Sabine Doebel: How your brain's executive function works -- and how to improve it
Sabine Doebel: Cómo funciona la función ejecutiva de su cerebro y cómo mejorarla
Sabine Doebel studies the developing mind to understand how experience shapes our thinking and executive control skills. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
when you first learned how to drive?
aprendió a conducir?
era consciente y deliberada?
was so conscious and deliberate?
completely wiped out mentally.
mentalmente agotada.
I know that this is because I was using
sé que eso es porque estaba usando
called executive function.
la función ejecutiva.
to consciously control our thoughts,
controlar conscientemente pensamientos,
to break away from habit,
romper con un hábito,
y anticiparse.
when things go wrong.
claramente cuando las cosas van mal.
poured orange juice on your cereal?
echa su jugo en los cereales?
por Facebook
you've missed a meeting?
de que se perdió una reunión?
en el camino de casa al trabajo
on the way home from work
instead on autopilot?
el camino a casa en piloto automático?
in executive function.
un lapso en la función ejecutiva.
every day in all aspects of our lives.
en todos los aspectos de nuestras vidas.
that it predicts all kinds of good things
que predice todo tipo de cosas buenas
mental and physical health,
académicos, salud mental y física,
are so interested in understanding it
estén tan interesados en entenderlo
a huge self-improvement buzzword.
se ha convertido en una palabra de moda.
through brain-training iPhone apps
con apps de entrenamiento mental
like playing chess.
específica, como jugando ajedrez.
to train it in the lab
de entrenarla en el laboratorio
and other things related to it,
y otras cosas relacionadas,
about executive function is all wrong.
ejecutiva es totalmente equivocada.
executive function in a broad sense
la función ejecutiva en general
exercising it in a narrow way,
en un sentido limitado,
in which we actually use it.
real en los realmente la usamos.
de función ejecutiva en su móvil
function app on your phone,
jugo en sus Cheerios 2 veces por semana.
pouring OJ on your Cheeerios twice a week.
your executive function
su función ejecutiva
how it's influenced by context.
influenciada por el contexto.
that we use in the lab
usamos en el laboratorio
in young children
de cambio dimensional"
cards in one way --
que ordenar tarjeta de una manera,
construyen un hábito.
tienen problemas con esto.
keep sorting the cards in the old way
las tarjetas a la manera antigua
them of what they should be doing.
recuerdes qué deberían hacer.
If it's red, put it here.
Si es roja, aquí.
a different game.
un juego diferente.
the color game anymore.
del color más.
el juego de la forma
y nos camiones van aquí, ¿de acuerdo?
and all the trucks go here, OK?
los camiones aquí.
los caminiones aquí.
los camiones van aquí.
to use her executive function.
al usar su función ejecutiva.
and others like it
tarea y otras similares,
ejecutiva fuera del laboratorio?
her executive function outside of the lab?
she'll need to use executive function
necesitará usar la función ejecutiva
between shape and color.
cambiar entre forma y color.
from adding to multiplying
to thinking about her friend.
a pensar en los de su amigo.
depends on things
depende de cosas
and what your peers are doing.
y qué hacen sus compañeros.
on the strategies that you execute
las estrategias que ejecutas
in a particular situation.
ejecutiva en una situación particular.
that context really matters.
el contexto realmente importa.
from my research.
de mi investigación.
to do the classic marshmallow test,
niños la prueba del malvavisco,
of delay of gratification
retraso de la gratificación
a lot of executive function.
un montón de función ejecutiva.
to go to the other room
a otra habitación
that second marshmallow,
quieren el segundo malvavisco,
How long can they wait?
¿Cuánto pueden esperar?
to look at the effects of context.
los efectos del contexto.
a green T-shirt to wear.
verde para llevarla.
waited for two marshmallows,
para los dos malvaviscos,
for two marshmallows
los dos malvaviscos
to see how long they waited.
los niños que creían
for two marshmallows
that they'd never even met.
de pares que nunca habían conocido.
I still didn't know
or if it was something deeper than that.
o había algo más profundo en eso.
I showed them pictures of pairs of kids,
les mostré fotos de parejas de niños
likes to have things right away,
le gusta tener cosas de inmediato,
more of these things."
do you like more
who believed that their group waited
que creían que su grupo esperaba
who liked to wait for things.
que querían esperar por cosas.
made them value waiting more.
les hizo valorar esperar más.
usaron esta función
to help themselves wait,
ayudarlos a esperar,
or turning away from the marshmallow
o alejarse del malvavisco
is just how much context matters.
cuánto importa el contexto.
had good executive function or bad,
una buena o mala función ejecutiva,
helped them use it better.
a usarla mejor.
for you and for your kids?
y para sus niños?
to learn Spanish.
with other people who also want to learn,
que también quieren aprender,
that you really like.
que realmente aprecia.
to use executive function.
para usar la función ejecutiva.
your child do better on her math homework.
su hijo a mejorar su tarea de matemáticas.
to use executive function
para usar la función ejecutiva
before she starts studying
antes de que empiece a estudiar
after studying for an hour.
después de estudiar durante una hora.
like context is everything.
como si el contexto es todo.
and it's shaped by numerous factors.
y formada por numerosos factores.
your executive function
sus funciones ejecutivas
your goals matter more to you,
sus metas importen más para Uds.
in that particular situation.
esa situación particular.
when they said, "Know thyself."
mejor al decir: "Conócete a ti mismo"
how context shapes your behavior
el contexto moldea sus comportamientos
to change for the better.
ese conocimiento para mejorar.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sabine Doebel - Cognitive scientistSabine Doebel studies the developing mind to understand how experience shapes our thinking and executive control skills.
Why you should listen
Sabine Doebel conducts research with children in an effort to understand the nature of the mind, with much of her work focusing on how children develop the cognitive abilities that serve us so well as adults, like controlling impulses, thinking ahead, and staying on task.
Doebel is an incoming assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where she will direct the brand new Developing Minds Lab. She earned her PhD from the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota and subsequently was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in Psychological Science, Cognition, Developmental Psychology and Child Development. A full list of her publications can be found here.
Doebel is also a passionate advocate of open science and has received funding from the National Science Foundation to help developmental scientists adopt transparency-enhancing practices that will allow them to build more easily on each other's work.
Sabine Doebel | Speaker | TED.com