Executive FunctionExecutive function is the ability to use thinking flexibly to guide actions (Doebel & Zelazo, 2013). It is the process of monitoring and controlling thoughts and actions, including the regulation of attention and response inhibition (Carlson, Davis, & Leach, 2005). Executive function develops in early childhood and changes abilities between the ages of three and five (Doebel & Zelazo, 2013). Inhibitory control, a key component of executive function, is the ability to inhibit thought processes or actions that are not goal-relevant (Carlson, Davis, & Leach, 2005). Dimensional change card sort measures executive functioning in children (Zelazo, 2006). In the standard version of dimensional change card sorting, children are shown two target cards and asked to sort a series of bivalent test cards along one dimension (Zelazo, 2006). Then, during the post-switch phase, children are told to sort the same type of test cards according to another dimension (Zelazo, 2006). Most three-year-olds persevere through the post-switch phase by continuing to sort test cards based on the first dimension used in the pre-switch phase (Zelazo, 2006). By the age of five, most children are able to immediately switch between dimensions when told to do so (Zelazo, 2006). Variations of the standard version of the dimensional change card sort were used to investigate whether the effects showed improvements in younger children's executive functioning. In a study conducted by Doebel and Zelazo (2013), the experimenter labeled the relevant dimension on the test card table. Children were more likely to perform correctly in the post-switch phase (Doebel & Zelazo, 201... half of the paper... and had an effect on children's performance. Furthermore, most children had already participated in the same study with previous researchers. To further this study, the researchers were able to experiment with children who were unfamiliar with the dimensional card sorting task and had an equal sample size for all genders. Works Cited Carlson, SM, Davis, AC and Leach. , J. G. (2005). Less is more: Executive function and symbolic representation in preschool children, 16, 609 - 616. Doebel, S., & Zelazo, P. D. (2013). labels help 3-year-olds in sorting cards of dimensional change, 28, 222 - 232. Zelazo, P. D. (2006)., 1, 297 - 301.