Structure of executive functions in young and in older persons
Structure of executive functions in young and in older persons
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0216149
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发表时间：
2019-05-09
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Voelcker-Rehage, Claudia
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bock, Otmar;Haeger, Mathias;Voelcker-Rehage, Claudia
采用因素分析，一些研究报告，高阶认知控制涉及可分离的执行功能。然而，不同研究中声称的功能的数量和定义不同。对这种差异的一个可能的解释是，执行功能没有表现出明确的因子结构，即，在执行功能测试之间没有明显的二分法，执行功能测试是良好相关的（代表共同的因素），执行功能测试是不良相关的（代表不同的因素）。我们仔细研究这种解释分别从年轻人和老年人的数据。Methods & resultsYoung和老年志愿者完成认知测试的所谓的执行功能转移，更新，抑制和双任务（两个测试每个功能）。验证性和探索性因素分析得出，对于任何年龄组，因子结构在文献报道的范围内。更重要的是，当测试之间的相关性按升序排序，然后通过分段线性回归与断点拟合时，没有证据表明在任何年龄组中低相关性和高相关性之间存在明显的断点。测试之间的相关性显着较高，在老年人相比，年轻的参与者，和测试对高，低相关性的模式不同的年龄组之间。DiscussionThe没有断点表明，执行功能测试不隔离成良好的相关性和相关性差的对，因此不太适合因素分析。我们认为，执行功能更好地描述为一个部分重叠，而不是一个因子结构。老年参与者相关性的增加支持了年龄相关去分化的存在，而两个年龄组相关性的差异支持了年龄相关重组的存在。
IntroductionUsing factor analysis, several studies reported that higher-order cognitive control involves separable executive functions. However, the number and definition of the purported functions differed between studies. One possible explanation for this discrepancy is that executive functions don't exhibit a clear factorial structure, i.e., there is no clear dichotomy between executive function tests which are well-correlated (representing a common factor) and those which are poorly correlated (representing distinct factors). We scrutinize this explanation separately in data from young and from older persons.Methods & resultsYoung and older volunteers completed cognitive tests of the purported executive functions shifting, updating, inhibition and dual-tasking (two tests per function). Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses yielded, for either age group, factorial structures that were within the range reported in literature. More importantly, when correlations between tests were sorted in ascending order, and were then fitted them by piecewise linear regression with a breakpoint, there was no evidence for a distinct breakpoint between low and high correlations in either age group. Correlations between tests were significantly higher in older compared to young participants, and the pattern of test pairs with high and with low correlations differed between age groups.DiscussionThe absence of a breakpoint indicates that executive function tests don't segregate into well-correlated and poorly correlated pairs, and therefore are not well suited for factor analyses. We suggest that executive functions are better described as a partly overlapping rather than a factorial structure. The increase of correlations in older participants supports the existence of age-related dedifferentiation, and the dissimilarity of correlations in the two age groups supports the existence of age-related reorganization.