Book Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Contributors -- CHAPTER ONE Introduction: Methodologies and Models in the Study of Executive Function -- DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN EXECUTIVE AND NON-EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS -- DIFFICULTIES IN EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF "EXECUTIVE" FUNCTION -- Poor Test/retest Reliability -- The Uncertain Validity of "Executive" Tests -- EXECUTIVE AND NON-EXECUTIVE PERFORMANCE? -- A DESCRIPTIVE MODEL -- CONNECTIONIST AND PRODUCTION SYSTEM MODELS -- SCHNEIDER AND DETWEILER'S MODEL -- GENERAL ISSUES -- "EXECUTIVE TESTS" AND "INTELLIGENCE TESTS" -- REFERENCES -- CHAPTER TWO Cognitive Models of Ageing and Frontal Lobe Deficits -- INTRODUCTION -- EXPERIMENT 1 -- Description of Test Battery -- Results -- EXPERIMENT 2 -- Results -- Discussion -- REFERENCES -- CHAPTER THREE Testing Central Executive Functioning with a Pencil-and-paper Test -- INTRODUCTION -- Executive Functioning and the Frontal Lobes -- A Correlational, Factor-analytic Approach to Executive Functioning -- Testing Cognitive Models of Executive Functioning -- Dual-task Methodology -- Experimental Neuropsychological Evidence for Executive Impairment -- The Development of a Pencil-and-paper Version of the Dual-task Paradigm -- REVIEW OF STUDIES USING THE PENCIL-AND-PAPER VERSION OF THE DUAL TASK -- The Paradigm -- The Memory Span Task -- The Tracking Task -- Some Studies with the Pencil-and-paper Version of the Dual-task Paradigm -- A NORMATIVE STUDY -- Aims -- The Sample -- Searching for a Measure of Dual-task Performance -- A Two-component Measure of Dual-Task Performance -- Correlations of the Index with Age and Digit Span -- The Reliability of the Dual-task Performance Index -- CONCLUSION -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENT -- REFERENCES -- CHAPTER FOUR Theory and Methodology in Executive Function Research -- INTRODUCTION -- THE NATURE OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION.

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS AND THE PROCESS-BEHAVIOUR1 DISTINCTION -- Methodological Consequences of Low Process-Behaviour Correspondence -- Task Impurity and Convergent Evidence -- "EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS" IS A THEORETICAL DEFINITION -- THE PROBLEM OF COGNITIVE CONGRUENCE -- FRACTIONATION OF THE EXECUTIVE SYSTEM? -- RECIPROCAL CAUSATION AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS -- Dissociations Between Processes or Dissociations Between Operations? -- THE STUDY OF COMPLEX BEHAVIOURAL SEQUENCES -- ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOURAL SEQUENCES WITH FEW STRUCTURAL CONSTRAINTS -- Single Case vs. Group Study Design -- PROBLEMS WITH MEASUREMENT OF BEHAVIOUR IN NOVEL SITUATIONS -- CONCLUSION -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- REFERENCES -- CHAPTER FIVE Ageing and Executive Functions: A Neuroimaging Perspective -- THE UTILITY OF VOLUMETRIC MRI -- MR Volumetric Investigations of Regional Brain Atrophy in Normal and Pathological Ageing -- Investigation of Brain-Behaviour Relationships -- Participant Profiles -- Neuroimaging -- Neuropsychological Assessment -- Group Differences in Cortical and Hippocampal Atrophy in AD -- Group Differences in Neuropsychological Performance -- Association between CSF Volumes and Neuropsychological Performance -- FUTURE DIRECTIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- REFERENCES -- CHAPTER SIX Sustained Attention and the Frontal Lobes -- NORMAL "VIGILANCE" PERFORMANCE -- FOCAL LESION STUDIES -- FUNCTIONAL IMAGING STUDIES -- CLOSED-HEAD INJURY STUDIES -- THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE FRONTAL LOBES TO SUSTAINING ATTENTION -- CONCLUSION -- REFERENCES -- CHAPTER SEVEN How Specific are the Memory and Other Cognitive Deficits Caused by Frontal Lobe Lesions? -- INTRODUCTION -- NON-MEMORY COGNITIVE TESTS -- MEMORY DEFICITS CAUSED BY FRONTAL LESIONS -- COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF LESIONS ON MEMORY AND COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS -- CONCLUSION -- REFERENCES.

CHAPTER EIGHT Normal Age-related Memory Loss and its Relation to Frontal Lobe Dysfunction -- ONE OR MORE FRONTAL FUNCTIONS? -- FRONTAL FUNCTION AND NORMAL AGE-RELATED MEMORY LOSS -- THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS -- FRONTAL LOBES AND MEMORY -- CONCLUSION -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENT -- REFERENCES -- CHAPTER NINE Do "Frontal Tests" Measure Executive Function? Issues of Assessment and Evidence from Fluency Tests -- THEORY AND MEASUREMENT OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION -- The Dual-task Paradigm -- Frontal Lobe Tests -- FLUENCY AS A MEASURE OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION -- FLUENCY AND THE DUAL-TASK PARADIGM -- Method -- Results -- Discussion -- PROBLEMS IN THE MEASUREMENT OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION -- The Need for Novelty -- The Unpleasantness of Executive Tasks -- Psychometric Problems with Reliability and Validity -- CONCLUSIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENT -- REFERENCES -- CHAPTER TEN A Neural Systems Approach to the Cognitive Psychology of Ageing Using the CANTAB Battery -- INTRODUCTION -- CANTAB BATTERIES -- NEURAL VALIDATION -- STUDIES WITH LARGE POPULATIONS OF NORMAL ELDERLY VOLUNTEERS -- PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSES -- EFFECTS OF AGEING ON COGNITIVE FUNCTION -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- REFERENCES -- CHAPTER ELEVEN Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome -- PURPOSES OF ASSESSMENT -- PROBLEMS WITH EXISTING TESTS -- DESCRIPTION OF THE TESTS -- PRELIMINARY RESULTS -- CONCLUSION -- REFERENCES -- Author Index -- Subject Index.