Relations Between Cognitive Abilities and Measures of Executive Functioning.

TLDR

Executive functioning is a concept that has been confusing in neuropsychology, and its meaning can be clarified by examining its pattern of relations with established cognitive abilities. The authors applied this pattern‑relation method to variables presumed to assess executive functioning in two large samples—one of 328 adults aged 18–93 and a composite of nearly 7,000 healthy adults aged 18–95. The analysis revealed that most executive‑functioning variables were strongly associated with reasoning and perceptual speed, and only a few showed unique age effects after controlling for cognitive abilities, suggesting that these tests may not tap a distinct dimension of normal adult functioning.

Abstract

Although frequently mentioned in contemporary neuropsychology, the term executive functioning has been a source of considerable confusion. One way in which the meaning of a variable can be investigated involves examining its pattern of relations with established cognitive abilities. This method was applied to a variety of variables hypothesized to assess executive functioning in 2 data sets, 1 consisting of 328 adults between 18 and 93 years of age and a 2nd composite data set based on nearly 7,000 healthy adults between 18 and 95 years of age. Most of the hypothesized executive functioning variables were strongly related to reasoning and perceptual speed abilities, and very few had any unique relations with age after taking into consideration the relations of age through the cognitive abilities. These results raise questions about the extent to which neuropsychological tests of executive functioning measure a distinct dimension of variation in normal adults.