Sabine Doebel: How your brain's executive function works -- and how to improve it
Sabine Doebel: Como a função executiva cerebral funciona e como aperfeiçoá-la
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.
de um cérebro velho.
when you first learned how to drive?
aprenderam a conduzir?
era tão consciente e deliberada?
was so conscious and deliberate?
completely wiped out mentally.
a casa exausta mentalmente.
I know that this is because I was using
que isso acontecia porque eu estava a usar
called executive function.
que se chama função executiva.
to consciously control our thoughts,
de controlar conscientemente
emoções e ações
to break away from habit,
de quebrar um hábito,
e planear com antecedência.
when things go wrong.
quando as coisas correm mal.
poured orange juice on your cereal?
colocaram sumo de laranja nos cereais?
you've missed a meeting?
que perderam uma reunião?
on the way home from work
ao voltar do trabalho para casa
instead on autopilot?
em piloto automático?
in executive function.
um lapso na função executiva.
every day in all aspects of our lives.
os aspetos da vida.
that it predicts all kinds of good things
que ela prevê todo o tipo de coisas boas
mental and physical health,
académicas, saúde mental e física,
are so interested in understanding it
estejam tão interessados em entendê-la
a huge self-improvement buzzword.
para a automelhoria
through brain-training iPhone apps
e jogos de computadores, no iPhone.
like playing chess.
como a jogar xadrez.
to train it in the lab
treiná-la no laboratório
and other things related to it,
about executive function is all wrong.
a função executiva é errado.
a função executiva num sentido amplo
executive function in a broad sense
exercising it in a narrow way,
exercitá-la de forma limitada,
em que a usamos.
in which we actually use it.
no vosso telemóvel,
function app on your phone,
de deitar sumo de laranja nos cereais,
pouring OJ on your Cheeerios twice a week.
your executive function
a vossa função executiva,
how it's influenced by context.
é influenciada pelo contexto.
that we use in the lab
que fazemos no laboratório
in young children
em crianças pequenas
da ordem de cartões".
cards in one way --
os cartões de uma certa maneira
de outra maneira
continuam a ordenar da forma antiga,
keep sorting the cards in the old way
o que elas devem fazer,
them of what they should be doing.
If it's red, put it here.
Se for vermelho, colocas aqui.
a different game.
um jogo diferente.
the color game anymore.
a brincar ao jogo das cores.
e os camiões ficam aqui. Ok?
and all the trucks go here, OK?
to use her executive function.
usar a sua função executiva.
and others like it
e noutras do mesmo tipo
her executive function outside of the lab?
fora do laboratório?
she'll need to use executive function
precisa de usar a função executiva
between shape and color.
do que alternar entre forma e cor.
de somar para multiplicar,
from adding to multiplying
para pensar nas amigas.
to thinking about her friend.
depends on things
do mundo real depende de coisas
and what your peers are doing.
e o que os nossos colegas estão a fazer
das estratégias que executamos
on the strategies that you execute
in a particular situation.
em determinada situação
o contexto é muito importante.
that context really matters.
da minha investigação.
from my research.
a fazer o teste clássico do "marshmallow",
to do the classic marshmallow test,
da espera pela gratificação
of delay of gratification
muito da função executiva
a lot of executive function.
as crianças têm de escolher.
imediatamente,
to go to the other room
that second marshmallow,
este segundo "marshmallow"
How long can they wait?
(Risos)
to look at the effects of context.
para ver os efeitos do contexto
que elas pertenciam a um grupo,
para vestir, e disse:
a green T-shirt to wear.
waited for two marshmallows,
por dois 'marshmallows',”
não esperou".
for two marshmallows
por dois 'marshmallows'
para ver quanto tempo esperavam.
to see how long they waited.
for two marshmallows
por dois "marshmallows"
that they'd never even met.
pelos colegas de um grupo
I still didn't know
eu continuava a não saber
or if it was something deeper than that.
mais profundo do que isso.
I showed them pictures of pairs of kids,
likes to have things right away,
gosta de ter as coisas imediatamente,
para ter mais dessas coisas.”
more of these things."
do you like more
who believed that their group waited
acreditavam que o seu grupo esperava
who liked to wait for things.
que gostam de esperar pelas coisas.
made them value waiting more.
fez com que quisessem esperar mais.
usaram a função executiva
to help themselves wait,
que as ajudassem a esperar,
or turning away from the marshmallow
(Risos)
is just how much context matters.
é a importância do contexto,
uma função executiva boa ou má.
had good executive function or bad,
helped them use it better.
a utilizarem-na melhor.
for you and for your kids?
para vocês e para os vossos filhos?
to learn Spanish.
aprender espanhol.
with other people who also want to learn,
que também querem aprender.
de que vocês realmente gostam.
that you really like.
to use executive function.
para usar a função executiva.
your child do better on her math homework.
a fazer melhor os trabalhos de matemática.
to use executive function
para usar a função executiva
before she starts studying
antes de começar a estudar,
depois de estudar durante uma hora.
after studying for an hour.
like context is everything.
que o contexto é tudo
and it's shaped by numerous factors.
your executive function
a vossa função executiva
your goals matter more to you,
mais significativos para vocês,
para se ajudarem a vocês mesmos
in that particular situation.
disseram isso melhor,
when they said, "Know thyself."
“Conhece-te a ti mesmo”.
how context shapes your behavior
o contexto forma o vosso comportamento
to change for the better.
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