title: Executive attention and personality variables in patients with frontal lobe damage.
abstract: Executive Control is required to deal with novel situations or when an action plan is needed. This study aimed to highlight the executive attention deficits of patients with frontal lobe damage. To do so, the ANT-I task (Attention Network Test-Interactions) was administered for the first time to a group of 9 patients with frontal damage caused by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and a matched control group. This task made it possible to measure the three attentional networks proposed by Posner and Dehaene (1994) and their interactions. Results on the alerting and orienting networks did not show any significant differences between the groups. However, a significant effect of group on the executive control network was observed. In addition, participants' personality was assessed with a clinical inventory (the Millon Personality Inventory) that showed a significant positive correlation between borderline personality disorder and the conflict index. These results suggest that frontal lobe damage causes an exclusive impairment in the conflict resolution network that is related to personality traits characterized by a lack of behavioral control. More research will be necessary to study this causal relationship.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicología Experimental y Fisiología del Comportamiento, Universidad de Granada, Facultad de Psicología, Campus Universitario de Cartuja s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain. mariarbailon@ugr.es
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Bailón
authors.forename: Mónica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Triviño
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lupiáñez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D010555:Personality Inventory