RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MEASURES OF AUDITORY VERBAL-LEARNING AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING

Relationships between performance on the California Verbal Learning Te st (CVLT) and executive abilities were examined. In a sample of 115 ne urological cases principal components factor analysis produced five th eoretically and clinically meaningful CVLT factors. The five CVLT fact ors reflected general verbal learning (CVLT1), response discrimination (CVLT2), a proactive interference effect or ''working memory'' (CVLT3 ), serial learning strategy (CVLT4), and a retroactive interference ef fect (CVLT5). Canonical correlation between executive function measure s and the five CVLT factor scores yielded one significant canonical va riable accounting for 29 percent of the variance in the data. Two CVLT factors (CVLT1 and CVLT3), the Trail Making Test Part B, and Digit Sp an were significantly correlated with the canonical variate. Higher le vels of memory performance were associated with better attention and m ental tracking. Based on the present findings, attentional aspects of executive abilities appear to play a role in learning and working memo ry. Other aspects of executive abilities (abstraction, problem-solving , planning) appear to have minimal relationships with memory processes .