Which populations are commonly associated with impaired executive function?

• A. Athletes with minor injuries
• B. Individuals with acquired brain injury and progressive neurologic disease
• C. Children with asthma
• D. People with peripheral neuropathy

Answer: (B)

Executive function refers to higher‑order thinking skills like planning, inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and problem‑solving. These abilities depend on frontal brain circuits and their connections. When someone has an acquired brain injury or a progressive neurologic disease, those networks are often damaged or degraded, leading to difficulties with organizing tasks, maintaining goals, switching strategies, controlling impulses, and holding information in working memory. That’s why this population is commonly associated with impaired executive function.

The other groups don’t typically show this pattern. Athletes with minor injuries may have transient symptoms but not persistent executive dysfunction. Children with asthma don’t inherently have deficits in executive control, and peripheral neuropathy affects nerves in the limbs rather than higher‑order cognitive processes.