Conceptualization of the term "ecological validity" in neuropsychological research on executive function assessment: a systematic review and call to action.

Objective: "Ecological validity" (EV) is classically defined as test's ability to predict real-world functioning, either alone or together with test's similarity to real-world tasks. In neuropsychological literature on assessment of executive functions (EF), EV is conceptualized inconsistently, leading to misconceptions about the utility of tests. The goal of this systematic review was to examine how EV is conceptualized in studies of EF tests described as ecologically valid.

Branching Condition of the Color-Word Interference Test Enhances Prediction of Meta-Tasking in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Objectives: Meta-tasking (MT) is an aspect of executive functioning (EF) that involves the ability to branch (i.e., to apply "if-then" rules) and to effectively interleave sub-goals of one task with sub-goals of another task.

Interpreting executive and lower-order error scores on the timed subtests of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) battery: Error analysis across the adult lifespan.

Objective: The Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) is a battery of tests designed to measure executive functions (EF). Additionally, the D-KEFS contains lower-order tasks, designed to control for speed of visual scanning, sequencing, and verbal and graphomotor output. The construct and criterion validities of D-KEFS scores that are are well established.

Chronic versus recent expressive suppression burdens are differentially associated with cognitive performance among older adults.

Unlabelled: : Expressive suppression (ES; suppression of affective behavior) has been shown to have a deleterious impact on subsequently administered tests of executive functions (EF), threatening validity, and reliability of EF assessment. Past research has shown that ES (i.e.

Walking, talking, and suppressing: Executive functioning mediates the relationship between higher expressive suppression and slower dual-task walking among older adults.

Dual-task walking, which is related to fall risk, has also been shown to relate to executive functioning (EF). EF is known to be vulnerable to the effects of an emotion-regulation strategy known as expressive suppression, such that higher engagement in expressive suppression is related to subsequent decrements in EF. However, it is unknown whether expressive suppression is also associated with slower dual-task walking.

Executive functioning interacts with complexity of daily life in predicting daily medication management among older adults.

Executive functioning (EF) is critical for performance of instrumental activities of daily living, including medication management. Under complex conditions, daily activities require greater EF resources. This study examined if older adults who exhibit weaknesses in EF are at an increased risk for mismanaging their medications under complex contexts.

The vulnerability of executive functioning: The additive effects of recent non-restorative sleep, pain interference, and use of expressive suppression on test performance.

Certain transient contextual factors (i.e. higher expressive suppression, pain, and non-restorative sleep) are all associated with temporary decrements in performance on measures of executive functioning (EF), making clinical interpretation of EF scores challenging.

Naturally Occurring Expressive Suppression is Associated with Lapses in Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Objectives: Expressive suppression (i.e., effortful regulation of overt affect) has a deleterious impact on executive functioning (EF).

Deleterious Impact of Expressive Suppression on Test Performance Persists at One-Year Follow-Up in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Objectives: Expressive suppression (ES) is an emotion-regulation strategy that is associated with poorer performance on subsequently administered tests of executive functioning (EF). It is not known, however, how far into the future ES interferes with EF. This study examined whether (a) ES negatively affects performance on EF tests repeated 1 year after the initial administration (presumably through interference with learning, leading to a reduced practice effect), and (b) whether such an effect, if seen, is unique to EF or whether it also affects lower-order cognitive processes needed for EF test performance.

Exaggerated reaction to novelty as a predictor of incipient cognitive decline among community-dwelling older adults.

Objective: The ability to detect covert markers of incipient cognitive decline among older adults before cognitive decline becomes overtly evident on traditional cognitive tests represents an important topic of research. Exaggerated reactions to novelty, reflected in novelty-induced increases in action planning latencies ("novelty effect"; NE) and low openness to experience (openness), have been previously associated with incipient cognitive decline among older adults who appeared cognitively normal at baseline. The purposes of the present study were to extend prior research on the utility of these markers by examining whether (a) NE and openness each predict cognitive change uniquely, and (b) whether these indices predict cognitive change above and beyond measures of memory, executive functions, processing speed/efficiency, premorbid IQ, and depressive symptoms.

Greater naturally occurring expressive suppression is associated with poorer executive functioning and motor-sequence learning among older adults.

: Unusually high engagement in expressive suppression (i.e., purposeful regulation of overt affect) has been associated with poorer performance on executive functioning (EF) and motor-sequence learning tasks.

The Impacts of Sexual Arousal and Its Suppression on Executive Functioning.

Suppression of certain types of reflexive emotional responses is thought to temporarily deplete executive functions (EF), as evidenced by poorer performance on measures of EF, but does not deplete other, lower-order cognitive processes. This study examined whether similar decrements in performance on EF tests would occur following suppression of sexual arousal. A sample of 44 male college students underwent baseline cognitive assessment (EF and lower-order cognitive processes), followed by experimental manipulation consisting of exposure to sexually explicit audiovisual stimuli.

Cognitive and gait decrements among non-demented older adults with Type 2 diabetes or hypertension: a systematic review.

Objective: Older adults with Type 2 diabetes (DM2) and hypertension (HTN) often experience cognitive weaknesses. Growing evidence suggests that such weaknesses place patients at risk for gait disturbance and falls. The current systematic review evaluated (a) the impact of DM2 and HTN on cognition and gait and (b) the association between cognition and gait in the context of DM2 and HTN.

Motor sequencing in older adulthood: relationships with executive functioning and effects of complexity.

Objective: Older adults' motor sequencing performance is more reliant on executive functioning (EF) and more susceptible to complexity than that of younger adults. This study examined for which aspects of motor sequencing performance these relationships hold.

Methods: Fifty-seven younger and 90 non-demented, community-dwelling, older adults completed selected subtests from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System as indices of EF and component processes (CP; graphomotor speed; visual scanning; etc.

Reported Expressive Suppression in Daily Life Is Associated with Slower Action Planning.

Objectives Growing evidence demonstrates that (a) executive functioning (EF) becomes deleteriously affected by engagement in the emotion regulation strategy known as expressive suppression and (b) EF shows considerable functional and neuroanatomical overlap with motor output. The current study aimed to bridge these two literatures by examining the relationships between naturally occurring expressive suppression and several different aspects of motor output, including action planning, action learning, and motor-control speed and accuracy. In addition, we investigated whether any identified relationships could be explained by EF.

Working memory performance inversely predicts spontaneous delta and theta-band scaling relations.

Electrophysiological studies have strongly implicated theta-band activity in human working memory processes. Concurrently, work on spontaneous, non-task-related oscillations has revealed the presence of long-range temporal correlations (LRTCs) within sub-bands of the ongoing EEG, and has begun to demonstrate their functional significance. However, few studies have yet assessed the relation of LRTCs (also called scaling relations) to individual differences in cognitive abilities.

Neurocognitive and neurophysiological correlates of motor planning during familiar and novel contexts.

Objective: Research suggests that behavioral indices of motor planning (i.e., latencies that precede motor output) (a) relate to processing speed (PS) and executive functioning (EF), but not working memory (WM), and (b) deteriorate in novel contexts.