Evaluation of an Executive Functioning Test Battery in Two Versions with Material Close to Daily Life

Abstract

Abstract. The assessment of executive functions (EF) often yields conflicting results between standardized tests and self-ratings (e. g., in depression or adult ADHD). For the present investigation, standardized EF-tasks were enriched in order to better represent executive demands of daily life. In the future this may improve the assessment and prediction of reported performance deficits in daily life. An EF-test battery was designed with material close to daily life; tasks were matched to basic executive functions. Healthy students took part in two preliminary studies to evaluate the reliability, validity, and comparability of five tasks. In the end, four tasks seem suitable, whereas one task underlies several limitations. The tasks can reliably be used and should be re-evaluated in further studies with adult ADHD participants and healthy controls.

Adult ADHD: Influence of Physical Activation, Stimulation, and Reward on Cognitive Performance and Symptoms

“…Two assessments took place, separated by 1 week (standard vs. experimental condition). Every session consisted of a complex planning task (“ Tour-/Routenplaner ”: Arling, Grossmann, Palme, & Spijkers, 2011 ) and four newly constructed EF-tasks ( Kallweit & Exner, 2016 ). In a prestudy with healthy subjects, each task had been constructed and evaluated in two versions (music vs. sport); comparability, reliability, and validity had been reported.…”

“…The order of the versions and conditions was counterbalanced across participants. Product Order did not include an experimental manipulation, and the “ Tour-/Routenplaner ” ( Arling et al, 2011 ) was not satisfactorily comparable for analysis (see Kallweit & Exner, 2016 ). Therefore, they have not been included in this article.…”

“…The procedure for the three relevant tasks with the belonging manipulations is described below. See Kallweit and Exner (2016) for a more detailed description of the test battery.…”