Association of self-reported executive function and mood with executive function task performance across adult populations

Abstract

Executive function (EF) impacts behavior associated with health outcomes. EF can be measured using self-report and/or performance measures, but the correlations between these types of measures are mixed in the extant literature. This study examined self-report and performance-based measures of EF using data from 6 studies, including community and clinical populations (410 participants, ages 19–80, 71% female). Partial correlations revealed significant relationships between performance on the Trail making, Delay Discounting, and Stop Signal tasks with self-reported EF (p < .006 after controlling for age). Mood scores were significantly related to all self-reported domains of EF (p < .0001), and mood and EF scores were correlated over time. When also controlling for mood, correlations between delay discounting and stop signal tasks with self-reported EF remained significant (p < .006). Finally, examining EF scores in participants with and without clinically elevated mood scores showed a wider distribution of self-reported EF scores among those with clinically elevated mood symptoms than among those without. We conclude that self-reported EF is associated with tasks measuring delay discounting and response inhibition in our large, heterogenous population and that assessing EF may be particularly important for those with high levels of mood symptoms.

Keywords:

• Executive function
• self-report
• self-regulation
• response inhibition
• delay discounting

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Jeff Priest with the Biomedical Statistics Research Core at the University of Vermont for statistical consultation.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to report.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences under Center of Biomedical Research Excellence award P20GM103644-01A1. Author DEG is supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R33HL143305.