Eli5 What is executive disfunction?
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**Executive functions** are the mental processes (or “skills,” if you will) responsible for ~~goal-oriented tasks~~ helping you get things done, such as…
* ~~focus~~ paying attention and ignoring distractions
* following instructions
* ~~working memory~~ remembering stuff that isn’t necessarily a “forever” thing, but is important to do at certain times or in certain situations *(e.g., returning a library book before it’s due)*
* ~~decision-making, including reasoning and judgement~~ making choices, but also taking into consideration the good and bad things that could happen when you act on them, so that you can make the right choice
* ~~self-monitoring, impulse-control, and emotional regulation~~ being aware of and “controlling” yourself & your own actions, even when you are excited, upset, or having strong urges you want to act on, as well as resisting habits when you have to do things differently than what you’re used to
* problem-solving
* ~~planning, organization, and prioritization~~ figuring out all the steps needed to do a task before starting, including in the right order and time in which those tasks need to be carried out, and staying on top of everything
* ~~time-awareness and time-management~~ setting aside the right amount of time needed to do tasks, and keeping track of how much time is passing while you are working
* ~~task-initiation, set-shifting, and multitasking~~ starting an activity, moving on to the next step when you finish one of the many tasks involved in an activity, and doing more than one thing at the same time
These skills are controlled by a part of the brain called “the prefrontal cortex.”
**Executive _dysfunction_** happens when that area of your brain is ~~impaired~~ less capable of carrying out these tasks, which can happen for many different reasons.
For example, in people with **developmental disabilities** *(e.g., ADHD, autism, dyspraxia, intellectual disabilities, down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, etc.)*, ~~their frontal lobe has structural and connective abnormalities due to atypical early brain development~~ that part of their brain simply developed differently than other people’s when they were still in their mothers’ belly or shortly after they were born. This is just how their brain *naturally* is, and **no surgery, medication, or healthy diet can undo that**.
In people whose early brain development was more or less “typical,” the prefrontal cortex can still be damaged or go through changes for many different reasons *(e.g., brain injury, epilepsy, neurodegenerative diseases like alzheimer’s, lyme disease, fibromyalgia, insomnia, substance abuse disorders, malnutrition, depression, schizophrenia — to name only a few)*, but not all of them are a “forever” (or even “always”) thing.
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