Review of the Latest Concepts Concerning Cognitive and Executive Functioning

Abstract

According to the concept of Lezak and associates (2004) cognitive functioning is one of the three aspects creating human behavior. The aim of this work is to summarise the latest research and analyses relating to cognitive and executive functions including data from neuroimaging. Cognitive functions were divided into five categories: receptive functions, memory and learning, thinking, expressive functions and cognitive activity variables. Furthermore, executive functions were characterized. The most attention was drawn to memory processes. The division proposed seems to apply not only to scientific elaboration, but also to clinical practice.