Journal
CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
Volume 21, Issue 1, Pages 8-14Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/0963721411429458
Keywords
executive functions; self-regulation; individual differences; behavioral genetics
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Funding
- Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie
- Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci [0847872] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- NIAAA NIH HHS [P60 AA011998, P50 AA011998] Funding Source: Medline
- NICHD NIH HHS [R01 HD010333] Funding Source: Medline
- NIDA NIH HHS [R01 DA024002] Funding Source: Medline
- NIMH NIH HHS [P50 MH079485, R56 MH063207, R01 MH063207] Funding Source: Medline
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Executive functions (EFs)-a set of general-purpose control processes that regulate one's thoughts and behaviors-have become a popular research topic lately and have been studied in many subdisciplines of psychological science. This article summarizes the EF research that our group has conducted to understand the nature of individual differences in EFs and their cognitive and biological underpinnings. In the context of a new theoretical framework that we have been developing (the unity/diversity framework), we describe four general conclusions that have emerged. Specifically, we argue that individual differences in EFs, as measured with simple laboratory tasks, (a) show both unity and diversity (different EFs are correlated yet separable), (b) reflect substantial genetic contributions, (c) are related to various clinically and societally important phenomena, and (d) show some developmental stability.
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