Executive function skills are important for a number of processes, but did you know that these skills also play a huge role in the power to resist temptations?

Full Prefrontal is a podcast series led by Sucheta Kamath, Founder of Cerebral Matters and expert in brain training and executive function development. Sucheta and her guests, including researchers, neuroscientists, educators, learning experts, and thought leaders, discuss the importance of the prefrontal cortex in impacting focus, attention, planning, problem-solving, emotion regulation, and independence.

In this part I episode: found here, Sucheta invites Dr. Phil Zelazo, leading expert in the field of developmental psychology, Nancy M. and John E. Lindahl Professor at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development, and Reflection Sciences, Inc. Co-founder, to discuss how executive functions, conscious awareness, and deliberate intentionality, affect development.

Dr. Zelazo states, “All of these [skills] are used in the service of intentional action, of doing things in light of our goals. By controlling our attention, we end up controlling our speech, our overt motor behavior, and our emotional reactions to things. In general, these executive function skills are important for being able to act on the basis of what you know. [They] have less to do with knowing the right answer to a problem, and more to do with being able to put that knowledge into practice.”

Listen to the full podcast here: Episode 23: The Power to Resist