What Are Executive Functions and Why Do They Matter?
Executive functions are the brain-based skills that help us plan, organise, regulate emotions, and achieve goals. This article explains how executive functions develop and why they can be difficult to access at times.
If you've ever wondered why a child can remember every Pokémon fact but forget to pack their lunchbox, or why a teenager desperately wants to start an assignment but somehow can’t get going, you've already encountered executive functions in action.
Executive functions are a set of brain-based skills that help us manage ourselves, our thoughts, our emotions, and our behaviour in order to achieve goals. They allow us to plan, organise, focus attention, regulate emotions, remember important information, and adapt when things do not go to plan.
Executive functions skills include : Inhibitory Control, Working Memory, Cognitive Flexibility, Emotional Regulation, Sustained Attention, Task Initiation, Planning, Prioritising, Organisation, Time Management, Goal-Directed Persistence, and Metacognition (for definitions, see the link to my resource library at the bottom of the page!)
These skills are particularly important for everyday activities such as getting ready for school, completing homework, managing friendships, following routines, and coping with unexpected changes.
For neurodivergent individuals, including those with ADHD, autism, and brain injury, executive function challenges are often a significant part of daily life. Understanding how these skills work is often the first step toward providing effective support.
Executive functions develop from infancy
Executive functions do not suddenly appear when children start school. They begin developing in infancy and continue to mature well into early adulthood.
Like building a house, executive functioning develops from the ground up. Early developing executive functions such as inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility form the foundation for more complex executive functions such as planning, organisation, and time management.
This means that executive function development is interconnected. Stronger foundations help support the development of more advanced executive functions over time.
Where do executive functions develop?
Executive functions are most strongly associated with the frontal lobes of the brain, particularly the prefrontal cortex.
However, the frontal lobes do not work alone. Executive functions rely on extensive two-way communication networks with many other areas of the brain, including:
The amygdala, which helps process threat, stress, and emotional responses
The hippocampus, which plays a key role in learning and memory
The thalamus, which helps regulate essential functions such as sleep, arousal, and alertness.
Importantly, these connections work in both directions. Changes in one system influence the others.
For example, when a person becomes overwhelmed, the amygdala can signal that there is a threat present. In those moments, executive functions often become less available because the brain is prioritising safety and survival. As a result, skills such as planning, organisation, working memory, and emotional regulation may become less efficient.
You may have noticed this in yourself. When stress levels rise, you might be more likely to forget your lunch, lose track of what you were doing, struggle to organise your thoughts, or run late to an important meeting. It is not that these executive functions have disappeared, rather, they are harder to access when the brain is busy responding to stress.
As we begin to feel safe and calm again, the frontal lobes can gradually re-engage. This helps us regain access to the executive functions we need to navigate daily life. We become better able to plan, organise, remember important information, manage our emotions, and respond thoughtfully rather than react automatically.
This highlights an important point: our ability to use executive functions depends not only on our actual executive functioning abilities, but also, our capacity in that moment. Factors such as stress, sleep, emotional wellbeing, sensory demands, and motivation can all affect how available executive functions are to us on any given day.
Executive functions never work alone
One common misconception is that each executive function operates independently. In reality, they work together constantly.
Consider the seemingly simple task of getting ready for school. A child might need working memory to remember what comes next, inhibitory control to resist distractions, sustained attention to stay on task, emotional regulation to cope with frustration and time management to move through the routine efficiently. That’s at least five executive functions needing to work together to be on time!
Starting homework may involve at least seven executive functions all working together: task initiation, working memory, planning, organisation, time-management, sustained attention and goal-directed persistence.
In daily life, executive functions operate as an integrated system rather than a collection of separate skills.
Why do people struggle with executive functions?
Executive function difficulties are rarely explained by a lack of intelligence or a lack of effort. Instead, they often reflect a combination of developmental factors, individual strengths and challenges, and a person's capacity at that particular moment.
For neurodivergent individuals, executive function differences are often a significant part of daily life, as they can be slower to develop in these populations. And as we have discussed, stress, fatigue, emotional demands, sensory overload, motivation, and environmental expectations also influence how easily executive function skills can be accessed.
This is why a person may be able to get ready for school one day and struggle the next. It is not necessarily because they do not know what to do, or that they are choosing not to do it. Often, it is because the brain systems that support executive functioning are working harder or have fewer resources available in that moment.
Understanding executive functions helps us see beyond behaviour and better understand what might be making everyday tasks difficult. It helps us see that it’s not always about knowing what to do, it’s also about having the capacity to do it. When we recognise the role of development, brain networks, stress, and capacity, we can provide support that is more compassionate, effective, and responsive to individual needs.
Learn more
For a more detailed description of individual executive function skills, download our Executive Function Definition table from our Resource Library
References
Diamond, A. (2013). Executive Functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135–168.
Dawson, P., & Guare, R. Smart but Scattered Kids: The Revolutionary "Executive Skills" Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential.