled that serve to sustain their own life appetitive anddefensive protective motives) and to reproduce that is to transmit theirgenes) into the next generation sexuality and competition for mates) –

    This blindness to self-interestedness and its motives is a glaring deficiencyin contemporary EF models. A computer is not a self-interested self-motivating self-regulating entity; a human brain is

    The Installation of a “Central Executive” or Homunculus in EF:The Ghost in the Machine

    The Missing “Self” in EF –

    • The conscious self IS the central executive

      Each of us develops a conscious senseof self and it is this conscious self that is serving as the executive

      It isthrough our self-awareness self-consciousness that our values and wantsare consciously known to us our goals values or what we wish to pursue)are chosen by us and the strategies that we will employ in thesepursuits are selected by us

      Who chooses? I do

      What is to be valued andpursued?

      What I choose to do

      How is it to be pursued?

      The way I decideto do so

      Freedom here does not mean random or uncorrelated decision makingbetween values goals) and their means–ends

      Freedom or free willis a conscious generation of and consideration of the variety of optionsavailable to that individual over the longer term as capable of being conceivedby the individual

      It also includes the selection of which goals topursue how to pursue them and when to do so

    Overlooking the Bidirectional Influence of EF and Culture

    People both createand adopt culture. Yet it is equally true that the existing cultureinfluences the people who are immersed within and who actively adoptit.

    Why EF?: The Importance of Evolutionin the Origins and Purposes of EF

    The species that have a proto-EF system also engage to a certainextent in imitation learning a form of experiential or behavioral plagiarism).

    In humans in particular there is a dominantor prepotent response to overtly imitate another’s actions and itmust be actively inhibited from being publicly expressed—the neuronalfiring patterns that match the actions being watched are activated buttheir release to the musculoskeletal system is inhibited.

    The capacity to use the witnessing of another’s experiences for one’sown self-improvement is a tremendously useful adaptation among socialspecies in which members compete against each other for resources

    Humans also take imitation to an even higher level which is vicariouslylearning to do the opposite of what one has seen another do.

    Vicarious learning is a particularly useful adaptation when it comes to learningfrom the mistakes made by others some of which can be injurious or evenlethal. It is self-evident that more learning occurs in response to errorsthan to successes.

    Conclusions and Specific Aims

    • 1. the term “EF” lacks an operationaldefinition that can serve to determine which human mental facultiesshould be graced with the moniker “executive” and which shouldnot

      2. current theories of EF have driftedaway from capturing the characteristics of patients with PFC injuries ordisorders of this “executive” brain including their marked problems in emotional social economic and moral domains among others. Cognitive psychometrically based models of EF are common at this time

      3. characterizing modern models of EF

      4. evolutionary stance toward EF as an adaptation or suite ofadaptations necessary for solving problems that arose in human sociallife

    major concepts

    selfish gene theory

    whichexplains why all living things are at their core self-interested replicators

    To understand EF we will have to take the individual’s self-interests intoaccount.

    What does EF do for the survival and reproductive and inclusivefitness of its owner?

    Humans not only adapt to their environments as do others species but they adapt their environments to them—and they do it using EF. Such alterations to the environment can be studied for their value as part of the human EF phenotype

    phenotype

    Phenotypic traits have effectsthat impact not just the immediate spatial and temporal environment butthat also radiate outward from the organism

    These effects may extendfar beyond the proximal physical distance and short durations typicallyconsidered in the notion of a phenotype

    endopheno

    those psychological functions that seemclosest to the brain’s neural activity and so are closest to the genes andtheir proteins that serve as initial and intermediate pathways respectively to the EF behavioral phenotype

    human mental functions

    • dailyfunctioning
    • social relations
    • cooperative ventures
    • economic transactions
    • moral
    • legal
    • occupational
    • child-rearing
    • community activities

    extended phenotype

• Chapter 2–The Extended Phenotype: A Foundation for Modeling Executive Functioning
  • The Conventional View of the Phenotype
  • From Genes to Proteins to Structures Functions
  • human’s phenotype
    • hair
    • skin
    • eye color
    • shape of the face
    • texture of theskin and hair
    • configuration of the teeth
    • he forward-facing placementof the eyes
    • height
    • body mass
    • upright posture
    • bipedal gait
    • structureof the appendages
    • opposable fingers and thumb
  • genes ? proteins and enzymes ? structures and their functions
  • The Steps in the Evolution Algorithm
    • 1. A storage device
      • There must be a reliable storage device or memorybase that is some means by which information can be reliably stored andaccessed
    • 2. A means of information encoding.
      • There must be a reliable meansby which information can be coded into the storage device. In the case ofbiological evolution this is just four little bits of information called nucleicacids which here we can simply call A G C T.
    • 3. A means of replication copying trials).
      • At its core the very essenceof life is self-replication—making a copy of the initial information. Forevolution to occur there must be some means by which the informationis copied replicated).
    • 4. Good but imperfect fidelity of copying).
      • Replication must createa highly similar copy from its original
    • 5. Mistakes mutations) must be made
      • While this restates the abovepoint that mistakes occur in the copying process the emphasis here is thatthere can be no evolution if the copying is perfect every time
    • 6. A specific environment exists
      • For information to exist it must existsomewhere. That “where” is material reality. It is often called the environment which just means a local region of reality.
    • 7. A selecting feature an effect) of that environment
      • Some aspectof the environment has to effect the likelihood that copies will surviveor be destroyed in that environment.
    • 8. Environmental change.
      • When something happens it could be nearlyanything) that changes the selecting feature of the particular environment

        levels beyond the genetic

        • 1. Operant conditioning
          • learning in animals for instance created a second level of evolutionthat occurs within individuals and allows a more rapid adaptation tothe environment and its changes than could occur at the genetic levelalone
        • 2. Vicarious learning
          • individuals no longer learnedjust by trial and error but could more rapidly adapt their behavior to theenvironment through observational learning

            Vicariouslearners are far more adaptive and hence dynamic

            They can adapt morequickly because they benefit from everyone else’s trial-and-error learning not just their own

            Vicarious learning provides another mechanismfor the accumulation and replication of information

        • 3. Mimetic–ideational
          • When modern humans evolved a capacityfor mental representations the ideational simulation of behavior couldcommence. The person could now test out mental representations ofbehavioral trials more rapidly imagine consequences and even generatenew behavioral mutations potential innovations) of those trials privately or cognitively).

            A new form of trial-and-error learning came intoexistence with this evolutionary level—one in which our ideas could die in our place

            This allows humans to adapt their behavior to the environmentand its changes far faster than can occur just by a vicarious learner—indeed far faster than any known species

            The vicarious learner has to wait for some innovationin trial-and-error learning to occur before it can be plagiarized by theimitator

            The human ideational learner can mentally simulate trials anderrors and even mutate representations and behavioral plans to generatemore grist for mental evolution

            Human mental trial-and-error simulation innovation or creativity) both at the ideational and symbolic levelshas created an opportunity for exceptionally rapid adaptation to environmentalchanges and problems that exceeds any other species

        • 4. Gestural communication
          • It has been argued that an early formof communication in humans in their history of evolution was initiallygestural

            This form of communication through movementwas believed to be founded on the mimetic–ideational level above inwhich individuals use mental images to repeatedly initiate behaviors forthe sake of rehearsal and improvement

            Through such overt rehearsals others who are watching them might have some understanding of whatthe individual is attempting to practice and why they are practicing it; thisgives rise to gestures as one means of communication

            Both the rehearserand observer can understand what is being communicated. In modernhumans such gestural communication is often retained despite loss ofsymbolic linguistic communication aphasias) such as following a strokeor head injury; this suggests that it arises from different mental mechanismsand neurological networks than those that permit language

        • 5. Symbolic–linguistic
          • The evolution of language and the ruleguidedbehavior it permits is another level of informational evolutionthat buttresses and even supplants the transmission of information acrossindividuals by observational learning

            One therefore finds a human phenotypethat can even more rapidly adapt its behavior to the environment a large part of which is social.

            It is the existence of the social environmentand its rapid changes that likely led to the need selection pressure) for the development of the observational communicative gestural and linguistic) and mental cognitive ideational and symbolic) levels of evolution

        • 6. Cultural–artifactual
          • The invention of external storage devicesfor information acquired through language ideation and observationpermits another level of culture—the sharing of previously acquiredknowledge and inventions

            These archival artifacts records products objects tools etc.) can be transmitted horizontally to others and verticallyacross subsequent generations

            Using the ever-evolving culture each new generation has the opportunity to reach a higher quality of lifeand adaptive success than was possible for the previous generation. Inits entirety culture is shared behavioral gestural symbolic linguistic and recorded information.

            Even its recorded format evolves and providesyet again another degree of freedom from the level of genetic evolution despite the fact that the capacity for culture arose out of genetic variation

            The environmental scaffolding provided by culture is itself highlydynamic and its own form of evolution. Current culture is the beneficiaryof earlier levels of cultural scaffolding on which it now perches.When studied in detail the evolution of cultural information proceedsby small stages and steps ratcheting)

            This is self-evident in any review of the historical stages of anycultural device or practice such as the building of cars planes and thelike and even that of the principles adopted for organizing entire societies such as civil and property rights

            Laid out in historical sequence thegradual evolution of a device actually information represented by suchdevices) method or principle is unmistakable. Over time huge changesappear to arise from prior gradual improvements retained useful mutations)

    • In Whose Interest Is the Human Extended Phenotype?
      • Situations in which individuals behave solely for the good of others thegroup) are unstable because they are prone to invasion by cheaters andfree riders who contribute less or nothing while benefiting from others’altruistic actions

        All cooperative ventures among living organismsexist and are stabilized by the mutual self-interests of the participantsand the fact that each derives more benefit from the cooperative venturethan they could achieve alone –

        boost in self-benefit from thecooperative venture nearly always involves the eventual division of labor that is specialization. –

        The division of labor both boosts self-benefits andbinds each to the other in mutual self-support –

    • Conclusions
      • The field of psychology the study of the behavior of organisms) is asubspecialty of the science of biology the study of organisms) and thisis especially so for the field of neuropsychology the study of brain–behavior relationships)

        Evolution is the governing paradigm of biology.It is therefore also a governing paradigm or should be in neuropsychology

        To neglect or forsake evolution and these concepts is towall off neuropsychology from its most powerful source of understandingbrain–behavior relationships and for generating hypotheses aboutthem

• Chapter 3–Executive Functioning as an Extended Phenotype
  • A More Precise Definition of EF
    • the definition of EF as self-regulation SR).

      eachcomponent of EF is a specific type of SR—a form of self-directed actionaimed at modifying one’s behavior so as to make a future goal end or outcome more or less likely to occur

      EFcan therefore be initially defined as those self-directed actions neededto choose goals and to create enact and sustain actions toward thosegoals or more simply as self-regulation to achieve goals:

      EF = SR

      EF is a means for goal-directed action it is necessary to next define the terms “goals” and “means. –

    Defining Goals and Means

    Goals

    • Goals are states that result in a decreasein dissatisfaction or unease for an individual relative to the present state

      Future states that result in a decline in unease an increasein satisfaction happiness or welfare) are states we value; they are desiresand wants that we seek to attain fulfill and retain

      The course s) of action that must be pursued to attain the goal arethe means to that end

    Means

    • A means is what serves to the attainment of any end goal or aim.

      Meansare not in the given universe; in this universe there exist only things

      Athing becomes a means when human reason employs it for the attainmentof some end and human action really employs it for that purpose

      Thinkingman sees the serviceableness of things i.e. their ability to minister to ends and acting man makes them means

      It is of primary importance to realizethat parts of the external world become means only through the operationof the human mind and its offshoot human action

      External objects are assuch only phenomena of the physical universe and the subject matter of thenatural sciences.

      It is human meaning and action which transform theminto means. .

    Goals or values

    • Goals or values are said to have utility
    • use-value in reducing statesof dissatisfaction or unease.

    Two types of utility or use-value

    1. Subjective

    • The subjective utility of a goal isstrictly personal.

      It is the degree to which the goal is perceived by thatindividual to reduce or alleviate that individual’s state of dissatisfaction

      That degree is its subjective value to that individual

      Only that individual presented with a given context and with any local constraints on choices contained in that situation can make the determination of utility or value.

      Only the individual can determine what is “good” topursue or what is in his or her own longer-term welfare and so computethe subjective use-value of the goal

    2. Objective

    • The objective utility of a goal is simply the relation between a thing object or product and the effect it has the capacity to bring about

      Science may permit the means by which to calculate those effects as in degrees of temperature units of energy expended calories) and the like

      But this utility or use-value should not be confused with the former subjectiveone

      Humans do not base judgments of value entirely or evenpartly on the objective use value of a goal or the means to attain it.

    Example

    • An action for example that raises or lowers the room temperature in my home by adjusting the thermostat by even degrees may be of little or no subjective use value to me but of great current value to my wife even though it is the same objective use value—the action alters room temperature by degrees

      Two people given the same information as to the objective use-value of certain means will not necessarily choose the same means or pursue the same ends

    That is because no one can judge what another person’s subjective state of dissatisfaction is relative to afuture state of greater happiness and whether it’s worth the pursuit

    This makes plain why no individual collective or government can or should make decisions concerning “the common good” because there is no such thing as a common good

    There is only individual good value or happiness and only individuals can decide what that use-value is to them.

    It is via EF SR that individuals engage in this process ofevaluating ends and means and the subjective use-value of these for theirown welfare.

    it is subjective use-value that drives the goaldirectedactions of an individual not objective use-value

    Attempting to understand the choices and actions that individuals make solely by manipulating various parameters of objective use-value will never givea full account of those choices and actions.

    there is a large measure of unpredictability to the choices and actions of others

    each individual must take this variability into account in living among and dealing with other people

    An Overview of the EF Extended Phenotype

    The Extended Phenotype of EF

    Pre-Executive Level

    • 1. CNS functions
      • Routine primary neuropsychological functions for example attention memory spatial and motor functions primary emotions and motivations –
    • 2. Behavior –
      • Automatic activity; operant conditioning

    Executive Functioning Levels

    1. Instrumental–Self-Directed Level

    • Instrumental–Self-Directed Level internalized mental processes: self-regulation)
    • Self-directed attention–self-awareness
    • Self-restraint inhibition)
    • Self-directed sensory–motor action nonverbal working memory; imagination)
    • Self-directed private speech verbal working memory; verbal thought)
    • Self-directed appraisal emotion–motivation)
    • Self-directed play innovation problem solving)

    2. Methodical–Self-Reliant Level self-directed actions)

    • Use of methods to attain near-term goals
    • Self-management across time
    • Self-organization and problem solving
    • Self-restraint
    • Self-motivation
    • Self-regulation of emotions
    • Social independence social predation or parasitism and social self-defense

    3. Tactical–Reciprocal Level social behaviors)

    • Use of tactics—nested sets of methods—to attain midterm goals
    • Daily social exchange sharing turn-taking reciprocity etc.)
    • Group living lower proportion of individual dispersal)
    • Beginning of economic behavior trading)
    • Social interdependence using others to attain goals)

    4. Strategic–Cooperative Level

    • Use of strategies—nested sets of tactics—to achieve longer-term goals
    • Arrangement of social cooperatives with division of labor
    • Acting in unison to achieve common ends and shared benefits
    • Origin of larger settlements further decreases in individual dispersal)
    • Stage II: Principled–Mutualistic
      • Use of principles—nested sets of strategies—to achieve long-term goals

        Pursuit of long-term self-interests by putting others’ long-term self-interestsahead of one’s own near-term and midterm self-interests

        Preference for larger delayed over smaller immediate consequences

        Origin of colonies cities city-states states and countries

    Pre-Executive Levels –

    Five levels Phenotype

    central nervous system CNS ) relevant genes

    CNS proteins and enzymes

    CNS structures

    CNS functions

    overt behavior

    CNS pre-executive functions

    CNS functions and behavior are automatic

    1. The Instrumental–Self-Directed Level

    • Executive functioning first emerges at this level and zone) of the phenotype.

      Six of the many psychological functions that exist at the preexecutivelevel become self-directed to form the initial level of EF.

      Theseactions create a conscious mental life for the individual and are as follows:

      attention

      self-awareness

      inhibition or self-restraint

      self-directedsensory–motor actions progressing on to mental simulation)

      self-speech progressing onward to verbal thought)

      self-appraisal evaluation)

      self-play

      These “actions” may be overt behaviors early in development but they become self-directed and internalized thus becoming primarilycovert mental activities later in development

      They are forms of selfregulationthat work in the service of goal-attainment

      An instrumental EF is “instrumental” in that it helps to attain the goal but does not do soby itself. Instrumental EFs are “self-directed” because they are appliedonly to oneself.

      CNS pre-executive functions ? executive self-regulatory) functions

    2. The Methodical–Self-Reliant Level

    • This level is concerned with overt goal-directed actions and behavior

      Amethod is a short chain of actions that achieve a given goal much likethe steps of a recipe.

      No single action in the sequence accomplishes thegoal but together as a sequence the actions accomplish the goal. Sucha goal is often near-term necessitating short chains of actions to attainit.

      A method is more complex than a single action or gesture becauseit is built up from such simpler actions.

      The methodical level is “selfreliant”because the individual’s goals tend to be focused on growingindependence from and self-defense against others

      It also includes acapacity for social predation—the use of others in a parasitic way forone’s own ends that are not mutually beneficial and against which otherswill employ forms of self-defense.

      CNS pre-executive functions ? executive self-regulatory) functions ?executive self-regulatory) adaptive behavior ? self-organizationof environmental arrangements products artifacts)

    3. The Tactical–Reciprocal Level

    • This level and the one that follows represent the social symbiotic levelsof EF

      At the Tactical–Reciprocal level and zone relationships with others are no longer those of social parasitism predation and self-defense against others’ parasitism

      others now become means for attaining goalsthat are mutually beneficial—socially symbiotic

      The term “tactical” isused to mean sets of methods clustered together to comprise longerchainaction sequences that achieve a higher order longer-term goal.Each method within a “tactic” achieves a necessary subgoal

      The term“tactical” is also used in its traditional social meaning of an adjustmentin one’s actions relative to the actions or anticipated actions of others asin a military engagement.

      the tactical level is also associatedwith initial types of social relationships in which a person uses anotherin a mutually beneficial way to assist with achievement of personal goals as in reciprocity exchange and mutual sharing

      this level isalso titled “reciprocal.”

      CNS pre-executive functions ? executive self-regulatory) functions ?executive self-regulatory) adaptive behavior ? self-organizationof environmental arrangements products artifacts) ? self-organizingof social arrangements involving symbiotic reciprocal exchanges with others

    4. The Strategic–Cooperative Level

    The term “strategic” or strategy refers to a set or sets of tactics thatare now hierarchically organized into much longer sequences of actionsextended over longer time periods to attain much later goals than onewas capable of doing at the previous level of the EF extended phenotype.In other words methods are nested under tactics that are nested understrategies that can eventually attain goals at a considerable distance intime

    The second social meaning of “strategic” is also applicable. It refersto a set of social tactics one is using within a larger social network overa longer time frame than would be seen at the tactical level. The strategiclevel thus refers to a higher order of social engagement for the purposeof attaining personal goals such as participating in “cooperative” activitiesto attain goals that no individual could achieve alone

    Here the term“cooperative” does not mean simply going along or getting along withothers in its most general sense. It means acting in unison or as a unitywith others to achieve goals that cannot be achieved alone or throughmere reciprocity exchange).

    The individual becomes part of a larger unitor cooperative. Hence the social term “cooperative” is also used for thislevel.

    CNS pre-executive functions ? CNS executive self-regulatory) functions ?executive self-regulatory) adaptive behavior ? self-organizationof environmental arrangements products artifacts) ? self-organizingof social arrangements for reciprocal exchanges with others ?social arrangements for cooperative ventures with others

    Eight Emerging DevelopmentalCapacities Arising from EF

    • 1. Spatial Capacity
      • This refers to the spatial distance over which the individual is contemplatinga goal and the necessary means to attain it.

        It can be indexed byidentifying the increasing outward spread of the effects of self-directed actions

        From their initial range at proximal space they spread intomore distant destinations in physical and eventually social) environments. –

        One effect of this cognitive capacity by which it can be indexed)is that individuals come to purposefully rearrange or organize their surroundingphysical environment to assist in goal attainment—a radius ofenvironmental self-organization that grows in scope with development –

    • 2. Temporal Capacity
      • This reflects how far into the future the individual is capable of contemplatinga goal.

        Also called a time horizon it is evident in the span oftime between a likely future event i.e. a deadline) and the individualbeginning to prepare for the event.

        Metaphorically it reflects a mentalwindow on time that opens increasingly wider with maturation of thePFC

        Initially it comprises only minutes then hours then days weeks and finally months and years.

        A capacity for reckoning thetime needed to traverse space and attain the goal will be important inactions across spatial distances. Eventually so will be a sense of timingand timeliness of such actions.

    • 3. Motivational Capacity
      • This arises out of the previous two capacities especially the temporalone.

        It can be distinguished by the fact that this capacity reflects a “hot”appraisal of that future while the spatial and temporal capacities aboveare comprised of “cold” cognitive parameters or purely information

        Itcan be thought of as a motivational time horizon as it reflects the personalvaluation of a delayed consequence future goal or outcome thatthe individual is contemplating.

        It is often evident in complex emotional–motivational–arousal responses feelings) of individuals concerning thegoals they are contemplating.

        The more highly valued or preferred theconsequences the more willing individuals are to increase the time delayand the spatial distances needed to attain that goal

        The temporal aspectof this motivational parameter is represented in the concept from behavioranalysis of temporal or reward discounting—the fact that individualsincreasingly discount the value of a consequence by the degree of time delay for that consequence

    • 4. Inhibitory Capacity
      • This concerns the extent to which and the duration over which individualsmust inhibit their responses to prepotent events restrain theiractions and otherwise subordinate their immediate interests for the sakeof the goal

        Eventually such actions will also come to be subordinatedto any interests of others with whom the individual is attempting toreciprocate or cooperate to attain a goal

    • 5. Conceptual Abstract Capacity
      • This reflects the degree of abstractness of any rules that are being consideredand followed to attain the goal

        It ranges from the most simple specific and concrete level of rules to the most abstract general conceptual and complex principles. It can be illustrated by contrastingsimple self-directed rules such as “stop” or “wait” to highly conceptualrules such as “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” orone that states that “all individuals should be presumed innocent untilproven guilty.”

    • 6. Behavioral–Structural Capacity
      • This is essentially the motor consequences of the other dimensions andindicates the degree of behavioral complexity and hierarchical structuring of the actions needed to bridge the time period and distance between the moment and the contemplated goal
    • 7. Social Capacity
      • This refers to the number of other individuals and eventually social networks)with which the individual must interact reciprocate and cooperateso as to effectively attain the goal being contemplated
    • 8. Cultural Capacity
      • This last capacity refers to the degree of cultural information and devices methods inventions products etc.) or scaffolding that the individual isadopting to attain the goal under contemplation.

    The first three capacities above—spatial temporal and motivational—are likely the most fundamental to the development of EF. Theygenerate the capacity for a sense of the self a sense of one’s current state and a conscious sense of the hypothetical future—an ability to imaginegoals ever more distant in time and space and to contemplate the actionplans needed to attain them.

    Vicarious Learning and Innovation as Parts of EF’sExtended Phenotype

    The Pre-Executive Levels and Zones

    neuropsychological functions

    • attention
    • alertness
    • visual–spatial performance
    • autonomic–emotional actions
    • memory
    • sensory–perceptual functions
    • language
    • motor abilities

    fourstages

    • situation
    • attention
    • appraisal
    • response

    Characterization of the eight developmental capacities

    • The spatial distanceover which the individual is pursuing goals is quite proximal to them

      The temporal distance or time horizon they are consciously employing if they are conscious of it at all is very near and characterized as “thenow.”

      Themotivational horizon is therefore very near. In economic terms the timepreference is very high; temporal discounting is quite steep. The individual’sbehavior is focused on those goals rewards or consequencesthat are very proximal in time.

      The degree of inhibition or self-restraintavailable at this level and required for attaining proximal goals is minimal.

      The behavioral complexity needed to achieve those outcomes israther simple and so of relatively short duration and of little complexity the number of nested sets of subgoal means and ends that must becombined to attain the goal is minimal or nonexistent).

      The level of conceptualizationor abstractness of the rules that are being used to pursuea goal is nonexistent.

      The social involvement and complexity being usedto pursue goals is minimal or nonexistent.

• Chapter 4–The Instrumental–Self-Directed Level
  • six self-directed actions
    • attention
    • inhibition
    • sensory–motoraction
    • speech
    • appraisal emotion and motivation)
    • play
    • self-regulation SR)
    • 1) an action directed at the self
    • 2) so as to modify a subsequent behavior from what it would otherwise have been

    EF in Six Self-Directed Acts 1

    • 1. Self-Directed Attention–Self-Awareness
      • Self-awareness is vital as the starting point for EF.

        Theself-direction of attention comes to create self-awareness.

        Logic alonerequires that it precede the existence of the other EF components as theyall presuppose a sense of self.

        One cannot direct an action back on theself for self-regulation if one has no sense of self

        It must be the first toarise in development and may well be the most important as it serves asa precursor to all other forms of self-regulation.

        It is here that the individualbecomes conscious or aware of the entirety of their internal andexternal states drives wants and actions and so achieves an organized integrated unity or sense of self

    • 2. Self-Restraint Executive Inhibition)
      • The second EF component in importance must be self-restraint or executiveinhibition

        This is so because no further egoistic actions can occuruntil the individual ceases directing action toward the environment however briefly.

        One cannot respond to the environment with actionand self-direct an action simultaneously

        This type of inhibition achievesa separation of the external event from the eventual sensory–motorresponses that will be enacted in response to it

        This creates a decouplingof the stimulus from its response that was typical of the earlier automatic form of behavior that is so well studied in operant conditioning

        The capacity to delay action likely co-develops with the capacity toprolong the sensory impression of the stimulus see below) as neurons forboth appear to sit adjacent to each other in the PFC

        This separation or decoupling requires inhibition of the prepotentmotor response that such sensory events typically generate at the automaticlevel of brain functioning

        It would also require inhibition of attentionto unrelated events and their sensory impressions a resistance to distraction)at the time the primary sensory representation is being prolongedor re-imagined.

        This EF component represents self-stopping or the ability to interruptthe flow of more automatic ongoing behavior. It involves threequasi-distinct forms

        • 1) the capacity to suppress or otherwise disrupt orprevent the execution of a prepotent or dominant response to an event the response that has been previously associated with reinforcement orhas the highest likelihood of being performed under ordinary circumstances);

          2) the capacity to interrupt an ongoing sequence of behaviortoward a goal if it is proving to be ineffective; and

          3) so as to alter the likelihood of a delayed consequence goal).

          3) the capacity toprotect the self-directed actions that will subsequently occur and thegoal-directed actions they are guiding from interference by external andinternal goal-irrelevant events creating a freedom from distraction or aresistance to interference).

        For goal-directed behavior to arise attention must be shifted awayfrom the moment and external reality and turned toward the self and thementally contemplated future for that self—the goal

        The temporal gapcreated by the deferred response provides the opportunity for furtherself-regulatory actions and the eventual goal-directed behavior they willactually initiate

    • 3. Self-Directed Sensory–Motor Action
      • Self-directed sensory–motor action is an alternative means of describingwhat others may call a nonverbal working memory system.

        terms as a type of self-directed humanaction

        A person literally re-sees images typically engaging theright dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as well as the posterior visual associationareas

        This is not just done withvision but with all of the senses such as re-hearing re-smelling and refeeling.

        Done jointly the mental representation can consist of more than just an image alone but a fully integrated sensory representation

        Whatthis self-directed sensory activity serves to do is to prolong the referent that is the environmental stimulus or event that has triggered the initialor primary sensory perception

        Doing so may not be necessary as long asthe stimulus or event remains present in the sensory fields

        As long as itdoes so it continues to trigger the sensory perception of it. Prolongationcan be exceptionally beneficial when the stimulus or event disappears inthe external world or is no longer able to be perceived it may have gonebehind something).

        That is because the individual can now have a sensethat the object or stimulus may have continued to exist even though it isno longer perceptible. You will recognize this capacity for prolongationof sensory representations in their absence in the external world as thebasis for the development of object permanence in infants

        Predatorsand enemies can hide and any mental function that can give rise to anunderstanding that the object continues to exist despite its disappearancefrom the sensory receptors would be incredibly advantageous tosurvival even more so if that predator or competitor is a conspecific—another human

        The prolongation of environmental referents can now result in theirbeing stored as distinct memories such that the individual cannot justprolong the referent after its disappearance in reality but store a representationof that prolonged referent for later retrieval

        episodic memory

        a recollection of a personally perceivedevent that occurs within a specific temporal context or sequence

        Recallingsuch episodic memories can eventually come to trigger the motorresponses that typically occur in the presence of the actual environmentalevent.

        By prolonging storing and re-presenting the initial stimulusin mental form the individual can now re-imagine the stimulus andhence re-trigger the associated response to it.

        The person can now usethis re-imagining of past sensory–motor events to self-elicit action in theabsence of the primary stimulus typically eliciting it. This permits theperson to reenact the behavior repeatedly.

        Behavioral reenactments ormimesis being triggered by mental re-presentations of sensory stimulican become means of practice and rehearsal. They can become meansto further perfect the response to the actual environmental event thenext time it appears in that external world.

        This initial rehearsal is publiclyobservable yet it is incredibly advantageous for improving subsequentbehavior. Humans often demonstrate public rehearsals of actionsthey intend to use later under real circumstances. When this behavioralrehearsal becomes internalized it is a means for the private simulationof human actions and may be the basis for human rituals

        This internalization of sensory–motor actions also explains theimportance of the cerebellum in EF or “higher cognition”

        Given its importance for the execution ofpublic behavior it would be just as essential for its private simulation

        gift of mental simulation

        capacity forprivate mental evolution of ideas would have given humans a more rapidmeans of adapting to their environment

        EF components

        • mental manipulation of information
        • problem solving

        hindsight

        • revisualizing past reality and one’s actions

        foresight

        • imagining a future goal and the actions needed to attain it) and awarenessof self across time

        Every goal represents a want a desire a value or more generally a change in the current state of wants and needs areduction in dissatisfaction; an increase in well-being or satisfaction)

        goal represents

        • a want
        • a desire
        • a value

        there must not only be a capacity for self-awareness

        must include a temporal component

        • self-now
        • self-future

        Humans are time-binding animals binding the future to thepresent –

        Self-directed sensory–motor action is hypothesized to be the EFcomponent that achieves that time-binding function

        The capacity to imagine a hypothetical future from an experiencedpast is one of the three most important or foundational EFs

        The othertwo are self-directed attention self-awareness) and self-restraint

        Together they create the human sense of the future. Important tonotice here is that the future being conceived is not the entire future forall or even for this individual—it is a fractional future.

        base of a unified EF system

        • self-awareness
        • self-restraint inhibition)
        • self-directed sensory–motor actions imagination)

        None can be logically understood asto how or why they exist without reference to the other two

        Sensingthe future cannot arise without self-awareness and self-inhibition butthe reason the latter two functions exist is to facilitate the third; alonethese two would have no functional significance.

        Why be aware of andeven stop yourself from doing something if there is no other course ofaction to be contemplated?

        The remaining EF components arise out ofthis triadic foundation—the development of speech and its eventual selfdirection the self-regulation of emotion and motivation and reconstitutionor play to the self

        major domains of life activities in which humansengage

        • health maintenance
        • marriage
        • child-rearing
        • education
        • economics
        • ethics
        • law
        • government

        mental faculty

        • the capacity to contemplate
        • evaluate

        so appreciate the future consequences of one’s actions before engagingin them.

        Without a capacity for foresight the future has no spokespersonor influence and cannot be maximized.

        An entity without a sense ofthe future is essentially blind to time

    • 4. Self-Directed Private Speech
      • Self-directed private speech is the alternative explanation for what cognitiveneuropsychologists have called the verbal working memory system particularly the phonological loop

        Vygotsky’s theory of the internalization of speech

        forms the mind’s voice used in verbalthinking

        Individuals talk to themselves often privately mentally) topermit not just a private rehearsal of utterances verbal simulations) though that is very important in its own right

        The individual is usingthe same speech areas of the brain for this activity as they use whenspeaking publicly except that the primary motor areas related to externalor public speech are being suppressed

        language as communication or signalcan be used to manipulate the behavior of another organism for thesender’s own self-interests.

        When speech is turned back on the self thesignaler and the recipient are the same organism

        Self-speech also helps long-term self-interests to outweighand replace short-term self-interests –

        The sense of the possible futuregives rise to a sense of a future self and it is that sense of the future thatsignals the present self to compete against its short term self-interests –

        Self-speech can be used as well to self-instruct and to self-question andit can also be used for self-regulation self-organization and problemsolving –

        capacity for symbolization and language –

        is not an executivefunction –

        It is associative –

        It is not a self-directed action –

    • 5. Self-Directed Appraisal Emotion–Motivation)
      • Emotion is welded to everything we think say and do

        If individuals can redirect their sensing saying and doing backon themselves using the first four EF components above this almostautomatically grants them the capacity to elicit their own emotionsand motivations.

        Emotions are short-term changes in our appraisal ofevents and are reflected in alterations in physiological arousal perceptionsof reinforcement–punishment motivation) and hence approach–avoidance behavior

        emotions are motivational states –

        they are also associated withthe extent to which individuals increase or decrease their actions towardgoals –

        This EF component is believed to initially arise as a consequenceof the four above functions in which the individual comes to use selfawareness inhibition private imagery and sensing more generally) and private speech to engender associated emotional and motivationalstates.

        somatic markers

        The capacity to experience emotional states associated withinformation being held in mind

        provides a rapid means for calculating the costs and benefitsto the individual of the imagined course of action and its goal

        This EF component provides just such a cost benefit calculator self-appraiser) for mentally represented goals and the means needed toattain them

        Once humans developed a capacity to inhibit prepotent reactionsto events and a capacity to contemplate “the later” against “the now ”they automatically encountered a choice

        such a choiceis inherently a conflict

        A future state is being contrasted against thecurrent one and a decision must be made as to which is to be pursued

        such comparisons involve a calculation of costs and benefits for theindividual

        The goals changes in uneasiness) to be gained from the possiblechoices are computed valued) and then compared

        The one producinga net maximization of value for the individual is then pursued

        No matter how great the plan or mental map constructed to attaina goal no self-powered acting entity is going anywhere without a sourceof fuel.

        This is the drive the will or the motivation needed to sustainself-directed actions toward a future goal

        Motivation may thereforereflect the initial strength of such desires and the emotional valenceassociated with one’s needs wants) and goals desires).

        This EF component provides that source ofinternal fuel—self-motivation –

    • 6. Self-Directed Play Reconstitution or Problem Solving) –
      • This EF is an alternative to the planning problem-solving and innovative generativity fluency) components noted in other views of EF

        This component is hypothesized to be founded on the development of objectplay and pretense symbolic play) in childhood

        It isexperimental in that the person is testing out “what if” arrangements ofevents and responses to them.

        It is regarded as reconstitution because itis essentially a two-step activity

        The first is analysis or taking apart features of the environmental contingency eventresponse)and one’s own prior behavior toward it

        This is followed bysynthesis or the recombination of components of both the environmentand those behavioral structures that may be associated with it into novelarrangements.

        criterion such as a problem or goal

        Humans engage not just in social play butin play with objects and eventually their cold cognitive mental representationsthat is the basis for problem solving

        Problem solving is often needed to begin a process of planning goaldirectedaction. That is because goal-directed action most often ariseswhen there is a conflict between a present state what is) and a desiredstate what is wanted).

        • a problem-conflict between what is and what is not

        Summary

        • the EF components arise as a consequence of individualsturning upon themselves certain Pre-Executive level functions

          Byself-directing them a person creates a capacity for self-awareness self-modification and self-regulation over time future-directed goalfocused cross-temporal actions).

    The Importance of Time in EF SR

    How We Derive a Sense of the Future

    Self-awareness is a means for monitoring and evaluating what is initiallyautomatic behavior at the Pre-Executive level

    hindsight

    automatic behavior is detected as being inconsistent with attaining a longer-termgoal self-awareness leads the individual to evaluate the situation that has transpired for clues. This is hindsight.

    The individual is looking back re-sensing and even reverbalizing past events and his or her responses to them in order to guide readjustments to behavior in the next encounter

    A new hypothetical plan is constructed and stored for enactment when the event is next detected

    Hindsight thereby leads to foresight; such foresight is the individual’s best guess of what to expect on the next encounter even when to expect it and then how to respond

    Repeated experiences with the situation can lead to fine tuning of the response

    It may thus appear to others as if the person acts with clairvoyance when itis really with the hard-won knowledge from hindsight.

    On encounteringa novel situation the individual has no idea what the future may hold. Yethe or she can activate hindsight of previous similar experiences for ideason how best to act in this situation.

    The individual then uses the outcomeof that encounter to readjust his or her subsequent behavior

    Theself-directed actions occurring at this level are thus teleological; they arepurposefully implemented as means aimed at conjectured future goals

    teleological

    • purposefully implemented as means aimed at conjectured future goals

    For instance when children talk to themselves while performingacademic work such as math problems on paper such self-talk doesnot seem to initially benefit the current performance with that problem.Instead it correlates with improvement in subsequent encounterswith that or similar problems

    foresightemerges only as a function of self-monitoring of ongoing and largelyautomatic activities that can then be mentally reexperienced for furtheranalysis hindsight) when mistakes have been detected

    Out of this aplan for adjusting behavior in the next encounter is constructed. Foresightis the product of that analysis and the hypothetical action proposedfor use when encountering similar situations again.

    Three Important Time Factors

    • The factor of time is inherent in human contemplation valuation choice and actions toward goals
    • 1. temporal window
      • how far into the future the person can contemplate a possible goal
      • this is one’s personal time horizon
      • The future being contemplated concernsonly a particular goal and a specific context
    • 2. working time
      • the time that goal-directed actions take to attain the goal
    • 3. time period
      • the duration of serviceableness

    All three temporal factors are important in humanEF—in human contemplation choice and action

    Time therefore is essential to every act of reasoning that precedesand directs actions toward goals

    • A goal that takes a considerable working time and yet provides only momentary satisfaction of human wants is usually not worth pursuing

      a goal that takes little workingtime yet results in a lengthy period of satisfaction is usually highlyvalued and is often pursued. –

      ndividuals also vary in their preference forsooner versus later goals—that is in their valuation of working time andof the duration of serviceableness –

      goals that can be obtained inless time than others are typically preferred. This is the concept of timepreference in economics –

    value of time –

    • The value of time i.e. time preference or the higher valuation of wantsatisfactionin nearer periods of the future as against that in remoter periods is an essential element in human action –

      It determines every choice andevery action. –

      There is no man for whom the difference between sooner andlater does not count –

      The time element is instrumental in the formation ofall prices of all commodities and services –

    people in their time preference

    There is considerable variation across people in their time preference which is to say in their preference for nearer versus later consequencesor inversely in their capacity to delay gratification

    Future goals and consequences are steeply discounted as a function of their delay allother factors being equal and people vary in this degree of temporaldiscounting

    time

    • an essential component in EF is that of time

      It plays an important role in the contemplation of the future and especially in the appraisal or valuation assigned to means working time)and ends duration of serviceableness) and more generally to the totaltime between the decision to act and the attainment of the goal toward which it aims

    EF SR Relies on a Limited Resource Pool

    • Researchers have long proposed that EF SR is based on a limited resourcepool of effort or willpower that can be

      1. depleted

      • replenished

      3. reduced

      4. boosted in capacity

    Factors affecting EF SR

    • 1. protracted use of SR

      2. exposure to reward

      3. visually imagined delayed rewards

      4. brain injury

      5. physical exercise

      6. The pool is not only depleted by sustained engagement in SR in a given context but by the use of any and all of the components of EF

      7. the pool is shared and nonspecific across various EF processes

      8. can also be depleted by illness and alcohol and drug use

      9. variations in blood glucose levels

      10. can be replenished by consuming substances that contain glucose or boost blood glucose

      11. can also be refilled by engaging in various activities such as taking 10-minute relaxation or 3-minute meditation breaks

      12. receiving positive rewards

      13. engaging in positiveself-statements of efficacy after or even during sustained use of SR

      14. boosted by the routine practice of EF SR activities on a daily basis

      • . increasing routine physical exercise

    Are All Self-Directed Actions EF?

    It is important to appreciate that the private self-directed actions usedfor goal-directed behavior EF) are considered to be executive only whenall three of the components for defining self-regulation SR) discussedabove are met

    Merely self-directing an action by itself is not EF SR.

    Manually scratching an itch or singing to one’s self privately internally)in and of themselves would not be considered executive in nature yetboth are self-directed human actions

    The self-directed action must alsomodify the subsequent human behavior from what it is likely to havebeen otherwise—it must be self-modifying

    Daydreaming is not an EF

    • For instance I maydaydream self-directed imagery) while I should be working on a boringactivity.

      My daydreaming alters my subsequent behavior from what itwould have been otherwise

      I am now less likely to get my work done ina timely fashion.

      But this is not EF because it is not directed intentionallyat a goal or to alter a delayed consequence for my longer-term selfinterests

      it has diminished my longer term welfare

      not goal-directed

      no longer-term welfare

    leisure and labor

    Leisure is an end in itself thepursuit of immediately pleasurable activities or at least activities that immediately reduce dissatisfaction

    Labor is a means to a different and delayed end—a more mediate or delayed goal

    Self-directed actions are EF when they are means to other ends.

    EF SR Actions are labor not leisure

    neurocognitive processes

    • private
    • mental
    • self-directed actions

    called self-directedfor the reason that it is the self-direction of pre-EF functions that definesan executive from a nonexecutive function or process

    Each EF construct is a specificform of self-directed action

    • attention
    • imagery
    • speech
    • emotion
    • play

    referred to as processes because they are not ends in themselves but means to higher order ends that are to be found at upperlevels and outer zones) of EF activity in daily human life

    considered instrumental as they are necessary for generating the executive behavior that is used in daily life activities but they are not sufficient for those higher EF levels to exist

    executive functions

    • conscious
    • volitional
    • purposive
    • effortful
    • self-directed teleological actions

    How Does EF Govern the AutomaticPre-Executive Level of Behavior?

    EF SR two-level system

    • 1. The now –
      • The first level attends to “the now” –
        • automatic –
        • pre-executive –
        • unconscious –
        • stimulus-driven –
        • largelyreactive –
        • focused on primitive features of the environment –
        • both internaland external –
        • evident in other mammals –
      • involves a host of psychological abilities or evolved mental modules for –
        • situation detection –
        • attentional control –
        • event appraisal –
        • response generation –
        • serves to achieve immediate or near-term goals –
        • focuses on the flow of events in “the now.” –
    • 2. the future
      • The second level is the executive effortful conscious one thatattends to the future.
        • It is the EF level that intervenes in and otherwisestrives to regulate the automatic level in the service of longer-termgoals across larger spans of time

          focused on the flow of potentialevents lying ahead in the future and it relies on mental representations internal actions) to guide and adjust the motor system so as to alterthe likelihood of potential future events

          seeks to wrest control ofthe “now” automatic system in the service of mental representationsof longer-term goals and related information

          This second level has alimited resource pool of strength or energy for engaging in acts of SR

          They generate andsustain the mental representations that will cause the “top-down” regulationof the automatic level of human action

          This top-down regulationcan occur via at least five vectors of influence that are often usedto describe how emotional self-control is exerted by the EF system

    five vectors of influence

    • situation selection
    • situation modification
    • attentional redirection
    • event reappraisal
    • response modification suppression

    five vectors of influence come from one of the most widelycited models of emotion regulation in the EF SR literature—that of Gross 07) known as the modal model.

    two types of action emotion pathways

    • primary
    • secondary

    Four stages in the occurrence of primary actions emotions pre-executive-Primary)

    • 1. situation event)
    • 2. attention
    • 3. appraisal
    • 4. response

    The Secondary or executive level action emotion pathway may exert an influence over this primary pathway via five different vectors

    • 1. Situation selection
      • Choosing to enter or avoid situations thathave been previously associated with strong primary emotions.
    • 2. Situation modification
      • Electing to modify situations that previouslyhave provoked strong emotions

        such that those emotionsare less likely to happen

        such as injecting artificial consequencesinto the situation to enhance emotional control

        opting to placeone’s self in a different place in the situation near to others whosepresence may facilitate SR and so on

    • 3. Attention regulation
      • Using distraction or looking away

        focusingattention away from the emotionally provocative stimulus

        focusing attention on certain “cold” informational featuresof the stimulus rather than certain “hot” or emotionally chargedcharacteristics of the event

    • 4. Reappraisal 13
      • Rationally reevaluating the importance of the event any detrimental effects an emotional response may have on goaldirectedsuccess and other cognitive-behavioral techniques oftenused to 13
        • reframe 13

          reevaluate 13

          otherwise asymmetrically shiftthe importance of the event from the initial primary appraisalthat evoked the emotion to the longer-term goals and welfareof the individual 13

        This stage mayeven include employing 13

        • thoughts 13

          images 13

          private speech togenerate a positive countermanding emotion that may serve toreduce or replace the initial primary emotion 13

    • 5. Response modification
      • The most effortful path of all
      • It usuallyconsists of direct efforts to down regulate or even suppress thestrong provoked emotions

    Summary of five vectors

    • The first two vectors of SR described above are proactive

      they serve to head off the likelihood that the unwanted primary action emotion will be experienced at all or make it more likely that a positiveprimary action emotion will occur

      The remaining three paths oftop-down regulation are reactive in nature

      occurring as they do afterthe primary action emotion has been elicited.

      two-stage model of human emotion

      efforts to self-regulate intervene) earlier in the sequence such as situation selection are likelyto prove more effective than are attempts at later stages such as responsemodification

      The earlier paths for intervention are also likely to depletethe self-regulatory resource pool noted earlier less than are later ones

      mental contrasting –

      • visual images of the desired state goal) aresimply contrasted with the current state –

      enhance or diminish motivation toward goals as well as the emotionsassociated with the current situation thus making it a form of emotionalself-control –

      this occursbecause humans transfer the value of the goal to the means needed toattain it

    Successful SR involves

    • 1) identifying that a conflict between “the now”and “the future” actually exists

      2) asymmetric shifting of motivationalstrengths to favor the longer-term goal and so diminish thenatural tendency to discount the delayed outcome).

      Identifying that aconflict exists also involves 1) identifying and calculating the costs ofeach alternative for both the short term and long term; and 2) placingthe immediate temptation in the perspective of a larger time frame called width)

      Failures in SR can arise not only from difficulties withshifting motivational strength

      They can also arise from a simple failureto identify that a conflict even exists

      Distraction also appears to reduce amygdala activationbetter than reappraisal and even more so than response suppression which has been shown to activate the amygdala further

      Responsesuppression also appears to be mediated by the right lateral PFC whichis typically associated with inhibition of prepotent responses as well asthe use of visual imagery specifically and nonverbal working memorymore generally.

      Viewing EF SR as a System of Feedback Loops

      SR may involve a series of hierarchicallyorganized feedback loops or control systems that serve to regulategoal-directed behavior just as they regulate motor actions

      The model argues that individuals hold in mind a goaland repeatedly compare their current status and actions against thisgoal to measure progress toward the goal and the rate of their progress

      Evolutionary and Developmental Considerations

    six EF components

    • self-awareness self-directed attention)
    • inhibition self-restraint)
    • sensory imagery sensing to the self).
    • Self-directed actions
    • self-description
    • self-instruction
    • self-questioning
    • self-guidance

    Shifting Sources of Control of Human Behavior

    • Sources of influenceover behavior are

    1. From external to internal mentally represented) events

    2. From the temporal now to the hypothetical future

    3. From immediate gratification to an increasing valuation of largerdelayed consequences

    4. From control by others to self-regulation

    5. From a noncultural to a cultural existence

    Conclusions

    • EF here is argued to be a set of six self-directed largely covertactivities that arose from turning some of the pre-executive brain functionsback on the self to create self-regulation

      This allowed the individual’ssubsequent behavior to be altered and increases the likelihoodof attaining a future goal. EF is self-regulation

      It can now be definedas the use of self-directed actions self-regulation) so as to choosegoals and to select enact and sustain actions across time towardthose goals.

      Humans employ at least six types of self-directed activities

      • 1. attention
      • 2. inhibition
      • 3. covert sensory–motor action
      • 4. speech
      • 5. emotion–motivation
      • 6. play.
      • EF developmental capacities
        • 1. Spatial
          • The capacity to contemplate spatial distances over which actions can be directed to achieve geographically distant goals is nowpossible.
        • 2. Temporal
          • The use of hindsight foresight and the contemplation
        • 3. Inhibitory
          • The ability to engage in executive inhibition or consciousself-restraint has arisen so as to decouple events from potentialresponses interrupt the automatic flow of stimulus–response behaving and provide for an opportunity to choose potential courses of action
        • 4. Motivational
          • As a consequence of the former capacities the value assigned to a delayed consequence has been increased its rewardvalue is not as steeply discounted as before). This leads to a motivationalshift in the individual’s preference of delayed rewards over immediateones from a higher to a lower time preference in economic terms). Theindividual is now increasing the subjective use-value of a delayed goaland is therefore more motivated by the prospect mental contemplation)of such a goal
        • 5. Conceptual abstract
          • The capacity to self-direct speech and languageprovides the individual a means of using symbolic representationsas a form of rule-governed behavior opening them up to all of theadvantages that self-speech provides as noted above

            Though such rulesare necessarily simple specific and concrete in early development withmaturation there arises a capacity to guide behavior by longer morecomplex and more abstract rules

        • 6. Behavioral–structural
          • The level of behavioral complexity neededhere has increased by the added stage of the self-direction of actions

            Behavior is no longer simple automatic and short-lived; it is nowdelayed more complex and deliberate

            Alternative courses of action arebeing contemplated and are considered over a longer duration givingrise to a need for a greater complexity of behavior so as to serve as themeans to the goal and to bridge the delay in time to get it

            Cultural

            • The level of reciprocal influence with the culture is low though not nonexistent

              The flow of culture is largely one-way as EFdevelops—from social environment to child. Yet that inward flow of culturein childhood is massively assisted not only by parental instructionbut also by participation in formal educational systems of pedagogy

              Theculture provides information and artifacts in the environment surroundingthe individual that likely have some influence on the stimulation andgrowth configuration content and purposes for which these initialexecutive functions are used

        • 7. Social
          • The social complexity factor at this level remains very lowin that there is little or no ongoing need for the individual to consciouslyplan to interact with and eventually use other members of the socialgroup to operate at this level of EF.
        • 8. Cultural
          • The level of reciprocal influence with the culture is low though not nonexistent
          • The flow of culture is largely one-way as EFdevelops—from social environment to child
• Chapter 5–The Methodical–Self-Reliant Level
  • Introduction

    The Instrumental–Self-Directed EF components described inChapter are largely covert or private

    This next level is concernedwith human behavior; that is observable everyday goal-directed actions

    They are sustained monitored revised and reprioritized by the lower orcognitive level of EF

    SRL Steps

    • sustained
    • monitored
    • revised
    • reprioritized

    CNS pre-executive functions ? CNS executive self-regulatory) functions ?executive self-regulatory) adaptive behavior

    subgoals

    • the attainment of which strung together can attain a larger later-term goal

    Humans in contrast engage in such nested sets of goaldirectedactions as a matter of daily routine.

    method

    • A method is a procedure orprocess for achieving an end
    • which accuratelydescribes this “Methodical” level of the extended phenotype of EF

    No single action attains the goal but the set of actions completedin a particular sequence serves to do so

    Here such a set of behavioralsteps toward a goal will be called a method.

    Self-Reliant

    • includes the dailyroutine activities methods) that pertain to self-care and independencefrom others

      It can be thought of as comprising the sorts of activitiesmeasured by those dimensions of adaptive behavior interviews and ratingscales that pertain to the degree of responsibility individuals assumefor fulfilling their own immediate and near-term often daily) needs andwants

      This includes assuming responsibility for sleeping clothing anddressing bathing and general hygiene food or nourishment personalsafety and self-defense from the elements from other species and fromother humans shelter and other self-care routines considered to be anecessary component of general self-reliance survival and basic socialindependence

    Robinson Crusoe story

    • he has no choicebut to be self-reliant
      • other methodical–self-reliant people arrive at his islandwith whom he must interact

        yet from whom he must protect himself

        basic background of any social ecologyis competitive and predatory whether it is between members of differentspecies or between those of the same species

    Self-interest prevails in all species as an inherent feature of genetics itself self-replication)

    as well as of the organisms created by those genes survival reproduction and personal welfare

    This level of EF acceptsand respects intraspecies competition and predation as the backgroundof humans just as it exists for all other organisms

    Competition needslittle explaining or justification

    The difference between the previous level and this Methodical–Self-Reliant one is analogous to learning to drive a car

    It is one thingto be able to operate a motor vehicle in an empty parking lot but it’sanother thing to drive on the open road

    Operating in the parking lotis comparable to the Instrumental–Self-Directed level of EF

    Student driver is learning how to drive the car but is not driving to attainany other goal than practice 73

    Conflicts with others arise at many pointsof intersection

    The first order of business for this driver is to drive safely defensively and reach his or her destination while not interfering with orbeing obstructed by other drivers.

    This is precisely the stage of EF I wishto represent here one of self-reliance with self-defense in pursuit of one’sown goals

    Yet there is a nefarious aspect to this level that cannot go unremarked:group living provides the opportunity for individuals to preyon others for their own one-sided parasitic) benefit

    This opportunityexists across all species that encounter other living organisms withintheir range. –

    Driving on the highway is quite different because the driver is not only pursuing a goal but is also in the midst ofother drivers pursuing their own goals and self-interests and with rulesgoverning those interactions. 73

    Driving Objectives 73

    • to drive safely
    • to defensively
    • to reach destination while not interfering with or being obstructed by other drivers
    • self-reliance with self-defense in pursuit of one’sown goals

    social emotions

    • shame
    • guilt
    • conscience
    • empathy

    Distinguishing Executive Cognitionfrom Executive Action

    • Types of EF EC and EA
      • 1. covert Executive Cognition EC
        • thought
        • choice
        • private cognitive self-directed actions that arelargely mental private) in form
        • largely unobservable to others
        • can be called executive cognitions
        • represented for instance by visual imagery –
        • self-speech to plan –
        • initiate goal-directed behavior –
        • may involve self-organizing the physical and social environment
        • self-regulating
        • Tellingyourself in your own mind using self-speech to set your alarm clock atnight is EC
      • 2. overt Executive Action EA
        • action
        • overt behavior toward a goal
        • observable actions initiated and sustained toward goals may bethought of as executive actions EA).
        • setting the alarm clock is an EA

    Formula

    • EF = EC + EA

    Using the Physical Environment to Boost EF

    A distinguishing feature at this level is the increased reliance on selforganizedexternal props and other rearrangements of the physical environmentthat facilitate and even magnify the neurocognitive capacity forself-regulation across time

    The individual interacts with the environmentto create new products and methods artifacts) that can serve as a meanstoward ends goals)

    human capacity forproductivity

    interacting with

    taking apart

    recombining theelements of their physical environment

    CNS pre-executive functions ? CNS executive self-regulatory) functions ?executive self-regulatory) adaptive behavior ?•new environmental arrangements methods and products artifacts)

    human reorganization of the physical environment

    • to facilitate self-regulation
    • goal-directed actions

    This is evident in the human use of

    • self-directed notes
    • written lists
    • clocks
    • calendars
    • planners
    • computers
    • electronic schedulers
    • bookkeepingsystems
    • money

    simple rearrangements of the immediate environment such as placing an alarm clock by the bed and setting it

    Benefits of Self Organization

    • facilitate better selfmanagementto time self-organization self-motivation and personalproductivity and so they help one to attain goals –

      Their effectivenessis clearly determined by how individuals self-arrange these physicalcomponents within their own life-space so as to increase self-regulationtoward their goals –

      the capacity to talk to oneself an EC at the Instrumental–Self-Directed level) can be used to help organize and guide behaviorover short-term intervals

      the controllingeffect of self-speech can be extended even further across spaceand time by creating a more permanent form of self-directed speechusing written notes or other external self-directed props another EA).

      For instance the “do list” that I keep on my desk along with my week-ata-glance calendar of appointments and deadlines is far more effective atguiding my work-related activities for the week and month than if I hadto rely on verbal working memory or self-speech alone

      Reliance on and off-loading of mental storage and work to suchexternal devices massively boosts the storage capacity and complexityof information while effectively guiding individuals’ behavior towardtheir goals

      Those goals can exist at much further distances across spaceand time than was the case using just the internal mental means of representinginformation the EC).

      Goals can be achieved with less timeand effort in many cases freeing up time and effort for pursuing othergoals.

      This means that more goals can be pursued and attained; that bydefinition results in an increase in one’s standard of living and hencelong-term welfare

      This rearrangement of the physical environment to facilitate EF SRand goal attainment is not merely moving things around that already existin the physical environment though it is clearly that. It also includes takingapart and recombining components of the physical world as a meansof discovering and producing new useful rearrangements—it is humanproductivity

    definition of production or productivity

    • The manipulation of the environment through humaneffort to yield useful combinations products) that serve to more effectivelyattain one’s goals

    Purpose of Productivity

    • improve standard of living
    • improve quality of life
    • improve longer-term welfare

    Social Problems That Likely Contributedto the Evolution of the Self-Reliant EF Level

    • Why would humans engage in rearrangements of their physical environmentto create more efficient means of attaining their goals?

      The answer I believe lies in the group-living social niche in which humans evolved

      Practically from birth we are surrounded by other self-interested selfdirected goal-pursuing individuals. Their presence sets up at least threetypes of social selection pressures that are likely to have existed overhuman evolutionary history and human development).

      Three types of social selection pressures

      1. Intraspecies Competition

      • our fellow humans are our closest competitors formates and resources necessary for survival

        we live in groups withother self-interested beings as we compete with them

        Human cognitionmust possess certain mental faculties that help to deal with this competition

        Social life speeds up the rate of change in the environment. Theearly levels of universal evolution would simply not be rapid enough topermit adaptations to arise to it

        basis for the evolutionof EF I argue is that it provided the means of more rapidly adaptingto the flux vexations and uncertainty inherent in social conflicts

      2. Social Predation

      Self-Defense from Social Influence Persuasion and Coercion Social Predation)

      Social existence guarantees competition for limited resources.

      Competitionmeans that individuals will attempt to influence others for their ownone-sided benefit and self-interests

      It is social parasitism or predation

      This occurs very frequently in the biological world within and betweenspecies

      Human communication systems suchas gesture and language serve just this purpose

      • to alter the mental representationsand behavior of others for one’s own ends or purposes

      Not all efforts at social influence are parasitic or detrimental to the persontargeted

      • example
        • communication among genetically related individualstends to promote inclusive fitness of the shared genotype geneticself-interests) as would be expected from selfish gene theory

      we must accept the fact that in the biological world manysuch communicative systems are parasitic or one-sided in promotingonly the self-interests of the signaler to the detriment of the recipient

      common self defenses

      • resisting
      • repelling
      • delaying
      • evaluating

      Mental mechanisms such as self-regulation and other forms of resistanceto unwanted detrimental social influences are needed to counterthis manipulative aspect of human social life

      efforts of people 6

      1. influence 6

      • influence others into giving up valuable resources are evident not only inadvertising marketing and salesmanship –

      2. crimes –

      • theft embezzlement and financial scams –

        Advances in telecommunicationssuch as the Internet have only broadened the opportunity to communicate sell persuade and swindle and otherwise prey on others forone’s own one-sided benefit

      social parasitism modes

      • persuasion
      • manipulation
      • coercion

      Through the development of self-regulation

      individuals progressively shift from being controlled by others toone’s self as the source of control.

      This shift protects and enhances one’sown self-interests.

      By becoming self-directed and self-reliant the personis less subject to the manipulations persuasions coercive actions andgeneral social predation of others that would be detrimental to his orher short- and longer-term welfare.

      Therefore with the emergence of theEF system there should appear a growing resistance to social influencecoupled with a growing capacity for self-determination

      • asEFs mature through the three phenotypic levels that follow 70

      the individual becomes free to choose whom to reciprocate and cooperate in a more symbiotic mutually beneficial arrangement. 70

      3. Imitation and Vicarious Learning –

      • Living with others affords opportunities to observe and learn from theirtrial-and-error performances

        This is vicarious learning and probablyevolved from the visual imagery component of EF discussed in the lastchapter

        images of the behavior of others serve as templates forcopying

        it would be incredibly beneficialto an individual’s welfare if he or she had the capacity to copythe successful trials of others

        if individuals can copy each other’sactions then person A can alter what B is likely to do next simply bywhat A elects to do

        sets up a means for them to mutually influenceeach other’s behavior.

        Such influence becomes a form of signalingor communication using behavior; it can become gestural communication

        the capacity to imitate another could lead to the opposite—a capacity to act in opposition to what one sees by suppressing one’s ownbehavior when observing mistakes in such trials

        If you can influencewhat I do because I can copy your actions that influence is not alwaysin my best interests.

        It could be to my detriment if you are trying tomanipulate my behavior for your own ends and welfare

        vicarious learningis the starting point for culture—for the spread replication) ofinformation across individuals

        While the capacities for language andverbal working memory serve to greatly expand the human capacityfor adopting from and contributing back to culture imitation is culture’sstarting point.

      Dimensions of EF Evident in Daily Life Activities

      It is at the Methodical–Self-Reliant level that rating scales of EF in dailylife are likely to prove far superior at capturing the nature of the EA andtheir deficits than any EF test could possibly achieve

      EF tests and EFrating scales are not in competition with each other; rather they are differentmeans of assessing different levels of EF in human affairs

      Testssample moment-to-moment instrumental cognitive) EF processes EC);ratings sample methodical EF behavior over hours to days and even overweeks at a time across multiple situations including social ones EA).

      BRIEF

      Behavior RatingInventory of Executive Functioning

      • Subscale EF Test

      1. metacognition

      • workingmemory
      • time management
      • organization
      • planning
      • problemsolving
      • related abilities

      2. inhibition

      • reflects behavioral regulation
      • impulse control
      • emotional control 70
      • self-restraint 70

      DEFS 70

      • Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale –
      • Self-Organization and Problem Solving
      • Self-Restraint inhibition)
      • Self-Motivation
      • Self-Activation
      • Concentration

      BRIEF-A

      • Behavioral Inhibition Dimension

      Four Factors

      • Self-Management to Time
      • Self-Organization
      • Problem Solving
      • Self-Discipline
      • Self-Motivation
      • Self-Regulation of Emotions

      EF as Human Reasoning and as the Source of Culture 13

      EF at the Instrumental level 13

      • reasoning 13
        • it is the creative engine of culture 13
      • thinking 13
        • The EFcomponents are the mental faculties that are its basis 13

      Reason deals withdiscerning the means for attaining ends 13

      EF In Action 13

      observe 13

      conceptualize 13

      propose 13

      evaluate 13

      criticize 13

      discern 13

      experiment 13

      problem-solve 13

      invent 13

      engage in rearrangements of the physical environment 13

      Amended definition of EF

      the use of self-directed actions self-regulation) so as tochoose goals and to select enact and sustain actions across time towardthose goals usually in the context of others

      • developmental capacities
        • 1. spatial
          • The spatial distances over which the individual contemplatesgoal-directed action increases
          • The invention of maps in the culturewould have greatly boosted this initial capacity
        • 2. time
          • The time horizon beingemployed to contemplate future events may be hours to a few days
          • Theinvention of timekeeping recording devices in the culture would havegreatly boosted this capacity
        • 3. motivation
          • The extent to which the individual valuesfuture rewards motivation) has increased accordingly and reward discountinghas decreased

            The cultural invention of money and arithmeticwould have greatly boosted this capacity to appraise the values of variousgoals and means facilitating the cost benefit analysis of each

        • 4. inhibition
          • Thedegree of self-restraint inhibition) needed to achieve this level has alsoexpanded from that required at the previous initial EF level

            There is stilla need to subordinate one’s immediate selfish interests to one’s delayed longer-term future self-interests if one is to succeed at self-reliance

        • 5. abstract or conceptual
          • Thedegree of abstract or conceptual rules being followed has increased fromthe prior level as individuals invent and adopt spoken and written rulesto guide their daily activities
        • 6. behavioral
          • The level of behavioral complexity operatinghere is greater than previous levels but is low in comparison to thenext level

            Certainly more complex and nestedsets of hierarchically organized action sequences are needed here than atlower levels as when making meal preparations for the day shopping forgroceries making a bank deposit planning out the course of a drivingtrip and the like.

        • 7. social
          • Social interactions with others are simple ones thatoccur mainly in passing during daily encounters with others

            But at thislevel the individual is not yet relying on those others to achieve neartermgoals.

            This level of EF may have arisen as a source of social selfdefenseagainst the competitive and mutually manipulative features ofthe social environment hence my emphasis at this level on self-reliance

        • 8. culture
          • the degree of culture being used here is greaterthan at prior levels but is likely to be only at the level of protoculturesuch as seen in earlier primitive tribes of humans or even prehumans perhaps such as Neanderthals

            That culture consists chiefly in copyingthe behavior of others for self-benefit and in practicing a primitive formof gestural and possibly vocal communication

            But it can also includethe creation and adoption of relatively simple tools weapons and otheruseful artifacts

• Chapter 7–The Strategic–Cooperative Level
  • Conditions Necessary for Cooperation to Arise –

    The Importance of Division of Labor to a Cooperative –

    The Profound Role of Culture in Cooperatives –

    A Second Possible Stage to the – –

    Social Mutualism –

    Mutualism is a symbiotic activity in which each party by contributingto the longer-term self-interests of others gains longer-termadvantages for themselves as well –

    EF is self-regulation across time to direct and sustain goal-directedaction in the context of others often relying on social means. Yet givenwhat has transpired to produce this higher level of the EF phenotype wecan now amend the definition yet again: the use of self-directed actionsso as to choose goals and to select enact and sustain actions acrosstime toward those goals usually in the context of others often relyingon social and cultural means –

• Chapter 6–The Tactical–Reciprocal Level
  • Introduction
    • The Tactical–Reciprocal level described in this chapter representsthe extension of the Instrumental–Self-Directed and Methodical–Self-Reliant levels of EF upward and outward into daily human social reciprocalor symbiotic relationships

      At this level the individual incorporatesthe use of others and social interactions with them as tools or means forthe attainment of a goal

      the use of others is no longer parasiticbut symbiotic of mutual benefit through social reciprocity

      The evolutionof cooperation among self-interested organisms has been a problemrequiring explanation throughout much of the history of the theory ofevolution

      a solution was proposed that shows howsuch reciprocity can evolve among self-interested organisms be beneficialto both and remain stable over time even in the absence of an EFsystem

      Factors -level of reciprocity

    1. The greater capacity of the individual to contemplate events goals or end-states at a greater distance across both space and time than was necessary for the functioning at the lower EF levels

    2. The proximal availability of other self-directing self-reliant individuals who can do the same contemplate the longer term)

    3. The attainment of a relative stalemate in the arms race that likely ensued at the next lower EF level from mutual predation or social parasitism social parasitism becomes a less successful strategy) –

    4. The evolution of social emotions that promote reciprocal symbiotic and cooperative social behavior –

    Reciprocity Factors

    theory of mind

    cost-benefit calculations

    inhibition of the propensity to cooperate when faced with a noncooperator

    With maturation the individual is capable of discerning goalsacross a longer term and at a greater spatial distance

    tactical

    • This level is termed tactical because individuals will need to developsets of methods—shorter-term behavioral means and goals—to achievelonger-term goals and higher order

      That pursuit is being conductedin the midst of other self-regulating individuals

      Self-defense and selfreliancewere the first order of social business at the earlier level. Here however the individual contemplates the possibility that others can beused in a mutually beneficial way to facilitate one’s own goals

      At theearlier self-reliant level individuals rearranged the physical environmentto promote their own goal-directed activities; at this level individualsare now going to organize the social environment to do so

    reciprocal

    This level of EF is also termed reciprocal because the individual isnow not just relating to others by chance in passing during daily activities.

    The person also is not just defending against the pernicious socialinfluences of others as in social parasitism

    At this level an individual isutilizing others with the others’ consent to pursue longer-term goals—goals that cannot be achieved as efficiently alone and that are mutuallybeneficial

    EF phenotype

    • CNS pre-executive functions ? CNS executive self-regulatory) functions ?executive self-regulatory) adaptive behavior ? self-organizationof environmental arrangements methods products artifacts) ?self-organizing of social arrangements to achievereciprocal exchanges with others

    Social Reciprocity as a Major Activityof the Extended EF Phenotype

    A hallmark of this level is engagement in social reciprocity known also asreciprocal or social exchange

    Why would it arise?

    It is because individualshave things goods) or do things services etc.) that others may value

    Reciprocity goes beyond just trading products

    it also forms a part ofhuman social interaction

    social grease

    Etiquette can be likened to a form of “social grease” thatcan make the myriad of social encounters and interactions run moreefficiently and smoothly with less conflict than would otherwise be thecase

    And it can make those on the receiving end more likely to reciprocate.Driving rules like social rules often rely on reciprocity to reducethe probability of conflict

    From Rearranging the Physical Environment to Rearrangingthe Social One

    • Example
      • someone may wish to increase the frequency of theirexercising for better health or weight loss. To better achieve that goal they arrange to have a neighbor who is also a runner meet them eachmorning before work to run together

        This is not cooperation which arises at the next level

        It is reciprocalself-regulation in which each person seeks out the other to hold themsocially accountable for a behavior-change program that they are far lesslikely to successfully engage in had they just tried to do it on their own

    Other Pursuits 5

    • assist with trading
    • improving work productivity
    • meeting goals for a promotion
    • improving or changing career paths
    • managing and saving money
    • healthmaintenance
    • weight loss
    • substance management
    • reduction i.e..quitting smoking)
    • pursuing further educational degrees
    • participatingin community activities

    not one-sided reliance on others to do things for you –

    Itis instead a mutual reliance in the service of exchanging resources andother valued assets –

    It is symbiotic when it works well and it is parasiticwhen it does not –

    The Special Conditions Needed to Support Reciprocity –

    • self-awareness of state

      mechanismfor tracking prior interactional outcomes

      theremust be a greater payoff to both parties

      reciprocating requires foresight of a greater payoff than if one actedalone

      there must be some means ofaccounting and recalling the conditions of the original exchange

      individuals must have some means ofdistinguishing a likely mutual reciprocator from a likely cheater or socialparasite.

      individuals must be highly likely to encounter each other again sometimesreferred to as a low dispersal rate

      there must be a physical or social cost tocheaters when their cheating has been detected

    Conditions that give rise to reciprocity

    • hindsight
    • foresight
    • presence of kin
    • presence of kin
    • repeatedencounters in group living
    • observational learning
    • means of policing
    • punishing defectors or cheaters

    Visual Imagery Hindsight) as the Bookkeeping Mechanism Needed for Reciprocity 1 –

    Visual imagery and the conscious re-sensing of the past hindsight)appear ideally suited to provide an accounting mechanism for trackingexchanges and activities with others 1

    They also provide a basis forevaluating the benefits of cooperating with another foresight). 1

    EF Reciprocity and Economics 1

    Humans cannot do two things at once 1

    • 1. must evaluate 1
    • 2. must prioritize 1
    • 3. must choose their course of action 1
    • 4. must choose quickly and efficiently 1
    • 5. must consider the impactof their choices 1
    • 6. must make rapid cost-benefit calculation 1

    Every choice and action involves a calculation of the costs andbenefits for the individual –

    economics –

    why most people think of economics as involving monetary calculations

    economics is about the making of choices amongalternative means and ends

    Domains of Economics

    • occupational functioning
    • social relations
    • money management
    • health maintenance
    • driving
    • cohabiting
    • child-rearing
    • sex
    • reproducing

    This iswhy EF is so pervasive in human life and so devastating when compromised

    EF comprises those mental mechanisms humans use to makechoices and initiate actions toward goals and such choices are nearlyuniversal in human action

    The components of EF are essential in directing and sustaininghuman action toward a goal

    Self-awareness

    Self-awareness provides a person with asense of their current state

    Visual imagery and self-directed sensory–motor action provide the means for imagining a future state of lessuneasiness or greater satisfaction.

    The difference between the currentstate and future state gives rise to the self-motivation to plan and act

    The plan arises out of hindsight self-directed speech and the reconstitutionalfunction of self-directed mental play

    Enactment of the plan createspurposeful action

    Such foresight choice and the calculated actionsto which they lead are therefore the starting point for the study of economics.

    Marketplace-Social Exchange

    • Once the mechanism of reciprocity and its benefits are discoveredthrough foresight and experience the person enters a rudimentary levelof the field of economics—social exchange

      This is how EF SR is linkedto one of the most pervasive and uniquely human activities—economicbehavior involving the use of others

      An exchange of goods or servicesbetween two people de facto creates a protomarket

      When done repeatedlybetween these individuals or among more people than this it beginsto form a market.

      Extended to human groups involving multiple suchacts of reciprocity daily creates an economic system or multiple processesof exchange

      The location for such market exchanges eventuallymay become a common specific setting or place then known as a marketplace but this should not disguise the fact that a market is a process

      In such markets processes) humansincur debts barter and engage in other purchasing activity and trackand monitor these exchanges via accounting) as they occur with multiplemembers of the group. –

      Markets are therefore self-organizing amongindividuals with a sufficient level of EF development that supports theconception of the mutual longer-term benefits that can arise from theexchange –

      Markets are likely to be impossible or unstable when effortsto control them are imposed from outside the participants to this reciprocalexchange especially under the conditions of coercion and authority –

      That is because those others cannot have access to the Instrumentalor cognitive private) EF level of each party to that exchange that subjectivelyvalues its benefits—the very basis for the exchange between them

      Only the individual knows the value he or she assigns to the possibleoutcomes of the exchange and so only they are the one capable of determiningwhether or not the exchange should take place and what or howmuch to exchange

      Eventually participants in the market processes) maydevelop a set of mutually agreed upon rules for such participation lawsand contracts) a means for resolving conflicts among well-intentionedparticipants mediation) and a means for punishing cheaters or parasitesto the exchange civil courts and police) thereby creating a more formalorganization to the market based on cultural scaffolding

      There mustbe a mental mechanism or set of mechanisms that permits and supportsthis type of subjective use calculation and such self-organized socialexchanges or markets

    Reciprocity Morality and Ethics

    Daily human social life affords opportunities

    • sharing
    • taking turns
    • keeping promises
    • etiquette
    • repaying favors

    Morality

    • self-regulation necessary to resist immediate urges
    • conform to socialnorms
    • defer to legitimate authorities
    • care for others
    • understand why certain acts are right or wrong

    To behavemorally individuals must subordinate their immediate short-term selfintereststo those of another while expecting to receive similar treatmentthe next time when the situation is reversed

    it is not always in the best interests of a selfinterestedcreature to always maximize short-term interests –

    it is possibleto derive a greater payoff by reciprocating on some occasions with others –

    three main reasons-unconstrained pursuit of individual interests –

    • The unconstrained pursuit of individual interests and the exploitation ofothers are ineffective interpersonal strategies for three main reasons –

      The unconstrained pursuit of individual interests and the exploitation ofothers are ineffective interpersonal strategies for three main reasons –

      First some resources are beyond the reach of individuals acting alone. –

      Second unconstrained selfishness may destroy the system of cooperation on whichit feeds –

      Third others are evolved to resist being exploited. –

    foundation for morality –

    The evolutionary foundation for morality therefore may be reciprocityamong individuals who live in close proximity and frequentlyencounter each other while pursuing their respective self-interests 23 –

    When humans live in groups and repeatedly intersect with eachother as they each pursue their own goals there is also the repeated likelihoodthat their paths and goals will conflict –

    Such potential for conflictcreates a need for “rules of the road” to make such interactions progressmore smoothly or peacefully –

    a need for the developmentof ethics or at least protoethics at this level of EF –

    Ethics are therules or principles that people adopt for pursuing their goals values) inthe context of other self-interested goal-directed people –

    Ethics providerules that have been learned over time to facilitate peaceful group living –

    to lessen the inevitable potential for conflicts among varying selfintereststhat arise in that mode of living – –

    By adopting and followingan ethical rule individuals are more likely to attain their goals whilenot interfering with others who are doing so – –

    ethics existbecause they reduce human conflict – –

    Ethics are like the rules we adopt for driving so that all drivers canget to their destinations more efficiently and effectively while interactingwith other drivers –

    They are the rules of the road for human socialinteractions if one expects to pursue one’s self-interests with as littleconflict with others as possible and to increase the likelihood of futureexchanges with others –

    How then do we move from any basis of desire to any theory of ethics?We find the solution when we take a longer and broader view. All ofour desires may be generalized desires to substitute a more satisfactory stateof affairs for a less satisfactory state. It is true that an individual under theimmediate influence of impulse or passion or the desire for revenge orgluttony or an overwhelming craving for a release of sexual tension or fora smoke or a drink or a drug may in the long run only reduce a more satisfactorystate to a less satisfactory state may make himself less happy ratherthan more happy. But this less satisfactory state was not his real consciousintention even at the moment of the acting. He realizes in retrospect thatthis action was folly; he did not improve his condition but made it worse;he did not act in accordance with his long-run interests but against them.He is always willing to recognize in his calmer moments that he shouldchoose the action that best promotes his own interests and maximizes hisown happiness or minimizes his own unhappiness) in the long run. –

    disciplined men refuse to indulge in immediate pleasures when theindulgence seems only too likely to lead in the long run to an overbalanceof misery or pain FitWidth –

    Mankind has found over the centuries that certain rules ofaction best tend to promote the long-run happiness of both the individualand society FitWidth –

    These rules of action have come to be called moral rules FitWidth –

    the core of ethics is the individual’s capacity to contemplatehis or her own welfare over the long-term FitWidth

    EF SR extends outward as a phenotype to become essentialto social exchange reciprocity) and trading FitWidth 2

    • 1) we perceive and conceive of the future or the longer term and so of the greater payoffs that these social activities can provide to us; FitWidth 2

      2) we are able to constructand follow rules to guide our choices and commensurate actions over that time period; FitWidth 2

      3) we rapidly calculate the costs-benefits subjective value) of those choices means and ends) over time beforehand; FitWidth 2

      4) we restrain or otherwise subordinate our immediate short-term interests to our longer-term interests so as to obtain greater mediate or longer-term consequences; FitWidth 2

      5) we activate manage and otherwise regulate emotional and motivational states in the service of these goals in the context of the actions and motivations of others FitWidth 2

      6) we self-organize the environment and others within it so as to be more likely to attain our goals and to attain larger goals than by acting in isolation independently or parasitically. FitWidth 2

    This makes plain the outward extension of the Instrumental level of the EF phenotype through human action up through the Self-Reliant level and then on outward further to this Reciprocal one FitWidth 2

    Using Each Other for Mutual Self-Regulation FitWidth 9

    Social relationships also can be used to boost an individual’s EF SR FitWidth 11

    The Sociometer in the Extended EF Phenotype FitWidth 9

    People appear to possess a mental mechanism for monitoring theirmoment-to-moment status within a social group FitWidth 9

    This mechanism picksup social signals pertinent to appraising one’s own relational value toothers FitWidth 9

    This value can be captured along a dimension of acceptance–rejection. FitWidth 9

    The Role of Parenting and Culture in Reciprocity FitWidth 4

    • to develop social skills FitWidth 4
    • rule following FitWidth 4
    • reciprocity of socialinteractions FitWidth 4
    • sharing FitWidth 4
    • turn-taking FitWidth 4
    • reciprocal exchange FitWidth 4
    • altruism FitWidth 4

    to move children up to not only the Self-Reliant levelof EF but further upward to its Reciprocal level FitWidth 4

    Parents provide an artificial consequence toyoung children for why their social rule is to be obeyed FitWidth 4

    Culture also provides other scaffolding FitWidth 3

    • writtenrules FitWidth 3
    • laws FitWidth 3
    • policing FitWidth 3
    • formal contracts FitWidth 3
    • other conditions that may berequired for such reciprocity and exchange FitWidth 3
    • compliance training for rule-following FitWidth 4

    eight capacities havechanged as follows FitWidth 8

    • 1. Environmental spatial contemplation and self-organizationexpands from rearrangement of the physical proximal environmentto a greater distance from the individual FitWidth 573

      2. The time horizon or temporal window for contemplation mustexpand to days and weeks to reveal the longer-term benefits ofsocial reciprocity FitWidth

      3. The needed degree of inhibition and self-restraint is greater thanthat needed for social self-defense seen at the last level. Moraland ethical rules require individuals to subordinate their immediate short-term self-interests to those of others as well as totheir own longer-term welfare FitWidth 7

      4. With these expansions come increasing valuation and motivationfor further delayed consequences than was evident at earlierlevels FitWidth 554

      5. The level of abstract rules and concepts is considerably higheras social rules must be understood and adopted to facilitate reciprocity including such rules as social skills ethics and laws FitWidth 554

      6. The level of behavioral complexity needed within this zone ismoderate; it is far greater than that needed in lower levels of EFbut not as complex as that seen in the next level FitWidth 554

      7. The need for and complexity of social interactions is moderate;the individual is now pursuing goals using reciprocity and socialexchange FitWidth – 3

      8. The bidirectional influence of culture has increased as individualsnot only absorb cultural practices and use cultural devices fortheir own goal-directed activities but they may now contributenew cultural products and devices to the culture via reciprocityand trade FitWidth -54

• Chapter 9–Implications for Understanding Executive Functioning and Its Disorders
  • The Problem of Defining EF –

    The Problem of the Nature of EF: Incomplete Theories – –

    Understanding EF and Its Disorders –

    1. Prolongation prolonging sensory representations to form mentalimages and icons). –

    2. Separation decoupling the stimulus from the response via inhibitionof the response thereby inserting a delay in which the eventcan be further appraised and alternative actions contemplated). –

    3. Self-direction six pre-executive abilities have come to be turnedback on the individual to produce self-awareness self-restraint self-sensory–motor actions self-speech self-regulation of emotionand motivation and self-play for innovation and problemsolving). –

    4. Internalization the self-directed activities are eventually privatizedfrom public view to form cognitive or mental actions). –

    5. Symbolization mental representations became associated withverbal utterances that create symbols that represent aspects ofthose representations such as objects actions and their properties). –

    6. Reconstitution using mental representations and especially thesymbols for them the environment and one’s actions toward itcan be classified categorized and otherwise taken apart andrecombined to form new representations and actions). –

    Understanding the Effects of Injury Disorder or Impairmentto the EF SR System – –

    Impaired self-awareness self-monitoring and even an impairedgeneral sense of self. –

    A deficient ability to create imaginary constructions of the world –

    Disorder or destruction of the self-restraint component leaves onewith the obvious problems of motor verbal cognitive and emotionalimpulsivity. –

    Disruption of the private self-directed speech component wouldleave an individual less able to use self-talk for self-guidance for selfquestioningor interrogation for verbal problem solving and even forverbal reasoning more generally. – –

    Disturbance of the emotion regulation component would lead tothe impulsive expression of emotion noted above. –

    Impairment to the self-motivation EF component would lead toindividuals becoming highly dependent on external immediate consequencesand gratification to sustain their actions across time to completetasks and goals –

    Should the self-play or reconstitutive component of the EF systembe adversely affected then one could expect a decline in verbal nonverbal and action fluency as well as a decline in the capacity for problemsolving and innovation during pursuit of a goal –

    The Problem of “Why EF?” –

• Chapter 8–The Extended Utilitarian Zone
  • Objective Means of JudgingExtended EF Phenotypic Effects –

    Effects on Survival –

    The Extended Utilitarian Zone –

    Let us first consider life expectancy. EF is directly related to thatdimension of personality known as conscientiousness—an aspect ofpersonality reflecting how likely one is to consider the consequences ofone’s actions for self and others before acting. Its opposite is impulsivenessand selfishness. Lower levels of conscientiousness have been linkedrepeatedly to health problems and even to life expectancy –

    Others’ Recollections and Judgments:Consequences at a Distance –

    Archival Records and Their Consequences –

    Effects of EF on Offspring Survival and Welfare –

• Chapter 10–Implications for Assessment and Clinical Management of Deficits in Executive Functioning
  • The Problem of How to Assess EF –

    Implications of the Extended Phenotype Modelfor Assessment of EF –

    factors mayserve to more rapidly replenish the resource pool. – –

    Routine physical exercise 1 –

    Taking 10-minute breaks periodically during SR strenuous situations 1 –

    Relaxing or meditating for at least minutes after such SR-exertingactivities 1 –

    Visualizing the rewards or outcomes while involved in EF SRtasks. 1 –

    Arranging for periodic small rewards throughout the tasks forSR-demanding settings 1 –

    Engaging in self-affirming statements of self-efficacy prior to andduring such tasks 1 –

    Generating positive emotions 1 –

    Consuming glucose-rich beverages during the task 1 –

    Intervene at the Point of Performance in Natural Settings –

    Approach EF Deficits as a Chronic Condition –

    Intervene at the Most Disrupted Level –

    The fourth problem associated with EF noted in Chapter that needsredress was how EF is to be assessed

• Compiled By: blindcaveman, 20140819