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Abstract:
The evidence regarding executive deficits in Tourette
Syndrome (TS) is mixed, and comorbid symptomatology may contribute
to any impairments found. The present study was designed to assess
performance on laboratory tests of executive skills, and to examine
the relationship between this and problem-solving performance in
everyday situations. The laboratory tests consisted of standardised
neuropsychological measures of executive function. The
problem-solving test involved generating solutions to solve
real-life-type problems in social situations. TS participants were
compared with a healthy control group matched in age, sex and NART
IQ, and the TS group performed more poorly than the control group
in aspects of both non-social and social performance. TS
participants were also divided into those with a pure syndrome and
those with comorbid ADHD and OCD. Those with comorbid pathology
were found to perform more poorly than the pure TS participants,
but comorbid symptomatology did not account for all the findings.
The implications of the findings for our understanding of TS and of
executive processes are considered.
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