I just love this analogy for cognition from Lauren Schwabish (SLP):
Cognition is like a multi-story building.
The foundation of the building is attention. If there are cracks in attention, all the other floors will be shaky.
The lobby is processing. Information from the world is walking in and stepping onto the elevator.
Next floor is memory. Memory depends on the lower levels: attention and processing.
Higher floors = organization, problem solving, reasoning, etc.
Penthouse = higher level EF skills. They rely on all the other skills to function well.
Elevator = working memory. Limited space, constantly moving. Picks up information and takes it to the level it needs to go to. Nothing lives in the elevator. Information goes in and comes out.
Maintenance crew = the 3 core EF skills. They know every inch of the building and do what’s necessary to make it work smoothly.
Learn more in my newest post - SLPs have a clearer way to explain executive function. The free download has all the key details, with references.