& 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

Executive Function ; Humans ; Prefrontal Cortex ; physiology

Child ; Executive Function ; Humans ; Pediatric Obesity ; physiopathology

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

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

OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed to compare executive functions in patients with Organic Brain Syndrome(OBS), Schizophrenia, Depression and normal control group with Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Computer Version (WCST). METHODS: WCST was administered to 82 normal adults, 32 OBS patients, 29 schizophrenic patients, and 22 depressive patients. WCST 16 indices in four groups were compared, using ANOVA and posthoc comparison. WCST performance was examined by factor analysis on the 15 indices of WCST on total subjects and the factor scores were compared. RESULT: WCST 16 indices in mental disorders (OBS, Schizophrenia, Depression) were lower than those of control groups. Three factors were derived from the analysis. These consisted of 'perseveration', 'nonperseverative error' and 'inefficient sorting'. Comparing factor scores, differences in 'perseverative error' factor and 'inefficient sorting' factor were found. CONCLUSION: The impairment of higher cognitive functions, especially executive function impairment in OBS and schizophrenia, was qualitatively different from those of depression and normal control groups. WCST can differentiate specific pattern of executive function impairment in mental disorders.
Adult ; Brain ; Depression ; Executive Function* ; Humans ; Mental Disorders ; Schizophrenia ; Wisconsin*

OBJECTIVES: Schizophrenia has been considered to be characterized by an abnormality in attention, especially in the executive control. Emotion is an important component of the executive control. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of emotion on the executive control in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Participants were 20 healthy controls and 19 subjects with schizophrenia. They viewed full-color pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System. During each trial, an emotional picture, which was either positive or negative, lit up on either the left or right side. Participants were instructed to respond to the emotional valance of each stimulus by pressing a button with their left or right index finger, while ignoring its presented side. RESULTS: There was a group difference in the response time, and patients with schizophrenia exhibited an impairment in the executive control of emotional information. However, there was no difference in the response time between the emotional conditions. In the patient group, the missing rate in the positive emotional condition was correlated with the severity of social anhedonia, whereas the missing rate in the negative emotional condition was correlated with the severity of positive symptoms. CONCLUSION: Patients with schizophrenia have a deficit in the executive control of positive emotional information as well as negative emotion, but it may be due to different underlying mechanisms.
Anhedonia ; Executive Function ; Fingers ; Humans ; Reaction Time ; Schizophrenia

OBJECTIVES: Schizophrenia has been considered to be characterized by an abnormality in attention, especially in the executive control. Emotion is an important component of the executive control. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of emotion on the executive control in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Participants were 20 healthy controls and 19 subjects with schizophrenia. They viewed full-color pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System. During each trial, an emotional picture, which was either positive or negative, lit up on either the left or right side. Participants were instructed to respond to the emotional valance of each stimulus by pressing a button with their left or right index finger, while ignoring its presented side. RESULTS: There was a group difference in the response time, and patients with schizophrenia exhibited an impairment in the executive control of emotional information. However, there was no difference in the response time between the emotional conditions. In the patient group, the missing rate in the positive emotional condition was correlated with the severity of social anhedonia, whereas the missing rate in the negative emotional condition was correlated with the severity of positive symptoms. CONCLUSION: Patients with schizophrenia have a deficit in the executive control of positive emotional information as well as negative emotion, but it may be due to different underlying mechanisms.
Anhedonia ; Executive Function ; Fingers ; Humans ; Reaction Time ; Schizophrenia