Trends in Cognitive Sciences
ReviewExecutive functions and self-regulation
Section snippets
A fruitful collaboration
For a long time, the literature on executive functions (EFs) from cognitive psychology and the social and personality psychological literature on self-regulation have largely led separate lives [1]. This is regrettable, as both fields may benefit greatly from each other's insights and expertise. Recent years, however, have seen significant attempts to link the two areas. This new rapprochement is being brought about by the integration of concepts such as working memory capacity (WMC) 2, 3 and
Self-regulation and self-control
The study of successful self-regulation and its failure has a long history 5, 6. Self-regulation can be broadly defined as goal-directed behavior, typically within at least a minimum temporal perspective. Common examples include achievement-related behaviors, personal strivings, and the regulation of shared goals in close relationships. In contrast, the term ‘self-control’ is commonly used to demarcate a narrower subset of self-regulatory processes: those that aim to override unwanted,
Executive functions
According to an influential taxonomy [8], there are three basic EFs: working memory operations such as the maintenance and updating of relevant information (‘updating’), inhibition of prepotent impulses (‘inhibition’), and mental set shifting (‘shifting’). Updating is closely connected with the construct of working memory 1, 9 and refers to the ability to keep information in an active, quickly retrievable state and shield this information from distraction [2]. Inhibition refers to the ability
Forging the link between EFs and self-regulation
In the following sections, we highlight several ways in which EFs and self-regulation may be intricately linked and provide a necessarily selective (due to space constraints) review of recent research that has supported these connections. Our review is based on four broad propositions. First, we argue that the three broad facets of EFs (updating, inhibiting, and shifting) support important mechanisms in an individual's self-regulatory goal pursuits (see Table 1 for an overview). Second, EFs
Working memory operations and self-regulation
Active representation. As outlined above, successful self-regulation entails the representation of goals and goal-relevant information 2, 15. Working memory may directly subserve the active mental representation of an individual's self-regulatory goals (recruited from long-term memory) and the associated means by which these goals can be attained 15, 16. Without an active representation of such goal-related information, self-regulation is directionless and bound to fail [5] unless individuals
Active inhibition of prepotent responses
A hallmark of successful self-regulation is the ability to actively inhibit or override behavioral responses such as (bad) habits and impulses that are incompatible with one's goals (see Box 2). Habits and impulses activate motor schemas that, unless inhibited, may be expressed in behavior once a certain threshold of activation is reached 30, 47. Using implicit reaction time measures [48] as marker variables for individuals’ impulsive predispositions, a number of studies across diverse domains
Task-switching: shifting means versus shifting goals
In contrast to working memory operations and inhibition, surprisingly little work has addressed possible connections between task-switching and self-regulation. This section is intended to further stimulate possible links. Our starting point is the notion of the cognitive control ‘dilemma’ [55], which holds that self-regulating organisms have to solve trade-offs between the rigid pursuit of a focal goal or task-set (‘rigidity’) and the possibility of being open to alternative courses of action
Temporary reductions in EFs as a common mechanism underlying situational risk factors
Self-regulation can be temporally impaired by a large range of situational factors such as cognitive load 35, 61, 62, ego depletion 63, 64, 65, environmental or social stressors 66, 67, alcohol intoxication [68], stereotype threat and other high-stakes situations 69, 70, mortality salience 71, 72, and interracial interaction [73]. These situational factors seem highly diverse at the surface. We argue, however, that most of the demonstrated impairments can be explained via state reductions in
Boosting self-control by training EFs
In recent years, there has been significant interest in whether EFs can be improved via repeated training in clinical, risk, and healthy populations 89, 90. Although there is no doubt that EFs such as WMC can be improved through training [91] or related interventions such as mindfulness meditation [92], the extent to which these improvements generalize and show positive transfer on everyday behavior is strongly debated 93, 94. New findings suggest, however, that WMC training may in fact help to
Concluding remarks
In the past few years, there has been increasing communication between cognitive and social and personality research on how people manage the pursuit of important long-term goals in the face of tempting alternatives. As we hope to have shown, social and personality research on self-regulation has benefitted enormously from the application of concepts and experimental paradigms from cognitive control research. Similarly, cognitive research may be inspired by the diverse ways in which social and
Acknowledgements
We thank Rachel Fisher, Hiroki Kotabe, Maike Luhmann, and Hans Marien for valuable comments.
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