Table 1.

Commonly Used Neuropsychological Measures of Executive Function (EF) and their Construct Validity

EF Component	Task	Description	Construct Validitya	Prefrontal Involvement	Other Cognitive Demandsb
Shifting	Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)	Learn from feedback to sort cards by one dimension (e.g., color), and then switch to a different dimension (e.g., shape) when given negative feedback on the first dimension (repeats with multiple sorting rules).	Loads on a shifting latent variable (Miyake et al., 2000)	VLPFC, medial PFC, ACC (meta-analysis, Buchsbaum, Greer, Chang, & Berman, 2005)	Learning from feedback, visual processing, numerical processing, categorization, rule induction, working memory for current rule.
	Trail Making Test Part B	Alternately connect letters and numbers in sequence (A-1-B-2 etc.) Often compared to Trail Making A (connect letters or numbers only, does not require shifting).	Correlates with switch-cost on task shifting tasks Arbuthnott & Frank, 2000), and WCST (Sanchez-Cubillo et al., 2009)	VLPFC, DLPFC, medial PFC, ACC (TMT-B > TMT-A; e.g., Jacobson, Blanchard, Connolly, Cannon, & Garavan, 2011; Moll, de Oliveira-Souza, Moll, Bramati, & Andreiuolo, 2002; Zakzanis, Mraz, & Graham, 2005).	Visual search, motor speed, sequencing, working memory for task rule.
	Intradimensional/Extradimensional Shift	Learn from feedback to select a stimulus based on one dimension, switch to the previously non-rewarded stimulus (intradimensional shift), then to a different stimulus dimension (extradimensional shift).	Designed as analog to WCST, correlates with WCST (Jazbec et al., 2007).	VLPFC, DLPFC (e.g., Hampshire & Owen, 2005).	Reversal learning, feedback learning, visual processing, categorization, rule induction, working memory for current rule.
Inhibition	Color-Word Stroop	Identify the color ink a color word is printed in. Trials are incongruent (e.g., “red” written in blue ink) and congruent (e.g., “red” written in red ink) or neutral (non-color word).	Loads on inhibition latent variables (e.g., Friedman et al., 2008; Miyake et al., 2000)	VLPFC, DLPFC, medial PFC, ACC (meta-analysis; Nee at al., 2007).	Visual processing, language production, working memory for task rule.
	Hayling	Read sentences where the final word is omitted but highly predictable. First complete sentences correctly (Part A), then with an unrelated word (part B).	Loads on an inhibition latent variable with the Stroop task (de Fries, Dixon, & Strauss, 2009)	VLPFC, DLPFC (e.g., Allen et al., 2008; Collette et al., 2001, Nathaniel-James & Frith, 2002).	Reading, language production, working memory for task rules, selection among options.
Updating	n-Back	Indicate if the stimulus (usually letter) matches the stimulus n (e.g., 3) items back.	Loads on updating latent variable (Friedman et al., 2008)	VLPFC, DLPFC, anterior PFC, ACC (meta-analyses; McMillan, Laird, Witt & Meyerand, 2007; Owen, McMillan, Laird, & Bullmore, 2005).	Visual processing, sequencing
Visuospatial Working Memory	Corsi Block Tapping/Spatial Span	Tap irregularly arranged blocks/squares in the same order as experimenter (Corsi blocks) or computer (Spatial Span).	Loads on visuospatial working memory latent variable (e.g., Fournier-Vicente et al., 2008; Miyake, Friedman, Rettinger, Shah, & Hegarty, 2001)	VLPFC, DLPFC (e.g., Owen, Evans, & Petrides, 1996; Toepper et al., 2010).	Visual and motor processing, sequencing.
	Delayed-Match-to-Sample	View a complex shape (the sample), then indicate after a delay if a probe matches the sample.	Loads on latent variable with other visual memory tasks (Robbins et al., 1994).	VLPFC, DLPFC, ACC (e.g., Kaiser et al., 2010; Schon, Quiroz, Hasselmo, & Stern, 2009).	Visual processing.
	Self-Ordered Pointing	Search an array of boxes for hidden tokens. Token is only in each location once.	Loads on latent variable with spatial span (Robbins et al., 1998), correlates with spatial span (Ross, Hanouskova, Giarla, Calhoun, & Tucker, 2007).	VLPFC, DLPFC, medial PFC, ACC (e.g., Owen, et al., 1996; Provost, Petrides, & Monchi, 2010	Visual search, strategy formation, reversal learning.
Verbal Working Memory	Forward Digit Span	Repeat sequence of numbers in the same order presented.	Loads on latent variables with other verbal working memory tasks (e.g., Kane et al., 2004; Mertens, Gagnon, Coulombe, & Messier, 2006; Roberts, Stankov, Pallier, & Dolph, 1997).	VLPFC, DLPFC, medial PFC/ACC (e.g., Gerton et al., 2004; Owen, Lee, & Williams, 2000)	Auditory or visual processing, language production, sequencing.
	Backward Digit Span	Repeat sequence of numbers in the reverse order presented.	Loads on latent variables with other verbal working memory tasks (e.g., Fournier-Vicente et al., 2008; Mertens et al., 2006; Waters & Caplan, 2003)	VLPFC, DLPFC, medial PFC, ACC (e.g., Gerton et al., 2004; Owen et al., 2000)	Auditory or visual processing, language production, sequencing.
Planning	Tower of London/Stockings of Cambridge	Move rings on pegs from a starting position to a target position in as few moves as possible, following a set of rules.	Correlates with Tower of Hanoi planning task (Welsh & Huizinga, 2001; Welsh, Satterlee-Cartmell, & Stine, 1999)	VLPFC, DLPFC, anterior PFC (e.g., Kaller, Rahm, Spreer, Weiller, & Unterrainer, 2011; Wagner, Koch, Reichenbach, Sauer, & Schlösser, 2006)	Visual processing, sequencing, working memory for task rules.
Verbal Fluency	Phonemic Verbal Fluency	Say as many items starting with a certain letter (usually F, A, S) as possible in 1 (or 3) min.	Loads on verbal fluency latent variable (Unsworth, Spillers, & Brewer, 2011)	VLPFC, DLPFC, ACC (meta-analysis; Costafreda et al., 2009).	Vocabulary, language production, memory retrieval, strategy formation
	Semantic Verbal Fluency	Say as many words from a semantic category (e.g., animals) as possible in 1 (or 3) min.	Loads on verbal fluency latent variable (Unsworth et al., 2011)	VLPFC, DLPFC, ACC (e.g., Hirshorn & Thompson-Schill, 2006; Whitney et al., 2009	Semantic knowledge, semantic memory retrieval, language production, strategy formation

Note. PFC = prefrontal cortex; VLPFC = ventrolateral prefrontal cortex; DLPFC = dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; ACC = anterior cingulate cortex.

^aExamples of evidence that each task is related to other tasks within the relevant EF component.

^bExamples of some other cognitive demands imposed by each task (there may be other demands not listed).