Examining the Executive Functions in Neurotypical Individuals and Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Abstract

Executive function (EF) is one of the key processes of cognition. It refers to a variety of skills which help in making socially responsible, self-serving, independent, and purposive behavior possible. Executive functions could be divided into domains like attention, response inhibition, cognitive flexibility and so on. The study tried to examine the integrity of two main executive functions (attention and response inhibition) in normal aging individuals and individuals with mild cognitive impairment. The participants were divided into two groups. The first group comprised of 30 neurotypical aging individuals and the second group consisted of 30 neurotypical individuals. Attention domain was tested by employing Navon’s letter identification and phoneme monitoring task, while response inhibition was tested by using Flanker’s task and selective naming task. Normal aging individuals outperformed individuals with MCI on both the tasks, questioning the integrity of executive functions in this population.

Keywords:  Attention, response inhibition, aging, Reaction time, accuracy

Cite this Article

Abhishek BP, Raja Sudhakar R, Ranjitha Kashyap. Examining the Executive Functions in Neurotypical Individuals and Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment. Research and Reviews: Journal of Neuroscience. 2019; 9(2):
10–15p.