Meltzer, Lynn. (Ed.) (2007) Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice. Reviewed by John Geake, Oxford Brookes University, UK

Meltzer, Lynn. (Ed.) (2007) Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice.New York: Guilford Publications 320 pp.     ISBN-10 1-59385-428-5 (paper cover)     ISBN-13-978-1-59385-428-7 (hard cover) Reviewed by John Geake Oxford Brookes University, UK November 20, 2007 This book is a collection of informative, provoking and sometimes-disparate thoughts about the critical issue of executive functioning in education. ‘Critical’, because executive functioning, often referred to in the past as ‘cognitive control’, enables metacognition, the basis of education’s decades-long preoccupation with process over product. ‘Disparate’ because executive functioning can be conceptualised both pragmatically and theoretically at levels of behaviour, cognition and neural function, where research evidence at any one level offers ambiguous support at best for the constructs at another. A major difficulty is that executive functioning as an over-arching concept can be so easily partitioned observationally, psychometrically and experimentally, presumably reflecting our limited understanding of how the brain enables us to plan and execute the myriad cognitive tasks, including learning in formal institutions, which it does everyday. Partitioning behaviour does not map easily on to the various schemes to partition its underlying cognition, and these in turn do not map easily on to the available (albeit sparse) evidence of how executive functioning is partitioned in the brain. Unsurprisingly, then, the chapters in this volume do not explicitly inter-relate, or employ any single over-arching conceptual framework, but this is, perhaps ironically, a considerable strength. Through its divergent presentations, the book demonstrates the breadth of current understanding about executive functioning, together with the conceptual insecurities and conflicts, and evidential ambiguities and lacunae which characterise our present limited understanding of executive function. Whereas it is known that executive functioning as a brain process involves the activation of the prefrontal cortex, exactly how this is act of coordination is done is still a matter of conjecture (Gray, Chabris & Braver, 2003). Little wonder then that at the cognitive level, there as many ways to cut the cake as there are theorists wielding knives. For example, executive functioning is defined in Chapter 5 as involving “planning – organizing – prioritising – shifting – memorizing – checking”, whereas in Chapter 11, the required components are “activation, orchestration, monitoring, evaluation and adaptation.” Contrast the more parsimonious approach in Chapter 2, where executive functioning is simply a matter of “hill – skill –will”, or in Chapter 7 where overcoming deficits in executive functioning requires focus on “situation – action – outcome.” As conference delegates often quip: “Theoretical models are like toothbrushes – everyone has one but nobody wants to use anybody else’s!” However, this makes the professed aim of this volume - to explore and articulate optimal executive functioning strategies for academic success - all the more laudable. It is only with such educational aims to the fore can cognitive neuroscience progress towards relevant classroom applications. The Editor, Lynn Meltzer, is an internationally renowned researcher in SEN; her extensive experience in this area of education is reflected in the organisation and selection of contributions. The book is divided into three sections: Part I (Chapters 1 – 4) on theoretical frameworks; Part II (Chapters 5 – 7) on executive dysfunction in diagnostic groups; and Part III (Chapters 8 – 13) on pedagogic interventions to enhance executive function processing in educational settings. To begin Part I, Denkla (Chapter 1) provides a brief but cogent overview of the field, albeit with a strong ADHD and general learning disabilities filter, in which she presents some germane neuroscientific evidence for how executive functioning might be instantiated in the brain. This chapter deserves close attention by anyone venturing into this field. Denkla rightly points out that to equate executive functioning with prefrontal cortical functioning is to commit a category error, but she also notes that with the range of individual differences in neural development that she is familiar with, the phenomenon of high variance in executive functioning within an age cohort should not be surprising. Nonetheless, as valuable an introduction as this is, it is perhaps a pity that more of the neuroscience was not reviewed here, as several of the following chapters refer to brain functioning but without informative specificity. In particular, as perhaps the key aspect of executive function, working memory, which as a construct crosses the cognitive-neural boundary, deserves more attention throughout the book. Functional neuroimaging studies have shown that the functional neural correlates of working memory lie in the prefrontal cortex (Rypma et al, 1999). Consistently, structural neuroimaging studies have revealed individual differences in prefrontal cortical structures which correlate positively with differences in working memory capacity (Haier et al, 2004). Consequently, an argument could be mounted that working memory efficacy rather than executive functioning writ large could make a more tractable target for classroom improvement (Geake, 2007). The other chapters in Part I present a variety of conceptual perspectives. Chapter 2 seems curiously mis-named “Executive Functioning from a Multiple Intelligences Perspective“ since the authors (Moran and Gardner) argue that executive functioning is the sole preserve of intrapersonal intelligence, to the exclusion of the other hypothesised MIs. Chapter 3 makes the important point for education that executive functioning in children has a dynamic trajectory: throughout these early stages of the life span there is significant growth and development of the prefrontal cortex (Shaw et al, 2006), the most important area of the brain for executive functioning. Fisher and Daley note in Chapter 4 that executive functioning is not unitary, consisting of “independent but loosely coupled” sub-components. Therein lies the problem for neuroscientists, who are necessarily constrained to use stimuli from cognitive modelling in their neuroimaging experiments. For example, one study of the superior lateral prefrontal cortex concludes that this area seems to be involved in higher-order spatial processing within executive functioning, except when there is a high working load when it reverts to load-monitoring (Boisguenheneuc et al, 2006). But an earlier study of the same area suggests that its primary purpose is task inhibition (Konishi et al, 2003). It’s all very puzzling. Part II of Meltzer’s book is on executive dysfunction, and is the most solid section, mainly because executive dysfunction seems better operationalised, if not better understood, than executive functioning. Children with executive dysfunction are reliably diagnosed with a battery of validated neuropsychological tests which are predictive of observed behaviour, an approach notably progressed by Luria and the Russia Troika more than half a century ago. The chapters in Part II, along with Chapter 1, Chapter 10, and the closing Chapter 13, cover learning difficulties attributable to executive dysfunction. Chapter 7 argues that autistic spectrum disorders can also arise from executive dysfunction, although one could question the relative juxtaposition of cause and effect. Of course absence of dysfunction is not the same as the presence of efficacious function. Not that any of the authors is claiming that, but some evidence from the positive side of the ledger, such as gifted students whose executive functioning seems to enable then to enjoy comparatively effortless academic success, could be enlightening (a passing mention of high abilities in the Chapter 12 notwithstanding). The chapters in Part II are enriched by first person anecdotes from some of the authors’ referrals, so could chapters from the other Parts have possibly been enriched by anecdotes from gifted students? As it stands, the book could almost have been entitled Executive Dysfunction in Education without too much loss of intent. Part III gets to the nub – application. Although Meltzer, Pollica and Barzillai in Chapter 8 argue the case for curriculum-specific manifestations of executive functioning, it is in this section that it particularly seems a pity that the authors could not have seen drafts of the other chapters, and have been encouraged to make some substantive links. For example, Chapter 12 valuably considers meta-cognition over Grades 1 to 8, but without the neuro-developmental perspective provided by Chapters 3 and 4. Hence one might quibble that claims in Chapter 12 of how the brain works would be more accurately expressed as how the mind works. This is not a trivial quibble. In moving through the book from the lab (Part I) to the classroom (Part III) perspective, there is a noticeable conceptual shift along a spectrum of deliberation. Chapter 11 defines executive functioning as “conscious and purposeful”, whereas in neuroscience (as summarised in Chapter 1), executive functioning is regarded largely as being unconscious. There seems to be some confusion of executive functioning with meta-cognition, and what are and are not candidates for teacher-led intervention. In this regard, compared with its companions, Chapter 11 on mathematics is quite idiosyncratic, and disappointingly there is no mention of the post-TIMS studies on metacognitive strategies in Japanese mathematics classrooms. And having covered the 3-Rs, is there is anything to be said about executive functioning in non-3R curriculum areas such as science, or music, or visual art, as there are no chapters on these? Moreover, it would be interesting to see where the Baddeley model of working memory and/or the neuroimaging evidence for prefrontal cortical involvement in executive functioning fit into the various recommendations in Part III for teaching metacognition. Certainly the limited evidence for neural dissociations of some working memory processes raises the question of whether targeted educational interventions could improve these various components of working memory function for all children. For example, Miyake et al (2000) investigated the fractionation of executive functions, with three separable but moderately correlated attributes: mental set shifting, information updating and monitoring, and inhibition of pre-potent responses. Such fractionation of executive functioning in educational settings has been used to predict children’s mathematical ability (Bull & Scerif, 2001). Lower mathematical ability seems due to poor working memory affecting relevant goal setting and task switching, and lack of inhibition of irrelevant information. This dichotomy whereby differences in performance involves differences in strategies has been replicated in other studies; higher ability was due to reliance on constructive matching of information to task goal, whereas lower ability was due to limited matching of proximate information to task goal (Bunge et al, 2005). None of the above should be necessarily taken as negative criticism of this book, but rather indicative of how much this reviewer found the contributions to be stimulating. Although we don’t fully understand how working memory within executive functioning is fractionated or instantiated at a neural level, it has been suggested elsewhere that teachers and cognitive neuroscientists should join forces to research pedagogies to optimise working memory functioning, including: short term memory capacity; accessing appropriate LTM store; making creative connections; delaying closure; evaluating relevance; as a means of enhancing executive functioning in the classroom (Geake, 2007). Because it covers extant educational thinking about executive functioning without imposing a particular conceptual blinker, Meltzer's book Executive Function in Education is a good starting place for anyone, whether neuroscientist, cognitive psychologist or educator, to embark from on such research. References Boisgueheneuc, F. du, Levy, R., Volle, E., Seassau, M., Duffau, H., Kinkingnehun, S., Samson, Y., Zhang, S. & Dubois, B. 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About the reviewer John Geake, PhD, is University Professor of Education, Westminster Institute, Oxford Brookes University, UK, and member of the Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Oxford. His research interests focus on educational neuroscience. Dr Geake is the founding convenor of the Oxford Cognitive Neuroscience Education Forum (2001), an advisor to the House of Lords All Party Parliamentary Group on Science Research in Learning and Education, and a consultant on educational neuroscience to the United States National Science Foundation Science of Learning Centres Program.