What is Cognitive Flexibility and Why is it a Key Component of Executive Functioning?

Cognitive Flexibility (CF) has traditionally been defined as the ability to shift between mental states, actions or tasks, and is sometimes referred to as “shifting.” CF also engages the different parts of our brain to respond to tasks.

When we are trying to solve a problem, we can choose an obvious path or recall a similar challenge from our past or a story someone else told us. CF is what allows us to make the connection between two different problems in order to develop a solution. If my first approach to problem-solving hasn’t worked, can I strategize a new solution? Having CF means one can adjust to changing demands or priorities, such as when a student has planned out their week of studying for an exam, but those plans are interfered with due to an unexpected event – how does the student adjust their study plan?

"Cognitive Flexibility (CF) has traditionally been defined as the ability to shift between mental states, actions or tasks, and is sometimes referred to as ‘shifting."

How does Cognitive Flexibility use Inhibition and Working Memory?

Working Memory and Inhibition are crucial components of CF. As we move throughout our day, our actions and goals need to be updated in order to adapt to each environment we are in, and thus previously activated thoughts or actions must be inhibited.

When we face stressors, attention must be shifted to newly relevant information. As the capacity of Working Memory is limited, our brains have adapted to learn to focus on relevant information, ignore the non-essential, and to flexibly shift attention. 

What is the Developmental Progression of Cognitive Flexibility?

CF skills begin to develop in early childhood. Research indicates that there is a sharp increase in abilities between 7 and 9 years of age, and CF is largely mature by 10 years of age. Skills will continue to improve throughout adolescence and adulthood, achieving their peak between ages 21 and 30.

Preschoolers at ages 3 to 4 have been shown to successfully shift between two simple response sets. Advanced shifting develops alongside the growth of the prefrontal cortex in adolescence.

An example of cognitive flexibility at a young age is a sorting task. For example, a child is given cards, each with a color and an animal on it. The child can choose to sort the cards in different ways, such as by color or by animal. The ability to switch the ways she is sorting is a demonstration of flexible thinking. At a very young age, children will repeatedly sort cards (or figurines, cars, balls, etc.) using only one perspective, but as their brains grow and develop, they’re able to sort using different criteria. 

All EF skills are acquired largely as a function of experience and practice. The repeated use of CF strengthens CF, which increases the likelihood of being able to use CF in the future. The development of CF is made possible by the increased efficiency of reflection as children grow up and their brains mature. Children become more able to notice challenges, pause, consider their options, and put things into context prior to responding.

"The ability to switch the ways she is sorting is a demonstration of flexible thinking."

How does Cognitive Flexibility Impact Functioning?

Brainstorm a list of three or four favorite strategies with your child when they are having a good moment. It can include these four techniques as well as other acceptable strategies you have come up with. Write the name of the techniques or draw a symbol for each (such as square for the square breath) on an index card. In the classroom, this can be taped on a desk or put someplace to easily be referred to when the child needs it.

I like to create a visual cue in advance with my students to remind them to check their list. I would make a few suggestions and let them pick the cue they wanted. It could be drawing a check in the air, pointing my forehead, or tapping a desk. We then practiced it a few times. This way, when I noticed they needed a strategy, the child was able to refocus quickly.  

With children who need these strategies, there will always be times when the best laid plans don’t work. They will still wiggle. It will not change who they are. It simply gives them tools to feel in control. You may need to fine tune what techniques work best. Be patient and keep trying. You will begin to see that they will move from using their mindfulness techniques with prompting to begin to use them on their own with self-confidence to control themselves when it is most needed.

"With children who need these strategies, there will always be times when the best laid plans don’t work."

Studies have shown that having greater CF is linked to positive outcomes throughout life, including better reading ability in childhood, higher resilience to negative life events and stressors, and higher levels of creativity.

Identifying Challenges in Cognitive Flexibility

Challenges with cognitive flexibility show up in everyday life. Your child may:

• Demonstrate rigid thinking, such as getting stuck in a thinking loop, and be unable to think or see things in a different way

• Appear to ‘get stuck’ in one activity or in one way of perceiving things

• Have difficulty with salience, which is the part of our brain that notices things that stand out in our environment

• Appear fearful of change or easily frustrated by challenges that come their way

• Be overwhelmed by stimuli, which may indicate low latent inhibition

• Have a hard time coming up with alternative solutions

• Have difficulties with word play, such as puns or idioms

• Have difficulties with creative play

Deficits in CF may become apparent in middle childhood, as students become challenged academically and socially. Decreased levels of CF are associated with academic deficits in all subjects. Difficulties with rigid thinking have been linked to rumination thoughts typical of depression and anxiety. Latent inhibition is the ability to ignore old information so the brain can focus on new information. For people with low levels of this, they have trouble placing the ‘new’ information into the category of ‘old’ and moving on.  This is often observed in persons with autism, where they become overwhelmed by stimuli that other people consider familiar (such as the texture of clothing or a blanket).

Cognitive Flexibility’s Relationship to Education

Specifically related to reading, research has shown that CF is required to use phonemic awareness effectively. When reading, we are often recognizing smaller units of meaning and sound, such as when smaller words are embedded in larger words (e.g., wallpaper, bathtub, mailbox, cupboard, etc.). CF helps us see those words in two different ways, both as a complete word and as made up of two smaller words.

Deficits in CF show up in the classroom beyond direct academic performance. Some impacts on functioning include:

• Struggling to see other students’ point of view

• Taking longer to transition or to adapt to changes in schedule or activities

• Repeating the same answer or question, despite being told it’s incorrect or asked to move on

• Having trouble finding alternative strategies

• Difficulty understanding abstract concepts or interpret things figuratively

• Preferring concrete or literal subjects

An example of when students use cognitive flexibility occurred the other day in a math classroom I observed: the students had been learning about ratios and probability, but were given a word problem that required them to solve a ‘scaling’ problem, which they had not yet learned to do. Students worked at their table groups and tried alternative ways to solve the problem when their initial attempts didn’t work. Students who were unable to approach the problem in multiple ways are students that have been identified as struggling with executive functioning issues.

How to Increase Cognitive Flexibility

Improvement in CF takes active reflection, such as paying attention to one’s thoughts and being intentional in our approaches. We can teach our children to challenge their thoughts and approaches through questions such as: where does your mind go when sharing knowledge or experience? What do you want to know? What do you want to talk about?

Additional strategies and some possible examples include the following:

• Be open to learning new skills

  – Pick up a new musical instrument
  – Learn a new language

• Increase exposure to puns and word play (such as Amelia Bedelia, Have Pun, and I Scream Ice Cream books)

• Expand creative play

  – Take ordinary objects and use them in unique ways
  – Make up new rules for games
  – When reading, try to understand plot points from the perspective of different characters
  – Fill in text of a blank comic strip

• Create new routines or routes

  – Find a new route home
  – Get dressed in a different order

• Think aloud for problem-solving

  – Have I faced a similar problem that I’ve solved before?
  – Is this problem different in some way?

In the classroom, some recommended accommodations as students develop their CF are:

• Have a structured and predictable schedule, visually displayed, and warn students of transitions or changes

• Allow enough time for transition between tasks

• Encourage and verbally reinforce students when they take chances and try new strategies

If you are looking for executive functioning coaching, please contact us.

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Sources:

Briggs, S. (2019, January 14). 10 Keys to Cognitive Flexibility: Problem Solving. Retrieved December 27, 2019, from https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/10-keys-cognitive-flexibility/.

Dajani, D. R., & Uddin, L. Q. (2015, September). Demystifying Cognitive Flexibility: Implications for clinical and developmental neuroscience. Retrieved December 27, 2019, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5414037/.

Gabrys, R. L., Tabri, N., Anisman, H., & Matheson, K. (2018, October 26). Cognitive Control and Flexibility in the Context of Stress and Depressive Symptoms: The Cognitive Control and Flexibility Questionnaire. Retrieved December 27, 2019, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02219/full.

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