Is a Paradigm Shift Necessary Today in the Approach to Executive Functions?

Abstract

Nowadays, a growing number of authors advocate for a paradigm shift in the study of Executive Functions. In this chapter, we assert that this need is specially urgent in the origin and early development of these critical socio-cognitive processes. Continuing the previous chapter, we remark the important limitation on using arbitrary standardized tasks as the predominant method for assessing Executive Functions at early ages. These tasks usually neglect the social factors in Executive Functions, showing important limitations in ecological validity. We consider crucial to revisit classical developmental theorists, particularly Piaget and Vygotsky, who positioned self-regulation as a central developmental issue, in two different perspectives. Piaget highlights the role of children’s awareness of the goals they set for themselves and the means they put into play to achieve them from the end of the first year of life. Vygotsky, on the other hand, focuses on the status of semiotic system for self-regulation. From the strengths and limitations of these classical theories, we advocate for a paradigm shift in the study of Executive Functions, focusing on 1) the infant’s agency involving the material culture in their everyday life, 2) the prelinguistic semiotic systems that infants employ to control their behavior, such as gestures and uses of objects and tools, 3) a developmental perspective, 4) understanding EF as bottom-up and top-down processes, and 5) the need to approach Executive Functions through longitudinal studies, which will allow to understand their early development, from an infant-centered perspective.