Executive function in the brain—broadly considered to be things like working memory, transitioning from one task to another, impulse control, and decision-making—has long been believed to occur in a part of the brain called the frontal cortex.  Now, research that will be published in the journal Cortex this July and recently summarized in Science Daily, revealed that executive function behaviors involve a part of the brain called the inferior frontal junction (IFJ) and that the IFJ is, in turn, part of a network for executive functioning.

Researchers made this discovery through observing the workings of the brain of a woman who had a rare pattern of damage from a stroke in which the same parts of the brain in both hemispheres received damage.

Fortunately, near this region is among the first places on the brain that neurofeedback practitioners began training some 40 years ago, which means that this discovery does not significantly alter or undo the work of most brain trainers.

You can read the Science Daily summary here and the Cortex abstract here.