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

The Invisible Productivity Killers While time management and motivation are usually the go-to concerns in performance reviews, underlying factors like attention regulation, task switching fatigue and executive function limitations play a much larger role than most business leaders realize. —Ofer Lidsky, Forbes.com, 21 July 2025

And physical fitness can even directly lead to mental resilience; exercise boosts executive function, cognitive flexibility and emotional endurance. —Akin Akinpelu, Forbes.com, 7 July 2025

Instead, the court said that the right to claim burdens on executive functions belongs to the president, not to his opponents in the case. —Dan Mangan, CNBC, 30 May 2025

Working extreme hours may change your brain: Working long hours may change the structure of your brain, including regions associated with emotional regulation and executive function—such as problem solving and working memory—new research shows. —Alex Backus, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1972, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for executive function

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