Executive Functioning

Executive functioning (EF) is a global term representing a cluster of skills that are offered as markers of frontal lobe functioning. EF skills allow individuals to effectively and efficiently plan, organize, and execute a thought or behavior. Often related to the process of problem solving, EF skills are most responsible for regulating actions, emotions, and cognitive processes. In fact, EF skills are thought to underlie all goal-directed behavior. The term executive functioning is a good description for this set of skills because this particular area of the brain is responsible for managing, structuring, and directing behavior in the ways a chief executive officer (CEO) might oversee an organization. But it is not just one ability alone that controls an individual’s decision making; the skills involved ...