College of Education and Human Development

Institute of Child Development

Philip Zelazo

  • Pronouns: he/him/his

  • Nancy M. and John E. Lindahl Professor

Areas of interest

Achievement gap; Adolescents and youth; Cognitive development; Developmental neuroscience; Executive function

Degrees

PhD (distinction), 1993, Yale University

Biography

Phil Zelazo (Hons. BA, McGill 1988; PhD with distinction, Yale 1993) is the Nancy M. and John E. Lindahl Professor at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota. He previously taught at the University of Toronto, where he held the Canada Research Chair in Developmental Neuroscience. Zelazo’s research has helped shape current understanding of executive function (EF) and its development, including the key roles of reflection, rule use, hierarchical complexity, mindfulness, and emotion (hot versus cool EF). He was lead developer of the EF measures for the NIH Toolbox, is currently the lead developer of the “Cognition and Executive Function” measures for the NIH Infant and Toddler Toolbox, and has designed effective interventions for promoting the healthy development of EF in childhood. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association for Psychological Science (APS), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the Mind and Life Institute, and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Boyd McCandless Young Scientist Award (APA, 1996), a Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award, and the 2025 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Developmental Psychology (APA). From 2012-2014, he served as President of the Jean Piaget Society. He was Founding Editor of the Journal of Cognition and Development, he serves on several editorial boards (e.g., Development and Psychopathology), he was lead editor of the Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness (Zelazo, Moscovitch, &Thompson, 2007), and editor of the two-volume Oxford Handbook of Developmental Psychology (2013). His work has been cited over 48,000 times.

Lab

Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab

Research

Professor Zelazo studies the development and neural bases of executive function, or the conscious control of thought, action, and emotion. He does so using a variety of approaches, from experimental to cross-cultural to electrophysiological (EEG/ERP), and his work has focused on a number of influential ideas, including the notion that the executive function depends, in part, on the development of the ability to use increasingly complex, higher-order rules (formulated in self-directed speech)—part of the Cognitive Complexity & Control theory; the notion that consciousness develops through a series of “levels” in which information is reprocessed via thalamo-cortical circuits involving prefrontal cortex (the Levels of Consciousness model)—with consequences for the quality of subjective experience, and the potential for recall, rule complexity, and cognitive control; and the importance of the distinction between more “cool,” cognitive aspects of executive function typically associated with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DL-PFC) vs. more “hot,” affective aspects associated with more ventral and medial regions of PFC (e.g., orbitofrontal cortex; OFC).

Advising expectations and availability

If you are a prospective graduate student who is interested in working with Dr. Zelazo, click here to review his advising expectations. The document outlines what you can expect from Dr. Zelazo as an advisor/mentor and provides an overview of Dr. Zelazo's expectations of students. 

Please note that for the Fall 2025 admissions cycle Dr. Zelazo is looking to take on new Ph.D. students as their primary advisor. Please reach out to Dr. Zelazo via email if you are interested in learning more. 

Publications

Morris, I. F., Mansolf, M., Sherlock, P. R., Calub, C., Camargo, Jr., C. A., Kellye, R. S., Lyall, K., McEvoy, C. T., Northrup, J., Talge, N. M., Wilkening, G., Wright, R. J., & Zelazo, P. D. (in press). Family familiarity with autism and developmental outcomes. Neurodiversity.

Zelazo, P. D., Calma-Birling, D., & Galinsky, E. (2024). Fostering executive function skills and promoting far transfer to real-world outcomes: The importance of life skills and civic science. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 33, 121-127. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214241229664

Castellanos-Ryan, N., Parent, S., Chaput-Langlois, S. Rioux, C., Jacques, S., Simard, C., Tremblay, R. E., Séguin, J. R., & Zelazo, P. D. (2023). Modelling executive function across early childhood: Longitudinal invariance, development from 3.5 to 7 years and later academic performance. Cognitive Development, 68, 101365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2023.101365 

Dumontheil, I., Lyons, K. E., Russell, T. A., & Zelazo, P. D. (2023). A preliminary neuroimaging investigation of the effects of mindfulness training on attention reorienting and amygdala reactivity to emotional faces in adolescent and adult females. Journal of Adolescence, 95, 181-189. https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12107

Zelazo, P. D., & Carlson, S. M. (2023): Reconciling the context-dependency and domain-generality of executive function skills from a developmental systems perspective. Journal of Cognition and Development, 24, 205-222 doi: 10.1080/15248372.2022.2156515

Calma-Birling, D., & Zelazo, P. D. (2022). Risk and resilience factors associated with psychological distress and positive adaptation during the COVID-19 pandemic. American Psychologist, 77(6), 727-742. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001023

Dumont, E., Castellanos-Ryan, N., Parent, S., Séguin, J. R., Zelazo, P. D. (2022). Transactional longitudinal relations between accuracy and reaction time on a measure of cognitive flexibility: The transition to kindergarten. Developmental Science, e13254. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13254

Perone, S., Anderson, A. J., & Zelazo, P. D. (2021). The influence of parental guidance on video game performance, exploration, and cortical activity in 5-year-old children. Cognitive Development, 60, 101126. doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101126

Zelazo, P. D., Lourenco, S. F., Frank, M. C., Elison, J. T., Heaton, R. K., Wellman, H. M., Slotkin, J., Kharitonova, M., & Reznick, J. S. (2021). Measurement of cognition for the National Children's Study. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 9, 603126. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2021.603126 PMCID: PMC8200393,PMID: 34136435

Distefano, R., Schubert, E. C., Finsaas, M. C., Desjardins, C. D., Helseth, C. K., Lister, M., Carlson, S. M., Zelazo, P. D., & Masten, A. S. (2020). Ready? Set. Go! A school readiness program designed to boost executive function skills in preschoolers experiencing homelessness and high mobility. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 17(6), 877-894. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2020.1813103 

Zelazo, P. D., & Carlson, S. M. (2020). The neurodevelopment of executive function skills: Implications for academic achievement gaps. Psychology and Neuroscience, 13 (3), 273-298. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pne0000208

Zelazo, P. D. (2020). Executive function and psychopathology: A neurodevelopmental perspective. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 16. doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-072319-024242

Semenov, A. D., & Zelazo, P. D. (2019). Mindful family routines and the cultivation of executive function skills in childhood. Human Development, 63, 112-131. 

Zelazo, P. D., Forston, J. L., Masten, A. S., & Carlson. S. M. (2018). Mindfulness plus reflection training improves executive function in early childhood. Frontiers in Psychology, 9:208. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00208

Perone, S., Almy, B., & Zelazo, P. D. (2018). Toward an understanding of the neural basis of executive function development (pp. 291-314). R. L. Gibb & B. Kolb (Eds.), The neurobiology of brain and behavioral development (2nd ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Zelazo, P. D., Blair, C. B., & Willoughby, M. T. (2017). Executive function: Implications for education (NCER 2017-2000). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Research, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. This report is available on the Institute website at http://ies.ed.gov/. 

Galinsky, E., Bezos, J., McClelland, M., Carlson. S. M., & Zelazo, P. D. (2017). Civic science for public use: Mind in the Making and Vroom. Child Development. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12892

Meuwissen, A. S., Anderson, J. E., & Zelazo, P. D. (2017). The creation and validation of the Developmental Emotional Faces Stimulus Set. Behavior Research Methods, 49(3), 960-966. doi: 10.3758/s13428-016-0756-7. 

Doebel, S., & Zelazo, P. D. (2016). Seeing conflict and engaging control: Experience with contrastive language benefits executive function in preschoolers. Cognition, 157, 219-226.

Woltering, S., Lishak, V., Hodgson, N., Granic, I., & Zelazo, P. D. (2016). Executive function in children with externalizing and comorbid internalizing behavior problems. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(1), 30-38. 

Zelazo, P. D. (2015). Executive function: Reflection, iterative reprocessing, complexity, and the developing brain. Developmental Review, 38, 55-68.

Doebel, S., & Zelazo, P. D. (2015). A meta-analysis of the Dimensional Change Card Sort: Implications for developmental theories and the measurement of executive function in children. Developmental Review, 38, 241-268.

Shapiro, S. L., Lyons, K. E., Miller, R. C., Butler, B., Vieten, C., & Zelazo, P. D. (2015). Contemplation in the classroom: A new direction for improving self-regulation in early childhood. Educational Psychology Review, 27, 1-30.

Meuwissen, A. S., & Zelazo, P. D. (2014).  Hot and cool executive function: Foundations for learning and healthy development. Zero to Three, 35, 18-23.

Gao, H. H., Zelazo, P. D., Sharpe, D., & Mashari, A. (2014). Beyond early linguistic competence: Development of children's ability to interpret adjectives flexibly. Cognitive Development, 32, 86-102.

Bauer, P. J., & Zelazo, P. D. (2014). The National Institutes of Health Toolbox for the Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function: A tool for developmental science. Child Development Perspectives, 8, 119-124.

Zelazo, P. D., Anderson, J. E., Richler, J., Wallner-Allen, K., Beaumont, J. L., Conway, K. P., Gershon, R., & Weintraub, S. (2014). NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB): Validation of executive function measures in adults. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 20, 620-629.

Espinet, S. D., Anderson, J. E., & Zelazo, P. D. (2013). Reflection training improves executive function in preschool-age children: Behavioral and neural effects. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 4, 3-10.

Doebel, S., & Zelazo, P. D. (2013). Bottom-up and top-down dynamics in young children's executive function: labels aid 3-year-olds' performance on the Dimensional Change Card Sort. Cognitive Development, 28, 222-232.

Lahat, A., Helwig, C., & Zelazo, P. D. (2013). An event-related potential study of adolescents’ and young adults' judgments of moral and social conventional violations.  Child Development, 84, 955-969.

Benson, J., Sabbagh, M., Carlson, S. M., & Zelazo, P. D. (2013). Individual differences in executive functioning predict preschoolers’ improvement from theory-of-mind training. Developmental Psychology, 49, 1615-1627.

Zelazo, P. D., Anderson, J. E., Richler, J., Wallner-Allen, K., Beaumont, J. L., & Weintraub, S. (2013). NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB): Measuring executive function and attention. In P. D. Zelazo & P. J. Bauer (Eds.), National Institutes of Health Toolbox— Cognition Battery (NIH Toolbox CB): Validation for children between 3 and 15 years. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 78(4), 16-33.

Ortner, C. M. N., Zelazo, P. D., Anderson, A. K. (2013). Effects of emotion regulation on concurrent attentional performance. Motivation and Emotion, 37, 346-354. doi: 10.1007/s11031-012-9310-9.

Masten, A. S., Herbers, J. E., Desjardins, C. D., Cutuli, J. J., McCormick, C. M., Sapienza, J. K., Long, J. D., & Zelazo, P. D. (2012). Executive function skills and school success in young children experiencing homelessness. Educational Researcher, 41, 373-384.

Zelazo, P. D., & Carlson, S. M. (2012). Hot and cool executive function in childhood and adolescence: Development and plasticity. Child Development Perspectives, 6, 354-360. 

Lahat, A., Helwig, C. C., & Zelazo, P. D.  (2012). Age-related changes in cognitive processing of moral and social conventional violations.  Cognitive Development, 27, 181-194.

Espinet, S. D., Anderson, J. E., & Zelazo, P. D. (2012). N2 amplitude as a neural marker of executive function in young children: An ERP study of children who switch versus perseverate on the Dimensional Change Card Sort. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2, S49-S58.

Hahn, C., Cowell, J. M., Wiprzycka , U. J., Goldstein, D., Ralph, M., Hasher, L., & Zelazo, P. D. (2012). Circadian rhythms in executive function during the transition to adolescence: The effect of synchrony between chronotype and time of day. Developmental Science, 15, 408-416.

Zelazo, P. D., & Lyons, K. E. (2012). The potential benefits of mindfulness training in early childhood: A developmental social cognitive neuroscience perspective. Child Development Perspectives, 6, 154-160.