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@INPROCEEDINGS{Amunts:862369,
      author       = {Amunts, Julia and Camilleri, Julia and Heim, Stefan and
                      Eickhoff, Simon and Weis, Susanne},
      title        = {{W}hich executive functions are involved in the different
                      semantic fluency tasks? {R}esults in healthy subjects},
      reportid     = {FZJ-2019-02703},
      year         = {2018},
      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.},
      month         = {Jan},
      date          = {2019-01-20},
      organization  = {European Workshop on Cognitive
                       Neuropsychology, Bressanone (Italy), 20
                       Jan 2019 - 25 Jan 2019},
      subtyp        = {After Call},
      cin          = {INM-7},
      cid          = {I:(DE-Juel1)INM-7-20090406},
      pnm          = {572 - (Dys-)function and Plasticity (POF3-572) / HBP - The
                      Human Brain Project (604102)},
      pid          = {G:(DE-HGF)POF3-572 / G:(EU-Grant)604102},
      typ          = {PUB:(DE-HGF)6},
      url          = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/862369},
}