Goal maintenance
Keep the current rule active across delay.
Functionally, control is hierarchical: abstract goals bias mid-level rules that bias concrete responses — with continuous conflict monitoring.
Network percentages below are editorial emphasis for teaching, not BOLD percentages from a single study.
Processes
Interference control
Down-weight irrelevant features and habits.
Updating
Replace outdated contents in working memory.
Set shifting
Disengage one mapping and engage another.
Monitoring
Detect errors and rising conflict.
Planning / sequencing
Order subgoals into executable chains.
Networks
Frontoparietal control88
Cingulo-opercular72
Dorsal attention64
Frontostriatal70
Default mode (suppressed)35
Frontoparietal control
Moment-to-moment adaptive control.
Cingulo-opercular
Stable task-set maintenance.
Dorsal attention
Spatial priority maps for goal-relevant loci.
Frontostriatal
Action selection and habit–goal arbitration.
Default mode (suppressed)
Often down-regulated during focused control.
Examples
Exam under noise
Holding formulas while ignoring chatter = working memory + inhibition.
Changing recipes mid-cook
Switch costs appear when ingredients force a new plan.
Driving and phone urge
Prepotent reach must be inhibited for safety.
Team leadership pivot
Updating strategy when data falsify the prior plan.
Compare radar scores with ADHD and Decision-Making pages.
Sources & research
- Executive functionsDevelopmental synthesis of EF components and interventions.DOIPubMed
- The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex "frontal lobe" tasks: a latent variable analysisCanonical unity/diversity latent-variable paper.DOIPubMed
- Working memory: looking back and looking forwardWorking-memory architecture overview.DOIPubMed
- An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex functionBiased competition account of PFC control.DOIPubMed
- The prefrontal cortex—an update: time is of the essenceTemporal organisation of frontal action.DOIPubMed
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