On Executive Functions: A Very Short Introduction

Executive Functions are what educational psychologists, researchers, counselors and teachers refer to when we talk about the cognitive processes of both behavioral control and goal-oriented behavior in the brain. These are the things that allow us to not only reach out and grab a glass of water without giving it much thought, or to learn to raise our hand without calling out in class, but they’re also the functions that allow us to figure out how to solve world hunger, or to neutralize a global pandemic, or figure out how many telephone poles are in the mid-Atlantic. 

There are a number of debates around how many executive functions there are. Some maintain there are three major executive functions (inhibition, working memory, and shifting), others argue the existence of eleven executive functions (inhibition, shifting, emotional control, initiation, working memory, planning/organization, organization of materials, self-monitoring, task-monitoring, time management, goal-directed persistence), and others still argue the existence of thirty-three executive functions (a model we’ll look at in more detail later in this chapter). 

Researchers do tend to agree that executive functions or cognitive control is a feature of frontal lobe function, a part of the brain located closer to the forehead. This will become more important later when we discuss neurochemical pathways in the brain. In the meantime, think about executive functions as the self-control and goal-oriented behavior of the brain.