What is: Executive Function? (Part 2)

Cognitive Flexibility

Read Part 1: Working Memory

This month I am writing about a set of skills known as executive function. Executive function is a collection of brain processes that could be called the brain’s “management team.” These skills are: working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control. These three things greatly affect how a person interacts with the world and goes about their day-to-day life.

Poor executive function is a common sign of ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyscalcula, bipolar disorder, and dementia. People going through periods of anxiety and depression also show a temporary reduction in their executive functioning ability.

Last week I talked about working memory, this week is all about cognitive flexibility.

Cognitive Flexibility

Cognitive flexibility is one of the three big skills that make up a person’s executive functioning ability. Cognitive flexibility refers to the mind’s ability to adapt to new information, or to shift between different sets of information. Some skills that rely on cognitive flexibility are:

• Multitasking
• Discussing/debating
• Problem-solving
• Reflection on one’s own actions or thoughts
• Empathy, aka “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes”
• Creativity, aka “thinking outside the box”
• Transitioning from one activity to the next, or one conversation topic to the next

Cognitive flexibility is known to decrease with age, which is likely where we get our stereotype of a grumpy old man who is “stuck in his ways.”

Cognitive flexibility challenges are also stereotypically associated with autism, accounting for “inflexibility” or “rigidity” in preferences and daily routines. (Like we see in The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper who doesn’t like to give up his spot on the couch.)

Differences in cognitive flexibility may also be part of what makes a person introverted or extroverted. An extrovert’s cognitive flexibility may work more quickly or fluidly than an introvert’s cognitive flexibility, allowing them to enjoy conversations, debates, or spontaneous changes more than their introverted peers do.

Someone who struggles in the cognitive flexibility area of executive functioning may behave in the following ways:

• They may “drop the ball” when expected to multitask too many things at once, because they have difficulty jumping from one task to another.
• They may come across as stubborn or opinionated, because they struggle to change their minds.
• They may take longer to adapt to a new home, job, routine, or set of rules, because their minds take longer to process changes.
• They may seem to lack empathy, because switching to a different person’s viewpoint, or imagining someone having a different experience than they are requires an advanced level of cognitive flexibility. (This is why very young children don’t seem to have much empathy either. This skill takes time and practice to develop.)
• They may panic or have an emotional overaction to unexpected changes, such as a closed road on their usual commute to work. This is because breaking a habitual pattern and creatively coming up with a new one is a skill that requires well-practiced cognitive flexibility.

If you know someone who regularly struggles in these areas, this could be an indication that they have one of the neurological differences characterized by executive functioning difficulties: ADHD, autism, dyslexia, etc… If you know someone who seems to be suddenly or uncharacteristically having these struggles, they may be experiencing a temporary decrease in their executive function skills due to high anxiety or a depressive episode.

Of course, these signs alone are not enough to diagnose anyone with a mental health condition, but they are good to know about and recognize. They can signal to you that your loved one is struggling, and needs support.

Next week we’ll dive into the third major executive functioning skill: inhibitory control.

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