Full PreFrontal: Exposing the Mysteries of Executive Function

Send us a textThe Google search for “how to teach a child to tie shoes” comes up with approximately 7.5 million hits. Obviously, parents and adults in general have recognized that folding over the shoelaces, crossing the bunny ears, and looping them to tie a knot needs to be taught with great care. However, you walk into any hallway in elementary, middle, or high school and two distinct trends appear. The shoes with laces are completely replaced with Velcro and many of those who ARE wearing shoes have their laces untied. Developing self-assessment to know when the shoelaces are untied and then engaging the impulse control to stop everything and tie the shoelaces to prevent a potential fall, is the hallmark of self-regulation. But a great deal of individual variability in learning self-control can pose a grave challenge to parents and teachers. My guest Fred Morrison, Ph.D., will discuss how to think about self-regulation and Executive Function as a volitional self-directed control across the lifespan.About Fred Morrison, Ph.D.Dr. Morrison is currently Professor of Psychology, Professor in the Combined Program in Education and Psychology and Research Professor in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. In recent years, his research has focused on understanding the nature and sources of children’s cognitive, literacy and social development over the school transition period. The work ranges from conducting basic research studies utilizing natural experiments and large-scale longitudinal descriptive studies of children’s developmental trajectories to developing, implementing and evaluating  two major school-based interventions aimed at improving children’s learning during the preschool and early school years. Recently, he has been exploring schooling effects on brain and behavioral measures of children’s self-regulation. He has been recognized for his contributions to development and education, being awarded the Dina Feitelson award for the second time, for the best research article published in 2005 and 2015. He has been continuously funded by federal grating agencies for 25 years. Over that period, he has served on national review panels at NICHD, NSF and IES.  He has mentored approximately 50 graduate student and 8 post-doctoral fellows.BookImproving Literacy in America: Guidelines from ResearchAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textPeople like Dr. Mae C. Jemison live by the dictum, “if you're bored, you are not paying attention.” That philosophy has served her well as she is a former NASA astronaut and the first woman of color in the world to go to space. She could pay attention and direct her curiosity in whichever direction she wanted. Dr. Jemison got work done and kept on achieving. This was not the case for my client, "Scott Joplin," whose learning struggles began as a child when he was diagnosed with not one, not two, but multiple developmental disabilities which made his learning very laborious and paying attention quite exhausting. Scott had no shortage of intelligence and creative imagination, but the access to his own full capacity was upstaged by his difficulty in expressing his comprehension and delivering work when needed. He needed someone like me to untangle learning from learning-to-learn and the results were outstanding! Scott is a charming, caring, and very successful computer scientist whose commitment to self-development has payed off.About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textHave you ever tried to point out mistakes in someone – maybe in your child, spouse, employee, or even your boss? And what do you get? A sharp rebuttal or a strong push back. Peace comes to those whose self-concept and behaviors are in harmony with each other. If not, the result is cognitive dissonance. When you do something wrong, your brain is wired to try and relieve the tension it feels by immediately making up excuses for you. On this show, our guest, Dr. Carol Tavris, will give us some tips to handle this subconscious process so that we can learn and grow from our mistakes instead of simply denying and self-justifying.About Carol Tavris, Ph.D.Carol Tavris is a social psychologist, writer, and lecturer who has sought to use the contributions of psychological science to dispel some of the harms of pseudoscience. Her book with Elliot Aronson, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me), explains why people don’t change their minds, recognize the harms they inflict, or give up useless practices simply because the evidence says they should. Carol is also author of the classic Anger: The misunderstood emotion and The Mismeasure of Woman:Why women are not the better sex, the inferior sex, or the opposite sex. She has written hundreds of articles, essays, and book reviews on topics in psychological science, and she currently writes a column, “The Gadfly,” for Skeptic. Carol has given lectures, workshops, and keynote addresses to diverse audiences around the world. She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science; her other awards include an honorary doctorate from Simmons College for her work in promoting critical thinking and gender equity; an award from the Center for Inquiry, Independent Investigations Group, for contributions to skepticism and science; and the Media Achievement Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.BooksMistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)Anger: The Misunderstood EmotionAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textYour 20-something-year-old son decides to buy a car without your help and you come to find out that he got ripped off. He tells you the story of what happened and you cannot believe it. Apparently, your son agreed to buy a car off Craigslist, gave your home address to a stranger, and thought nothing of the request to pay in cash, even when the seller showed up with a car that looked nothing like the one in the online ad. When you point out these red flags to your son, all he does is get mad and come up with reasons of self-justification, which makes you furious. Our guest, Dr. Carol Tavris, will say that, in fact, your son is just a victim of his brain’s own deception. Find out about the perils of cognitive dissonance and why we find it hard to accept our own mistakes.About Carol Tavris, Ph.D.Carol Tavris is a social psychologist, writer, and lecturer who has sought to use the contributions of psychological science to dispel some of the harms of pseudoscience. Her book with Elliot Aronson, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me), explains why people don’t change their minds, recognize the harms they inflict, or give up useless practices simply because the evidence says they should. Carol is also author of the classic Anger: The misunderstood emotion and The Mismeasure of Woman:Why women are not the better sex, the inferior sex, or the opposite sex. She has written hundreds of articles, essays, and book reviews on topics in psychological science, and she currently writes a column, “The Gadfly,” for Skeptic. Carol has given lectures, workshops, and keynote addresses to diverse audiences around the world. She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science; her other awards include an honorary doctorate from Simmons College for her work in promoting critical thinking and gender equity; an award from the Center for Inquiry, Independent Investigations Group, for contributions to skepticism and science; and the Media Achievement Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.BooksMistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)Anger: The Misunderstood EmotionAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textOn a daily basis we direct our attention, guide our instincts, and move from making micro to macro decisions feeling that we are fully in control of our inner machinery called the brain. While exploring the nature and development of Executive Function skills and its impact on learning and self-awareness, one can’t help but notice that many of us are unaware of ‘why we do what we do’. On the podcast, a world-renowned primatologist and celebrated author, Professor Fran de Waal, brings a perspective that we are not so different from the animals and the Interconnectedness between the good, the bad, and the ugly tendencies that form the true human nature are quite closely related to our animal counterparts. About Frans de Waal, Ph.D.Frans de Waal is a Dutch/American biologist, born in the Netherlands in 1948, having lived in the USA since 1981. His passion is primate behavior, and the comparison between primate and human behavior.  He pursues the first as a scientist and the second as a writer of popular books. For him, there is nothing more logical than to look at human society through the lens of animal behavior.Frans has a Ph. D. in zoology and ethology (the study of animal behavior) from the University of Utrecht, and now teaches Psychology at Emory University, in Atlanta. He is also a Distinguished Professor at the University of Utrecht.His first book, “Chimpanzee Politics,” compared the schmoozing and scheming of chimpanzees involved in power struggles with that of human politicians. The book even reached the reading list of the congress in Washington. Ever since, Frans has drawn parallels between primate and human behavior, from aggression to morality and culture.Since childhood, he has been an animal lover, and in fact — even though his career has focused on primate behavior — he is very much interested in all sorts of animals, including fish and birds, but also elephants and dolphins.BooksChimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among ApesAre We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textPre-teen years are a breeding ground for pimples, mood swings, eye-rolls, and social awkwardness. But that’s not the only stuff these kids have to adjust to. There is a remarkable shift in academic demands that’s far out and equally daunting. During the Middle School years, kids have to actually learn how to study for tests, independently write papers by elaborating on ideas, and manage their priorities to put together projects. The system assumes that somehow these kids will learn to swim just because we have thrown them into the water of self-management. Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., returns for the second time to discuss ways to teach these essential and intricate skills that go into managing goals and priorities to help support the development of Executive Function skills.About Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D.Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D. is the President and Director of Research at the Research Institute for Learning and Development (ResearchILD) and Director of Assessment at the Institute for Learning and Development (ILD) in Lexington, MA. She holds appointments as an Associate in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Tufts University Department of Child Development. She is a fellow and Past-President of the prestigious International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities. Her 35 years of assessment and clinical consultation with children, adolescents, and adults have emphasized the critical importance of the theory-to-practice cycle of knowledge.Her research, publications, and presentations have focused on understanding the complexity of learning and attention problems using a multi-dimensional model to bridge the gap between theory, research, and practice. Her extensive publications and professional presentations include articles, chapters, and books relating to the assessment and treatment of learning difficulties with an emphasis on the importance of metacognition, strategy use, cognitive flexibility, self-concept, and resilience.BooksThe Power of Peers in the Classroom: Enhancing Learning and Social SkillsPromoting Executive Function in the ClassroomWebsitesResearchILD.orgSMARTS-EF.orgAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textIf not properly handled, some projects can spiral out of control like a runaway train. Assignments involving project-based learning professes that children learn best when they experience the real-world problems and solve them on their own. In one of the elementary schools I had worked with, students were spotted to rush in with awkwardly large homemade robots as part of their 4th grade project. The teacher’s conditions were such that each student had to design the robot without spending more than $5, assemble it without parents’ help, put together an operating manual, and finally present everything in front of the class.  Project management involves the finer aspects of executive function skills and is rarely taught systematically. So did this project truly help inculcate the crucial skills for real world problem solving? My guest Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., will discuss this very idea of ways to increase student’s control over his or her learning.* This is Lynn’s first podcast episode where she discusses Executive Function, managing long range goals, and learning the how of learning.About Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D.Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D. is the President and Director of Research at the Research Institute for Learning and Development (ResearchILD) and Director of Assessment at the Institute for Learning and Development (ILD) in Lexington, MA. She holds appointments as an Associate in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Tufts University Department of Child Development. She is a fellow and Past-President of the prestigious International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities. Her 35 years of assessment and clinical consultation with children, adolescents, and adults have emphasized the critical importance of the theory-to-practice cycle of knowledge.Her research, publications, and presentations have focused on understanding the complexity of learning and attention problems using a multi-dimensional model to bridge the gap between theory, research, and practice. Her extensive publications and professional presentations include articles, chapters, and books relating to the assessment and treatment of learning difficulties with an emphasis on the importance of metacognition, strategy use, cognitive flexibility, self-concept, and resilience.BooksThe Power of Peers in the Classroom: Enhancing Learning and Social SkillsPromoting Executive Function in the ClassroomWebsitesResearchILD.orgSMARTS-EF.orgAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textWhat do a sponge, a needle, or a drill bit fragment have in common?Well these are the most common but harmful things that a surgeon can leave inside you that don't belong there. Remembering to retrieve things out of patient’s cavity before suturing the patient up requires prospective memory – remembering to remember. It's the most critical Executive Function process essential in managing life’s goals. Our guest Professor Mark McDaniel, will be talking about ways to help carry out our future intentions and prevent dire consequences of our forgetfulness. *This is Professor McDaniel’s second podcast episode that provides an overview of tools and processes to manage prospective memory and Executive Function.About Mark McDaniel, Ph.D.Mark McDaniel is a Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences (1980 Ph.D., University of Colorado), and the founding Co-Director of the Center for Integrative Research on Cognition, Learning, and Education (CIRCLE) at Washington University in St. Louis. McDaniel is internationally known for his work in the application of cognitive psychological principles to education. Over the past 35 years he has published numerous papers related to education, including topics such as pre-questions, discovery learning, feedback, mental models, analogical learning, and classroom studies on testing effects.McDaniel has developed a number of other research foci in the general area of human learning and memory, including projects investigating the learning processes by which people acquire complex concepts. An important aspect of this work is exploring individual differences in the tendency for learners to focus on abstraction versus learning of examples when attempting to acquire complex concepts.  His research also includes an emphasis on prospective memory (remembering to perform an intended action at some future moment).McDaniel has published over 270 articles, chapters, and books in the area of human learning and memory. To facilitate dissemination of research literatures pertinent to learning and education, with Peter Brown and Roddy Roediger, he co-authored a book published by Harvard University Press entitled Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning (2014).BooksMemory Fitness (2004)Prospective Memory (2007)Make It Stick (2014)About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textElephants never forget! But I guess we do. Forgetting to drop off dry cleaning, book a hotel or register for a class on time can cause disruption if not devastation. Everyday we make plans to do things in the future. We have great intentions and a confident mental state that makes us believe that all of our plans will materialize; however, often our failed memories surprise us. Listen to my guest Professor Mark McDaniel talk about what prospective memory is all about and why we have trouble remembering to remember.About Mark McDaniel, Ph.D.Mark McDaniel is a Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences (1980 Ph.D., University of Colorado), and the founding Co-Director of the Center for Integrative Research on Cognition, Learning, and Education (CIRCLE) at Washington University in St. Louis. McDaniel is internationally known for his work in the application of cognitive psychological principles to education. Over the past 35 years he has published numerous papers related to education, including topics such as pre-questions, discovery learning, feedback, mental models, analogical learning, and classroom studies on testing effects.McDaniel has developed a number of other research foci in the general area of human learning and memory, including projects investigating the learning processes by which people acquire complex concepts. An important aspect of this work is exploring individual differences in the tendency for learners to focus on abstraction versus learning of examples when attempting to acquire complex concepts.  His research also includes an emphasis on prospective memory (remembering to perform an intended action at some future moment).McDaniel has published over 270 articles, chapters, and books in the area of human learning and memory. To facilitate dissemination of research literatures pertinent to learning and education, with Peter Brown and Roddy Roediger, he co-authored a book published by Harvard University Press entitled Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning (2014).BooksMemory Fitness (2004)Prospective Memory (2007)Make It Stick (2014)About Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Send us a textHowever creative we might be, the human blind spot disallows us from imagining ourselves vividly in the distant future. Neuroscience says we are far better at constructing our past from memory as compared to projecting ourselves as a distant future-self. For example, in theory, posting 100,000 post-it notes all over the high school as a senior prank sounds creative and harmless, right? It was only after 29 Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School students got suspended that they were able to imagine what pickle they got themselves into. Interestingly, the class of 2012 Valedictorian and Salutatorian were among the suspended 29. We assume smarts makes us better at seeing our future-self but it may be not be so. On this episode, my guest, Professor Hal Hershfield from the UCLA School of Management, will help connect Executive Function and the concept of future-self.About Hal Hershfield, Ph.D.Hal Hershfield, Assistant Professor of Marketing at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, aims to understand how thinking about time can alter people’s judgments and decisions, and transform their emotions. He investigates the factors that promote well-being as it manifests in financial decisions, health, and happiness. His central line of work examines the ways that people consider their future selves, and how feelings of connection to these distant selves can impact saving decisions, retirement choices, and ethical decisions.Prior to UCLA, Hershfield taught at NYU’s Stern School of Business, and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University in psychology and English, and a PhD in psychology from Stanford University.WebsiteHalHershfield.comAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show