INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 02 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 08:00 am - 09:15 am Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60) Poster Session 02: Aging \| MCI \| Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 1 Final Abstract #48 A Principle Component Analysis of Executive Functioning George Kent, Wheaton College, Wheaton, United States Nathan Palladino, Wheaton College, Wheaton, United States Amanda Ramirez, Wheaton College, Wheaton, United States Tyler Brandys, Wheaton College, Wheaton, United States Jen Kern, Wheaton College, Wheaton, United States Benjamin Pyykkonen, Wheaton College, Wheaton, United States Category: Assessment/Psychometrics/Methods (Adult) Keyword 1: executive functions Keyword 2: psychometrics Objective: Executive functioning is often referenced as a general domain that functions as an umbrella category with subcategories related to aspects of this complex cognitive process (Loughan et al., 2020; Nigg et al., 2017). More recently, research suggested alternative understandings of executive functioning and have continued to suggest other models (Laureys et. al, 2022). The nature of executive functioning and the factors that make up executive functioning are not fully established. Furthermore, it is unclear to what degree measures capture the underlying proposed factors. Careful selections of a battery in a neuropsychological assessment, informed by correlations between these measures and their regional activation in the brain, might enhance the likelihood that sub-components of executive function are explored, thereby providing more comprehensive results (Ferris et al., 2022). The current study seeks to contribute to this ongoing discussion by analyzing how various well-supported measures of executive function relate, and what role processing speed may play within those measures and within executive functioning in an adult population referred for neuropsychological evaluation. Participants and Methods: This study examined archival data from 245 participants assessed at a private practice neuropsychology clinic in the Midwestern United States. The sample’s average age was 32 years and the average education was 13.91 years. Executive Functioning Measures included the scaled score of perseverative responses on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Trail Making Tests A (TMT-A) and B (TMT-B), and WAIS-IV subtests (similarities, digit span, arithmetic, symbol search, and coding). Results: Principal Component Analysis (PCA) identified three components using a rotated matrix to describe the variance among the eight measures. Component one’s loadings included arithmetic (0.773), digit span (0.721), similarities (0.794), and WCST (0.492). Component two grouped together symbol search (0.860) and coding (0.937). Component three accounted for TMT-A (0.883) and TMT-B (0.784). Conclusions: When exploring the principle components of a battery of executive functioning measures, three unique components emerged from the data. The first component including arithmetic, digit span, and similarities likely represents a verbal working memory and reasoning component. The second component including symbol search and coding points to a distinct processing speed component. The final component grouped TMT-A and TMT-B as their own unique group, perhaps indicating a visuomotor/visual attention aspect of executive functioning. It is of note that processing speed emerged as its own unique construct, suggesting that it is in some ways a unique function separate from attention. Additionally, it also accounted for a greater degree of the variance than the visuomotor/visual attention group (TMT-A & TMT-B). Furthermore, TMT-A may have been expected to group with coding and symbol search under processing speed, while TMT-B would more closely align with the first component related to working memory. The uniqueness of these groupings may point to the particular importance of visuomotor ability within executive functioning. These findings support the complexity of executive functioning and need for further study to elucidate its multifaceted nature. Limitations, supplemental findings, and future directions will be further discussed.

Poster

02/15/2024
08:00 am - 09:15 am
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)

Poster Session 02: Aging | MCI | Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 1

Final Abstract #48

A Principle Component Analysis of Executive Functioning

George Kent, Wheaton College, Wheaton, United States
Nathan Palladino, Wheaton College, Wheaton, United States
Amanda Ramirez, Wheaton College, Wheaton, United States
Tyler Brandys, Wheaton College, Wheaton, United States
Jen Kern, Wheaton College, Wheaton, United States
Benjamin Pyykkonen, Wheaton College, Wheaton, United States

Category: Assessment/Psychometrics/Methods (Adult)

Keyword 1: executive functions
Keyword 2: psychometrics

Objective:

Executive functioning is often referenced as a general domain that functions as an umbrella category with subcategories related to aspects of this complex cognitive process (Loughan et al., 2020; Nigg et al., 2017). More recently, research suggested alternative understandings of executive functioning and have continued to suggest other models (Laureys et. al, 2022). The nature of executive functioning and the factors that make up executive functioning are not fully established. Furthermore, it is unclear to what degree measures capture the underlying proposed factors. Careful selections of a battery in a neuropsychological assessment, informed by correlations between these measures and their regional activation in the brain, might enhance the likelihood that sub-components of executive function are explored, thereby providing more comprehensive results (Ferris et al., 2022). The current study seeks to contribute to this ongoing discussion by analyzing how various well-supported measures of executive function relate, and what role processing speed may play within those measures and within executive functioning in an adult population referred for neuropsychological evaluation.

Participants and Methods:

This study examined archival data from 245 participants assessed at a private practice neuropsychology clinic in the Midwestern United States. The sample’s average age was 32 years and the average education was 13.91 years. Executive Functioning Measures included the scaled score of perseverative responses on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Trail Making Tests A (TMT-A) and B (TMT-B), and WAIS-IV subtests (similarities, digit span, arithmetic, symbol search, and coding).

Results:

Principal Component Analysis (PCA) identified three components using a rotated matrix to describe the variance among the eight measures. Component one’s loadings included arithmetic (0.773), digit span (0.721), similarities (0.794), and WCST (0.492). Component two grouped together symbol search (0.860) and coding (0.937). Component three accounted for TMT-A (0.883) and TMT-B (0.784).

Conclusions:

When exploring the principle components of a battery of executive functioning measures, three unique components emerged from the data. The first component including arithmetic, digit span, and similarities likely represents a verbal working memory and reasoning component. The second component including symbol search and coding points to a distinct processing speed component. The final component grouped TMT-A and TMT-B as their own unique group, perhaps indicating a visuomotor/visual attention aspect of executive functioning. It is of note that processing speed emerged as its own unique construct, suggesting that it is in some ways a unique function separate from attention. Additionally, it also accounted for a greater degree of the variance than the visuomotor/visual attention group (TMT-A & TMT-B). Furthermore, TMT-A may have been expected to group with coding and symbol search under processing speed, while TMT-B would more closely align with the first component related to working memory. The uniqueness of these groupings may point to the particular importance of visuomotor ability within executive functioning. These findings support the complexity of executive functioning and need for further study to elucidate its multifaceted nature. Limitations, supplemental findings, and future directions will be further discussed.