Table 1.
Overview of executive function test battery.
| Measure | Description | Main variables |
|---|---|---|
| Cognitive flexibility/Planning | ||
| Trail-Making test | The task consists of 2 parts. In part A, numbers from 1–25 are displayed on the screen in a haphazard fashion. The task consists of clicking on the numbers in sequential order as quickly as possible. In part B numbers from 1–13 and letters from A-L are presented on the screen. participnts must click on the numbers and letters alternately and in ascending order. | Errors in part A/B, difference part B-A, quotient B/A |
| Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices | Eight items that form one pattern are shown to the participants. The task requires the participants to identify one missing item out of 6 choices to complete the pattern. The difficulty of recognizing each pattern increases during the course of this test. | Process time, correct items |
| Wisconsin Card Sorting test | Four stimulus cards illustrating different geometrical figures are presented. These cards differ in the number, color and form of the figures. The task is to match one additional card to one of the four cards using the correct rule (match for number, colour or form of figure) without knowing which rule is applied.Thus, participants are required to shift rules accordingly. | Number of perseveration/non-perseveration errors |
| Tower of London | Three rods are presented on the screen: The left rod holds three balls, the middle rod two balls and the right rod one ball. The participants are asked to move the balls from the starting state to ta target position using a minumum number of moves. | Planning ability, number of correct respones |
| Cued task switching | A coloured figure is presented on the screen. Participants are required to respond to either the color or figure task. Figure task: Particpants press matching button (left or right) depending on the type of the figure (triangle or rectangle); colour task: Particpants press matching button (left or right) depending on the colour of the figure (blue or yellow). | Number of incongruent/congruent errors |
| Working memory/Attention | ||
| N-back non verbal | A sequence of 100 abstract successive figures are presented to the particpants. The task consists of indicating whether the current stimulus matches the figure shown two turns back (2-back paradigm). | Number of correct and false responses |
| Non-verbal learning test | Nonsensical, irregular, and geometric figures are presented on the screen. In the course of the test some figures are shown multiple times. For each figure the participants has to decide whether the current figure has already appeared or whether this figure is being shown for the first time. | Correct/false responses, sum of difference between correct minus false responses, process time |
| Corsi block tapping test | Nine irregularly arranged cubes are presented to the participants. A cursor touches a certain number of cubes in a specific order; The task is to repeat the given sequence correctly. The length of the sequence increases the more correct sequences the particpants complete. | Block span, correct/false items, error types (omission, sequence mistake) |
| WAF-G (divided attention) | The participants are required to focus on two geometric figures and one auditory stimulus. At a certain interval the stimuli change their intensitiy (figure gets lighter and/or auditory stimulus gets higher). The participants have to respond when two stimuli become lighter/higher twice in a row. | Mean reaction time, number of false alarm, missed items |
| WAF-R (spatial attention) | Four triangles are presented in four spatial positions (similar to Posner paradigm). The participants are required to react if a triangle changes intensity (gets darker). In the neglect test a interfering/matching visual cue is given but this cue do not always indicate the correct answer. | Mean reaction time, number of false alarm, missed items |
| Inhibition | ||
| Stop-signal task | The test consists of two parts: 1) The participants are asked to respond to the direction of an arrow stimulus. 2) The participants have to repeat task as in previous step but should withhold their motoric response whenever they hear an auditory signal. | Stop-signal reaction time, stop-signal delay, number of different error types |
| Simon task | The participants are asked to press the right button if they read the word "right" and the left button if they read the word "left". The words are either presented on the right or left part of the screen. The reaction time of the participants is usually longer whenever the stimlus is incongruent to its position (e.g. the word "left" is on the right side of the screen). | Interference reaction time, incompatible/compatible errors |
| Stroop test | Names of colors (e.g., "blue", "green", or "red") are displayed on the screen in a color which is not denoted by the name (i.e., the word "blue" is printed in red). The test consists of two conditions: 1) Naming - participants are asked to respond to the colour of the words; 2) Reading - participants are asked to respond to the meaning of the word with naming. A baseline measure is taken at the start of the test to assess reading and color naming (color and word refer to the same concept). | Baseline time of naming and reading, reading interference, naming interference, errors |