The ability to set and implement goals is one of the brain’s most sophisticated capacities. Goal setting is mediated by the prefrontal cortex, the last region of the brain to fully mature. In order to set and achieve a goal, a person has to hold onto what they have learned and experienced in the past, and then integrate that information with what they desire for the future. An individual has to resist reacting to current environmental stimuli and instead be guided by an internal representation of the future. The ability to achieve the desired outcome will depend upon accessing long-term memories, focusing attention on stimuli in the environment related to achieving the desired outcome, delaying short-term gratification, inhibiting old patterns of response, and planning the steps and sequences for new responses.
How do our brains accomplish these complex tasks? We use the cortical executive functions: Working memory, cortical modulation and cognitive flexibility.
- Working memory consists of a workspace in which information can be temporarily stored and mental work can be carried out. Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux uses the computer to illustrate these cognitive capacities. The operating system of a computer is responsible for moving information from permanent storage (ROM) to a central processing unit with active memory (RAM). The executive function operates in a similar fashion by selecting appropriate environmental stimuli and then moving relevant information from storage throughout the brain into this workspace to process and direct behavioral responses. These executive functions allow for problem solving, decision making, and choosing a particular course of action.
- Cortical modulation is a higher brain function that allows individuals to inhibit impulses, resist temptations, and disrupt automatic habitual ways of behaving. This capacity allows us to make choices—to stop and think before we act.
- Cognitive flexibility allows individuals to shift their attention, adjust to changing environmental demands, and understand rules that govern behavior in different situations. For example, in the home a child is told to share his toys with other children, but on the soccer field he is instructed to steal the ball from a peer. In life there are exceptions to many rules that demand flexibility in our thinking and actions.
This ability to intentionally direct our behavior, and inhibit or modulate automatic, habitual patterns of reacting is not a skill we are born with, but one that must be developed over time. As people mature, they become less impulsive and reactive, allowing them to be more thoughtful and deliberate in their responses. These expanding behavioral capacities are a reflection of the underlying maturation and organization of the brain.
The developing child depends upon adults to provide structure and predictable routines to support the emergence of the brain’s executive functions. By matching the environmental demands to children’s developmental capacities, adults allow the child to experience the repetition of challenges, frustration and success as they work on tasks. This builds strong neural networks, allowing children to begin to integrate sensations, feelings and thoughts into a goal-directed action. These same abilities will foster the capacity for children to wait their turn, stay focused on tasks, and to remember and follow instructions when they enter the complex social environment of a school setting. These social/emotional capabilities are what make children “school ready,” not just the ability to understand numbers and letters.
The impact of trauma on executive functions
Early exposure to developmental insults affects the emergence of executive functions. Prenatal complications such as substance abuse, exposure to environmental toxins, illness, and high levels of maternal stress can disrupt the intrauterine environment and impact the fetus’s developing brain. Abuse, neglect and exposure to chaotic, unsafe environments can interfere with the regulation of important biochemicals resulting in modifications of brain architecture and functions. Exposure to adverse early experiences not only interferes with the child’s current functioning, but also alters the developmental pathway and can result in profound age expected deficits in working memory, cortical modulation and cognitive flexibility.
Hope
Don’t get discouraged because science tells us there is hope for children whose brains have been impacted by trauma. The developing brain’s capacity to be influenced by environmental stimulation presents us with the possibility of altering children’s developmental trajectory by exposing them to effective developmentally sensitive interventions. Research demonstrates that the brain remains plastic throughout life, meaning it is able to change in response to environmental input. However, the brain overproduces neurons early in life, and then chisels away those cells that are not used while strengthening the connections between pathways that are repetitively activated. Therefore, the earlier the intervention, the more adaptable the brain is to developmentally appropriate stimulation. It takes less energy and resources to create change in a system that is still being organized than it does to disrupt a system and then reorganize it. A system once organized will work to maintain itself.
A child who has missed out on certain academic knowledge will be much more capable of benefiting from academically focused remedial interventions than a child who has deficits in self-regulatory functions. Our child welfare and educational systems must radically rethink the way they treat children with learning and behavioral problems. Interventions must be focused on stimulating the development of lower brain functions before attempting to address higher cortical mediated functions. This can be accomplished by balancing exposure to somatosensory, emotionally meaningful and cognitive activities throughout the child’s day. The timing, intensity and duration of each of these interventions should be sensitive to the child’s capacity to process the experience. To be effective, interventions must challenge children, but not overwhelm them. Children will naturally seek to explore their environment when they feel safe. The process of discovery and learning becomes pleasurable. Pleasure will increase the likelihood of repetition, and repetition will create long-term changes in the brain that the intervention is designed to accomplish.
As a society, instead of labeling children who struggle to negotiate developmental demands, we must all become more developmentally sensitive, encouraging, and responsive. Our long-term goal is to help facilitate the development of citizens who can collaboratively function in a social group, delay gratification of immediate needs, and work toward the achievement of individual, family and community goals. Both for our children and for ourselves, we should strive to emulate the qualities of Janus—the ability to learn from the past and to develop strategies in the present, in order to achieve a desired outcome in the future.
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Dr. Jerry welcomes your questions! If you'd like additional information on any topic discussed or suggestions for future entries, please let us know!
