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Abstract:
The frontal lobes have been associated with "executive
functions" such as abstract thinking and planning, but there has
been a lack of psychometric instruments designed to assess these
functions. A newly developed test battery, the Delis-Kaplan
Executive Function Scale (Delis, Kaplan, & Kramer, 1997), is a
series of nine subtests that assess specific component processes of
key executive functions. Some of these tests are modified versions
of existing tasks used to measure executive/frontal lobe
functioning in neurologic patients. For example, the California
Verbal Fluency and Stroop tests include switching conditions, in
which participants have to switch back and forth between two tasks;
and the California Card Sorting Test allows participants to sort
cards themselves at their own pace, in addition to a condition in
which the experimenter performs the sorts. Preliminary results with
a group of unilateral frontal lobe patients suggest that these
patients are most impaired on the California Card Sorting Test, the
switching condition of the Stroop test, and the fluency tasks.
Results from this test battery will be useful in determining which
components of executive functioning are compromised following
frontal lobe injury.
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