Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology Advance Access originally published online on August 13, 2009
Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology 2009 24(6):565-574; doi:10.1093/arclin/acp048
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Development of Set-Shifting Ability from Late Childhood Through Early Adulthood
a Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, USA
b Department of Behavioral Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, USA
c Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, USA
d Pearson, San Antonio, TX, USA
* Corresponding author at: Department of Behavioral Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, 1653 W. Congress Parkway, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. Tel.: +1-312-942-2893; fax: +1-312-9424990. E-mail address: duke_han{at}rush.edu (S.D. Han).
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Abstract |
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This cross-sectional study examined the development of set-shifting ability from childhood into early adulthood. Six hundred and forty-nine participants (aged 8–30) were assessed on the verbal fluency, design fluency, trail making, color-word interference, and card sorting subtests of the Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS). Multiple regression analyses revealed modest effects of age and gender on set-shifting tasks, after controlling for IQ and component skills. The current study provides evidence for generally increased performance of set-shifting abilities through adolescence. Women overall had statistically better performance than men on all executive functioning tasks. There were significant age by gender interactions suggesting differential age-related improvements between men and women. On color-word interference and verbal fluency switching tasks, men tended to show larger improvements than women, whereas on a design fluency switching task, women showed larger improvements than men.
Keywords D-KEFS; Card sorting; Verbal fluency; Design fluency; Gender
Accepted: July 13, 2009