The present study investigated the effects of inhibition, vocabulary knowledge, and\r\nworking memory on perceptual adaptation to accented speech. One hundred young,\r\nnormal-hearing adults listened to sentences spoken in a constructed, unfamiliar accent\r\npresented in speech-shaped background noise. Speech Reception Thresholds (SRTs) corresponding to 50%\r\nspeech\r\nrecognition accuracy provided a measurement of adaptation to the\r\naccented speech. Stroop, vocabulary knowledge, and working memory tests were performed to\r\nmeasure cognitive ability. Participants adapted to the unfamiliar accent as revealed by a\r\ndecrease in SRTs over time. Better inhibition (lower Stroop scores) predicted greater and\r\nfaster adaptation to the unfamiliar accent. Vocabulary knowledge predicted better\r\nrecognition of the unfamiliar accent, while working memory had a smaller, indirect effect\r\non speech\r\nrecognition mediated by vocabulary score. Results support a top-down\r\nmodel for\r\nsuccessful adaptation to, and recognition of, accented speech; they add to recent theories\r\nthat allocate a prominent role for executive function to effective speech comprehension in\r\nadverse listening conditions.