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    An adaptable open access test battery to study the fractionation of Executive Functions in diverse populations
    (Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), 2020-01-30) Zanini, Gislaine De Almeida Valverde [UNIFESP]; Pompeia, Sabine [UNIFESP]; Universidade Federal de São Paulo
    Executive functions is an umbrella-term that includes various domain-general, goaldirected cognitive abilities responsible for the regulation of thought and behavior. The influential unity and diversity model of executive functions proposes the existence of three correlated yet separable executive domains: inhibition, shifting and updating. This model has been replicated in many types of samples but seldom in developing nations, despite it being well known that people from different cultural contexts can vary not only in executive functioning, but also in terms of perceptual speed and motor responses that are involved in performance in executive function tasks. Additionally, tasks and scoring used to test this model are rarely explained in detail, reducing the chances of replicability. Objective: To Propose a FREE (Free Research Executive Function Evaluation) test battery that includes two open access tasks of each of the three above mentioned executive domains. The tasks and number of trials were selected among published measures that have been shown to be representative of each domain (have content and construct validity) and do not require special hardware or paid software to be administered. Method: The tasks were adapted for use in populations with low or inadequate schooling by simplifying tasks/instructions and using stimuli that are easily recognized, such as pictures. Answers to tests are vocal and tasks are self-paced to minimize interference of individual differences in psychomotor and perceptual speed. Performance was determined by Rate Correct Scores (RCS: correct answers divided by total time taken to complete blocks/trial, timed by the examiner with stopwatches), which take into account speed-accuracy trade-offs. We tested the tasks in 146 early adolescents (aged 9-15 years) of both sexes of varying socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, because at this age that the executive domains become distinguishable. Criterion-related validity was assessed by analyzing the expected developmental trajectories and effects of sex in all tasks, as well as the effects of SES. Evidence of construct-related validity (configural invariance compared to the original model) was tested by trying to replicate the three-factor model solution of the model. Results: Test scores deviated little from normal distributions. Floor and ceiling effects were not observed. Like many prior studies with individuals of this age range, performance improved with age in all task except in metrics that measured executive inhibition costs, which are found to mature after 15 years of age. Sex and SES had minor and inconsistent effects, indicating that SES effects found in xiii the literature may, at least in part, be an artefact of inadequate task/stimuli selection in prior studies. Additionally, the three-factor solution of the unity and diversity model of executive functions was replicated with confirmatory structural equation modeling. Conclusion: The FREE test battery, which is described in detail and is open access, may be useful for research in a wide range of countries worldwide if the instructions and stimuli are adapted following our suggestions for each population of interest.