SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Executive function”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 343 records · Page 19Linked to original sources

PubMed2004

[Psychopedagogical management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with the model of executive function training].

Different therapeutic models have been presented with which to treat the condition of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the scientific literature speaks of the benefits linked to multimodal approaches. The National Institute of Mental Health report grants combined treatments an essential role. Throughout the literature authors agree that the executive functions are intrinsically related to the functions of the frontal lobe. We consider executive function training (EFT) to be another resource available within the different approaches used to treat ADHD and which is oriented towards developing and reinforcing the neuropsychological functions so as to give rise to new cognitive resources. Working memory is responsible for storage for a minimum amount of time while the information needed to resolve higher cognitive processes is manipulated. Some authors consider executive dysfunction to be a distinguishing element of ADHD. This type of dysfunction would make it more difficult for the higher cognitive processes to be carried out and is therefore a disorder that conditions the problems observed in the formal academic learning processes. The EFT programme consists of specific work modules and is aimed at favouring the appearance, development and operation of the affected functions.

Attention↗

PubMed2005

Language, social, and executive functions in high functioning autism: a continuum of performance.

This study examined language and executive functions (EF) in high-functioning school-aged individuals with autism and individually matched controls. Relationships between executive, language, and social functioning were also examined. Participants with autism exhibited difficulty on measures of expressive grammar, figurative language, planning, and spatial working memory. A mixed profile of impaired and enhanced abilities was noted in set-shifting. While controls showed the typical increase in errors when shifting sets from an intra-dimensional to an extra-dimensional stimulus, this pattern was not noted in participants with autism. Relationships between EF, language, and social performance were weak to non-existent. Implications for theories of core deficit in autism and dissociable nature of the language and executive impairments in autism are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Individual differences in memory and executive function abilities during normal aging.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of some individual variables on memory and executive function test performance in normal aging individuals. Sixty subjects (21 males and 39 females), with a mean age of 69.66 (SD = 7.09) were selected. The following neuropsychological tests were selected. The following neuropsychological tests were administered: Associative Learning and Logical Memory from the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) (Wechsler, 1945), Associative Memory with Semantic Enhancement Test (AMSET) (Pineda, Galeano and Giraldo, 1991), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WSCT) (Heaton, 1981), and Verbal Fluency (phonologic and semantic). The effects of demographic (age, education, and sex) and some individual variables (academic history, working history, physical activity, and leisure activities) were measured. Age and education effects on test scores were observed, but no sex effect was found. Working history and leisure activities established significant differences in some test scores. A multiple regression analysis was performed. Not only demographic variables, but also individual variables were associated with memory, and albeit at a lesser extend, with executive function test scores. It was emphasized that not only demographic factors, but also individual variables have a significant effect on cognitive changes observed during normal aging.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

The Key Behaviors Change Inventory and executive functioning in an elderly clinic sample.

The Key Behaviors Change Inventory (KBCI) was developed to assess executive, behavioral, and emotional functioning following brain insults and to track the course of recovery. The purpose of this study was to investigate, in an elderly memory disorder clinic sample, the convergent and discriminant validity of the KBCI by examining the relationships between various measures of executive functioning and the KBCI scales that theoretically relate to executive functions. The KBCI was administered to the caregivers of 97 consecutive patients who came to a memory disorders clinic seeking services. The KBCI scales of Inattention, Apathy, Unawareness of Problems, and Communication Problems were significantly correlated with cognitive measures of executive functioning but not with measures of memory, visuospatial abilities or global cognitive functioning. In contrast, KBCI scales of Interpersonal Difficulties, Somatic Difficulties, and Emotional Adjustment were not related to any cognitive measures, either executive or nonexecutive. Contrary to predicted findings, the Impulsivity Scale was not associated with cognitive measures of executive functioning. This lack of relationship most likely reflects the failure to include executive measures of orbitofrontal functioning in this study. Results provide convergent and discriminant validity support for the KBCI. The KBCI may be a useful tool for assessing and tracking the executive, behavioral, and emotional sequelae of neurologic disorders.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2005

Episodic feeling-of-knowing accuracy and cued recall in the elderly: evidence for double dissociation involving executive functioning and processing speed.

This research investigated adult age differences in a metamemory monitoring task-episodic feeling-of-knowing (FOK) and in an episodic memory task-cued recall. Executive functioning and processing speed were examined as mediators of these age differences. Young and elderly adults were administered an episodic FOK task, a cued recall task, executive tests and speed tests. Age-related decline was observed on all the measures. Correlation analyses revealed a pattern of double dissociation which indicates a specific relationship between executive score and FOK accuracy, and between speed score and cued recall. When executive functioning and processing speed were evaluated concurrently on FOK and cued recall variables, hierarchical regression analyses showed that executive score was a better mediator of age-related variance in FOK, and that speed score was the better mediator of age-related variance in cued recall.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Association of symptoms and executive function in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The extent to which cognitive impairment in psychosis is related to the particular disorder or the pattern of symptoms is unclear. We examined executive function in two groups of schizophrenia patients with predominant symptoms of disorganisation (n=15) and psychomotor poverty (n=15), respectively, two groups of bipolar I disorder patients with predominant symptoms of mania (n=15) and depression (n=15), respectively, and 30 healthy controls. We predicted that the pattern of symptoms ('excess' [disorganisation/mania] or 'deficiency' [negative symptoms/depression]) would be more related to executive ability than the underlying disorder. The patient groups showed partially overlapping executive dysfunctions relative to the control group. There were no significant differences between groups with 'excess' symptoms (schizophrenia patients with thought disorder and bipolar patients with mania), or between groups with 'deficiency' symptoms (schizophrenia patients with negative symptoms and bipolar patients with depression). In contrast, differences were noted between groups with the same diagnosis: Schizophrenia patients with disorganisation were less accurate in semantic verbal fluency than those with negative symptoms; and bipolar patients with mania tended to be faster, but less accurate, in sentence completion than those with depression. A statistical comparison of the associations of 'diagnosis' and the 'excess-deficiency' dimension with executive function revealed a trend for a greater association of the latter with two measures of performance accuracy. Executive dysfunction in patients with psychotic disorders may be more related to their symptom profile than their diagnosis.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Psychomotor and executive functioning after unilateral posteroventral pallidotomy in patients with Parkinson's disease.

The goal of the study was to explore the immediate effects of unilateral posteroventral stereotactic pallidotomy (PVP) on psychomotor and executive functioning in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The original drawing task, conducted on a digitizing tablet, and neuropsychological tests were administered to 25 patients with PD, 2 or 3 days before and after the surgery. To assess executive functions, the following tests were used: Trail Making Test (TMT), Stroop Colour Interference Test and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). To evaluate global mental functioning, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was applied. Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT) was introduced as a control non-executive task. The patients undergoing a surgery were compared with age and education matched healthy and PD controls. PVP resulted in an increased movability of the upper contralateral limbs reflected in larger average pressure put during the drawing task after the surgery. Assessment of the emotional state showed a significant postoperative improvement. An isolated significant decline of WCST performance, not related to the side of the lesion, was observed immediately after the surgery. The performance of the other executive and non-executive tasks remained unchanged. The results showed that unilateral PVP may lead to immediate selective executive impairment and is needed to be explored in further studies.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Executive functioning in adults and children with developmental dyslexia.

The performance of developmentally dyslexic children and adults was studied upon a range of tasks that involved executive functioning. Both adult and child samples of dyslexics were found to under-perform on the group-embedded figures test. This test required the identification of constituent parts from within complex visual arrays, with good performance necessitating the inhibition of the processing of the surrounding context. A general deficit on visual-spatial tasks was eliminated as an explanation as dyslexics performed normally upon a range of other non-verbal assessments. The dyslexics consistently demonstrated a deficit in digit span tasks, a decrement that was increased with distractors, again suggesting difficulties in inhibiting the processing of the surrounding context. A deficit was also identified upon a verbal fluency task without a deficit in vocabulary level. Additionally, a specific deficit in the recollection of the temporal order of the presentation of items was in evidence, without a deficit in the recognition of the items themselves. The findings taken as a whole suggest that dyslexic individuals show deficiencies in executive functions relating to inhibition of distractors and to sequencing of events, a set of tasks associated with left prefrontal cortex functioning in the acquired neuropsychology literature.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

Executive functioning and verbal memory in young patients with unipolar depression and schizophrenia.

Although neuropsychological studies have consistently reported executive deficits in schizophrenia, studies of executive functions in depression have produced equivocal results. The aim of this study was to examine the profile and the specificity of the executive impairment and its association with memory performance in young patients with unipolar depression. We compared patients with depression to normal control subjects and schizophrenics. Twenty young inpatients with unipolar depression, 14 schizophrenics and 20 age-, education- and IQ-matched control subjects were assessed with a neuropsychological battery including: (1) verbal memory task; (2) frontal tasks (WCST, Cognitive Estimate, Verbal fluency, verbal and visuo-spatial span) and a new complex sorting test (Delis test). Depressed patients and schizophrenics exhibited executive deficits. Unlike schizophrenics, depressed patients did not show memory impairment. Deficits in several 'higher-level' functions combined to produce executive impairments in patients with depression including complex integration for concept formation, spontaneous cognitive flexibility and initiation ability. Impaired functions in schizophrenia and in depressed patients were similar but were differently related to clinical variables. The pattern of memory failure in our schizophrenics is believed to reflect retrieval and encoding deficits. Our findings highlight the heterogeneity of skills grouped under the term 'executive functions' that are vulnerable in depression or schizophrenia.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Digit Span components as predictors of attention problems and executive functioning in children.

This study examined the extent to which digits forward (DF) or digits backward (DB) account for variance in parent ratings of attention and executive function in children. The sample (n=90) included children with no diagnosis and children with a range of clinical problems, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Clinical groups differed from the No Diagnosis group on cognitive ability as well as achievement. Once cognitive ability was controlled, no group differences emerged for Digit Span or digits forward; notably, the ADHD-Predominantly Inattentive group was able to recall significantly more digits backward than the ADHD-Combined Type group. Regression analyses indicated that Full Scale IQ explained significant variance in parent ratings of attention and executive function; DF emerged as a significant predictor only for one measure of attention. When only children with ADHD were considered, DF no longer was a significant predictor. Results support the notion that DF and DB are differing constructs, as well as highlighting the importance of controlling for cognitive ability in consideration of group differences on behavioral measures.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗

PubMed1997

The remediation of executive functions in children with cognitive disorders: the Vygotsky-Luria neuropsychological approach.

The demands of methods of effective remediation arising from the Vygotsky-Luria approach to the structure and development of higher mental functions are discussed. These demands suggest the structuring of a therapeutic interaction in accordance with the rules of the internalization process, taking into account a weak component of the child's functional systems and the emotional involvement of a child in that interaction. In order to provide a theoretical framework for developing methods of executive function remediation, the approaches of Vygotsky and Luria, as well as modern views on the structure and development of executive functions, are discussed. The Method of Numerical Sequence is presented as an example of the application of the general principles discussed above. The Method of Numerical Sequence provides a background for following the development of successive processing, programming and planning, and can be considered as a complement to the development of the metacognitive aspects of self-regulation. This method was verified experimentally in groups of 5-8-year-old children with intellectual disability.

Child↗

PubMed2002

Enhancement of executive functioning skills: an additional tier in the treatment of schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is viewed by most as having a neuropsychological component, with deficits primarily occurring in the areas of attention/concentration, memory, and executive functioning. These deficits often contribute to difficulties in everyday living and social functioning. The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation methods, typically utilized by brain-injured patients, to improve the executive functioning skills of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. While this pilot study is limited in terms of sample size, results suggest that the addition of cognitive rehabilitation to the comprehensive treatment of schizophrenia could be beneficial in enhancing daily living skills.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2004

Speed and accuracy on tests of executive function in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Slowness in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been attributed to intrusive thoughts or meticulousness. Recent research suggests that slowness in OCD may be particularly evident on tests of executive function subserved by frontostriatal circuitry. In the present study, the speed and accuracy of responding on neuropsychological tests of executive functions and psychomotor speed were investigated in 27 non-depressed, unmedicated adults with OCD and 27 healthy controls. The only group difference was that patients took significantly longer to copy a complex geometric design than controls. This finding was unrelated to residual depression or overall OCD symptom severity. Results suggest that slowness in OCD may be most apparent on executive tests requiring self-initiated organizational strategies, consistent with frontostriatal abnormality.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

A goal activation approach to the study of executive function: an application to antisaccade tasks.

We argue that a general control process, responsible for the activation and maintenance of task goals, is central to the concept of executive function. Failures of this process can become manifest as goal neglect: disregard of a task requirement even though it has been understood (Duncan, 1995). We discuss the results of several published and new experiments using various versions of the antisaccade task in order to investigate the circumstances under which goal neglect is likely to occur. Potentially conflicting results in the literature on adaptive control of saccadic eye movements are argued to be attributable to the extent to which different task versions elicit goal neglect. The results suggest an increased susceptibility to goal neglect of high-functioning older adults (Experiment 1) and of first-episode schizophrenia patients (Experiment 2), but not of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (Experiment 3). However, the degree to which such differences in susceptibility become manifest in task performance, is shown to be strongly influenced by manipulations of the relative saliency of task requirements. Theoretical and methodological implications for the study of executive function are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Visuospatial abilities, memory, and executive functioning in trichotillomania and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Few studies have compared neuropsychological functioning in trichotillomania (TTM) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In OCD, most studies suggest abnormal visuospatial abilities, memory, and executive functioning. We compared 23 TTM, 21 OCD and 26 healthy control individuals on neuropsychological tasks assessing these abilities. Neither the TTM nor the OCD groups suffered from generalized neuropsychological deficits compared to the healthy control group. TTM participants showed increased perseveration on the Object Alternation Task suggesting difficulties with response flexibility. OCD participants showed impaired ability to learn from feedback on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Other executive functions, as well as memory and visuospatial abilities were unimpaired in TTM and OCD. Our data suggest that TTM and OCD are characterized by different patterns of neuropsychological dysfunction.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Phonological loop and central executive functioning in Alzheimer's disease.

The phonological loop and central executive functioning were examined in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in normal elderly subjects. AD patients showed abnormal functioning of the phonological loop and decreased performance on tasks assessing the central executive. However, when AD patients were separated into two groups on the basis of their span level, both groups showed deficits of the central executive but only patients with the lower span level presented a dysfunction of the phonological loop as well as impaired performance in tasks of phonological discrimination, articulation rate and speed of processing. These results are interpreted in terms of progression of the disease, with high-span level patients being less severely demented and displaying deficits only in higher-level cognitive functions (such as manipulation of information stored in working memory) whereas patients with a low span level have impairments encompassing a series of more basic processes.

Aged↗

PubMed2007

Decisions under ambiguity and decisions under risk: correlations with executive functions and comparisons of two different gambling tasks with implicit and explicit rules.

We conducted two experiments with healthy subjects to investigate the possible relationships between Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) performance and executive functions as well as IGT performance and decision-making in a task with explicit rules, the Game of Dice Task (GDT). Results indicated that only the last trials of the IGT were correlated with executive functions and GDT performance. We suggest that the IGT taps into two mechanisms of decision-making: decisions under ambiguity in the first trials and decisions under risk in the latter trials. Results have impact on the interpretation of deficient IGT performance in patients with frontal lobe dysfunctions.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Executive function in Tourette's syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive performance was compared in the genetically and neurobiologically related disorders of Tourette's syndrome (TS) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), in three domains of executive function: planning, decision-making and inhibitory response control. METHOD: Twenty TS patients, twenty OCD patients and a group of age- and IQ-matched normal controls completed psychometric and computerized cognitive tests and psychiatric rating scales. The cognitive tests were well-characterized in terms of their sensitivity to other fronto-striatal disorders, and included pattern and spatial recognition memory, attentional set-shifting, and a Go/No-go set-shifting task, planning, and decision-making. RESULTS: Compared to controls, OCD patients showed selective deficits in pattern recognition memory and slower responding in both pattern and spatial recognition, impaired extra-dimensional shifting on the set-shifting test and impaired reversal of response set on the Go/No-go test. In contrast, TS patients were impaired in spatial recognition memory, extra-dimensional set-shifting, and decision-making. Neither group was impaired in planning. Direct comparisons between the TS and OCD groups revealed significantly different greater deficits for recognition memory latency and Go/No-go reversal for the OCD group, and quality of decision-making for the TS group. CONCLUSIONS: TS and OCD show both differences (recognition memory, decision-making) and similarities (set-shifting) in selective profiles of cognitive function. Specific set-shifting deficits in the OCD group contrasted with their intact performance on other tests of executive function, such as planning and decision-making, and suggested only limited involvement of frontal lobe dysfunction, possibly consistent with OCD symptomatology.

Adult↗