title: Contribution of specific cognitive processes to executive functioning in an aging population.
abstract: The current study investigated executive function measures emphasizing Alpha Span (ASp) to understand relationships among executive and nonexecutive tasks. Nondemented older participants (N = 417) received a comprehensive cognitive battery. Age and vocabulary adjusted correlations revealed associations among ASp, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Revised (D. Wechsler, 1981) Digit Span subtests, and fluency tasks. Principal-components analysis with varimax rotation revealed a 4 component solution (86.4% of the variance) with executive variables contributing to all loadings. Calculated component indices were submitted to a regression analysis predicting ASp performance. After accounting for age (6.3% of the variance), Component 3 reflecting brief attention-mental manipulation accounted for 13.4% of ASp variance; Component 1, verbal language ability, 11.5%; Component 2, sustained attention-mental tracking, 1.9%; and Component 4, visuoperceptual spatial organization-planning, 0.9%. Results stress the importance of considering executive and nonexecutive aspects of cognition when conceptualizing executive functioning.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Personality and Cognition, Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, USA. lamarm@lpc.grc.nia.nih.gov
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lamar
authors.forename: Alan B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Zonderman
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Resnick
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology