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So I have a confession to make.

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I only recently learned how to drive.

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And it was really hard.

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Now, this wasn't an older brain thing.

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Do you remember what it was like
when you first learned how to drive?

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When every decision you made
was so conscious and deliberate?

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I'd come home from my lessons
completely wiped out mentally.

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Now, as a cognitive scientist
I know that this is because I was using

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a lot of something
called executive function.

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Executive function is our amazing ability
to consciously control our thoughts,

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emotions and actions

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in order to achieve goals ...

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like learning how to drive.

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It's what we use when we need
to break away from habit,

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inhibit our impulses and plan ahead.

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But we can see it most clearly
when things go wrong.

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Like, have you ever accidentally
poured orange juice on your cereal?

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(Laughter)

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Or, ever start scrolling on Facebook

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and suddenly realize
you've missed a meeting?

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(Laughter)

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Or maybe this one's more familiar:

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Ever plan to stop at the store
on the way home from work

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and then drive all the way home
instead on autopilot?

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(Laughter)

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These things happen to everyone.

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And we usually call it absentmindedness,

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but what's really happening

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is we're experiencing a lapse
in executive function.

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So we use executive function
every day in all aspects of our lives.

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And over the past 30 years,

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researchers have found
that it predicts all kinds of good things

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in childhood and beyond,

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like social skills, academic achievement,
mental and physical health,

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making money, saving money

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and even staying out of jail.

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Sounds great, doesn't it?

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So it's no surprise

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that researchers like me
are so interested in understanding it

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and figuring out ways to improve it.

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But lately, executive function has become
a huge self-improvement buzzword.

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People think you can improve it
through brain-training iPhone apps

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and computer games,

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or by practicing it in a specific way,
like playing chess.

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And researchers are trying
to train it in the lab

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in the hopes of improving it
and other things related to it,

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like intelligence.

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Well, I'm here to tell you

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that this way of thinking
about executive function is all wrong.

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Brain training won't improve
executive function in a broad sense

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because it involves
exercising it in a narrow way,

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outside of the real-world contexts
in which we actually use it.

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So you can master that executive
function app on your phone,

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but that's not going to help you stop
pouring OJ on your Cheeerios twice a week.

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(Laughter)

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If you really want to improve
your executive function

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in a way that matters for your life,

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you have to understand
how it's influenced by context.

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Let me show you what I mean.

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There's a great test
that we use in the lab

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to measure executive function
in young children

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called the "dimensional change card sort."

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In this task, kids have to sort
cards in one way --

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like by shape --

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over and over until they build up a habit.

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And then they're asked to switch

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and sort the same cards in another way,

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like by color.

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Now, really young kids struggle with this.

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Three- and four-year-olds will usually
keep sorting the cards in the old way

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no matter how many times you remind
them of what they should be doing.

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(Video) Woman: If it's blue, put it here.
If it's red, put it here.

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Here's a blue one.

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OK, so now we're going to play
a different game.

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We're not going to play
the color game anymore.

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Now we're going to play the shape game,

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and in the shape game,

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all the stars go here
and all the trucks go here, OK?

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Stars go here, trucks go here.

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Where do the stars go?

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And where do the trucks go?

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Excellent.

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OK, stars go here, trucks go here.

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Here's a truck.

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(Laughter)

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Stars go here, trucks go here.

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Here's a star.

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(Laughter)

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SB: So it's really compelling,

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and it's really obvious when she fails
to use her executive function.

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But here's the thing:

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we could train her on this task
and others like it

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and eventually she'd improve,

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but does that mean

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that she would've improved
her executive function outside of the lab?

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No, because in the real world,
she'll need to use executive function

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to do a lot more than switching
between shape and color.

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She'll need to switch
from adding to multiplying

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or from playing to tidying up

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or from thinking about her own feelings
to thinking about her friend.

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And success in real-world situations
depends on things

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like how motivated you are
and what your peers are doing.

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And it also depends
on the strategies that you execute

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when you're using executive function
in a particular situation.

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So what I'm saying is
that context really matters.

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Now let me give you an example
from my research.

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I recently brought in a bunch of kids
to do the classic marshmallow test,

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which is a measure
of delay of gratification

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that also likely requires
a lot of executive function.

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So you may have heard about this test,

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but basically, kids are given a choice.

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They can have one marshmallow right away,

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or if they can wait for me
to go to the other room

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and get more marshmallows,

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they can have two instead.

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Now, most kids really want
that second marshmallow,

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but the key question is:
How long can they wait?

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(Laughter)

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Now, I added a twist
to look at the effects of context.

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I told each kid that they were in a group,

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like the green group,

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and I even gave them
a green T-shirt to wear.

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And I said, "Your group
waited for two marshmallows,

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and this other group, the orange group,

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did not."

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Or I said the opposite:

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"Your group didn't wait
for two marshmallows

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and this other group did."

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And then I left the kid alone in the room

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and I watched on a webcam
to see how long they waited.

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(Laughter)

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So what I found was that kids who believed

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that their group waited
for two marshmallows

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were themselves more likely to wait.

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So they were influenced by a peer group
that they'd never even met.

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(Laughter)

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Pretty cool, isn't it?

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Well, so with this result
I still didn't know

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if they were just copying their group
or if it was something deeper than that.

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So I brought in some more kids,

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and after the marshmallow test,
I showed them pictures of pairs of kids,

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and I told them, "One of these kids
likes to have things right away,

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like cookies and stickers.

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And the other kid likes to wait

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so that they can have
more of these things."

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And then I asked them,

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"Which one of these two kids
do you like more

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and who would you want to play with?"

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And what I found was that kids
who believed that their group waited

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tended to prefer other kids
who liked to wait for things.

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So learning what their group did
made them value waiting more.

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And not only that,

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these kids likely used executive function

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to generate strategies
to help themselves wait,

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like sitting on their hands
or turning away from the marshmallow

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or singing a song to distract themselves.

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(Laughter)

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So what this all shows
is just how much context matters.

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It's not that these kids
had good executive function or bad,

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it's that the context
helped them use it better.

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So what does this mean
for you and for your kids?

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Well, let's say that you want
to learn Spanish.

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You could try changing your context

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and surrounding yourself
with other people who also want to learn,

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and even better if these are people
that you really like.

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That way you'll be more motivated
to use executive function.

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Or let's say that you want to help
your child do better on her math homework.

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You could teach her strategies
to use executive function

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in that particular context,

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like putting her phone away
before she starts studying

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or planning to reward herself
after studying for an hour.

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Now, I don't want to make it sound
like context is everything.

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Executive function is really complex,
and it's shaped by numerous factors.

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But what I want you to remember

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is if you want to improve
your executive function

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in some aspect of your life,

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don't look for quick fixes.

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Think about the context

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and how you can make
your goals matter more to you,

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and how you can use strategies

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to help yourself
in that particular situation.

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I think the ancient Greeks said it best
when they said, "Know thyself."

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And a key part of this is knowing
how context shapes your behavior

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and how you can use that knowledge
to change for the better.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)