The development of executive function: Toward more optimal coordination of control with age

Emerging executive function, which allows children to control their thoughts and actions, is a major predictor of life success. A key challenge for children is to engage control in a way that matches ever-changing task demands. In addition to engagement of more control resources and more mature control strategies, executive function development also reflects more flexible coordination of available control strategies with age. More optimal control coordination (or meta-control) ensures dynamic adjustment of control engagement to better match moment-to-moment variations in task demands and results in more economic cognitive functioning.