Executive Function: Essential Skills for Life and Learning

Being able to focus, hold, and work with information in mind, filter distractions, and switch gears is like having an air traffic control system at a busy airport to manage the arrivals and departures of dozens of planes on multiple runways. In the brain, this air traffic control mechanism is called executive functioning, a group of skills that helps us to focus on multiple streams of information at the same time, and revise plans as necessary. This edition of the InBrief series explains how these lifelong skills develop, what can disrupt their development, and how supporting them pays off in school and life. This 5-minute video provides an overview of Building the Brain’s “Air Traffic Control” System: How Early Experiences Shape the Development of Executive Function, the joint working paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child and the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs.