Views of Russell A. Barkley on Executive Functioning

Views of Russell A. Barkley on Executive Functioning

Introduction

Executive Functions are mental functions that enable self-control and direction of their own behavior. It would not be wrong to say that Executive Functions or EF is a neuro-cognitive processes that depend on the proper functioning of the frontal lobes of the brain that are performed very quickly in an unconscious manner (Barkley, 2012). This is how we make decisions advantageous looking ahead even if this means neglecting immediate gratification. Research has shown that if a person suffers damage, accident or illness in their frontal lobes, inevitably present problems in executive functions.

No doubt, the executive functions give rise to a range of skills that are crucial for successful job performance, studies and other areas of daily life. The adult life in our societies is itself quite complicated, so any alteration or disruption of executive functions can make the lives of people affected (Barkley, 2011). Therefore, the concept of executive functions defines a set of cognitive skills that allow anticipation and setting goals, training plans and programs, the onset of mental operations and activities, self-regulation of the tasks and the ability to carry them out efficiently. This defines the activity of a set of cognitive processes related to the functioning of the frontal lobes of the brain (Roca et al., 2010). They would be responsible for receiving information from other brain structures through coordination with each other to perform goal-directed behavior. This paper aims to discuss the executive functions defined by Russell A. Barkley along with their deficits and corrections.

Discussion

What are Executive Functions

The executive functions are related to brain functions that implement, organize, integrate and manage other functions that cause people to be able to measure the effects of short and long term plans related to their actions and results. EF allows people to be able both to evaluate their actions at the time to carry them out and to make the necessary adjustments in cases where actions are not giving the desired result (Barkley, 2011). There are different models of executive functions proposed by several researchers, but the definition made above covers the basic approaches contained in almost all. There is no doubt about the fact that two of the principal investigators who have studied executive functions are Russell A. Barkley and Thomas E. Brown. Barkley defines four areas of executive functions (Barkley, 2012):

Nonverbal memory

Verbal memory

Self-regulation

Reconstitution

Non-verbal Memory

It is the ability to maintain internally represented information to be used to control the issuance of contingent responses to an event. It allows keeping events in the mind, imitation, vicarious learning, perception of past and future, delayed reciprocal altruism, perception of time, organization of behavior etc. (Roca et al., 2010).

Verbal Memory

Verbal memory refers to the process by which the action is at the service of thought through language. In this sense, the internalization of speech would be one of the main indicators that the child is mature. The verbal memory allows self-description, reflection, instruction and questioning, rule-governed behavior, reading ...