All 4 Terms & Definitions
- Inhibitory control
- The ability to suppress prepotent (automatic) responses and filter out distracting information. Measured by the Stroop task (suppressing the habitual response of reading a word to name its ink colour instead), the go/no-go task, and the stop-signal task. Inhibitory control develops rapidly in early childhood and is disproportionately impaired in ADHD.
- Cognitive flexibility
- The ability to shift between mental sets, tasks, or perspectives — sometimes called "task switching" or "mental set shifting." Measured by tasks such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), in which the sorting rule changes without warning. Cognitive flexibility requires both inhibiting the previously relevant rule and activating the new one.
- Working memory
- The ability to hold information in mind and mentally manipulate it over seconds. Working memory is distinct from short-term memory: it involves active processing, not passive storage. It is central to mental arithmetic, following multi-step instructions, and comprehending complex sentences. Baddeley and Hitch's (1974) model describes a central executive overseeing two subsidiary systems: the phonological loop (verbal/acoustic information) and the visuospatial sketchpad (visual and spatial information).
- Prefrontal cortex
- The anterior portion of the frontal lobe, particularly its dorsolateral and ventrolateral regions, is the primary neural substrate of executive function. The dorsolateral PFC is associated with working memory and planning; the orbitofrontal cortex with impulse control and decision-making under uncertainty. Disruption of PFC connectivity — through injury, ADHD, or ageing — produces characteristic executive deficits.