WEBVTT

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So, I have a confession to make.

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I only recently learned how to drive.

NOTE Paragraph

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And it was really hard.

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Now, this wasn't an older brain thing.

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Do you remember what it was like
when you first learned how to drive,

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when every decision you made
was so conscious and deliberate?

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I'd come home from my lessons
completely wiped out mentally.

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Now, as a cognitive scientist,

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I know that this is
because I was using a lot

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of something called "executive function."

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Executive function is our amazing ability

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to consciously control
our thoughts, emotions and actions

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in order to achieve goals,

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like learning how to drive.

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It’s what we use

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when we need to break away from habit,
inhibit our impulses and plan ahead.

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But we can see it most clearly
when things go wrong.

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Like, have you ever accidentally
poured orange juice on your cereal?

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(Laughter)

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Or ever start scrolling on Facebook


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and suddenly realise
you’ve missed a meeting?

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Or maybe this one is more familiar:

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Ever planned to stop at the store
on the way home from work

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and then drive all the way
home instead, on autopilot?

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(Laughter)

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These things happen to everyone.


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And we usually call it "absentmindedness."

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But what's really happening

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is we're experiencing
a lapse in executive function.

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So we use executive function every day
in all aspects of our lives.

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And over the past 30 years,

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researchers have found that it predicts
all kinds of good things,

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in childhood and beyond,

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like social skills, academic achievement,
mental and physical health,

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making money, saving money
and even staying out of jail.

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Sounds great, doesn't it?

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So it's no surprise
that researchers like me

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are so interested in understanding it
and figuring out ways to improve it.

NOTE Paragraph

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But lately, executive function has become
a huge self-improvement buzz word.

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People think you can improve it

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through brain-training iPhone apps
and computer games

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or by practicing it in a specific way,
like playing chess.

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And researchers are trying
to train it in the lab

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in hopes of improving it

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and other things related to it,
like intelligence.

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Well, I'm here to tell you

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that this way of thinking
about executive function is all wrong.

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Brain training won't improve
executive function in a broad sense

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because it involves
exercising it in a narrow way,

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outside of the real-world context
in which we actually use it.

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So you can master that
executive-function app on your phone,

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but that's not going to help you
stop pouring OJ on your Cheerios

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twice a week.

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(Laughter)

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If you really want to improve
your executive function

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in a way that matters for your life,

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you have to understand
how it's influenced by context.

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Let me show you what I mean.

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There is a great task
that we use in the lab

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to measure executive function
in young children,

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called the dimensional change card sort.

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In this task, kids have to sort cards
in one way, like by shape,

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over and over,

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until they build up a habit.

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And then they're asked to switch
and sort the same cards in another way,

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like by color.

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Now, really young kids struggle with this.

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Three- and four-year-olds will usually
keep sorting the cards in the old way

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no matter how many times you remind them
of what they should be doing.

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(Video) Instructor: If it's blue,
put it here. If it's red, put it here.

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Here's a blue one.

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Okay, so now we're going to play
a different game.

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We're not going to play
the color game anymore.

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Now we're going to play the shape game.

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In the shape game,

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all the stars go here,
and all the trucks go here.

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Okay?

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Stars go here. Trucks go here.

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Where do the stars go?

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And where do the trucks go?

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Excellent. Okay.

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Stars go here. Trucks go here.

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Here's a truck.

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Stars go here. Trucks go here.

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Here's a star.

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(Laughter)

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So it's really compelling,

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and it's really obvious when she fails
to use her executive function.

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But here's the thing:

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we could train her on this task
and others like it,

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and eventually she'd improve.

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But does that mean she'd have improved
her executive function outside of the lab?

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No, because in the real world,
she'll need to use executive function

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to do a lot more than switching
between shape and color.

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She'll need to switch
from adding to multiplying,

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or from playing to tidying up,

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or from thinking about her own feelings
to thinking about her friend.

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And success in real-world situations

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depends on things
like how motivated you are

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and what your peers are doing.

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And it also depends
on the strategies that you execute

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when you're using executive function
in a particular situation.

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So what I'm saying
is that context really matters.

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Now let me give you an example
from my research.

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I recently brought in a bunch of kids
to do the classic marshmallow test,

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which is a measure
of delay of gratification

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that also likely requires
a lot of executive function.

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So you may have heard about this test,

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but basically, kids are given a choice:

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they can have one marshmallow right away,

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or if they can wait for me

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to go to the other room
and get more marshmallows,

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they can have two instead.

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Now, most kids really want
that second marshmallow.

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But the key question is,

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How long can they wait?

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(Laughter)

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Now, I added a twist
to look at the effects of context.

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I told each kid that they
were in a group, like the green group,

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and I even gave them
a green t-shirt to wear.

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And I said,

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"Your group waited for two marshmallows.

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and this other group,
the orange group, did not."

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Or I said the opposite:

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"Your group didn't wait
for two marshmallows,

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and this other group did."

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And then I left the kid alone in the room,

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and I watched on a webcam
to see how long they waited.

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(Laughter)

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So what I found was

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that kids who believed that their group
waited for two marshmallows

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were themselves more likely to wait.

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So they were influenced by a peer group
that they'd never even met.

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Pretty cool, isn't it?

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Well, so with this result,

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I still didn't know if they
were just copying their group

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or if it was something deeper than that.

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So I brought in some more kids.

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And after the marshmallow test,

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I showed them pictures of pairs of kids,

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and I told them one of these kids
likes to have things right away,

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like cookies and stickers,

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and the other kid likes to wait

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so that they can have
more of these things.

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And then I asked them,

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"Which one of these two kids
do you like more?

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Who would you want to play with?"

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And what I found was that kids
who believed that their group waited

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tended to prefer other kids
who liked to wait for things.

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So learning what their group did
made them value waiting more.

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And not only that,

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these kids likely use executive function

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to generate strategies
to help themselves wait,

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like sitting on their hands
or turning away from the marshmallow

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or singing a song to distract themselves.

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(Laughter)

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So what this all shows
is just how much context matters.

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It's not that these kids
had good executive function or bad;

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it's that the context
helped them use it better.

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So what does this mean
for you and for your kids?

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Well, let's say that you want
to learn Spanish.

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You could try changing your context

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and surrounding yourself
with other people who also want to learn.

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And even better, if these are people
that you really like,

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that way you will be more motivated
to use executive function.

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Or let's say that you want to help
your child do better on her math homework.

NOTE Paragraph

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You could teach her strategies

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to use executive function
in that particular context,

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like putting her phone away
before she starts studying

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or planning to reward herself
after studying for an hour.

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Now, I don't want to make it sound
like context is everything.

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Executive function is really complex,
and it's shaped by numerous factors.

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But what I want you to remember

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is if you want to improve
your executive function

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in some aspect of your life,

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don't look for quick fixes.

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Think about the context in how you can
make your goals matter more to you,

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and how you can use strategies to help 
yourself in that particular situation.

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I think the ancient Greeks
said it best when they said,

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"Know thyself."

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And a key part of this is knowing
how context shapes your behaviour

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and how you can use that knowledge
to change for the better.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)