New Research Perspectives on the Interplay Between Genes and Environment on Executive Function Development

Abstract

Executive functions (EFs) are a set of skills responsible for the cognitive control of emotional states and behavior as well as for information processing required for learning and memory. Impairments in these abilities, such as focused attention, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and self-regulation, are implicated in a variety of psychopathologies across the lifespan. EF development shows a protracted course that begins in early childhood and continues throughout adolescence and into early adulthood. Maturation of EFs is subject to environmental influences such that adversity during development can affect multiple EF-mediated processes and outcomes. In this review, we describe sensitive periods for the development of EFs and the effects of adverse environmental exposures, with consideration of the underlying neurobiological mechanisms. However, there is considerable interindividual variation in the impact of adversity, with some individuals more vulnerable and some more resilient to its effects. We explore the evidence for the genetic contribution to interindividual variation in EFs, providing an overview of classic studies, followed by the results of recent genome-wide association studies and innovative genomic methods. Finally, we review studies investigating the interdependence between early-life adversities and genetic factors on EFs. We discuss the importance of novel functional genomics approaches, multilevel analyses, and big data to elucidate the complexity of the relationships between genes, environment, and the development of EFs.

Keywords: Early adversity; Executive functions; Functional genomics; Genes; Genome-wide association study (GWAS); Prefrontal cortex.