Executive Functioning

A couple of months back I was reading a fascinating article in the NY Times Magazine about executive functioning (September 25, 2009). Executive functioning is defined in the article as “the ability to think straight: to order your thoughts, to process information in a coherent way, to hold relevant details in your short-term memory, to avoid distractions and mental traps and focus on the task in front of you.” The article describes a school in New Jersey in which, as part of a study, kindergarten aged children are being taught executive functioning. Initial findings are that it takes a lot of work to teach this, and the best way for them to learn it is through structured, imaginative, play.

As I was reading the article I immediately thought about what I had learned about frustration tolerance as I was researching my book. If you aren’t familiar with this term, please review my two earlier postings. In this study, these young children were learning how to tolerate frustration, learning how to share toys, and learning how to wait for their slower class mates to finish up assignments before they could move, as a group, to newer and more fun experiences. They were learning how to control what they did, rather than letting their emotions make the decisions for them.

It also made me thing about intentional man. Recall that the opposite of intentional man is automatic man. The Times article refers to executive functioning as “cognitive self regulation.” Executive functioning, therefore, is the ability to regulate your thinking, to be in charge of your thoughts. Implied in this is that by controlling your thoughts, you are able to control your actions. Intentional man is not put off course by distractions, stays focused on his tasks, and processes information without being unduly influenced by his emotions.

The ability to control our actions is one thing that distinguishes humans from other animals. Animals automatically react to a stimulus; when they do this, it’s called instinct. Humans, on the other hand, have the ability to operate in that middle ground between stimulus and action. I emphasize the word ability, because we don’t always operate in it, and some of us operate in it less than others. Never the less, we do all have the ability. By being aware of that middle ground, and our ability to operate in that special place, we can be responsible, able to respond, instead of just reacting. When we do that we can do all the things we need to do to become motivated and stay motivated.

Perhaps these children who are learning executive functioning will grow up knowing how to motivate themselves. Hopefully they will be unlike so many of us who do not, and consequently are unable to achieve the things we dream about. Hopefully.