Measuring Executive Function

Developing domain specific tasks to measure executive function

Summary

Study director: Joel Kramer, PsyD [1]
Sponsor: National Institute of Neurodegenerative Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Recruiting?: Yes
Official study title: Domain Specific Tasks of Executive Function
Conditions studied: Full range of early development, aging and neurodegenerative diseases
Purpose: The purpose of this research study is to more reliably and validly measure executive function across a variety of diagnoses, ages, education levels and races.

Inclusion criteria: Patients with executive function deficits and healthy age matched normal controls:
- Normal Controls and/or patients with known or suspected neurological or psychiatric condition such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) [2], frontotemporal dementia (FTD) [3], mild cognitive impairment (MCI) [4], progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) [5], Huntington's disease (HD) [6], depression, multiple sclerosis (MS) [7], adult epilepsy [8], attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), neurological focal lesions
- Participants must be at between 5-90 years old
- Must speak fluent English and/or Spanish
- Subjects that are incapacitated to consent for themselves must have an informant to participate in this study
Exclusion criteria: None

Testing: Participants will be administered several computer-based, paper-and-pencil and oral neuropsychological tests. The participant will be asked to make choices about the material presented to them, in a timed manner, based on the instructions for each test. They will indicate their responses either by pressing a button, writing down answers with pencil or pen or giving an oral answer. These tests measure different components of executive function. If the participant has an informant, s/he may be asked to participate in objective interviews or questionnaires about the participant.
Frequency of visits: Participation in the study will take a total of between 30-180 minutes, either in one visit or over several visits depending upon your availability.
Materials needed prior to evaluation: None
Costs: No costs will be charged for any of the study procedures.