Correlational Analysis of Performance in Executive Function Tasks After Stroke

Although executive functions (EF) as a whole have been extensively studied in neuropsychology, little is known about the interrelation between "cold" (logic-based) and "hot" (emotion-based) EF. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between affective decision making as assessed by the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and "cold" executive components, as evaluated by the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, Trail Making Test, Hayling Test, and the sentence-word span task from the NEUPSILIN, in a sample of patients with ischemic strokes. Participants completed a series of EF tasks whose scores was investigated using Pearson correlation coefficients. No significant correlations were found between IGT performance and scores on "cold" EF tests. This dissociation may be attributable to the multidimensionality of EF and suggests a degree of independence between "cold" and "hot" executive processes, which should be more thoroughly investigated using alternative assessment instruments.