The Relationship Between The Hot EF And The Cool EF: From The Delay-of-gratification In Childhood

Executive function is the process during which human control the minds and the actions consciously. Bases on whether it involve emotion at the control process, we can distinguish the EF into the hot EF that related of the orbitofrontal cortex and the cool EF that related of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Cool EF is bring with the problems without scene and comparatively nonobjective, but the hot EF is bring with the problems that deal with emotion and motivation. Delay-of-gratification, to be a classical example of hot EF research, it means a willing choice tropism that abandon the immediately gratification for the valuable long-term result, and the self-control ability that showed in the waiting period. This research start with the "cool" factor of the delay-of-gratification, which is a kind of a hot EF, test 240 from 3 to 4 years old children , from control the obvious degree of the prize , control the deepness and the complex of the delay-of-gratification task , to research the relationship of the hot EF and the cool EF . The first experiment from depress the prize's obvious degree to decrease the emotion involvement, namely depress the degree of the "hot" and improve the degree of the "cool". From the experiment 120 children, the result was whether 3 or 4 years old children, all delayed the time of waiting. The second experiment depend on improve the requirement of the process at the cognize that in the delay-of-gratification task, such as imagine actively and painting, to improve the degree of the "cool" of the task. The result from tested the other 120 children that indicate that all of the 3 and 4 years old children delayed the time of waiting . All experiment result indicate that in the hot EF which related to self-control, there are hot-system, namely sensibility emotion-system as well as cool-system, namely rational cognize-system act on the human's psychology process. Hot-system based on the emotion, involve be afraid, passion, impulse, it controlled by the requirement and the motivation that inside self, it will weaken the effective self-control. Cool-system is rational, adiaphorous, contemplative, agile, unitary, methodic; slow-motion and politic, it is the leading factor of self-adjust and self-control. The more important thing is, in some EF task, such as delay-of-gratification, "cool" and "hot" system can influence each other. From the result of this research , there is not only one another influence in the delay-of-gratification , but also represent a character that " one another ebb and flow", depress the degree of the "hot" of the emotion on the task, seemed to improve the "cool" of the logos on the task indirectly, vice versa.