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The ecological validity of tests of executive function

Burgess, P.W.; Alderman, N.; Evans, J.; Emslie, H.; Wilson, B.; (1998) The ecological validity of tests of executive function. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , 4 (6) 547 - 558. 10.1017/S1355617798466037. Green open access

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Abstract

Ninety-two mixed etiology neurological patients and 216 control participants were assessed on a range of neuropsychological tests, including 10 neuropsychological measures of executive function derived from 6 different tests. People who knew the patients well (relatives or carers) completed a questionnaire about the patient's dysexecutive problems in everyday life, and this paper reports the extent to which the tests predicted the patients' everyday life problems. All of the tests were significantly predictive of at least some of the behavioral and cognitive deficits reported by patients' carers. However, factor analysis of the patients' dysexecutive symptoms suggested a fractionation of the dysexecutive syndrome, with neuropsychological tests loading differentially on 3 underlying cognitive factors (Inhibition, Intentionality, and Executive Memory), supporting the conclusions that different tests measure different cognitive processes, and that there may be limits to the fractionation of the executive system.

Type: Article
Title: The ecological validity of tests of executive function
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1017/S1355617798466037
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1017/S1355617798466037
Language: English
Additional information: © 1998 The International Neuropsychological Society. Published by Cambridge University Press
Keywords: Executive functions, test validity, frontal lobe syndrome, dysexecutive syndrome
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/4537
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