EXECUTIVE FUNCTION AND THE WISCONSIN CARD SORTING TEST - RELATIONSHIPWITH BEHAVIORAL RATINGS AND COGNITIVE-ABILITY

The frontal lobes are thought to be responsible for executive function s, behavioral regulation, and social discourse. It has been proposed t hat frontal lobe dysfunction may be responsible for many deficits obse rved in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The most widely accepted measure of executive function in adults is t he Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST; Heaton, 1981). The WCST has been interpreted as a measure of frontal lobe functioning in children as w ell. Although a number of studies have lent support to the involvement of the frontal lobes in developmental behavior disorders, results hav e not been consistently replicated using the WCST and other measures. Further, the sensitivity and specificity of the WCST as a measure of f rontal lobe dysfunction has not been consistently demonstrated. The pu rpose of this study was to explore the relationship between performanc e on the WCST and behavioral measures commonly employed in the diagnos is of developmental behavior disorders as well as cognitive ability. R esults indicate that performance on the WCST correlates with different behavioral symptomatology depending on age. Similarly, correlation wi th cognitive ability varied with age. Notably, results of the WCST wer e not found to correlate with attention for any of the age groups stud ied.