Executive Functioning: The Necessity for a Contextualized and Ecologically Valid Evaluation

This chapter aims to present some considerations about executive functioning, as well as the need to think about contextualized ways to evaluate executive functions, providing greater ecological validity. Executive functions (EFs) are defined as a set of cognitive skills involved in various activities that are novel to the individual and that require a creative solution. It is not easy to conceptualize this set of skills or to identify the factors that shape them. Furthermore, the evaluation of executive functioning performance must be able to reflect the actions that an individual has in their daily life. Reflecting on how to approach the exploration and measurement of executive functions challenges us to continue developing innovative and integrative evaluation proposals. It is concluded that the best way to evaluate EFs is to include and consider the characteristics and specificities of the sociocultural context in which people are immersed.