Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Learning, Culture and Social Interaction journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lcsi Full length article Re-conceptualizing executive functions as social activity in children's playworlds Marilyn Fleer a,⁎ , Nikolai Veresov a , Sue Walker b a Monash University, Peninsula campus, McMahons Rd, Frankston, Victoria 3199, Australia b Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Rd, Kelvin Grove, Queensland 4059, Australia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Executive functions Playworlds Cultural-historical Early childhood Teacher practice ABSTRACT This paper presents the outcomes of a study into how some early childhood teachers conceptualized the process of creating the conditions for the development of higher forms of cultural activity, often referred to in the general literature as Executive Functions (EF). EF are usually defined as those interrelated processes or functions that manage and control thoughts and behaviors. The underpinning experimental studies feature interventions that early childhood teachers are asked to implement, which we argue is problematic. The research reported in this paper takes a different approach. First, EF is theorized as a cultural activity, where the environment acts as the source of development of specifically human characteristics. Second, the teachers used playworlds to frame EF activities. Conceptualizing EF activities through play, rather than focusing on functions in the brain, oriented the teachers to creating dramatic events and social practices for supporting higher mental functioning as part of everyday preschool activities. We argue that a conception of EF as a social practice is a more pedagogically productive way of creating the conditions to support children's development because it speaks directly to teachers' practice. 1. Introduction The general literature references Executive Functions (EF) as a highly complex set of cognitive abilities (Bascandziev, Powell, Harris, & Carey, 2016). EF is defined as the ability to hold in memory information, to be able to inhibit an immediate response, and to be able to flexibly shift between one set of rules and another. The terms used to describe these elements of EF are working memory, inhibition, and shifting or cognitive flexibility (Blair, 2016). In practice, cognitive flexibility is the ability to maintain competing sets of rules or instructions and shift between them, such as a sudden criterion change during a sorting game. Inhibition can be seen in practice when a child does not respond immediately to a situation and has to self-regulate, as is needed when playing the game of Simon Says. Working memory is often seen in practice when a child plays a card game, where they need to store, update and retrieve information whilst simultaneously doing other things, such as socializing. Although working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility are presented as elements of EF in the literature, it is argued in this paper that EF should be conceptualized as a social practice rather than as a set of functions. In line with this theorization, this paper is concerned with understanding how preschool teachers introduce and embed into their everyday social practices, those activities that promote EF so that it is meaningful for them and their children. We begin this paper by examining the literature on EF generally, and in relation to the theoretical foundations driving the study, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2017.04.003 Received 26 September 2016; Received in revised form 10 April 2017; Accepted 18 April 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: marilyn.fleer@monash.edu (M. Fleer), nikolai.veresov@monash.edu (N. Veresov), sue.walker@qut.edu.au (S. Walker). Learning, Culture and Social Interaction 14 (2017) 1–11 Available online 02 May 2017 2210-6561/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. MARK