biostudies-literatureTomlinson RCBrain & Behavior Research FoundationNational Institutes of Health; Office of the DirectorNICHD NIH HHSNIDA NIH HHSNIA NIH HHSAvielle FoundationNational Institutes of Health; National Institute of Mental HealthNIMH NIH HHSNational Institutes of Health; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentNational Science Foundation761-774https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12373008biostudies-literatureUnknown134(7)Difficulties with executive functioning are implicated in various forms of psychopathology. However, executive functioning task performance frequently demonstrates poor test-retest reliability, questionable convergent validity, and unstable associations with clinical measures. Model-based approaches may improve measurement by providing richer information about mechanisms underlying performance. The present study systematically compared a model-based measure of task-general executive functioning, efficiency of evidence accumulation (EEA), with traditional summary metrics extracted from the same tasks in a longitudinal study of adolescents (<i>N</i> = 637, age = 7-19). EEA demonstrated reasonable stability across development and strong cross-task reliability. Reflecting traditional metrics, EEA related to self-reported effortful control and parent-reported attention, externalizing and total problems. EEA and one traditional metric (go/no-go standard deviation of reaction time) correlated with inhibition-related brain activation in the anterior cingulate cortex and the right superior temporal gyrus. These findings highlight the potential of EEA as a task-general, stable, biologically plausible measure of executive functioning in adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).Journal of psychopathology and clinical scienceEfficiency of evidence accumulation as a formal model-based measure of task-general executive functioning in adolescents.PMC12373008K23 DA051561UG3 MH114249R01 HD093334R21 MH130939T32 AG049663R01 HD066040R01 MH081813UH3 MH114249Tomlinson RCSripada CHyde LWBurt SAWeigard ASJonides JKlump KLfalseEfficiency of evidence accumulation as a formal model-based measure of task-general executive functioning in adolescents.Difficulties with executive functioning are implicated in various forms of psychopathology. However, executive functioning task performance frequently demonstrates poor test-retest reliability, questionable convergent validity, and unstable associations with clinical measures. Model-based approaches may improve measurement by providing richer information about mechanisms underlying performance. The present study systematically compared a model-based measure of task-general executive functioning, efficiency of evidence accumulation (EEA), with traditional summary metrics extracted from the same tasks in a longitudinal study of adolescents (<i>N</i> = 637, age = 7-19). EEA demonstrated reasonable stability across development and strong cross-task reliability. Reflecting traditional metrics, EEA related to self-reported effortful control and parent-reported attention, externalizing and total problems. EEA and one traditional metric (go/no-go standard deviation of reaction time) correlated with inhibition-related brain activation in the anterior cingulate cortex and the right superior temporal gyrus. These findings highlight the potential of EEA as a task-general, stable, biologically plausible measure of executive functioning in adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).2025-01-01T00:00:00Z2025 Oct2026-06-01T07:59:36.097Z2026-04-08T10:43:33.799ZS-EPMC123730084083947810.1037/abn0001043