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Luckily there is an axis point by which we can manipulate in hopes to alleviate some of this cognitive stress. This axis is Language; language gives humans a pathway to direct their attention and therefore properly guides their behavior. But is the connection between language and behavior that direct? In some aspects, yes, language shapes what and how we attenuate things. However on the other hand there are biological roots that facilitate and integrate information to make it possible to pay attention to something. The general umbrella term is Executive Function (EF) and this is used to describe the three operations carried out by multiple interacting regions in the frontal lobe (MediaMaker, 2018). We will thus need to describe what the EF is and how it affects the development of identity in individuals (what makes it suffer, opportunities to improve, negating factor). This will allow us to make recommendations within the context of our project to improve EF functioning.

The Executive function is composed of two different domains, that is, core EF’s and higher EF’s. Higher EF’s are constructed on top of the foundation of core EF’s, some examples of higher EF’s are reasoning, problem-solving, and planning. As you can imagine, individuals use higher EF’s daily. Whether that be planning your route to work or something as simple as planning out your day, no matter what context you live in, chances are you utilize Executive functioning. Therefore, to be able to behave appropriately in any context higher EF’s should be functioning as optimally as possible. Moreover, the proper functioning of Higher EF’s is highly dependent on the functioning of the core EFs. It is then important to understand what these core EF’s are and how they can be hindered/improved upon.

There are three core EF’s that are important to the functioning of higher EF’s. Those are as follows; Working memory, Inhibitory Control, and Cognitive flexibility. We have previously discussed what the essence of working memory encapsulates. For continuity, working memory can be thought of as the mental manipulation of schemas. A schema is a mental compilation of information assigned to a specific stimulus in the environment. So working memory is involved in facilitating the consolidation of information into mental schemas that then build our sense of identity. The second core EF is called Inhibitory control. This is someone’s ability to control their attention/behavior to override a strong internal predisposition or external lure (Diamond, 2014). A common synonym associated with this second core EF is discipline. That is, the willful effort to control your attention onto a selective task. The Last EF is called cognitive flexibility and this is described as the ability to derive a solution given information out of context. This last EF is heavily correlated with creativity and “involves thinking outside of the box” (Diamond, 2014). While the three core EF’s are localized within a similar region of the brain, the frontal lobe, they extend into a distinct variety of domains of identity formation (attention, creativity, discipline, etc).

Nonetheless, that does not mean that these domains are distinctly different. The contrary is true, although each core EF contributes to a different aspect of identity, it is key to remember that all of these operations are governed by the Executive Function. In turn, these mental operations (EF) are thus governed by a similar conglomerate of synapses that can atrophy if not properly utilized.