Abstract

ABSTRACT—In general, executive function can be thought of as the set of abilities required to effortfully guide be-havior toward a goal, especially in nonroutine situations. Psychologists are interested in expanding the under-standing of executive function because it is thought to be a key process in intelligent behavior, it is compromised in a variety of psychiatric and neurological disorders, it varies across the life span, and it affects performance in compli-cated environments, such as the cockpits of advanced aircraft. This article provides a brief introduction to the concept of executive function and discusses how it is assessed and the conditions underwhich it is compromised. A short overview of the diverse theoretical viewpoints re-garding its psychological and biological underpinnings is also provided. The article concludes with a consideration of how a multilevel approach may provide a more inte-grated account of executive function than has been previ-ously available. KEYWORDS—executive function; frontal lobe; prefrontal cortex; inhibition; task switching; workingmemory; atten-tion; top-down control Like other psychological constructs, such as memory, executive function is multidimensional. As such, there exists a variety of models that provide varying viewpoints as to its basic component processes. Nonetheless, common across most of them is the idea that executive function is a process used to effortfully guide behavior toward a goal, especially in nonroutine situations. Various functions or abilities are thought to fall under the rubric of executive function. These include prioritizing and sequencing behavior, inhibiting familiar or stereotyped behaviors, creating and maintaining an idea of what task or information is most relevant for current purposes (often referred to as an attentional or mental set), providing resistance to information that is dis-tracting or task irrelevant, switching between task goals, uti-lizing relevant information in support of decision making, categorizing or otherwise abstracting common elements across items, and handling novel information or situations. As can be