In a new study researchers have discovered some key findings about the nurturing development of executive function. It emphasizes the significant influence that education can have on this cognitive development. Executive function is the umbrella term given to the top down mental processes that control behavior, inhibiting our thoughts and actions. In all, the results strongly suggest that executive function skills of children are not necessarily biological traits, but are developed through the experiences provided by formal schooling.
The study by anthropologist Joseph Henrich, the Ruth Moore Professor of Evolutionary Biology, and his team marks a shift. They looked at children of the same age from different cultural contexts in Kunene region of Namibia, in the UK and Bolivia. This cross-cultural study sheds light on the differences in executive function measures often featured in standardized national and international child development benchmarks.
Study Overview and Methodology
The study piloted children from rural communities of Kunene. It compared the health of those with relatively little or no formal schooling to their cohorts who were formally educated. The findings showed a striking disparity in executive function ability across these two groups. These findings raise serious challenges to the dominant cognitive developmental paradigm. They propose that executive function is a product of educational exposure rather than an innate characteristic.
For example, evaluations of executive function usually include a range of tasks and activities, such as remembering arbitrary lists of words that have nothing in common. As a more concrete measure of participants’ executive function in this study, we used a card-sorting task. Children were made to first sort four cards along one dimension (color), and then were required to re-sort the cards along various other dimensions (shape, number… etc). This undertaking yielded some great observations regarding the way kids from various school experiences think about equations or the operations within them.
In their article, the cultural psychology research team emphasized the important role of culture in cognitive development. Co-directors Ivan Kroupin from the London School of Economics and Helen Elizabeth Davis spearheaded this fundamental study. It’s no surprise that the study’s findings made it into the very highly ranked Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A major contribution as it advances the current scientific discussion on child psychology and development.
Implications for Cognitive Development
Joseph Henrich recently noted that the bulk of developmental research is based on children that are in school. This highlights the importance of including varied outdoor environments in future research. This singular focus has produced a somewhat myopic understanding of cognitive development. As such, it might not be generalizable to children from other cultural backgrounds. The results of this study suggest that many aspects traditionally viewed as normal cognitive development are actually products of formal education.
This new view of mind challenges researchers and educators to deeply question long-held assumptions about human psychology and the process of cognitive development. Understanding that executive function is influenced and created by culture emphasizes why our educational systems must change. They need to change their approaches to include different and multiple ways of learning across multiple cultures.
Henrich’s findings underscore the need for a much broader framework. This guiding framework needs to account for different types of learning and cognitive stimulation outside of conventional education. This shift ultimately promotes more equitable education outcomes for all students. Most importantly, it validates and harnesses the culturally relevant cognitive strengths that exist in all cultural communities.
Rethinking Educational Approaches
Perhaps most importantly, the findings of this study have important implications for policy-makers, educators, and researchers. Focusing on education’s role in cognitive development could have major implications for curriculum design and implementation around the globe. This requires educators to begin thinking about how they can implement culturally relevant teaching strategies that provide students of color a connection to their education.
Beyond its immediate findings, this study paves the way for more research investigating how culture and education together shape the cognitive development of learners. Recognizing the role of different types of learning experiences in developing executive function is essential to creating inclusive educational ecosystems where all learners thrive.