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| Hauptseite > Publikationsdatenbank > Which executive functions are involved in the different semantic fluency tasks? Results in healthy subjects |
| Hauptseite > Publikationsdatenbank > Which executive functions are involved in the different semantic fluency tasks? Results in healthy subjects |
| Conference Presentation (After Call) | FZJ-2019-02703 |
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2018
Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/22436
Abstract: Verbal fluency (VF) tasks are well-established parts of executive function (EF) batteries commonly used in neuropsychological assessment. In particular, it is thought that this task can provide a general idea about individual EF capacities while using a simple and ecologically valid paradigm. Nevertheless, it is still an open question which EF ability is really being measured or proxied by a VF task. Additionally, the switching component of this test is less regularly applied than the simple semantic component, even though it has been argued that the former is better at tapping into EF [1]. The present study aims to examine which EF is mostly involved in each of the different VF tasks.We tested 108 monolingual German speaking healthy subjects (mean age 33.1; 45 males) with 11 EF tests and 3 VF tasks. The VF tests contained two simple semantic (animals, jobs) and one switching task (switching between sports and fruits). The sum of words was calculated for each of the two simple (t1, t2) and the switching task (t3). Moreover, a switching coefficient (SC) was computed (SC = (t1+t2) / t3). To detect whether the total sum or the SC is more sensitive to the EF we compared the correlations between these different VF measures with the performance in the EF tasks. In particular, relationships between verbal fluency assessed in all three VF tasks and performance in the EF tasks were computed with Spearman correlations across subjects.The comparison of the correlation calculations between the total sum of words and the SC with the EF tests showed that the SC correlates with three variables of the EF tests: The correct items of the Tower of London (rsp= -0.224, p= 0.01), the interference time in the Trail-Making Test (rsp= 0.221, p= 0.011) and the errors of incongruent items in the Cued-Task Switching (rsp= 0.178, p= 0.033). The correlation between the SC and the Tower of London resulted in a negative correlation coefficient due to the divergent direction of the two tested scores. In contrast, the only significant correlation between the total sum of words and the EF scores was found between the sum of words uttered in t2 and the Cued-Task-Switching (rsp= 0.161, p= 0.048).We suggest that the SC is more adequate at representing EF than the total number of generated words since we found more correlations for the SC and the EF. The results contradict the common practice of relying on the total sum of words in the VF task only.Previous studies have shown the involvement of cognitive flexibility in the switching VF task in healthy subjects [1]. Similar results were found for the Wisconsin-Card-Sorting and Trail-Making Test as measures of cognitive flexibility [2]. Our results support those findings by indicating that the switching component of the VF task may involve more than simple shifting abilities. Specifically, our results show that planning ability might be of importance for the successful performance of the task.References: 1. De Paula JJ et al. Dement Neuropsychol. (2015) 3:258-264.2. Van den Berg E et al. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. (2017) 44:35-44.
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