executive functions
higher level cognitive processes of planning, decision making, problem solving, action sequencing, task assignment and organization, effortful and persistent goal pursuit, inhibition of competing impulses, flexibility in goal selection, and goal-conflict resolution. These often involve the use of language, judgment, abstraction and concept formation, and logic and reasoning. They are frequently associated with neural networks that include the frontal lobe, particularly the prefrontal cortex. Deficits in executive functioning are seen in various disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. In the latter, for example, selection and maintenance of goals may be impaired, as may the ability to exclude distractions. Also called central processes; higher order processes. See also Supervisory Attentional System.