Introduction: The term ‘EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING’ (EF) refers to a complex cognitive and processes which are generally associated with the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Researchers believe that there are some differences in the growth of EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING as well as physical growth. The aim of this study was to investigate the developmental trend of EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING on primary school students.Materials and Methods: This study was as a causal-comparative research. The statistical population included primary students in Rasht city in the north of Iran. 126 primary students were selected with a multi-stage random sampling method and divided into three groups including: first and second year students (n=40), third and fourth year students (n=42) and fifth and sixth year students (n=44). The sampling method was random and EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING was measured by the Wisconsin card sorting, color word stroop and continuing performance test.Results: A significant difference was observed between three groups by ANOVA test in regards with continuous performance, interference task (stroop), preservative and the total error. The results of the post hoc test indicated a significant difference between first and third group and also second and third group.Conclusion: The results indicate that the EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING emerges during in the developmental trend of individual and evolves with increasing age.

Background: Brain processes are controlled and directed by some brain functions called EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING. Poor EF affects amelioration of brain functions and related behaviors in social and academic life. In the present research, we investigated the relationship between EF and social functions and tested the brain training effect on EF and social FUNCTIONING improvement. Methods: The present study aims to investigate the correlation between poor EF and social self-efficacy and social adjustment and examine the efficacy of cognitive EF training on selected components of social FUNCTIONING. Through available sampling, 369 healthy high school students aged 16-18 participated in the experiment who were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups; the experimental group consisted of 183 persons (105 girls and 78 boys) and the control group consisted of 186 persons (117 girls and 69 boys). Main EF processes (working memory, shifting, inhibition and problem solving) and social functions (social adjustment and social self-efficacy) were assessed and their correlations were measured. In a randomized controlled trial with pretest, post-test and follow-up assessment, the effects of cognitive brain training was studied on self-efficacy and social adjustment performance of the experimental group. The intervention tool was Practical Cognitive Strategy Training (PCST) which used cognitive awareness, cognitive strategy training and cognitive training to accomplish both goals of EF training in twelve ninety-minute sessions, once a week. Results: Result showed significant moderate correlation between social and EXECUTIVE functions (p ≤ . 001). After twelve weeks of brain training practice, participants showed a significant difference in social adjustment and self-efficacy compared with the control group. The pre-, post-and follow-up tests were timeconsuming and might have affected the results. Conclusion: Social functions correlate with EF performance and cognitive brain training can improve social adjustment and self-efficacy.

The underlying components of EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING in 18 non-treated and 18 treated children (with medication) with ADHD were compared with 18 normal children. There were 3 girls and 15 boys in each group and their age ranged from 7 to 12 years old. All the children responded to the Stroop Color-Word Test (Stroop, 1935), Wisconsin Card Sorting (Grant & Berg, 1948), and Continuous Performance Tests (Rosovold, Mirsky, Sarason, Bronsome & Beck, 1956), and the Digit Span subscale (Wechsler, 1974). The results of MANOVA showed that compared to treated and normal sample, the non-treated sample performed significantly weaker in most of EXECUTIVE functions. No significant differences were found between the performance of treated and normal children in EXECUTIVE functions.