title: A real-life, ecologically valid test of executive functioning: the executive secretarial task.
abstract: A major goal of neuropsychological assessment is predicting a person's level of functioning in daily life. Making predictions about everyday executive functioning based on tests is problematic because of the contrast between demands made in the test environment and demands made in everyday life (Shallice & Burgess, 1991). As executive functions play an important role in independent functioning, tests with robust psychometric properties and ecologically validity are needed. We developed the Executive Secretarial Task (EST) and assessed 92 participants: 35 brain-injured patients and 57 controls. Analyses showed the EST is sensitive to executive problems and has concurrent and ecological validity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. k.f.lamberts@med.umcg.nl
authors.forename: Kirsten F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Lamberts
authors.forename: Jonathan J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Jacoba M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Spikman
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004777:Environment; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult