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

As the day progresses, executive function naturally dips, making late afternoon better suited for collaborative alignment. — Luciana Paulise, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026

The blueberry group performed better on tasks measuring executive function. — Samantha Agate, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 July 2026

Using Neanderthal cranium shapes to estimate specific brain regions’ volume, some investigators claimed to see signs of a mind with feeble linguistic abilities, poor executive function and an unremarkable memory. — Cody Cottier, Scientific American, 20 July 2026

Research shows that drops in hormones actually shrink the volume of gray matter in a woman’s hippocampus and frontal and temporal cortices, which are key for memory and executive function. — Helen Carefoot, Flow Space, 16 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1895, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for executive function

• adjunction
• compunction
• conjunction
• disjunction
• dysfunction
• injunction
• malfunction
• eigenfunction
• multifunction
• heterojunction
• junction
• unction