A multiperspective approach to the conceptualization of executive functions

TLDR

The concept of executive function (EF) is unclear and difficult to operationalize. The study uses a multiperspective approach to quantify and reduce the proliferation of executive functions. The authors reviewed 60 studies, identified 68 EF subcomponents, and reduced them to 18 using latent semantic analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis to eliminate semantic and psychometric overlap. Despite the reduction, the remaining 18 subcomponents still lack parsimony, leading the authors to argue that EF subcomponents are better viewed as task‑specific behaviors rather than distinct functions.

Abstract

The concept of executive function (EF) is deemed unclear and difficult to operationalize. We use a multiperspective approach to quantify and reduce the current proliferation of EFs. A literature review of 60 studies identified 68 subcomponents of EF: Through objective statistical techniques, these terms were reduced to 18 by removing semantic overlap (using latent semantic analysis) and psychometric overlap (using hierarchical cluster analysis). However, still such a large number of functions lacks parsimony. We therefore revisit the concept of EF and suggest that the many proposed subcomponents are not functions per se but rather a number of task-specific behaviors.