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This thought-provoking article, which proposes and explains the “adaptive habits” executive functioning framework, is an open access article (free download and read)
Abstract
Executive functions (EFs) develop dramatically across childhood and predict important outcomes, including academic achievement. These links are often attributed to individual differences in EF capacities. However, individual difference accounts underemphasize contextual influences on EF. We propose a complementary perspective, the adaptive habits framework, which emphasizes how contextual factors support or hinder EF engagement in children. Contexts that support repeated EF engagement establish habits for engaging EF in similar contexts and in similar ways. Such habits, in turn, reduce the effort associated with engaging EF and thus increase the likelihood of deciding to en-gage EF in the future. We interpret empirical findings through the lens of adaptive habits, discuss the implications of this framework, and propose novel research approaches and interventions to support EF in children.
From Conclusion
Why do children (such as the two in our opening example) differ in their academic and EF task performance? The reviewed evidence demonstrates that such differences should be viewed as a product of distinct learning histories, sociocultural influences, and environmental contexts in-stead of solely as differences in EF capacities. The adaptive habits framework emphasizes how contextual factors influence children's decisions to engage EF and how such engagement (or its absence) supports the development of habits that make it easier (or harder) to engage EF in similar contexts or for similar rewards in the future. Thus, two children may have the same EF capacities; however, one child may perform better on standard measures of EF because these measures better align with how the child has practiced engaging EF in the real world and how their behaviors have been rewarded and reinforced, which in turn reduces the mental effort needed for engaging EF. The adaptive habits framework thus identifies these contextual factors as promising targets for future research on EF as well as for interventions to support the EF and academic achievement of children.
