Cold executive functions and externalizing behavior

As a reminder, hot executive functions deal with emotion, motivation, and reward while cold executive functions deal more with attention and other cognitive functions. Choy (2025) published “Cold Executive Functions Moderate the Relationship between Hot Executive Function and Externalizing Behavior in Adolescents and Adults” in Neuropsychology. Here are the edited abstract and impact statement:

Although deficits in executive functions (EFs) have been shown to characterize individuals who exhibit externalizing behavior problems, few studies have differentiated between the influence of hot and cold EF on externalizing behavior. This study tests whether there is an interaction between performance on assessments of cold and hot EF in relation to externalizing behavior in a community sample of adolescents and adults. Analyses were conducted on 396 adolescents (Mage = 14.81 years) and 393 of their parents (Mage = 45.39 years). Cold and hot EFs were assessed in both groups using a battery of neuropsychological tests, alongside externalizing behavior in both adolescents and their parents using a variety of self-report and parent-report questionnaires. A significant Hot EF × Cold EF interaction was found in both samples, such that adolescents and adults with increased risk taking on a hot EF task, but higher cold EF scores exhibited lower levels of externalizing behavior. Adults with reduced performance on both hot and cold EF tasks exhibited the highest levels of externalizing behavior. Both hot and cold EFs contribute to the propensity for externalizing behavior. Notably, this is observed in both adolescents and adults. Findings point to the possibility of targeting deficits in cold EF in interventions to reduce externalizing behavior. 

Does cold EF performance moderate the association between a hot EF domain and externalizing behavior? Adolescents and adults with increased risk taking on a hot EF task, but higher cold EF scores exhibited lower levels of externalizing behavior. Stronger abilities in the cold component of EF can protect against the negative effects of reduced cognitive abilities in emotion, motivation, and reward-driven contexts on externalizing behavior. Further research is warranted on the interaction between cognitive processes in different contexts (hot and cold) in influencing externalizing behavior, including the buffering protective effect that stronger cold EF abilities can have against risk factors for problem behaviors. 

I liked the facts that their samples were teens and their parents and that both samples completed a substantial number of tests and self-report instruments. The results make perfect sense to me and illustrate the value of targeting interventions to cold emotional functions (EFs) when you want hot EFs to be less likely to lead to externalizing behavior.