Patterns of association between performance in a natural environment and measures of executive function in people with schizophrenia

Psychiatry Res. 2011 May 15;187(1-2):1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2010.11.011. Epub 2010 Dec 13.

Abstract

This study examined the relationships between a set of real-world performance measures and a set of executive function measures with a sample of community based individuals with schizophrenia (N=80). Participants were given a battery of cognitive tests and were evaluated with a real-world performance measure, the Test of Grocery Shopping Skills (TOGSS). Using canonical correlation analysis, executive functions of planning, problem solving, working memory, and task persistence were significantly related to grocery shopping efficiency and accuracy. Two canonical variates with moderate correlations (0.547 and 0.519) explain that 30% of the variance in the executive function and grocery shopping measures was shared. These results identify patterns of association between executive function performance and the independent living skill of grocery shopping indicating the Test of Grocery Shopping Skills may be considered a sensitive measure of executive function performance in a real-world setting.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Activities of Daily Living / psychology*
  • Adult
  • Attention / physiology
  • Cognition Disorders / etiology*
  • Environment*
  • Executive Function / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Memory, Short-Term / physiology
  • Middle Aged
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Problem Solving / physiology
  • Schizophrenia / complications*
  • Schizophrenic Psychology*
  • Statistics as Topic
  • Young Adult