Literal emergencies will fall into that category as well, but it is broader than just the stuff ER-people do for a living.
These are things like:
- being able to go from asleep to ready and out the door in under 5 minutes if the reason to do so is important enough.
- remaining calm and levelheaded when everyone around is panicking over something.
- deciding on a strategy and executing it flawlessly in response to any sudden change.
- and yes, doing homework last minute and still getting acceptable grades for it also counts.
Basically, if you get into a mental state of immediate urgency, your executive function runs on adrenaline alone. And suddenly you're better than ever before at just. getting. stuff. done. - but not for very long.