Executive functions : what they are, how they work, and why they evolved

Executive functions What they are, how they work, and why they evolved

Russell A. Barkley, 1949-

Book - 2012

Synthesizing cutting-edge neuropsychological and evolutionary research, Russell A. Barkley presents a model of EF that is rooted in meaningful activities of daily life. He describes how abilities such as emotion regulation, self-motivation, planning, and working memory enable people to pursue both personal and collective goals that are critical to survival. Key stages of EF development are identified and the far-reaching individual and social costs of EF deficits detailed. Barkley explains specific ways that his model may support much-needed advances in assessment and treatment. --from publisher description.

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Subjects
Neuropsychological tests.
Published
New York : Guilford Press [2012]
Language
English
Main Author
Russell A. Barkley, 1949- (-)
Physical Description
xi, 244 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-231)- and index.
ISBN
9781462505357
  • 1. Problems with the Concept of Executive Functioning
  • What Is EF?: The Lack of an Operational Definition
  • How Is EF Assessed?: The Poor Ecological Validity of Psychometric Tests of EF
  • How Does EF Work?: The Limitations of Current Cognitive Models of EF
  • Why EF?: The Importance of Evolution hi the Origins and Purposes of EF
  • Conclusions and Specific Aims
  • 2. The Extended Phenotype: A Foundation for Modeling Executive Functioning
  • The Conventional View of the Phenotype
  • An Extended Phenotype
  • How Long Is the Reach of the Genes?: The Boundary of the Extended Phenotype
  • The Role of Universal Darwinism in the Human Extended Phenotype
  • Conclusions
  • 3. Executive Functioning as an Extended Phenotype
  • A More Precise Definition of EF
  • An Overview of the EF Extended Phenotype
  • Eight Emerging Developmental Capacities Arising from EF
  • The Pre-Executive Levels and Zones
  • 4. The Instrumental-Self-Directed Level
  • EF in Six Self-Directed Acts
  • The Importance of Time in EF/SR
  • EF/SR Relies on a Limited Resource Fool
  • Are All Self-Directed Actions EF?
  • How Does EF Govern the Automatic Pre-Executive Level of Behavior?
  • Viewing EF/SR as a System of Feedback Loops
  • Evolutionary and Developmental Considerations
  • Shifting Sources of Control of Human Behavior
  • Conclusions
  • 5. The Methodical-Self-Reliant Level
  • Distinguishing Executive Cognition from Executive Action
  • Using the Physical Environment to Boost EF
  • Social Problems That Likely Contributed to the Evolution of the Self-Reliant EF Level
  • Dimensions of EF Evident in Daily Life Activities
  • EF as Human Reasoning and as the Source of Culture
  • Conclusions
  • 6. The Tactical-Reciprocal Level
  • Social Reciprocity as a Major Activity of the Extended EF Phenotype
  • The Special Conditions Needed to Support Reciprocity
  • EF, Reciprocity, and Economics
  • Reciprocity, Morality, and Ethics
  • Using Each Other for Mutual Self-Regulation
  • The Role of Parenting and Culture in Reciprocity
  • Implications for EF Tests
  • Conclusions
  • 7. The Strategic-Cooperative Level
  • The Advent of Social Cooperation in the Extended EF Phenotype
  • 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 Strategic-Cooperative Level: Principled-Mutualistic
  • Does Religion Have a Role in the Origins of Social Cooperatives and Mutualism?
  • Conclusions
  • 8. The Extended Utilitarian Zone
  • Objective Means of Judging Extended EF Phenotypic Effects
  • Conclusions
  • 9. Implications for Understanding Executive Functioning and Its Disorders
  • The Problem of Defining EF
  • The Problem of the Nature of EF: Incomplete Theories
  • The Problem of "Why EF?"
  • Conclusions
  • 10. Implications for the Assessment and Clinical Management of Deficits in Executive Functioning
  • The Problem of How to Assess EF
  • Implications for the Clinical Management of EF Deficits
  • Conclusions
  • References
  • Index
Review by Choice Review

The idea that the mind has "executive functions" (EFs) is not new, but Barkley (psychiatry and pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina), a widely recognized expert, provides a fresh and original look. First, he skewers existing approaches by demonstrating how in terms of concept EFs are ill-defined, with definitions either too vague or too narrowly tied to favored psychometric tasks; as measured by such narrow tasks, EFs appear to be unrelated to real-life social-motivational deficits in patients, deficits that are readily observable to family and clinicians. In taking on the more difficult task of offering a new conception that addresses these shortcomings, the author eschews neuroscientific reductionism and thinks more broadly about why EFs may have evolved. In his view, they evolved to support goal-directed behavior in the social realm, in which reciprocal social exchange, cooperation, and competition necessitated complex self-regulation of behavior. Such self-regulation required (among other things) the ability to inhibit or delay prepotent actions, understand temporal ordering of information and actions, apply foresight, and engage in socially embedded tactical and strategic planning to meet long-term goals. Barkley's account is deliberately psychological and functional rather than neuroanatomical, and provides an important reconceptualization for those working in the area of EFs. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. R. Compton Haverford College

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

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