The concept of "spirit" in traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） aligns closely with "the liver governs the designing of strategy". By exploring the relationship between the liver and executive function decline， it is proposed that prolonged liver constraint leads to indecisiveness in strategy designing， which is the initiating factor for executive function decline； liver blood deficiency causes difficulties in executing strategy， which forms an essential foundation for the progression of executive function decline； obstruction in the "liver-du mai-brain" pathway leads to unclear strategy designing， which accelerates executive function decline. This relationship is examined from the perspectives of TCM， modern medicine， and cognitive psychology， aiming to provide insights into addressing executive function decline through treatments focused on the liver.

Objective Using event-related potentials(ERPs),to study the effect and mechanism of negative emotion accumulation hepatic insufficiency on working memory in normal people.Methods Fifty subjects in each of the emotionally stable group and emotionally unstable group were given two load tasks(0-back and 1-back)in the N-back paradigm,the reaction time and correct rate were recorded,and the ERPs components N200 and P300 were detected.The latency and amplitude of P300 were analyzed statistically.Results ①Compared with the emotionally stable group,the emotionally unstable group had a longer reaction time(P<0.05).②Compared with the emotionally stable group,the subjects in the emotionally unstable group had prolonged N200 latency,decreased P300 amplitude significantly(P<0.05),and P300 latency had a tendency to extend(P<0.1).Conclusion Long-term accumulation of negative emotions and liver failure in normal people have the performance of decreased working memory,which may be related to the reduction of attention resource allocation and the impairment of cognitive processing function.