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Results for “Executive function”

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PubMed2003

Executive functioning in preschool-age children prenatally exposed to alcohol, cocaine, and marijuana.

BACKGROUND: Reports from clinical and experimental (animal) research converge on the suggestion that prenatal exposure to alcohol, cocaine, or marijuana undermines executive functioning (EF) and its neurological underpinnings. However, large, adequately controlled, prospective studies of alcohol and marijuana effects on EF have reported conflicting findings, and there have been no such studies of cocaine exposure. METHODS: EF was investigated in a cohort (n = 316) of 4-year-old children the majority of whose mothers had used varying combinations of cocaine, alcohol, and marijuana during pregnancy. With use of postpartum maternal report and biological assay, children were assigned to overlapping prenatal cocaine-exposed, alcohol-exposed, and marijuana-exposed groups and to complementary control groups. The postnatal environmental assessment included measures of maternal intellectual and psychosocial functioning, current drug or alcohol use, and home environment. RESULTS: The children in the alcohol-exposed group had worse tapping-inhibition performance than children in the non-alcohol-exposed group, and this effect persisted when potential confounding environmental variables, other drug variables, and concurrent verbal intelligence were controlled for. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal alcohol is predictive of decreased EF in early childhood that could not be attributed to environmental factors. The results are discussed in terms of the age and overall high-risk status of the children.

Alcohol Drinking↗

PubMed2005

Executive function and nonverbal memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

It has been suggested that memory impairments found in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are mediated by organizational problems in encoding that are caused by primary executive dysfunction. Performance on different nonverbal memory and executive skills was tested in 68 subjects (35 non-depressed OCD sufferers and 33 healthy controls). Multiple regression models were performed to analyze the role of different cognitive variables, especially organizational encoding strategies in nonverbal memory. OCD patients performed significantly worse than controls in immediate nonverbal memory [Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (RCFT)] and on all the executive functions such as interference control (Stroop test), mental set shifting (Trail-Making Test), and organizational strategies (copy organization). As no differences were found in the memory of faces, where organizational strategies are minimal, it is possible to speculate that immediate nonverbal memory problems in OCD appear only when organizational strategies mediate the recalling process. Thus, memory deficits appear to have less to do with memory, per se, and more to do with the degree of organization necessary to effectively complete the task. Statistical analyses of mediation models showed the highest explanatory power for the organizational approach and demonstrated the mediation effect of organizational strategies in nonverbal impairment.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Executive functions in multiple sclerosis: an analysis of temporal ordering, semantic encoding, and planning abilities.

Previous studies have consistently demonstrated impairments in conceptual reasoning and set-shifting abilities in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Other executive functions have been less frequently examined. We compared 44 MS patients and 48 demographically matched controls on a temporal-ordering and semantic-encoding task and on a test of planning (Tower of Hanoi). Compared with controls, MS patients experienced deficient semantic encoding and planning but unimpaired temporal-order memory. For both tasks, post hoc analyses indicated that chronic-progressive MS patients contributed most to the group differences. A combination of poor planning and slowed information-processing speed was hypothesized to have contributed to MS patients' impaired Tower of Hanoi performance. Further research is needed to explore the possible relationship between semantic-encoding and planning deficits in MS and social and occupational disabilities.

Cues↗

PubMed2006

Executive functioning in children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder: can we differentiate within the spectrum?

The aim of this study was to investigate whether children with high-functioning autism (HFA), Asperger's syndrome (AS), and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDDNOS) can be differentiated from each other and from normal controls on their neurocognitive executive functioning (EF) profile. Children with HFA and AS showed the most EF deficits. The EF profile of the PDDNOS group was more disturbed that the normal control group, but was less disturbed than the profile of the HFA and AS groups. Little difference was found between the three PDD subtypes with respect to EF. This study supports the view that executive dysfunctioning plays an important role in autism. The usefulness of a distinction between different PDD subtypes was not demonstrated.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Sustained attention and executive functioning performance in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

The aim of this study was to further refine the cognitive phenotype of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), with respect to the ability to sustain attention and executive functioning. Participants were 34 boys with ADHD (combined type) and 28 normal controls. The groups were closely matched for age and IQ. All participants were 12 years of age. Both groups performed a computerized sustained attention task and a response interference task. Measures related to speed, accuracy, and time on task were collected. We found that children with ADHD performed slower, less accurately, more impulsively, and with less stability than controls. Both groups produced more errors with increasing time on task, reflecting reduced vigilance. Importantly, no interaction with time on task was found. The overall pattern of results suggests that measures related to accuracy are more informative than measures related to speed of responding in refining the cognitive phenotype of ADHD.

Attention↗

PubMed2001

The effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on executive functioning.

Converging evidence from various research areas indicates that people who have been exposed to alcohol prenatally may exhibit impairments on the performance of relatively complex and novel tasks. These tasks include tests designed to measure executive functioning (EF)--the ability to plan and guide behavior to achieve a goal in an efficient manner. EF can be categorized into two domains, cognition-based EF and emotion-related EF. People prenatally exposed to alcohol show impaired performance on tests assessing both domains. Moreover, one cognition-based and two emotion-related measures of EF appear to be reliable and stable predictors of behavioral problems in alcohol-affected people. A deficit in flexible recruitment of brain regions to do complex tasks may underlie the EF deficits in people prenatally exposed to alcohol.

Affective Symptoms↗

PubMed2005

Validity of the executive function theory of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analytic review.

One of the most prominent neuropsychologic theories of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suggests that its symptoms arise from a primary deficit in executive functions (EF), defined as neurocognitive processes that maintain an appropriate problem-solving set to attain a later goal. To examine the validity of the EF theory, we conducted a meta-analysis of 83 studies that administered EF measures to groups with ADHD (total N = 3734) and without ADHD (N = 2969). Groups with ADHD exhibited significant impairment on all EF tasks. Effect sizes for all measures fell in the medium range (.46-.69), but the strongest and most consistent effects were obtained on measures of response inhibition, vigilance, working memory, and planning. Weaknesses in EF were significant in both clinic-referred and community samples and were not explained by group differences in intelligence, academic achievement, or symptoms of other disorders. ADHD is associated with significant weaknesses in several key EF domains. However, moderate effect sizes and lack of universality of EF deficits among individuals with ADHD suggest that EF weaknesses are neither necessary nor sufficient to cause all cases of ADHD. Difficulties with EF appear to be one important component of the complex neuropsychology of ADHD.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2002

Parent and self-report ratings of executive function in adolescents with myelomeningocele and hydrocephalus.

Parent and self-report ratings were obtained for 28 adolescents with myelomeningocele and congenital hydrocephalus using the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1998a, 1998b) and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF; Gioia, Isquith, Guy, & Kenworthy, 2000; Guy, Gioia, & Isquith, 1998). Parents rated their children as having significantly more problems, compared to published norms, on the BRIEF but not the BASC. Adolescents rated themselves as having significantly more problems, compared to parent ratings, on scales comprising the BRIEF Behavioral Regulation Index; but not on common scales of the BASC. Parents also reported more problems on the BRIEF Global Executive Composite than on all three primary BASC indices, and more problems on the BRIEF Metacognition Index than on the BRIEF Behavioral Regulation Index. We conclude that the BRIEF captures salient executive dysfunction among individuals with myelomeningocele and hydrocephalus, and may be useful in identifying needs for intervention that might not be identified by broad-band behavior rating scales alone.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

The role of tests of frontal executive function in the detection of mild dementia.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the performance of patients with mild dementia (Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) >23), depression (Montgomery-Asberg depression rating scale (MADRS) >12) and controls on tests of frontal executive function (FEF), to see if simple tools could be an adjunct to early recognition of dementia in primary care. DESIGN: Subjects were required to score above 23 on the MMSE, and to be non-depressed unless in the depression group. Tests of FEF used were a letter based verbal fluency test, a cognitive estimates test, trail marking parts A and B, and a Stroop colour word test. Subjects were followed up at one year to assess long-term outcomes. SETTING: The Thornhill Unit, an old age psychiatry unit, Moorgreen Hospital, Southampton, UK. PATIENTS: Sixteen patients with a clinical diagnosis of dementia but with normal or borderline MMSE scores, 16 subjects with depression and 19 healthy control subjects. RESULTS: Subjects with mild dementia scored significantly worse than control subjects on all FEF tests used other than verbal fluency. Subjects with mild dementia were only found to score worse than depressed subjects on the cognitive estimates test and Stroop test, with the Stroop test providing better discrimination between these groups. At follow-up, MMSE scores of both dementia and depression groups were worse. CONCLUSIONS: Many simple tests of FEF can distinguish subjects with mild dementia from controls, although caution must be taken in the presence of depression. Of these tests, the cognitive estimates test may provide a simple test which can be used in conjunction with screening tests for dementia, such as the MMSE. The Stroop colour test was the most successful at distinguishing subjects with mild dementia from those with depression, but was more difficult to use. The depression group remained cognitively impaired at follow-up, despite improvements in depressive symptoms.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Executive function remediation in schizophrenia: possible strategies and methods].

AIM AND METHOD: The paper is a selective review of the literature on strategies and methods of cognitive remediation in schizophrenic disorders. It has been focused on the remediation of executive functions and the present hypotheses about the possibility of an improvement of the neurocognitive deficit through specific interventions. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: People with Schizophrenic Disorders have some degree of cognitive deficit that often precede the clinical onset not secondary to the pathology characteristics persisting even when the positive symptoms have been resolved. The possibility that the neurocognitive deficits could be modified by psychological remediation with effects not exclusively confined to the cognitive domain has been nowadays accepted and numerous studies demonstrate that these interventions are effective and durable with a positive impact on social and working abilities, symptomatology and self-esteem.

Cognition Disorders↗

PubMed2004

Unconventional affective symptoms and executive functions after stroke in the elderly.

In the present study we assessed the presence and severity of unconventional affective symptoms (apathy, anhedonia and emotional lability) and depression in 33 elderly patients with first ever stroke and evidence of a single supratentorial lesion at neuroimaging. Patients were submitted to neurological, functional, and affective assessment at a mean interval of 2 weeks after stroke onset. Given the putative role of the frontal lobes in the pathogenesis of these symptoms, we also performed a cognitive assessment focused on executive functions. The prevalence of the various affective symptoms was as follows:apathy 15.2 %, anhedonia 6.1 %, emotional lability 48.5 %, depression 57.6 % of cases. Patients had a normal global cognitive level (mean short portable mental status questionnaire: 8.4 +/- 1.0, range 7-10). Apathy and anhedonia showed significant reciprocal correlations and they were also correlated with the executive score and the Barthel index;apathy was also correlated with depression; emotional lability, instead, was correlated only with depression. The study of possible anatomo-functional correlates between unconventional affective symptoms and lesion site did not show significant differences (stroke in the right versus left hemisphere, anterior versus posterior and cortical versus subcortical locations).

Aged↗

PubMed1999

Correlates of executive function in multiple sclerosis: the use of magnetic resonance spectroscopy as an index of focal pathology.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was performed in a group of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and matched control subjects to examine the relationship between frontal lobe pathology and performance on tests of executive function. The N-acetyl aspartate/creatine ratio (NAA/Cr) was significantly reduced in frontal lesions and/or normal-appearing white matter in the patient group compared with the control group, but choline/creatine ratios did not differ. Although MRS abnormalities and executive deficits were not correlated for MS patients as a group, a few patients with more severe abnormalities of NAA/Cr ratio performed worse than other patients on the spatial working memory test, suggesting that subtle frontal neuropathological abnormalities detected by MRS may contribute to executive deficits. Further investigation is warranted to determine the value of MRS as an index of the pathophysiological processes leading to cognitive deficit.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Memory, attention, and executive function in chronic fatigue syndrome.

OBJECTIVES: To examine cognitive function in chronic fatigue syndrome. METHODS: Twenty patients with chronic fatigue syndrome recruited from primary care and 20 matched normal controls were given CANTAB computerised tests of visuospatial memory, attention, and executive function, and verbal tests of letter and category fluency and word association learning. RESULTS: Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome were impaired, predominantly in the domain of memory but their pattern of performance was unlike that of patients with amnesic syndrome or dementia. They were normal on tests of spatial pattern recognition memory, simultaneous and delayed matching to sample, and pattern-location association learning. They were impaired on tests of spatial span, spatial working memory, and a selective reminding condition of the pattern-location association learning test. An executive test of planning was normal. In an attentional test, eight subjects with chronic fatigue syndrome were unable to learn a response set; the remainder exhibited no impairment in the executive set shifting phase of the test. Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome were also impaired on verbal tests of unrelated word association learning and letter fluency. CONCLUSION: Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome have reduced attentional capacity resulting in impaired performance on effortful tasks requiring planned or self ordered generation of responses from memory.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Excitotoxic lesions of the rhinal cortex in the baboon differentially affect visual recognition memory, habit memory and spatial executive functions.

To specify the functional role of the rhinal cortex, baboons with bilateral excitotoxic lesions of the rhinal cortex (RH group) were tested on a series of computerized memory and learning tasks. Preoperatively, they were trained to and then tested on a delayed nonmatching-to-sample (DNMS) task with trial-unique stimuli. Postoperatively, this visual recognition memory task was given twice. As compared to a sham-operated group, the RH group showed good retention of rule learning and were unimpaired on the Delay memory subtest. Performance on the List Length memory subtest was, however, severely impaired at both postoperative evaluations, with a significant negative correlation between cognitive performance and neuronal loss in rhinal areas. Visual habit memory and spatial working memory were assessed postoperatively only, using a concurrent discrimination learning task and both a delayed-response task (with a two- and four-location choice) and a delayed alternation task, respectively. The RH group was unimpaired on the first two tasks and was even faster than the controls in learning the delayed-response task with four locations. Finally, most RH baboons failed to learn the delayed alternation task within the limits of testing. These results indicate that neuronal loss in the rhinal cortex is sufficient to impair visual recognition memory, and extend the implication of this area to spatial executive functions. Furthermore, the observation of impaired recognition memory and executive processes with preserved procedural memory and retrograde memory suggests that damage to the rhinal cortex probably participates in the cognitive deficits typical of the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Evidence for deficit in tasks of ventral, but not dorsal, prefrontal executive function as an endophenotypic marker for bipolar disorder.

BACKGROUND: Trait functional abnormalities in BD patients have only been reported in the ventral prefrontal cortex (VPFC). We examined whether deficits in VPFC-related inhibitory processes, but not dorsal prefrontal (DPFC) based executive functions, represent an endophenotypic marker for bipolar disorder I (BDI). METHODS: We used the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), commonly associated with DPFC function, and the Hayling Sentence Completion Task (HSCT) which engages the VPFC. Performance on these tests of 43 healthy participants was compared to that of 10 remitted BDI patients and 15 of their unaffected offspring. RESULTS: Compared to healthy participants, patients and their offspring made more errors in the HSCT but offspring achieved more categories and made fewer perseverative errors in the WCST. CONCLUSIONS: Impaired response inhibition, predominantly a VPFC related function, may reflect familial predisposition to BDI while deficits in rule attainment, a DPFC based function, may be associated only with the clinical phenotype.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

The relationship between measures of executive function, motor performance and externalising behaviour in 5- and 6-year-old children.

In his cognitive-energetic model of information processing Sergeant [Sergeant, J. (2000). The cognitive-energetic model: An empirical approach to ADHD. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 24, 7-12] links executive function (EF) to motor behaviour. This link has been supported by evidence from a number of sources including studies of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Little is known developmentally about this association. Given the rapid change in both motor proficiency and EF that takes place in the pre-school years, this appears an important time to look for the emergence of the link between these factors. In this study we tested 5- and 6-year-old children on motor tasks from the movement assessment battery for children and on measures of response inhibition (Stroop and stop-signal task) and examined the relationship between scores on these measures. Additionally, in order to relate this behaviour to everyday function, the Rowe behavioural rating inventory (RBRI), a teachers' behavioural rating of externalising behaviour, was also gathered and this related to EF and motor performance. It was found that motor performance correlated significantly with RBRI scores (better motor performance with lower externalising behaviour) and with Stroop performance. The relationship between motor performance and stop-signal task performance was in the expected direction but failed to reach significance and there was no clear association between performance on the stop-signal task and either Stroop or RBRI scores. The results are discussed in relation to different aspects of response inhibition (inhibition of a pre-potent response, interference control) and how these might relate to motor control.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗

PubMed2003

Relation of "Sense Of Self" to executive function performance in Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND: Recent reports have linked impairment of various aspects of the sense of self to frontal brain dysfunction. Independent evidence suggests that patients with Parkinson's disease exhibit impairment on cognitive tasks that depend on the frontal lobes. OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis (1) that the sense of self would be impaired in some persons with Parkinson's disease and (2) that this impairment would be linked to frontal dysfunction. METHODS: Sentence completion tests of identity development ("self-test") and measures of frontal and temporal lobe functioning were administered to 20 people with Parkinson's disease and to 10 age-matched healthy controls. RESULTS: While self-test responses significantly correlated with performance scores on tests of executive function (for Parkinson's disease patients only) but not temporal lobe function (as measured by "clustering" rates on a fluency task), we found no significant differences in mean self-test scores between persons with Parkinson's disease and age-matched controls. Analysis of the 160 self-test responses revealed a shift toward conformist responses in Hoehn-Yahr stage III as compared with stage II Parkinson's disease patients. CONCLUSIONS: While the sense of self changes as a function of disease stage, the core experience of self in Parkinson's disease is intact but may depend, in part, on frontal lobe function.

Aged↗

PubMed1998

Dissociation in hypnosis and frontal executive function.

In a career of many searching conceptual insights, Kenneth Bowers drew an important distinction between 2 different dissociative theories of hypnosis: dissociated experience and dissociated control. We contrast these 2 views and discuss how a dissociated control theory can be integrated with current conceptions of frontal executive function. Then we use this frontal elaboration of the dissociated control theory to sketch out a provisional understanding of memory function associated with hypnosis and hypnotic suggestibility, with particular emphasis on unsuggested effects.

Dissociative Disorders↗