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 brain is responsible for all bodily functions, including memory, executive function, attention, language, perception, and social-emotional skills. —Verywell Health, 10 Dec. 2025

There can be, like ADHD, executive functioning kind of difficulties and then anxiety. —Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield, CBS News, 10 Dec. 2025

Devices like Exomind, a form of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), target the brain’s dorsolateral prefrontal cortex—the center of executive function, mood regulation, and attention. —Emily Cegielski, Flow Space, 9 Dec. 2025

Research shows that teenagers need eight to 10 hours of sleep per night for healthy brain and body development, and these are also critical for our executive functions. —Ana Homayoun, CNBC, 27 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1895, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for executive function

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