Normal Development of Cognitive Flexibility and Purposeful Behavior

Ages 2–4

• At 2.5 years, has knowledge of rules but is unable to shift or alter behavior. Relies on perseveration.
• At 3 years, shifts behaviors to adapt to knowledge of rules, but only for one rule at a time.
• By 4 years, is able to shift between two simple task sets - but has difficulty when response sets increase in complexity.
• By 4 years, increase in mental flexibility allows for more successful task completion.

Ages 5–6

• At 5 years, has difficulty shifting between multiple rules with verbal prompts.
• Mental flexibility increases sharply at age 6.
• Perseveration decreases.
• Increasing ability to learn from mistakes and generate new strategies for solving simple problems.

Ages 7–9

• At 7 years, struggles with shifting behavior sets that are contingent on multiple demands.
• By 8 years, demonstrates increased focused, sustained attention and the ability to shift attention.
• By 9 years, has more success shifting from rules or sets, depending on multiple or changing demands.

Ages 10–12

• Improves ability to shift between multiple tasks and shows decline in perseveration.
• Displays greater ability to learn from mistakes and create alternative strategies for multidimensional problems.

Adolescence

• Displays fairly mature cognitive flexibility.
• Greatly improved ability to use change between performance demands, use mental flexibility and initiate deliberate behaviors.

As cited in:

Richard, G.J., Fahy, J.K., (2005). The source for Development of Executive Functions. East Moline, IL: Linguisystems