What Are Executive Functions and How Do They Develop Through Childhood?

One day a child keeps in mind what they are supposed to do while getting ready, stays with the task they started, waits their turn, or adapts when the plan changes. On another day the same child forgets what they were doing while packing their bag, acts on the first thing that comes to mind, or struggles when a familiar routine changes.

There is no single skill behind these behaviours. There are several interrelated cognitive processes that help us regulate goal-directed behaviour. In the scientific literature these are generally studied under the heading of executive functions (Best & Miller, 2010; Karr et al., 2018).

It is misleading, however, to think of executive functions as a kind of “control centre” in the brain, or as a fixed capacity for self-control that a child either has or does not have. Different executive processes develop across childhood — and not all of them at the same time or at the same rate (Best & Miller, 2010; Fiske & Holmboe, 2019).

The short answer: what are executive functions?

Executive functions is a broad concept describing the cognitive processes that help us organise our thoughts and behaviour towards a goal. Working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility are the ones most frequently studied in the literature (Best & Miller, 2010; Karr et al., 2018).

But we should not think of these as three entirely separate compartments of the brain working independently. Research shows that executive functions have both shared and distinguishable aspects, and that this structure can change with age (Karr et al., 2018).

Thinking about these three concepts through everyday life makes them a little easier to grasp.

Working memory: holding something in mind while using it

Working memory is not only about remembering something. It also covers being able to use a piece of information while holding it in mind for a short period (Best & Miller, 2010).

Consider the instruction “Go to your room, get your book and put it in your bag.” The child has to keep in mind what they are meant to do until they reach the room, find the book, and then put it in the bag. This is one of the situations in which working memory can come into play in daily life.

Of course, a single behaviour like this is not a measurement of a child’s working memory. Everyday life is far more complex than laboratory tasks.

We have a fairly broad body of research on how working memory changes across childhood. Ahmed and colleagues (2022) showed, in two large US samples of children aged 3–19, that working memory performance increases with age, but that this development does not follow a straight line.

A meta-analysis published in 2026, bringing together 99 studies with 35,858 participants aged 3–17, likewise shows that gains in working memory updating in particular are more pronounced in early and middle childhood, and that the rate of development slows at later ages (Song & Cheng, 2026).

Another finding from that meta-analysis matters too: the developmental curve can vary depending on the task used in the study (Song & Cheng, 2026).

In other words, saying “a child’s working memory is at such-and-such a level at such-and-such an age” is harder than it first appears.

Inhibition: being able to stop the first response when needed

Another frequently studied component of executive functions is inhibition. At its simplest, it refers to the processes involved in being able to stop a dominant or automatic response when needed (Best & Miller, 2010).

Waiting your turn in a game even though you know the answer, or stopping a previously learned response when a familiar rule changes, can be examples of this.

There is a small but important distinction here: the “impulse control” we talk about in everyday life is not the same thing as the inhibition measured in cognitive research. Real-life behaviour is influenced by many more variables.

There are also findings indicating that different executive processes do not develop at the same rate. For example, in a study by Richardson and colleagues (2018) that followed children for two years, an age-related improvement was observed in one particular form of inhibition, while no comparable change was seen in cognitive switching performance over the same period.

This single study does not explain the development of all children. But considered alongside the wider literature, it supports an important point: executive functions are not a single system developing at a single rate (Best & Miller, 2010; Richardson et al., 2018).

Cognitive flexibility: being able to change when the rule changes

Cognitive flexibility relates to our being able to change how we think and behave according to changing rules, information or conditions (Best & Miller, 2010).

If a child in a game notices that they now have to choose the blue cards rather than the red ones, drops the old rule and moves to the new one, they need cognitive flexibility.

But working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility do not operate entirely independently of one another. Research shows there are both commonalities and separations between them, and that these relationships can change over the course of development (Karr et al., 2018).

For this reason, it may not be right to think of a young child’s executive functions as a small copy of the structure we see in adults.

What about planning?

Planning is a little more complex.

Setting a goal, keeping in mind what is to be done, putting the steps in order, abandoning an approach that is not working and changing the plan when necessary may require several executive processes working together (Best et al., 2009).

For this reason, rather than placing planning in a completely separate box, it is more appropriate to think of it as a more complex function that requires various executive processes to be used together.

What is more, the development of planning and other executive skills does not end with the preschool years. Studies reviewing research beyond age five show that development continues across childhood in areas such as working memory, cognitive flexibility and planning (Best et al., 2009; Best & Miller, 2010).

At what age do executive functions develop?

It is not possible to give a single age in answer to this question.

Simpler forms of executive processes begin to appear in early childhood. Marked changes are seen in working memory, inhibition and more complex executive behaviours, particularly during the preschool years (Garon et al., 2008).

But the executive functions of a child starting school are not “complete.”

Research shows that development in different executive processes continues across childhood, and in some areas during adolescence as well (Best et al., 2009; Best & Miller, 2010; Fiske & Holmboe, 2019).

Development does not follow a straight line either. Different developmental curves can be seen depending on which executive function we study and how we measure it (Karr et al., 2018; Song & Cheng, 2026).

This is why the firm cut-offs we often come across online — “executive functions are complete at such-and-such an age” — oversimplify the current scientific picture.

Where in the brain is all this happening?

When executive functions are discussed, the prefrontal cortex comes up frequently. There is a good reason for that: developmental changes in prefrontal regions matter for executive control (Fiske & Holmboe, 2019).

But that is not the whole story.

Describing the development of executive functions as “the prefrontal cortex matures, the child controls themselves better” oversimplifies the current scientific picture.

Fiske and Holmboe’s (2019) review of the neural substrates of early executive function development draws attention not only to prefrontal regions but also to the development of the connections those regions form with other parts of the brain.

So rather than thinking of executive functions as a “control centre” located at a single point in the brain, it is more accurate to think in terms of systems formed by different developing brain regions and the connections between them.

This also means we should keep some distance from popular explanations such as “the child can’t control themselves because their prefrontal cortex hasn’t developed yet.” Neurodevelopment is an important part of behaviour; but reducing behaviour to a single brain region is not enough (Fiske & Holmboe, 2019).

How much does a single behaviour tell us?

A child may forget what they were doing while packing their bag. They may struggle when a rule changes in a game. They may respond immediately in a situation where they were supposed to wait.

These are all behaviours we can observe.

But moving directly from a behaviour to the conclusion “this child’s executive functions are weak” is another matter.

Even in research, measuring executive functions is not easy. Different tasks and different models do not always reveal the same structure in the same way (Karr et al., 2018). The recent meta-analysis on working memory likewise shows that the task used can affect the developmental curve obtained (Song & Cheng, 2026).

For this reason, performance on a single task is not the whole of a child’s executive function capacity.

A similar caution can be useful in everyday life. The behaviour we see tells us something; but to understand why that behaviour occurred, looking only at the behaviour itself is not always enough.

Looking at the developing process, not at the child

Perhaps this is where the real value of knowing about executive functions emerges.

When a child does not complete an instruction, we do not have to think only “they weren’t listening”; when they cannot wait their turn, only “they’re impatient”; when they struggle as the plan changes, only “they’re stubborn.”

Instead, we can ask other questions:

What does the child have to keep in mind in this situation? Which response do they need to stop? Do they need to switch from one rule to another? How many things are they trying to organise at once?

Behind each of these questions are cognitive processes that are still developing.

Of course, this does not mean that executive functions are the cause of every challenging behaviour. On the contrary, we should avoid reducing a single behaviour to a single cognitive explanation.

The concept of executive function offers us something more modest but more useful: it reminds us that there may be more than one developmental process behind the behaviour we see.

Conclusion

A child planning, keeping the necessary information in mind, stopping their first response when needed and reorganising their behaviour when conditions change does not depend on a single skill. Various interrelated executive processes such as working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility contribute to these behaviours (Best & Miller, 2010; Karr et al., 2018).

Simple forms of these processes appear in early childhood; but their development does not end with the preschool years. They continue to change, at different rates, across childhood and adolescence (Best et al., 2009; Garon et al., 2008; Song & Cheng, 2026).

Perhaps this is why the question worth keeping in mind while learning about executive functions is a little broader than “at what age should a child be able to do this?”:

Which processes is the child using at the same time in order to carry out this behaviour, and where are those processes in their development?

References

Ahmed, S. F., Ellis, A., Ward, K. P., Chaku, N., & Davis-Kean, P. E. (2022). Working memory development from early childhood to adolescence using two nationally representative samples. Developmental Psychology, 58(10), 1962–1973. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001396

Best, J. R., & Miller, P. H. (2010). A developmental perspective on executive function. Child Development, 81(6), 1641–1660. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01499.x

Best, J. R., Miller, P. H., & Jones, L. L. (2009). Executive functions after age 5: Changes and correlates. Developmental Review, 29(3), 180–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2009.05.002

Fiske, A., & Holmboe, K. (2019). Neural substrates of early executive function development. Developmental Review, 52, 42–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2019.100866

Garon, N., Bryson, S. E., & Smith, I. M. (2008). Executive function in preschoolers: A review using an integrative framework. Psychological Bulletin, 134(1), 31–60. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.134.1.31

Karr, J. E., Areshenkoff, C. N., Rast, P., Hofer, S. M., Iverson, G. L., & Garcia-Barrera, M. A. (2018). The unity and diversity of executive functions: A systematic review and re-analysis of latent variable studies. Psychological Bulletin, 144(11), 1147–1185. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000160

Richardson, C., Anderson, M., Reid, C. L., & Fox, A. M. (2018). Development of inhibition and switching: A longitudinal study of the maturation of interference suppression and reversal processes during childhood. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 34, 92–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2018.03.002

Song, Y., & Cheng, C. (2026). The developmental trajectories of working memory updating from early childhood to adolescence: A meta-analysis. British Journal of Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70069