Executive Functions and Reading: Implications for Neuroscience, Assessment, and Intervention—Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

This special issue of Mind, Brain and Education focuses on executive functions and reading with research papers and commentaries from neuroscience and educational contexts. This special issue is the result of a five-day think-tank research symposium sponsored by The Dyslexia Foundation (TDF) that was focused on how executive function is related to reading development and disorders, and what type of additional research is needed in this area. The symposium was infused with rich discussion of the work of the authors and their research teams, along with a select group of researchers and educators who also discussed and challenged the ideas presented. We share with you in this special issue the content of those presentations enriched by the discussions from that week of collaborative debates and idea generation. The genesis of the focus of the symposium grew out of the scientific community's increasing interest over the past few decades in the role of executive functioning (EF) in academic performance. While EF has been shown to be linked to reading and other academic outcomes in a variety of ways (Spiegel, Goodrich, Morris, Osborne, & Lonigan, 2021), many questions remain unanswered. Specifically, despite EF's role in academic performance, there are two significant paradoxes. First, even though preschool/kindergarten EF predicts later reading and math outcomes, on the whole, EF has not been found to be a substantive baseline predictor of school-age responsiveness to intervention for those with reading difficulties after other known predictors are taken into account (Burns et al., 2016; Stuebing et al., 2015). Second, direct EF training, most commonly working memory training, has largely been shown to be unsuccessful in transferring to improved academic outcomes although direct EF training does improve the specifically targeted EF skill, suggesting that it has malleability (Melby-Lervåg & Hulme, 2013; Melby-Lervåg, Redick, & Hulme, 2016). Given the broad impact of EF, and the fact that it has been hypothesized to serve as a protective factor for vulnerable biological systems, understanding its linkages to reading disorders is of high interest (Diamond, 2013. This special issue brings together researchers from cognitive neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, and education to tackle some of these complex issues in EF. It is our hope that the ideas presented in this issue will facilitate research in the area of EF and reading, to support and enhance the bridge between research and practice in order to ameliorate reading disorders and improve reading instruction. A key goal of this issue is to lay out research questions and directions to address these questions, based on what is known and what current research is investigating. This combined understanding should enable us to move forward in better defining the construct of EF and its role in instruction and intervention, especially for students with reading disorders/dyslexia. The first half of this special issue focues on cognitive and neurobiological origins of EF and begins with three papers that define the construct of EF and its malleability. Cirino lays out the different views how the field perceives the construct of EF and its relation to school achievement. Next, Barnes provides an overview of the role of different types of executive functions and how they may affect different academic outcomes, while Peng then narrows the discussion further, by showing how EF specifically plays a role in reading development and intervention. The following four papers address the neurobiology of reading: Church-Lang focuses on cross-task neuroimaging as she reviews the brain's control networks during reading and non-reading tasks. Burgess and Cutting discuss the neurobiological relationships between EF and reading development/disorders. Banich et al. distinguish neural systems that support EF and those supporting language, as a means of understating the degree to which EF enables reading. In turn, Yamasaki and Prat show how individual differences in EF affect neural adaptability during reading. Three following papers address the intersection of environment and neurobiology in reading and reading instruction/intervention. Margolis and Greenwood offer an overview of the impact of perinatal exposure to neurotoxins on academic skills. Buchweitz et al. report investigations of the neuroendocrine response to stress inoculation on reading for children with dyslexia. Taylor et al. present information on childhood socioeconomic status and the two underlying skills most affected by it—oral language and EF. They summarize the current knowledge of these effects and advocate for an ‘adaptation’ conceptualization rather than deficit models. Finally, Yeatman provides a comprehensive commentary on the papers of the first half of the special issue as a guide to the underlying themes and cross-cutting issues in the first half of the special issue. The second half of the issue begins with two papers discussing whether EF is domain-specific or can be generalized across skill areas. Wilcutt and Petrill address the comorbidity of reading disability and attention deficit, and this comorbidity's implications for academic, social, and neuropsychological functioning. Wilkey then discusses domain specificity and domain generality and their relations to attention, EF, and academic skills. The last section of the issue contains four papers that highlight how EF relates to development and specific interventions in reading. Capin et al. share results from a self-regulation and reading comprehension study that shows how those two concepts can be aligned and integrated to improve reading outcomes. Horowitz-Kraus then discusses findings from a reading acquisition and remediation intervention that addresses EF and reading fluency. Grammer and Ahmed share school-based strategies that promote EF skills. Finally, Supplee provides suggestions of how research findings can be better connected with educational practice and policy. The issue closes with a summative commentary of the second half of the issue by Landi and suggestions for future directions. We hope that those reading the papers in this issue will take into consideration how their various theoretical approaches to EF might inform one another, how measurement coordination and comparison might improve the field overall, and ultimately how practitioners might use their findings in their understanding of reading development and implementation of reading interventions. The variety of approaches needed to address learning and learning differences in all students should continue to be addressed through collaborative work and sharing of ideas, such as was done at the TDF think tank that informed this special issue.