The Future of Research on Executive Function and Its Development: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Over the last several decades, research on executive function in children has flourished, producing a wealth of empirical findings. These findings have raised many theoretical and methodological questions that warrant attention and are addressed in this special issue. This introduction to the special issue reviews some of the recent history of the field before introducing the seven target articles. We introduce these articles in the context of current theoretical and methodological issues: domain generality versus domain specificity of executive function, ecological and cultural validity of executive function measures, executive function training and transfer, and the nature of relations between executive function and achievement and other outcomes. This diverse set of articles collectively provides many fresh, testable ideas that promise to advance the field and usher in the next wave of theory-guided executive function research.