What Are Executive Functions?

The term executive functions in used in the field of neuropsychology and the field of cognitive psychology. The term executive functioning is defined as the mental capacity of a person which enables him or her to control and apply one's own mental skills to achieve a particular goal.

The different executive functions of the human mind may include the ability of the mind to sustain attention or flexibly redirect attention, the inhibition of the inappropriate responses of a person towards some behavioural pattern or some emotional stimulants, the ability to plan and make strategies for future behaviour, the initiation and execution of these plans and strategies and the ability of the mind of a human being to switch flexibly among various strategies and techniques of solving problems.

Research suggests that the executive functions of the human brain are controlled by the pre-frontal lobes of the cortex in the human brain.