مروری بر مفهوم کارکرد اجرایی: با تمرکز بر دوران پیش‌دبستانی

کارکردهای اجرایی، مجموعه‌ای از پردازش‌های شناختی سطح بالا محسوب می‌شوند که در رفتارهای هدفمند ظاهر شده و به طور گسترده در فعالیت‌های روزمره مورد استفاده قرار می‌گیرند. این مهارت‌ها در کودکی و به ویژه دوران پیش از دبستان رشد چشمگیری دارند؛ از این رو شناخت دقیق آنها در این مرحله از زندگی از اهمیت بالایی برخوردار است. هدف این پژوهش مروری، بررسی مفهوم کارکردهای اجرایی با تمرکز بر سنین پیش از دبستان می‌باشد. در این راستا به گرد‌آوری نظریات مرتبط، ابزارهای سنجش و ویژگی‌های رشدی آن در سال‌های کودکی پرداخته شده است. طرح پژوهش حاضر از نوع توصیفی بوده و از میان 3939 مقالۀ انگلیسی زبان مرتبط با کارکردهای اجرایی در پایگاه داده اسکوپوس، تعدادی انتخاب و مورد بررسی قرار گرفتند. یافته‌ها بیانگر وجود 2 دیدگاه کلی مرتبط با کارکردهای اجرایی می‌باشد؛ همچنین اهمیت شکل‌گیری و رشد این پردازش‌های شناختی در سال‌های کودکی مورد توافق پژوهشگران می‌باشد.

review of the concept of executive function: focusing on preschool

executive functions are a set of higher order cognitive processes that manifest in purposeful behaviors and are widely used in everyday activities. these skills significantly develop in childhood, especially during preschool years. therefore, their accurate recognition at this stage of life is really important. this review study was conducted with the aim to investigate the concept of executive functions with a focus on preschool ages. to this end, related theories, assessment tools, and their developmental characteristics in childhood were collected. for this descriptive study, we selected and reviewed 3939 english papers related to executive functions in the scopus database. our findings revealed two general views on executive functions. furthermore, researchers agree on the importance of the formation and development of these cognitive processes in childhood.introduction: childhood is called the golden age of one’s life. researchers believe that one of the components that emerge in early childhood and develops rapidly in the preschool years is executive functions (efs) (zelazo carlson, 2012; serpel esposito, 2016). efs are high-level cognitive processes such as reasoning, problem solving, and planning that are used to voluntarily control thought and action. this cognitive capacity grows slowly during childhood, peaks in adulthood, and declines in middle age (overton lerner, 2010; zelazo carlson, 2012). attention to efs during childhood and its outcomes for children’s preparation for school, adaptation to school, and future educational success has been extensively researched, which emphasizes the importance of this influential cognitive component more than ever. also, because of the emphasis on the importance of measuring efs in children for diagnosing childhood disorders and subsequent adult problems (carlson, 2005) and that the development of these skills is influenced by the environment (serpel esposito, 2016; carlson, 2005), one can take a step toward children’s greater success by measuring efs in preschool ages, promoting them, and enriching activities appropriate for these years.the importance of accurate recognition of this basic cognitive component and the dramatic and increasing growth of various related research raised the need for a comprehensive study of this concept. furthermore, there is a lack of accurate introduction and a coherent review of theories related to efs among domestic research on efs, especially in the early years of life, which is one of the most effective and golden periods for efs. therefore, this study sought to review the research on efs and introduce this concept to better understand it in preschool age, and to answer these questions: what are the theories in this area? what tools are there to measure efs? how does this cognitive component develop during childhood?materials and methods: this was a descriptive survey study. the statistical population comprised english papers on efs. the keyword of “executive function*” was searched for in the scopus database in the title of articles and the results were limited to the field of psychology.