So I have a confession to make. I only recently learned how to drive. And it was really hard. Now, this wasn't an older brain thing. Do you remember what it was like when you first learned how to drive? When every decision you made was so conscious and deliberate? I'd come home from my lessons completely wiped out mentally. Now, as a cognitive scientist I know that this is because I was using a lot of something called executive function. Executive function is our amazing ability to consciously control our thoughts, emotions and actions in order to achieve goals ... like learning how to drive. It's what we use when we need to break away from habit, inhibit our impulses and plan ahead. But we can see it most clearly when things go wrong. Like, have you ever accidentally poured orange juice on your cereal?
Teño que confesar algo: hai pouco tempo que aprendín a conducir. E foi moi difícil. Non foi por ter un cerebro máis vello. Lembrades como foi aprender a conducir? Cando tomabades cada decisión dun xeito consciente e deliberado? Volvía á casa das miñas leccións esgotada mentalmente. Como científica cognitiva sei que era porque estaba a usar moita cantidade de algo chamado función executiva. A función executiva é a nosa incrible capacidade de controlar conscientemente os nosos pensamentos, emocións e accións para lograr obxectivos… como aprender a conducir. É o que usamos cando precisamos deixar un hábito, inhibir impulsos e planificar con antelación. Pero podemos velo mellor cando as cousas van mal. Quero dicir, algunha vez botastes por erro zume de laranxa nos cereais?
(Laughter)
(Risas)
Or, ever start scrolling on Facebook and suddenly realize you've missed a meeting?
Ou cando te pos co Facebook e decátaste de que esqueciches unha reunión?
(Laughter)
(Risas)
Or maybe this one's more familiar: Ever plan to stop at the store on the way home from work and then drive all the way home instead on autopilot?
Este igual vos soa: algunha vez planeastes parar na tenda de volta do traballo, e conducistes directos á casa, co piloto automático?
(Laughter)
(Risas)
These things happen to everyone. And we usually call it absentmindedness, but what's really happening is we're experiencing a lapse in executive function.
Estas cousas pásannos a todos. Adoitamos chamalo distracción, pero o que pasa realmente é que estamos a experimentar un lapso na función executiva.
So we use executive function every day in all aspects of our lives. And over the past 30 years, researchers have found that it predicts all kinds of good things in childhood and beyond, like social skills, academic achievement, mental and physical health, making money, saving money and even staying out of jail. Sounds great, doesn't it? So it's no surprise that researchers like me are so interested in understanding it and figuring out ways to improve it.
Usamos a función executiva cada día, en cada aspecto das nosas vidas. Nos últimos 30 anos, os investigadores descubriron que predí moitas cousas boas na infancia e máis aló, como habilidades sociais, logros académicos, saúde física e mental, gañar e aforrar cartos e mesmo evitar a cadea. Soa moi ben, non si? Por iso, non é ningunha sorpresa que os investigadores coma min esteamos tan interesados en entendela e en buscar formas de mellorala.
But lately, executive function has become a huge self-improvement buzzword. People think you can improve it through brain-training iPhone apps and computer games, or by practicing it in a specific way, like playing chess. And researchers are trying to train it in the lab in the hopes of improving it and other things related to it, like intelligence. Well, I'm here to tell you that this way of thinking about executive function is all wrong. Brain training won't improve executive function in a broad sense because it involves exercising it in a narrow way, outside of the real-world contexts in which we actually use it. So you can master that executive function app on your phone, but that's not going to help you stop pouring OJ on your Cheeerios twice a week.
Pero ultimamente a función executiva volveuse unha palabra de moda para a superación persoal. A xente cre que se pode mellorar con aplicacións para o móbil e videoxogos de exercicio mental, ou adestrándoa dun xeito específico, como xogando ao xadrez. Os investigadores intentan adestrala no laboratorio, coa esperanza de mellorala e de mellorar cousas relacionadas, como a intelixencia. Estou aquí para dicirvos que este xeito de pensar sobre a función executiva é errado. Os exercicios mentais non mellorarán a función executiva nun sentido amplo porque implican exercitala de forma limitada, fóra dos contextos do mundo real nos que a empregamos realmente. Podemos dominar esa aplicación de función executiva do móbil, pero iso non evitará que lle botemos zume aos cereais dúas veces por semana.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
If you really want to improve your executive function in a way that matters for your life, you have to understand how it's influenced by context.
Se queremos mellorar a nosa función executiva de forma que importe na nosa vida, debemos entender como lle inflúe o contexto.
Let me show you what I mean. There's a great test that we use in the lab to measure executive function in young children called the "dimensional change card sort." In this task, kids have to sort cards in one way -- like by shape -- over and over until they build up a habit. And then they're asked to switch and sort the same cards in another way, like by color. Now, really young kids struggle with this. Three- and four-year-olds will usually keep sorting the cards in the old way no matter how many times you remind them of what they should be doing.
Vou mostrar o que quero dicir: hai unha proba, empregada no laboratorio, que mide a función executiva en nenos pequenos: o cambio de dimensión na clasificación de tarxetas. Nesta tarefa, os nenos clasifican as tarxetas dun xeito, como pola forma, por exemplo, unha e outra vez ata adquirir o hábito. Entón, pídeselles que cambien e clasifiquen as mesmas tarxetas doutro xeito, como pola cor. Aos nenos moi pequenos cústalles. Os 3 e 4 anos adoitan seguir ordenando as tarxetas do xeito anterior, por moitas veces que lles lembres o que deben facer.
(Video) Woman: If it's blue, put it here. If it's red, put it here. Here's a blue one.
Muller: Se é azul, vai aquí. Se é vermello, aquí. Aquí tes un azul.
OK, so now we're going to play a different game. We're not going to play the color game anymore. Now we're going to play the shape game, and in the shape game, all the stars go here and all the trucks go here, OK? Stars go here, trucks go here.
Ben, agora imos xogar a un xogo diferente. Xa non imos xogar ao xogo das cores. Agora xogaremos ao xogo das formas, e, no xogo das formas, todas as estrelas van aquí e todos os camións van aquí, de acordo? As estrelas van aquí e os camións van aquí.
Where do the stars go?
Onde van as estrelas?
And where do the trucks go?
E os camións?
Excellent.
Moi ben.
OK, stars go here, trucks go here. Here's a truck.
As estrelas van aquí e os camións, aquí. Aquí tes un camión.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
Stars go here, trucks go here. Here's a star.
As estrelas van aquí e os camións van aquí. Aquí tes unha estrela.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
SB: So it's really compelling, and it's really obvious when she fails to use her executive function. But here's the thing: we could train her on this task and others like it and eventually she'd improve, but does that mean that she would've improved her executive function outside of the lab? No, because in the real world, she'll need to use executive function to do a lot more than switching between shape and color. She'll need to switch from adding to multiplying or from playing to tidying up or from thinking about her own feelings to thinking about her friend. And success in real-world situations depends on things like how motivated you are and what your peers are doing. And it also depends on the strategies that you execute when you're using executive function in a particular situation. So what I'm saying is that context really matters.
SB: É realmente convincente, e moi obvio cando ela non usa a súa función executiva. Pero aquí está o asunto: poderiamos adestrala nesta tarefa e noutras semellantes e co tempo melloraría. Entón melloraría a súa función executiva tamén fóra do laboratorio? Non, porque no mundo real terá que usar a función executiva para moito máis que pasar de forma a cor. Terá que pasar de sumar a multiplicar, ou de xogar a recoller, ou de pensar nos seus sentimentos a pensar na súa amiga. O éxito nas situacións do mundo real depende de cousas como a motivación e o que fagan os nosos compañeiros. Tamén depende das estratexias que executemos cando usamos a función executiva nunha situación en particular. O que estou a dicir é que o contexto é moi importante.
Now let me give you an example from my research. I recently brought in a bunch of kids to do the classic marshmallow test, which is a measure of delay of gratification that also likely requires a lot of executive function. So you may have heard about this test, but basically, kids are given a choice. They can have one marshmallow right away, or if they can wait for me to go to the other room and get more marshmallows, they can have two instead. Now, most kids really want that second marshmallow, but the key question is: How long can they wait?
Agora dareivos un exemplo da miña investigación. Hai pouco, trouxen un grupo de nenos para facer a proba do malvarisco, que é unha medida do atraso da gratificación, que probablemente tamén require moita función executiva. Igual xa coñecedes esta proba, pero, en resumo, os nenos poden elixir entre comer un malvarisco xa ou esperar a que eu vaia ao outro cuarto e traia máis malvariscos, e entón poden comer dous. A maioría dos nenos devecen por ese segundo malvarisco, pero a pregunta clave aquí é: canto tempo poden esperar?
(Laughter)
(Risas)
Now, I added a twist to look at the effects of context. I told each kid that they were in a group, like the green group, and I even gave them a green T-shirt to wear. And I said, "Your group waited for two marshmallows, and this other group, the orange group, did not." Or I said the opposite: "Your group didn't wait for two marshmallows and this other group did." And then I left the kid alone in the room and I watched on a webcam to see how long they waited.
Eu engadín algo máis para ver os efectos do contexto. Díxenlle a cada neno que estaban nun grupo, como o grupo verde; ata lles din unha camiseta verde. E dixen: “O voso grupo esperou polos dous malvariscos e este outro grupo, o laranxa, non o fixo.” Ou dixen o contrario: “O voso grupo non esperou polos dous malvariscos e este outro grupo si.” Entón, deixaba ao neno só no cuarto e observaba pola webcam para ver canto tempo esperaban.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
So what I found was that kids who believed that their group waited for two marshmallows were themselves more likely to wait. So they were influenced by a peer group that they'd never even met.
O que descubrín foi que os nenos que crían que o seu grupo agardara polos malvariscos eran máis propensos a esperar. Un grupo de compañeiros que non coñecían influenciounos.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
Pretty cool, isn't it? Well, so with this result I still didn't know if they were just copying their group or if it was something deeper than that. So I brought in some more kids, and after the marshmallow test, I showed them pictures of pairs of kids, and I told them, "One of these kids likes to have things right away, like cookies and stickers. And the other kid likes to wait so that they can have more of these things." And then I asked them, "Which one of these two kids do you like more and who would you want to play with?" And what I found was that kids who believed that their group waited tended to prefer other kids who liked to wait for things. So learning what their group did made them value waiting more. And not only that, these kids likely used executive function to generate strategies to help themselves wait, like sitting on their hands or turning away from the marshmallow or singing a song to distract themselves.
Xenial, non si? Ben, pois con este resultado seguía sen saber se só estaban copiando o grupo ou se había algo máis profundo, así que trouxen máis nenos, e, despois da proba do malvarisco, mostreilles fotos de parellas de nenos e díxenlles: “A un destes nenos gústalle ter as cousas no momento, como galletas e adhesivos, e ao outro gústalle esperar para poder ter aínda máis destas cousas.” Entón pregunteilles: “Cal destes dous nenos che gusta máis? Con cal deles che gustaría xogar?” Resultou que os nenos que crían que o seu grupo esperara adoitaban preferir outros nenos aos que lles gustara esperar polas cousas. Ao saber o que fixera o seu grupo valoraron esperar máis tempo. E non só iso: estes nenos probablemente usaron a función executiva para xerar estratexias para axudarse na espera, como sentar nas mans. afastarse do malvarisco ou cantar unha canción para distraerse.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
So what this all shows is just how much context matters. It's not that these kids had good executive function or bad, it's that the context helped them use it better.
O que amosa todo isto é o moito que importa o contexto. Non é que estes nenos tivesen unha función executiva boa ou mala, é que o contexto axudoulles a utilizala mellor.
So what does this mean for you and for your kids? Well, let's say that you want to learn Spanish. You could try changing your context and surrounding yourself with other people who also want to learn, and even better if these are people that you really like. That way you'll be more motivated to use executive function. Or let's say that you want to help your child do better on her math homework. You could teach her strategies to use executive function in that particular context, like putting her phone away before she starts studying or planning to reward herself after studying for an hour.
Entón, que significa iso para vós e para os vosos fillos? Digamos que queredes aprender castelán. Podedes probar a cambiar o contexto, a rodearvos doutras persoas que tamén queiran aprender, e aínda mellor se son persoas que vos gustan moito. Deste xeito, teredes máis motivación para usar a función executiva. Digamos que queredes axudar a vosa filla a mellorar nos deberes de matemáticas. Poderiades ensinarlle estratexias para usar a función executiva nese contexto en particular, como gardar o móbil antes de comezar a estudar ou pensar unha recompensa para despois de estudar unha hora.
Now, I don't want to make it sound like context is everything. Executive function is really complex, and it's shaped by numerous factors. But what I want you to remember is if you want to improve your executive function in some aspect of your life, don't look for quick fixes. Think about the context and how you can make your goals matter more to you, and how you can use strategies to help yourself in that particular situation. I think the ancient Greeks said it best when they said, "Know thyself." And a key part of this is knowing how context shapes your behavior and how you can use that knowledge to change for the better.
Aínda así, non pensedes que o contexto é o único que importa. A función executiva é moi complexa e inflúen moitos factores. Pero o que quero que lembredes é que, se buscades mellorar a vosa función executiva, nalgún aspecto da vosa vida, non busquedes solucións rápidas. Pensade no contexto, en como facer que as vosas metas vos importen máis e en como podedes usar estratexias que vos axuden nesas situacións. Creo que os antigos gregos dixérono mellor: “Coñécete a ti mesmo.” A clave disto é que saibamos como o contexto moldea o comportamento e como podemos usar ese coñecemento para mellorar.
Thank you.
Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)