& executive function deficit could be reversible after treatment, and 3) medication might have a benefit in improving the cognitive functions in schizophrenia. Furthermore, the data supports that the better premorbid executive function was, the more favorable was the treatment response in schizophrenic patients. Finally, this study indicates that executive function might be an index of treatment improvement.
Executive Function ; Humans ; Schizophrenia

Humans ; Child ; Executive Function

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to prove the validity of the Korean version of the Executive Interview (K-EXIT) which was developed by Donald Royall as a bed-side test to measure the executive function. METHODS: The K-EXIT was developed and applied to 169elderly people with other executive functiontests.The internal consistency,reliability and the validity of the K-EXIT were analyzed. RESULTS: The K-EXIT showed high internal consistency (Crohnbachalpha= 0.766) and high inter-rater reliability (r=0.997, p<0.01).The K-EXIT total score was well correlated with verbal fluency test (r=-0.460, p<0.001), and the initiation-perseveration-change score (r=-0.598, p<0.005). CONCLUSION: The K-EXIT is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing executive function of the Korean elderly people. It may be also useful for the less well-educated people.
Aged ; Dementia ; Executive Function ; Humans

OBJECTIVE: Lexical fluency tests are frequently used to assess language and executive function in clinical practice. We investigated the influences of age, gender, and education on lexical verbal fluency in an educationally-diverse, elderly Korean population and provided its' normative information. METHODS: We administered the lexical verbal fluency test (LVFT) to 1676 community-dwelling, cognitively normal subjects aged 60 years or over. RESULTS: In a stepwise linear regression analysis, education (B=0.40, SE=0.02, standardized B=0.506) and age (B=-0.10, SE=0.01, standardized B=-0.15) had significant effects on LVFT scores (p<0.001), but gender did not (B=0.40, SE=0.02, standardized B=0.506, p>0.05). Education explained 28.5% of the total variance in LVFT scores, which was much larger than the variance explained by age (5.42%). Accordingly, we presented normative data of the LVFT stratified by age (60-69, 70-74, 75-79, and > or =80 years) and education (0-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, and > or =13 years). CONCLUSION: The LVFT norms should provide clinically useful data for evaluating elderly people and help improve the interpretation of verbal fluency tasks and allow for greater diagnostic accuracy.
Aged* ; Education ; Executive Function ; Humans ; Linear Models

Child ; Executive Function ; Humans ; Pediatric Obesity ; physiopathology

Executive Function ; Humans ; Prefrontal Cortex ; physiology

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate relationships between psychotic symptoms and cognitive functions in schizophrenia. METHODS: The study group was composed of 36 schizophrenic patients. Positive, negative, and disorganization symptoms were assessed using the PANSS. Verbal, visuospatial, attention, memory, and executive functions were assessed using a battery of cognitive tests. RESULTS: Correlation analysis between symptom vs. cognitive measures showed that (a) positive symptoms were significantly correlated with no cognitive measures, (b) negative symptoms were significantly correlated with all cognitive measures, and (c) disorganization symptoms were significantly correlated with executive and memory measures. Correlation analyses between symptom vs. cognitive factors showed that negative-disorganization factor is significantly correlated with executive-memory factor. CONCLUSION: Significant relationships were confined mostly to frontal symptoms vs. frontal cognitive functions. Thus, the relationships may be mediated mainly by variations in severity of frontal pathology among patients.
Executive Function ; Fibrinogen ; Humans ; Memory ; Pathology ; Schizophrenia

OBJECTIVES: This study was to evaluate the effects of cognitive rehabilitation training on the cognitive decline of elderly dementia patients. METHODS: Each of 20 subjects received 16 session of repeated training with computer-aided cognitive rehabilitation program (REHACOM). Cognitive function of all subjects were evaluated by K-DRS, K-BNT, K-MMSE and GDS before and after the training. RESULTS: Significant improvement of attention and memory was observed following REHACOM. There was no significant change in visuospatial memory, executive function, and conceptualization. CONCLUSION: It is suggested that cognitive rehabilitation training with elderly dementia patients can be useful to ameliorate the cognitive decline and to enhance motivation and self-esteem.
Aged* ; Alzheimer Disease ; Dementia* ; Executive Function ; Humans ; Memory ; Motivation ; Rehabilitation*

OBJECTIVES: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) is characterized by significant impairments in executive functions, with a prevalence of approximately 3-5% of all children worldwide. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between executive functions and electrophysiological activities in children and adolescents with ADHD. METHODS: In 31 patients with ADHD, resting-state EEG was recorded, and Comprehensive Attention Test(CAT), Stroop Color-Word Inference Test(Stroop CWIT), Trail Making Test(TMT), and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test(CST) were administered. Korean version of the ADHD Rating Scale(K-ARS) was assessed. RESULTS: Alpha and beta power positively correlated with the Attention Quotient(AQ), while delta power negatively correlated with AQ from CAT. In the Stroop CWIT, decreased delta power and increased beta power were related to higher performance. Power of the alpha band increased with higher TMT performance. Moreover, delta power negatively correlated with good performance on the CST, while alpha and high gamma band showed a positive correlation. Correlation with the parent-rating of ADHD symptoms showed a negative correlation between alpha power and higher scores on the K-ARS. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that relative power in higher frequency bands of EEG is related to the higher executive function in children and adolescents with ADHD, while the association with the relative power in lower frequency bands of EEG seem to be vice versa. Furthermore, the findings suggest that QEEG may be a useful adjunctive tool in assessing patients with ADHD.
Adolescent* ; Animals ; Cats ; Child* ; Electroencephalography* ; Executive Function* ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Wisconsin

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the impact of executive function on the performance of two different affective tasks, the Facial Affect Identification Task (FAIT) and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Thirty-nine patients with schizophrenia and 33 healthy controls completed the FAIT and the IGT, followed by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the intelligence quotient (IQ) test. In addition to correlation analysis, regression analysis was used to determine the extent to which the performance of the WCST, in particular, perseverative error (PE), accounted for the variation in both the FAIT and the IGT. RESULTS: Relative to normal controls, patients with schizophrenia showed significant impairments in the IGT, the FAIT and the WCST even after controlling for IQ. While normal controls did not show any relationships between the WCST and two affective tasks, patients with schizophrenia showed that variables in the WCST correlated not only with the FAIT total correct score (r=-0.503, p=0.001 for PE) but also with the IGT net score (r=0.385, p=0.016 for PE). The PE score was a better predictor of the performance on the FAIT (R2=0.25) than that of the performance on the IGT (R2=0.15). CONCLUSION: Our findings imply that deficits in executive function in schizophrenia can affect performance on facial emotion recognition task more than performance on task based on emotion experience, that is, the feedback from the body. Therefore, more consideration is needed of the impact of executive function when interpreting the result of "conventional" facial affect recognition tests as opposed to interpreting the IGT.
Executive Function ; Gambling ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Iowa ; Schizophrenia ; Wisconsin