Table 5.
Some characteristics of the studies that have used the Flanker Task to assess executive dysfunction in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
| Studies | Participant N (mean age ±SD) | MMSE | Diagnostic criteria for AD | Flanker task typologies | Differences between AD group and CG group | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | Reaction time | Other indices | ||||||
| Collette et al., 2009 | CG Young = 30 (22.4) [14M;16F] | DRS | NINCDS-ADRDA | Flankers and Target are words. Four different conditions: (1) SW: flankers and target are the same word; (2) NR: flankers are neutral word; (3) SC: flankers and target are of the same category; (4) DR: flankers are the opposite category of the task (incongruent condition)*. | AD = CG | AD = CG | Interference effect: ACC: AD>CG | |
| CG Older = 20 (72.3 ± 5.1) [5M;15F] | CG = 139.1 ± 3.3 | Facilitator effect: ACC: AD>CG | ||||||
| AD = 20 (74 ± 5.8) [6M;14F] | AD = 119.6 ± 8.9 | |||||||
| Stawarczyk et al., 2012 | Study2 | MMSE > 21 | NINCDS-ADRDA | There are a central target (letters) and four flankers (asterisks or letters). Three conditions: (1) facilitator: flankers and target are associated to the same response key; (2) neutral: flanker are asterisks; (3) interferent: target and flankers are associated to different response key. | AD = CG | AD = CG | N/D | |
| CG = 16 (76.6 ± 10.6) [7M;9F] | ||||||||
| MildAD = 16 (75.3 ± 10.3) [7M;9F] | ||||||||
| Wang et al., 2013 | CG = 16 (69.3 ± 1.8) [9M;7F] | CG = 29.3 ±0.5* | NINCDS-ADRDA | Target is an arrow, Flankers are of two types (dots or arrows). Four conditions: (1) target alone, (2) congruent (flankers and target are both arrows and go to the same direction); (3) neutral (flankers are dots); (4) incongruent (flankers and target are both arrows and go to the opposite direction). | AD < CG | AD>CG | Interference effects: | |
| MCI = 15 (72.9 ± 1.9) [9M;6F] | MCI = 27 ± 0.5* | RT = AD>CG ACC = AD < CG | ||||||
| AD = 7 (68.6 ± 2.9) [3M;4F] | AD = 21.5 ± 0.8 | |||||||
| Chen et al., 2017 | CG = 28 (73.7 ± 5.4) [12M;16F]* | CDRMC = 0.5 | NINCDS-ADRDA | Two different Flanker Task. | N/D | AD>CG | N/D | |
| MCI = 33 (74.9 ± 5.6) [10M;23F]* | AD = 1 | Simple Flanker Task: a target (arrow) and two flankers (dots). The request is to identify the direction of the arrow. | ||||||
| AD = 26 (79.5 ± 6.1) [10M;16F]* | Flanker Reaction Time Task: a target and two flankers (arrows), with two conditions: congruent (same direction) or incongruent (opposite direction). | |||||||
There is a significant differences between groups. MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination; AD, Alzheimer Disease Group; CG, Control Group; DRS, Dementia Rating Scale; NINCDS-ADRDA, National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders; Association; SW, Same-word condition on the Flanker Task; NR, Neutral-response condition on the Flanker Task; SC, Same-category condition on the Flanker Task; DR, Different-response condition on the Flanker Task; ACC, Accuracy (number of correct response); N/D, Data not available for this variable; MCI, Mild Cognitive Impairment; RT, Reaction Time.