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, where he co-directs the Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab with Stephanie Carlson. 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 and 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 APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Developmental Psychology (2025). From 2012-2014, he served as President of the Jean Piaget Society. He was Founding Editor of the Journal of Cognition and Development, he is Associate Editor of American Psychologist, he serves on several editorial boards (e.g., Developmental Review), 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). Carlson and Zelazo co-founded a UMN-based start-up company, Reflection Sciences, Inc., to distribute the Minnesota Executive Function Scale; MEFS) and support schools and scientists in the assessment and promotion of children’s EF skills. Zelazo’s work has been cited over 51,000 times by other scholars.

Presentation Video Link: Universality and Variation in Executive Functioning: Discussion