Abstract: This paper discussed the relationship between executive function and its subcomponents, including inhibition, shifting, updating and dual task, and the number processing. The state of art concerning the study of relations between these four subcomponents and the number processing was found to be different: inhibition is repeatedly found to modulate the automatic number processing; shifting is found to relay on attention to influence the number processing; studies connecting updating with the number processing, however, is few; and controversies also exists for the relations between dual task coordination and the number processing. We believe that in future research the correlational studies will be aided more and more by causal studies with dedicated designs, the brain mechanisms underlying the connections between executive functions and the number processing will figure more and more prominently, and the special populations with deficits in the number processing will attract more and more attention.

Key words: executive function, number processing, inhibition, shifting