executive function

noun

psychology

: the group of complex mental processes and cognitive abilities (such as working memory, impulse inhibition, and reasoning) that control the skills (such as organizing tasks, remembering details, managing time, and solving problems) required for goal-directed behavior

The biggest impacts, she says, are in enhancing what's known as executive function—the ability to perform complex tasks that rely on planning or decision making.

—Janet Raloff

also : one of these complex mental processes

But a new study reports that soccer players actually have superior executive functions, the brain processes responsible for planning and abstract thinking.

—Sindya N. Bhanoo

executive functioning noun

Measures of attention, hyperactivity, and executive functioning (the ability to process feedback, interpret life's good and bad moments, and react in an appropriate way to events) were based on reports from parents and teachers …

—David Kirby

Examples of executive function in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For example, people who have A.D.H.D. are often messy because their brains’ executive functioning center — the area that controls time management, focus shifting, memory and prioritization — operates differently from a typical brain’s. —Jeremy Engle, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2025

Qualities like flexibility, agreeableness, mindfulness, emotional awareness, and executive function seemed to give a boost to patience. —Christian B. Miller, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025

This finding showed that sleep deprivation does not cause a general decline in brain activity, Cairney says, but rather seems to specifically affect certain parts of the brain that are involved in executive function. —Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, 9 Jan. 2025

For many people, intellectual abilities, executive function (aspects of thinking that include planning, memory, and self-control), social skills, and empathy continue to improve throughout adulthood. —Heidi Moawad, Verywell Health, 31 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1972, in the meaning defined above