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Original Articles

A real-life, ecologically valid test of executive functioning: The executive secretarial task

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Pages 56-65 | Received 14 Oct 2008, Accepted 07 Feb 2009, Published online: 01 Feb 2010
 

Abstract

A major goal of neuropsychological assessment is predicting a person's level of functioning in daily life. Making predictions about everyday executive functioning based on tests is problematic because of the contrast between demands made in the test environment and demands made in everyday life (CitationShallice & Burgess, 1991). As executive functions play an important role in independent functioning, tests with robust psychometric properties and ecologically validity are needed. We developed the Executive Secretarial Task (EST) and assessed 92 participants: 35 brain-injured patients and 57 controls. Analyses showed the EST is sensitive to executive problems and has concurrent and ecological validity.

We would like to thank T. de Kraker, A. Hol-Steegstra, H. Rietberg, and S. Vos for their contributions during the development of the Executive Secretarial Task (EST) and the data collection. We are grateful to M. E. Timmerman for valuable discussion on the methodology. Note: Those interested can contact the corresponding author for a full copy of the task instructions.

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