Patterns of Relational Framing in Executive Function: An Investigation of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

Abstract

Executive function (EF) is a concept widely used to describe higher order cognitive functioning. However, the concept seems to lack a precise definition upon which even experts in the area can agree. Examples of existing definitions describe EF as capacities for independent self-serving behavior and aspects of working memory, planning and organizational skills. It has been argued that the definition of EF is too imprecise, in terms of informing effective interventions. To possibly understand the range of behaviors termed EF in a more workable way, we administered a well-known computerized test (the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; WCST) of EF to a sample of normal functioning participants (n = 11). During administration, they were asked questions about their ways of thinking. Transcriptions of questions and answers were analyzed in search of common patterns, using a behavioral theory of language and cognition (relational frame theory; RFT). The analysis suggested that a specific relationship between deictic and temporal framing, on the one hand, and coordination and spatial framing, on the other, was in effect when participants performed well on the WCST. At critical time points during the test (i.e., when need for EF was arguably most acute), deictic and temporal framing dominated participants’ behavior, whereas coordination and spatial framing were used relatively less.