Journal Article

A Developmental Perspective on Executive Function

Best, John R., Miller, Patricia H.

2010

Overview

This review article examines theoretical and methodological issues in the construction of a developmental perspective on executive function (EF) in childhood and adolescence. Unlike most reviews of EF, which focus on preschoolers, this review focuses on studies that include large age ranges. It outlines the development of the foundational components of EF— inhibition, working memory, and shifting. Cognitive and neurophysiological assessments show that although EF emerges during the first few years of life, it continues to strengthen significantly throughout childhood and adolescence. The components vary somewhat in their developmental trajectories. The article relates the findings to long-standing issues of development (e.g., developmental sequences, trajectories, and processes) and suggests research needed for constructing a developmental framework encompassing early childhood through adolescence.

• Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Ltd,Wiley-Blackwell,Oxford University Press
• Subject: Adolescence / Adolescent / Adolescent Development / Adolescents / Adulthood / Age / Age Differences / Age Factors / Assessment / Biological and medical sciences / Child / Child Development / Childhood / Children / Children & youth / Cognition / Cognition & reasoning / Cognitive Ability / Cognitive neuroscience / Cognitive Processes / Developmental biology / Developmental psychology / Developmental Stages / Executive Function / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / Humans / Inhibition / Inhibition, Psychological / Memory / Memory, Short-Term / Methodological problems / Methodology / Neurological Organization / Neurology / Neuropsychological Tests / Physiology / Preschool children / Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry / Psychology. Psychophysiology / REVIEW / School age children / Sequences / Short Term Memory / Stress, Psychological - psychology / Trajectories / Working memory