30 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
The Prefontal Cortex
Executive functions take place in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. I love the term that Stanislas Dehaene uses to describe this part of the brain—a global neuronal workspace. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for the ability to exchange information across the high-level areas of the brain, Dehaene says, so that our behavior can be guided by our accumulated knowledge. That’s the beauty and the purpose of executive functions: they enable us to control ourselves, to reflect deeply, and... 1 
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notesInsightful description of its purpose in executive function, taking the information stored in our brains to control the rest of it.
26 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Two Views of Consciousness
There is no end of hypotheses about consciousness, particularly by philosophers. But most of these are not what we might call principled scientific theories, based on observables and related to the functions of the brain and body. Several theories of consciousness based on functionalism and on the machine model of the mind... have recently been proposed. These generally come in two flavors: one in which consciousness is assumed to be efficacious, and another in which it is considered an epiph...Folksonomies: consciousness
Folksonomies: consciousness
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notesOne view is that it is the executive function of the brain, the other is that it is a byproduct of its processing.
31 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Activities With Children
After my children turned 3, I employed some fun activities to improve executive function, roughly based on the canonical work of Adele Diamond. I would tell them that today was “opposite day. When I held up a drawn picture of the night, an inky black background sprinkled with stars, they were supposed to say “day.” When I held up a picture with a big blue sky inhabited by a big yellow sun, they were supposed to say “night.” I would alternate the pictures with increasing rapidity ...
1 Some activities the author engages with his children to teach them self-control.
31 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
An Hour of TV a Day Equals a 10 Percent Increase in Atten...
Another example comes from a study that looked at bullying. For each hour of TV watched daily by children under age 4, the risk increased 9 percent that they would engage in bullying behavior by the time they started school. This is poor emotional regulation at work. Even taking into account chicken-or-egg uncertainties, the American Association of Pediatrics estimates that 10 percent to 20 percent of real-life violence can be attributed to exposure to media violence.
TV also poisons at... 1 notes
notesEven second-hand television, just having it on the the room, causes problems; therefore, the APA recommends no Television for children for two years.
28 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Imaginative Play with Rules
Vygotsky was one of the few researchers of his era to study dramatic play in children. He predicted that the ability of the under-5 crowd to engage in imaginative activities was going to be a better gauge of academic success than any other activity—including quantitative and verbal competencies. The reason, Vygotsky believed, was that such engagement allowed children to learn how to regulate their social behaviors.
Hardly the carefree activity we think of in the United States, Vygotsky sa... 1 notes
notesAdding rules to imaginative play gives children better self-control.
28 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Children With Self-Control Do Better in Life
A healthy, well-adjusted preschooler sits down at a table in front of two giant, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. It’s not a kitchen table—it’s Walter Mischel’s Stanford lab during the late 1960s. The smell is heavenly. “You see these cookies?” Mischel says. “You can eat just one of them right now if you want, but if you wait, you can eat both. I have to go away for five minutes. If I return and you have not eaten anything, I will let you have bothcookies. If you eat on... 1 notes
notesChildren who can resist eating a cookie long enough to be rewarded with a second one have much higher SAT scores.
